Punkin

I'm working on Halloween dolls now.  Most specifically, sculpted smalls, because they're faster than big dolls and they're fun.  But they're not ready for their close-ups yet, so...

Here's Punkin, who is just now finished and in my shop.  (I have lots of dolls there right now!)  For Punkin, I found an old pattern--one from the 1930's--that I call the "baseball head babies" because of the way the pattern pieces go together.  She's a fat little thing, with her arms and legs button-jointed.  Her hair is Tibetan lamb, and her booties are wool felt.  She's a little bit of a hippy chick, with her asymmetrical hair and the twists of bittersweet vine for a necklace.

 

 

I try to live in the now, and appreciate what is in front of me.  But even though I'm a gardener, the last of the summer months and the heat just wear me out.  I'm so looking forward to Fall!  We don't get great fall color here--the desert doesn't do deciduous trees as well as other places--but the temps get cooler and the dog-walking can be in the afternoon with the hubs instead of only me in the mornings.  We have gotten more than our normal 8" of rain this year, so maybe the trees we do have will be a little more colorful. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Noel Night

There's a lady in Chandler AZ (about 2 hours from me, south east of Phoenix) who has an antique store within an antique mall.  She actually has five booths, all put together to make one shop, so to stay she has a store is not overstating matters.  Carries the most fascinating mix of antiques, Victorian themed art and clothing, architectural scavenges, and folk art.  I could stand there all day and not see all of it, so much detail.

Well, she found me at a doll show and asked if we could talk...the result of which talk was that she'll now be carrying my dolls in her store.  (I think I already posted this news, but didn't go back to see.)  Each year, the antique mall has an event called Noel Night, during which all the merchants have a sale and stay open late.  There's a restaurant which has great food, and music, etc., and it's apparently a pretty busy night.  Patti asked if I would make a particular doll for Noel Night, and of course I did.  Her name is Victoria Noel, and she's 28" tall.  Cloth and clay, as usual, and wool hair.

I've got three more dolls in the works for this event, and hope to have them all finished in time!  I'll post them when they're done.  But in the meantime, here is Victoria (Patti wanted an "attic fairy").

Dolls in progress, and a commission.

So doll show's over, garage sale's over, and Mother's Day has come and gone.  (Hope yours was lovely!)

I got a commission recently which means the finishing of these several in-the-works dolls will have to wait, but I'm excited (and scared) about the commission.  A collector in Phoenix wants me to make her four rag dolls.  One of them will be a little black faceless doll to go with one she already bought from me.  The other three are white faceless rag dolls.  No big deal, right?  Right.  Pretty simple, those rag dolls.  BUT.  She wants me to dress them using baby dresses that she and her sisters wore.  I LOVE this idea, and I'm so excited.  But she sent me these dresses and they are the dearest, most fragile looking things you ever saw.  Delicate embroidery, scalloped edges, tiny pin tucks and buttons.  I'm petrified to cut into them. 

I suppose I'll have to remember the Nike slogan and just do it.  The dolls are sewn, to be stuffed and assembled and finished in the next few days.  But I plan to take my time with the clothing.  Oh, you bet I am.   

In the meantime, here are a few on the work table, waiting (patiently? sort of) to get their sanding and painting, their arms and legs and clothes. 

Another not-quite-Izannah doll...she'll be dressed in 1920's fashion.

This poor thing doesn't even have her clay yet.

Not sure who this one will be, but she whispers that she wants to wear light blue.

This girl has been soooooo patient with me.  I think I delay finishing her so I can keep her hanging around.

Molly and Clarise

I finished two new dolls.  Okay, I finished two old dolls who have patiently waited for me to sew them something besides the underwear they've sat around in for a year.  (Tell the truth and shame the devil.) 

So here they are.  I call the first one Molly because she's a type that I make--the first Molly being one I sold at UFDC last year, and got so many orders for.  So I call her type a Molly Doll...meaning a black lady of middle income from around the late 1800's era.  She has a linen apron and wool felt boots that are laced up permanently with cotton thread.

The second doll is Clarise, who is different than Molly because of her lighter skin, blue-gray eyes and fancier clothing.  Her shoes and hose are painted, and she wears a hardened corset w/ antique lace.  I imagined a story for her as I made her, one of those neither-nor stories that can be sweet or tragic, depending on the fortitude of the heroine. 

Anyway, here they are in their cotton dresses.  I still haven't learned to make button holes on my machine (someday!) so they have handmade button holes instead of hooks because I felt like it.  Their gown skirts are very fully gathered, and their unders are suited to the economics of their day.  They are each made from a Greiner doll body pattern, with big ol' butts, skinny middles, and broad shoulders.

I hope you like them.  I do.  :~) 

Doll show post mortem...

In a word, it went well.  Not as well as the UFDC convention, but that was a one-off anyway, so now I'm jaded.  Haha! 

The actual attendance--on terms of customers and venders both--was amazingly low, and Dorothy sent out poling letters to the vendors to ask for feedback.  Turns out that most vendors did well enough, despite the low attendance, to vote Keep the Schertz Show, but Change the Dates.  This was the third show in September, so we can assume that timing was the issue.  The site itself (Schertz Civic Center) is one of my favorites--well appointed, spacious, great parking, and easy load/unload access for vendors.  So, now the date is back to August, and we'll see what happens next year. 

One of my students from the first art doll class brought her finished doll--I was so pleased to see her!  This sweet dolly was inspired by the old chinas, and Joann found an antique dress that just fit her perfectly.  Hard to believe the girl had never made a doll in her life, isn't it?

Joann's doll is there against the "class dolls" I brought in attempt to fill tables.  Since this summer's UFDC convention went so well, I didn't have quite the set-up of dolls I had planned for, and one whole table would have gone empty.  So I brought along some "works in progress" and a small display for the hands-on doll class.  I figured I like to see how an artist makes his or her art, so maybe customers would too.  Some folks were blind as ever--amazing how many people can be LOOKING at a sign, and not see it.  But there were a few collectors interested in the class, and I'll have to add a weekend class once in a while for week-day workers.

 

The Lace Lady was there, up from Corpus Christi.  Her actual name is Judy.  Of course, her Bill was there too--he's good support and stoically helps her haul and set up, sitting with her through at least half the day.  She's probably the one vendor I always purchase from at doll shows, because her selection of antique textiles is so great, and she saves me "odd bits" in a bag for a lot price.  Just enough of this bit or that to hem a petticoat or chemise.  This time I actually bought some antique slips and a skirt for the fabric, and she's promised to bring me the Swiss batiste she has, come February.  Hard stuff to come by.  She's also fun to visit with, and we like to yabber about stitching--she's a talented quilter--and creative ideas.

So the show went well, not a huge profit, but lots of fun, sold some dolls, and learned more about what works and what doesn't.  I'm getting good enough at setting up that my time is down--from the nine hours it used to take me to right around four--which includes a little fiddling around with details.

Currently I am working on another Molly Doll, a large Izannah, and a small Izannah for commissions, and enjoying the cooler fall temperatures (high yesterday was only 82 degrees!).  The little Izannah and Molly below have homes--one is on her way to Georgia, and the other will join her new mom in Florida.

Hope all is well with you!

Dear Diary

I registered for convention yesterday, and spent a while getting the lay of the land.  And goggling like a country cousin at that monster resort.  I mean, La Quinta is more our style, given the pets and the degree of income we're willing to allocate to a roof and clean sheets.

Still, there I was, huffing from my smart choice of taking the stairs.  The wisdom of this choice is debatable, but maybe by the end of convention, I won't huff so much.  Today will be moving in the Helper Doll, whose name is Ivy Jane Adams.  She's around 15" tall or so, her gown is old cotton and her cap is antique linen.  Old crochet lace on both.
 

I posted photos on FB of these last two...from now on, my online time might be less regular.

These are Pierrot and Billy the Kid. 

I am going to have so much fun this week...learning, teaching, and goggling at dolls.  Thank you, hubby, for talking me into the full monty on this deal.  Love you.

New ideas for cloth and clay dolls...

My brain has been boiling over the last couple of weeks with ideas.  I've never been at a loss for ideas, but typically I'm all over the place with them, and at least this time (while I'm working on all kinds of projects) my concept is fairly focused.  More about that later, if I can make it all work the way I envision things, but for now,
I wanted to share Baby Agnes.

She's made from a Connie Tognoli Colombian doll pattern--the 19" one with a chunky little toddler body and funny little arms and legs--with clay for the head/face/shoulders.  She wears an antique nightie.  I plan to keep her until the UFDC convention, because she's a cloth and clay doll in a style I've never done before. 

Works in progress...

Between the gardening, selling two more rent houses, and preparing for the UFDC convention this summer, I'm feeling a little scattered.  My dolls are taking the brunt of it all, but maybe that's a good thing.  The ones who have sat, ignored in favor of the Izannahs, are finally being finished, and one new one is in the works because, well, just because.

I had a cleaning frenzy a while back, and during this frenzy I vowed to FINISH all the started projects so that I could start new ones later this year.  Easier said than done, but I've made a few inroads with some of the poor dears. 

This one is a cloth and clay doll with a small version of Connie's Columbian body.  She needed a wig, and I'd had a long black wig on her...but it just didn't work for me.  So she traded with a doll-in-progress, and they both seemed to benefit.  Here are photos of before and after the switch...

Baby Agnes, before

Dragonfly Dancer, before

And then I discovered that they wore the same size wig.  Hmmm....

I love the red hair!

Iridescent colors around her eyes...

 

 

While I was gathering up To Be Finished dolls, I found this poor thing, who was assembled sometime early 2013.  There was no sculpting, just an egg head with eyes...she looked pretty weird for a while. But now she's sculpted, so least she can be Weird With Attitude.  I plan to paint her as a contemplative (plotting?) version of the Queen of Hearts.

So much potential after the initial white wash!

Then there was this rabbit fellow, and his buddy.  I used a cat food can (don't tell!) and created a top to fit it, so now it's an Easter Candy Container.  Call it "Spring on Bloom Hill".  His little bucket is so tiny--way smaller than the end of my pinky finger--and it swings on its handle.

 

There seems to be a preponderance of rabbit dolls this year, but I think I'll just go with it and see what happens.  The following is the rabbit doll I'd posted about earlier (or did I?) and then some little spool dolls that sort of "fill in the cracks" at doll shows. 

Well, that's all for now.  I have chores to do, which don't involve dolls (how sad is that?).  Hope your week is fabulous, dahlink!