Okay- drum roll please! Big excitement! I now have an online store! Link over there on the right ->
I will be adding more stuff to it regularly and hope to include some doll related supplies that I don’t need.
Thanks Ben!
This is the the great stuff I got at Gilda’s. Well, I also bought myself a Christmas present, but I can’t show that yet!
I’ve also been stocking up on other supplies. I bought a bolt (20 yards) of the basic fabric I use for my dolls- Springs Southern Belle. I bought some doll hair at Groenewold Fur and Wool Co..
Oh, I had fun today…
I have been searching online for some little shoe buckles- I bought some a few years ago and I’ve used them up but I can’t find them again. Today I did what should be obvious and visited a local shop. I had heard about Gilda’s from someone at my Doll club, but never before had visited her place in Natick, MA. Mostly she sells at doll shows, but she has tons of goodies in her basement shop.
There were bins and drawers and boxes and piles of trims and ribbons-
and flowers made of silk and paper and feathers and more-
and shelves of lace- all cotton, the black lace is on the other side…
and dolls… and doll parts- wigs, eyes, mohair, silk roving…
besides all that, she carries an amazing selection of fabrics- silk, cotton, brocade, netting, all the right weight and scale for dolls. Also, tons of buttons, charms, hat-making supplies, doll purse hardware, shoes. stands, patterns… WOW!
If you want to visit, you need to call because she is often away at shows- her website isn’t really working yet.
Gilda’s Hello Dolly
or
Gildasfabrics.com
197 Pond St.
Natick, MA 01760
508-655-0185
Ben showed me this incredible resource-Victoria and Albert Museum image collection. Type a query into the search box and see what comes up. I tried “child” and “doll” with wonderful results.
Here are 2 dolls that I remember from visiting the museum 5 years ago.
My links to the pictures in the archives timed out, but if you put these numbers into the search box, you can get other photos of these dolls-
T.847-1974
T.846-1974
The amazing thing is that these photos show the dolls undressed and also an assortment of their clothes!
Here is Ben’s post on the same subject.
Nothing to do with dolls- yet- but I think this is fascinating.
This is a photo gallery with pictures of dolls that inspire me. I’ve collected these photos from eBay and other web sources -like auction sights and postings to the various mailing lists I read. The most interesting dolls are the ones that have been undressed and the construction is clear from the picture.
I am listening to “Ayala’s Angel”, by Anthony Trollope. Thoroughly entertaining, but I don’t think I’ll put Ayala on the list of good names.
“What Clothes Reveal, The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America” by Linda Baumgarten. I got it from the library, but this book looks like such a good book, I might need to own it. The detail photos of embroidery are excellent.
gotta remember these-
sandlady@sandlady.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~harryhurley/index.htm
http://www.ozarkcountrycreations.com/
http://gourdgracious.homestead.com/gourds.html
got over my phone phobia and finally called The Wenham Museum to talk about setting up a special visit with Susan Fosnot during WOW!. Turns out Lorna Lieberman is the acting doll curator- back again after retiring twice already- She is the owner of the amazing mint condition Izannah Walker doll that was in the Blue Ribbon Dolls show at Wenham last spring. She was also the person who gave the slide lecture about antique cloth dolls, that I went to last winter. She was really nice to talk to, and hopefully, if she is able, she will show us Miss Columbiaand the rest of the cloth doll collection. I think that it will be amazing to be able to see these dolls with someone who knows so much about them, their history and hopefully their construction. It would be a wish come true to hold some of these dolls.
I am still working on finishing the dolls for the Kansas City Doll Fair- I am working on the stands now. I decided 2 weren’t good enough and started over. I’ve got to go buy more glue now! I still have to put my signature on Haze and photograph her… almost done…
After I finished at Pasa Yarns, I drove to Sturbridge, to the Wrights Factory Outlet for more treasure hunting. This is the first time I’ve shopped at the beginning of the month- all the prices go down on the first of every month. It made shopping even more fun! So many bargains! The best stuff I got was two 3/4 yd. pieces of feather and bead trim ($5 a yd), 2 colors of bead on wire (.42 a yd), a fabulous feathery silver metallic (.29 a yd), and a yard of Mokuba ribbon- white with black polka dot(yikes- $5.49). They had all their Mokuba ribbon at half price, but it is still so expensive, especially compared to everything else in the store, that I couldn’t bring myself to splurge on any except this small bit- I love polka dots!- and a more reasonably priced 2 yd piece of gold.
I also got lots of metallic and black mini ric-rac for the bug pins (20 packages at 12 packs for a dollar), 18 packs (3 yds each) of Mokuba embroidery ribbon in assorted varieties, textures and colors, for 3 packs for $1. I got lots of spools of ribbon for the bugs, some for as low as .25 a 10 yd spool! All the right jewel colors too! Then I got some black velvets in various widths. I wonder how they would work on bugs? Also, some assorted gold trims (at .15 a yd, how can I resist!)… never know when I’ll have to dress another king and a really 70’s brown leather fringe… I don’t know- it just spoke to me.
Oh yeah, the spool of ribbon flowers for $4. I will have to bring some of these to doll club to share. I discovered that you can paint these flowers with diluted acrylic paint and so have any color you want.
Somehow I managed to get through my shopping spree with money left in my pocket- my budget was $100- although I came home with more than I could carry into the house in one trip!
Great day and lots of new and inspiring materials.
