Someone asked me recently why I didn’t post more often and I really don’t have a suitable answer. I thought that perhaps I should change my we(blog) name from pontificates to procrastinates - but it’s already been done. So much to do, so little time - but since I have put fingers to keyboard I will show you one of the things that I did this long Easter weekend.

The three finished projects.
The sun shone out of a cloudy sky as Thatch and I belted down the freeway towards the Dandenong ranges. It was to Belgrave in those hills that we were headed to visit with a friend, doll artist and all around talented person, Doreen Backway. I had taken some photos of Doreen’s work earlier in the year and decided that I really needed to do something with them.
A small portion of Doreen’s stash.
We agreed on an interview (that will be in the post that follows this) and she invited me to her home to attend a craft class on anything I was interested in learning. Having no idea - I opted for something in clay.
Getting ready to begin.
Doreen has been making cloth dolls for some years and she has a workroom that puts my own modest little stash to shame.
Fabric competes for space with craft supplies, trimmings and tools of every description. Disembodied doll faces, hands and feet,
randomly peer from crevasses in the fabric cliff behind her desk.
Some of our cooked molded heads.
My eyes enviously devoured the colour coded alladin’s cave of goodies. Doreen decided that we would be making wood sprites using molded polymer clay faces and twigs that she had collected from the garden that morning.
Detail of tree sprite by Jools.
She generously provided detailed and patient instruction on how to use the clay and molds, while the clay was cooking we had lunch and then began the process of decoration using fabric, wool, paint, embellishments and anything else Doreen could think of to enhance the project that the three of us were engaged in.
Detail of tree sprite by Thatch.
Completed, the project was deemed successful by us all. Thatch and I had a great time. Thanks Doreen.
Detail of tree sprite by Doreen.
Logging off, Jools