Natalie Hamade - The Art and the Deal



Four Season Challenge

Summer 1st place Butterfly Catcher

The Art

    I would like to introduce you to Natalie Hamade. She is full of life, talkative and ready to teach her secrets about doll making and painting. Yes I said painting. We have all stumbled into the art doll world from different back grounds quilting, sculpting, wood working. Natalie loves to paint and will paint on just about anything. She has an etsy shop where she sells her dolls, prints, pillows, wearable art pins and even drawer pulls. You see Natalie designs interiors in her day-to-day life so she cannot help but to create items for the home.

      I first met Natalie, by way of a contest she entered in Doll Crafter Costuming. The contest was The Four Seasons Challenge and I was the pattern designer for the magazine. The design was a simplistic pattern that could be adapted easily. Each season had a winner. Natalie won the “summer” Four Season Challenge. Her winning dolls appearing in the September issue of 2007 with the piece she named “Butterfly Catcher.” Right away I knew she was different, she had a face painting style all her own. The Butterfly Catcher had an artistic charm.




Adora Bella - AFIC workshop



  In order to keep Art Doll making interesting we need new things to learn. Natalie was an artist with her own voice. I contacted her right away for the 2009 convention. Natalie was not shy but she was hesitant to teach. She had small children and an interior decorating business to think about. I totally understood, but I never give up.

When I called for applications for 2011, I contacted her. This time she was ready to dive right in. Her children were older, she had taught several doll making classes, she had her own blog and etsy shop and now was ready to forge ahead and teach at a national convention.



Ostrich Show Girl



The Deal

I asked her to teach the Ostrich Show Girl along with the Wearable Art Design class she had submitted. She said no, she wanted to do something new. I told her my true desire was to have a challenging class, one that her students had to step outside of their comfort zone. I wanted her to design a workshop with in depth face painting of a different color and tones. For this I had to wait to see what she would come up with, it made me very nervous. I was not the least bit disappointed. For those that have been drawing and mastering face painting this is the next step. Her class will include new techniques in face painting but she will introduce you to a whole realm of materials to use while layering on color for richer looking face.

See Natilies Class offerings at AFIC click here.


 

Pillows, Prints, Paintings, Wearable Art and More



Painting







Wearable art Pin



Pillow

To satisfy my own curiosity I ask Natalie what she was going to bring for the instructors Thursday night sale. You see I am saving my pennies up for that night. I really want some of her work. I inquired about some items I thought I would like to see in person, like prints, original mixed-media paintings, face pins, drawer pulls, aprons, wearable arts and pillows. She said yes all of that along with limited editions of various ATC's, and “stuff" fabric, trims, and beads. She also is considering giving out discount coupons for some of her on-line classes she will be offering next year. 





You can currently find many items for sale on Natalies etsy Shop Click here or join Natilies blog and keep up with what she is making and will be bringing to AFIC instructors sale.





Purse