So many new things in the shop!

It's Wednesday.  Groceries, working in the yard, and Cheeseburger Pie for supper. 

But at least I don't have to mess with making listings today!  I don't know why that chore pokes at me so bad, but it does.  It's a helluva lot more fun to MAKE the art than it is to list it.  Some of the listings I made a while back, but never did anything else with them. These are in the store now. 

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It's almost spring--even here in the desert--so the irises will be blooming in a month or so.  Time to feed them and feed and prune the roses.  This is the first year I've put a "Red, White, and Blue" bed out front along the street.  Interesting to see if enough are blooming at the same time to get the effect I'm after.  :~)  I try to live in the season I'm in, but dang, I am sooooo ready for Spring.  And we don't even have hard winters here!

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I mentioned a post ago about a crazy quilting class I went to, the one where I was bitten by yet another art bug?  The block in the top photo  below is one I made before the class--my first block--so I'd know what questions to ask.  You know how you just never know what to ask if you've never tried to do something?  So I wanted to know where the hard parts were to ask about.  Well, the ladies there liked it so much they wanted me to post it on a Crazy Quilt site on Facebook.  I did so, and the editor of Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine asked if she could put it in the summer issue!  Cool beans!  So it'll be there, along with a couple of my folk art pieces. Baby steps, baby.

The bottom photo is of two blocks I made in the class itself, and I have patches for two more just like them, which will all go on a big black tote-bag to carry a cutting mat and supplies to classes & stitching meets. 

Now I'm designing small crazy quilt projects, along with getting more things listed on Ebay and Etsy.  If you know anyone who needs doll wigs or eyeballs, there are some big lots on Ebay right about now.  I have to make some room!  :~P

Hope your Hump Day is spectacular, and your weekend even more so. 
Jan

Queen Annes finished finally.

And listed in the Etsy shop.  I may take a break from doll related stuff for a day or two (riiiiight).  But in the meantime, the dog needs a bath and a hair cut. Hope your Monday is behaving itself.

Cheers.
Jan

Two celebrations.

One is that I just had my 100th sale on Etsy.  That doesn't count doll shows or art fairs, but given how scary it was to open a doll store, and how sure I was that I was wasting my time for the first several months, I'm kinda tickled about it.  Granted--a whole lot of those sales were Walnut Ink and Rabbit Patterns, but I'll celebrate.  What is is about hitting a benchmark of 100 that feels like such an accomplishment?  Why is 99 not terrific, or 103? 

The second is not really a celebration, just a silly little rag doll on Ebay.  She's the first of the Linen Sisters, very simple and homey. I was ready for another auction...because even when it doesn't go the way I want, it's still exciting to put one up.  I don't go to Vegas, don't play poker or by lottery tickets...so maybe a doll auction is as much gambling as I can stand.  

Hope your week is FABULOUS!

The Hermit's Garden is Open For Business.

Well, it has been for quite a while, but now it's on Etsy.  Phil and I spent something like two & a half days photographing all his notebook covers, belt buckles, purses, belts, archery gear, etc. etc. etc.   I gotta say he's MUCH more organized about it.

Now I'm putting the listings together, so his shop is really starting to look more like...a shop.  Essentially, he has a day job, and so do I.  But while he's stuck at a desk all day, I get to make dolls, manage the stores and do real estate paperwork.  Okay, that last bit is probably not my favorite, but I'm lucky to have so much flexibility and variety in my work.

But there are so many more listings to go!  I try to post one every day, but I think I'll have to start adding more per day to get it all up in time for Christmas shoppers.

So next time you're on Etsy, drop by the Hermit's Garden  

and take a look, "favorite" something, or just say hi. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Tuesday's Treasury

In the nine months or so I've had an Etsy shop, I've only made one other treasury.  But I was really new then, and they didn't have the cool feature that told all those people who'd been included THAT they'd been included.  So you had a lot of extra work to do, letting everyone in on the secret.  Not so these days.  SOOO to that end, I made another one.  Partly because I have been enjoying the recent introduction to a lot of primitive folk artists, and partly because I'm fed up with summer and jonesing for Fall, big time.

The other day, I noticed the tiniest bit of autumn scenting the early morning air, and told the hubs "Fall is on its way!"  He looked at me with that way he has; "Um, dear, the thermostat says it's 80 degrees out at 5:30 in the morning.  What makes you think Fall is going to arrive soon?" 

And I could only fall back on the reply I used to give my kids when I could think of nothing better: "Because I said so!"  Enjoy the folkart, and if you find something you really like, share the love!  (I personally plan to buy some candles...soon.)

Because I said so!

Rabbits!

I have always wanted to try my hand at patterns.  I really stink at following them, but I've designed them for ages.  Of course, there's a difference between making a pattern for myself and making one so somebody else can follow it.



So I figured I'd start with an easy one. 

Two separate listings, one for PDF

 
and one for a print pattern.

Yay patterns!
 
 

The 11th already?

Time's fun when you're having flies.

I posted two new listings this morning.  One was made this winter...a work that made the husband raise his eyebrows and doubt his wife's sanity.  

"Good Bones"

The other I finished a couple of weeks ago, begun as one of those "extra blobs of clay" that turned into a head drying on a stick because I can't throw ANYTHING away.  But I liked his face, so I finished him, and now he's Birthday Boy.

"Birthday Boy"

I hope you have a great week and all the talking parrots your heart desires.

Newest Doll on Etsy

I began these dolls a month or so ago, started several of them at a time, but Sophia is the first one finished.  (I worked on four more yesterday, but they still have a way to go.)

Making myself promise to get these done before I started the Izannah Walker Inspired dolls from Dixie Redmond's class, but not sure I can wait that long.  The hub's likely to put an offer on another rent-house soon, so I'd best make dolls while I have the time.

I'd posted a WIP photo of the doll torsos all lined up.  Maybe I should start calling them DIPs (dolls in progress? :~) but here is the one with Sophia in the middle.

I originally saw a sort of Roaring Twenties Flapper Clara Bow character, but Sophia has insisted that she has no intention of flapping, and that I was badly mistaken in my original assessment.  Each doll has his or her own personality, no matter what I envision, and this lady turned out more like Lilleth on Cheers.  Anyway, I'm fond of her, and she does seem willing to listen to the other dolls and give advice, so who am I to argue?

Sophia - JD Conwell Folk Art Doll

More Gourds!

This is Patience, the newest listing in the shop.  Her listing description tells what all she's made of--I still have one more scrap of that woven trim she's wearing.  Guess I'll be warping the loom again if I want any more of that wild, multi-colored pattern.

I finally finished all the gourd dolls I'd started...at some point I decided to aim for a lower price point by doing less sculpting on the paper clay, (which takes a long time because I get carried away).  This one is my favorite of the "simple" ones.  The rest are fun, varying from silly, to sweet, to downright ridiculous, because you can never have too many three eyed parrots.  (More pictures tomorrow.)

But for now, have Patience.  (teehee.)

Finally! New listing in the Etsy shop.

I think I posted about Sydney a while back...but I've finally gotten around to adding listings.  The last few months have seen me making dolls, but not putting them in the shop.  The hubs rather dryly mentioned that it's hard to buy something that's not in the store...(he is a smart ass, but I knew this when I married him.)

The new pictures I got of Sydney helped...I've created a backdrop and am considering using white as a backdrop for more listings.  The vintage table/shutters thing for now, but later I'm going to try a trick I learned on Etsy about how to make a "white box" for photographing smaller things.  Guess we'll see.

For now, Sydney is up for adoption.  (She's a very good listener...)

New Etsy Listings...

Please meet Tina and Dee.  They've joined my Etsy doll collection.

Tina Chihuahua

Dee the too-curious rabbit...

Y'know, when I bump this stupid tray, heads really do roll!

And now for something COMPLETELY different...

Inspired by tales of Morrigan, a Celtic deity who can trace her roots back to the megalithic cult of Mothers, I wanted to tell the other side of a ghoulish Scottish folk song called Twa Corbies (Two Ravens).  So here is Morrigan, having "thatched her nest when it grows bare-oh".  Death gives way to regeneration...

Below the pics you'll find both versions of Twa Corbies as a poem, along with a You-Tube video of the folk song.  The modern English one is more accessible, but the old one is the one sung.  

The Twa Corbies

As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies makin a mane;
The tane unto the ither say,
"Whar sall we gang and dine the-day?"

"In ahint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new slain knight;
And nane do ken that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound an his lady fair."

"His hound is tae the huntin gane,
His hawk tae fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady's tain anither mate,
So we may mak oor dinner swate."

"Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pike oot his bonny blue een;
Wi ae lock o his gowden hair
We'll theek oor nest whan it grows bare."

"Mony a one for him makes mane,
But nane sall ken whar he is gane;
Oer his white banes, whan they are bare,
The wind sall blaw for evermair." 

(Now in clear English...  :~)

The Two Ravens

As I was walking all alone,
I heard two ravens making moan;
The one unto the other did say,
"Where shall we go and dine today?"

"In behind that old turf wall,
I sense there lies a new slain knight;
And no-one knows that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound and his lady fair."

"His hound is to the hunting gone,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl home,
His lady has taken another mate,
So we may make our dinner sweet."

"You will sit on his white neck-bone,
And I'll peck out his pretty blue eyes;
With one lock of his golden hair
We'll thatch our nest when it grows bare."

"Many a one for him is moaning,
But none will know where he is gone;
O'er his white bones, when they are bare,
The wind will blow for evermore."

Penny Bunny

Could be that all the soul searching has helped more than I know, could be the full moon and magic beans, could be I'm just stark raving bonkers, but I feel like cleaning out, winnowing what feels like art from what feels like desperation.  I have a better idea of what I want to do now.  It'll take a while to get it right, but dang it feels good to have a direction.

To celebrate, here's a little clothespin doll I just listed on Etsy.  I'm able to make these in less time than a lot of my dolls, so the price can be more accessible.  Hope you like her.

Penny Bunny

The Things We Do For Love

Sometime last summer I snagged a bag of kids' blocks at the thrift shop.  Not the cute little alphabet blocks, but the big, chunky stack-up-to-build-a-fort kind of blocks.  As you surely understand, I had NO clue what to do with them, only that they were intrinsically valuable.  For something.  Sometime.  Of course they were.  And they were only three bucks for the whole bag!

So I put them in a wire hanging basket, and mostly forgot them, except for peering at them once in a while.

But last week, when I went in to my studio to meditate on what I could do to avoid cleaning it, the blocks spoke up, and one in particular had an idea for me.

This idea joined with some little bean-stalk seeds planted by a novel I'd been unable to forget (Jasper Fforde's "The Big Over Easy"--you'll never be able to forget it either...) to become my version of Humpty Dumpty.  Only Humpty, regardless of any king's horses or men, DID manage to put himself together, because you see...he was motivated.

Sometimes, we just have to keep it together for the kids' sake.

...as always, click to zoom in, back button to zoom out...

Hey Mither! Got any bird-theed?

Sorry.  That is the punchline from a joke I can't even remember.  I just can never forget the punch line.  Welcome to my world.  Huh-huh.

I was SUPPOSED to clean my room the last couple of days.  Did I?  NOOOOO.  I made birds.  Lots of 'em.  And then I dug up this little box of unfinished wooden blocks I'd scored at a thrift shop...and well, long story short, the room is still a horrific mess.

But I have all these birds to list tomorrow!  :~)

I really need to get that studio clean...*sigh*

More for Spring...

Coming up for Spring...

Dreaming Bunny Pin Keep

I've got to take some new photos before I list this one...the background should be a rich olive green, and the trim around the top of the box is peach...colors in these photos are weird, and I don't know enough to fix them!  As bad as the colors are, you can still zoom in by clicking the picture.

 

The watering can/pin-cushion is so strongly attached to the lid that the handle works as...well, a handle.  :~)  The doll head & body is about the size of my thumb, maybe smaller.  Nothing says Spring like a pregnant bunny, right? 

I'd love some feedback: is this too flowery/feminine/old fashioned/etc?  I have a thing about containers...and figured it'd be fun to combine a doll w/ a sewing box but not in the way I've seen it done.

I finished Jack!

The most recent ADO challenge was Jack Frost.  Of course, I take things very literally, so I had to see just how Jack Frost I could make him.  He ended up being more of a Jack Sparrow meets Mad Hatter version, but I like him.  I had never done a batting-wrapped wire frame for a doll, so the learning curve was steeper than with the gourd dolls, but every little bit of learning counts, right?  I also learned that if you're making clothes for a static-frame doll, you better leave some seams open so you can sew them once they're ON the doll.  Let's hear it for the ol' learning curve.  :~)  He's listed on Etsy now...and will be on Artfire soon.

Anyway, here he his.  I hope you like him.