It’s Raining Jello Jane’s

I have been excited about Jello Jane’s since the oh SO generous Janet Moss gave me one as a gift over a year ago.   I have wanted to try my hand at  creating one ever since.

I almost did three blog posts, one for each art doll, but decided to just post it as one longggg post instead 🙂

Janet lead our local Wednesday altered arts group using old metal jello molds, wire, wooden spools along with bits of this and that to create fanciful art doll creations

The molds come in many great shapes and sizes.  My collection of these began in the late 90’s, when Mr Magpie 🙂 drilled holes in them for me to make votive candle holders out of them.  Some turned up again quite by chance recently; isn’t that the way it goes when you are looking for something else *gg*

I have a collection of Dutch things (including some great postcards) and was thrilled a while back to come across a goodie bag at a junk shop that had a handful of  wooden shoe key chains…they say Port of Rotterdam on the side!  These inspired me to create this

Little Dutch Girl using bits of gorgeous lace

that Carmen Dyson shared with our group…. amongst other wonderful vintage items.    She is the Auction Queen and always SO very generous!  The bottle cap head (I like that it’s kinda small for the body making you take a closer look) was a gift from a talented teacher, Gail Russakov.  She made lots of these and said she wore them while traveling.  People would of course comment on them (no two were alike); she would kindly gift  them with one.  She had one for each of her students in the collage class I took a couple of years ago

Mr Magpie says my Dutch Girl could use a bouquet of tulips in her hand

next is my long necked Barefoot Girl

her collar is made from champagne foil and a chocolate paper frill…..ummm two of our favorite food groups, a large button behind her head (thank you for that image too Janet)

not being fond of the smell of E600, it stinks to high heaven for a very long time, I have found with a little patience, Heavy Gel Medium works beautifully adhering wooden spools to metal jello molds and so on…works like a charm if left to dry

22 gauge wire is doubled and twisted to make a hanging loop, then threaded through the large button and wooden spool, continuing through a hole put in the center of the jello tin.  Janet suggested twisting a button underneath the jello mold to tighten and secure things, then I added the legs by twisting the wire and tucking it up to finish

Michelle Lum Ho inspired me to use doll arms instead of some keys I had intended for arms and I, of course, did not want the doll legs to go to waste…..you should see her art doll!!!

My third doll was the first idea I had for my jello molds….I have had Marie Antoinette on my mind lately…..she measures 10 inches  (25,4 cm) from the top of her head to the beads at the tips of her ball point pen legs

I used two larger molds that I gessoed and lightly painted, hung on 12 gauge copper wire, that lovely bit of bling is from the Queen of Bling, Janet (thank you)!  Marie’s arms are tied with seam binding onto white cup hooks (thank you Janet!).   Finding the right head for Marie was a bit of a challenge 🙂 along with sizing it.    I glued it on a piece of corrugated cardboard (Mr Magpie is so helpful and full of great ideas, he is a detail guy and I just Love that about him).   Marie’s head slid over the copper wire perfectly; still want to add a couple more white feathers and maybe a tiny string of pearls even!

Photographing the art dolls was a bit challenging, since they are best viewed hanging.  You can see by the shadows why I prefer natural light, but this plate hanger in our dining room gave a nice chance to see the three art dolls together and as with the other photos, you can click (or double click) for a closer look

So much creativity under one roof certainly was exhilarating at our Wednesday gathering, inspiring and such fun…Thanks again Janet, you made a lot of people very happy!!!     I did find I had to come home to finish mine….guess I just need my “stuff” around me……it’s hard to know what to bring along, for me at least, you should see the mess this made here!!!  Creative chaos reigns!

wish I had photos of the other gals dolls, each one was just so unique and fantastic in every detail!

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