It's ALIVE!

I'm so happy my studio is clean and in good working order.  I mean...I can walk in there right now, and find any single thing I need.  If you knew how many "single things" I have in that room, that would be much more amazing.  Trust me on this.

To prove it (the number of "single things, AND the fact that each one has a place), I have taken some photos.  Don't be afraid.  There will be no great, thunderous avalanche of materials if you make too loud a step.  I even vacuumed in there and didn't kill the vacuum cleaner.  It's a Christmas Miracle.

You can click on the photos to enlarge and see detail.  I know there's it's a lot of visual clutter...but my aim is to get it all where I can use it, not a spread in House Beautiful.  We'll start the tour with a shot from the doorway.  

The entry into my little Queendom.

The painting/sculpting side of the work table.

Always remove closet doors and throw them in the attic.  You'll have better access to the storage.

All things sewing-related.  Trims, thread, buttons, lace, elastic, bias tape, etc., etc., etc.

The sewing side of the table.  (Sewing stuff in previous photo is behind the chair.)

The cutting and ironing table.  I  haven't seen this surface in six months or more.  Sad but true.

I stood on a stool to get this shot.  A thing of beauty.

The hubs built the table so I could fit stacked bins under it...but these Walmart shelves just happen to fit too!  These are stamps, stuffing pellets, and Styrofoam for doll heads.

Hats, hair and wig-making supplies, shoes and shoe-making supplies, patterns, and accessories.

The Great Walls O'Fabric.  This is my upper body workout...those bins are heavy.

That little set of white shelves is full of beading and jewelry and such...very useful.

I love paint.  This is my happiest place.

I never knew a serger could be so useful! 

From the sewing seat, looking out the door...and the end of the tour.  Thanks for visiting!

I have one primary goal for the new year...but it is a two-fold goal: to keep this room in the condition it is in these photos, and to learn to apply the same dedication and organization to the PAPERWORK side of my business.  That's all the challenge I can handle in one year. 

Y'all have a fabulous New Year!

Time for a break.

Well, Noel Night came and went.  I had fun, and sold some dolls...it wasn't like a doll show in any way, and I wasn't really prepared for that, but it was fun all the same.  I got to dress up silly, and quite a few folks asked to take my picture. (Edited to note: that fan I'm holding is not a prop.  Menopause, lots of layers, and a crowded antique mall make for one hot momma.)

The display was nice, but I think I prefer a doll show, so dolls are down where people can touch them.

This is Patti, the proprietor of the store, and the store's namesake, Emma.

But now that all the hoopla is over, I've got three commissions to get going.  I will wait til after Christmas, because...I've got to clean my studio!  I needed to clean it after the doll show in October, but then I got slammed with commissions (yes, it's a good problem to have) and never was able to just stop and spend a few days reorganizing.  It'll take a week now...it really is that bad.  I'd post a photo, but I don't want the Horder Police to come and haul me off.

So, I'll peck away at it this week, listen to lots of Christmas music, and hope you all are having a wonderful season full of family, love, and blessings.

It's beginning to look a lot ... well, you know.

I finally got a tree up this weekend...started the day after Thanksgiving, but put off the tree until I had some ornaments made.  I'm sort of shifting to a little less shiny-bauble and a little more natural materials.  Just something I've felt like doing the last couple of years.  Of course, I saved the ones the kids have made for me over the years, but now it's pine cones, cinnamon dough, and silly wooden toys stolen from the doll-making shop.  I even took apart a few strings of red beads, added tan beads that I'd found thrift shopping, and made a new garland.  That took an evening, but it was fun.

 

Juniper's first Christmas.  She's three now...and still loves the lights.

Here's hoping you enjoy a Christmas season of family and fun.  We don't have much of our family close, but I keep up with the ones who are far away and am loving their posts and stories of snow-play and the wonder of their children. 

Peace, y'all. 

Noel Night

There's a lady in Chandler AZ (about 2 hours from me, south east of Phoenix) who has an antique store within an antique mall.  She actually has five booths, all put together to make one shop, so to stay she has a store is not overstating matters.  Carries the most fascinating mix of antiques, Victorian themed art and clothing, architectural scavenges, and folk art.  I could stand there all day and not see all of it, so much detail.

Well, she found me at a doll show and asked if we could talk...the result of which talk was that she'll now be carrying my dolls in her store.  (I think I already posted this news, but didn't go back to see.)  Each year, the antique mall has an event called Noel Night, during which all the merchants have a sale and stay open late.  There's a restaurant which has great food, and music, etc., and it's apparently a pretty busy night.  Patti asked if I would make a particular doll for Noel Night, and of course I did.  Her name is Victoria Noel, and she's 28" tall.  Cloth and clay, as usual, and wool hair.

I've got three more dolls in the works for this event, and hope to have them all finished in time!  I'll post them when they're done.  But in the meantime, here is Victoria (Patti wanted an "attic fairy").

Finished one, and on to the next.

Commission order, that is.  I'm currently working on an Izannah doll.  It's a relaxing thing--never thought I'd say that about making an Izzy, since their clothing is so detail intensive--but after this last order, I welcome the hand stitching on cotton.

The last order, as I had posted earlier, was for 18 Carnival ornaments and a Marie Antoinette doll.  The ornaments were fun, and a bit of a challenge, as each had to be different...the design stage was a blast, as was the sculpting.  I didn't get great photos, but I've put them in a PicMonkey collage to make this a less photo-heavy post.

The Marie Antoinette doll...she is on her way to New York now, with the ornaments.  She has wool hair (who knew you could make ringlets with roving?) and wears all the proper layers of undies.  Her dress is silk, and the lace on her underskirt is antique.  I enjoyed this challenge, and while I hope it's a loooooong time before I have to sew silk again, I'm glad I had the chance to make this doll.

A week til Thanksgiving--we typically go hiking and have a bit of turkey (both of us carnivores now, no plant foods!) and then just take it easy.  What do you do for Thanksgiving?

Home again, home again, Jiggety Jig.

Only I didn't go to market, to market to buy a fat pig.  I went to Phoenix for a cardiac ablation procedure.  What was supposed to be a day turned into four days, but all turned out well and I am home safe and sound.

Working on doll commissions--I have an order which fascinates me because it's outside what most folks usually want.  This customer wants Carnivale doll ornaments, and a Marie Antoinette doll.  Eighteen of the ornaments...it was daunting at first.  I usually work on several pieces at a time, but not that many!  So I sculpted all the heads, and then started figuring out hats and headpieces.  Today I got all that sorted out and then sat down to plan their face paint/costume details.

Oh my goodness!  This is so fun!!!  My job is usually pretty fun in the first place, but I feel like my imagination has been given a balloon ride around the world.

I have little time to get this and five other dolls finished, but since the hubs will be out of town for two weeks, guess what I'll be doing?  :~)  Photos as I finish, I promise.

These are the dolls the commission customer has already purchased, and which were the start of her  decorating idea.  What's funny is I made these dolls because I wanted to, not because there was a market for them.  But they languished, unappreciated by the average doll collector, because the market for them is not...wide, shall we say.  But this one lady saw and loved them--and this commission has given me free rein to get as crazy and colorful as I want, and know they will already have a home!  Woohoo!

Hope y'all are having a lovely October.  Be well.
Jan

Back from the doll show...

I've unpacked and repacked all the boxes, sent my thank-you notes, and have started on further projects. As I have a cardiac ablation procedure next Monday, I'm trying to get as much done as I can so I can afford to sit around and be useless for a while.  Well...maybe a little handwork.

The doll show went really well.  I made several times my expenses, which is kinda how I have to figure it.  I met a fellow doll artist, Connie Tognoli, and got to see her small work in person.  She was traveling from California, so small was what she had to bring!

I also managed to clear out a collection of 1950's dolls...it was weird having dolls on my show tables that I didn't make, but it seemed like the best solution.  Almost all of them found homes, and now I have more space.  All that to explain the show photos below and why there are commercial dolls in them!

Aside from two new commissions and selling a surprising number of dolls, I got to meet a lady who has an antique shop in Chandler, AZ.  She wants to carry my dolls in her store, either by consignment or wholesale.  We plan to meet later this month and work it all out.  Her shop is really special, and I can't wait to go down and see it.  Of course, I will take a tiny bit of money and LEAVE the rest of it here.

I'm sort of piled up with commissions until Christmas, so between that and getting presents out for all the grandkids, I will be busy!

Here is one large Izannah I finished recently--she's 21" or so.  

We're baaaack!

Actually we've been back just over a week, but I'm only now sitting down to blog.

The trip was fine--lots of driving, but well worth it.  The wedding was beautiful, and so were the kids and grandkids.  Bend, Oregon, was beautiful too, and I think I could live there if it wasn't so far to one side of the states.  I guess when you have four kids scattered over an entire (and large) continent, you need to stay at least a little more toward the middle.

The Schultz was an excellent traveling buddy, as always.  But having a dog definitely limits where you can stop for food in the summer.  No leaving the dog in the car while you go into McDonald's.  So we could be seen at many a place, sitting in the shade of a landscape tree eating our lunch.

Here are some photos of family and friends...I don't have any Official Wedding Photos, but they'll get here sooner or later.

Granddaughter, Juniper

Grandsons, Connor and Vincent

Daughter-in-law, Montana, and daughter, Renee.

The Groomsmen.  My son Josh (Juniper's daddy) is on the left.

The Mother and Son dance at the wedding.  Yes, I am a barefoot redneck.

Doing the deed.

New daughter-in-law, Kendra, and eldest son, Jason.

Uncle Jason, Juniper, and her daddy, having cupcakes on the kitchen floor because Auntie Kendra wouldn't let them eat over carpet and the kitchen table was full of stuff. 

Phil and Renee. 

Renee and her hubby & twins

Josh and his girls.