More Gourds!

This is Patience, the newest listing in the shop.  Her listing description tells what all she's made of--I still have one more scrap of that woven trim she's wearing.  Guess I'll be warping the loom again if I want any more of that wild, multi-colored pattern.

I finally finished all the gourd dolls I'd started...at some point I decided to aim for a lower price point by doing less sculpting on the paper clay, (which takes a long time because I get carried away).  This one is my favorite of the "simple" ones.  The rest are fun, varying from silly, to sweet, to downright ridiculous, because you can never have too many three eyed parrots.  (More pictures tomorrow.)

But for now, have Patience.  (teehee.)

Gearing Up...

Only two weekends between now and our art fair here in San Antonio! 

I will probably lose five lbs just fretting and fussing over inconsequential things like tablecloths and 'where in the hell did I put those price tags???'

I am better at the people part of the job: speaking to strangers is not something that comes naturally to the hubs.

But he's WAY better at the logistics side, so we make a good team.  He's gotten another leather scrapbook commission to work on, so he'll be busy evenings and weekends on that, and on the last few belt buckles, day planners, and zodiac notebook covers.

The King Williams Fair is a fun, colorful, wildly busy time, and I am looking forward to it...there's a huge parade, tons of kid stuff, bands playing, and somewhere around three hundred artists showing ONLY handmade work.  Silly hats and costumes are part of the fun...so I'm wondering if I should make a costume.  I'm spinning around about there only being two weekends left...so, I'll stick with the one I already have from a Ren Faire in Florida...  There are dolls to make and tablecloths to wash!

Finally! New listing in the Etsy shop.

I think I posted about Sydney a while back...but I've finally gotten around to adding listings.  The last few months have seen me making dolls, but not putting them in the shop.  The hubs rather dryly mentioned that it's hard to buy something that's not in the store...(he is a smart ass, but I knew this when I married him.)

The new pictures I got of Sydney helped...I've created a backdrop and am considering using white as a backdrop for more listings.  The vintage table/shutters thing for now, but later I'm going to try a trick I learned on Etsy about how to make a "white box" for photographing smaller things.  Guess we'll see.

For now, Sydney is up for adoption.  (She's a very good listener...)

More Belles

I finally dragged everything outside to take advantage of the nice bright but cloudy light, and got better pictures.  We have an art fair coming up in mid-April, and these ladies will attend if not already sold.  Thing is, I'm tempted to keep one of them.  I've grown attached.  Occupational hazard of making dolls!

Here are Hope's sisters, Peace and Joy...

I'm the Featured Artist!

A short interview with Art Dolls Only...and pictures.  It was fun, and I hadn't really thought about my doll Beth in a long time...

Also, a picture of the most recent doll: a southern belle.  I should say bell, because she and her two sisters (which I will post later when I get more pictures) are made from giant papermache bells I found at a thrift shop!

I was aiming for a sort of folk-art version of shabby cottage...not sure if it worked.

In the Garden

It's funny...for weeks now, I've thought, "Oh, I need to get blog pictures of all the new green things around here!"  I was busy digging the last of the perennial beds, (the total of which now about equals the square footage of our 2,000 sq ft house!) and planting the veggies, herbs, reseeding the annual flowers, etc.  Each tiny seed that sprouts and each tree bud seemed to say "Hurry!  Get the camera!"

So yesterday I did...and y'know?  It's just not very impressive from a distance.  And it occurred to me; this is still only mid March!  The camera won't pick up the verdant lush nature of this place until mid April or later, once the flowers have started blooming, and the veggie garden actually has some produce.  (Okay, besides lettuce and spinach cuttings every day.)

But I've been so excited after the winter--every little leaf budding out makes me want to shout!  Woohooooo!  Spring!!!

I know--our winter here is only three months long.  And even then it's not so much cold as it is just bare and sleeping.  Come visit in July for an accurate picture of the downside to such a mild winter.  But back to the point.  Garden pictures!

I went ahead and took a few, because I was embarrassed to post a picture of last years' peach blossoms in the last post.  So...for now, until I can get some good April pictures, here is some of the garden.  (Click to zoom.)

Foreground; broccoli and Brussels sprouts, background; peas.

Spinach, lettuce, and more peas!

Mmmmm.  Red cabbage!

More Mmmmm!  Asparagus.  Plants are still too young to harvest.  Maybe a few spears this fall...

The oak to the left has flower catkins on it (you should hear the cloud of bees in it) but the rest of the trees in the distance are still barely budding out yet.  The peach is happy, but we still can't let her make that huge load of peaches or it'll break her branches.  She's just a little over 6 feet tall, with a trunk diameter of about 2 inches.

But she looks awefully nice in her spring finery, eh?

The Peggy Martin climbing rose has grown 8 feet in one year!  Multiplier onions in the foreground...

The last of the perennial beds, and Schultz standing on the new grass seed to fill out the bare dirt.  Silly dog.

Not much rain this year, so not many wildflowers...but we still have our Texas Bluebonnets.

The new bed again.  See the giant fire ant mound in the foreground? 

This is Pete.  He guards the house when we're gone.

What is my name? Where is my car?

Spinning around a little lost lately. We got the rent house rented (a cute couple who asked if they could have chickens in the back yard!) and are now in contract for another one. All that is well and good, but it sure puts a giant dent in the doll making.

The peach trees are blooming!

On the positive side--spring is HERE and I have gotten LOTS of landscaping done!  Finally cleared away the white rock and @*#$^* landscape fabric the previous owners were so enraptured with. Perennials all around, but small with room to grow. Veggie garden is doing well, except the broccoli. I think the 40 degree mornings and 80 degree afternoons have confused it, because it's growing tiny little heads and then flowering straight away. Oh well. We'll have sugar snap peas soon.

I have desperately missed the daily blog read, and made time to sit and read this morning. Posted a Tips and Tricks over at ADO, (on photography) and have been working on

Tshilaba, as she was when she arrived here in San Antonio...

my visiting Traveling Doll Project friend, Tshilaba. Pictures of the rent house re-do, the garden, and Tshilaba coming up this next week. (And maybe one of the dog with a new haircut--he is sooooo shaggy!)

Be well y'all. I miss you.
Jan

A Challenge!

Art Doll Quarterly magazine issued a gourd art doll challenge.  Uh, hello?  How can I refuse?  I've made several lately, but I think this guy's the one that would fit the timing (Autumn) best, so off he goes.