Miss-Delectable
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http://web.baytownsun.com/story.lasso?wcd=23917
A handful of Baytown Art League members sat quietly at the Christmas gallery Sunday, all spellbound by a doll maker who showed them how to make a small clay face within minutes.
Step-by-step, she explained how she made each of the doll’s facial features, beginning with a nose and making sure to include nostrils.
It was hard to tell Channelview resident Donna Sims was completely deaf.
For years, Sims never knew the difference between vibrations and sounds. When she was a child, doctors said she lacked concentration, and it was not until she was about 19 years old was she diagnosed with nerve deafness and fitted with a hearing aid.
“It was the first time I knew that the wind made a sound,” she said.
Sims, however, said her lack of hearing has never been a barrier.
Before she began making dolls, Sims taught in public school for 37 years, from second grade to junior high students. She also has a bachelor’s degree from the Texas State College for Women and a master’s degree in education from the University of Denver.
Now an award-winning artist, Sims dolls always draws a crowd.
Ann Marie Wewer, who used to embroider and create stuffed dolls herself, said she delayed a visit to her mother when she heard Sims was going to have a demonstration. “I think they’re really neat,” she said.
Earline Casey, adviser to the board of directors for the Art League, first met Sims during a sculpting class about seven years ago. “I was just amazed at her dexterity,” she said. “I like to do figures too but she just… She’s just amazing.”
Casey sat across from Sims, who she said would become enthralled adding several little details to her Native American sculptures.
Sims keeps dozens of awards from doll shows in a shoebox. She said she enters competitions not necessarily to win awards, but to promote doll-making as kind of art since it was not considered an acceptable art until recently.
“I want people to see what an art doll really is,” she said. “They can be a collector’s item as much as anything else.”
Sims dolls are made with polymer clay, a form of plastic that can be baked in an ordinary oven, and she paints it with watered-down acrylics.
Sims spends about two to three days making a doll’s frame and two to three additional months hand-stitching and creating the doll’s clothing and accessories.
For her demonstration, Sims displayed her award-winning “Aging Starlet” doll, one of her favorite creations.
The doll is a dark-haired woman wearing a satin red dress and hat, fishnet stockings and jeweled choker. She is sitting on a wooden trunk with her legs crossed, her eyes closed but showing off long eyelashes, her nose and chin turned up and her bright red lips closed tight. In one hand she holds a clock and in the other, more jewelry.
Sims hand-made almost everything on the starlet, including her high-heeled shoes, which was made by combining strips of ribbon, leather and clay. Sims said she found the starlet’s black leather purse, originally a miniature doctor’s bag, at an antique shop.
To create any doll’s facial expression and accessories, she said it helps to talk to her dolls. “I work things out as I go along, I can’t predict what they’ll be doing or what they’ll look like,” she said.
For those interested in making dolls, Sims advised to learn as much as possible by taking classes in sculpting or in stitching and to enter dolls in competitions.
Sims has never been married nor conceived children and considers herself a typical old-maid school teacher. However, she said she does not have any regrets. Her dolls, most of them with wide grins, reflect her sunny disposition.
“I’m a very happy person,” she said. “Sometimes I look back at a doll and think, ‘How did I do that?’ I enjoy it, I enjoy life and I’m thankful for everyday.”
Sims said she will continue to make dolls as long as her eye sight and hands cooperate. “Or until I get one foot in the grave,” she said.
Her work is currently on sale at the Art League of Baytown’s Christmas Gallery, 420 W. Texas Ave. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday until Dec. 10. Because of the Christmas Parade on Thursday, the gallery will be open until 8 p.m.
For more information about classes or to contact Sims, she can be reached at 105 Cedar Lane, Channelview, Texas, 77530.
A handful of Baytown Art League members sat quietly at the Christmas gallery Sunday, all spellbound by a doll maker who showed them how to make a small clay face within minutes.
Step-by-step, she explained how she made each of the doll’s facial features, beginning with a nose and making sure to include nostrils.
It was hard to tell Channelview resident Donna Sims was completely deaf.
For years, Sims never knew the difference between vibrations and sounds. When she was a child, doctors said she lacked concentration, and it was not until she was about 19 years old was she diagnosed with nerve deafness and fitted with a hearing aid.
“It was the first time I knew that the wind made a sound,” she said.
Sims, however, said her lack of hearing has never been a barrier.
Before she began making dolls, Sims taught in public school for 37 years, from second grade to junior high students. She also has a bachelor’s degree from the Texas State College for Women and a master’s degree in education from the University of Denver.
Now an award-winning artist, Sims dolls always draws a crowd.
Ann Marie Wewer, who used to embroider and create stuffed dolls herself, said she delayed a visit to her mother when she heard Sims was going to have a demonstration. “I think they’re really neat,” she said.
Earline Casey, adviser to the board of directors for the Art League, first met Sims during a sculpting class about seven years ago. “I was just amazed at her dexterity,” she said. “I like to do figures too but she just… She’s just amazing.”
Casey sat across from Sims, who she said would become enthralled adding several little details to her Native American sculptures.
Sims keeps dozens of awards from doll shows in a shoebox. She said she enters competitions not necessarily to win awards, but to promote doll-making as kind of art since it was not considered an acceptable art until recently.
“I want people to see what an art doll really is,” she said. “They can be a collector’s item as much as anything else.”
Sims dolls are made with polymer clay, a form of plastic that can be baked in an ordinary oven, and she paints it with watered-down acrylics.
Sims spends about two to three days making a doll’s frame and two to three additional months hand-stitching and creating the doll’s clothing and accessories.
For her demonstration, Sims displayed her award-winning “Aging Starlet” doll, one of her favorite creations.
The doll is a dark-haired woman wearing a satin red dress and hat, fishnet stockings and jeweled choker. She is sitting on a wooden trunk with her legs crossed, her eyes closed but showing off long eyelashes, her nose and chin turned up and her bright red lips closed tight. In one hand she holds a clock and in the other, more jewelry.
Sims hand-made almost everything on the starlet, including her high-heeled shoes, which was made by combining strips of ribbon, leather and clay. Sims said she found the starlet’s black leather purse, originally a miniature doctor’s bag, at an antique shop.
To create any doll’s facial expression and accessories, she said it helps to talk to her dolls. “I work things out as I go along, I can’t predict what they’ll be doing or what they’ll look like,” she said.
For those interested in making dolls, Sims advised to learn as much as possible by taking classes in sculpting or in stitching and to enter dolls in competitions.
Sims has never been married nor conceived children and considers herself a typical old-maid school teacher. However, she said she does not have any regrets. Her dolls, most of them with wide grins, reflect her sunny disposition.
“I’m a very happy person,” she said. “Sometimes I look back at a doll and think, ‘How did I do that?’ I enjoy it, I enjoy life and I’m thankful for everyday.”
Sims said she will continue to make dolls as long as her eye sight and hands cooperate. “Or until I get one foot in the grave,” she said.
Her work is currently on sale at the Art League of Baytown’s Christmas Gallery, 420 W. Texas Ave. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday until Dec. 10. Because of the Christmas Parade on Thursday, the gallery will be open until 8 p.m.
For more information about classes or to contact Sims, she can be reached at 105 Cedar Lane, Channelview, Texas, 77530.