Peace Within 安内

 This is a reshare from my series of small dolls. I love these and hope you enjoy this previous posting.

Note, there are links you can click on to engage in more information about the process of creating Peace Within 安内.

The Details! 

It is in these details that I bring in my triad of color (my third color) read more here on color

I find the details such a delicate balance between not quite enough and to add one more thing and it is too much!

I believe it is better to be on the light side and leave them wanting more than to go one more step and give them to much to take in. One of my art teachers gave me the best advice that I have never forgotten.

"you never finish your work...you abandon it"

With all that said it IS in the details that makes your work stand out from the crowd. I thought we would take a look at the details of Peace Within from head to to her little toes!

 

Let's start with her delicate face. It is hand sculpted in DAS clay and overlaid with silk crepe. Her body is all silk crepe - ball jointed - sewn with a cotton batiste liner.

Coloring

The shading is done with chalks and a wee bit of pencil to define. The eye liner is with acid free black fine line marker and edges softened with chalks.

Her butterfly lips have a softest pink on the lower lid with the red in the center. That same soft pink so lightly blushes her cheeks...just enough to add color but not really noticeable.

The eyes are hand-painted with many layers of paint and have many delicate layers of gloss to create the shine and also the rounded shape. I add a small red dot above the eye as is an Asian tradition in keeping evil spirits away. I love the way that simple red dot really brings your eye to hers without really noticing the red dot...until perhaps now that I told you! 

Note: Remember the triangles from last week??notice this little triangle from eye to to eye to lips!

I work the chalks to cover much area using several shades within the same color stream, layering from lightest color to darkest detailing. The aubergine color around in the inner eye is actually three colors a deep purple, magenta and a blue. The blue fades out over the eyelid meeting a grey on the outer edge that glides down and around to the edge of the bottom lid.

All lightly sealed with a workable fixative.

Clothing

Peace's clothing fabrics were very carefully selected read more here to create the right balance not only in color but in print.

Her collar line was in aubergine to pick up the dress bottom panel. Small "buttons" of glass seed beads and pearls were added following along the line of the collar band. They go all the way to the end of the band that are tucked under her arm.

I would like to add that if I am using priceless silks and vintage kimono, I will continue with the best quality I can afford with my little beads using glass beads and vintage pearls.

We can now move onto the sleeves. Note the antique aqua cording that I used about the cuffs where they meet the sleeve section. This gives a nice quiet finish to the piecing of the two fabrics. I like how you can see the hand stitching on the cording.

 

Close up edge of how I laid out the pattern on the Indian silk...stabilized because of the metal threading.

I believe it creates a really nice banding effect with a peep of the orange dupioni lining showing.

We move to the panel of the lower section of the dress. I love the way it is contrasted from the dress top of the light silk brocade and the pebbled fabric of vintage kimono fabric pants. 

Here we take a closer look at the same aqua vintage cording that frames the panel. Note the bit of the orange duiponi showing.

And finally lower section of Peace Within. 

Note how I used the same fabric of the sleeve with the same banding on the hemline edge to create a link- a consistency using the print.

 

The little shoes- I LOVE these little shoes!

I had just a precious small scrap of this vintage metal fabric - just enough to squeak out this pair! Notice that I did my best to layout the pattern to bring the flowers as close to mirroring each other as possible. They are lined and shoes are in a darker orange dupioni (than the lining). I repeated the same beading as I did along the collar band. 

Notice that all the way down this doll my accent  color has mostly been in the aqua!! Very delicately done but adds enough gentle -detail- interest to the piece.

I hope you enjoyed this posting!

Word of 2026

 2026: Magical

I love living life with intention.

Not halfway. Not casually.

But fully—heart, soul, and presence engaged.

Each year, I choose a single word to guide how I want to live the year, not just move through it. A word that becomes a compass when I feel distracted, uncertain, or pulled off center.

Last year, my word was Focus.

I wanted clarity—of mind, body, and soul—so I could create what truly mattered for myself and for those who chose to share their time and energy with me.

And it worked.

Focus helped me step back and see my life more honestly. It helped me define what belonged and what didn’t. It also asked me to let go of things that no longer fit—never easy, sometimes painful, but deeply necessary.

That clearing led me here.

To this year’s word.

Magical.

Not magic.

But magical.

Just this morning, I realized something quietly important: I have been living very seriously. And while I am, at my core, a light-hearted and joyful person, I also have a long-standing habit of overthinking, overdoing, and competing with myself—always striving to be “better,” often chasing acceptance without even realizing it.

This pattern runs deep. It began long ago as a way to survive, to be needed, to make others happy so I could feel safe and cherished. Much of it lived far beneath my awareness—until this past year, when I finally saw it clearly.

I noticed how often I tried to fix situations so others would feel okay. Sometimes that was empathy.

But sometimes—quietly, subtly—it was about easing my own discomfort.

Seeing that truth was both tender and freeing.

And that clarity led me to my word.

Let’s pause with it for a moment.

Magic is about power, illusion, the act itself.

But magical is about feeling.

Wonder. Ease. Enchantment. Presence.

Magic creates tricks.

Magical creates experience.

That is what I am inviting into my life this year—the felt sense of being alive. Less pressure. More curiosity. Less fixing. More allowing.

Magical gives me permission to soften.

To leave room for surprise.

To trust that life doesn’t need to be forced to be meaningful.

As we begin this year together—Listening, Choosing, Trusting, Becoming—I see how perfectly this word fits. You cannot live magically without listening. You cannot choose wisely without trust. And you cannot become who you’re meant to be while carrying the weight of who you thought you had to be.

This year isn’t about doing more.

It’s about feeling more.

It will be an interesting year of discovery.

And I’m stepping into it with wonder.