Feb 24, 2017
Navy is good on her, I think.
This most recent commissioned Izannah doll is the second for this collector. The last was the little red-head in green, but this time she wanted brown hair, brown eyes, and a blue dress. (On my Etsy listing, I have a menu of choices.) I debated on what color blue--I have an insane amount of fabric to choose from, having collected it for years. But this deep blue seemed to match her pensive expression. I try not to make my Izannahs look sad, but it happens sometimes, given a head start with that downcast gaze. This one, I can't tell if she's sad or just really thoughtful. Eye of the beholder, I guess. Anyway, I liked the deep blue, and it was fun dressing her. Hope y'all have a fabulous weekend.
Feb 20, 2017
Hard Lessons Learned...
Last October I met a woman at my doll show booth who asked me to consider selling my dolls at her antique booth on consignment. She seemed so thrilled with my work, and invited me to come down (the shop is two hours away from me) to see the shop--really a series of five booths in an antique mall, and so I did. The shop was fascinating and apparently very popular. So we talked, and though I was a little nervous about her scattered, unfocused ways, her enthusiasm about how well my dolls would sell there convinced me to give it a try.
Here are the lessons I learned:
1. Just because she and I are doll lovers, doesn't mean her customers would be. They shop there for the antiques, and her mass-produced, made-in-china doll reproductions (big names like Nicole Sayers and Bethany Lowe) sell well. My dolls, hand made and one of a kind, did not. I sold one, plus the candlestick doll she herself bought.
2. Get it alllll in writing. People lie.
3. Do NOT let someone "gift" you anything, blithely tossing things at you as if they are the soul of generosity. It's a trap. You'll get charged for them later, when she gets mad.
4. Follow your instincts: if the little hairs on the back of your neck say this is too good to be true, it is.
So all in all, I am getting a third of the amount for the doll I sold, rather than the 90% I would at a doll show after expenses, and none at all for the doll she bought, because I just didn't get anything in writing. Dumb, and I would beat myself up for it, but I'm just too sad and disgusted by the whole thing. Lessons learned are not always painful, but you sure remember the ones that are!
Today is a holiday--at least the hubs isn't working--and wet from a couple day's rain, so I can't go out and dig in the slow spring that is warming our high desert. But I do have some iris catalogues to peruse! I also have a bunch of seeds to start in little window-sill pots--cosmos and milkweed and Mexican sunflower, and several more. Good medicine, playing in the soil, even if it's on the kitchen counter. Also--an Izzy to dress and send to her new momma.
Here are the lessons I learned:
1. Just because she and I are doll lovers, doesn't mean her customers would be. They shop there for the antiques, and her mass-produced, made-in-china doll reproductions (big names like Nicole Sayers and Bethany Lowe) sell well. My dolls, hand made and one of a kind, did not. I sold one, plus the candlestick doll she herself bought.
2. Get it alllll in writing. People lie.
3. Do NOT let someone "gift" you anything, blithely tossing things at you as if they are the soul of generosity. It's a trap. You'll get charged for them later, when she gets mad.
4. Follow your instincts: if the little hairs on the back of your neck say this is too good to be true, it is.
So all in all, I am getting a third of the amount for the doll I sold, rather than the 90% I would at a doll show after expenses, and none at all for the doll she bought, because I just didn't get anything in writing. Dumb, and I would beat myself up for it, but I'm just too sad and disgusted by the whole thing. Lessons learned are not always painful, but you sure remember the ones that are!
Today is a holiday--at least the hubs isn't working--and wet from a couple day's rain, so I can't go out and dig in the slow spring that is warming our high desert. But I do have some iris catalogues to peruse! I also have a bunch of seeds to start in little window-sill pots--cosmos and milkweed and Mexican sunflower, and several more. Good medicine, playing in the soil, even if it's on the kitchen counter. Also--an Izzy to dress and send to her new momma.
Feb 14, 2017
Warning: shameless product promotion!
No, I am in NO way affiliated or being paid for this promotion. I just wanted to tell y'all about a cooking method I discovered.
Phil joined me in the Meat Only eating over a year ago, so I was cooking him a ginormous hamburger patty (just shy of a lb) every day at lunch. He likes his almost burnt to a cinder, and cooking this in a pan--even with a splatter screen AND papertowelage--made a mess of the kitchen. Every day. It got to where I had to clean the vent-hood every couple of days, wipe the upper cabinet doors down weekly, etc. Not fun!
I'm not a clean freak--one look at my house and you would be assured. But I do have to have a grease free kitchen. Some friends on a facebook forum (called Zero Carb Health, if you're curious) have for a couple years now been talking about the Nu Wave cooker they use and how they love it. Well I am almost anti-gadget when it comes to the kitchen. Manual can opener, a whisk instead of a mixer--you get the idea. So I resisted.
But after a year of daily hamburger mess, I decided to try it. So glad I did! Not only because it keeps the kitchen clean, but the food! Oh my goodness!
I haven't cooked anything in it but meat...'cause, well, that's all we eat. But the meat! Crispy outside, moist and juicy inside, and fast. Super fast. I eat a lot--over two lbs a day, and he eats almost that much (needs to eat more, but you just can't hurry these things. He'll learn.) and sometimes the little rack to cook on is just not big enough for both our steaks, but for folks who eat "normal" amounts of meat, you can cook the whole meal right there in the bowl--meat on top, veggies on bottom.
The thing Phil likes best about it is that once I figured the time for his burger, it comes out just exactly the way he likes it, every. single. time. No guessing, no having to "finish" his burger in the microwave because I under-cooked it. (I like mine rare, so...)
The cooker I bought was not a Nu-Wave. I wanted a glass bowl instead of the plastic one, and Nu-Wave doesn't sell one with a glass bowl. I got the "Big Boss" on Amazon. There are different kinds, and some work with dials, some with digital pre-sets. I like the digital as it's more accurate. Also, a word to the wise: the glass bowl is a heavy sumbitch, and I do clean it every day.
Still worth it! At any rate, I wanted to tell y'all about it, and if you've heard of this "counter top oven", but wondered if it's Just Another Gadget, it's not!
I promise I will go back to my normal posts after this, but if we were sitting around having a cup of coffee together, I'd want to share the info with you as a friend. So there. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
(P.S. Just in case you're curious, I'll have been strictly carnivore for two years in March...no supplements, not so much as a lettuce leaf of plant food at all in two years. And I'm thriving! It's a mystery, isn't it?)
Phil joined me in the Meat Only eating over a year ago, so I was cooking him a ginormous hamburger patty (just shy of a lb) every day at lunch. He likes his almost burnt to a cinder, and cooking this in a pan--even with a splatter screen AND papertowelage--made a mess of the kitchen. Every day. It got to where I had to clean the vent-hood every couple of days, wipe the upper cabinet doors down weekly, etc. Not fun!
I'm not a clean freak--one look at my house and you would be assured. But I do have to have a grease free kitchen. Some friends on a facebook forum (called Zero Carb Health, if you're curious) have for a couple years now been talking about the Nu Wave cooker they use and how they love it. Well I am almost anti-gadget when it comes to the kitchen. Manual can opener, a whisk instead of a mixer--you get the idea. So I resisted.
But after a year of daily hamburger mess, I decided to try it. So glad I did! Not only because it keeps the kitchen clean, but the food! Oh my goodness!
I haven't cooked anything in it but meat...'cause, well, that's all we eat. But the meat! Crispy outside, moist and juicy inside, and fast. Super fast. I eat a lot--over two lbs a day, and he eats almost that much (needs to eat more, but you just can't hurry these things. He'll learn.) and sometimes the little rack to cook on is just not big enough for both our steaks, but for folks who eat "normal" amounts of meat, you can cook the whole meal right there in the bowl--meat on top, veggies on bottom.
The thing Phil likes best about it is that once I figured the time for his burger, it comes out just exactly the way he likes it, every. single. time. No guessing, no having to "finish" his burger in the microwave because I under-cooked it. (I like mine rare, so...)
The cooker I bought was not a Nu-Wave. I wanted a glass bowl instead of the plastic one, and Nu-Wave doesn't sell one with a glass bowl. I got the "Big Boss" on Amazon. There are different kinds, and some work with dials, some with digital pre-sets. I like the digital as it's more accurate. Also, a word to the wise: the glass bowl is a heavy sumbitch, and I do clean it every day.
Still worth it! At any rate, I wanted to tell y'all about it, and if you've heard of this "counter top oven", but wondered if it's Just Another Gadget, it's not!
I promise I will go back to my normal posts after this, but if we were sitting around having a cup of coffee together, I'd want to share the info with you as a friend. So there. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
(P.S. Just in case you're curious, I'll have been strictly carnivore for two years in March...no supplements, not so much as a lettuce leaf of plant food at all in two years. And I'm thriving! It's a mystery, isn't it?)
Feb 7, 2017
Red is Ready
Last October, I got to meet Connie Tognoli at our area doll show--and see her incredible work in person. I bought a tiny rabbit, and then fell in love with her Pinocchio doll. She in turn asked for a small Izannah, but wanted her to be dressed as Red Riding Hood. Having always wanted to make one--and never stopping long enough to do so--this suited me right down to the ground! So Red is ready to go to her new home.
If you sculpt, you know that each work is different, and once in a while a face "appears" that you know you'll never be able to reproduce. That's how this doll is for me--she has a face that really pleases me. But as Connie wasn't home to get her for a while, I got to keep Red with me a little while, and I liked having her around.
If you sculpt, you know that each work is different, and once in a while a face "appears" that you know you'll never be able to reproduce. That's how this doll is for me--she has a face that really pleases me. But as Connie wasn't home to get her for a while, I got to keep Red with me a little while, and I liked having her around.
Pinocchio is jointed with amazing flap & button (not sure the right name) joints, and his detail is amazing--and Jiminy Cricket? He's a character. I have to keep them up high because my cat loves them. So they have their own shelf above some of my other dolls.
And this little rabbit! She's only three inches tall--maybe not quite that tall. I don't know what it is, but that teeny little dress and her teeny jointed limbs decided me.
Red's cloak has deep olive green threads running through it--the fabric is some kind of flannel homespun, or maybe brushed cotton. She's a small one--only 15" tall. But I find that's a good size for collectors--as we all seem to crowd our shelves! Her basket has a bunch of sculpted food for Grandma--cabbages, turnips, pears & apples, and several loaves of bread. It all brought to mind my miniature-making Momma when I made those--I thought of her constantly while I made them, knowing how much fun she would have had with such an "assignment".
I'm working on the next commission--an 18/19 inch brown-eyed Izzy who wants a blue dress. Can I just say I love my job? :~) Given my new-found fascination with wool applique and such, I am fulfilling a New Year's Resolution to work on my own projects at night during TV time, and on dolls during the day. It just doesn't get any better!
Feb 5, 2017
February, already?
I can't believe I haven't posted since the end of December. Never mind. Of course I can believe it.
Since then, I have put away all the Christmas stuff, cleaned the house a few times, and had another lasik treatment on my right eye. Went to a couple of dog shows with my hubby and in-laws (we love dog shows, even if we don't show dogs). I've made decorations for the little trees I am now keeping year 'round (a 3' on the porch and an 18" in the house)--little paper clay hearts for them for now, after taking down the wooden snowflakes. I guess eggs, bunnies and spring flowers will be next. This penchant for decorating seasonally might last, and it might not...guess time will tell.
I also went to my hometown in TX for a few days, to hang out with a good buddy I've known since we were 15. I enjoyed running around my hometown, but she and I aren't anywhere near the party peeps we used to be. One night we stayed up 'til 11pm and the next day found us dragging. We are telling ourselves it's because we get up so early now, and we're wiser. Uh-huh.
Recently I've studied wool applique, and decided to work on something other than dolls for a little while. I love the dolls, but it was time to just "play" with needle & thread instead of working. I made a little piece from a pattern which was supposed to be a pin cushion, but I think I'll make it into a sewing kit cover to take on trips. I've also got a million wool pennies cut out for a coffee-table size penny rug. I'm not sure why, but working with wool is viscerally satisfying in a way I didn't expect.
Hope all are well and happy and that Spring is not teasing you too badly.
(I can't wait for my iris to start blooming!)
Since then, I have put away all the Christmas stuff, cleaned the house a few times, and had another lasik treatment on my right eye. Went to a couple of dog shows with my hubby and in-laws (we love dog shows, even if we don't show dogs). I've made decorations for the little trees I am now keeping year 'round (a 3' on the porch and an 18" in the house)--little paper clay hearts for them for now, after taking down the wooden snowflakes. I guess eggs, bunnies and spring flowers will be next. This penchant for decorating seasonally might last, and it might not...guess time will tell.
I also went to my hometown in TX for a few days, to hang out with a good buddy I've known since we were 15. I enjoyed running around my hometown, but she and I aren't anywhere near the party peeps we used to be. One night we stayed up 'til 11pm and the next day found us dragging. We are telling ourselves it's because we get up so early now, and we're wiser. Uh-huh.
Recently I've studied wool applique, and decided to work on something other than dolls for a little while. I love the dolls, but it was time to just "play" with needle & thread instead of working. I made a little piece from a pattern which was supposed to be a pin cushion, but I think I'll make it into a sewing kit cover to take on trips. I've also got a million wool pennies cut out for a coffee-table size penny rug. I'm not sure why, but working with wool is viscerally satisfying in a way I didn't expect.
Hope all are well and happy and that Spring is not teasing you too badly.
(I can't wait for my iris to start blooming!)
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