Onoma Lands in NC

Onoma is another fun doll. An alien with amnesia!

I thought she needed a few more alien characteristics, so I chopped off her feet and replaced them with oyster shells - nice briny-looking alien feet, good for walking on or paddling. She grew matching hands, too.

And what self-respecting alien has no antennae??? So she got those, too - made from copper multi-strand wire and sparkly turquoise fiber.

Lastly, I added a couple ball beads to her head gear. They remind me of planets.











Onoma's journal entry includes drawings of aliens and spaceships done by my brother, Dave, at my request. Alien creatures and spacecraft are subjects he's often doodled thru the years, and I thought it'd be cool to include some of his work in the journal (since I always make him admire our dolls).

Lady Sebastian visits Ontario, Canada

I hope Lady Sebastian enjoyed her visit here with me because I know I certainly enjoyed having her around!  She and I decided that she really wanted to have her dress painted while she was here and she picked some beaded trim out of my stash, along with a cat charm to add to her apron.  She spied an old ring in my stash and wanted it for an arm band and also wanted a spear (or maybe it's a walking stick to use as she travels through Egypt looking for her father).

We then turned our attention to recording in her journal.

The page above was created using painted textured wallpaper as the background, some tyvek painted and heat shrunk, a painted scarab bug (Lady S wasn't so sure about the "icky" bug), and some Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

This page was painted watercolour paper for the background.  The cat and her wing were a cat button I painted and antiqued and the wing was a metal charm.  The sun was lurking in my stash and reminded Lady S. of the heat in Egypt.  Of course there is lots of gold in Egypt, so there is a string of gold nuggets too.

The final spread was created using some of my rusted fabric for a background.  The artifacts on the right are rubber stamped on hot glue and then antiqued.

Now she's off to Calgary to visit with Arlee!

serenity leaves arlee

"The canyons of the sea
call and protect me

They are home
they are unknown,
serenity and surrender to my destiny"


"One cannot write one's destiny on the waves,
one must flow"

Serenity has wing fins so that she may swim with the currents, or against them to reach the sky above the canyons of her underwater home, or to delve deep in the waters and grottos of her submariner scapes.

We all swim or fly with or away from the currents of our lives--these travels make our experiences and shape our wisdom.

Raisa's heartbreak revealed.

...but you have to read her letters to understand.

Raisa received a beaded headband, beads on her skirt and torso, flapper necklaces and stickers explaining her Continental tour that her mother and father devised as a way to tame their smitten flapper.

Inside her box I made a scrapbook of this period of her life with her friends, her music and her enjoyment of swimming.

In the journal you will find an explanation of Flapper culture,

one of her favorite ragtime songs,

and the letters from Johnny and another person that are all she has left of her great romance.

 Plus an extract from a very early (1904) feminist tome, Raisa's mother's favorite, which seems to suggest that we haven't really come that far after all. Raisa's mother wanted her daughter to make better choices than being a young bride - but she didn't really understand Raisa or Johnny.

Anneelaw, International Woman of Mystery

Anneelaw, Mary Anne's Lady of the Lamp, was a stumper for me. She sat on my counter where I could see her every day, but she refused to speak to me. She refused, that is, until I happened to bring my Goddess of Spring, Sirona (http://www.anlinadesigns.com/dolls/Sirona1/index.html), by Anneelaw on the way to Sirona's current display spot on my book case.

Anneelaw became very vocal. She wanted a hat, and not just any hat, but one with feathers. Anneelaw is very purple, but has a bit of turquoise on her, so I decided to go with the turquoise as the main color on the hat. She wanted to be a bit mysterious, so I added a purple tulle veil. And of course, the feathers were from a peacock or two.

Isn't she something?
Unfortunately, when I was getting these pictures, I had company drop by and I forgot to take pictures of jer journal. When she arrives at her destination in south Texas, she hopes that Yvonne will be so kind as to take pictures of her journal pages.

Update (3/21): Yvonne was so kind to send photos of Anneelaw's journal entries. Here are the pictures:

This is the first page. Anneelaw loves purple and I gave her a bouquet to complement her lovely glove and hat.

The next page is a picture of her and her nom du guerre: Anneelaw, International Woman of Mystery.

And this is her hat, along with the story I told in the beginning of the post of her conversation with me regarding the creation of her hat.

And last of all, the description of what I did and made. The journal pages are water color paper and I applied a heavy layer of indigo, purple and turquoise water color crayon, then misted the pages with water and used my Nijii water brush to push the color to create texture.

Audacity Crowned!

Onoma's gender revealed!

Onoma is a very interesting doll that Arlee created.

Onoma has such energy coming from her.

I figured Onoma was a female

 because it seems she is well endowed already

and if male her name would have been

Onomo with an o at the end. 

In many languages

the 'a' or the 'o' signify gender.

Weird I know, but that's my story.

Onoma needed some more color,

so she got eyelids made of turquoise teardrop stone beads.

I also gave her a metal mouth,

made from the end of a measuring tape.

I just bent it into shape to fit her face.

Onoma has been traveling all winter,

and we had some unusual freezes

here in south Texas, when she arrived.

To keep her warm, I made her a rabbit fur cape.

The cape is painted blue underneath,

along with spirals and other symbols.

Unbeknown to her,

 these symbols

signify where she came from.

The cape has a Tagua nut button for a closure.

The little apron in front has an

energy symbol painted on it.

I also added a blue/black feather to her dreadlock type hair.

The journal Arlee made is very cool.

I added her new face photo along with spirals

all around her, and

a quote from Aristotle....

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life."

The page on the right are some of her thoughts...

I will not worry about my unknown past or from where I came

I will shape the clay of my life into what I wish it to be

I walk alone with my shadow on the edge of the precipice

This I am today.

The next journal page on the left is her energy symbol.

The journal page on the right

was one I added to the journal

from some of my graffiti background pages.

I told of my contributions,

signed and dated it.

Onoma continues on her year long journey.

Gail in North Carolina is the next contributing artist.

Yvonne