Folk Art Santa Doll

I've always wanted to make a Santa doll.  But as it's been done so many gillions of times, it seemed pointless..."Really?  Aren't there enough Santa dolls in the world?"  Well, I gave in, and made one, and I like him.  More importantly, Phil likes him, and his strong reaction to a doll--positive or negative--usually tells me I hit the mark I was aiming for.

Next year I'm planning a series of Tompte dolls--the little Scandinavian gnome fellows with the pointy red hats.  Mine may be more adventurous in their collective fashion sense, but there's something about them that tickles me.

For the now, here is my version of a folk art Santa, Belsnickle, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Hogfather, Pere Noel, Popo Gigo, you get the drift.  Happy Solstice, y'all.

 

 

 

Granny Swims

A friend saw this doll head I was working on, and said, "Oh he's wonderful!" so I didn't have the heart to tell her He is a She.  But no matter.  It made me realize how a human's life really does go full circle--if we're lucky enough to get very old.  My mom taped a bow to my head when I was a baby because I had such whispy hair nobody could tell I was a girl.  I'll probably have to do the same thing in my last decade or so.  Ha!

At any rate, here's one of the doll show dolls I'm working on.  I call her Granny Swims.  She'll have an old-fashioned bathing suit, a swim floaty with a ducky head, and a straw hat (because a lady always looks out for her complexion).  Her hair is currently a wad of mohair laying over her bald little head. 

Is it restoration or just a Do-Over?

I've always wanted a Boudoir doll.  Sultry, daring and evocative of an age in which women were stepping out and making a little noise.  I did find one, but she was in pretty bad shape.  Luckily I have a doll restorer friend who taught me how to repair the old composition dolls, and I was able to do what this girl needed done.  She sat on a shelf, painted only with the flesh tone color, for several weeks.  To be honest, I was afraid I'd botch the paint job.  (I know, we can always repaint, but...)

Today I was painting commissions and doll-show dolls, when I noticed her.  I'm sure it was all in my head, but it seemed like she said, "Hey love.  As long as you've got the paint and brushes out, can you give a girl a little help?"  So I painted her.  She still needs a body, and I've got another red wig for her.  The fabric she's wrapped with in the photo will make her a set of pajamas. 

My friend Dorothy held the doll head while I took a photo--so glad she reminded me to get a "before".

Is it my imagination, or do I look a little like a mad scientist here?

I have named her Joan.

 

Flash mob?

Not sure it counts as a mob, given that military personnel can be so elegant and noble in their bearing, but I've posted this two years running on FB, because every time I watch it, I am undone by the way humans can gather to create such beauty.  Hoping the link works here...please enjoy it?  It is a blessing that I wish I could share with everyone.

And Merry Christmas to all of you.

http://youtu.be/gIoSga7tZPg

Missing my kids during the holidays...

I'm usually pretty much okay with them all being scattered over the US.  Shoot, the last few years they were in England and Japan as well.  They're all back in the states, except the youngest daughter in Kuwait for a deployment.  They know I love them, and I know they love me, even if we don't get to hug as often as we want. 

Part of being an Air Force family means accepting that we have to love each other over many miles, and sometimes won't see one another for several years at a time.  None of us are wealthy enough to afford plane tickets to run here and there, but I have a fantasy of getting them all together in once place again--something that hasn't happened in the sixteen years since they were all living at home.

I'm not the most sentimental of moms or grannies, but once in a while, I sure wish I had one of those great long tables and could have all of them, their spouses and kidletts all gathered around it.  But with them scattered in five different states, I will have to make do with imagining it.

In the meantime, I think I'll post pictures of my great kids and their kids.

Starting from eldest to youngest:

Casey, who married Josh, and has Cody, Autumn, Jennifer, and Freddy.

Jason, who has Gavin, Dylan, and Trevor.

 

Josh, who married Montana and has Juniper (along with two grand-dogs and a very large cat.) 

Renee, who married Jeremy and has Vincent and Connor (along with one grand-dog and two medium cats.)

 

I miss them all greatly, but they are living good lives, they are well and happy, and they make me a very proud mom.

Dreaming of irises...

This is not a new thing, to those who know I have the Iris Virus.  There are a few autumn blooms out there right this minute, because our weather is so mild this time of year, and the Rebloomers (those that sometimes bloom twice a year) planted last spring are having their first chance to shine.

These aren't the rebloomers--just an old photo from last spring.  :~D

But this time, I was not dreaming of iris here at our house, or even of the iris beds I'll create when I take them to Arizona with us.  Last night I had a strange dream...Al Pacino figured heavily, but that was a different part of the dream which we will ignore for the now.  To the point: there was a Rest Home across the street from where I sat drinking coffee.  I have no idea where the coffee place was--you know odd and nebulous dreams can be--but some old people who lived in the home sat around a small courtyard in front of their place.  They were surrounded by a few scraggly iris trying to bloom, struggling in dismally neglected beds empty of little but dirt and wind-blown debris.

In my dream, I was suddenly overjoyed because I knew this was the way to fulfill a longing I've had--to volunteer my gardening skills!  Not to the local Master Gardener Program, where my hours are logged and credit duly charted in return for "certification".  I don't want my hours charted--I want to make a difference for real people!  In the dream, it was clear: I would take care of the Rest Home gardens, make them bloom again for those old people who could not do it themselves.

Those who know me well know that I have very frequent and vivid dreams.  The husband is often entertained by my morning tales of bizarre nocturnal adventures, and I have them so often we just chalk it up to Jan's Weirditude.  But once in a while, I dream of something that simply will not leave me, and I think about it all day, realizing this one was not a case of taking out the mental trash, but instead a message I should listen to.

This dream of the old people's garden was just such a dream, and I am in tears over how happy it makes me.  The town we're moving to, Chino Valley, AZ, has a very large population of elders, with a disproportionate number of elder homes for its size (only 10K population) and a facility for special needs residents as well.  I know now where I can plant--and share--some of my abundant iris blessings.

I hope your week is going well, and at least one of your dreams come true.

Vacation photos!

Yesterday's post was just so...photo-less.  The problem is that most of the pictures were on the hub's camera, and I have so far managed to remain ignorant of its mysteries.  (I think it might be smarter than I am, but that's another post.)

So last night he got photos loaded, and here are some of them.  I think he's got a good eye for composition, and I think I am beginning to look somewhat, um, older than I used to.  Hmph.  Oh well.  Vertical and above ground is always a good thing, right?

The nature scenes are the Desert Botanical Gardens.  The little statue is Gabe and Mary Jo's back yard, one of my favorite places in the world.  That statue is right smack in the center, and I love to visit it.  The view past there is the Sun City golf course, which provides a good deal of golfing AND viewing entertainment.  As well as errant golf balls for the dog.

Looking at Mary Jo and Gabe's old high school albums from the 50's.

More grows in the desert than you'd think.  The "dead tree" is a saquaro skeleton.

A sun dial with barrel cactus, of course.

This cactus is HUGE.  See below...

Hard to wrestle the camera away from him, but worth it.  Smile, baby!

The average rainfall in Phoenix is 7 inches a year. 

Grrrrr!

The "Gabe and Jo" statue.

The Gabe.

The Jo.  (And golf cart parking.)

I tried to tell him I was a mess.  Did he listen?

Home from Arizona

We went to see the husband's folks for a week in Phoenix.  I pretty much won the In-Laws Lottery when it comes to these people, and our visit was a blessing to me.

 It is so strange how Schultz seems to know--after two days of driving--that we have made it to Phoenix.  He stands up in the car, smelling the air from the a/c vents, and begins to look around expectantly.  I made the mistake of asking, "Do you want to go see Grandma and Grandpa?" about a mile from their house, and he howled and barked and trembled the rest of the way!  Sadly, they lost their sweet Boston Terrier Annie this year, so Schultz had to make do with his sister Willie for company, and they provided evening entertainment, play wrestling on the living room floor.

We saw the brother-in-law and one niece with her husband, went to the Desert Botanical Gardens (hadn't been in a while, won't go again for a long while, but it was good to visit), and then had a day trip to Prescott and surrounding area.  The husband and his folks played poker a few of the afternoons--I don't play poker, but the sound of their game is one of my favorite background noises.  I planted some irises, cannas, and Martha Gonzales roses in their back yard, and enjoyed feeding the great flock of quail and dove that stop by every morning.

Arriving home Sunday, we unloaded and spent the next day "recuperating" from vacation--never sure why we are so worn out from such a relaxing time, but we always benefit from a Down Day of being very quiet and still before heading back into the routines of normal life.

This weekend we have the city wide garage sale, and are working hard to clear out accumulations that have gathered up.  Our last long distance move from Las Cruces, NM, in '08 helped cull the "stuff" from our life.  But the move in '13 was only across town, and I have all this Doll Business with its attendant mess of supplies and materials. Time to get ruthless with the clearing out!




 

A Question of Izannah Dolls

Just as I was finishing the last of the UFDC commissions, and was looking forward to working on Jan-dolls, I got another Izannah order.  And I said yes.  Again.  This puts me in an odd position...and while it'll sound dumb to fuss about it, I really do feel the need to make a change.  I really want to spend my time making original dolls! 

Yes, I spent many hours and much effort learning the Izannah dolls, and getting my sculpts to where I was happy with them.  Looking back over the last several years I realized just how many I've made!  From first to last there is an interesting progression, and I love seeing them all lined up.  Here is a good cross section of the ones made since I began in the summer of 2011.

 

My first three, taking Dixie's class.

My own pattern designs in 2012.  (The one on the right is one of the first three above.)

 

2012...sisters.

Study, study, study.  Sculpt, sculpt, and re-sculpt.

2013 Izzies...give us limbs, please!

 

She was hard to let go of...still my favorite of all the ones I've made.

For the last six months or more, the limitations required to make these dolls correct for their period have me longing for work to be play again!  Color, shape, texture...so many other factors to create with!  I said as much to the hubs one evening, and he looked at me like I was stupid.  I thought the look meant, "Why spend so much time and energy getting Izannahs the way you wanted, only to complain when you get commissions?"

But then he said, "Seriously?  That's a pretty easy fix.  You still like to make them, once in a while, right?"  Right.  "So raise your price enough to make it worth the hours you put into them, and let it stand at that."

Now I've always known he was the business brains behind our cooperative venture, always has been.  But my inner scairdy cat shot off little flares of caution--oh no!  What if no one buys another Izzy--ever?  So I had to look far into the future and see what I'd be happiest doing.  And I came up with this: if making these Izannahs keeps me from working on original Jan-dolls, then I need to give it up, or at least take Phil's advice and the inherent risk.  If I never make another Izannah, I would be sad (and might have to make one for me, once in a while), but if I stop having time to work on my own dolls, I will have to stop making dolls--period.  And that ain't happenin'.  

I have learned so much from these babies with their sweet homely faces and odd little bodies.  And much of what they've given will be part of new ideas for Jan-dolls.  Maybe only doll-makers who have been badly bitten by the Izzy bug will understand the vague worry of disloyalty.  At any rate, once I told the scairdy cat to shut up, I realized that this was a concept I must put into practice.

So this commission I'm working on might be the last.  It might only be the last of the frequent orders, and I only make one a year or so from here out.  Either way, I'm glad she's turning out as the customer wanted.  I believe I've gotten her almost-smile just right, along with her little bare feet.

Pictures of finished dolls soon, but for now, here's an in-progress photo.  Hope your week is going as you would wish.
Jan

  

Yard and Garden Progress...

This morning I dug the cannas.  This sounds like a simple thing, but when you consider how thickly the cannas have grown in the last year and a half, you'll know it's not so simple.  Some of those poor babies had started trying to grow up under the deck.  How could I know they'd do so well here?  Hmph.

So we'll sell them (?) at the upcoming City-wide garage sale that Windcrest holds twice a year...at a dollar a bag, maybe some of my neighbors can take home a ton of these babies and we'll have red cannas all over town!  The hubs is not so happy--he loves the cannas all thick the way they are, but he knows they'll get that way again.  With any luck, I won't have to repeat this process for a couple of years.  (As to the extra wheelbarrow: one is new, the other is broken and on its way out...but, useful for now.)

In the front yard, we have a large section that is destined for desert landscaping.  By that I mean we'll lay down weedblock fabric, rock, and desert plants like yucca, cacti, century plants and sotol, etc.  Having gotten a little ahead of myself, I killed the grass across this section--last APRIL!!! So my poor neighbors have had to look at this dead corner all year.

Maybe we'll even get it rocked in by Christmas.  Who knows?  In the meantime, I bring extra dirt from other beds (and the canna dig) to give the topography a little interest.  We'll spread it out and add some different sized boulders here and there among the gravel and cacti.

It's funny how divided people are when it comes to an "interesting" yard like ours.  Of course, the ones who love it are very vocal with their approval, and those who get twitchy just looking at it...well, they're kind enough to refrain from comment.  

Looking out toward the stop sign corner...

The view from my front door.  Tennis courts across the street, and iris dreaming of Spring...in their newly revised beds.

I repainted the porch chairs--feeling the need for color lately.  So the matching Adirondacks where Schultz and I hang in the morning during Last Cup are now a cross between turquoise and sky, and the curb-side throwaway is now traffic cone orange, with odd bits of tracery or dots when I get a notion to put paint on something.  It happens.

See the baby crepe myrtle with her fall colors?  Her name is Zoe, and she will grow to 20 ft!  Someday.

Having moved so many times, I've never had a yard for more than a few years in a row...three full growing seasons is our record so far.  I wonder what this cobbled together garden will look like when we've had ten years in this place?  I look forward to seeing trees we planted actually get tall enough to give us shade.

Of course, then I'll have to find a new bed for the irises...

Hope your week is going well.
Jan
a.k.a. "that garden lady" as per the kids who walk past my house on their way to school...