Saturday 19 March 2016

2016 #5 Flower Troll {by Darcy Wilkinson}

2016 Topic 5: Art Dolls

Hi everyone, Darcy here to introduce my little troll buddy. I love Art Dolls and have always made them in some form or another. I think that goes hand in hand with my love of animated films. I was heavily influenced by the film Boxtrolls, if you haven't seen it then you must. They are cute trolls that live in boxes, and they take a name from whatever box they are in. 

So following that logic my troll should be called 'Seeds'


I began with an old box. I glued the lid shut and then used a craft knife to open the front side. I taped all the edges and painted the whole thing first with black and then with Toffee, Caramel and Haystack. 

Once painted I was able to stencil and stamp some old labels. I used words from EDY05, EDY07, EDY11, and ESN03

EDY05, 

Now for some legs. I glued cotton reels together and made some hands and feet from paper clay. These were all painted with Rose, China, London Night and Chalk. I also wrapped some self adhesive medical tape around the legs. 


I made both feet and hands double thickness for stability. Look at those toe nails lol


Next the eyes. I used the carboard inners from ribbon reels, covering them both inside and outside with previously made background papers. These form the goggles. The eyes are made with the poppy stamp from EDY19 onto text paper that was coloured with China. 

EDY19

Finishing touches to the eyes were liquid pearls. The paper eyes were strung into the goggles using clear nylon thread. 

I had a paper clay moustache just hanging around, as you do. so I popped that on too. He kinda looks like he's in disguise now with a fake 'tache . 


The front label required a bit of masking off.. I started with the haberdashery label from HP1211, I masked off the centre so that I just stamped the outer lines. Then I added the word SEEDS from ELB06, and POPPY from ELB23. Finally I stamped my poppy flower from EDY 19 and coloured this with Derwent Coloursoft pencils. Finishing again with liquid pearls. 


I used the wings from EDY17 and pressed them into paper clay, once dry these were painted with China, Rose and Chalk. I also painted some beads and wrapped those with more medical tape. 

 EDY17
The beads and paper clay hands were wired onto the sides of the box and the wings were glued behind. 


I gathered lots of old painted bits of paper and stamped the poppy lots of times. 


Cut out and layered up this stamp makes a really lovely flower , it works so well on so many different patterns and papers. I stamped the stem from the same plate and added these to wooden skewers. The pot is paper clay too, complete with cracks, this was painted simply with Brown Shed. 



A few final photos. 



I love how his packet of poppy seeds has grown and bloomed inside.. 


Monsieur Seeds, the secret poppy troll. 


I hope you like him, he was fun to make. You still have till tomorrow to link up your own art dolls. I look forward to seeing what you make. 
Darcy x

Twitter: Darcy UK

We would love to see how you interpret this Image Art Dolls  topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #5: Art Dolls, on this page HERE.
All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 
All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Art dolls link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, March 20th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

16 comments:

Miriam said...

Monsieur Seeds is just fabulous....what a clever idea....and love the flowers inside

Helen said...

Love him!! typical whacky Darcy fun - just perfect!

Lauren Hatwell said...

Yeeha! This is SO amazing. I am in awe. Truly! Lx

Artmadnana said...

This art doll has such personality. I really love how you made it. I love the pot of flowers inside. Pure inspiration.

pennylopes54 said...

Really clever Darcy! I love the inside surprise :)

Lucy Edmondson said...

This is just amazing, Darcy, it is everything an art doll should be! I love the arms and legs, the painted nails, and the surprise at the end with the flowers in the shed! Trouble is I want to make another one now, I'm addicted!

Lucy x

Craftyfield said...

Your troll is fabulous Darcy, love the idea of an inside too!

Deborah Wainwright said...

Wow Darcy a fabulous doll, what a fabulous idea you clever thing. Your imagination is amazing and to put your ideas into practice is a real skill. I also love the surprise inside. Hugs Debs xx

Julie Lee said...

Darcy, I'm totally in love with Seeds! His face; his arms, legs and feet are superb and I love how you can open him up and discover more - ingenious! What a talented and inspiring person you are! Thank You so much for always thinking outside the box! Te he!!! xx

CastleKelly Crafts said...

Darcy this is so, so, soo clever. Love your doll " to bits" X

Etsuko said...

He Troll Seeds is amazing. I love his big feet and what a surprise, his chest is full of poppies. Now I'm crazy about him. xx

Catie Cuddles said...

Absolutely stunning as per usual. You never fail to create something unique!
C xxx

ionabunny said...

Love this and the flowers inside. Cute and cool. Hugz

craftimamma said...

What a fabulous art doll Darcy! He's great fun and I absolutely love his eyes! I thought trolls were badies so it's nice to see a friendly one, lol!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Unknown said...

Oh Darcy, what else can we do?? Fall in love with Monsieur Seeds ! He is so cute !! You are so creative ! Good one tho! xx

Kirsten said...

Monsieur Seeds is soooo cute!!