How To - Personal Paper Doll

This is a fun rainy (or snowy) day crafty activity that has endless possibilities! I used my dog Theo since I don’t have kids, but this would be an engaging fun project to do with a bunch of kids. Make a doll of each member of the family! This is also a great idea for parties - have the kids each make their own doll of themselves to take home. These would also make a fun personalized gift to send to relatives too.

What you need-

Digital camera

Printer

Printing paper

Cardboard or cardstock
Scissors

Metal brads (found at most craft stores)

Glue or decoupage medium, or acrylic medium

Extra- paint, glitter, fabric ribbon or other embellishments

Getting started-

1. Either use an existing photo or take one of the person or pet you want to make a doll out of. Be sure to get the whole body in the frame. Have kids do a jumping jack or starfish pose so their arms and legs are easy to cut around. Try taking photos outside against a wall. For animals the side view works best.  

2. Print 2-3 copies of the image. For four legged critters you will need at least 3 copies. If you have a printer that can print on heavy cardstock, print this out on the cardstock and skip steps 5 and 6. Otherwise I just printed out on regular copy paper and it worked fine.  You may want a few extra copies in case you cut something wrong. I printed Theo in black and white, but you can print it out in color, or add color later with paint or markers etc. 

3. Carefully cut around the first copy of the photo, removing the limbs you will want to articulate. You will want to leave the shoulders or thighs so you have somewhere to attach the limbs. 

4. Cut around the limbs on the second copy, be sure add the extra shoulder, thighs or hips, so it will overlap the body you just cut out, and have plenty room around the joint area for the brads or pins. You can just have joints at the shoulders and legs, or you can cut the limbs so you can have bends at knees and elbows. 

For four legged critters- on the third copy cut an extra front and back leg out- this is easier than trying to get a photo of your dog with all four legs showing.

 5. If you printed on regular paper, you can glue the parts onto cardboard or cardstock to stiffen it up. I used acrylic gel medium, but pretty much any paper glue or mod podge will work.  

6. Once the glue dries, cut out the parts from the cardboard. 

7. Roughly assemble the doll how you want it to look, and use a pin or nail to poke holes in the joints for the brads. 

8. Insert the brads to attach the limbs. Try layering the limbs till it looks the way you want. I put one leg behind the body and one on top for Theo to give him a slight 3 dimensional feel. 

 9. Embellish as desired, glitter, color, fabric, ribbons, stickers etc.

Here’s is one I made using a vintage photo of my grandfather. Fun!

Nakisha's New Items for Winter, 2011

Hello Everyone,
Some new items for the Holiday Season and beyond :)

Although I am still working on a new, much more complicated tarot deck, I did finish another small complete animal tarot deck in the style of the TaRat Rat tarot- The BlueDogRose Tarot.  Instead of Swords there are Cats, Cups are Birds, Pentacles are Rodents and Clubs are Dogs. The Major arcana also has goldfish, guinea pigs and rabbits.

This deck and the TaRat and Rabbit Tarot are all available on Etsy here-

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluedogrose?section_id=6404342

And more information, including the meanings of the cards can be found here on my official website-

http://www.nakisha.com/nakishas_tarots.htm

As I have been doing every year, I have created a 12 month wall calendar of NEW bunny art for 2012. Only a limited number were printed, get yours while you still can!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluedogrose?section_id=5099968

Also NEW this year, I now have FREE USA shipping on any of my Fine Art Prints 5" x 7" or larger. I have new paintings available as prints, and some old favorites like this one-

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluedogrose?section_id=5172608

In my other shop Wire Animals, we are posting new birds and animals as often as possible. You can even get a customized word bird saying what you want, or choose from an assortment of birds and animals who already have so much to say-

http://www.etsy.com/shop/wireanimals?section_id=10336206

Don't forget to sign up for my e-mailing list to be informed of new work, upcoming sales, and special discounts or promotions (sent no more than once a month)-

http://www.nakisha.com/contact_nakisha.html

You can also find me on Facebook -

https://www.facebook.com/bluedogrose

Hope Everyone has a lovely Holiday Season!

All the Best,
Nakisha

Nakisha.com

Past Lives, Graphic Novels and Old Loves

I graduated from college in 1991, I was 21, broke and unsure of what direction my life would take. In addition to sculpture and painting, when in school I worked with an early form of computer animation. Back then I didn't own a computer, and there was no Internet like we have today. But I have always loved the idea of animation and visually telling a story.

I  eventually rented a tiny apartment with my house rabbit in a small town in New York state.  My only real furniture in the one room was my drafting table. I began writing and illustrating a series of graphic novels (comix) inspired by my rather cold and drab surroundings (winter in NY state seems to last most of the year).

Tired of the cold and lack of close friends I moved to Seattle in 1993 and continued to write and draw, inspired by my new city. After some long and frustrating attempts to get published, artistically I began to move in other directions. Eventually, I boxed up all the original drawings and pretty much forgot about them. Almost.

Not many people outside of Seattle know who the Bend are, but they are one of my favorite bands. Ever since I was the token roady for the now defunct band Ripley back in the late 1990's I've seen them play live many times and evolve over the years. Recently, something about hearing the song "Superpowers" from their album The Earth The Moon The Stars The Sun The Sky sparked a hint of an idea in my brain. I began digging through all my old graphic works - and quite extensive they are, several books worth at least - and felt like there was potential to make something out of it all. This was one of those projects that came together rather quickly.  Once I had the idea in my head, I ran with it. The finished work is the video above.

It's not a narrative of one of the graphic stories, rather an artistic reinterpretation using various parts of different comix. Yes, it is a departure from the work most people are familiar with. No rabbits! And yes, it is a bit dark. But it's still very much my art, and the short video represents literally years of my artistic life.

Will the old graphic novels ever be printed? The answer is a definite maybe. I still have about a hundred pages to digitally scan, process and get print worthy, and not much time to do it with all the other projects I am continually working on (like the newly finished Bluedgorsoe tarot for example). But it just might be time to make it happen.

Mei Mei

 My name is Mei Mei Puffy Ami Yum Yums, though my mom calls me Maisy-boo, mostly. She is too busy to keep up her blog so she asked me to write a bit about myself for it instead.

I'm half Shih Tzu, half American Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Yes, a "bull-shitz" ha ha. Very funny. Like I haven't heard that all my life. I have a short nose and curly tail like my mom but am strong and fast like my dad. I also snort when I am happy or giving kisses or think something is funny.

 I was adopted when I was a little peanut my mom says, though she knows I'm not a legume. She has many silly names for me, it's hard to keep track.  My daddy calls me "Boo-boo". Mom says he spoils me, and calls me his "white shadow" because I follow him around a lot. See what I mean about all the names? Snort.

I think I have a pretty good life, other than waiting on my people who don't seem to understand that they need to get out more! All this staring at the computers is really lame. I get bored when they do that, so I usually stay in bed until noon. My mom says I'm a slug-a-bed but I need my beauty sleep! I'm special because of all my furry brothers and sisters I get to sleep on the people bed. (sticks tongue out at Laika) I also get hair cuts since I have lots of white fur that grows like crazy. Under my white fur I have spots like a Dalmatian, so I get to be very stylish in summer and show my spots off.

 One of my favorite things to do is help in the garden. My mom pulls weeds and it's my job to bite them and make sure they are dead. I am very good at this and can even do a back flip to catch them out of the air. I also help with rat patrol, and make sure none of those nasty squirrels come into the yard. I am very good at protecting the yard. I help Turtle bark at people when they walk by.

 Things I don't like are riding in the car, because sometimes that means going to the V-E-T. Yes mom, I can spell, I know what that means! I also know what O-U-T and W-A-L-K mean. The V-E-Ts are not very nice, though my mom says they try to help me. They fixed my leg when it wouldn't work, though I had to wear the cone of shame afterwards. Still, I don't trust those guys, they like to poke me with things.

Everyone says I am the cutest, though I don't like being called a muppet or a mop. I am really a princess with super powers, and will bite any baddie that I meet. My mom says I need to be careful not to bite anybody that they like, so they have to introduce me so I know that they are okay.  I also like to bite holes in tennis balls. It's a bit of a hobby of mine, I have quite a collection. 

 Okay, enough of this boring computer stuff. I'm going back to bed, where I suggest you give me tummy rubs. Being this cute is hard work. Snort.

Artists Help Japan

Like many people out there I am touched deeply by the horrific images of the tragedy unfolding after the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Wanting to DO something to help, I created a series of simple rabbit paintings. 100% of the sale price will be donated to the relief efforts in Japan,  see my Etsy shop for details or to purchase. These seem to be selling fast, so I will list more as they sell.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluedogrose?ref=si_shop

Many vendors on Etsy are donating items and sales to the relief effort, you can see more on the Artits Aid team here:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/8446/artist-aid?ref=pr_teams

My friend Experimetal is making buttons from some of my donated bunny images and other items, more about that on her blog-
http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/2011/03/please-help-japan.html

*UPDATE 3/18- Almost all of the paintings have sold, thank you for those who have helped me raise money for those who are very much in need.

Interactive Little White Rabbit Stories - coming soon!

I worked on a project last year for a new company. They make Vivabook, interactive story book apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that "Challenge your brain, busy your hands, and warm your heart!" :D

These apps are great for getting kids interested in reading, and, I imagine, also a welcome thing to have when you are traveling with little ones, who need something to do besides ask "are we there yet?".

Check out this video-



To download the apps or learn more, visit the Vivabook website-
http://www.vivabook.com/

Or visit them on Facebook

Stories featuring the Little White Rabbit and friends are in the works, so stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

3 of Foxes from the New Tarot

Well, as some friendly people kindly reminded me, I haven't posted here for awhile. And "Happy New Year" is about a month late, but not for lack of intent.

As often this time of year I try to look ahead, what do I want to accomplish, and ask where do I see  myself this time next year? Hopefully not bogged under a bunch of paperwork for my taxes again!

I do want to keep working on the new Tarot, as yet unnamed. It (so far) has foxes, badgers, crows, and rabbits... and evolves the more I work on it. It's a bit more detailed than the Rabbit Tarot and Tarat. That said, I am barely a handful of cards in, there is much work ahead, and not as much time to work on it.

I will try to include posting more to this blog and adding to my ever expanding flickr photo pool as time permits, as well walking the dogs every day. Now there is one New Year's resolution my dogs won't let me forget!