It Won't Be Long...

The roller coaster winter is coming to a close. We're in the teasing season leading up to spring.

A sunny, warm day. Bright blue sky. A welcome reprieve from the cold ice and snow.

Rust

Rust does not have a good reputation.

But I think it makes beautiful pictures.

I love photographing random, rusty objects.

I looked for a pretty poem, an inspiring quote or a positive scripture about rust.

Not much out there.

This isn't rust, but it's rusty colors with a touch of gold. I did find a sentiment combining the two...

Pure gold does not rust. Only gold alloys do so.

You may have golden dreams.

But if you go in the company of toxic people,

you become "a gold alloy" and what that means

is that you can rust at any time!

― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book

There's a Lady Who's Sure...

Led Zeppelin and ...Dolls?

My art-doll club issued a "challenge" for our February Show & Tell - make a doll inspired by music. It could be any song or something from a musical. Because I always need to make something sparkly, I thought Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds would be perfect. But my friend, Laurie, had the same idea. Because, you know, great minds and all that. I was wracking my brain and coming up blank. I even put a call out over Facebook. And while some good suggestions were being posted left & right, I had a eureka moment all on my own.

Yep, that's right. Stairway to Heaven. Oh the possibilities!

This 70s classic means something different to everyone. I always thought of Lord of the Rings, Galadriel and Lothlorien when I heard it. Beautiful, ethereal, mysterious Galadriel would be my inspiration!

I made the basic doll the same way as the last club challenge doll (see here). The head and arms are once again adapted from a Cindee Moyer pattern. The gown - I just figured it out as I went along, using pictures of Galadriel from The Hobbit movie as a guide.

Now what would be really cool, would be to have The Stairway...

Yay for the internet! Someone had figured out how to make a spiral staircase and posted their tutorial. That's where the simple $1 fan from Pier 1 Import comes in.

I needed something really simple and then I simplifed it even more, i.e. wasn't going to bother with a banister.

A bit of disassembling, cutting, a hole punch for the dowel, some gluing. Then stack the steps on the dowel using beads in between to stabilize.

Time to add the magic!

And here's the glittery stairway:

Oops! It's not dry. You'll have to come back tomorrow to see

a Lady who's sure

all that glitters is gold.