One little box left.

Recently, because four million things on my to-do list is just not enough, I joined Primitive Handmades Mercantile.  I listed three things--Rachel, a not-quite-Izannah doll, and two little wool-applique boxes. I confess I stink at remembering to post it around on social media, but I'll get better.

Anyway, Rachel sold, and the little Thistle button box sold, but I still have the little covered notions box.  I'd never covered a box with cloth before, but it was not too hard, and the results were pleasing.  I guess I'll have four million and one things to do now, because I want to cover a bunch of storage boxes I keep my Christmas decorations in, atop the cabinets in our office! 

I hope your week goes wonderfully, and you discover something fabulous in your travels.

Happy Birthday to Izannah Walker!

Well I thought I felt old, but at least I'm not 200.  Ha!  Today is Izannah Walker's birthday, and lots of artists who admire her work are getting together to celebrate it.

I had originally intended to make a doll for this day, but as I got busy with orders and now for the upcoming show down in Phoenix, I must be one of Mr. Burns' mice:  “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men...Gang aft a-gley.”  Yep, my schemes ganged aft a-gley back in July and I haven't seen 'em since.  Hmph.

So the best I can do (and I wonder if Ms Walker ever got snowed under with work, especially once she got her patent?) is to post a sort of chronicle of my Izzy studies.  My first ones, made from a pattern that Dixie Redmond designed, were chunky babies to be sure.  And my vast inexperience really made itself apparent.  But through determined study and the chance to see several real Izannah Dolls in person, I improved.  The following are in sets, from the first to the last. I never realized how many of these sweet dolls I have made over the last five or six years until I started going through photos, so I had to leave quite a few out.

Here's to you, Ms Walker.  Thank you for being so independent, creative, and innovative.  You are an inspiration to us, and always will be. 

Clicking on the photos enlarges, but read captions first.  :~)

My first three from Dixie's pattern; Enid, Odessa, and Vernon.

The next ones, after a little pattern drafting for a smaller head to body ratio.  I don't think it was authentic--antique Izzies really did have large heads for their bodies, but I seemed incapable to making them that way.

After more pattern drafting.  Still working on the head-to-body ratio, and head shape.  LOTS of study on the face sculpting went into this bunch, and I was finding a groove I liked. 

The two outside ones are mine, the two inside were antiques belong to my friend Edyth O'Neil.

My friend Martha Bishop inspired me to experiment with lamb skin wigs...this is Delia.

 

Geillis, Thomas, and Elizabeth.

I think this one had been in the cooking sherry.

This is Red Riding Hood, for Connie Tognoli.  I'd gotten used to making the bigger ones, so the 15" size was a treat to make.

This one for a dear friend of mine in Texas.

This one was inspired by that wine-red velvet hat...I found it at a flea market and a Kate "Greenaway Izannah" doll came to life full blown in my mind. 

The most recent custom Izannah that I did for a dear lady.  This may well be my favorite one ever. 

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Dixie asked us this morning what we would give Ms Walker for her birthday from our time.  I think I'd collect allllll the articles and books written about her and her work, to show her what an incredible influence she has had on artists that came after her.  Happy Birthday, Izannah Walker. 

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.

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.

 

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!

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.  

Tiny Rachel and Feline Willie

I cleaned out my studio...no, that's not true.  I cleaned out the old not-likely-to-succeed projects in my studio.  Nobody was more surprised than me to find myself suddenly finishing an Izzy that had been waiting around for a year.

But here she is, watching TV with Willie, our torty cat.  Both girls appear to be enjoying a little down time.

I really enjoyed working on Tiny Rachel--I call her tiny because I've gotten used to working with the 21 / 22" Izzies, and Rachel is only 14" tall or so.  But she was fun, and I had fun experimenting a little on a different finish.  Not something I plan to continue, but I like the result on her, so I'll leave it.

The dog-cat show continues on pretty much a daily basis.  Only now sometimes they invade Phil's space while he's at work (he works from home now that we've moved--just works online at the same job he had in TX).  So every day is Bring Your Pets To Work day for Phil.

Schultz and Willie play like this at least once a day, sometimes several times, if they feel feisty, or Schultz hasn't had a good walk in a while.  :)  If he doesn't start it by going "terrier" on her, then she starts it by jumping out from behind a corner, Ninja Kitty style.  I'm very fond of this time.

Y'all have a lovely weekend!

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