Coraline

Posted on February 25, 2009 by mimik

I went to see Coraline today- middle of the day on a Wednesday-

It was great!

girl with fish pinafore

Posted on February 24, 2009 by mimik

another doll inspired by mermaids and Heather Ross fabric.

This was an interesting doll to work on. I put her body together before I received my Heather Ross fabric in the mail. When the fabric arrived, I realized that the color choices I’d made were not especially good for what I was hoping to do. If you look back at the wip post, you can see that originally I had thought about using different fabrics. As I was playing around, I pulled out my bag of orange cashmere pieces. I set aside a dark orange-red for this doll and also pulled out the bright orange to use on another doll. Well, the bright orange ended up on this little dear. Never, in my rational mind, would I have thought these colors could work together- but in the end, I couldn’t pull them apart!

Her hair is wool boucle fabric hair and the buns are made of wool felt balls. I love her face.

Here are all her outfit pieces- skirt, pinafore and vest.

back view-

And, the 2 girls together.

school girl

Posted on February 22, 2009 by mimik

this girl has just about the opposite look of the last one although they might be friends once they get to college.

She has a lot of pieces. A brown wool skirt, a wool coat, scarf and hat, and a school bag with a buckle and button closures.

Her skirt comes off too.

The coat-

I had a hard time figuring out how to finish the coat. It would have been easy to spend a week on it or make it so bulky that it wouldn’t fit on our girl. I ended up finishing the edge seams with wool felt. It worked pretty well. I made the coat close with thread loops- I am sure that isn’t the right name for them but I am coming up blank and getting no help from google.

Here is a side view- thought you might be interested. I don’t usually photograph this angle but thought she looked very determined.

And here is a back view.

and one last picture- in the garden-

goth girl

Posted on February 20, 2009 by mimik

Yes! I finished one!

Below is the first face, shown in the wip post. I redid it and like it much better, although I will still be experimenting with applique shadows. The new eyes have a small border of a darker purple felt.

Her boots have embroidered buckles and felt straps-

Photographing her was a challenge.Â Dark colors are often difficult, and the weather didn’t help- here is a windy action shot- Tim-ber!

specializing in wips

Posted on February 18, 2009 by mimik

wips- work in progress. or maybe ufos- unfinished objects. Anyway, they are piling up.

These 2… I am trying out a potential dress piece on one- orange cashmere. The other, going nowhere yet.

Now this one- she was going really well. Then I started in on the coat and got bogged down. She is looking just right, just what I had in mind, but there are technical issues. How to finish the coat properly…

And this one- she was suppose to be the partner of my mermaid dress girl. Guess I’ve gotten side-tracked. I am pretty sure I know what I’m going to do with her hair though…

This morning I started in on this one. Here she is at lunch time.

And then again, right before dinner time. She is my goth girl. Playing around with felt shadows.

I’m moving forward, but nothing finished yet. This is how I work- several dolls inching forward at the same time. And then, a whole group gets finished around the same time and people ask me how I do it!

update on nothing in particular

Posted on February 17, 2009 by mimik

things I meant to do…

2/13 was my 5 year blog birthday- amazing. I meant to do a blog facelift- didn’t happen. I meant to do a give-away- didn’t happen. Hopefully both WILL happen in the next few weeks.

And I meant to wish everybody a very happy Valentines Day.

I seem to be doing more socializing then usual and going to too many meetings. It is hard for me to get into my work when there is so much other stuff going on. I have a pile of dolls started and have gotten bogged down, trying to get one finished. Hopefully I’ll have something to show very soon.

Today I had a meet-up with Tracey and Melissa. We had lunch and then went on a little photo walk. Fun! This fence always makes me think of Melissa- rust, swirls- and I felt like I had to show it to her. Just one of those crazy blog meet-ups when you know all kinds of odd tidbits about a person. Anyway, we all had fun taking some photos.

tape love

Posted on February 11, 2009 by mimik

I spent some time in New York looking for decorative tape.Â 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.

mermaid 2

Posted on February 10, 2009 by mimik

and another more classic one-

Some of my new felt- I love having so many colors to choose from. And the button- it has been in my stash since 1980.

Two mermaids together-

a different take on a mermaid

Posted on February 9, 2009 by mimik

This girl is inspired by mermaids but is not a mermaid. There are loads of photos because I love how she came together!

When I was planning a mermaid inspired girl, I thought of doing it with just the colors. Of course it would have been subtle… and who wants subtle? I’ve been obsessing about Heather Ross‘ mermaid fabric (Mendocino)– knowing that I had to find a way to use it in something. So, put it all together and here she is!