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.
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 :)
