Looking back, looking forward

I had a great time before Christmas making ornaments to give away. I found some vintage handmade ornaments in a thrift store and bought them hoping to be able to reproduce them. I was. They came out really cute.

the little people were made with piped cleaners which I then wrapped with a chenile-like yarn for the pants and white glittery yarn for the sweater. All parts of the pipe cleaner are covered even the feet and hands. I later made some with black feet which looked more like shoes than the red pictured here. I later used fleece for the clothes on the little people and it was adoramous! i will have to make more and take pictures as the ones i have made are all gone.

The Raggedy Ann was made with an old fashioned clothes pin as was the soldier.

I also saw a little santa ornament made from a round ball covered with fabric for the body and a little muslin head with a fabric hat and mohair beard. I made some of those and they came out really nicely. But alas, they too are all gone.
I am ready to begin work on more dolls. I have lots of things that need to be finished. I have dolls that i need to repair for other people and that are my own which I have wanted to repair and then sell. So I am looking forward to this new year with lots of new things to do.
The last year began with me frantically working on a doll commision and I am happy that this year is my own to start out the way I would like.

I hope to post pictures of more of th ornaments and the doll workings soon.

Stay tuned.
Happy New Year!!!!

Christmas is coming

I have just finished making Christmas ornaments for a friends Doll Shop Christmas tree.

I wasn't sure what to make for him. I wanted it to be as original as possible and sort of doll related. So I ended up desiging dancing ladies. They are made of muslin and handpainted. I am pleased with the way they turned out. They were easy to design and make and I am already thinking of other designs using this same technique.

This one to the left is of course NOT a dancing lady. This is a cat I made using an antique book holder I had as an inspiration. I purchased two book ends at an antique store and they have a cat sitting and reading a book. But the cat is basically dressed and looks like this. I think it has a vintage look to it. I want to make more and maybe do a pug dog and a rabbit similar.

Here are the ladies. They are not vintage looking at all but more modern.

They each have a jingle bell in one hand. The ones shown here were not all finished so some of the jingle bells had not be added. I like the lady with the glasses. I used acrylic paint on them and then dimensional paint for the embelishing. The metalic gold adds a nice Christmasy touch.

Lots of Stuff

That's what happens when I do not post for a long time. Lots of things happen.

I put 8 items in the State Fair competition and won 7 ribbons. A blue for my Santa gourd, snow man gourd and partridge gourd, all of which are in the archives in the blog. Two red ribbons, one for a rubber stamped card which i already sent away to someone and i can't even remember who. And one for a little Christmas elf ornament i made. Then a white ribbon for my black cloth doll Lacey which is also in the archives.

Since then I have crocheted a sweet little dolly made from a pattern by Beth Webber whose blog is 'By hook and by hand'. I will have to post a link to her site. She has made the cutest little puppy dogs and has those patterns free as well.

She has been given away today to my sweet neighbor who is in her late 80's and is still crocheting blankets and prayer scarves.

And now I am finishing up some Christmas ornaments for a friend's doll shop. I am hoping to get them to him in the next couple of days as it is getting close to Christmas and I am falling way behind schedule.

I designed three dancing ladies which I made in cloth and then painted. They will all have a bell in their hand. I then got on a roll and made an antique looking cat and sewed a snowman but can't find it to paint it. I have too much junk laying around and things get lost a lot.

I still have to put hangers on them and find that snow man and paint it. I am making four each of the ladies and maybe a few more of the cat and snowman. All the ladies will have a jingle bell in their hand.

I am working a little at a time on two dolls that I should have done two months ago. But it seems everything takes way too long lately.

This is taking forever

I really did not think it would take this long to make this costume. Things keep getting in the way. And then, I got sick. But... I'm closer. I am hoping to finish it tomorrow and put it on ebay.

I decided to let the person who wins the ebay listing decide which kind of tail they want. A feather boa (which is pictured) or a velvet one like the rest of the costume. I made a gourd treat container. It is so cool. it looks like the moon. And i made a moon medalion to hand on a necklace. the medalion is made from a gourd as well.

I made two face masks from paper mache but both broke. So I am going to try just doing a cloth one. I had planned on mitten paws attached but like the hands showing better so I am going to make paw mittens that can be removed.
I love this background that i got off the internet. I think the beads are too big on the necklace. Any suggestions?

I have always wanted an Annette Himstedt doll. Now I have two. And the first thing I wanted to do was to make a cute Halloween Costume for them. This one is almost finished. She still needs a tail, a necklace, a gourd trick or trick 'bag', and a toy cat. Then she will be modeling for her costume to go on ebay.

I want to repaint this doll just a little. She is a sitter and so has bent knees for sitting. She has pretty blonde hair in looped braids. The other doll has long red hair and is a stander doll with straight legs. I'll photograph her in the costume as well.

Don't be Afraid

Don't be afraid if you think I'm going over to the other side from cloth dolls to vinyl. I might be in a repaint frenzy but I still love my cloth dolls.I decided to try out repainting my Gene doll last night. It was harder than the Tonner girl because I had to do those tiny eyes. And i think I was trying way too hard to get them realistic.

But here is the transformation.

Not too bad. She looks better in the picture because in real life I think her face now looks a little 'dirty'. But maybe I am just being too picky. One eye is a little bigger than the other but the sculpted mold is like that. i might have to adjust it some though.

I am finally almost done with a little doll that was ordered back in March at the Land O Sky event. Poor little thing has taken so long. Life just kept getting in the way. But little by little she finally came to be. She only has to wait for her little topsy turvy dolly to be made before she can be relocated to her new home.

I used a vintage fabric and trim for her dress. And I embroidered her apron and hat. She has tiny painted toe nailes and fingernails. And her hair is mohair that I sewed to her head in tiny little curls.

Sometimes the things that got in the way of completing this doll was the tug at my creative strings. It is hard to do something for someone else when I am just dying to make something or do something I have not done before.... or to try something new on something old.

I have been wanting to do repaints for a while and I finally got the opportunity to do one.I had purchased a Tonner Magic Attic doll that had received a really bad haircut on her bangs, her face was a little faded and she had blue marks on her body.

I decided to use her as my first repaint. It was SO FUN! And it was easy. I repainted her lips, eyelashes, eyebrows. And gave her shading under her eyes, around her nose, in her ears and even inside the eye rims. Then I decided she would look better with real eyelashes. So I took hair from her wig and glued it to her eyelids. I gave her freckles and blushed her good. And then of course I rewefted some hair to cover the cut places. And finally she got a new hair style.

I have more ideas for her body and I still need to paint her finger and toe nails. Then I new outfit.