Here are my dolls:

Finola – the name means ‘white shoulders’ in Irish.  Don’t ask me how I happened to come across that when trying to name a doll with vertebrae arms, but I did.  She is made from pods, clay, bone, antique doll legs, etc.

Bluebeard’s wife – ceramic, clawfoot, mixed media

Inspired by the fairy tale of BlueBeard who gives his bride a palace to live in but asks her to never ever open the cellar door…of course, she does and discovers the corpses of all the brides before her.  This may have to be a series!

Esmerelda -the name means emerald, referring to some of the accent colors on this doll.  She was created with clay, pods, vintage keys, antique doll legs, roots, etc.

Finally, there is Maeve.  This name in Irish means tall and slender.  Maeve’s torso is made with an animal skull, lotus pod, vertebrae, clay, rope, pecan shell etc.

My mixed media dolls are often composed of objects I find in nature.  Because I live in FL and walk the beaches, I come across things like fish vertebrae, mangrove roots, sea grasses, rusty bits of metal and so on.  Pecan shells are also easy to spot in my state.  Other bones, I am given or I  purchase, but only if the animal has died naturally.  Other folk who live near the woods, come across little skulls or shed horns.  No matter where you live, you can look to nature for not only inspiration, but materials for your work!

Thanks for visiting.  I actually have a few more art dolls to show you, but that will be in the next post.  All the ones on this page are available through May at Florida Craftsmen Gallery in St. Petersburg FL.  After then you can contact me for availability.

If Wander had a last name it would probably be ‘Lust’.  She loves journeys and her favorite method of travel is jumping trains.  Wander finds nothing more relaxing than the rocking motion of an old train chugging along and she find nothing more exhilarating than waking up and not being sure where she is.  The unknown is disorienting and the only way to solve that is by exploring a place and becoming familiar with it.  Once she feels comfortable in a place, it’s time to move on.  Wander loves drinking gin and singing songs around blazing trash can.  (It’s really just gingerale, but no one dares point that out to little Wander).  If you are thinking you’d like to give Wander a permanent home, that’s wonderful but you’ll need to have an adventurous spirit of your own.  She will probably disappear from time to time, but will always come back home to you if you share her lust for life.

Wander is a mixed media art doll and part of my lotus girl series.  Each girl is inspired by a dried lotus pod.  She is completely hand -made and one of a kind.  She is made primarily of a lightweight stone clay, wire and includes details  made from found natural objects such as  dried roots collected along the Gulf of Mexico,  some shredded coconut gathered along the coast of the Atlantic ocean and of course a lotus pod!  Her little hat has been delicately hammered from a small tin and then rusted using iron and acid which is topped with a rusty bottle cap, a bit of paint and a scrap of fabric.  She is just under 8 inches tall and approx 4 inches wide.  She is signed on the bottom.

Wander is available through my etsy store - here.

Remember when Jingle and Jangle helped save Christmas?

Jingle and Jangle with Snow Miser

So, the idea of elves is what inspired me.  These small wonderful craftsmen busy in their workshop making toys for all the worlds children.  What if it were true?  What if at one time we really did get our toys from elves but technology and crap made in China and discount stores had pushed them aside.  Kids want what they see on television and elves don’t work in plastic and computer chips.  What if the appreciation for elf-made toys had fizzled out.  What would the elves do with themselves?  Would they buy a huge condo in Palm Springs and take up golf?  Or would they hopefully await, trusty tool in hand, for someone to request one of their toys.  I imagined the latter…except of course, for Hermey who never wanted to make toys in the first place.

Hermey the disgrunteld elf

Forgotten – the Tiny Toy Maker is created with la Doll clay over an armature of wire, foil and gourd.  His little outfit is created with a technique using paper that allowed me to create an interesting texture with lots of crinkles and folds.  In his hands he holds an old chubby screwdriver I got from a dead man’s tool chest.  (estate sale!)  His eyes are my favorite part:  rusty jingle bells my friend found at a garage sale which I brushed with a little translucent bronze metallic paint.

Forgotten - the Tiny Toy Maker by Calan Ree

Forgotten - the Tiny Toy Maker by Calan Ree

At the moment, he is on display at the Vitale Gallery at 651 Central Avenue, downtown St. Pete.  He would very much like a home for the holidays.  You can contact me for details.

Forgotten - the Tiny Toy Maker by Calan Ree

In other elf related news, I’ve recently released this year’s addition to the GingerDead Greetings holiday cards.  All the cards as well as illustrated jewelry and a few art dolls and finger puppets are available through my etsy store.

GingerDead Greeting Card - Looks Like Christmas - by Calan Ree

Today, I’m not going to show you the evolution of my newest finger puppet Zom-Bunny.  Now, if you choose to make your zombie rabbit, I’m not going to be held responsible for what happens. I will say this.   I hope you have a gourmet meat market in the neighborhood that sells brains.  Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself with an awful headache and insatiable appetite for gray matter.

Materials are clay, wire, aluminum foil and paint.

I used la Doll’s Premiere stone clay which is a nice sturdy air dry clay.  You can use whatever you want.

I find with clays like La Doll and Creative Paperclay it’s helpful to build a pretty decent armature to build on.  This is especially true of the paperclay.  If you are using a polymer clay like Super Sculpey, you might find you just need a bit of wire to help support the arms and ears.   Here’s what my armature looked like:

Next I added clay, piece by piece, smoothing it as I went until I had the general shape.  A bit more clay for the details and finally I dug into the semi-hard clay with a needle-like tool to create lines that indicate fur and also the brain bite and other wounds.  La Doll dries a lot faster than paperclay and doesn’t need to be baked.  If your creating a simple figure than it will be ready in a day…maybe less.  Because I make finger puppets there is a hole underneath that goes up to the head area.  This part of the clay doesn’t get exposed to the air as well, so I need to lay his little body on it’s side and really give it time to cure.  It takes days and days but if you wanted a zombie finger puppet as much as I did, you’ll be patient.

Here’s how he looked when he was nice and dry and ready to paint:

I always use gesso with my air dry clays.  I think it’s a great way to take the first step in sealing the clay and protecting it and also creates a nice clean base with a bit of tooth to add paint to.  Paint your zombie bunny however you like.  I used several washes of  winter whites and paynes grey and some sepia tones for antiquing. When creating wounds it’s nice to start with a dark tone first and then add your brighter bloody tones on top.  This gives depth. When you’re happy with the paint you can use a protective finish.  I seal mine with matte finish because I don’t really want a shiny zombie.  I do like a little shine to the eyes and mouth though so a bit of varnish is the final step.

Here’s mine:

Take this last step if you dare.  Dig a 6 inch hole in the earth by the light of a full moon.  Place a morsel of animal brain inside the mouth of the figure.  Fill the hole with a mixture of 3 parts cemetery dirt, 1 part  cloves and 1 part ground bone.  Brew a cup of chamomile tea using 3 teabags and 2 cups of water.  Pour this on top of your little grave mound at precisely 2:22 am reciting the following:

brains craver, flesh raver, rabid rabbit, boo
zombunny birthed at two twenty two

Keep reciting this until the clock turns to 2:23, then stop immediately.  In 24 hours, you’ll have yourself a zombie rabbit. No need to dig it out, it will do that on it’s own.  Have fresh brains ready because it will surely be hungry.  In fact, it will always, always be hungry.

zombie girl II

This is going to be a  great festival with tons of vendors, celebrities, film screenings, ball, zombie walk, costume contest and more!  The event takes place in Orlando October 8-10.  Hope to see you there!

Spooky Empire Rocks Orlando (read article)

Visit Spooky Empire (website)

Spooky Empire Freak Show Horror Film Festival

The voodoo love doll pendants are finally done.  I finally ended up with a design I’m happy with.  Each one is unique in the body size, facial expression, etc.  I’m not making any sort of mold with this one so they will really vary.  The first batch was a small one and several are already in Florida Craftsmen Gallery.  I’ll be putting a couple in my etsy store this week and am starting another batch tonight.  These pictures came out crappy, but it will give you an idea.

It took a lot of tries to work out a skeleton design that I was happy with.  I wanted something that would reflect some of the dolls I do which was easy enough, but to translate that into jewelry got a bit more tricky.   I ended up going with a flat back so the pendant stays in place and looks great.  The sizes and design will remain consistent with these but each is hand painted so no two will be identical.  Some have chompy, endearing mouths and others are more subtle.  I still need to get the bails attached but I hope to release these to my stores later in the week.

I’m keeping this guy for myself.  His crooked grin is infectious.  But, he’ll have friends soon.  A few are being birthed in the studio right now.

*insert latex glove snaps and rapid hand rubbing*

The PaperClay has been great in a lot of ways, but it takes forever to dry.  I’m working on several new finger puppets with it and I really do love the texture which is slightly rough and way more organic than polymer can ever be.  Still, I wanted to explore other options so I did some more research and read about La Doll – an air dry clay from Japan that a lot of doll makers swear by.  I decided to get some and try it out on my next art doll.

I found La Doll to be smoother than the paperclay but still feels organic…more like stone which is what it’s made of.  The drying time is definitely faster which is a plus because even when I use the oven to speed up the PaperClay it still takes days or even weeks to truly become dry and safe to paint and finish.  I use armatures and don’t make it really thick but it still takes forever.   I still love PaperClay but so far I like La Doll very much as well.  More projects will tell whether or not I fall in love and use it exclusively.  As far as textures go, both can be sanded nice and smooth if that’s your desire but I like a little grit to my work.  It feels more honest to me somehow.  I suppose as a human, imperfections are something I can relate to.

So anyway, without further ado, meet Grissel.  She is wearing repurposed fabrics including vintage lace and doilies and sports a fancy brooch made of tiny rusted nails and cloves.   She is around 6.5″ tall when seated.

You can shop for Kathryn Cole’s jewely on etsy or in St. Petersburg FL at ArtPool and Florida Craftsmen.  To see more check out of Kathryn Cole’s Ring A Day (RAD) rings and other jewelry designs on her Flickr.