Boudoir Dolls: Four dressed and two more to go.

One's dress is finished, but she seems unhappy with it, so there will be alterations.  I'll show you which one, and you'll see by her expression she's very serious when she doesn't get what she wants.  The others range from dreamy to vampish to bawdy to bohemian, but they're almost finished.  I'll sew a brown slacks suit tomorrow for the bawdy flapper with a brown bowler (I'm on an alliterative kick, can you tell?) and fix Betty D.'s gown, but otherwise, I'm done.  Then on to the Izzy dresses.  Nothing like waiting til the last minute, eh?

I haven't named them, and photographs range from poor to worse, but I promise to do better.

She wears natural linen & black lace lounging pj's...

and has a mask for Halloween (she may already be spoken for...)

Bohemian Smoker...I think her name is Ilsa.

In person she reminds me of a certain pop singer but I can't think who...

Lilac chiffon, and dreamy blue eyes.

I think I was channeling "The English Patient" when I made her.

I don't know what to think of this one.  She just showed up.

She pretended to be innocent until it was time for her wardrobe.

The Queen is Not Amused. I think of her as Betty D., but her eyes aren't buggy enough.

This one has a great sense of humor, and wants a pants suit with a short bolero jacket. I think she's my favorite, but don't tell the others.

Boudoir Dolls

We've had quite a week here at Chez Conwell...the AC went out last Wednesday night, so I spent Thursday and Friday in a house where the first morning's 78 was the all time low.  By Friday night, it was a whopping 100 in the house...even the candles on the shelves were melting.  But they fixed it finally, and we now have a much better appreciation of modern air conditioning.

Since I was stuck in the house because of repair men present, I figured I may as well make some progress on dolls--it actually did help to divert my attention from the sweltering pity-party.  I'd been studying Boudoir Dolls (also called Bed Dolls or Flapper Dolls) for months, inspired by the history behind them.  So I designed a body pattern, sculpted some heads a few weeks back, and have been working on six new creations (and dressing the last three Izzy dolls too) for the show in two weeks. 

The boudoir / bed dolls I'm working on are quite a bit smaller than antique ones...mine average 18" tall, whereas the old ones were anywhere from 24" to 36" tall!  One of these days I'd like to make one that is authentic in that detail, but for now mine are more like my version of a bed doll, rather than a reproduction.

Here are some photos of antiques.  There is a wide variance in styles over the decades these dolls were produced--1920's to the 1940's.  In a day or two, I'll have pictures of mine up.  Promise.  :~)

Have a great week!