You might not know, but I have started making and hopefully selling, doll hats this month. Years back a doll collector came to my home from NYC and told me I really ought to consider selling the hats that my dolls were wearing. I kind of balked, since I had been a milliner before, and hat-making, literally a HUGE headache! :) My hat business was called aptly "Over My Head" and it was, truly. All those sizes!
But early this month, I got to fiddling, and within a week I had quite a few hats made and within a couple, even more. I was busy emailing back and forth with friends getting input on all things related to doll hats. Quite sure I have driven most of those people crazy, and now I probably have fewer friends :)
My one-of-a-kind friend Deena over at Fabby Dolls has been very helpful, as has my new friend Bari, who is a terrific sculptor and has a great eye. Can't do much without creative friends these days, that's for sure.
Especially helpful has been Yve over at Freaky Little Things. She is, it turns out, quite a doll collector. She is a marvelous doll artist as well. I have been picking her brain on ideas, especially related to sizing (the thorn in my side, really). Turns out there are almost more doll head sizes than people head sizes! Who knew?!
In the meantime she has got me interested in the whole BJD (ball-jointed doll) craze and I even ordered a mini for a head model. These vinyl or resin dolls, it turns out, make terrific hat models! I'm trying to figure out now how I will come up with an affordable Blythe doll. I've got Yve on the case, though, so only a matter of time!
So anyway, hats are going on over at my Etsy site. I hope to have at least 1 new hat to show a day. They aren't entirely inexpensive, because like anything handmade, they are fairly labor intensive, but if you collect miniatures or dolls, they are fairly unique and, like I said, come in lots of sizes.
The cool thing about doll hats is, the size doesn't matter all that much. Most of the hats I make have fairly shallow crowns and really are meant to sit on top of the head. So, if the hat looks good on a particular doll, you can usually make it work.
Fantastic...a lot of fine details and workmanship. These are so stylish, you'll probably get orders for larger ones to fit real people heads!
ReplyDeleteStella xx
Thanks, Stella! But I think we are going to have to leave the big heads to you :) Doll size is as big as it's going to get for me! Gets too fiddly otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYes, isn't Barbie quite the thing?! I want Blythe!
ReplyDeleteLove the hats! I bet some people will collect and disply just the hats. If you ever find an aforable Blythe let me know I've been coveting one for so long!
ReplyDeleteYour millinery skills are awesome! I did pick my fav from this blog - the last one: rust with lace and feather. Can you make that for a people-size head???
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