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Monday, April 6, 2015

March Meeting Featured the Altoid Tin Challenge

The Altoid Tin Challenge was a resounding success!
The participation was overwhelming and many people made
more than one, especially Colleen. She beat us all in
numbers—this one featured a clay head.

Calendar Of Events 
 
April 13 (Monday), Anne Klocko Polymer Clay Workshop, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., Alameda County Office of Education, 313 W. Winton Ave, Hayward, CA. Class is nearly full and pricing will depend upon number of people participating. Contact Stephanie at smitharts2002@yahoo.com for more info.

April 16, Phoebe Meeting, 6:30 P.M., Alameda County Office of Education, 313 W. Winton Ave, Hayward, CA. The completed "make it and take it" puzzle piece from last month will be due for show and tell, as well as the large puzzle piece to be decorated for exchange.

August, Phoebe "Frog Prince" Exhibit at the Book Shop, B Street, Hayward. Sharon will be in charge. Anyone who has made a Frog Prince using Betts Vidal's pattern is invited to participate. Frogs will be due at the June meeting.

September 17, Phoebe Meeting, 6:30 P.M., Alameda County Office of Education, 313 W. Winton Ave, Hayward, CA. The year-long Tilda doll challenge will be due at this meeting. You can make more than one if you wish. Contact Sharon Martin at loveparissm@yahoo.com

November 9 and 10, and November 12 and 13. Two Kate Church Workshops, 2-days each. Class space is limited to 8 people per class. The first class is full, but there are still openings in the second. Contact Daisy at daisybkdoll@comcast.net for information.

December, Phoebe Exhibit at the Book Shop, B Street, Hayward. Betts will be in charge. More information later.

January 2016, Phoebe Tilda Doll Exhibit at the Book Shop, B Street, Hayward. Sharon will be in charge.

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Challenges

 
Anne put one of her fabulous ceramic heads on an Altoid tin. 


Here are three more examples of Anne's creative and expressive heads, hands and feet she combined with various tins to form figurative works of art. 


Colleen made on OOAK polymer head for this Altoid. She made fabric beads and used shell casings to create the arms and legs.



Clay hands and head were combined with fabric beads and watch parts in this Altoid creation by Colleen.


And, all the above mentioned materials (and more) were applied to various unusual tins to complete three additional figures by Colleen.



Donna incorporated shell casings, keys, fabric, beads, machine parts, a house number, a tea caddy, a postcard home and bits of fabric while assembling this tin soldier. 



The tin can be opened to read some words of wisdom and view his purple heart. 



This Altoid tin uses botanical materials inside and out to create a flower fairy. Who did this?



Harlene created a tin man shown here next to Suzanne's Asian doll. What a great idea!


Here is a full view of Suzanne's Asian figure. She collaged Chinese New Year metallic and tissue papers on it. Very clever.

 
 It is so amazing how one challenge can create so many different interpretations. This one incorporates metals, clay, watch parts, and wrapped wire for arms and hands. I believe it is also by Colleen.
 

One of our newest members was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and this Queen of Hearts soldier opens his felt uniform to reveal.....


an Altoid tin containing the White Rabbit and Alice, herself, complete with the "Drink Me" bottle.



And, another of our new members made this storybook figure from an Altoid tin—he wears his card as a body shield.
 

Stephanie, one of the Phoebe master polymer artists, fashioned her hanging doll from clay and also made a clay medallion from which to hang the figure. 




Sharon, one of our dear Francophiles, used French papers, Eiffel Towers, beads, crystals, and a vintage head to assemble this wonderful French angel.



Altoid, beads, machine parts, shell casings and a wonderful clay head scream success! Colleen again???

 
Zanaib combined found objects, a bobbin, numerous buttons, shell casings, and a fabulous decorative head to create this amazing Altoid creation. Kudos to each and everyone who participated. It was a record number for a challenge response!
 
Show and Tell
 


Daisy is ahead of many of us—she has already completed this Tilda doll for our fall exhibit—which features her signature use of batik fabric and her intricate Zentangle pen surface designs.


Daisy exhibited this totally original dress she made by altering a toilet paper tube and papering it with fortunes from Chinese fortune cookies and paper flowers.
 

And, Daisy also brought along these sample dolls like the ones Phoebes made and sent around the world to children in Third World Nations and areas of natural disasters. She suggested we might want to repeat this process for a future Phoebe outreach project.


Sharon brought the doll she made and exhibited at the recent Castro Valley Library "Black, White and Red (Read) All Over" Phoebe doll display. Another of her charming French-themed angels. Wonderful!


Stephanie continues to amaze us with her intricate polymer jewelry creations. She will be selling these at upcoming art shows in Alameda in June and December.


Stephanie used her caning technique that she taught to us in her recent workshop, to combine numerous clay colors into an amazing collage of design and form.


Stephanie, who spent many years as a successful teddy bear artist, brought one of her mohair traditional teddy bears to show and tell.


VonZetta wowed us with her over-the-top quilt, which features her hand-painted portrait of a man and woman.

 
And, she went on to totally amaze us with this fabric painted portrait of her parents she plans to incorporate into a future quilt. We already knew VonZetta was a woman of many talents, and now she has revealed to us just how talented she is at fine art portrait painting.
 
 
Last, but not least, Colleen revealed this wire dress doll which features vintage shoe lasts for feet, a fun original glass head made by her sister, and an abundance of found object embellishments. The arms are a pastry brush and a pizza cutter. Don't we all wish we had her creativity and imagination?
 
Each and every one of the items that appear in this blog have inspired the Phoebes as a whole to be daring, think outside the box, try something new, and love and appreciate each other for the enrichment of our artistic lives through shared experiences.