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.