a new guy!

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A Dog!

It is so hard to photograph a dark object and still have the details show. The mouth is embroidered in black though it hardly shows in this photo.

the back-

Here is a side view so you can see his nose profile.

Some notes on designing: Making a new doll, even one that isn’t all that different from what has come before, doesn’t happen quickly, easily or by magic. It is methodical and it is work. I was in the midst of working on a pile of other things when I had an idea- a dog, sort of a dachshund, with a striped sweater. I drew out some thoughts and went back to work, finishing up what needed to be finished. That is how the ideas come- while I’m working on something else. As I work on that other project, maybe looking at it at a funny angle or some random mistake, will give me an idea to try something off in another direction.

Then comes the hard part. I started playing with my pattern and making prototypes in-between the other things I’m working on. If I’d said to myself, I’ll work on this when I finish all these other things, I’d probably lose interest and maybe or maybe not ever get back to it. Instead, I fit in little bits of time to work on my dog. Here is a photo of my desk with 4 prototypes and a bunch of the paper pattern pieces.

The first iteration was that flat gray tweed and just about everything was wrong with it. hmm, Good to know! I unstuffed it and threw it in the bin. Then pulled it out again for this photo. The 2 white ones came next. They are made out of an old wool blanket- my scrap paper of wool. The one on the right came first. Among other things, the ears are too small and the head is too wide. On the left came next (#3). Ears better, thinking about the nose, hmm, not so sure I like his body. #4 is the all brown one. He is a lot slimmer and his hips/legs are redesigned. I made a few test noses before deciding on the one I like best. Now I am ready for #5, the dog with his sweater that I’m showing at the top. It has been about a week in the designing. Ta Da! Magic ;)

And I will continue to tweak for a while. That is the fun of it all!

15 thoughts on “a new guy!”

  1. he looks great!. Thanks for showing the process of pattern tweaking. it’s nice to see progress. that brown wool looks great. i’ve been looking for a brown sweater to felt for 3 months. no go. Doesn’t anyone wear brown? :}cheers

  2. The birth of a character! I love seeing your sketches, Mimi, and your stress on the ‘mistakes’ which are essential to the process of designing. Look forward to seeing how his descendants evolve too.

    Amanda, I have brown sweaters in my stash! :)

  7. Dear Mimi, I really enjoy when you show how you work on things, your process of getting to your final result. The little dog is just wonderful.
    Connie

  9. He is very cute ! Love that tiny bit of
    pink tongue sticking out !

    Have to agree with Elsa….I like Mr.Small Ears too.
    He reminds me of my dog, Papi, black with small
    ears but big eyes !

    How can you go wrong with a dog ? All that
    unconditional love !

  10. these are my fav blog posts, the ones that show all the work and history behind a piece. thanks so much. designers have such patience. after the first dog was not what i wanted, i would get in a snit and that would be the end of poor lil dog.
    he’s awesome!

  13. The dog is lovely. Thank you for sharing his development. As a maker/potter, I understand how slow going it can be to develop a new form that works. The slow evolution of ideas and forms can be as mundane and revealing as reading a diary.

  14. LOVE the daucshund in the striped sweater!!! I also like using repurposed wool for animals, but most have mine have turned out to be cats even though I own three daucshunds, real ones, that is!!!

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