A Dollie A Day

Eye Eye

2012-02-04T10:02:00.003-05:00

I have been messing around with painting eye chips for Blythe this week. I love all the pretty colors. I especially like mixing the paints. I think these ones turned out really nice and a little bit different from what other people are doing, so I am posting them. I don't know if they will be everyone's cup of tea for eyes, but I think they are interesting at least. I think the purple/silver ones are my favorites.

Aye Calypso

2012-01-25T13:18:00.009-05:00

This is Calypso, Sea Goddess, captor and lover of Odysseus. This is a OOAK Blythe collaboration doll between me and Amy Taylor

She was a really fun doll to do. She was originally a Simply Lilac. I gave her a mohair reroot in about 5 different shades of blue, green and black. She has a velvet gown that is halter styled and drops down over the hips in a frond-like pattern, bellowing out in voluminous blue and green tulle.

Her jewels are by Amy. She has a sterling silver trident, a fish armband, and a crown with 2 shades of fresh water pearls. Her pull charms are sea glass and silver with pearl. She has a silver-plate caviar dish throne with lime green velvet beaded cushions.

She left today to be her new owner. Aye, aye, Calypso. Gentle seas.

She's a Cool Girl

2012-01-20T16:08:00.001-05:00

We still have 5 Cool Girl shirts left for our project For the Love of Blythe. We are selling these little white teeshirts with a Goldie icon on the front (icon by Rose of Moon Rouge) to raise money for postage for the final stages of our project. If you want a cool girl shirt, check out the For the Love of Blythe store on etsy.

For the Love of Blythe Interview

2012-01-15T11:16:00.003-05:00

Fanny Zara has interviewed me and it is now up on the For the Love of Blythe blog. Please go have a look at what our project is all about!

http://fortheloveofblyte.wordpress.com

For the Love of Blythe

2012-01-03T10:40:00.000-05:00

I told you all I had a secret project up my sleeve. It is being launched this week. It's a Blythe community project involving about 50 artists from all over the globe. The purpose is to get 7 teams of 7 artists from around the world participating together in creating OOAK Blythe dolls that will be auctioned for charity, with 3 of us, Fanny Zara, Jean Yates and I pulling together a book detailing the project. Our project is called For the Love of Blythe. We hope you will follow what we are doing and play dolls with us. Fanny created a FTLOB Blog to capture highlights. Please check it out.

What the Cool Girls are Wearing

2011-12-21T10:44:00.000-05:00

I have a secret project going which I hope to fill everyone in on after the holidays. These little tee shirts you see on my girls are related in some way. Rose at Moon Rouge has allowed me to use this really wonderful image of her Blythe Goldie for the shirts you see here. I think they turned out great. In fact, I think they are so cool, I might make one for myself, but in a bigger size :) Rock on, Blythe girls. You have all the style!

Pastel Perfect

2011-12-15T14:07:00.000-05:00

I have been having too much fun playing with all the colors lately. I have a box that sits on my work desk (my work desk is 2 very long tables abutted end to end, in which every single square inch is piled high with stuff!) that is full of little dresses I have made for my Blythe girls. When I have a free moment, I see what fabrics I have available, and if I don't see the color I want, I dye some silk (usually velvet), in a color that inspires me for the day, and then I set about making a little dress for one of the girls. In the past I thought I might try selling them, but when it comes down to it, I don't seem to be able to part with them! This past week, I made 2 dresses. One for Little Jeany, which is a lilac velvet, and one for Rootie, which is lavender. I guess I was feeling inspired by shades of pale purple this week.

Both girls are Blythes that I customized recently, and I am really happy with how they came out. They both have their own personality, which is really fun, considering these dolls all start out more or less the same, and then emerge as something unique. Blythes are a blast to photograph and I am having the time of my life.

Besides loving the fun colors, I also love changing them up and washing out all but the most vibrant, to come up with a photograph that is a tiny bit aged, but still of the modern age :)

Today I am working with the color green. I have another OOAK Blythe I am working on with my friend Amy Taylor. I hope to have photographs to show you some time next week. I hope everyone is enjoying the last days of the year and hope you have very color full holidays! - Cindy

A Passion for Pastry

2011-12-03T13:40:00.009-05:00

A Passion for Pastry

The Queen of Hearts
Devoted to tarts,
She eats them every day.
She dreams of sweets
And delicate treats
They make her heart sashay.
She spends her days
On her velveteen chaise
Cake after cake she'll devour
A pie to her lips
As her heartbeat skips
When passion overrules willpower.

Introducing Charlotte Russe, the Queen of Hearts. She's a sweet little royal with a rather impressive weakness for sweets and other tasty treats. Puddings, pies, tarts and truffles. She can't get enough. She keeps her servants hopping. Her discerning taste allows only the sweetest, most sublime of morsels to pass her lips. Spending her days lolling about on her heart-shaped pink velvet loveseat, silver tongs in one hand for daintily selecting pastries from her silver tray, she rules over her kingdom with her stunning bejeweled scepter in the other hand.

Besides being royal, beautiful, and possessing impeccable tastebuds, she possesses a genetic flaw passed on from her mother, the former Queen of Hearts, Charlotte Royale. The more sweets she eats, the plumper her lips seem to get. It's true! Her figure is flawless. She won't gain a pound. But her lips, pudding filled and sumptuous as they are, just get plumper and plumper as she snacks. We think it's the dollops of whipped cream she attaches to every bite. Whatever the case, she's a lovely girl; the perfect package really.

Her jewels are divine, her dress simply dazzling. She is a perfect work of art idling her days on her pillow-topped lounger. She's a queen, indeed. We hope you will love her as much as we do.

The Queen of Hearts is the flagship doll for a collaboration project between my good friend and silversmith extraordinaire, Amy Taylor and me. We are calling our project Sweet Temptations. Charlotte is the first doll in our collaboration, with the hope that this is just the beginning. We both love Blythe. We both love fine things. We are so excited to be showing off our first collaborative OOAK piece. She's up on Ebay until December 13, 2011.

Coming up Roses

2011-11-21T12:47:00.006-05:00

Here's a fun hat I made yesterday for a friend and her Blythe dolls. It's a charcoal colored wool felt with a giant black grosgrain ribbon made into an accordian pleat at the front and topped off with a matching charcoal gray leaf and a hand-rolled silk velvet rose. I am quite happy with how it turned out. I was having fun with the pictures and thought I'd share.

Heart Shaped World

2011-11-17T10:10:00.010-05:00

I just love the colors pink and red. They remind me of love and hearts and all that good stuff. Sweet things, too. Chocolate covered cherries - love em! Little pink cupcakes - love em!

I just finished these 2 fun little sets for a couple of friends who have joined me in helping with something I had been thinking of. Both outfits are pretty much the same, but one is pink and one is red. They have a hand-dyed crushed velvet bodice, with silk underskirts and a tulle overskirt. Both comes with funny wool felt hats and a pouf. I also made them crushed velvet carpet bags, but forgot to put them in the photos, so they will be a surprise.

My 2 dolls, Little Jeany and Ivy, are having fun wearing the costumes and will be sad to see them go. I think they look really cute in these. I love this funny little doll stuff. Just keeps me so amused. Hope you are having a great day!

Oh, Little Jeany

2011-11-14T19:04:00.004-05:00

My friend Jeany from Canada sent me this great gift a few months back. I've shown her here before, in fact in the last post, but she looked quite a bit different then. She's a Blythe Simply Guava, that I named Little Jeany. I am quite crazy for the fantasy hair colors that some of my Blythes have. I have both a Simply Peppermint, with pale mint colored hair, and a Simply Mango with mango colored hair. Guava has hot pink hair and to me, it is a really fun color to work with. This past weekend, since it was windy outside and I wasn't feeling like going out that much, I spent some time customizing Little Jeany and gave her a whole new look.

I am really having fun with these dolls. When I finish one, I immediately want to customize another. My couple of semi-stock dolls are shivering in their shoes worrying that they will be next to go under the knife. If I had a drawer full of Blythes, I think I could spend every day just carving them up and doing their makeup. It's really quite satisfying.

I decided I didn't want to give her colors for her makeup that would match her hair. Instead I chose brown and rust tones, which is different than maybe most people would choose, but I think it works for her. I carved her lips quite heavily and painted them in a few shades, but didn't gloss them. I gave her 2 sets of Coolcat eye chips for her side-facing sets, one sort of a gold and one a nice light brown. I also put in a set of Ana Karina handpainted chips that are a lovely green, and another set of Zaola handpainted chips, which are a beautiful blue, for her front facing sets. I think she is now quite a unique doll. Or at least she looks different than she did. I haven't seen one exactly like her. Funny how one doll can look so different with just a little bit of change. Fascinates me.

Hope you are well and have adjusted to the time change if you had it. We have been having some days in the 50s, which is unseasonably warm for this time of year here in Vermont. I am counting on an unseasonably warm winter in general, but chances are, I will be disappointed :)

Fascinating Blythe

2011-11-01T13:57:00.012-04:00

I think I have finally kicked some of my creative slump. Here are some fascinator hats I did up for Blythe. I think she looks fantastic. These hats will fit other dolls, but if you are a Blythe fan, there is no other doll that is quite as fun, funny or fashionable as the big headed, big eyed queen.

I think Blythe is pretty much my doll focus these days. I really can't resist, to be honest. Somehow I have acquired 7 Blythes. All but 1 is customized to some degree by me. My 1 stock doll (though she may not stay that way long) is a Guava given to me by my friend, Jeany, in Canada. What a cool gift! I was so stoked to receive it, I can't tell you. I am just finishing up a mohair root for Jeany this week. I figure it's the least I could do.

I have a couple of Blythe projects on the table that I am thinking about. My good friend, Amy Taylor, jeweler extraordinaire, is collaborating with me on what I hope might be a series of OOAK Blythe customs. I think we'll concentrate on 1 first and see how we do. There is no one who can do jools like Amy, so I think whatever we come up with is bound to be quite smashing. Between the 2 of us, we ought to be able to do everything ourselves outside of manufacturing the actual doll.

I hope you doll people are having a lovely fall. It is bordering on winter here in Vermont, and we have already had one day of snow! I can hardly feel ready for that, but it's the way it is here. Gives me an excuse to stay inside and play with dolls, I suppose. Hope you all are enjoying playing with dolls and finding fun ways to express yourselves. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of creative people out there. I am sure you are one of them. Enjoy!

Blythes in Hats

2011-10-03T17:27:00.008-04:00

I'll start this post by saying, I have been so, so lazy! I looked at my last post and it has been literally months and months since I posted last. Thump to me!

Cold weather is creeping back here in Vermont, and that's about the time I start getting creative again. Finally! That's all I can say. The summer this year was quite lovely. Lots of sun. A bit too much water here and there, but all in all, quite right.

I made 4 new hats this weekend. I was thinking, since it looked like I wasn't lifting a finger, that maybe I was just done making hats for dolls. I mean, I haven't actually even looked at my sewing machine for most of the summer. But, the weekend was cold. We barely went out, and I got to thinking, maybe I'll sew something. So I did. 4 new hats. I like them. They are whimsical and romantic, and I am showing them off here. My newest Blythe doll, Jeany, has pink hair. My dear friend, Jeany, for whom she is named, actually gave her to me as a gift! This is her first time in photos. She likes her new hat. Hope you do, too.

Libby Libby

2011-05-22T10:15:00.011-04:00

I finally finished my second custom black Blythe doll yesterday. I don't know where the time goes! I had intended to finish if awhile ago, but then I got busy, well, doing nothing actually. If you don't count spending probably 3 weeks on my butt playing a video game I am apparently addicted to (Rune Factory 3). Not to worry. I beat all the bosses in that, so life can resume.

The truth is, several times a year I find myself with pretty much zero creative inspiration. What that usually results in is me sitting around flipping channels or playing video games for a couple weeks while waiting for something useful to pop into my head. This time, it's Manga. After playing my Manga video game, well, I have an endless stream of Manga cartoon characters running through my head. Hopefully it will come out in my dolls one way or the other.

But in the meantime, here's Libby. She's a Blythe head I sprayed with vinyl spray paint in a darker shade of brown than last time. I like the color a lot. I put her on a Hujoo body, same as last doll, because, well, I never did get the stickyness out of the Takara body I sprayed. Drove me up a wall for a week and I just said, forget it. Use what you know. So back to the Hujoo body. I think this is going to be my last spray painted Blythe. Too much work with all the pieces, frankly. I really like how she came out, but 2 spray painted dolls is plenty for anyone I imagine. Her hair is mohair I rooted on, again, a Cool Cat scalp. I dyed her hair a bunch of berry shades - sort of raspberry, blueberry, boysenberry. I like how it turned out.

Her eye chips are all handpainted by me. I used a variety of nail polish acrylics because they had cool sparkly things in them, and that's what I wanted. Hope everyone is having a lovely spring and getting some sun (we are eeking by with our once every 7 day dose).

My First Custom Blythe

2011-04-30T16:44:00.011-04:00

I have been dinking around with Blythe dolls for over a year now and have become quite addicted as it turns out. They have pretty much taken the place of my cloth art dolls, in that I seem to have lost interest in making those, at least for the time being. Cloth dolls was my thing for 10 years, so honestly, even if I quit today, I certainly feel like I put my time in. There is something so amusing to me about the big-head, big-eyed plastic dolls that I just can't resist keeping them around. Blythe is just, hands down, my all-time favorite doll. Close second is the Korean plastic BJD, Hujoo.

All of my Blythe dolls have had some customization done by me. I happily pop out eyeballs and put in new ones, change the gaze a bit, do the makeup up a little more to my liking and add eyelashes that I like better. But until recently, I hadn't actually done too much in the way of seriously customizing a doll start to finish. I have been admiring those artists who have been brave enough to do dark skinned or black Blythes. I wanted one. They don't seem to be for sale and I probably couldn't afford one anyway, even if they were. So, I decided to do my own.

I searched around the internet and found out that I needed to get SEM vinyl spray, which is a pretty heavy duty auto industry spray paint that is supposed to be for car seats, and so remains flexible while still being sturdy. I picked a color I wanted, which was a kind of cafe latte color. I also decided I wanted an entirely different body. I have always wanted to put a Hujoo body (love that body) on a Blythe, but the color match is horrible. I decided since I was going to be painting the whole thing anyway, now was the perfect time to try that out. I disassembled a Hujoo body I had, strung up all the pieces and sprayed them with the SEM color I had selected. I did probably 4-5 coats on each piece and then restrung the body and got started on the head.

I decided to carve the lips and nose of the Blythe faceplates I had for this project. I did a fairly subtle mouth carving and just deepened the nostrils on the nose. Then I sprayed the faceplates with the SEM paint, again 4-5 coats and waited for that to dry. When all the parts were done, I did the makeup on the face and then waited on my Coolcat scalp to come (I didn't have the heart to tear apart a perfectly good Blythe scalp, so opted for a substitute). While I waited, I took a bunch of mohair I had and dyed that into about 5 or 6 shades of browns, auburns, burgundies and blacks. It turned out really lovely and I was very happy with the results of that. When the scalp arrived, I spent the next 2-3 days rooting that with the mohair I had dyed. It turned out really well, but I couldn't quite get the scalp to stay flush with the faceplates, no matter what I did. So, in the end, I have a tiny bit of overhang on the scalp, but luckily it doesn't show at all with all the hair, even if the hair is worn up. Since I don't plan to sell the doll, I am happy enough. The finished doll is called Anabelle. My son named her. I really like her a lot.

She is lighter skinned than I originally imagined, which is fine, because I have already started on a darker skinned doll, this time with a regular Takara Blythe body. So far, so good, except trying to deal with sticky legs at the moment, a problem not encountered with the Hujoo body. We shall see how that works. I am rooting the hair now, and hopefully the legs will work themselves out. I am usually pretty resourceful, so one way or the other, you should see my second custom here within the next few weeks.

Stomp Fest

2011-04-08T08:41:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was the first day of spring for me here in Vermont. Spring sometimes comes a little late here in these northern parts. But, we had SUN. And I mean real sun that lasted all day! I can't tell you how giddy that makes a northeasterner. I lived in the west most of my life and I really just didn't get that excited when there was sun. There was always sun it seemed to me. But here in the east, after a winter of pummelling snow, the sign that spring may be here is overwhelming. I finished up a couple doll dresses, took these photos of 2 of the girls (Lynette and Cappucine) stomping happy and then sat outside for a lot of the day. There are still 4 feet snow banks in the front, you still can't turn around easily in the driveway, and most of the yard still has a foot of snow on the ground, but ground has poked through, the blueberry bushes at the front of the house are uncovered, and the warming trend has begun. Life is good! I hope it's sunny wherever you are.

Saloon Girls

2011-03-31T09:14:00.009-04:00

This past weekend I was dinking around at the sewing machine and decided the thing to do was to make matching outfits for my dolls and my friend Amy's dolls. I have dragged my poor friend into this crazy Blythe doll sickness (I am convinced it is in fact a sickness) and I thought it was the least I could do. I have been in a bit of a retro mood lately, and having fun with the steampunk stuff. Sort of in the same vein, I was inspired to make saloon girl costumes for Blythe. I think they came out quite well and so far are keeping us both laughing. These dolls just don't stop being funny to me. I don't think I will ever grow up! Don't Julienne and Ivy look cute as little saloon girls? Not sure they think so, but I am amused :)

Wingo, My New Taeyang

2011-03-26T10:01:00.006-04:00

Because I just can't seem to get enough of big eyed dolls, I recently purchased a Taeyang Timulus. He is supposed to be Pullip's boyfriend and Dal's little sister. If you have no idea what I am talking about, don't worry, just look at the pretty pictures :) When he came, his features looked a little too girlie and frankly, a bit plain for my taste. I wanted him darker, maybe more goth or bad boy or something other than what he was. Also, Taeyang's are notorious for having stained, messed up bodies right out of the box. I was going to replace his body originally, but after sanding and cleaning it up a bit, it actually isn't bad.

I gave him a new darker faceup, carved his nose a bit and gave him a little more expression in his mouth for sort of a chapped lip look. I also gave him a brand new Leeke wig, which is such a nice one, I think. I like the light streak in it and I think it suits him. I gave him a nose ring, since he is the only guy doll I have in a flock of girls. I think he turned out quite well. He has happily moved into the doll apartment and is ready to start wearing some hats. I named him Wingo. The girls really like him so far.

Steampunk, Doll-ing

2011-03-10T12:07:00.006-05:00

The thing about this hobby of playing with dolls is, you always meet people who are having just as much fun as you are. Playing with dolls when you are all grown up is plenty fun. Since people are aware I make doll hats, sometimes they contact me and ask me to make something specific, something that they would like to see their dolls wearing, but that they either don't know how or don't have the time to make themselves. Usually their ideas are pretty fun and I can come up with something that both they like and I like to make and everyone's happy. Two really fun gals more recently had me making steampunk themed hats for their dolls, which were really fun to make, which led to me also meeting some interesting and fun people who sell steampunk gadgets and whatnot, which are requisite to pull off all things steampunk. The world of handmade seems to be full of fun people doing a lot of fun things. It makes me smile. Pictured are the hats that I made, but, you know, I just couldn't leave things be. I had to have fun playing with the paints and doo-dads in photoshop and that made me smile, too.

Hope you are having a fun day! I think I'm going to spend mine messing with more things steampunk.

Blythe Rocks It

2011-02-23T10:45:00.006-05:00

My husband makes and sells various musical genius things - hand-wired boutique tube amps, pedals, and things I don't know what are. He was taking some photos last night of a finished piece and asked if he could use a doll in the photos. We decided Capucine was a good model, so I dressed her up and sent him to take his photos. They turned out really cute, so I dressed her up again this morning and let her rock out. She cracks me up. I think I am having way too much fun. Hope you are having a lovely day and rocking out doing rockstar fun things :)

Fairy Couture

2011-02-22T10:54:00.001-05:00

My friend Amy of HingedJewelry is busy making me some really fun things to go in my store. Think fancy headwear. In the meantime, while I am awaiting the postman, I am getting some dresses ready to go with them, and well, these are pretty much fairy couture.

I am having fun putting together all the silk fabrics, namely washed charmeuse, velvet, chiffon and gauze, and dyeing them into colors I love. Add a little adornment, and voila' you've got a gown perfect for any fairy or wanna be fairy. I've got them very form fitting for Blythe, so they also happily fit Pullip really well, who is a bit on the slimmer side. They also give my new Mango (Capucine is her name) a chance to show off her lovely face and groovy new eyeshadow.

Hope you like them. Hopefully I will have the jools and photos ready to go and in my store mid-week.

Blythe Jools

2011-02-12T17:48:00.006-05:00

Having let loose the reigns on my crazy obsession with the Blythe doll and giving myself permission to do all the silly stuff I've wanted to do since I was 10, on top of hats and clothing, my good friend Amy Taylor of HingedJewelry has graciously supplied me with jools for my Blythe girls and for my shop. I am very excited to be collaborating (if you can call it that - she makes the stuff and I have it at my house - so my part is mostly just admiration) with Amy, because she is totally groovy gal, she's funny and fun, and she makes fabulous jewelry. I know, because besides little pretties for Blythe, she sent me 2 big things for myself over Christmas this past year, and I could barely shut up for a month.

If you want real jewelry for real people, by an award-winning silversmith/jeweler/artist, check out her shop. If you want real jewelry for your Blythe doll, check out my shop. These first pieces are hand-forged brass, which means they are made from scratch. They look like gold to me. She does everything herself. You won't be able to find anything like this anywhere else. They are stunning pieces no Blythe should be without. She sent me quite a few, but I snagged one of everything she sent for myself :)

At this point, Amy is just warming up. So keep that in mind and check in often. I think you are going to see some pretty fabulous things for dolls in the way of baubles and jools from now on. I'll be keeping you posted.

Bohemian Chic

2011-02-06T22:45:00.005-05:00

There must be something about the month of February that makes me a little stir crazy. Maybe it's the 6 feet snow banks in the front yard. Last February I was busy getting doll hats put up in my Etsy store. Today I put in some colorful clothes for Blythe dolls. I couldn't help myself. Truly. Last year about this time I was considering getting a Blythe doll. Now I have 4! I don't know what's come over me. I think it's the silliness of it all. Whatever it is, that crazy big-headed doll has become my muse.

I started a couple weeks ago making a hand-dyed, bright and colorful, retro bohemian line for this crazy 12" doll and have ended up with about 50 pieces. My 4 dolls can't possibly wear all that stuff, so it's up for sale in my Etsy store. Do me a favor. Go have a look. And let me know what you think. I hope I make you smile. It's all silliness and fun. I guess you can't really take a doll whose head is twice as big as her body seriously.

Straw Hats

2011-01-14T14:23:00.004-05:00

It's been a long time since I've worked on any straw hats. Well, maybe 20 years! I put 2 new straw hats in my Etsy store the other day, and I think I rather like them. They have a nice spring feeling and are fun. We have been deluged with snow this year here in Vermont, which is good since we like to ski, but it is always nice to dream of a little spring. You'll have to let me know what you think.

New Hats for the New Year

2011-01-03T09:27:00.009-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone! I think 2011 is going to be especially grand. Just thought I'd post some pictures of a few new hats I just put up on Etsy. Hope you are feeling festive!

Lord Lawrence Pecok Gallamore

2010-12-30T18:09:00.011-05:00

Continuing on with my family of eccentrics, the Gallamores, here is family member number 2, Lawrence Pecok Gallamore, second son of Grantaire de Grenfeld Gallamore, younger brother to Nelson Gallamore. Born in 1702. A tall man with green eyes and an elegant build, he wears his dark hair in masses of curls, streaked with blue-gray. He refuses to wear hats, despite the fashion trends of the day, for fear it will muss his lovely locks. He has an impeccable fashion sense and often wears elaborate, almost kingly outfits, preferring greens and golds to the flashy purples of his brother, Nelson.

Lawrence is an artistocratic playboy. Parties are his natural environment and people seem naturally attracted to him, especially fine ladies, with whom he is never shy but almost always moody. His brother Nelson often finds himself in the position of bailing his younger brother out of trouble when drinking and women are involved.

Lawrence married Helen Glenham in 1726, though once his children were born, began to spend more and more time with his birds and lady friends and was inclined to leave the dealings of the home to his wife.

He is a master falconer to the king and, though falconry had seen a huge decline in popularity in the 18th century, for him it remained a high art form.

The night and shadows are his favorite things.

Lord Lawrence is 15" tall. He is made from cotton fabric and has cotton clothing, which is all removable. He has a white chemise and drawers, a white shirt with frilly sleeves and cravat, a patterned gold, green and red waistcoat with gold-tone buttons, a green-gold patterned overcoat and matching trousers. His shoes are 2-tone black and gold. His face is hand painted. He is the perfect accompaniment to my lady boudoir dolls.

You can find him on Etsy.

Lord Nelson de Grenfeld Gallamore

2010-12-18T10:40:00.015-05:00

I have been running through amusing dollmaking ideas in my head recently, now that I seem to be in a wave of inspiration. Somewhere in there I got the idea that I would create a quirky family of eccentrics from another century and make dolls out of these characters. The late Susanna Oroyan, a beloved dollmaker and author, had done that years ago, creating the Mulliners, a series of about 60 dolls. I don't know that I am quite that ambitious, but one has to start somewhere.

I have been hooked on rag dolls lately, and rather than making solid, sculptural pieces, like my more recent historical figures, I decided I wanted a completely fictional family of characters that were all in the rag doll style.

My first characterization in this series is Lord Nelson de Grenfeld Gallamore, eldest son of Grantaire de Grenfeld Gallamore. A lanky, tawny-skinned man with long unruly golden curls and compassionate hazel eyes. A poet, interested mainly in dance, politics and excelling at cricket. A fashion trendsetter, he insists on donning a short waistcoat because he likes to sit with his legs crossed, and wearing primarily shades of purple, because he is proud to be an aristocrat.

A man with big appetites, he considers vodka and dark chocolate a lifestyle and is passionate for Italian cuisine. He fantasizes about becoming a pirate, but is quite claustrophobic and terrified of drowning. Devilishly handsome, he is favored by both fine ladies and men of a certain age, though he insists on remaining a bachelor even into his 40s. He remains in close contact with his 3 illegitimate children.

Lord Nelson is 15" tall. He is made from cotton fabric and has cotton and silk clothing. His clothing is all removable. He has a white chemise and drawers, a white silk shirt with frilly sleeves and cravat, a golden waistcoat with gray freshwater pearl buttons and lots of machine embroidery embellishment, a purple cotton overcoat, pants and matching tricorn hat. He is the perfect accompaniment to my lady boudoir dolls.

You can find him on Etsy.

Dolls Playing with Dolls

2010-12-01T11:11:00.005-05:00

I have been crazy making rag dolls lately. They seem to have taken over my world. Thought I'd share some pictures of my boudoir dolls with my BJD doll, Seola, just for fun.

Why shouldn't dolls have their own dolls? I am thinking every loved doll needs a rag doll of her own.

Lady in Waiting

2010-11-22T19:07:00.008-05:00

Still on the theme of Marie Antoinette and 18th Century styled dolls, here is another rag doll I made this week, which I am calling Lady in Waiting.

This doll is mostly cotton prints, rather than silk, which I reserved for the Queen. Like Marie, I gave her quite a lot of underwear. She has a pale yellow corset to match her shoes, some pantaloons, and a hip bolster.

I gave her a white silk petticoat with ruffle edge and machine embroidery.

She has 2 lilac colored print overskirts and a matching top with a bit of bling at the front waist, along with some lace and embroidery edging.

Her hair is done in a multicolor, multifiber 18th Century upsweep. She is available on Etsy for someone in need of a fun boudoir doll.

Ragtime Marie

2010-11-13T11:10:00.007-05:00

I spent this week working on a more spiffed up ragdoll. A new friend in Canada is a huge Marie Antoinette fan, and I was inspired to make this doll.

She started out with all sorts of stuff, including a hoop skirt, but it got so out of control, that I stripped her back down to just a white silk petticoat, a hip bolster, a pair of underdrawers, charmeuse skirt and brocade top. The color is more of a robin's egg blue, but a little icy, and I think the color isn't just right in photographs, but you get the idea.

I found a great handmade yarn with pearls and laces in it for her upswept hair-do. The face is handpainted. The cotton corset and shoes are sewn on and not removable. All of the rest of the clothing is removable, because Marie, you know, liked to change her clothes often.

Tiger Lillies

2010-11-07T12:03:00.006-05:00

We are heading too quickly into winter here in Vermont. Wishing to rewind to summer and tiger lillies. Added a couple to this hat. I kind of like it. Seola still pouting, but she is to have a new wig soon, and a dress, perhaps, if Yve gets out that old sewing machine, and I am quite certain she will be much, much happier.

Victorian Fun

2010-11-06T14:08:00.003-04:00

This hat goes out to a good friend in North Wales. I was wanting to do something different for my BJD, Seola, and this is what I came up with. As another friend suggested, maybe I was thinking about Sherlock Holmes? Actually I was looking through a book on women's fashions from the Victorian era, and was trying to remember how to make a bandeau, which is a wired piece that goes under a hat that wouldn't normally fit the head, and gives the hat a lift (in this case, lifting up in the back) and at the same time holds the hat to the head. This was fun to do. I hope to do more in a similar style.

Steampunk Silliness

2010-11-02T11:14:00.004-04:00

I've got a really fun hat going out today for a really fun gal, who commissioned me to do a Steampunk hat for her Blythes. Poor Seola is still pouting about not having gone to the Vampire Ball, so I put her in the hat, at the suggestion of my friend, Yve, to cheer her up a bit. Still pouting! What's up with that doll?!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T11:09:00.003-04:00

Poor Seola. She wanted to attend the Vampire Ball. She really did. Unfortunately, she had no beautiful dress to wear, no baubles, and Neale, the famous doll haircolorist extraordinaire, has only just begun to dye her new wig. A bit like poor Cinderella, but without the Fairy Godmother. When I told her she wouldn't be going, she sat in the corner scheming. She pulled out a big black cauldron and a broom (where does she get this stuff?!) and set to making an unhappy witch's brew. Before I knew it, she had dolly parts strewn about and the pot was overheating and froth overflowing. Not sure what she has planned, but it doesn't look good! Happy Halloween everyone!

Ragtime Rag Doll

2010-10-17T17:31:00.013-04:00

Every year about this time I think about a new doll that is simple enough to produce a dozen or so of and that would be fun to give as gifts to relatives and friends for Christmas. Mostly I think about my sister and sisters-in-law and if they can really stand having another doll that they will have to put somewhere in their houses. Yesterday I drew up a pattern for what was to be more or less a boudoir doll. I had in mind a flouncy costume, a basic body with long arms and legs and a simple face. I made the doll with a simple black corset and low black boots and then got to thinking about costuming.

Usually what happens when I make one of the Christmas gift dolls is, I wind up making about 200 of that design because I drive myself crazy thinking, "well, this color would be better. Maybe I should try that." Usually the dolls are quite small and in the past I was able to unload most of the finished dolls through galleries and other loyal clients. This year's doll is quite a bit bigger, about 13" tall, so maybe if I wind up with 200, I'll see about putting them on Etsy. For now, I just have one and I think she turned out well enough, though the costume is not at all what I originally imagined.

When the basic doll was finished, I pulled out my yarns to see what sort of hair she should have. A blue curly wool was jumping out at me. It's got enough variations in texture, thickness and color to excite me, and it allowed me to costume in a variety of blues. With the hair on, I decided she needed an underskirt with tulle that would poof out a bit. I had in mind to make the clothing removable, so that whatever else I put on her could be mixed and matched, so I added a snap at the back for closure. I chose 3 patterned fabrics in various shades of blue to work with for the entire outfit, and used the lightest one for this underskirt and made the waistband the darkest.

I then chose 2 of the fabrics and made a short dress with a strapless bodice and added a snap to the back. The cool thing was that the doll seems to fit the same patterns I had made previously for my Blythe dolls, with just a tiny bit of alteration, so the dress came together really quickly. Next came a short jacket, for which I used the last 2 possible pattern combinations and the outfit was basically complete.

But wait, she needs a hat! I actually already had a hat I had made several months ago that I liked and that fit her. So that was the easy part. I added the hat, took some photos, messed around with mixing and matching the pieces, and voila' -- one down, 199 more to go :)

By George!

2010-10-08T16:22:00.006-04:00

I am rather embarrassed to note that it has been nearly 2 months since my last blog post! Eeek. Where does the time go? Here in Vermont we are seemingly skipping right past autumn and going directly to winter. Not really, but it seems that way; what with all the rain and rain and more rain. The one thing that is good about this time of year is that I seem to get back to working on creative things, which for me, is always a good thing. Before too much longer, it will be skiing, and that's one of the only reasons I can think of to be in Vermont in winter.

Yesterday I finished my second in a series I am working on of American icons. I have a bit of a thing for the "Founding Fathers" to be honest. I first made up a doll of Benjamin Franklin late last year, which I so liked, that I decided to do a doll of George Washington as well. Ben was so cute, he even made it into Contemporary Doll Collector Magazine. To be honest, so did the dolls I made of Olive Malvery, Ambrose Bierce and my aging diva, Brunhilde, but I am especially proud of Ben, as he was fat and frog-like, and I just like how he turned out.

The thing with these Founding Father guys is, they aren't the most handsome of fellows. Snappy dressers, for sure, but Ben Franklin was well, quite round, and bald, and George, well, he never smiled. I think it might be the teeth. Apparently his teeth tended to fall out one by one, causing him quite a bit of discomfort, and then the devastation of having to wear falsies, which I believe never fit him quite right.

In any case, I studied the portrait of George done by Stuart Gilbert in 1797, which, in my opinion, is George at his most regal. I painted his face, with his customary scowl and gave him the customary white hair with the curled ends that was the style of the day. I did a little research and apparently George never wore wigs. He had his own hair, which was quite thick and curly. He also wore quite substantial sideburns, which made the wig making on a flat face a bit tricky. In any case, the underlayer of hair is wool roving from my own 2 silly sheep. The top layer is mohair, which I baked in the oven to preserve the curl.

I gave George black cotton velveteen britches and a vest, a silk charmeuse blouse with flounced sleeves and a cravat, and a soft black velvet coat with an acid green silk lining. The buttons on the vest are freshwater pearls. The shoes are black silk with seed bead buckles. All in all, I think he cuts a stylish figure, if not too handsome.

Summer Slow

2010-08-12T10:07:00.012-04:00

I think it's just because it's summer, but I am telling you, I feel slow as molasses in getting anything done. I normally am quite productive. Since we've been back from our summer vacation in the Adirondacks, work has been trickling out of me at dead-slug speed. I finished up with my dolls for the Traveling Doll Project. I'm still trying to keep the blog going strong for that. We had the good fortune of getting that project published in Contemporary Doll Collector Magazine and hoping to get the final photos of all the dolls so I can send those on to the magazine for a finishing piece.

In the meantime, I have been making doll hats, not as many as I had been, because again, I am slug-slow, but I have a few recent ones to show you. I have been concentrating on hats for larger headed dolls (Blythe, Pullip and full sized BJDs), and that has been working out for me. I was making about a million sizes, and that just felt too crazy, so, though I will make other sizes, somewhere in the 9-11" head size has been pretty typical.

Hope everyone is finding the wind-down of summer enjoyable. I can't believe it will be Labor Day in no time at all.

I have promised myself I will be more on this blogging thing as soon as fall arrives. The heat and humidity apparently have fried my brain :) Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

Country Folk

2010-07-30T11:30:00.007-04:00

Summer seems to be jetting by. We finally just this week had some not so humid weather. Gotta love that! Days have been quite lovely this week. After a long rainy June, and the hottest, most humid July that I can recall, these last days of the month are turning out just lovely. Went with the kids and some friends to Shelburne farms yesterday and took some pics of us behaving in traditional country folk fashion. Hope you are having a lovely summer!

Summer Here?

2010-06-17T15:18:00.018-04:00

It feels like it has been months since I last blogged! In reality, I think only weeks, but even though summer is just about starting, it feels like it has already gone and practically passed me by, for some reason. Maybe it's because we had such lovely weather in May here in Vermont, and now all of June has been pretty much rain! I am really, really not very productive in summertime, creatively speaking. I generally do lots and lots in winter and then maybe a little the rest of the year. Which is why there hasn't been much posting going on here. I am happy to report, though, that my house is cleaner than it has been in a long time. Doing any artwork would certainly just mess that minor achievement up, and so maybe I'll just sit and admire the house for a while longer before I get busy on any projects :)

I've actually got a few doll pictures to share with you, but I'm going to save them for next week and just post some pictures of my weekend "vacation" with John and our kids (these really are boys, though the hair may confuse you) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Lovely town, lots to do. We were there for just the weekend, and though it was mostly warm, it rained there, too! One of my husband's friends claims that it is all our hair that has blocked out the sun in these pictures (though we can't really claim that for John), but I can see that we really do need a hair stylist around here! And what's worse - all this humidity just gives me giganto hair and it almost can't be helped :) We did get to see the Atlantic coastline in a bit of New Hampshire and Maine, and took a lighthouse tour and walked around Fort Constitution.

The kids hung out in the pool of our hotel a bit, and we ate a lot. So all in all, it was about what a weekend vacation can be expected to be. Hope you all are having much better weather where you are!

Traveling Doll Project - Last Doll For Me

2010-05-19T10:00:00.010-04:00

Yesterday I mailed out the final doll I would be working on for the Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project to its originator in New Orleans, Colleen Downs. I sent the doll in 2 separate boxes, as I have done for all the dolls. I'm the one who adds all the heavy stuff, and with these clay dolls, I am so panicked that something will go haywire with them, that I put all their accessories in a separate box so nothing breaks. Colleen should get both boxes some time this week.

It's been a fun project for me to be part of. I have loved working with the women in my team, and have gotten to know quite a few outside of that as well. There are some really terrific artists in the group as a whole, and some genuinely solid, interesting and talented people. I think the project, which won't be completely finished for some of the groups until September, will have turned out to be a lovely success. I forgot to mention that we made it as a feature article into the July 2010 issue of Doll Collector Magazine. I had sent in a proposal to them earlier in the year and with the help of some on-it artists, got enough photos and other things together to make our project interesting enough to publish. That was fun. I think 6 of our early stage dolls made it into the magazine along with a nice piece about the group as a whole. I am told that there will be a follow-up piece in November, so that's doubly good.

My final doll for my part in the project was called Hester Bates. She started with Colleen Downs in New Orleans as a sculpted unpainted face and wired/padded body, traveled to Tasmania to Susie McMahon for a face-up and a sculpted bundled baby, went on to Upstate New York to Nicole Johnson, where she got a recycled white silk dressing gown, some stockings and hair and finally to me in Vermont for a chaise lounge and some hats.

When the doll came to me, she looked perfect as she was. I really didn't want to mess with her too much. Colleen had put together a journal with old newspaper clippings and letters and things from a woman who had become a new mother in about 1920 in New Orleans. She wanted the rest of us to continue the doll keeping this woman's story in mind and to fill in our comments about motherhood. Susie added a softly painted face and a newborn infant, Nicole added the clothing and hair and really, the only thing I thought she needed was a place to sit and put her feet up. So I made her a muted blue chaise lounge so she could curl up and relax after a long day. I then got to thinking, since I was in hat mode, that a mother wears so many hats throughout the day, that I should supply her with some. As a mother, the chances that you will be chef, confidante, chauffeur, artist, soother, arranger, cleaner upper, friend, companion, what have you, all in one day are pretty high. I sent Hester with 6 hats so that, should she need to, she can change the hat she is wearing at will. She's a cool doll. I'm happy to have been a part of her creation. What a great project! Thanks to everyone who worked along with me.

Isabella from Tasmania

2010-05-10T19:38:00.004-04:00

For those of you following my traveling doll work at my art dolls group, Art Dolls Only, here is the story and photos for the second doll I worked on, Isabella. She started in Tasmania with Susie McMahon, a very talented art doll/sculptor/artist it has been my privilege to work with. She was, well, naked at that point, with a lovely face and hair. She then went to Nicole Johnson in Upstate New York, another lovely and very talented artist, who gave her some beautiful, very colorful tattoos and ratted her hair into a crazy bird's nest. She added a clay bird with a nest and an egg that sits atop her head. From there she came to me, and this is her story from that point.

Isabella arrived in Vermont hoping for sunny skies and high temperatures. After being in Buffalo with Nicole, she couldn't think of anything she wanted to be rid of more than the blasted SNOW! No luck. Upon taking her out of the box, I actually heard her let out quite a sigh, "Not again!" Here in Vermont it was 25 degrees and 2 feet of snow when she arrived. Sorry about that Isabella. I put her up on the shelf for a few days, not knowing how to make her happy. I painted the walls of my work room, hoping to attract more light. I tidied everything up, hoping that something would come to me, some way to make her smile. Nope. finally after she had been here a few nights, I had a dream that the thing that she needed was a surfboard! She doesn't really look like a surfer. More an old fashioned girl. But why not? A doll has a right to some fun. I haven't been to Tasmania, her home of origin, but I am pretty sure the Australian coast is the land of the surfer. Lucky for Isabella, I just so happened to have a doll-sized surfboard on hand. Only trouble was, Isabella can't stand!

Well, the obvious thing to me was to build her a beach chair, attach it to the surfboard and fashion her up a surf chair. Well, about this time, the parrot on her head started chattering and squawking. He was fine with the surfing, liking water and all, but he really doesn't like to get too much afternoon sun; bleaches his feathers, he claims. We don't actually have too much afternoon sun here in Vermont this time of year, and nowhere to surf either, for that matter. But not wanting an unpleasant parrot on my hands, I thought the thing to do was to give the surf chair an umbrella, which would shade the parrot, and look nice attached to the beach chair. He seems pretty happy with this arrangement. The trim matches his feathers and that pleases him immensely.

In the meantime, Isabella needed some clothes. I'm not one to leave a naked doll sitting around in the chill. Except for some lovely tattoos she was showing off, Isabella arrived pretty naked. I gave her some underwear: Long knickers and a camisole, careful to keep the tattoos, which she is so proud of, on display. She tells me she likes this set-up and it reminds her a bit of summer clothes, which she would be wearing this time of year in Tasmania.

I also gave her a skirt from some vintage fabric I had in my stash. Remarkably it has the colors of her tattoos in the print, so though quite busy in pattern, it matches in an odd way. So far, so good. I figured I had better stop there or there would be nothing for Colleento do in New Orleans. Besides, Isabella is getting quite antsy.

She really is not happy in this northern clime and insists she is on her way to somewhere warm and sunny. She tells me first chance she gets she'll hitch a ride to the coast and set sail in her surf chair, hoping to find good waves and good company, the kind that prefers sunny warm weather. Good luck, Isabella! I wish you well!

Walk Like an Egyptian

2010-04-30T09:44:00.013-04:00

I think I have gone quite over the top these days. Seriously. Mad as a Hatter, big headdress and all. I recently sent my OOAK cloth Egyptian Doll to a woman in Michigan and within days other people were asking me "do you still have that Egyptian doll?" No, I don't. But, with all my plastic doll madness, I got to talking with a new friend in New York and we decided the thing to do would be to make an Egyptian costume for big headed Blythe.

Well, why not? I didn't think I could come up with anything quite as grand as I had for my Egyptian statue doll, since Blythe is only 12" tall, but I knew that I was on a roll with headwear, so there'd be that at least.

I started with white cotton, made a strapless bodice and used gold/silver/pale blue thread and did a fancy design all over the front piece. I then knife-pleated a skirt, added some more fancy thread work and attached that. Added a pleated decorative overwrap and a red silk sash and voila', one Egyptian, Nefertiti style dress. Well, if you're going to have the dress, certainly you'll need the right hat. So, I spent an entire day cooking up a Nefertiti style hat.

I checked out the internet for pictures of the Nefertiti bust and set to work. I dyed up some white cotton in a beautiful blue, appropriate to the "real" hat, and had a piece of gold colored fabric for the front inset already. I wove a couple of ribbons for the band across the top, made a polymer and gold flake centerpiece and pulled the thing together. When it was done, I was actually quite pleased. Big head and all, I think it's a pretty cool costume.

I'm sending it to my friend in New York today. I rarely keep things I make, and this is no exception. I truly have run out of shelf space, and I have a lot of shelves! Stuff is piled under my 2 tables now (so much for my new plan of keeping stuff off the floor), the piano, the closet is full, the shelves are packed, and I really have no where to put a single other thing. Well, maybe just one more hat...

Mad As a Hatter

2010-04-21T13:17:00.009-04:00

When I was a kid I went to Girl Scout camp every summer for a week or two, probably 4 years in a row. At my last year there our group put on a play for the entire Girl Scout camp of our version of Alice in Wonderland. I got assigned the role of Mad Hatter (early job training?). I didn't pick it. I didn't want it. I got assigned it. The role was a singing role. It was also a dancing role. I don't sing, and if you have seen me dance, you know I don't do that very well either. I really, really didn't want the role. I tried to get out of it. No luck. So, the counselors gave me a stack of about 10 hats to wear on my head and I went out in front of the entire camp and sang the following ditty while sort of hopping around pretending to be dancing:

I've got these hats upon my head
Trying to sell one to you
Piled so high that I'm going crazy
And I don't know what to do.

Here, try a hat, buy a hat
Won't you buy one from me?

And it went on and I forget the rest. I didn't pass out or die. But that has stuck with me now for nearly 40 years.

This past week a woman contacted me and wanted me to make 3 hatter hats for Pullip's boyfriend, Taeyang. If you don't know Pullip, you'll have to look her up. She's another "trendy" doll that requires a million costumes including hats.

I made the 3 hats and made a few more while I was at it. I think I have gone mad. These are roughly 6" tall hats for a 12" tall doll. Imagine that in human proportions! I can't, and don't want to, but the hats look funny and fun on the dolls and the client is happy, so I am happy.

Grab a hat. Sing a song. Do a little dance. It'll be good for you! :)

Bouquet of Roses

2010-04-11T10:46:00.006-04:00

I love roses. I think it's one of the real joys of making hats. Roses all year around. Well, any flower really, but roses in particular. If only the silk ones smelled as fragrant! I just finished this custom navy blue silk hat for a woman I am getting my Asian ball joint doll from. She lives in MIchigan and collects dolls. She sent me pictures of hats she likes, and most of them had roses in them, too. She also likes navy blue. So, I made her a big-brimmed hat and put quite a bouquet of roses on it. It is for her CustomHouse St. Mina doll, which is a beautiful elegant doll. I think this hat will work out beautifully. Hope she likes it.

Blythe Blathering

2010-04-10T00:26:00.012-04:00

If you talk to me much via email, you know that I have been trying to find a way to get myself a Blythe doll as a hat model. Blythe is a trendy vinyl doll with a giant head (about 11 inches around at the head, when the doll is only 9 inches tall) that has been trendy for about 10 years, I think, though that sounds kind of oxymoronic to me. But oh well. I didn't really want one that looked like it came right out of the box, and was feeling kind of chicken to spend $150 or $200 (minimum) on a doll that I was just going to pull open the head, pop the eyes out and start sanding and painting. I found a temporary solution that in a way seemed easier at the time that I thought it up. I bought a clone doll off Ebay from a person in Thailand. Mixed feelings about that, but really wanted to try my hand at popping this girl's head right off. It took quite awhile to get through the mails to me here in Vermont, and man, when I opened the box, cheapy plastic as all get-out! I sure hope the real ones aren't like that for $150. I doubt it. But I am talking cheap, cheap, cheap plastic. But, I took it apart, sanded it up, drilled a bit out of the nostrils, carved up the lips, had John, my husband, drill the eye chips out of their sockets and set to painting. Lo and behold after a bit of TLC, she turned out quite well.

I got her a new black and white wig, cut her regular hair a bit Marilyn-esque, as I continue to be obsessed with Marilyn Monroe, got some fabulous custom blue eye chips from a lovely gal in Argentina named Ana Karina and put her back together. Okay, I didn't really, John put her back together, but he also took her apart, so when I went to try it, it was more like Greek to me. I didn't really want to hover over him while he was doing it, but once I had the eye chips in the mail box, I was wanting that thing together pretty immediately. So anyway, I now have my Blythe hat model. I like her. I named her Ariel. I made 3 hats for her today and put them up for sale in my Etsy store. Giant hats, for giant headed dolls. Quite amusing. And, to tell you the truth, I am now quite a real Blythe fan. I think if I sell enough hats, I'll probably get a genuine Takara Blythe and use that one to show off my hats, too. In the meantime, I have a fancy-schmancy resin Asian ball-joint-doll young Super Dollfie coming, hopefully in about a month, but I'll save that for another story and another time.

Housecleaning

2010-04-06T08:45:00.006-04:00

I am doing some spring housecleaning and have so many doll hats, I'm putting quite a lot of them on sale for half price. I need to get things that are now taking up so much shelf space out of the way so I can keep making new things. I have a small office, and with so much fabric, feathers, magazines, sewing paraphenalia and, well, doll hats, I am beginning to feel like the Mad Hatter if not just plain mad! So, if you want a doll hat and want it cheap, stop by my Etsy shop and take a peek.

Think Spring

2010-03-30T19:40:00.008-04:00

Spring is officially here, if you haven't noticed. Here in Vermont, spring doesn't usually show it's face until some time in late April, but this year, either nature is playing quite a trick on us, or spring is a bit early. We have really no snow to speak of and we saw the first robin in our yard this week, signaling spring's unofficial arrival. The yard has just started to show a tiny bit of green, which I just noticed today. Nothing to get too excited about if you aren't from the north, but if you are, it is plenty to get excited about, believe me.

Whether spring is really here or not, I can't say for sure, but I am feeling the need for spring colors. Pale green is really my favorite spring color, along with pale blue and English rose. I made Blanche, my Hujoo, a few spring hats in those colors and I think she wears them well. She also has a new blonde wig, which she is wearing here for a couple of the photos. I think I have started talking to my dolls, which is a little scary. They haven't really started talking back yet, but you never know. I've been indoors far too long! It must be time to get outside and get some fresh air and sunshine! Yay spring! I hear it is going to hit the 70s this week, which seems like a miracle to me. 70 degrees in April in Vermont! Unheard of! Can't wait.

Hope everyone is enjoying the first weeks of official or unofficial spring. If you are further south, you probably have had flowers for awhile. It's going to be some time for us way up here, but keeping my fingers crossed they come a little early as well this year. In the meantime, silk flowers on hats will have to do me.

I've got Blanche's hats up for sale on Etsy. Still feeling my way around there. I've been working on pictures, and that takes seemingly forever. Nothing is ever quite the way I want it, but it is definitely moving in the positive directon at least. I'm also thinking I will try to stick with fewer styles of hats and fewer sizes and see where that leads me. Pricing, well, that's a whole other ballgame. Working on it. While I get it all figured out, I'm enjoying dressing my crazy Hujoo, Blanche, in as many hats as I can make.

The Aliens are Here

2010-03-24T18:01:00.014-04:00

I promised I would put pictures up of my little plastic ball-joint-doll, Blanche. She came to me from a store called Junky Spot in San Francisco at the prompting of my friend Yve, over at Freaky Little Things. I found her on Ebay relatively cheap and bought her, not having a clue what one does with one of these little goofy dolls. Here's how she looked when I got her:

Looks a bit like a cartoon alien, right? Nothing too impressive in any case. My friend Deena over at Fabby Dolls said it was an "awful doll" and basically implied that I was out of my gourd to pay anything much less $30 for this doll. That comment kept me laughing for a week, because Deena is not one to pull any punches, and well, when I got the doll, I thought the same thing really. But, I thought I'd give myself a try at this face-up business (painting a face or makeup on an otherwise blank doll).

I got out the spray (I used an archival flat spray, not the correct one probably, but it worked out okay) and went to work with paint, pencils and pastels. First try: Horrible. I was nearly in tears, quite frankly. Long story short, my Hujoo, now named Blanche, has been through lots of trials and tribulations. She has had 3 faces wiped off with mineral spirits, several different wigs, pictures taken until the cows come home, trying to get the right light, the right backgrounds and so on. If she was real, she would truly not be amused.

I want to use her as a model for my hats (my whole Etsy store has pretty much become a shrine just to poor Blanche). I have waited over a month for eyeballs from Hong Kong, only to like a different pair better, and on it goes. Anyway, I think she is finally in her last reincarnation and she is up for view on my site (and here). She is a funny little thing. Only about 12" tall. I guess they call that 1/6 dollfie (is that right Yve?!) and her body is a lot like Blythe's and Pullips and a few other dolls in terms of size and proportions (if you don't know either of those dolls, do a search on Etsy).

I made up a few fancy dresses for her in about an hour and I am beginning to think she is quite the thing. The big eye, big head thing starts to grow on you, believe it or not, and you come to rather like it. I have hats galore for her, all for sale in my Etsy store. Of course now that I have done one Hujoo, I'll probably have to get another. Sheesh!

Hats and Ball Joint Dolls

2010-03-21T18:50:00.005-04:00

I have recently been infected with the ball-joint-doll (BJD) fever by my friend Yve over at Freaky Little Dolls. She has a fine collection of dolls, gets me going on the internet, searching for this and that doll to make hats for, and truly, I am afraid I will at some point wind up spending all my money on dolls! You may just find me down the road at the old pensioner's home, still playing with dolls. Yve had me make a black silk hat with sequins (a lot like the one I made for my Gentlemen Prefer Blondes doll) for one of her fancy-schmancy dolls, Isobel, in trade for a lovely outfit for my own goofy BJD, which is an Obitsu Hujoo named Blanche, who gets used a lot as a hat model (I'll post her one of these days). Isobel, Yve's most beautiful doll, is an Elfdoll Sooah, which is a really gorgeous ball joint doll that Yve has been kind enough to show off in the hat I made. I have a couple pictures here of the hat I made for Yve, but you will have to check out her post of Isobel with her hat to see the hat on a much grander doll than I have available.

Periwinkle Blue

2010-03-16T15:39:00.007-04:00

Periwinkle Blue, Countess of Vinca Minor, the favorite sister of Lavender Blue. She is a notorious courtesan who is gifted with fluency in six languages, notable for her distinctive perfume and telepathic abilities. She is instantly recognizable by her wealth of stark white curls and her devastating cornflower blue eyes. She dreams of being the queen. She often sings this song to her boy friend, Dilly Dally:

Lavender's green, Dilly, Dilly, Lavender's blue,
If you love me, Dilly, Dilly, I will love you.
Let the birds sing, Dilly, Dilly, And the lambs play;
We shall be safe, Dilly, Dilly, out of harm's way.
I love to dance, Dilly, Dilly, I love to sing;
When I am queen, Dilly, Dilly, You'll be my king.
Who told me so, Dilly, Dilly, Who told me so?
I told myself, Dilly, Dilly, I told me so.

Harper's Bizarre

2010-03-01T09:20:00.005-05:00

As you probably know, I am participating in the Art Dolls Only Traveling Doll Project this year. My first doll, as I have already posted, went to New Orleans last month. I received the second doll I would be working on from Nicole Johnson of Mealy Monster Land in Upstate New York. Nicole's doll is called Harper. She came to me nearly naked and with very big teeth! I decided Harper really needed quite a grand story; so I gave her one. I gave Harper some underthings of animal prints an gold lame', a hat and bag and a purple stretch velvet chair with animal print cushions, and in keeping with Nicole's style, I think she is pretty amusing. You can let me know what you think. Here's her story and some pictures to go with.

HARPER'S JOURNEY TO THE BIG APPLE MAGGOT

Harper quiet? Nicole said she was. But when she came to me, I could see that she really had something to say. It's hard to get a word out when people are constantly admiring you for your looks. People just never realized she was not just another pretty face. She was smart, and she had plans!

BIG ones!

Harper was always considered the "good-looking one" in her home town of Eerie Falls. Since she was a wee one, even strangers would run into her on the street and say, "my gosh, you could be a model!" For awhile she even considered it. That would be too easy, too obvious, she thought to herself.

"No," Harper said to no one in particular one day at the ripe old age of 20, "I need something I can really sink my teeth into." So she left Eerie and headed to the Big Apple Maggot..

At first things were difficult. There were lots of pretty girls in the big city; she just wasn't getting the attention she had taken for granted in Eerie Falls. Her first job, the only one she could find, was as a night janitor at the prestigious fashion magazine, VAGUE.

Being an ambitious girl, it wasn't too long before Harper had read every tossed memo in the editor's trash bin and had worked her way up the ranks to become Assistant to the Editor. There she learned the ropes, met the people who mattered, and before too long, she knew the job of her superior by heart.

Harper considered it especially good luck when her boss tripped on a light cord during a photo shoot and was laid up in bed for a month. At that point she took it upon herself to take charge. Within a month she was hired to replace her bedridden former boss, to become the highest paid person ever to come from Eerie Falls.

Within a short time, Harper noticed she just wasn't feeling as challenged as she wanted to be. In a flash of brilliance, she made the decision to break off and start her own fashion magazine, and HARPER'S BIZARRE was born.

Harper has been the reigning Queen of Fashion and Beauty ever since. Her style is impeccable, her beauty without rival. If it is fashionable, she knows about it. If people are talking about it, she probably started the talk. She has shoes and bags and hats coming out her ears. and her shelves are lined with every beauty product ever produced.

Beauty is just one of the many perks of being an editor of a major magazine. There is also a great deal of clout. And, of course, EVERYTHING she wants she practically gets for free. People send her outfits in just the right size in the hopes of being featured on one of her glossy pages.

She once was even sent a hot pink car to promote a leading lipstick color for Recover Girl.

It’s a great life! Harper loves her life and she wouldn’t change a thing. Or would she?....

Colleen Downs of LoopyBoopy Art in New Orleans has her next. She tells me she might be taking Harper down a step. Can't wait to see what she does!

It's All about tHAT

2010-02-19T09:19:00.012-05:00

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.

Brunhilde Hafthorsson

2010-02-16T09:50:00.007-05:00

For the Art Dolls Only Burlesque Challenge, I finished a second doll. I am calling her Brunhilde. She isn't in the dancing business any longer, but she was, so I think that counts. Here is her story:

Brunhilde Hafthorsson, former Icelandic beauty queen, former heir of a pre-war German chocolate factory, former rising French starlet, reduced to near poverty by her indisgressions with a certain foreign Count, she spent her middle age as a dancer in a now defunct Left Bank French cabaret. A bit past her prime, she is now simply a lady in waiting. She knows not for what.

I listed her on Etsy the other day. I am waffling a bit -- should I keep her? I think lately most of my dolls are really for me, but for now she is for sale.

Her clothing is handmade and designed by me from hand-dyed apple-green washed silk charmeuse (I had a small piece left from the inside of my Marilyn's cape and seem to be in love with this color) and rayon deep green velvet. Her gown is strapless with a rolled rose embellishment at the waist and machine embroidery hem. Her cloak is washed and crushed deep green velvet with black maribou feather collar and front edging. Her slippers are medium green silk with gold thread brocading (also a leftover piece from Marilyn's gown) and dark green wool felt soles. She is wearing a maribou feather puff at the crown. She measures approx 14" tall. She is poseable. I went back to my old style and used wire and crystal bead joints for her elbows and knees. I think they suit her. She can flop about better that way. Her hair is raw silk. It is a bit fiddly and fragile, so though very beautiful and shiny, won't tolerate a lot of tussling.

I also made her a chaise. The lovely Stella Pesci, milliner extraordinare, recently sent me a gigantic box of some of her loose millinery scraps and some decent sized pieces as well. I have been making use of them quite well. Thank you, Stella! There was this smoky gray velour in there that was just begging to be a lady in waiting's chaise. I gave it bronzed metal legs.

And the Winner Is

2010-02-15T09:06:00.002-05:00

I had 172 comments for my OWOH giveaway and used the random number generator to bring up number 11, which is Ayala. I will be emailing her this morning to let her know.

Thanks so much for participating. Thanks for stopping by to see my blog. Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Traveling Doll Project

2010-02-08T12:23:00.012-05:00

I've already mentioned I am participating in Art Dolls Only's Traveling Doll Project this year. If you haven't already been over to see the TDP blog please check it out. I spent a few weeks profiling each of the participating artists (which you will find in the January archives for the blog). There are some truly amazing artists joining in this year. The starting dolls and their stories are now starting to show and there are some really terrific dolls making their rounds around the country and some around the world.

My starting doll for the project is called Delta Dawn, named and themed after the 70s hit of the same name. I had in mind a woman who had made some unfortunate choices in life and had basically lost her mind.

I made a 12" cloth headless doll, clothed her in some fancy knickers and a pair of rainboots and sent her off to New Orleans to the next person in my group, Colleen Downs of Loopy Boopy. You can head over to Colleen's blog to see what she has done with Dawn. She has done a truly smashing job, and I am thrilled to say she attached quite a lovely head to my otherwise pretty boring doll. The doll, now with a LoopyBoopy head, quite simply, is beautiful! I am so happy! Next stop for Dawn will be, believe it or not, Tasmania! Susie McMahon of Susie McMahon Dolls a fabulous artist from across the world will be working her magic on Dawn in a month or so. Can't wait to see what she does! From there, on to Nicole Johnson of Mealy Monster Land, another amazing artist from New York, and then back home to me! Can't wait to see how these other ladies interpret my doll. Very, very excited!

Can-Can Candy

2010-01-27T12:43:00.014-05:00

Over at my doll group, Art Dolls Only we are having a Burlesque challenge. This is my doll, Can-Can Candy.

She is 12" high, all cloth. Her face is hand-painted and she has brunette mohair locks. She has black net hose, cute little black silk shoes with a silk rose bud, Swarovski crystal stamen and green ribbon.

She wears a 3-layer skirt (white cotton petticoat, acid-green china silk underskirt, and a hot pink silk crepe skirt) all with flounces. She has a white cotton corset and drawer set (the corset shows at the top, as do her nipples, if you check carefully !!! This is Burlesque, after all :)). Her bodice is a paler pink silk crepe with some little silk roses about the waist.

The waist has a multi-color braided silk tie with fringe. She has a hot pink matching hat with a braided sash.

She is holding her skirt up as she kicks up her leg, so you can see her underthings. I think she is having too much fun, don't you?

OWOH Giveaway

2010-01-25T00:01:00.004-05:00

Click logo above for more information on OWOH

As you can see, I am participating in this year's One World One Heart blogging event and giveaway, hosted by Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian. What a great way to meet other bloggers from around the world!

For my giveaway, I have a little flower fairy. It is one of my own designs, handmade by me. She's a little ornament, 7" tall, has a silk loop for hanging. Her costume is all hand-dyed (silk) by me. Her face is handpainted. She has colorful wool yarn hair.

Here is her photo:

I am also giving away a big doll at another site with the Art Dolls Only group (http://artdollsonly.blogspot.com) so be sure to check that out. They have 17 art doll items they are giving away!

*How to enter*

1. Please leave a comment on this post.

2. Be sure your comment takes me back to you. I must be able to notify you if you have won. If you are not a blogger, make sure to leave an email address where I can reach you.

3. On February 15th a random winner will be drawn from the comments left via random number generator. I will notify the winner and announce it on my blog. And then Flower Fairy will be on her way to the winner!

4. That's it

Thank you for visiting!

Benjamin Franklin

2010-01-14T10:22:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I finished a doll I had been thinking about in between holiday stuff in December. I didn't actually get started on it until January, but I had been mulling over ideas about how I wanted to portray a favorite historical character of mine. This doll is a bit different in style for me, because I made the chair he is sitting on. It is covered in wool upholstery fabric and is a style I think Ben would have sat in in his day. It has wood and leather legs and is fastened to a wooden base I painted a deep raw umber to resemble wooden flooring. You can't see it well in the photos here, but it has a seat cushion and a high back with solid sides.

I searched through photographs of paintings of Ben and it appears that he was quite a portly chap. In some paintings, I am not sure if it was the coats he always seemed to be wearing, or the posturing, but he seems to be coming right out of his chair. In the chair I made him, he fits without much extra room. He is a man who fills the space! He was also, well, balding a bit, and that made it a bit of a challenge for a flat painted face.

I modified the body proportions I had used for my Ambrose Bierce doll quite a bit. I ended up stuffing him firm and then wrapping further cotton wadding around his mid-section. I plumped up his arms and legs as well.

His costuming was really fun to do. Probably the most fun of any doll I have done to date. His coat is rayon upholstery fabric with a cotton sateen lining. It has Swarovski crystal buttons. The breeches and vest are a green sandwashed rayon that feels like washed silk. There is decorative edging, which is basically machine embroidery and free machine dinking around. His stockings are silk charmeuse, which was stretchy enough to pull up over his feet and calves. His blouse is off-white silk and has a fancy flouncy neck tie and ornate cuffs.

The shoes are buckle shoes, black silk taffeta. The shoes gave me a bit of trouble, frankly. I had originally started them in leather, but they just were disproportionately large. I pared them down to a thinner silk taffeta and added polymer buckles that I painted silver. I procrastinated for a week about the shoes. I gave him a little handmade book that has a silk fabric upholstery fabric cover and off-white paper pages. I also made him a magnifying lens from polymer and sheet plastic for reading.

Finally, his hair started as white mohair that I dyed gray shades. I think it turned out pretty well, considering how much I pull my own hair out putting in "real" hair. The top of his head I left a bit bald. I styled the hair by steaming, and I think it came out quite well.

I'm really happy with portly old Ben. You'll have to let me know what you think.

ADO Group Events, or A Little Bit Famous?

2010-01-07T18:37:00.011-05:00

Not really the famous part, but it's fun to say :) I got featured and blogged about today at the Art Dolls Only Blog (Art Dolls Only). Sarah Young of Youngish (Youngish) contacted me and sent me questions to answer, and voila, I am a featured artist! Thanks, ADO, thanks, Sarah!

On another ADO note, the Traveling Doll Project for 2010 (Traveling Doll Project) has started as of early this month. The groups have been sorted, the rules have been set, the deadlines made, and the blog is ready to go again for another round. For those who don't know what a traveling doll is, let me explain. Groups of 6 artists or less have each member begin a doll. Each person decides for themselves how much of that doll they will interpret and complete. At the same time, they begin a journal with their ideas, inspiration, thoughts about the doll and so on. After one month's time, they send the incomplete doll to the next person on their list. Each person works on each of the dolls until each person has had it in their hands. It then returns to the originator. During the process, the journals are added to by each person and each person photos and blogs about their portion of each doll. On my team, there are 2 returning artists (Colleen Downs of Loopy Boopy Art (Loopy Boopy Art) and Nicole Johnson from Mealy Monster Land(Mealy Monster Land)) from last year's round and 2 new (Susie McMahon from Susie McMahon Dolls (Susie McMahon Dolls) and me). I am very excited. I got so excited, I raised my hand and said I would profile on the blog each participating artist, which is over 25! So, for the next 25 days or so, please go over to the Traveling Doll Project blog (ADO Traveling Doll Project) and check out how fab each of the artists is. I plan to do a bang-up job profiling each of them, and they deserve it. There are really some marvelous people in this group. Hands down, this it the most creative group of folks I have ever hung with. Writing about them all feels very inspiring, and is helping me avoid making shoes for my Ben Franklin doll. I really don't like making shoes...

Ambrose Bierce

2010-01-06T09:44:00.011-05:00

In December I worked on my first male figure. I'd never attempted a male doll before and thought, why not? I chose a figure that it seems a lot of people aren't aware of, but who, at the turn of the 20th Century was a well-known literary guy, having written the book The Devil's Dictionary, which you may have heard of.

He had the reputation as a sardonic critic and was nicknamed "Bitter Bierce." Many scholars believe his tales of war are some of the best ever written on that topic. In 1913, Bierce went to Mexico to travel with Pancho Villa, thereby gaining a firsthand perspective on that country's ongoing revolution. While traveling with rebel troops, he disappeared without a trace.

I decided on Bierce because I like him a a character for one, and for two, I was challenged to see if I could paint the mustache! I painted the face first, and when I was happy with that, I set myself to the task of drawing up a body with male proportions.

On first attempt, I came up with a body on the scale of a giant super hero. It dwarfed my other female dolls and was rather silly. It took another couple of tries before I was satisfied. Final size is about 14" tall.

From there, I gave him cotton underthings and some snappy leather boots. He got a white cotton shirt and a black silk tie.

And then, as was the style of the day, a woolen vest. I made a little pocket for an imaginary watch to fit in, from scraps of suede. The buttons are crystal beads. I made him a watch chain from Swarovski crystal beads and some glass seed beads. His hair is silk and cotton yarn, which is peppered looking, which I like.

Finally I finished him off with a chocolate brown woolen suit, pants and jacket. The bulk of the wool, since the jacket is lined, and Bierce was a slender guy, made steaming and pressing mandatory. There is an actual buttonhole and a little button at the front of the jacket. I gave him a little handmade book to hold, and voila! I think he looks quite snappy. You'll have to let me know what you think.

Gentlemen Prefer

2009-12-18T08:47:00.007-05:00

It occurred to me yesterday that I never did post my Lorelei doll on my blog. This past summer, I spent probably 100 hours creating and fussing over the doll I made for the Dimensions in Dollmaking 2009 event. The theme for 2009 was "Make Me Laugh." I love Marilyn Monroe and her work has always made me laugh, so I decided to create a doll that would resemble her Lorelei character in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I used silk for the costume, sequinned and hand-beaded it for endless hours, with beads along the neckline to resemble diamond jewelry. The top-hat is hand-beaded and sequinned to match. She's got some cute little black silk high heels and fish net stockings, and she looks ready to entertain you! The doll made it safely to San Diego and back this past fall and eventually sold to a dear friend, Carol Jones. I want to show it to you now, if you haven't seen it already.

Wonder Woman

2009-11-29T09:32:00.007-05:00

As is the custom, I spent this Thanksgiving with my husband's family in Syracuse. My sister-in-law, Sue, graciously hosts quite a motley crew for Thanksgiving Day, and we all eat to excess and catch up from where we left off at the last gathering. Since I really admire my sister-in-law for being such a sport year after year, I thought I would make her a doll that would be her, but in a more dramatic style than she would assume in her day to day life. I chose Wonder Woman as most closely representing her true nature, and set to work making up a Suzanne as Wonder Woman doll. I failed to take pictures when it was actually ready to give, since I didn't have the base done until the last minute, but I got a couple photos of the doll at the mostly finished stage. The actual base is white and on the bottom it reads the following:

"Wonder Woman is a member of an all-female tribe of Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) who was created by William Marston in 1941 as a “distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a 'world torn by the hatred of men.'” Her powers include super strength, super speed, stamina, and flight. She is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and in the art of tactical warfare. She also possesses an animal-like cunning and a natural rapport with animals, which has in the past been presented as an actual ability to communicate with the animal kingdom. She uses her Lasso of Truth (which forces those bound by it to tell the truth), a pair of indestructible bracelets, and an invisible plane, which was later replaced with an ability to fly unaided.

In addition to possessing all of the above skills and talents, Suzanne has prepared and endured countless family holiday meals and get-togethers whilst wearing a pair of indestructible bracelets, thus earning her this award of recognition."

I think that about sums it up. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and had time to get together and gab, which is the part I like best about the holiday :)

Mary Read, Pirate Bucko

2009-11-15T10:19:00.013-05:00

I just finished my second pirate lass yesterday, Mary Read, friend and comrade of Anne Bonny. Mary, the poor girl, died of fever whilst in prison, but only after a number of high seas adventures. The story goes that Read remained dressed as a man and no one knew she was a lady pirate until Anne Bonny developed a bit of a crush on her. The misunderstanding forced Read to reveal to Bonny that she was in fact a lady pirate. The famous Calico Jack Rackham, who was Bonny's lover, became jealous and threatened to deal with Mary Read. To prevent Read's death, Rackham was also let in on the secret. At some point Mary fell in love with another man on deck, who had the poor sense to offend a pirate superior. Mary, fearing that if she didn't intervene, would suffer the loss of her lover, challenged the offended pirate to a duel. Once the duel was begun, Mary flashed the pirate her bosom. Her opponent was so stunned, he was caught off his mark, and Mary took the opportunity to mortally wound him! Good thinking, mate!

I started this doll with men's white cotton under drawers, same as Anne Bonny. I gave her a yellowish-beige chemise with lacy edging, and a blue silk bandana. Her hair is mohair dyed a warm dark brown.

I painted her face as I would imagine her, quite a bit darker than the first pirate I did. I like how it came out.

I added a black vest, navy breeches that are worn and ripped, some black suede boots, a red band at the waist to hold her weapons, and a black pirate's hat. For weapons she got a large sword, which she wears at the hip and a pistol, which she has ready at the waist. She is again 12" tall, all cotton body, mostly cotton costume. I put her on a wooden base, which I will likely paint black at some point.

Anne Bonny, Pirate Lass

2009-11-02T09:51:00.024-05:00

After finishing my last character doll, Olive Malvery, I asked my friend in London if she had any other interesting characters on her list of fascinating women. She sent me a photo of Anne Bonny, a 17th Century real Pirate of the Caribbean! Thinking that female marauders are entirely under-represented, I couldn't resist.

Thinking that the 12-inch size doll I made last time is really quite convenient for placing on shelves and so on, I started with a body similar to the Olive Malvery doll. I made her quite pale skinned, as Anne Bonny was of Irish descent.

I gave her a bit of the wild-eyed, slightly fierce look with some extra shading and coloration. I also gave her auburn locks made from alpaca.

Back in the day of lady pirates, corsets and stays were de rigueur. I am doubtful that a gal wielding double-bladed swords and packing a pistol was likely to be bothered with such silliness. Instead I gave Anne a man's white cotton chemise. I also gave her a man's drawers, which were made of slightly lighter weight fabric than the chemise, since I would be putting breeches over top. I edged the undergarments with a pink thread embroidery just for fun and added a pair of Ultraleather black pirate boots to the ensemble.

With the underthings sewn on, I added a pair of man's brown britches, a dark brown jacket and a pirate hat. I also gave her a plaid neckerchief, but later removed that, as it wasn't quite right.

At this point, she was looking a bit, well, fashion runway. At the suggestion of my husband, I distressed the clothing, which meant rubbing a pumice stone over the pants and jacket, which gave the clothing some holes and wear. This was actually quite hard (emotionally) to do after all that hard work, but I think it was worth it for effect. I made weaponry (a cutlass for her to hold, a saber worn at the side waist, a knife, worn in her shirt, and a pistol worn in a striped hip sling) from polymer clay that I painted with acrylics. I added a plaid headband, changed the hat, because I didn't like the first one, and added a plaid band to the hat's crown. I also neatened up the face a bit and painted the base black. I'm quite pleased with the finished doll. Let me know what you think.

Daughter of the Empire

2009-10-22T11:15:00.029-04:00

A friend who lives in London and who likes to read and write about women living in interesting times, has turned me on to a rather fascinating Edwardian woman by the name of Olive Malvery. My friend sent me a funny photo of Olive doing undercover work as a flower girl on the streets of London. Olive was a writer/photojournalist who went undercover, seeking employment in a variety of blue-collar settings, as well as spending nights and days amongst the poor in order to investigate the lives of the working poor of London. My friend is doing quite a lot of work herself, investigating Olive Malvery, and I thought it would be fun to make her a doll likeness of this most interesting woman.

As I said in my last post, I have joined in to do a traveling doll in January. In order to save on postage, since the dolls will be traveling across the world, it was suggested to me that I should make a small doll. Not wanting to wait until then, I worked up a 12" doll body and decided I would try that one out as the Olive Malvery doll. I also thought it would be fun to take photos of the work in progress. Here, I am going to share them with you just for fun.

Here is Olive as she started in a combination undergarment, which is a white cotton corset cover and drawers combined. It is sewn onto the body and does not come off. At this point I had designed the body, which looks a lot like the collaboration one I am doing with Deena, but quite a lot smaller. She stands 12" tall and has one leg with a brass rod that screws into a wooden stand. I added black silk boots, the face and hair. At this point the face is not quite right, perhaps a tad too Italian, and Olive is of East Indian descent. I will be tweaking it as I go along. Keep in mind that the face is flat, and only about 1-1/4" in height. To start I was not sure I could draw a face that small, but in the end I am satisfied.

From there, I put on the petticoat, which is the same white cotton, It has a flounce and a panel at the back to add a bit of fullness and bustle so that the final skirt lays correctly. This is all sewn to the doll and is not removable.

Next came the blouse, which needed pintucks and some loose sleeves. I used machine embroidery to anchor the tucks, make the neckline and attach the cuffs. Working the sleeves into the armhole was a bit challenging for me, because the armholes were so tiny.

Once the undergarments and blouse were sewn into place, the only thing left was the hat, skirt and accessories. Interestingly enough, I was most worried about the hat, which is kind of silly, since making hats is one of the things that comes more easily to me. Nevertheless, I wasn't sure how to proceed. In the photo of Olive, her hat is quite large. I didn't want to make a hat of quite that proportion, as I thought it would hide the face too much and make photographing the finished doll too difficult (one must always be practical :0). So instead, I scaled it down a bit, made a couple of padded wire frames (one for the brim, one for the crown) and attached black silk velvet. I then sewed that to the head and added the plumage.

Prior to placing the hat, with all the costuming, and things being pulled on and off over the head, the face took a bit of a beating. I also felt it wasn't quite right. I added more paint and defined it a bit, neatened up the hair, and felt that overall she was right. From there I added a 4-gore black silk taffetta skirt.

Finally, the accessories. I took a piece of black silk dupioni I had and fringed it for her shawl. I couldn't find a basket small enough, so used a wooden napkin ring and glued a wooden disk to the bottom for a barrel type basket, had John drill holes on either side, and made a twisted bronze-colored copper wire handle. The flowers I found in the bridal section of Michael's.

So, she's finished. Hurray! She is going to live in London at some point, though my friend tells me there is a postal strike there in the UK, so perhaps she will have to wait just a bit. Hoping she likes being at home in London. She ought to, as it's where she lived her life.

Collaborations

2009-10-20T10:09:00.015-04:00

I have been a bit possessed by the idea of collaborations lately. My doll group, Art Dolls Only, started an annual traveling doll project http://adotravelingdollproject.blogspot.com/ last year. I decided to join the one for 2010 and can hardly wait to jump in. The main groups are 6 people, each starting their own doll, which is then passed on to each other person in the group to do their magic upon. When the doll has finally passed to the sixth person, it is then returned to the originator. In this group, people have all sorts of skills and talents, and work in a variety of mediums. The possibilities are endless.

Wanting to get my feet wet ahead of time, I contacted a new friend in Michigan, Deena Maurus http://fabbydolls.blogspot.com/. Both she and I are at the moment strictly cloth doll makers, and both, I think, a little intimidated with the idea of working with polymer clay. Quite a lot of the ADO artists sculpt in various clays, painting, glueing, sewing, and all sorts of things as they go. I have little experience with sculpting, other than pinch pots and things like that they get you to struggle along with in college art classes. So, before I was thrown into the fire, so to speak, with a collaboration involving so many different techniques, I asked Deena if she would collaborate on a cloth doll with me just for fun. She agreed and was very enthusiastic (she is always enthusiastic, so the perfect person to collaborate with). She is in the middle of some other things at the moment, so I cannot predict when I will be able to publish her completed work on the doll, but she has tremendous costuming abilities and I am frothing in anticipation. When it is done, she will keep the doll and it will likely be used in some way for one of her charitable works. In any case, here is what I sent her, so that you can see what a cloth doll might look like sans clothing. It is about 20" high, had a metal rod running up one leg that is then screwed into a wooden base. The legs can be bent and posed. Her face is flat and painted. She is quite naked! At the moment, we are calling her "Naked Alien Doll" because she looks quite bizarre. I did try draping ropes over her head to see what she would look like with hair (see above), and I think it is quite a lot better. I also put a feather boa around her face to see what she would look like if she were a snow bunny. I have no idea what Deena will do with her, but I can't wait to see.

The faint of heart should look away right about now :)

According to Deena

2009-10-01T09:16:00.013-04:00

"Things are not always black and white."

I was very excited to see late last night that my new friends Deena Maurus http://fabbydolls.blogspot.com and Abi Monroe http://abimonroe.blogspot.com had put together a lovely treasury (please click on it to have a bigger view) featuring some of the doll artists from the Etsy team Art Dolls Only http://artdollsonly.blogspot.com, and I was featured! Actually it was Deena who put the treasury together. Doesn't she have an artful eye? And she is one of the most supportive and creative people you will every meet. She was also kind enough to post my Dimensions in Dollmaking doll on her blog this week (I will be posting about that myself sometime soon). Abi is ADO's resident etsy treasury expert. If you need info on making treasuries, she is the go-to gal. Both ladies are wonderful emerging doll artists. I believe both have only been making dolls for about a year, and already they have accomplished loads! Both make beautiful art dolls that should not be missed. Please visit their blogs, where you can find out more about these terrific women.

Thanks, Deena. Thanks, Abi. For including me in your interesting and beautiful world!

Changing Directions

2009-09-25T11:36:00.015-04:00

This past week I thought about what I am good at and what I am not in terms of my doll making, mixed in with a good portion of what I love to do and what I do not. I think my doll faces are coming along nicely. The painted flat faces seem to be something I pull off pretty well, and I like doing them. I guess it goes back to my years doing portraits, though then I did them in bits of cloth and they were 2 or 3 feet high at minimum! Scaling back to the 3-inch size required for a doll face has it's own challenges, but I enjoy them.

I also like making my own fabrics from what starts out as white silk. And I love making fancy costumes, though sometimes the challenges inherent in that send me about over the top.

What I decided I would really like to do is make Victorian ladies. I love the long, highly ornate dresses and gowns of the time, especially the very latest point in the Victorian era. So, this week, I began and finished my first Victorian doll. I don't have a name for her yet, or even a real story. She brings to mind for me the Thomas Hardy short story, written in 1894, "An Imaginative Woman". Mrs. Marchmill, waiting for her elusive and yet unseen poet crush.

"It was about five in the afternoon when she heard a ring at the door and the editor’s brother's voice in the hall. Poetess as she was, or as she thought herself, she had not been too sublime that day to dress with infinite trouble in a fashionable robe of rich material, having a faint resemblance to the chiton of the Greeks, a style just then in vogue among ladies of an artistic and romantic turn, which had been obtained by Ella of her Bond Street dressmaker when she was last in London. Her visitor entered the drawing room. She looked toward his rear; nobody else came through the door. Where, in the name of the God of Love, was Robert Trewe?"

I have posted pictures here of my first Victorian lady. You will have to let me know what you think.

Something's Brewing

2009-09-10T11:11:00.012-04:00

As I said in my last post, I joined a terrific art doll group, ADO, or Art Dolls Only http://www.artdollsonly.blogspot.com.This month they are having one of their quarterly challenges. The theme is all things Halloween. I've never made anything purposely, well, unattractive, before. I really wanted to give it a shot. I came up with 3 witches in the stew pot. I think they came out pretty well. I had quite a time working with polymer clay to make the pot. I have to say, I have a ton of respect for polymer clay artists! It's tricky business.

ADO is also having a mini challenge for the month, with the theme being clowns. I'm busy working on that entry now. I have to say, these folks, with all their marvelous talent and upbeat attitudes are really inspiring me. It's just what I needed!

Much ADO

2009-09-03T09:31:00.026-04:00

Lately I've been thinking about why I chose as my medium something that sometimes seems so frivolous to me, namely art dolls. With all the talk about economic issues and people in general feeling the need to scale back, I often find myself in a quandry. Shouldn't I be doing something more practical? When I made portraits years back, at least that seemed more, well, necessary. But dolls? I have to ask myself, does anyone really need another one? And yet, my personal fascination with the human figure, and the human face in particular, leads me to think that YES, dolls are pertinent, and in fact, maybe even necessary.

Here's the thing, with painting you are working in 2-D. No matter how expert you are at depicting perspective and depth and everything else that goes into a painting, it is still, well, FLAT. No way around that one, is there? You can't put your hand out and feel the contours. Your mind can, in a fashion, and that is lovely for sure and even what may make a painting so exciting. But, you can't really reach out and touch a painting, now can you? But with dolls, which are 3-dimensional by their very nature, the first thing you really want to do is reach out and touch. Now granted, like most art dolls, my dolls are not meant for children. A lot of flipping, flopping, twisting and poking around is not really advocated. Getting on my high horse, they are sculptures after all; 3-dimensional representations of my idea of human form, even though distorted and comical in a sense. My particular dolls are soft, though, so really, you can get away with a bit of squeezing. That feature alone adds something to the finished work that you just can't get with a flat painting.

So, in the midst of all my philosophizing, I was recently contacted by an art doll team on Etsy. The Art Dolls Only team, ADO for short. I have to say, I am usually not much of a joiner, so joining any kind of group is a big deal for me and I am careful about who I join up with. In their literature they quote Wikipedia's definition of an art doll:

"Art Dolls are made using a wide variety of styles and mediums, some are abstract or tribal, while others are incredibly realistic. Art dolls do not always move. The term Art Doll can refer to human-like dolls. However this is not always the case. Art Dolls can depict animal, mythical creatures or abstract beings. They differ from baby dolls, Barbie dolls and other mass manufactured dolls. Even though the word 'doll' is attached, Art Dolls are not meant for play and not intended for children. The intent of an Art Doll artist is to create a work of art."

Okay, well that sounds pretty good, right? A work of ART. I mean, by that definition, what I do begins to make sense! So I joined. I can't tell you how glad I am I did. You wouldn't believe the artists in that group. I think there are about 100. The talent contained within that number is quite simply, amazing. Here's a little sample (taken from etsy shops) of the variety of human form artists in the group were able to come up with.

Etsy Shops Pictured: DollMakersMuse, nenufarblanco, AnAngelAtMyTable, PeachStreet, bartonoriginals, littlebitwired, lynnery, freakylittlethings, PolkaDotToadstool, dollproject, dellaraedezines, CateA331, mealymonster, ArchetypalTheater, Youngish, NancyWiley

Okay, so you can't see that up close as well as I want you to (click on it, though, for a bigger shot). So what you are going to have to do is go over to etsy http://www.etsy.com
and type in "ado".

That's all you really have to do. Just type ADO in the search bar, and the dolls and items available from these marvelous artists will pop up. I'm seeing 26 pages worth of stuff at the moment there. You can also type in any of the shop names I have listed above to get you started.

While you are at it, go over and check out their blog:
http://www.artdollsonly.blogspot.com

If you are an art doll artist and are interested in joining:
http://www.artdollsonly.com/joinado.htm

You can also join them on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-Dolls-Only/67485582644

Filling In

2009-08-13T12:38:00.012-04:00

I have been SO bad about posting anything in, what (??) a MONTH?!! Wow, time flies. My family and I spent a week this summer camping in the Adirondacks, got back and kids needed to be taken to the pool, to the park, to the beach, to friends and so on. We had a lovely visit from our nephew for a week, and again to the pool, to the park, to the beach. It seems like it is taking tremendous effort to get back in the swing of things! On the one hand it feels like lazy summer days, and on the other it feels like we have been quite busy. So, since I haven't contacted anyone to feature in awhile, I think I am just going to put up a few photos of portraits I drew up in the last few weeks to fill in.

This is a portrait of a lovely friend in Vermont with her child. I did an "okay" likeness. I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but I like the colors. I think they both look better in person. This is oil pencil and oil pastel done on white silk. I stretched it over a piece of heavy watercolor paper and taped it down so it can be framed. It's 11" x 14".

This portrait, I think, is a slightly better likeness, and I like the colors as well. I had a heck of a time with the guitar (which is a constant prop for this particular individual and therefore completely pertinent) for this, so kind of fudged it a bit. I am not that great with objects. But I think it turned out pretty well.

I like this portrait a lot, because of the colors. I think the children are a pretty good likeness, though I don't think the boy on the left is quite that "cheeky" in the British sense of the word, but I like how it came out anyway. I think the mom looks prettier than this in person, but I really struggled with it for some reason. I like how it came out overall. I think the boy on the right looks about that sweet, so is a good likeness.

Hope you are all busy creating lovely things, or at least enjoying the summer weather. I am finishing up a doll for a competition that I hope to post (though at the moment I am having a love/hate relationship with this particular doll) in a week or 2. Hope to be back on schedule by end of month. Enjoy these sunny days!

Handmade in France

2009-07-05T23:00:00.007-04:00

If you spend some time on Etsy you will find that there is an amazing amount of creative talent out there. I'm sure Etsy doesn't even scratch the surface, but even so, I am overwhelmed. I love clothes! Since moving to Vermont, you wouldn't know it to look at me. Frankly, if my hair is brushed and I have something on my feet, that's a well-dressed day. I sometimes bemoan the fact that living out in the country there are so few places to go that require much more than a pair of jeans and some Muck boots. That doesn't mean I have stopped dreaming, or perusing the sites of those more fashion wise than me. You never know when I just may need to give myself an overhaul and visit the city. So, in the back of my mind, I keep talented fashion designers in a spot that I can easily retrieve should the occasion arise.

Because, as they say, the French have good taste, first on my list would have to be a French fashion designer. Meet Emmanuelle Marie, indie French designer, who is savvy, saucy, free-spirited and oh so talented. Not only does she have an enviable knack for clothing design, she is also multi-lingual. Who do you know that can draw up a skirt design while speaking French, English, Russian, German, Polish or Czech? I barely speak one language well!

Marie's designs are showcased under her independent label "Malam." The style is very distinctive. Her designs range from gloves and gauntlets to wedding gowns and everything in between.

She has a wide range of dresses and coats, many of which feature her signature extra-long or flared sleeves and goblin hoods. She has a certain knack for making things fun, flirtatious and feminine all at the same time.

Her designs are very limited edition or often one-of-a-kind because she uses fabrics she finds in very limited quantities and often dyes or embellishes them to make something even more new and unique. If you see something you like but have a different fabric in mind, Marie will even take custom orders. She is willing to work with you to create something original that you are guaranteed to love.

Did I mention, her clothes are shown in castles?! REALLY!

Not only does Marie design her own clothes, she also models most of them. The resulting pictures are simply fabulous! And wouldn't you know, her fiance'(I am picturing a fabulous wedding dress in Marie's near future!), Yann, is a professional photographer:

http://www.yannpendaries.etsy.com

He is responsible for most of the photography, featuring Marie in artful poses, bringing out the artfulness of Marie's style (he also models from time to time, and obviously is quite smashing himself!).

Marie and Yann have also collaborated on some artwork which is featured on Yann's own Etsy site. The pieces they create together feature a combination of Marie's drawings and Yann's photography. The result is limited edition pictures that are very original, fun and fresh, a lot like Marie!

Marie, you've got me thinking about my wardrobe now, that's for sure! Keep on cranking out the good stuff!

I'll leave the rest of you with some more photos of Marie's wonderful fashion style.

Please go over to her Etsy site, her website, and her blog, and check out all she has to offer. It will be well worth your time, I promise.

http://www.malam.etsy.com

http://www.poupees-perdues.com

http://malam-paris.blogspot.com

Thanks, Marie, for offering the world a chance to dress in style!

Merle's World

2009-06-29T03:01:00.001-04:00

What every creative person needs is their own fan club. Having a young, hip, decidedly cutting-edge fan club is quite the best, dontcha think? It assures your longevity as an artist and just makes you feel warm all over :)

Meet my next fabulous friend, the Marvelous, Multi-talented Merle Pace, AKA Rowan DeVoe de Le Fresne Chateau. She actually calls it a "castle", but I like rhymes :) Merle has her own fan club. REALLY! I am now a card-holding member.

Okay, perhaps I am not that young, hip or cutting edge. But certainly in my own mind I am all the rage! Merle is a lovely gal, whom her fans love, and she's also quite beautiful (she will fiercely deny it), and nice, too. She's letting me join the club.

I know Merle because my friend Ivy introduced us. It turns out Merle and I have some things in common. We both make dolls, for one. We both love mermaids and fairies and believe in them, too. We both like bright colors and fancy shoes. She believes a fine lady should wear a crown, tiara or other mark of royalty. I believe each one should wear a hat.

Where Merle stands out, though, is in the amazing number of materials and processes she has mastered to evolve her impossible to imitate, singular style.

Merle is a self-portrait artist/photographer. She belongs to a group called The Female Self Portrait Artists Support Group. They put out books featuring self-portraits created by their members. Merle is included in their works: "She Took Her Own Picture" (http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/312943)and "In her Own Image." To be honest, before meeting Merle, I didn't even realize there was such a thing as a self-portrait artist. I had no idea there were so many talented people working in that genre. Apparently I don't get out much!

Merle also paints. In that arena, she is unbelievably prolific. Her paintings, which I ADORE, are a bit hard to describe. You really just have to see them.

Merle's paintings impart the imagery of folklore, fantasy and magic, of cats and ravens. She draws from the Gothic and Greek, Roman and Egyptian, Medieval and Pre-Raphaelite, and even Art Nouveau, mixing them together to create her own very unique style. Her colors are sometimes vivid, sometimes muted, sometimes blackened. She uses an array of materials to create her original paintings. The base is done primarily with watercolors. She may add gouache, metallic inks, pastels, and/or colored pencils to the mix. She tells me she has made paintings using even Crayola!

She also makes monotypes, creating rich, deep colored monotype prints with her own printing press. Apparently this is a very complicated "312-step" process, as she has explained it to me 3 times and I still haven't grasped it!

From either of these processes, she will also make smaller reproductions onto archival paper that she then decoupages onto plaques of found wood, adding bits of
this and that to fancy them up further. They nearly jump out at you, depicting kings and queens and saints and cats.

Merle also creates dolls.

They are art dolls for serious collectors. They are intended to hold their own space and not the type of doll to be placed on a shelf. In some ways they are more sculptures.
She has done a series of birdcage ladies that combine her ability to paint, sculpt, sew and many other things. They were shown last year at the Indianpolis Art Center at her show "Love, Loss, Resurrection." If you are lucky, you can catch her work there from time to time.

As usual I've rambled on for my bit. I really just want you to see Merle's incredible work. I hope it inspires you to do your own. So, I'm going to leave you with some more photos to tantalize and arouse your interest.

Please check out all of Merle's available work at her Etsy site,
(http://www.pascal4aqua.etsy.com)
her blog
(http://www.rowandevoe.blogspot.com)
and her website
http://www.merleart.com/ArtistBio.html).

She's put out an amazing amount of work, some of it for sale. She is also happy to do custom work for those of you who require something in particular.

Keep on cranking out the good stuff! Thanks, Merle, for making the world so much more interesting! You rock!

Here's Looking at You!

2009-06-22T09:10:00.001-04:00

"A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you."

-----Brigitte Bardot

"Under the August Sun" July 1965 by Clyde Keller

I was saying to myself just the other day (yeh, I do talk to myself occasionally) that I wished I had better digital photography skills. The whole macro thing has got me in a spin, frankly. I love making dolls. Photographing them, not so much. Wouldn't you know just about the time I was feeling woefully inadequate in the photography arts, I ran into (no, not literally--on the internet, silly) the Fabulous Clyde Keller, Photographer Extraordinaire.

I initially found Clyde on his Etsy site (http://www.clydekellerphoto.etsy.com). I checked out his work and his profile and then went to his main site (http://www.clydekeller.com) looking for more information.

I am a people person. I love to see what people are capable of. I love being inspired by their seemingly endless creativity; but I also want to know all the tidbits. I want to get the real scoop!

For someone whose professional career has spanned 40-plus years, whose work has received world-wide recognition, I have to say, I don't think Clyde is one to do much flaunting. Maybe he prefers his photos to do the talking...In any case, after viewing an extensive selection of his photographs, I'm here to report that Clyde is a PHENOMENAL photographer, a true master of his craft, and should seriously consider doing a little flaunting!

What I like most about Clyde's work is that he seems to truly care about the people and places he photographs. His lens, as an extension, mirrors that caring beautifully. As the American photographer Paul Strand said, "It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness." In that capacity, Clyde Keller is unquestionably gifted.

Vancouver BC, VICTOR'S WORLD, Delany's Coffee House regular,
Clyde Keller 2007 Photo.

"One of my favorite images from the many trips to Vancouver, Canada... Victor offered great conversation and an undeniable graphic appeal with his checkered shirt and flowing beard. In this impromptu photo, I struck up a conversation with Victor and was able to photograph him as we made our exchanges."

Scoggin Valley Pioneer FELIX McCULLOUGH with 1925 Tractor,
Clyde Keller 1977 Photo.

"One of my favorite images from the 1978 Valley People Documentary Series, this portrait of Felix McCullough, was quite popular when it was featured in our "VALLEY PEOPLE" Photographic Calendar. Now, 30 years later, with much of Washington County engulfed by change, these photographs are a precious historical rememberance, capturing the unvarnished flavor of its heritage. Scoggin Valley in now under water... McCullough's farm no longer exists. I asked Felix if he would demonstrate his 1925 tractor for a photograph... the resulting portrait memorializing the event and the end of an era."

Clyde takes photographs of a lot of things. His home base is in a lovely, scenic part of the world known as Bend, Oregon. He has taken photos galore documenting his time with the people and landscapes in those parts. My favorites are the ones he has made of people. I get the sense from his photographs that he takes people just as they are, without judgement, finding their unique tendencies interesting and worth documenting.

Of special interest to Clyde has been photodocumenting historical political events. Many of his photos have gained him world-wide acclaim, particularly his extensive collection of Robert F. Kennedy photographs.In 2008 when the Triborough Bridge was renamed the RFK Bridge, Clyde worked with the RFK Center for Human Rights and the New York Transportation Authority in their promotion, thereby placing his photos throughout the NY subway system.

I'm going to leave you with a few of Clyde's non-people photos that I especially like so you can get a view of just how talented and versatile this guy is.
Please head over to Clyde's sites and take a gander at the incredible wealth of photographic art you will find there. If you love photography, I'm pretty sure you are not going to find a better bang for your buck.

Thanks, Clyde, for doing your part to make the world a more lovely place to be!

Here's looking at you!

Scrumptious Pulchritude

2009-06-16T09:11:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I'm getting reaallly inspired now! When I started this blog business last week, I was seriously wondering what in the world I would possibly have to write about. You want to hear about the dolls I am working on? Perhaps. A few pictures are always fun. But, what I reaallly want to do, and what it seems I have already begun, is to write about the remarkable people I have met who are doing the stuff that I'm pretty sure you truly DO want to hear about.

Okay, so this next gal, no joke, is Queen of Half the World. She's probably Queen of the Other Half, too, but let's be realistic. There is only so much ruling one can be bothered to do, and the other half of the world is probably asleep when she's awake anyway, so why bother. Not only is she Queen of Half the World, she comes with her very own fairy muse, who is Princess of Pretty Much Everything Else. And soooo, while you're waiting for me to get on with it, I'll introduce them. They are Sheela Goh and her daughter, The Lovely Eve Low:

Aren't they lovely?!! And this is not even a glamour shot. This is just them hanging out at a coffee shop! Would you believe they live in Borneo?! Have you ever met someone who lives in such an exotic place?

According to Sheela, she is "a neurotic, paranoid Gemini, self-proclaimed advocate of the overachiever syndrome; a kooky, exceedingly klutzy and unabashedly dorky ex-journalist who's still chuffed to bits whenever something she designs actually sells." I don't know about the rest of it, but relating herself to the "overachiever syndrome" is putting it mildly. This gal seriously must NEVER sleep, in which case, perhaps she IS ruling the Whole Entire World! If she actually does run for the post of Queen of the Whole Wide World, I will be quite happy to be one of her loyal subjects, because I am quite sure it would be a beauuuuuutiful world, and we'd all be wearing jewels like this!

Sheela is all about the business of beauty and loveliness, Scrumptious Pulchritude, if you will. Not only is she quite beautiful and lovely herself, but her work, which is opulent, decadent, truly one-of-a-kind, jewel-encrusted wire wrapped jewelry, is truly fit for a queen. To see what I mean, just check this stuff out! You have never, believe me, seen anything like it.

And she just cranks the stuff out. I don't mean because what she does is easy. I mean, she must be at the table, lights on until the wee hours, working away at the craft she loves, while the rest of us are sleeping. If you check out her Etsy site (http://www.eclettica.etsy.com) and her blog (http://ecletticalonline.blogspot.com),you will be inclined to believe she has been at this for decades. Not so! She is so naturally talented, that she is actually relatively new at this Big Bling Business. I find it hard to believe, but she claims she's been at it for less than a decade. How did she get to be so good so fast? I think she really truly doesn't sleep. Either that or this is her tenth life as a jewelry designer. :)

And did I mention, she also designs couture clothing and accessories?!!(http://www.SheelaGoh.etsy.com) Good lord! Okay, as my friend Stella Pesci (http://www.stellapesci.etsy.com) says, I now feel like a "snail in a coma"!!!! :)

I could go on and on and on about Sheela. She is just that marvelous! But I also want to tell you about her lovely daughter, Eve:

Eve is 10. Eve is also beautiful, talented and lovely. Eve draws like not many 10 year olds can. I have a 10 and 8-year-old. I even taught elementary school in some long forgotten past life. I know exactly how 10-year-olds are "supposed" to draw. Eve doesn't draw like that. Eve draws like this:

If you contact her (http://www.evelikesit.etsy.com), she will draw you, or your mom, aunt or best friend as a fairy! And she'll make you a set of cards to send to all your friends! Now how cool it THAT?!!

And did I tell you she also models? Just check out her mom's blog (http://ecletticaonline.blogspot.com). Eve, like I told you, is her mom's fairy muse. She wears clothing and jewelry like a supermodel and she's in most of the photos Sheela takes.

Okay, so one last photo and then I'll leave you to it.

Go check out these beautiful ladies' sites. Get yourself some BLING! Be inspired. And keep on cranking it out! Sheela, Eve, my hat's off to you. You go girls!

My Marilyn

2009-06-13T12:43:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking about what kind of doll I want to make for the Dimensions in Dollmaking 2009 event. I've never entered before, but really want to this year. The theme for 2009 is "Make Me Laugh." So, yesterday I pulled out my DVD of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" to see if I could get any costume ideas for another Marilyn doll. I wanted something funny. Actually the costumes on the front of the DVD cover would be excellent, but I have no idea if I could pull off those roses. Maybe I could get Stella Pesci to help :)

I like this one, too. The red is quite fab:

A couple months back, if you know me very well, you probably know I made a Marilyn Monroe doll. I drew up my version of her face on a flat-faced statue doll and designed my own costume. Nothing exactly like she had ever worn, but I wanted something green and couldn't find anything on the internet in that color. Apparently she was buried in green, but I didn't really want to copy that...

So anyway, I want to show you my Marilyn doll, if you haven't already seen her. I'm really happy with her.

My lovely sister-in-law said I made her look ambivalent. I think that's right. She really was, wasn't she.

The costume is green silk charmeuse. I dyed it to a color I particularly like, and also which I think would have been an appropriate color for the times. It's a medium to deep green that is slightly drabbed. I machine-brocaded it with gold thread and added seed beads throughout the dip of the skirt. It has a halter-style neck and a low back.

The cape is deep green velvet with marabou feather edging. I really like how that turned out. Very sumptuous indeed!

Her hair is made from fabulous mohair locks that I got from my friend, another lovely dollmaker extraordinaire, Colleen Athens. You can see some of her work on her blog (http://dolljourney.blogspot.com)

This is one of her dolls.

The hair she sold me was just the right shade of platinum blond. I discussed it with her previously and she assured me it was the correct color and consistency. She was spot on! Having not a clue how to deal with mohair, I emailed Colleen back and forth quite a few times and finally determined that a doll curling iron and quite a number of hair products would be just the thing to use. I combed the hair out as best I could, sprayed it endlessly with a Paul Mitchell working spray she recommended and set to work with this mini curling iron. I wish I had photos of me trying to pull this off! It was quite ridiculous, actually. I am decidely NOT a hair stylist. In fact, at the moment I could really use one myself! I think the Marilyn hair turned out pretty well, though my own is still a mess :), but I have to tell you, I am such a klutz, I pretty much could have torn my own hair out by the time I was finished. If you look at Colleen's blog, you will see that she can style her own hair and that of her dolls quite well. I, on the other hand, am not so talented. But, in the end, I think it turned out pretty well and I still have my hair! Thanks Colleen, You Are a Doll!

Keep on cranking it out people! Be inspired, do what you do and please visit Colleen's site so you can see just how talented she is!

HATpy HATpenstance

2009-06-11T11:09:00.000-04:00

Wouldn't you know, just after I posted about my love of hats, another of my favorite hat loving persons sent me a note to say "hi" (okay, actually I emailed her first to let her know I had a new blog, but the coincidence thing makes a better story, right? :) ). You might not know her, unless you are lucky enough to live in wild and crazy Charleston, where the men are men and the women are all wild :), but she is truly the Queen HATpy Hat Bee of that rip-roaring town. She's none other than the lovely Archie Burkel (http://www.hatladies.org)

Here's a picture of her, so you can see what I mean:

Okay, so let me tell you a little bit about her and then I'll tie that in with, of course, one of my dolls later :)

Lady Archie (you can call her that--I do) is the most marvelous of characters there ever is, was, or ever will be. She is truly one-of-a-kind. She's one heck of a good writer, a beautiful lady who has done everything under the sun, and who spends a great deal of her time commandeering other like-minded, hat loving, hat wearing gals around the Charleston area (and beyond most likely) in all sorts of big headline volunteer activities. She's been in the news, she's been in parades, she's posed nearly naked in pools and done countless other things all to support her main cause, which is basically just to make the world a better, more lovely place to live, and to give others the confidence to jump in the game with her. Oh, and did I mention, she wears hats like nobody else can!

Okay, so how this ties in with dolls...

Several years back, Lady Archie and I had been having a lovely chat session back and forth via the internet, and she just happened to be having an upcoming fund raiser. I agreed to make a doll for her fundraiser and also thought it best to make an actual Archie doll for her, because she is such a good model. How fun that was! I took some pictures of her off her site and set to work. She gave me suggestions (black, white or maybe pink only, daaahling) and I did my best to copy her. Of course she is far more lovely than I could ever portray in manipulated cloth, but I was happy with the final doll and sent it to her. Here's what I came up with:

Anyway, please check out her site, feel inspired, wear a hat or 2, and keep on cranking out the good stuff! Oh, and a final thought -- Lady Archie claims to have dived out of a hot air balloon head first. What I want to know is, how did she keep her hat on?! Hats off to YOU, Archie!

Hats Off

2009-06-10T17:18:00.000-04:00

I love hats! A new friend, Stella Pesci, who just so happens to be the mother of Edera Jewelry's (http://www.edera-faerie.blogspot.com)lovely Ivy, just got me thinking about hats again. She is a very fine milliner whom I think is definitely worth checking out: (http://www.stellapesci.etsy.com)

Check out this fun hat she has for sale on her Etsy site:

You might not know that I used to make and sell hats in Seattle for a short time in the early 90s. I had a tiny little business called "Over My Head" and it truly was. I think I had one of the best, if not THE best teachers out there, Wayne Wichern (http://www.waynewichernmillinery.com)

Here is one of his hats from his website. As you can see, he is truly a master.

Back in the early 90s, when I was making hats, Wayne was living in Seattle, and I used to hang out at his Ballard home/studio on Tuesdays for several hours with another friend, Sandy, to practice millinery techniques and just dink around making hats. One December Wayne helped me make a crazy green charmeuse Christmas tree hat. I had seen something like it on the cover of an old Vogue or Bazaar magazine, and just had to have one. It was a giant cone shape draped with the green charmeuse, had black netting hanging low in the front and red Christmas balls attached in various spots. It was quite a hoot. I wore it Christmas Day to the home of some rather conservative types and they were a bit overwhelmed, I think :) I wish I still had it, or at the least a picture of it.

The picture in my profile, was taken back then (I guess that makes me nearly 20 years older now -- egads, time passes quickly when you are having fun!) by that same friend, Sandy. We had a blast taking all the hats we had made and photographing ourselves in Lincoln Park in West Seattle. She made Renaissance hats of all sorts: Big jester hats, hats for a fine lady or queen, that sort of thing. I was more the modern fashion hat type. The photo in the profile picture is one of the hats I made with Wayne's help. I really didn't have many places to wear it, and it didn't stay on real well anyway, but I have always thought this picture was really fun. I think I finally gave the hat away to a friend's child for her dress-up box.

The only hats I have made recently have been doll hats, and a couple silly hats inspired by a fun friend who is silly and willing enough to wear the one I gave her. That would be Carol Ann Jones of Carol Ann Jones and the Superchargers (http://www.myspace.com/carolajones). She is an awesome singer/songwriter here in Vermont, and if you are ever out this way, definitely catch one of her shows. I don't have a picture of her in the hat I made, but here she is in one of her own:

Something about a well worn hat just makes me smile! Hats off to all you creative people. Keep on cranking it out!

You Gotta Start Somewhere

2009-06-09T18:23:00.000-04:00

I have been resisting the idea of starting up a blog for as long as there have been blogs. But, my tech-savvy better half (http://haasamps.blogspot.com) challenged me by putting up his blog last night in what seemed like 15 minutes, so today is the day, and here I am. I don't know yet if I'll have anything interesting to say, but I really wanted to put up images of some of the dolls I have been working on in the last couple months, update people on what my dollmaking is all about of late, and just get the word out that I've got dolls up for sale FINALLY on my Etsy site (http://www.cindysowers.etsy.com) thanks to a huge nudge from a friend (thanks, Ivy). I think I'm going to pretty much work from there and here, rather than trying to update my website, which I haven't done in what seems like a year or more.

So, anyway. Here I am. I hope you'll stop by and leave me a note to say hi, and hopefully I'll have some photos of more dolls up in the next week or so. For right now, I really want to put up a doll I really love. I don't have it anymore. It went in a package with a friend's lovely Commissioned Custom Costume Creation (http://edera-faerie.blogspot.com) to a rocker chick you probably know. I don't know her, but I know about her, and decided a doll of her would be really fun to do (it was), and off I spun into dollmaking craziness. I was really happy with the way the doll turned out, especially since I needle sculpted the face (which I have gotten away from of late, preferring to hand-paint the faces I do now), which is often very hit and miss with me. Dolls are never exactly "pretty" with my particular needle sculpting abilities, but they are usually interesting. In any case, pretty or not, I think I captured her essence, which was what I was after anyway. I had heard rumor that she was into the Marie Antoinette look, and I had coincidentally opened a book before I started the doll that had inspired me to make a sort of modern-day rocker chick Marie Antoinette costume. Let me know what you think. And by the way, the rocker chick in question, is, of course, Ms. Courtney Love :) (http://www.myspace.com/courtneylove)

By the way, the doll photos were taken by Vermont's own Ivy Long, whom you can visit at the Edera Jewelry link above. She makes unbelievably gorgeous jewelry in a style you might never have seen before, but should definitely see more of. Well, for instance, one of my favorites:

She also takes much better photos than I do, has the artful eye gift, and just generally pulls things together more impeccably than me.

John made the little amplifier to go with, which I dearly love, and he painstakingly applied velvet dyed-to match fabric for the front cover. Inside is a little Radio Shack component that plays a prerecorded bit of a song, which he played, recorded and put in there. It turned out really well. Anyway, I am well pleased. I have no idea if the recipient liked the doll. I hope she did. I hope you do, too. :)