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Monday, August 30, 2021

Frankenstein Goes Main Stream

 
Frank and Franky Frankenstein hit the news stands!

I am so excited about the New Special addition of Art Doll.  In April Stampington Magazine asked for submissions for Autumn Art dolls due to popular demand they were going to put an Autumn addition.  I sent in one autumn doll and two Halloween art dolls.  All three pieces of my art were accepted.  This is the cover of the soon to be released Art Doll magazine, coming out on September 1, 2021.  Figurative cloth and clay artist have missed the eye candy offered by different artist published in this publication.  I am delighted to be a part of this issue. 

I had so much fun making all of these.  The Punkin Patch, the autumn doll was made into a pattern for Soft Dolls & Animals magazine in 2014 and this year just released to Dollmakers Journey's online store. 


I love Halloween and am always making fun things to set about the house in the fall. Frank and Franky Frankenstein, and Marie Antoinette (proudly holding her head) are part of my own home Halloween decorations.

Making the pattern for Frank and Franky

After sending them in I thought I would try my hand at writing a pattern for Frank and Franky. Writing patterns for cloth dolls comes second hand to me after years of practice. This time adding that second element of painting was a new step I had to get it right.  I simply had way to much fun making them over and over again, using different color combinations. If you purchase Art Dolls Special addition you can see how the colors differ slightly and details change to make them come alive even more so then originally designed.


Two more sets of Frank and Frankie came in. this one is from Janet McMullen. This is from the mini class I taught.

The classes always help me clarify any information in the patterns. They were great students all around it was a fun day.  

I did have the bodies sewn and stuffed but they did all the painting.

Vicki Lamer made next two Frank and Franky Frankenstein.

They did a great job these were completely painted within 3 hours.


Made by my sister Patti Stedman LaPorte.

It is a no stress easy to make, pancake pattern. The instructions are easy to follow step-by-step painting with illustration. Before releasing the pattern, I had a few people take a mini class with me to make sure I worked out all the bumps and troubles that artist and crafters would come up against. First I tried the pattern out on my sisters who do not make art dolls. Then I chose a few of my friends who are artist to make them. Here are some of the results of the mini class. 



Made by artist Cindy Celusta


At last it was tested by Jody Miller who only had the pattern with no guidance.  She said it was Fun and Easy to do. Which is always a good thing to hear.  Within a couple of days from her testing. The Pattern it was released August 30, 2021 to Dollmakers Journey online store in both paper pattern and PDF format. 

What fun this was to make this notorious Frankenstein family into fun caricatures.   Originally these were made for my own enjoyment but they became much more than that.   I hope everyone has as much fun making these as I did constructing the pattern and teaching it.