Father&Daughter

 

I have just found these two dolls made by a father and daughter after a workshop for parents and kids that I had conducted last week in Hatikva neighborhood.

Happy Dolls

 

Those dolls are from workshop I conducted yesterday in after school program for Children at Risk, in south Tel Aviv, as part of parents-children weekly  group meeting with therapist, I was invited  to conduct my  workshop as part of experiential tool they try to  integrate in those meetings.

 You can see some of the results  in the photos, (the fishes on the background are the PVC table cloth) they are all looks  happy, from the slight of stories I heard about those people life, I couldn't get the same impression.

From my workshop

Some of the dolls from the Dolls orchestra workshop I have conducted at the last three days: 

Doll Orchestra

Here is my doll orchestra:

This is the reason for my new bottle cap collection:

The caps can make noise.

 So the dolls can make noise and dance at the same time.

Some of them can even play the guitar.
The idea to create them came when I was asked to conduct a workshop with "music" as a theme. I found it very complicated, and it took me a long time to come up with this idea. I discovered that textile is one of the worst materials for sound effects, and I didn't have any idea how to incorporate the kind of dolls I make with the concept of "music".
Those dolls were made by upcycling fabric scrap using my wrapping technique, together with the bottle caps as instruments.
During the last two days, I conducted this workshop as part of a big event at Hiriya  Park. Actually, theses dolls were quite difficult for kids (and parents) to make; it is challenging, and for that reason also interesting. It has also been very intensive for me, and I didn't have any time to take photos of the parents' and kids' dolls. I will try to do so tomorrow.

Some more from Italy

The view from our room in the farm where we were staying.

 

This view is of Osimo's Promenade; Lonely Planet could tell us nothing about this town and area, it is also rare to hear people speak English or any  other non Italian language over there.

On the last morning before we had to leave for Rome (where we took our flight back), we went to see the fields of Lorenzo and Katrina, the owners of an organic farm who hosted us at their home.

(in case you were wondering what the kids in the above photo are looking for) 

The morning before, we were busy with preparations to "Ogni Giorno Vale", in which we took part.

In this photo, Gal is the guy standing with the red shirt; I'm standing in the middle; Olympia, who is the woman behind this entire event, is standing on the right; and Gabriele, her husband, is bending down.

This is how my dolls participated in the event.  

 

My part was the workshop I had to conduct - even after one week of traveling through Italy I couldn't conduct the workshop in Italian by myself, so I demonstrated the work in English to a few local assistants.

This five-year-old boy was so serious…

Later on, Gaia and her sister had to finish the stitching for him. And now that I mentioned sweet Gaia (aka stormy???, who was also assisting me with the workshop), don't forget to check out her flickr. She makes awesome stuff with toys she renovates.

 

 

 

 

 

Eating our last lunch there on the balcony of a restaurant overlooking this view made our coming back home even more difficult. 

(Some of the event's photos are by Massimiliano Ballerini Thank you)

Some news

We are leaving for Italy tomorrow!!! The dolls, Gal, and me.
Everyone is a bit nervous as there are many preparations before our departure tomorrow afternoon.












There is a new bunch of dolls that is going to be joining us. Those are only a few, and the rest are yet to be sewn.
Next Sunday you can find all of us at the OGNI GIORNO VALE 2010.

I will be back on Tuesday, August 10, and on Thursday, August 19, and Thursday, August 26, I will conduct another sock doll workshop at my new home. E-mail me for more details.


The last thing I would like to share with you today is my new website, Neta Dolls, which I have launched last week. I would be glad to receive your comments.

My creatures demonstrating my new Doll-Making Workshop

There were too many things on my mind, and things I was busy with during the last few weeks, so this blog was a bit neglected.
Now, finally, I have got the time and the focus to sit down and write. One of the projects I have been busy with for quite a while, and more intensely in the last week, is my new Fabric Doll-Making Workshop. In this workshop, I would like to teach the whole process of creating a doll from scratch, developing ideas, and drawing patterns.
It is something I was eager to teach for a long time. As part of the workshops I have conducted, I met many skilled crafters who have no idea how to develop their own ideas, and, for that reason, must follow instructions and readymade patterns.
I wanted to develop a workshop where I can offer such crafters the necessary tools, and teach them how to easily create dolls using their own ideas and patterns.
During the last four years that I have been creating using textile, doll accessories or other objects, I have learned and developed my very own techniques, methods, and workflows.
When I am making a doll, the techniques and methods I follow are a very important part of the creative process, where creating patterns is similar to sculpting and designing the character.
I feel I have had much practice in it, but thinking about how to teach this was very challenging; it was a long process, filled with indecisiveness. I had to consider very carefully the important things I would like to teach, and how I can demonstrate and explain everything.
During the last few weeks, after I already grasped the process, I have tried to create dolls following exactly the same steps I would teach in the workshop, and then I noticed many things that should be done differently, so I rewrote the process and gave it another try, and so on.
Well, after this long trial and error process, I finally feel that I know how to teach it, and glad am to tell you all about it.

If you happen to live in this part of the world, you can find details over here:


Here you can see some photos that demonstrate what I am going to teach:

This model will be the basis for the design and pattern making.

From the basic form, I will teach how to develop a character,

and how to draw a pattern using a free modeling technique,

and sew muslin models.

At the end, I will try to teach the workshop participants how to give each doll a soul, and that is the most difficult part.

You are welcome to e-mail me if you would like to get further details or join my mailing list and receive updates about future workshops.

לפרטים נוספים, מידע בקשר לסדנת עיצוב ופיתוח גזרות לבובות , או הצטרפות לרשימת דיוור כדי לקבל מידע על סדנאות עתידיות אפשר ליצור איתי קשר במייל

Sock dolls workshop and me in the Hand/Eye Magazine

Recently I have been busy with workshops I have conducted.
This Friday marked the second meeting of the sock doll workshop I conduct at my home studio.
During the last 18 months, I have been conducting this workshop once a month or once every two months; I already conducted so many of them, that I can’t even keep count…

Most of the time, those workshops group together women from various backgrounds and age groups. Not always – but most of the time – a very unique and interesting atmosphere is created while sewing the dolls.

Besides the many details being stitched to the dolls, there are so many details being conveyed via the conversations and chats around the table.
I don’t usually get to take photos, since most of the time I am too busy with instructing or chatting, and time just flies by. This time, I didn't so I can offer you a quick glance.

This pink creature was created by Smadar (gifted craft artist and owner of in-house after school program)

This is a boy, don't mistake to think it is a girl, Zufit (Polymer clay artist) who created him insisted it is a male thought the feminine lips he got.

Purple lady with one missing shoe, created by Yardena.

And this is the lovely creature made by noa brumberg, a fourth-year Visual Communications student, who is also the developer of theCraftomania-etsy toolbar.
It seems like there is a joke he is trying to tell us.

Now something else:

Last week I was featured in the HAND/EYE magazine.

I had not heard about the magazine before I was e-mailed and asked to answer a few questions. I was curious to find out about this magazine, so I looked it up.
Well, I discovered that it is a fascinating magazine that covers cultural, art and craft subjects, including interesting articles that feature fiber- and doll-art and artists.
Highly recommended!

Bird and Pink creature.

Lately I have been hooked on my new technique of creating dolls by wrapping strips of fabric scraps on top of each other.
I experimented quite a bit and created different shapes and creatures, but I wasn't really satisfied with any of them, until these two "came to life".

And here they are:

This pink creature is already one week old, and has been very patient since then,

Until this bird was completed today.

Finally there was someone to play with, and they had a lot of fun together

Next Friday I will hold another workshop for creating this type of dolls at my home.
E-mail me if you would like to participate, or if you would like to receive updates about future workshops.

סדנה נוספת של בובות ליפוף, אצלי בבית בשישי הבא. שלחו לי מייל כדי להירשם או לקבל עוד פרטים.
אתם מוזמנים גם להירשם דרך המייל לרשימת תפוצה כדי לקבל עדכונים שוטפים על הסדנאות שלי, כולל כאלו שלא מתפרסמות בבלוג.

Doll workshop and Happy new year

סדנת בובות חדשה, הפעם טכניקה חדשה שפתחתי ליצרת בובות, ייצורים וכדורים על ידי עטיפה וכריכה של רצועות בדים ממוחזרות אלו על אלו. מתוך התהליך הזה נוצרת הצורה הבסיסית שאותה אני הופכת לדמות באמצעות עיצוב והוספה של תווי פנים. זאת סדנא שכבר העברתי להורים וילדים, בה התמקדתי בצורות פשוטות, בסדנא הזו שמיועדת למבוגרים אלמד גם צורות ודמויות מורכבות יותר

חוץ מזה כמו שכבר כתבתי אני פותחת רשימת דיוור חדשה לעידכונים לגבי סדנאות שלי גם במסגרות אחרות, שלא תמיד יוצא לי לפרסם בבלוג, תשלחו לי מייל אם אתם מעוניינים להצטרף לרשימה

New Doll workshop in which I will teach new technique I have developed for creating dolls, creatures, balls and more by wrapping upcycled strips of fabric on top of each other.
You can see more about it here.
Besides that as I already wrote I have new mailing list for updates about my workshops, including workshops I conduct in other places and not always mention in this blog. Mail me if you would like to be included.

שנה אזרחית נפלאה לכולם!
Wish you all very happy new year.