About 14 years ago, with no formal training in art, I was inspired to start designing and creating my one-of-a-kind fiber fantasy sculptures. It was through my love of nature, working with unique fabrics, yarns, colors, and fantasy which resulted in the creation of my Fiber Sculpted Fantasy Figures.I first started out selling my work in craft shows back in 1997, when I was creating more "doll like" figures, whose clothes I designed, and only hand-painted the faces. My largest creation at that time ws a 30" posable doll. Wanting to get into juried art shows, I changed my designs to smaller fantasy figures very similar to what I am doing now. It is amazing how one's art changes over the years! I now sell at art shows, via my web page, and last year in February of '08, I discovered Etsy. While, my business name for my art is/has always been YOUNG AT HEART, when I signed on with Etsy I used the name DZFANTASY for not only my Etsy shop, but my blog as well. I love having an on-line shop, but also truly enjoy doing shows for the one-on-one contact with customers.I individually design/create each figure using quality fabrics, many of which are silk, which I hand-dye to obtain one-of-a-kind colors and designs. Each creation's face is individually, hand drawn, needle-sculpted, and hand-painted using 100% silk tussah fabric. (Tussah silk comes from wild moths whose main diet is oak leaves, and the natural color ranges from light beige to darker tan.) This individual process is what gives each creation their unique personality. Their lips and eyes are further enhanced with a crystal clear lacquer which gives the face a 3-dimensional look, and a bit of shine! Finally, the face is then sprayed with a matte finish sealer for protection. Many hours of love, work and attention to detail go into each and every one of my creations.Each body, face and wing is firmly stuffed with the finest of acrylic fiberfill. The use of inner wire armatures allows me to position each creation into various permanent poses. Some of my creations are designed as wall hangings, mobiles, while others may be set wherever one wishes a bit of color, fun and fantasy!I design their colorful hairdos out of imported Italian, French, English and German designer yarns, or hand-dyed mohair in a wide array of colors and textures. I also design/create all of their accents; purses, necklaces, hair and waist accents, using Swarovski crystals, stones, glass beads, shells, and pieces of antique jewelry.Creating my fantasy creations is a "passion" with me, and I couldn't give it up if I wanted to!! It is such fun to see the smiles on people's faces when they visit my booth at an art show. I also started my DZFANTASY blog in April of 2008, and love having monthly giveaways of my creations.WANDA, here on the links.YOUNG AT HEART WEB PAGEhttp://dzfairies.comDZFANTASY on ETSY:http://dzfantasy.etsy.comDZFANTSY BLOG:http://dzfantasy.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label Fiber Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiber Art. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Featured Artist: DZFantasy
About 14 years ago, with no formal training in art, I was inspired to start designing and creating my one-of-a-kind fiber fantasy sculptures. It was through my love of nature, working with unique fabrics, yarns, colors, and fantasy which resulted in the creation of my Fiber Sculpted Fantasy Figures.I first started out selling my work in craft shows back in 1997, when I was creating more "doll like" figures, whose clothes I designed, and only hand-painted the faces. My largest creation at that time ws a 30" posable doll. Wanting to get into juried art shows, I changed my designs to smaller fantasy figures very similar to what I am doing now. It is amazing how one's art changes over the years! I now sell at art shows, via my web page, and last year in February of '08, I discovered Etsy. While, my business name for my art is/has always been YOUNG AT HEART, when I signed on with Etsy I used the name DZFANTASY for not only my Etsy shop, but my blog as well. I love having an on-line shop, but also truly enjoy doing shows for the one-on-one contact with customers.I individually design/create each figure using quality fabrics, many of which are silk, which I hand-dye to obtain one-of-a-kind colors and designs. Each creation's face is individually, hand drawn, needle-sculpted, and hand-painted using 100% silk tussah fabric. (Tussah silk comes from wild moths whose main diet is oak leaves, and the natural color ranges from light beige to darker tan.) This individual process is what gives each creation their unique personality. Their lips and eyes are further enhanced with a crystal clear lacquer which gives the face a 3-dimensional look, and a bit of shine! Finally, the face is then sprayed with a matte finish sealer for protection. Many hours of love, work and attention to detail go into each and every one of my creations.Each body, face and wing is firmly stuffed with the finest of acrylic fiberfill. The use of inner wire armatures allows me to position each creation into various permanent poses. Some of my creations are designed as wall hangings, mobiles, while others may be set wherever one wishes a bit of color, fun and fantasy!I design their colorful hairdos out of imported Italian, French, English and German designer yarns, or hand-dyed mohair in a wide array of colors and textures. I also design/create all of their accents; purses, necklaces, hair and waist accents, using Swarovski crystals, stones, glass beads, shells, and pieces of antique jewelry.Creating my fantasy creations is a "passion" with me, and I couldn't give it up if I wanted to!! It is such fun to see the smiles on people's faces when they visit my booth at an art show. I also started my DZFANTASY blog in April of 2008, and love having monthly giveaways of my creations.WANDA, here on the links.YOUNG AT HEART WEB PAGEhttp://dzfairies.comDZFANTASY on ETSY:http://dzfantasy.etsy.comDZFANTSY BLOG:http://dzfantasy.blogspot.com
Friday, June 19, 2009
Featured Artist: JohnToftBasketry
I trade as JohnToftBasketry My Etsy Shop: http://www.JohnToftBasketry.etsy.com because my imagination could not come up with a catchy name. The trade name combines my name with what I do, make baskets. I needed a unique name when I obtained my business licence several years ago, and have stayed with that prosaic decision ever since.
https://twitter.com/JohnToftBaskets is my twitter site. It's a variation on JohnToftBasketry only because Twitter could not handle all the letters in the longer name.
My blog shows the same imaginative choice of words as http://johntoftbasketryatetsy.blogspot.com/. That blog is a combination of everything you could possible want to know about basket-making as well as a few stories on the trials and tribulations of raising an autistic person to adulthood, plus other topics that caught my interest.
My baskets are where my imagination and love of colour and design are allowed to be free. My baskets combine English and North American basket-making techniques in beautiful and whimsical manners that produce goods that are a joy to behold and own. The baskets combine three kinds of natural materials: willow and grapevine grown in my garden in suburban Ottawa, and rattan cane imported from China and Indonesia.
I specialize in three main types of baskets: sewing baskets (English style), rib baskets and market baskets (North American style). My blog of June 9th has an eight-step tutorial that shows how to make a tray with basket edging from kits I have put together. This is an easy introduction to basket-making for beginners.
I was introduced to basket-making over 50 years ago as a child at elementary school in England in craft classes. There my twin brother and I so enjoyed basket-making, and got so caught up in competing with each other to exceed each other, that the school almost ran out of supplies. About a dozen years ago I told the story of this basket-making odyssey to my wife Anne, and a basket-making book appeared as a Christmas gift. So began my saga as a basket-maker.
https://twitter.com/JohnToftBaskets is my twitter site. It's a variation on JohnToftBasketry only because Twitter could not handle all the letters in the longer name.
My blog shows the same imaginative choice of words as http://johntoftbasketryatetsy.blogspot.com/. That blog is a combination of everything you could possible want to know about basket-making as well as a few stories on the trials and tribulations of raising an autistic person to adulthood, plus other topics that caught my interest.
My baskets are where my imagination and love of colour and design are allowed to be free. My baskets combine English and North American basket-making techniques in beautiful and whimsical manners that produce goods that are a joy to behold and own. The baskets combine three kinds of natural materials: willow and grapevine grown in my garden in suburban Ottawa, and rattan cane imported from China and Indonesia.
I specialize in three main types of baskets: sewing baskets (English style), rib baskets and market baskets (North American style). My blog of June 9th has an eight-step tutorial that shows how to make a tray with basket edging from kits I have put together. This is an easy introduction to basket-making for beginners.
I was introduced to basket-making over 50 years ago as a child at elementary school in England in craft classes. There my twin brother and I so enjoyed basket-making, and got so caught up in competing with each other to exceed each other, that the school almost ran out of supplies. About a dozen years ago I told the story of this basket-making odyssey to my wife Anne, and a basket-making book appeared as a Christmas gift. So began my saga as a basket-maker.
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