Shoe Doll and Frog Crown

Here is my shoe doll, standing against the distressed wall. The idea for her came from a doll made from a shoe in the Edinburgh Museum of Childhood that I saw years ago when we were visiting Andy's parents. It always stayed in my mind as it is such a poignant item. I had not considered making one until recently, when trying to think of what to do with the old shoe soles I have collected from the Thames foreshore. I want to do embroidery on some, but this one was the perfect size and shape for a doll. Her hair is embroidered using some second hand thread. Her face is drawn with Polychromos pencils. 

The top of her dress is made from a piece of fabric I found on Dungeness beach years ago. It is very well preserved, and when I started cutting it, I realised that is because it is some horrible nylon type stuff that would probably last forever. The bird fabric is a recent purchase and is so lovely that I wanted to use it. 

The copper wire supporting her legs was also from the river. I got a whole bundle of it from the foreshore in Woolwich-a great find! She is the third doll I have made from mudlarking finds. Here is the first. And the second.

This is to show the back of her dress where I had to gather it to make it fit her flat body and her arms. I think I originally was going to put a hat on the back of her head, or I would have made a neater job of it. 

This is how I fixed her legs in the end. I halved a cork, embedded the wire in the surface in a groove, then glued them on with silicon glue. It takes a long time to dry, but is pretty strong once it does. 

The thing I have been working on this week is the crown for the second frog. He is the Frog Prince, so needs a crown. My Dad could have made one much more easily than me, but I wanted to do it. Above is my paint experiment area, trying various gold options. I was going to paint it yellow, but my yellow paint has gone lumpy, and a new tin is expensive, so I am trying gold stuff I already had, well, apart from the tiny tin of enamel paint, but that was a few pounds. 

In this photo it is easier to see the effects. The one at the bottom of the rectangle piece of wood is my favourite I think. It is Pebeo Prismé paint. They produce an effect that looks like hammered metal. It is oil based so should be ok outside. My other option is a gold wax, which I would have to varnish, so the little triangle has that on. I will decide in the morning!