Saturday, December 13, 2014

Facebook Flash Sale!


Okay folks I'm going to try something a little different this year.  Tomorrow evening (12/14/14) from 7pmEST to 10pmEST I'm going to hold a flash sale on Facebook for some of the dolls currently in my Etsy shop. the dolls will be 15% off the Etsy listing price. I'll post them individually and the first person to comment SOLD and message me their Paypal email (so I can send you an invoice) will get the doll. Are you ready to play?!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

And Here They Are!

Once upon a time, eons ago, I started making little cloth dolls. I liked what I made but they never quite matched the idea of dolls that I had in my head. As the years went by and I learned new techniques and developed some of my own, the dolls I made came closer and closer to those ones I could see in my mind, but were never quite there...until now. These are the dolls I've always wanted to make. Small, about 8.5 inches tall, with detailed sculpted faces, posable limbs and fingers, and yet still made from cloth and natural fibers, no clay involved at all. It has been such a wonderful feeling to finally achieve this and I already have all kinds of ideas for the places I can take my new dolls next year. So let me show you the first of my new designs..

First up is Angelina, a sweet little angel all in white and gold...


Next a little Frost Fairy...very sparkly!

  

And lastly, Noelle,  a fairy who obviously loves the holidays but is happy any time of the year in her pretty red dress. I think she's my favorite, I just love her freckles! 




All three are one of a kind dolls because each sculpted face comes out completely different! And they all have lace trimmed underdrawers because folks always look up a doll's dress first thing...what is that about!? So what do you think? Have you ever had a moment like that, where years of experimenting finally come together?  I'd love to hear about it! And if you're interested you can find all three of these ladies in my shop

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Working, working, working...

I've been working on a new type of doll lately, sort of a combination of my dollhouse doll and my larger cloth over dolls. They will be about 8 inches tall and have needle sculpted faces. I have almost finished the first prototypes so here's a peek..




Monday, October 6, 2014

A New Ghastly Girl

....and finally a new post! My posting lately has been so erratic. It's been a long, sad, hard summer and I'm afraid that post writing and, frankly, doll making has not been at the top of my priority list.  But Autumn is here at last with it's cool breezes, blazing colors, and feelings that a change is in the air and better times are just ahead. I do so love Fall! So I'm back working at some commissions and have a few new dolls to share.

Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves.
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves.
~Humbert Wolfe, P.L.M.: Peoples, Landfalls, Mountains, 1936


And in the spirit of Autumn and Halloween meet my newest Ghastly Girl, Cassandra. She is so proud to show off the wonderful shrunken head that her great uncle Norman gave her for her birthday this year. The head says his name is Mr. Mephistopheles and he has the most lovely stories that he whispers to her every night...chock full of murder and ghoulish happenings, her favorite kind! Cassandra thinks she's the luckiest girl alive...well or undead as the case may be.


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?

It's been Wonderland in the studio lately as I've been working on some characters from my favorite children's book.  The Queen and White rabbit were new designs for me and I love how they turned out so much that it is going to be very hard to see them go....but as they are commissions, go they must!


Isn't her expression perfect?! 
I did get a group shot though... they look so good together.


Alice, however is in the shop and up for grabs, but don't wait! The Alice dolls always seem to go very quickly! Click on her photo below to go to her page.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/197385182/alice-in-wonderland-miniature-art-doll

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Spring into Summer

Oh goodness it's been months since I've updated the blog...sorry about that! I can only plead the special madness of Spring, that desire to be outside with your fingers and toes deep in the black dirt of a garden, listening to the birdsong, feeling the warm sun on your shoulders...an all too brief experience here where Spring turns oh so quickly into hot and sticky Summer. But I have gotten a bit of work done. I added this little sweetie to the shop this week, meet Liliana who (of course) is a garden fairy..



and I'm making a bunch of smaller dolls next. As you can see I do have a helper...


Friday, April 11, 2014

Friends

Today was another beautiful day and the little brown bunny went out exploring with her new friend Ms. Crow. When they found the dogwoods had begun to bloom...


they had to climb one of the trees.


Then they climbed up in the old tree fort...


and picked some pretty blue posies.


After all their exertions they sat down for a spot of tea.


I think they had a wonderful day!


And if you're interested, both of these sweet girls can be found in my shop.

Hello Spring

Some days are made for Picnics.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Spring in the Deep Wood

Well I finally have a new doll to post...I know, it's been awhile! But hopefully it is worth the wait. I give you "Spring in the Deep Wood", a mother fairy showing her sweet baby a miracle of Spring.




These dolls were inspired by a couple of things. One is of course, the long cold winter that we've been experiencing this year...I don't know about you but I have never been more ready for Spring! But the other inspiration is that we are expecting our first grandchild to be born this March and, as you might imagine, this is a very very exciting event. ( I've been knitting pretty much steadily since I found out. :) So in honor of all the miracles that Spring will bring I give you my own version. Enjoy!



Thursday, January 23, 2014

Collage Fabric Tutorial


Alright folks, here it is at last, the tutorial for making the gorgeous collage fabric shown above. The pictures really don't do it justice as it has dimension and sparkle I can't capture in a photo but trust me, it is beyond gorgeous.  If you have any questions please please post them in the comments and I'll answer as fast as I can.

So first the necessary ingredients for this recipe...um tutorial.
 You will need:
1. A piece of fabric for the background in the color you want your final piece to be. I like to use a satin or some other shimmery fabric. It doesn't really matter as long as it's a substantial fabric. No lightweights for this part!
2. A bunch of scraps to scatter over the top. Go for the glitz here! You can use anything, fabric, lace, yarn, paper...whatever strikes your fancy.
3. A piece of tulle in a color that matches your bottom fabric.
4. Angelina Fiber in a color, or colors, that complement your fabrics. Make sure you get the heat bondable kind. (What the heck is Angelina fiber? See here LINK )
5. A large piece of plain tissue paper.
6. An iron.
7. Metallic threads in a variety of colors and  a large spool of thread in a color that matches your background fabric.
8. Sewing machine with free motion embroidery foot.

Okay now we're ready to start.
Lay out your background fabric; if satin, shiny side up, and start scattering your scraps all over it. Try to leave a bit of a border around the edges. You will need to iron this later and it's best if you don't have to move it so I place it on top of my ironing pad on my cutting table.  A folded towel on top of a table or counter will also work.


Next you spread a thin layer of the Angelina fibers over the top. As you can see, I got mine at Joggles but there are lots of places online that sell it now. A little will go a long way too.




Already it's starting to look pretty...


Now cover the whole thing with the tulle. It's a little hard to see in this photo but it's there!


 The next step is to cover everything with the tissue paper and iron it with your iron set to a low heat.


 This will make the fiber bind together a bit and really makes the sewing go a lot easier. They will still slide around a little but that's okay. When you're done it will look like this.


Now pin that puppy all around the edges and then sew those edges. Use the regular thread in both your bobbin and on top...that may seem obvious but you'll see why I say this later. I also like to sew a few seams down the length of the fabric just to hold everything in place.


Okay here's where it gets interesting. Turn the whole thing upside down. Maybe it's just me but when I tried to do this on top of the fabric it just didn't work. By putting the metallic thread in my bobbin and the fabric thread on top I was able to sew with ease.  So thread some bobbins with metallic thread, set up your machine for free motion embroidery, put the fabric in upside down, and start embroidering!


Go to town here! Loops, spirals, zigzags, whatever strikes your fancy. Now the fabric is going to pucker and bunch...you actually want that to happen. Just keep sewing and go right over those bumps.  This gives the finished piece so much more dimension.


This part takes a Very...Loooong...Time. You may want to do it in stages, especially if making a large piece of fabric. Change bobbin colors occasionally for extra glitz.

When you are done the back will look something like this...


and the front like this...

Pretty amazing, right?
So go...create...and please post links to your finished pieces because I'd LOVE to see them!
Next time a few ideas for what to make with your lovely fabric.... 

And here's an inspiration photo of a doll I made, dressed in this material.


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

WIP Wednesday and a Tiny Tale...or Tail...

This week the egg carton drying rack has been put to use again. This time for hair and shoes...



Poor little upside down dollies! But they'll be right side up getting their hair soon.

I also finished a sweet little Valentines day mouse. Isn't she cute? And I think the hearts on her pinafore dress are subtle enough for all year display, don't you? She looks ready for a tea party...I may have to set her up one.



You can find her in the shop now.

I'm putting the collage fabric tutorial together today so hopefully I'll have that up soon. It's been hard to get the right photos, it's tricksy fabric to photograph but I think I have it.


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

WIP Wednesday - Vintage trim


I've been having a wonderful time this month working on some new designs for my smaller dolls. I'm making more sculpted faces and putting a lot more detail into their clothing and accessories. This week I've been pulling out some of my vintage lace and trims. Lovely old lace...


and sweet tiny ric rac.


There are also some fairly extravagant wings and a little white mouse!  I hope to finish these soon but they do take much more time to make with all the details and I want them to be just right...you know how that is! What have you been working on this month?