Yearly Archives: 2005

what’s going on

Posted on by

This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-

fabrics

I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-

piles

I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-

more piles

even more

I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.

When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.

I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.

what’s going on

Posted on by

This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-

fabrics

I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-

piles

I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-

more piles

even more

I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.

When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.

I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.

what’s going on

Posted on by

This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-

fabrics

I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-

piles

I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-

more piles

even more

I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.

When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.

I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.

Names

Posted on by

I am in the midst of a massive clean-up and reorganization of my studio. I was feeling like I was drowning! And I couldn’t find anything. I really should go through all my stuff once a year just so I remember what I’ve got. It is very inspiring.

I enjoyed the post on names over on Wee Wonderfuls and thought I’d post something I’d saved from one of the Yahoo groups I read. Someone sent in a list of names that was printed in UFDC’s “Dolls News” in an article from August 1959. The list was gleaned from The Godey’s Ladies Book of 1857. On some of them, I’m not sure if the spelling is correct so I’ve put a (?).

Alba, Adelia, Alida, Athalie, Annot, Arabella, Berthanalda (?), Corilia, Claribel, Clotilda, Clarina, Euphemia, Elfrida, Euphrasie, Eulalie, Endora, Elfie, Elmira, Emmeline, Esmeralda, Ermengarde, Linette, Fidelia, Florinda, Floribelle, Fennilla (?), Georgianna, Hermione, Hortense, Hilda, Ione, Imogene, Imalda, Lanthe, Isodora, Keziah, Lilla, Lucretia, Letitia, Minnie, Maude, Mara, Maja, Melecent, Medora, Myrrha, Mira, Nyia, Parthenia, Selina, Sara, Sophronia, Telkla, Thyrza, Victorine, Zara, Zitelle, Zelica, Zayda, Amy, Agatha, Aurelia, Annabel, Aimee, Alida, Angeline, Blanche, Cora, Camille, Cecily, Dora, Dorcas, Delia, Ella, Elfrida, Fanny, Gertrude (Trudy), Geraldine, Henre, Ida, Iona, Jeanette, Jessica, Juliet, Josephine, Katrina, Lydia, Marcia, Monica, Mildred, Matilda, Natalie, Naomi, Nydia, Olympia, Pamela, Penelope, Rosa, Rosalie, Rowena, Renee, Rosabella, Rosette, Sylvia, Sybil, Sophia, Susette.

I am going to use one of these names for my latest doll- you can try to guess which one. I will show her with her name once I get her shoes done.

expedition

Posted on by

I met up with some doll friends yesterday in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We had a great day going to some of the textile stores there. We went to Wrights Factory outlet, then to a shop that specializes in antique and vintage textiles. Unfortunately I don’t seem to know the name of the store! It was really great though! These photos are from that store-

shop

dolls in a crib-

shop dolls

lots of buttons-

buttons

a wonderful picture- looks like a photo but up close it looked like a drawing- hmmm? I think she looks like an Izannah Walker doll-

girl

We finished out our day at some quilting fabric shops. I managed to find lots of fabric I couldn’t resist.

The inspiration for the expedition was that the terrific doll maker, Susan Fosnot, was in town to do a workshop at the Wenham Museum. She is from the midwest where she has trouble finding the vintage textiles that she likes to use for her dolls. She stayed overnight with me. Here are some of her dolls that she showed me-

susan's dolls

We spent some time up in my studio pulling stuff out of bins and drawers. I gave her some fabric, but unfortunately, though I have tons of stuff I’d love to pass on, we both like the same stuff! I need to find people who need big buttons, 60’s fabrics and all the other stuff that I have that’s wonderful but I’ll never use. Speaking of which- I’ve put some more stuff on ebay. Vintage sewing patterns from the 50’s and 60’s. I have more, some from the 40’s, but I got sick of posting them, so I’ll do it another day.

Chimera

Posted on by

chimera

softie button

Hopefully I am getting this in right under the wire. This is my Month of Softies contribution. I named it Chimera because that word and idea has been buzzing around in my head since I heard it said in a discussion of stem cell research.

I didn’t think I was going to participate. The monster theme had no appeal. But I kept thinking about it when I saw what people were coming up with. I was thinking that a cuddly toy isn’t my idea of a monster. I thought about what monster means to me- I got stuck on the sea monster idea, a giant squid or something. Then I saw this and this drawing by Mariana Massarani and I got really inspired!

She is made from my (box) graveyard of reject doll parts. 6 hands and 1 head. The body is made of a linen napkin I got last November and a piece of silk that was somebodies curtain once. The napkin has a large purple H embroidered on it- I used it as part of the body. I used vintage trims inherited from my mother and mother-in-law’s stashes. The buttons are mostly from a jar that my neighbor gave me before she moved last summer. I think that’s everything.

I will post better pictures when the light is better.

good stuff

Posted on by

things are happening!
My test workshop went well. I learned a lot and Lois was pleased. I have a lot more work to do if I want it to go really smoothly.

On Wednesday night I sold a doll from my website- sight unseen. This is the first time this has happened. Very exciting!
1958 Hand-me-downs is on her way to Kansas!

I am actually working on something for the Month of Softies April theme- the recycled monster. Very late, since I wasn’t thinking I’d do it… but then inspiration struck! More on that tomorrow.

And lastly- I got a huge box of gourds today with a surprise in it. When I started preparing for my test workshop, I realized I needed to order gourds. I spent an evening researching and then on Monday I ordered 25 bottle gourds, under 5″ across the top. The cost averaged out to $3 each with the shipping. The box came this evening around 6:30- don’t those UPS guys ever get to go home? Anyway, after dinner I opened the box and peaked in- it looked okay and I didn’t bother to unpack it or anything. After a little while, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. There was a mouse in the box! Boy, it must have been really surprised to find itself in a new place!
I figured I better check the box after that- outside. There were a lot more then 25 gourds in the box- that’s good. But 4 of them had holes chewed in them- maybe the mouse did that during the trip. At least 5 more had serious enough flaws to make them unusable for dolls. About half the gourds are bigger then I really like. Some of them are damp. And I have only done a very cursory inspection so far. I wonder if this is standard. The other time I bought gourds it was through ebay and they were much better. I don’t know if my expectations were unrealistic. I think I will have enough good ones to do my workshop, so I’m okay though disappointed.

working on…

Posted on by

I am going to do a workshop this summer on making a gourd head doll. I have no experience doing this type of teaching and I’m very nervous. I am doing a test workshop tomorrow, with just one friend. I am trying to be more aware of how I do things… and also simplifying how I usually do things.
Test faces-

faces

I have to make notes about the colors I’m using. I have never had to explain it before. I am making stencils for the facial features. I will have to figure out how to explain their placement. All gourds are different so one pattern wouldn’t work for every shape. I think I’ll learn a lot tomorrow.

I am making slow progress on my doll, though I really need to find her a name-

doll

I had a terrible time finding the right fabric and color for her stockings. I must have pulled out at least 20 different fabrics to try. I think these are good. I had some lace all cut and dyed for her cuffs, but somewhere in the move back up to my attic, it got lost. It’ll turn up sometime, I’m sure.

The coat is close to finished. I got the darn lining in. I am working on these frog closures for it- although they are just decorative. The coat also has hook fasteners sewed in so they won’t show.

coat

ego boosting

Posted on by

I had a very strange experience this evening. I was reading through my bookmarked blogs and came across my name twice! So weird!

Once, here at il Bloggo where she has links to pictures of artists studios. I love looking at other peoples work spaces!

Then again at the fantasticly linky blog Art for Housewives. She has a great list of links to all kinds of dolls.