I Put It To You

    I've made mermaids and turtles, big little girl dolls and little big girl dolls, game and movie inspired dolls… Now I put it to you. What would you like to see me make next?

    Leave a comment here or on Instagram.

Meet Turtle Fred

© Melissa Gaggiano

Meet Fred! Fred is a turtle who dreams of being a snow bunny.Fred loves drinking hot coco with marshmallows in winter and dreams of the day that he'll actually visit a snow mountain. Till that day comes he likes to pretend by wearing his white winter boots, his pretend bunny ears and cotton tail, and decorating his shell with snow and snowflakes.

Head on over to my Etsy store, and there you will find Fred the Snow Bunny dreamer.

Save

Eye Candy

© Melissa Gaggiano

Visit my Etsy store for ready made doll art pieces –

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/MelissaGaggiano

Or find out about my custom doll service –

http://emjietreasures.blogspot.com.au/p/custom-doll.html

Tiny Turtle

© Melissa Gaggiano

     It is an achievement and a satisfyingly wonderful thing when the design you construct comes together just as you had hoped. It is an even better feeling when you come back to your work and decide to rejig it - enlarging, shrinking, a different limb, that pattern piece that was a mask can now be a hair bow, that sort of thing.

    I recently challenged myself to take my now familiar turtle design and make an even smaller version. There was no knowing if it was going to work. After all smaller may mean using few materials, but it is by no means easier. Big hands doing little things.

    In the end I managed it and apart from scaling down the pattern pieces there was only one actual pattern piece change from the original design and that was in the legs.

    The only thing left to do is to name this lil turtle baby.

© Melissa Gaggiano

Buffy & Luke Skywalker

Thoughts by Melissa Gaggiano

The Alara

© Melissa Gaggiano

    I have designed a new doll. This one I call the 'Alara'. I think my favourite bit was designing her sunnies, which are a removable accessory. The arms and legs are a new idea and I've upgraded to using a thicker, textured cloth for the doll's body.

    Send me a message if you are interested in a custom commission piece.

Pinkie the Roller Disco Turtle

© Melissa Gaggiano

    Looky-looky! There's a new turtle in my store. She's Pinkie the roller disco turtle.

    Pinkie is a handmade felt crafted OOAK turtle. She is sweet. She is awesome. She is awesomely sweet… and she's pink. Check her out!

Something for Laodicea

© Melissa Gaggiano

     One of two projects I was working on this past week is this mermaid. I have made mermaids before, usually of the big cuddly variety. This time I designed a removable fishtail for my fashion armature doll design.

    Another reason for me to be getting excited about this design is my use of needle felting to make the hair. I love this technique. It's my new thing.

    I made this doll as a response to the lovely Laodicea who kindly illustrated a caricature of me recently. You can read about the drawing here.

© Melissa Gaggiano

© Melissa Gaggiano

Mermaid for Mimosa

© Melissa Gaggiano

    This shimmery, shiny, pretty mermaid is ready to swim to her new home. Hooray for dolls finding homes.

My Vacant Mirror

© Laodicea Dellibovi
{Instagram Link}

    It was such a happy trip for my confidence when Laodicea Dellibovi, @vacantvesselart , announced she would draw lil' ole me. How awesome is this caricature! It really does look like me, don't you think?

    Laodicea is a newcomer to Instagram, much like myself, and very quickly she has amassed a following with her unique vacant eye drawings. I too am one of her fans and hope that she continues on her creative journey.

    In response to Laodicea's illustration I have been working on a doll based on her. Do visit Instagram to watch the progress.

    Thank you Laodicea! Keep on doin', what you're doin'.