January 2009
Katja Kunstek of Katjasdreamland
OOAKDollart.com February Artist of the Month

By Tenderspirit the Fairy Reporter

I asked Katja to tell me a little bit about herself: I was born in the year of 1983, in the sign of Aries - pig in Chinese:) We lived together with my grandparents until I was 21 and they had and still have a big influence on me. We still live in the same village, only a few minutes away by car. My inspiration comes from the woods around me-they whisper in my ear and tell me which fairy wants to enter the real world :) Yep, arts have been with me since I can remember. I got this talent from my granddad-he is fantastic in drawing without any kind of formal art education. And the things an artist can't do without having -patience- well my mother gave me this. I used to knit with her for many hours. So I will always be grateful to both of them. As she stated above Katja's influences for her artwork were her mom and granddad. She loves Picasso’s, Klimt's Van Gogh's and Monet's paintings, for sculpting she considers anyone who's happy to help my mentor, otherwise I have been a self learner. I started sculpting in nursery school; my mom used to buy me plasticine and I made little ducklings from it - the Swarovski style - from a big one to a very small one. Paintings were always all over our house. In primary school and gymnasium I was mostly painting with water colors; almost everyone ended on school walls. I even won a school prize once in gymnasium for painting on silk. As you probably know I'm currently a graduate from School of economics and business and do attend different painting classes from time to time. Sculpting is one way I relax. I love to go outside to take a walk with my dog or just play with him and cuddle and persuade my boyfriend to give me a nice massage :)“What do you like to make?” I asked. She responded, “Hmmm...is there something I don't do LOL I sculpt obviously, paint with acrylics on canvases, make Christmas tree ornaments, little light boxes, sculpt and make jewelry, crochet and knit. ”I asked, “How did you interest in sculpting in polymer clay begin? She answered, “Well, I've been making jewelry from polymer clay for about 4 years now and as I am what I am, just this wasn't a challenge for me anymore. I always have to try out new things and as I was always in love with everything about fantasy it just crossed my mind one day to sculpt. And now here I am. ”I had one sculpt that was very hard to part with. She was a little garden fairy in the very beginning of my sculpting. One of my friends fell in love with her and I think you already know what happened then...My least favorite part of sculpting is making the armature-it's always the same process, it just ends in a different pose. The most fantastic one is, when I make the body and the head-so it's the moment, when my little creation looks at me for the very first time. Most memorable moment: The most memorable moment was when I sold my first sculpt-it gave me hope, that someday I'll be good enough to sell internationally too - and I do LOL Katja's goals: One of them came true already :) The second one is that art in any form would be more appreciated in my own country. The advice Katja would give to new sculptors: Join ODA LOL I really mean it; I have found so many helpful things here. Members are so open and ready to help, that now I can not even imagine to be without them. Not to be afraid to ask. I believe the best way to learn is to keep practicing-it helped me a lot. When asked how ODA has helped Katja said, ”I have become more confident and by the help of so many member I improved a lot in many ways. ”Katja said, “I can not sit still, always have to do something, some say I'm hyperactive :)” If Katja had one wish she said, “I love nature, the sea the most, so my biggest wish at this time is to go to the Maldives and scuba dive my heart out.”

Porcelanafria Canal

January 2009
Nathalie Quiquempois
OOAKDollart.com February Artist of the Month

By Tenderspirit the Fairy Reporter

Well I am now off to visit Boissy le Chatel, France.  I flew all night long after
My long journey to visit Katja and arrived early in the morning.
What a lovely venture this was as I looked down at all the country homes.
I came upon a small white home with lovely lawn everywhere.
I lightly knocked on the door.  The most beautiful women with glistening red hair answered the door. 
She invited me into her Lovely home.  From the moment I walked in I knew I was in the home of an artist.  
Her home had peach walls with a lovely white couch at one end.  She asked me if I would like something to eat after my long journey.  I told her I would love a cup of coffee.  I sat on the couch and began to inquire about her art forms.  She told me she models wedding figurines, children in miniature, and sometimes dragons.
 
She told me her interest in sculpting in polymer clay began with the dough with salt, before discovering the cold china three years ago.  She has never made a sculpt that she has not offered to sell but always keeps a
photo of each piece she makes.  She enjoys making faces, because it is difficult therefore, if the face is made successfully the sculpture is magnificent.

Nathalie is also a medical secretary.  

Her parents were simple workers, her father worked in a Northern mining city of France, but her mother is a talented needlewoman and she creates landscapes with food.   She always liked the modeling clay since she was quite young.

I asked her what has been your most memorable moment in sculpting so far and what has been the lowest moment?
She said, “I do not know a moment when the modeling did not make me happy!
The biggest satisfaction that I knew, it is when a publisher(editor)
contacted me to write a book on the modeling of the fairies.”
She told me her projects for 2009, are to write another book, to continue to develop cold porcelain in France, and then also to become known by collectors
by participating in specialized shows.

She advises new sculptors to be persevering, to practice many pieces to progress, not to hesitate to look for ideas in books, and especially to always have pleasure in your life!
 
She believes there is no better way to learn than the work and help from others in her opinion. 
She feels that certain people are endowed without never having been taught, but the others will need models, a lot of advice(councils), and and a lot of patience.

Nathalie likes sports and reading but modeling in clays she feels makes her very relaxed. 
When she is in her workshop she never feels like it is work.
I asked her how has being a member of ODA helped her?
She said, “On ODA, I found answers to questions that arose on certain
techniques, because there are few (or no) books written in French on the modeling of OOAK figurines.”
 
I asked her who influenced her in her artwork, either artist or others, she said,
“When I began the dough with salt, I had no book, and then I  bought those of Brigitte Casagranda, who is famous in France; since I make some
 cold porcelain, I looked for a few techniques on special reviews ( cold china) Brazilian,
then I printed anatomical charts to respect the proportions, etc...”.

I asked if she had one wish what would she wish, she said, “I would like that modeling becomes a more popular art because  when I do demonstrations in shops, most of the persons look at me with big eyes and seem to think that they will never be capable of assembling 2 sausages to make something!

I had such a great time visiting and looking out the window of her very comfortable home. I gave her a big hug and we said our tempary good byes. I sure hope that I may one day come back to this beautiful country home.

Up Coming Doll Shows All Over The World (click here)

Hi Gang!  It's time again for another great tip.  I love this tip and would never have known this before, so without further ado...

Working with a grid by Alan Jong:
Its really simple to do and it will help you balance your sculpture more quickly. Using a grid will give your brain reference points and help you balance symmetry in your work. The grid I'm using came from the quilting department in Jo-Anns these are easy to find anywhere that sells sewing and quilting supplies.
To begin make a center line on your work this can be done with a tool if your clay is soft I did this using a pencil on the heads and just made dots about 1/4 inch apart. On the torso in the photos I usd a pen to make this line because I will be making a plaster mold for casting porcelain from this.
Place your work behind this grid, or hold the grid in front of your working aligning the center line with a line on the grid. If there are problems like a bigger breast a lower collar bone or higher shoulder it will be clear right away. It's important to use this looking from the top down also, and from the bottom up.

OOAK Doll Art Dreamworld Competition

Okay, so it's January now! Let's make use of that wonderful tutorial that Essie translated for us and bring our own spin on a dreamworld into being! If you haven't seen the tutorial yet, take a look- it's in the working with air drying clay section of the forum.

Please either post below, or PM me to let me know that you are participating, and I will put your name on the list in this post. We'll take entries until the end of January, and then on February 1st or so we'l post a poll and invite everyone to vote.

We'll take entries until the end of February, and start voting on March 1st, by popular demand!!!

Click on the link to go to the thread: OOAK Doll Art Dreamworld Competition

Good luck to all participants, and let's have some fun!

Contestants:

HWest(Heather)
Irish shee (Maggie)
Katjasdreamland(Katja)
Dezhire (Amy)
Kiddobears

by Dezhire

This two-part epoxy is similar in use to Magic-Sculp but it has a thinner consistency (a little thicker than Vaseline). Easily smoothed with water to a glassy finish, Magic-Smooth is used often for taxidermy projects but it is also great for sculpting. Magic-Smooth does not dissolve foams making it an ideal foam coat! Also it can be used to give texture to almost any surface and Magic-Smooth makes a great adhesive for many projects. Simply mix equal parts of both the A and B component, and the material will harden overnight. It will permanently adhere to almost any clean surface. Once dry, Magic-Smooth will accept most any type of paint and will not shrink or crack. It is user-friendly and will not drip or run. Once cured it is stable from 30ºF to 360ºF. You can purchase Magic Smooth from Morezmore. It is the most amazing stuff ever. It is fantasic for attaching parts where you bake separately and amazing for repairs. . You need so little that the sample pot will last for ever. Here is a link so you can get yourselves a sample. MoreZMore

SWAP Trading post

Hi all I was wondering if anyone would be up for another Trimmings swap. We could do it around a theme, say like a colour or season or anything else you could think of. Love Maggie ... Stop throwing stuff away!!! Save your discards and join the trimmings swap, for goodness sake! your not good enough stuff would be like gold to some of us!!!! sometimes when you make the doll it's so hard to find THAT stuff that you need and other peoples trimmings are incredibly good for it, I love these swaps and think they are really exciting. They are open to everyone and the more the merrier. Why not come and join us. Christmas Swap

A Word From Julie:

Not really much from me, but here is something regarding the Virtual Gallery re-launch and its plans for 2009.... This was posted last month but would like to post it again this month.

Virtual Gallery

The Virtual Gallery had a successful re-launch at the end of 2008 featuring a new look that is clean, sharp and easy to navigate

Elsie purchased the latest 3D models, of which the quality is truly remarkable. You can test this out yourself by downloading the latest sample file in the freebie section. We also have many new characters outside of the human figure, all to help inspire your next creations.

So what’s in store for 2009? There are many new features that will be added to the Virtual Gallery in 2009. A couple of those features are:

The Randomizer which you can challenge yourself by letting it pick your next pose.
The showcase which will be filled with users creations made with inspiration from VG poses

And of course we will be filling with VG with so many more poses!!

We would like to thank all VG members for your support for 2008 and look forward to supplying you with excellent poses in 2009


Julie Sharpe
ODA Administrator

A Word From Kendra:

Hello everyone! Well, as you can see we have made some more changes to the front page, we have an easier to read navigation menu at this time and I am getting the Featured Artists, and Artists of the Month pages updated as well! The new pages will feature the Winners of the ODAArtist of the Month award and ODA Featured Artists with a magical flash slideshow presentation of some of their best works. I should be completed with this project soon! Well, another BIG THANK YOU to all the talented artists who have allowed us to use their work in the new design. Happy New Year and Many Blessings to you all!

Kendra
Sister Site Owner, www.FaeBae.com
Proud ODA Partner

This section is based on Irish Shee’s trimmings swap. It is where you can advertise to swap stuff you no longer need, in return for stuff you do. No cash involved, except postage of course.  It is your choice what and with whom you choose to swap.
Please contact me if you’d like to advertise here.
C.mon surely you don't need everything in your fairy cupboard!

Essie is our first poster. She says she has lots of nice fabrics, trimmings, beads, gemstones (and chips from gemstones) to swap if anybody is interested.

by Amy

Oh my, it's time to find some bargains....it's not always easy to find them, but just on Ebay alone there are some incredible buys! Check out these great suppliers. I can't wait to see all the great things you all create from these bargains. ~~Amy~~

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/morezmore http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/ja*fairy*dew http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/dollshouseminis http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/bradandbree http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/annimae182http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/mywyckedways

I can't wait to see all the wonderful new creations from all of you.

HUGS!!!
Amy
xoxo

WHY NOT VISIT OUR SISTER SITE?




From the World of FaeBae:

MOREZMORE IS THE OFFICIAL FAEBAE ARTIST SUPPLIER!
Hello! For those of you who have not already heard, Natasha Red October of MOREZMORE is now FaeBae's Official Artist Supplies Seller! This is a very exciting announcement for us to be able to make, on January 15th it was determined that MOREZMORE would be the Official Art Supplies Seller for FaeBae and she will be moving in as soon as we launch version 1.0! Many of you are already familair with MOREZMORE, their variety, quality and professional courteous customer support is what makes their company so special and valuable to us all. Please be sure to stay tuned to OOAK Doll Art and FaeBae for the upcoming announcement for MOREZMORE's official move in date!
Thank you for your interest! www.faebae.com

We got MAJOR changes coming, matter of fact, don't be too surprised to start seeing some of these changes slowly show up between now and throughout the end of March. We have just brought on board a team of highly talented, professional and eager developers and designers to launch FaeBae 1.0!

Totally New Site Design that will rock your socks as well as enhance your navigation through the site, still featuring the artwork of Clare Gladding of Fairytasia! No more transparency, scrolling background or floating store manager tool. We are adding functionality that you have been waiting for and this is all coming THIS MONTH but please be patient as one of the modules is not co-operating with us as of March 13!

The FaeBae COA Generator will also be launching, we know we have been promising this for awhile but it is something we are developing from scratch and this sort of project requires the skills of many. We encourage everyone to keep an eye open for all future newsletters and announcements regarding this as this feature will not only be resourceful and beneficial, it's also FREE!

FAEBAE ARTISTS ARE SELLING!!! List your items on FaeBae! Help Collector’s make the transition!

Tired of the high costs of eBay and pesky rule ridden hindrances? Why have you not checked out FaeBae yet? Start Earning Wings today!

FaeBae’s February 2009 Favorite Site of the Month is: CD Lite Studios !

Congratulations C. D'Angelo studiocdlite !
http://www.cdlitestudios.com/

YOU COULD BE NEXT!

FaeBae Favorite Sites of the Month winners are awarded with an awesome graphical award, front page exposure for the entire month and a permanent spot in the Artist Directory plus a place in the ODA/FaeBae official Newsletter! Visit www.faebae.com and click on "Site of the Month" for more information

Until next time, Happy New Year FaeBaeians!


NEW! UNIQUE! NO GLUE WING AND MERMAID TAIL TUTORIAL!
Now available only on FaeBae!
This is a extremely unique method of creating gorgeous wing and tail structures without use of GLUE! Seamless, Gorgeous, One Piece, Flexible, Durable and Very Lightweight Wings. Once Mastered, you will never go back to glue again!
This Tutorial is available exclusively on FaeBae for only $24.95 buy it now!
Dutch Auction Starting at just $19.99!

From Tenderspirit

I would just like to say that I am so sorry the newsletters are taking so long to get out. I have just gotten this one up and hope it all looks well. I am by no way a web creator but I do my best to jump in where I can to help speed up the process or take on the work that I can. Kendra has been desparately sick for the past month and doing all she can to take care of her family (whom one by one too have been sick including her infant son and now her older son.) She currently has walking pneumonia and needs your prayers. So please be patient with the trials and glitches at Faebae as she is doing all she can, in fact she has done so much I believe that is why she has not been able to get well. So, I have taken on the newsletter publishing. I really am proud of myself though even if it took me 10 hours or so to do it. LOL

Hello to all.  I hope you will all keep a close eye on the new blog. The Underground Wizard is Quite a wise and Kindred spirit. That is most of the time he is Kindred. But, there are those times when he sees that one is bound determined to self destruct and cause chaos in their lives and well, he is known to pretty much tell it like it is. He told me once when you love someone you have to be honest with them if you see that they are heading for disaster. Boy sometimes that is hard for me to do too. But that wize old man has a heart of gold and has been the mentor to literally hundreds of troubled souls.

I hope you will be supportive and comment and tell him just what you think of his posts. I am sure your heart will be touched by some of the post and your head will be educated.

This will be the last newsletter posted on the site for all to view so please subscribe to the newsletter so that you will get the upcoming editions.

Big Hugs and lets have our best year ever.
Tenderspirit

Michelle Bell

ALL the staff at ODA.

Please see the post in the Fantasy or Fact Blog about our staff.

Also a special thanks to each and every member for making OOAKDollart the
wonderful supportive community that it is.

And to all of you that have not visited for some time please stop by:
Fantasy or Fact

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