Doll

I’ve spent some money on things I couldn’t resist. I will list them in the order I bought them.

I got an IPad in August and I love it. I’ve been using it for running charge cards when I go to markets and so it feels like a legitimate business tool. About a month ago I bought a DODO case and I totally recommend it. The IPad feels protected and the case feels good in my hand. It is an artisan-made product which I have to admit makes me love it even more. Check it out if you are in the market for any tablet case- I think they’ve got them all.

I read this review on Pikaland. I thought, I have GOT to get that! I did. It is amazing! Check it out, Wrap.

My favorite-

Crystal posted some mushroom ornaments on her blog right before the SOWA Holiday Market. I rushed over to her booth before the show opened to check out what she brought. Unfortunately some other vender had gotten in there before me and the ones I wanted were taken. Crystal make me some more when she was back home again. These will not be going back to attic after Christmas. They will be hanging in my studio all year round.

I found this adorable little fellow at Gallery Hanahou. He is made by Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land. I think he will be spending his time hanging out on top of one of the above mushrooms.

And lastly, this owl ornament (I think he is papier mache and approx. 4″ tall). I found him at John Derian.

When I was at John Derian, there were lots of items by Coral & Tusk. I had never seen the work before and was tempted and intrigued. Then, as I was catching up on my blogs on Monday, somebody linked to them! I loved this fox. He has a pocket with a camera!

I’m very impressed!

This was taken at night, with one fluorescent equivalent to 75W bulb. And everything is in focus. Cool!

And this one too-

Fun!

I feel like I am moving in slow motion. I’ve been working on a few things. Some of the poor tattooed men on the table  went down to Connecticut and back, several times, hoping to get some stuffing. But no. They are still as flat as I seem to be feeling.

I am working just as slowly through all the emails that backed up in the week of distraction. If you haven’t heard from me about something, you might want to try again. I may have lost track of your email.

I did have a birthday recently and bought myself a new toy… um, no, I mean important tool for my business.

An IPad! And I made my present a present! I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when confronted with a new electronic toy so I tip-toe around it for a while. But, hey, I know how to make a felt sleeve. We are bonding.

And, I’d love to hear about your favorite apps for crafty biz and for fun.

And lastly, thank you so much for all your kind words and condolences regarding my Dad. I added a link to his obit at the bottom of the post.

or maybe I should call it a gift guide for people who do assorted projects with fabrics, sort of like what I do…

These are things (mostly tools) that make me happy in my studio and I think would make great gifts.

When I was thinking about what to put on this list, it became obvious that I love my nice sharp cutting tools. My first suggestion is excellent scissors and Gingher’s are a good choice. I recently bought myself the 5″ knife-edge ones and they are my new favorites- sorry, drawer full of all the other little scissors that I have totally abandoned!  They are perfect for all the detail cutting work I do with the appliques. The big ones are good for cutting through layers of fabric and I use them to cut out the dolls. The little stork one, besides being adorable, is perfect for cutting threads in tight places, cutting out REALLY tiny things, and putting in my project bag if I am working on a carry-around project.

If the person you are shopping for already has good scissors, you might research a local place to get them sharpened. In my area (Boston), I can get mine done for approximately $7 at the local Fabric Store or Hardware Store.

My most recent tool purchase is this 18mm rotary cutter. It is perfect for cutting out shapes when I am using a template or little pattern piece- because I can hold the pattern flat and firmly in place on the cutting mat and cut around it. That means no marking on the fabric and no distortion from trying to hold the pattern in place and cut with scissors. The scissors and rotary cutter are available at most fabric stores, local and big name.

Last in the sharp cutting tool suggestions- fabric cutting, decorative edge shears. Unfortunately, my excellent Fiskar ones are no longer available, but I found this other brand. You might be able to find the Fiskars on Ebay sometimes.

On to other goodies.

Yes, a large piece of clear plastic is hard to photograph! This is a sewing machine extender table. I like this table even more then I was expecting. I thought I would use it when working on my bigger, bulkier projects but I have never taken it off since I got it! This is a special order item and fits whatever machine you have exactly. It can take a while to get if you have an older or more obscure machine. Looks like you can buy it online here for a lot less than I paid at my local sewing machine store.

If the recipient loves embroidery,  trying out new kinds of embroidery threads is tons of fun. Purl Soho has a huge selection. My new thread love of this year is Valdani pearl cotton- especially the variegated one. Next time I am in NYC, I will be restocking my supply.

Of course if they do embroidery, they might need some needles- I had fun shopping for needles at the Colonial Needle site. Seriously, how cute are these John James pebble packs-

embroidery and chenille needles

If you are looking for a last minute gift because you didn’t have any time to go shopping, a subscription to Selvedge Magazine will save the day!

Lastly, if you want to stick to handmade for the season, you could go over to my shop and get a pattern or 2, or maybe a tiny world pin cushion. Or my friend Liz’s shop and check out her  amazing selection of pin cushions. Or check out some of the other sewing goodness on Etsy. Try searching for pin cushions,  needle books, wool felt assortment, fabric collections, hand dyed threads….  Oh, the goodness! Happy Holiday shopping everyone!

Feel free to leave you suggestions for the perfect gift in the comment section- so I can add goodies onto my own wish list!

First an announcement! Tomorrow, Wednesday October 13 is Crafty biz meet-up day at Diesel Cafe in Davis Sq., Somerville.  All are welcome. Contact me if you need more info or want to be informed of future meet-ups.

My personal economy  has improved a bit lately and I have treated myself to some sewing presents.  I re-subscribed to Selvedge magazine. My first copy showed up the other day. I had a subscription a few years ago and I’m happy to be getting it again. It is a beautiful magazine.

Next I bought a new pair of scissors- 5″ Ginghers

I love them. They are the perfect size for cutting out applique pieces and clipping curves. If you saw how many pairs of scissors I already own (many of them originally from my mom), you’d be wondering why in the world I needed another pair. But, even though I have so many, there is just a few that I ever use. I became much more aware of that when I was working with my intern this summer. So, it turns out that I own a lot of decorative scissors and just a few functioning ones. I am very happy with with this gift to me.

And, I got my machine serviced. We are both happier now!

No more chunk, chunk, chunk noises when I sew. The tension is looking good too. I had a list of problems when I took it in and I have forgotten what they were- that is a good sign. When I was at the shop to pick up my trusty friend, I remembered that I’ve been wanting an extender table for my machine- like this. I am waiting for it to come in so I can pick it up.

And lastly, some new needles. I know, it seems like such a small item, but really, good needles make such a difference! I ordered them from The Colonial Needle Company.

I am trying out the small size Chenille needles (#24 and 26) with crewel wool. So far (they just came today), I really like them. I have been a fan of John James needles for a while, but my local store stopped carrying them so I was happy to find another source. Good tools are such a pleasure.

woohoo! I won Crystal’s giveaway and my prize arrived in the mail today!

love this little detail-

Crystal is my good friend and fellow member of Boston Handmade. Thanks Crystal! This sweet little pair will live in my studio and keep me company while I work.

Several people asked me about the dyes I use. Firstly let me say that I am no dyeing expert. I am pretty bad at it and almost always end up with splotchy fabric… well unless that is what I want. Then I get a solid color. I know this going into the project so I try not to be too focused on a perfect result. I use Cushing dyes- an acid dye for wool.

Other stuff I’ve been doing.

It was a sad day today- after listening to Science Friday and watching the video, I knew that my tomatoes were infected with late blight. I pulled them all up today. Ah well, I got a pretty good crop and will look forward to next year.

Over the weekend, I redid the faces on two dolls- ones that many commenters said looked sad. At the time (last month), I couldn’t really see it. Now, with fresh eyes, I decided I needed to change them.

Old Face

New Face

Old Face

New Face

I got home yesterday, but no rest for me here! There is lots to be done here with studio organization and filling up my Etsy shop, but first things first.

Tomorrow is my birthday and that means a give-away. I will post details tomorrow instead of doing the drawing on my birthday like other years. See you back here then!

Also, there will be a few days of CHA reporting. It was all new to me, I met lots of interesting people, and wow, was it exhausting. I am simply not used to being out and about with loads of people interactions for 5 days in a row. I need more practice at getting out of my studio!

That is the hotel restaurant on the first night, before any of the work began. I went to Orlando with my sister-in-law who was showing Twisteez, an art wire that her family has been making and selling to schools for 50 years. This was her first venture into finding retail outlets for the product.

This is what things looked like when we first walked in-

soon, we were getting the booth put together-

and here is how it looked on Tuesday morning, opening day-

We kept ourselves very busy. In between talking to people, we played with the wire. Here are some of our creations-

Sandy made a dragon-

I made a dragon slayer-

together-

I made an articulated little girl-

We both made flowers-

Sandy made a horse-

And I cut out a bunch of elephant shapes and we tried different approaches to them-

Mimi-

and-

and Sandy-

As I said at the beginning, there are no retail outlets for Twisteez yet, but I am going to help my son set up an Etsy shop to sell them- soon! I will let you know when they are available, in case you are interested.

I spent some time in New York looking for decorative tape.  I like to use it to jazz up my boxes when I ship out an order. I had no luck. Actually, it was worse then that- everyone acted like I was asking for something totally nuts! I tried the Japanese bookstore, Pearl River an oriental import store in Soho, Pearl Paint (art supply store), a paper store… well actually several.So, I came home, googled decorative tape and hit the jackpot at Archie McPhee- Hallelujah! Lucky me! I got tiki tape, sausage tape, cowboys, black cats, pirate tape, wacky rubber duckies and sushi tape. Probably a lifetime supply.

From my walk yesterday- winter bricks.

Next stop- Purl in Soho. You know, purl bee in real time?

I !LOVE! this store- it is so pretty and inspiring and they have all kinds of goodies that look so tempting to try. The glow from the window works like a magnet on me! Above is the fabric store- Purl Patchwork and below is the yarn store.

And, lucky, lucky me! I had a gift certificate!

I felt like a kid in a candy store. I binged on felt- 100% wool in beautiful colors. They sell bundles- 8 selected colors, 8 x 12, gorgeous… how could I resist. It’s like having that new box of crayons or the new paint box- such perfect colors! I also picked out some of the bigger sheets and one piece of the hand dyed woven wool. But that’s not all! I’ve been meaning to get a copy of Jane Brocket’s book and there it was- perfect, onto the pile. And then to finish it off, some pearl cotton in my favorite colors- I’ve never seen them before and can’t wait to try them. Underneath it all is a canvas bag which I will happily be carrying my projects around in. Everyone can be jealous that I got to shop at Purl!

When I post photos of a doll that I really like, it is hard to do the next post and push it down towards the bottom of the page!

Some notes on stuffing. I am very particular about the stuffing I use. I am brand loyal for the most part. I want to know what I am dealing with when I open a new bag. One of my craft mantras is “limit your variables”. In other words, get to know your materials and happily experiment, but don’t be adding so many new things all the time that if something goes wrong, you won’t be able to identify what is the problem.

The first thing I learned about stuffing is that there are 2 varieties of polyester type stuffing. One type feels bouncy, slippery or oily- those are different ways I’ve heard it described. No matter how much you stuff a piece, it will still be squeezable. I think this is probably good for kids toys and pillows. It is what is most available at the big craft supply stores. I use a different kind. It feels “dry” to me, not slippery. You can stuff a piece rock hard with it. You can make a creature stand on it’s legs using this type of stuffing. When I was making dolls with painted body parts, I could stuff them hard enough that I never worried about paint cracking. If you are in a store and the bags of stuffing have finger holes poked into them, you can be sure that someone was trying to figure out which kind of stuffing was in the bag.

I use Super Fluff, by Buffalo Batt. It comes in a loose roll and the fibers are combed in one direction so I can pull long tufts of it off the roll when I am stuffing a doll.

I’ve been stuffing more of my dolls with wool batt from West Earl Woolen Mills. I found the wool batting handled very much like the Super Fluff. I was happy. The top wool fluff is from my order of last September.

The lower wool is from the more recent batch I got.

Okay, so here is my current aggravation.  I have bought new supplies of both types of stuffing in recent months- 20 pounds of wool, 40 pounds of Super Fluff. I have started using them and imagine my surprise- both types of stuffing have changed… humph. You’d think that a highly manufactured item like polyester stuffing would be consistent over the years. The new batch is not as soft and somehow seems less refined. Is anybody else using Super Fluff? Have you noticed it? I am sure I will get used to it, but it was an unexpected surprise.

The wool is very different. In a natural product so it is not so unexpected. The 5 pounds I bought in September must have been some of the last of the domestic wool. The new order is from the Australian wool. The new wool is much softer, whiter and the fibers are longer… all sounds good, right? Well, it is very different to work with. The old wool stuffed like the polyester and the new wool just doesn’t. So, there will be a readjustment and a learning curve.

And here is another kind of stuffing I’ve tried- Back in September I asked if anyone knew about reclaimed wool stuffing. It seemed like an obvious product to me. Thank you to Lisa who left a comment on the post and directed me to a source.

Here is a photo of the recycled wool fiber-

I was able to use it for some of the cushion/pillow type dolls- like the tikis. It wouldn’t be good for small detail stuffing but worked fine for bigger things. There are 2 reasons that I won’t be ordering more. The main reason is that shipping it from Portland (area) Oregon to Boston (area) Massachusetts adds so much to the cost that it is prohibitive. The other (lesser) reason is that it is messy. The tiny wool bits got on everything. Actually the new wool is pretty messy too- I am working on that. Get out the sticky paper fuzz picker-upper.

The last kind of stuffing I use is a homemade kind- my wool scraps from projects-

I don’t use them in all the dolls, but when I do, it adds a nice firmness and weight- good in the swaddled babies, for instance. I just put a handful in the core and surround it by softer stuffing.