A Creative Assignment From Elsie Marley

For years I have occasionally popped in on Meg’s blog Elsie Marley – there is a lot of great, real stuff happening over there. I think Meg is one of the most honest bloggers I have come across, posting the hits and the misses, and the not so glamorous truth about making (especially with kids around).

Every once in a while there is a creative assignment on Elsie Marley – the most recent was a Twofer, in which participants each gave a word and everyone was matched randomly with two of those words. I got Alligator + Sea, and with the short time line to make something out of those two words, yesterday I came up with this guy…

Let’s call him Crispy. Just workin’ his vintage-nautical inspired maillot de bain…

I could have made anything with this assignment, but honestly, I am in crazy doll making mode right now preparing for upcoming fall sales. When things are busy for me, this is where all my creative energy goes. I briefly thought about making pickles, because pickles to me kind of look like alligator tails, but I don’t even like pickles…

I’ve been working on a few smaller dolls to give myself something new, and I have only made one other crocodile/alligator creature years ago – so even though the words seemed somewhat related, this was a good challenge after all. I had to really think about how I wanted the head shaped and that bumpy tail. I wanted him to be a jaunty sailor, but the hat turned out a little more like a strange tam, which was just big enough to tip over his one freaky eye! (these reptile eyes are new to me, super freaky) It’s always good to get out of a production head space, and back into a creative one.

Thanks for the challenge Meg!