Green Ornament

This is what I was working on last night. I wish I knew something about photography so I could capture the pretty sparkle and glitter. Because last night's photos were disappointing, I had to go outdoors this morning in the freezing cold to get this picture. (The background is white felt, not snow).

I used Sharpies to draw the face directly onto untreated muslin to get the bleeding effect. I found that when I slap on a layer of Podge first, the pens don't bleed. Remember the womens' faces from the silent movies where the eyes are heavily defined with kohl? That is the look I want to achieve as I have in my mind to do a series of dolls inspired by the silent screen era.

Since this was supposed to be a Christmas ornament, I should have drawn more of an angelic face. This one looks like a vamp. Oh, well.

The front is a green/gold cotton print with gold sequins and green and clear beads. The back is green felt and it is lightly stuffed. The little charm at the bottom was a bronze colour which I painted gold and the hanger is gold wired ribbon. She is 3 inches in diameter. I stitched this entirely by hand as my sewing machine is resting on the floor at the moment - no room on my work table. In fact, I'm running out of floor space too. (Lots of fun, but what a mess).

I'm going to make a few more of these for friends and then move onto something else. Is there anyone out there who reads my blog that would like to do a private swap with me of one of these ornaments (or something similar)? I can only commit to making one, so I will swap with the the first person who leaves a comment expressing interest. You can PM me at Mandolin50 at hotmail dot com.