Gotta LOVE Mixed Media Art Dolls

For the last two weeks I have been having a blast taking my 5th class at Artful Gathering. The class is ART-S2-307 The Imaginarium: Anthologies of an Art Doll with Mary Jane Chadbourne and it is a delightful mixed media art doll class.

I'd been anxiously awaiting the start of this class as I have never created mixed media art dolls so it was going to be an adventure for me. And, adventure it was. I never realized how much fun this was, how much work was involved in creating mixed media art dolls and all the different supplies you would need.

I had decided to buy one of Mary Jane's art doll wood kits and to try and accumulate all the art supplies and printables I would need ahead of time. The wood kit contained the wood needed to make 3 different art dolls.

The doll pictured above was the 1st mixed media art doll I made. She took the longest amount of time to make as I couldn't decide on the different papers and fabrics I would use for her outfit and what other embellishments I was going to add. I knew I wanted to make a doll using blue colors (just to drive my baby sister crazy as blue is her favorite color)  and wanted to incorporate a printable of the blue rose graphic I had created for some of my Victorian Era fabric designs.

I had found a wonderful graphic to use for the faces of two of the dolls so one would be brown eyed and one would be blue eyed. I used the brown eyed face here. Her back and side are painted blue and then stamped with a black flower design. Her message is "to listen is to learn, and to understand is to inspire" so I named her "Compassion."

My 2nd doll was easier to make. She had beautiful blue eyes so I decided to make her outfit a combination of darker blue papers and fabrics. I had also decided to utilized two green butterfly printables I had found and some of the silk floral and lace embellishments I had. Her sides and back are painted dark blue. I added a layer of crackle paint which didn't crackle the way I thought it would. Instead of cracks I got a marble type of raised design.

Her message is "believe in possibilities" and "begin with yes" so I named her Melody.

My 3rd doll had a small body, but a large head. I had found a wonderful whimsical graphic to use for the face but when looking at the finished doll now I think her face could have been a little smaller. Oh, well. Live and learn.

I had decided that this doll would be a whimsical angel of sorts so I added a green and white checkered paper bow to her back to serve as wings. Her sides and backs I embossed with a flower design which gave it a three dimensional look.

I had decided to use the message "Trust Your Heart Song" and had found a whimsical green frog playing a violin that I wanted to incorporate in her design. As the frog was green I decided to make her outfit a combination of green, peach and black/white papers and fabrics. To this I added white outlining and black raised painted dots. I named her Ophelia.

Mary Jane's class doesn't just cover the making of the mixed media art dolls shown above. It also includes information on making mixed media artist trading cards and 3 tiered wood block art dolls. I'm working on those now and will post pictures of them when I'm done.

I thoroughly enjoyed my mixed media art class at Artful Gathering.  Mary Jane Chadbourne is an excellent teacher who provides a tremendous amount of information on her videos as to the different techniques you can use and different forms of mixed media art dolls you can create. I absolutely loved her class. It was a total blast. She's a great teacher and the class provided a lot of fun filled interaction with the rest of the class participants. If you're looking for a great class with a lot of student activity you don't want to miss one of Mary Jane Chadbourne's classes.