2022- Dolls in Review!

Posted on January 9, 2023 by mimik

I’m a little late with this- that sums up what the last 6 months have been like around here! Among other things, when I went back over my photos, I’d messed up my counting and I had to clean up that mess. So, here we are finally!

I will start with 25 Tiny World pincushions, not dolls.

Tiny World 2, 2. Tiny World 5, 3. Tiny World 4, 4. Tiny World 3, 5. Tiny World 1, 6. Tiny World 7, 7. Tiny World 6, 8. Tiny World 9, 9. Tiny World 8, 10. Tiny World 11, 11. Tiny World 10, 12. Special Order Tiny World, 13. Red Transferware Tiny World, 14. Fancy cup pincushion, 15. Tiny World with Blue Flower Bush, 16. Farmyard Pincushion, 17. Farmyard Pincushion, 18. Desert House Pincushion 1 and 2, 19. Tiny World Pincushion, 20. Tiny Snowy World, 21. Tiny Snowy World, 22. Tiny World Pincushion, 23. Tiny World Pincushion, 24. Pincushion in a Calico tea cup

36 Fresh fish-

Red Fish 3 and 4, 2. Red Fish 1 and 2, 3. Blue Fish Pillows, 4. Blue-Green-ish Fish Pillows, 5. Green-ish Fish Pillows, 6. 2 Gold(ish)fish, 7. 2 Purple-y Red Fish, 8. 2 Green Fish, 9. 3 Wool Fish Pillows, 10. 2 Sweater Fish, 11. 3 Green Fish, 12. Blue Fish and Blue-Green Fish, 13. White and Gray Fish, 14. Pink Fish, 15. Autumn Fish, 16. Red Plaid Fish, 17. Blue Plaid Fish, 18. Purple Fish, 19. Purple-red Fish, 20. Blue-green Fish

14 Kitties, 1 Cat Lady

Untitled, 2. Mamma Cat, 3. Blue-eyed Kitty, 4. Kitty is shopping, 5. Untitled, 6. Going Fishing Cat, 7. Kitty in a Red Jacket, 8. OrangeMan 2002- 2022, 9. Aqua Kitty Girl, 10. Black Kitty, Liberty dress, 11. Black Cat in Striped Jacket, 12. Cat in a Plaid Jacket, 13. Charlie, 14. Fancy Fox Lady, 15. Fox Lady Goes Shopping, 16. Cat Lady Pillow Doll

12 Mermen

Blue Merman, 2. Merman with tall ship tattoos, 3. Merman with skeleton tattoos, 4. Orange Hair Merman, 5. Red-Haired Merman, 6. Purple-haired Merman, 7. Silver-tailed Merman, 8. Tentacle Merman, 9. Dark Blue Merman, 10. Merman with sea creatures, 11. Merman with Whales, 12. Purple Merman

18 other men

Corn Farmer, 2. Man with hunting tattoos, 3. Greenman, 4. Greenman 2, 5. Big Blond Lumberjack, 6. Lumberjack in Red-check Shirt, 7. Lumberjack 3, 8. Lumberjack 4, 9. Lumberjack in Plaid, 10. Man with Red Pants, 11. White-Haired Pirate, 12. Man in a Kilt doll, 13. Strongman with Goddess Tattoos, 14. Big Man in a Red Kilt, 15. Big Man in a Striped Bathing Suit, 16. Sepia Man, 17. Tattooed Man in Red Pants, 18. Man with skater tattoos, 19. Owl 1, 20. Owl 2

26 Owls

2 Dark Owls, 2. snowy owl, 3. Snowy Owl, 4. 2 Brown Owls, 5. Brown Owl Face, 6. Brown Owl Face, 7. Gray Owl, 8. Brown Owl, 9. 2 Snowy Owls, 10. 2 Dark Owls, 11. 3 Brown Owls, 12. Rust Owl, 13. Brown Owl, 14. Tan Owl, 15. 2 more owl dolls, 16. 2 owl dolls

And 3 Swaddled Babies, 11 Dogs…

Blond Flower Baby, 2. Blue Flower Baby, 3. Magenta Flower Baby, 4. Black Pug Fellow, 5. Pug Girl 1, 6. Cute Girl Pug, 7. lady gardener dog, 8. Cowboy Dog, 9. Bird Dog, 10. Dapper Dog, 11. Little White Dog, 12. Hiker Dog, 13. Folktale Puppy Girl, 14. Dog with a pipe, 15. Greenman 2, 16. cats – 1

and me. And Winifred and Jasper, the adorable kitties that came into our life almost a year ago!

That is 121 dolls plus 25 Tiny Worlds. I am surprised that so much got accomplished while I was clearing stuff out of the house, having a huge yard sale, flying to Chicago, and all the rest of the work of moving house after 36 years! We are still hoping to relocate in the Spring so fingers-crossed that our perfect new place will show up soon!

2020 dolls in review

Posted on January 6, 2021 by mimik

I do a review every year although sometimes it happens a little late (like this year). What a crazy day- I was a bit reluctant to post this today with the high of the win in Georgia followed by the madness in Washington. But I will do it anyway because who knows what tomorrow will bring. And honestly, maybe posting about a crazy year is best done on a crazy day.

1. Tiny World Pincushion 2, 2. Tiny World Pincushion 1, 3. Tiny World pincushion 3, 4. Tiny World Fairy House pincushion, 5. Tiny World Fairy House pincushion, 6. Cabin in the Woods Tiny World pincushion, 7. Cabin in the Woods Tiny World pincushion, 8. Tiny World pincushion- Camping, 9. tropical island tiny world, 10. tropical island tiny world, 11. Rapunzel in her Tower Tiny World, 12. Rapunzel in her Tower Tiny World, 13. Lighthouse Pincushion, 14. Lighthouse Pincushion, 15. Manor house with Topiary Garden, 16. Manor house with Topiary Garden

I made 16 Tiny Worlds and 81 dolls. This is down quite a bit from other years but, you know, 2020.

I made 6 pugs and 9 hound dogs.

1. Pug in Plaid, 2. Fancy Pug in Aqua, 3. another fancy pug, 4. Pug in Pastels, 5. Pug in a Suit, 6. Tweedy Pug, 7. School girl puppy, 8. B & W dog in a folk dress, 9. Gardener Dog, 10. Mr Detective Dog, 11. Lady Pup goes to the beach, 12. Beach Boy Hound, 13. Another Gardening Dog, 14. Adventure Pup, 15. Herringbone Hound

I made 10 cats, 4 foxes, and 6 fish.

1. White Kitty, 2. Kitty Girl #2, 3. Kitty in Pink, 4. Black and White Kitty in Plaid, 5. Kitty in a mouse dress, 6. Fancy Tuxedo Cat, 7. Herringbone Kitty, 8. Black Kitty girl in Indian print dress, 9. White Kitty in a Party dress, 10. Outdoor Cat, 11. Fox in a Corduroy Jacket, 12. Big Night Out Fox, 13. Fox girl in a Liberty dress, 14. Fox girl in a daisy dress, 15. 2 Red Fish, 16. 2 Blue Fish

I made 7 Swaddled babies and a whole lot of men dolls!

1. Yellow fish and Green fish, 2. Bird Baby, 3. Bird Baby 2, 4. Blue Flower Baby, 5. Night Bird Baby, 6. Another Bird Baby, 7. Butterflies and Flowers Baby, 8. Orange and Green Folk Art Baby, 9. Big Tattooed Man, 10. Man #2- He’s got Skeletons, 11. Blond Tattooed Man Doll, 12. Tattooed man, white hair, 13. Man 5- more skeletons, 14. Pirate with Happy Skeletons, 15. Big Man with red hair, 16. Circus Big Man, 17. Fancy Man, 18. Green Man with Boar Hunt tattoo/toile, 19. Red-Haired Man in a Kilt, 20. Red Kilt and Cherub Tattoos

Above is 9 Tattooed men, 1 Green Man, and 2 men in kilts. Below is 22 Mermen and 5 Lumberjacks.

1. Blue Merman, 2. Green Merman doll, 3. Tropical Merman, 4. Blue Merman 2, 5. Merman with Blue Tail, 6. Merman with Vintage Laura Ashley tail, 7. Big Big Merman, 8. Blond Merman, 9. Blue Merman 3, 10. Red-haired Merman, 11. Merman with Battle Tattoos, 12. Merman 2, 13. Dark Merman with Skeletons, 14. Green Merman, 15. Blue Merman with Octopus(es), 16. Red Tail Merman, 17. Blue Merman, 18. Blue Merman for November, 19. Merman with Octopus Tattoos, 20. Blue Merman 12/1, 21. Merman with Beaded Belt, 22. Blue Merman 3, 23. Lumberjack 1, 24. Lumberjack in a Cowboy Shirt, 25. Blond Lumberjack, 26. Lumberjack in Red Plaid, 27. Big Man Lumberjack

I made a quilt at the start of the year.

I made a lot of masks for family and friends. Oh yes, and 150 scrub caps. I donated 100 caps to health providers (mostly nurses) in the Boston area. Then I sold a bunch on Etsy and donated the money to local causes helping people affected by the pandemic. It relieved some of the stress to feel like I was doing something to help.

I worked on some ornament patterns but my head wasn’t in the right space. This past year I needed meditative creative work, not painfully stretching my cognitive skills! Hopefully this year I can make it happen.

My business was all conducted online this year and I am grateful that I already have an online shop and all the social media set up and didn’t have to worry about that! I have been depending on the Post Office and so thankful that I can mostly get my packages picked up right at my door. This past Fall and up until now, the pressure on the Post Office (political and Covid) has been stressful; I think all my packages made it to their destinations by now? Most have taken at least 2 extra weeks.

So Yikes, what a year. I count my blessing that I have been relatively healthy and so has my family. I am hoping that life can return to a more normal in 2021 although I don’t count on that yet. Lets hear it for a better 2021! I have hope again!

These were my most “liked” posts on Instagram this year- always kind of interesting.

Past years- links to other yearly mosaics- 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.

It’s time for the 2018 round-up!

Posted on December 31, 2018 by mimik

It’s been a banner year for my doll-making- 166! That is a record for me!

I made 39 men- including 3 Green men, 8 Mermen, 2 Scotsmen in kilts, 6 Lumberjacks, and 1 Sailor. I’ve been focusing more on the different characters because they are more fun for me these days.

7 Tattooed Ladies and 10 Dogs.

12 Big Lady pillow dolls which I hadn’t made in a lot of years, and 12 Babies. The ladies and the babies go together in my head- both are about the wool applique.

7 Girls dolls and 29 Owls. I had fun with the girls but they were very labor-intensive. There will be more in 2019 though; I just sewed up a bunch. The owls were very popular at the shows I did and that is why I ended up making so many. Doing shows is all about having enough inventory.

17 foxes and 11 Kitties- I learned that B & W kitties are very popular.

And 21 Fish.

Not dolls, I also made 26 Tiny Worlds,

And a quilt!

It has been a very busy year for me. I know that a lot of the reason I ended up making so much was because of the shows I did- Smithsonian, ACC San Francisco, and Arts Providence. I am very inspired by a deadline.

Here are some links to my most recent other yearly mosaics- 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.

recap, 2017

Posted on January 7, 2018 by mimik

I’ve been putting this off all week but I need to do it. It is really helpful for me to have my yearly reflections written down here so let’s look back.

Wow, I’m not going to lie, it has been a really tough year. Politics will be mentioned. The situation in our country and the world has been terrifying. I did some artwork in the first few months of the year to help me deal with my feelings of despair.

I posted about the above and below here.

Later, I spent a month working on this-

Posted here.

I had a very busy trip to LA in April which I posted about here and here. The trip was awesome and I love LA. It was hard to really relax though and I felt that many people I was around were also feeling the weight of the world’s troubles. And then my Mom died.

Unfortunately, as the year went on, I just found myself wanting to retreat more and more. Nothing seemed to help- social media has been/is overwhelming with the constant outrage, my energy and creativity felt sapped when I engaged. During the first 6 months of the year I felt like I couldn’t find the joy in my work or even get to that wonderful focus where the world recedes and I’m in the work zone. Having some shows and deadlines helped. Also, audio books and podcasts. I’ve been continuing to post photos and work pics but somehow the words are gone. I don’t feel chatty about my work on my blog or on any of the other sites where I hang out. I have retreated not only online but also in real life. I know it is not good for me so I guess that is what I have to work on this year.

There were good things too, thank goodness. My garden was amazing this year. If you follow me on Instagram, there were lots of flower pics. the daylilies and the dahlias!

In August I was feeling so uninspired that I knew I needed to mix things up a bit. I spent 2 weeks working on a quilt idea. I played with colors. shapes, designs. I didn’t finish anything but I’ll get back to it at some point. I felt totally recharged after that- It was like a brain vacation. Obviously, something I should do more often!

That got me back into work mode for the fall and right up to Christmas. I had a great show at CraftBoston 2017 and I plan on a post about my booth, hopefully tomorrow.

Lastly, I was part of this beautiful book, Beards Rock. A real honor.

And now, 2018. I hope with all my heart that this year will bring a more stable and peaceful world although this first week does not make that seem likely. On my personal horizon, I have lots to look forward to.

I will be going back to LA at the end of February to teach at French General again. This time we will be doing Swaddled Babies. There are still a few spaces available if you’d like to join in the fun. Check out all the info here. I am also planning to visit QuiltCon.

In April, I will be in Washington DC for the Smithsonian Craft Show at the National Building Museum.

Then, in August I will head west again, to San Francisco, for the ACC show at Fort Mason.

I think that having all these things to look forward to will keep my head in a good place. I’m already back in the studio getting a little work done, doing some cleaning and organizing, and thinking about all the projects ahead. Happy New Year everyone!

2017 what-I-made review!

Posted on December 31, 2017 by mimik

I went through all the photos today. I already knew the total- 134 dolls, but it is a whole different thing to see them all together.

By the time I finished making dolls for the year, I’d made-

21 foxes and 7 pugs-

11 Owls and 13 Kitties-

7 Lumberjacks, 6 Mermen, and 32 Tattooed Men-

7 Babies and 8 Tattooed Ladies-

And 22 Fresh Fish pillows-

In addition, I made 20 Tiny World Pincushions.

I was surprised to see how close I was to last year with only a slightly different mix. Onward into the new year!

a bit late- 2014 in review

Posted on January 9, 2015 by mimik

Yes, I’m late. 2014 was a very busy year, maybe a bit too busy. And 2015 is starting out the same. I am just getting to this now because I have been hard at work doing exactly what I was doing last year at this time– designing a new line of ornaments for West Elm for the 2015 Holidays! This week I went to Brooklyn to deliver them in person and meet my contacts there.

totally random photo-

This list will be of the a lot good and a little bit bad variety.

Teaching– I taught at Gather Here in January (Tiny World pin cushion) and again in February (owls). Then in March, I headed down to New York to teach at the Sweet Paul Makerie event which was beyond amazing. I reached out to see if anyone was interested in classes while I was in San Francisco in July but got no interest. After that, nothing.

This year? I am teaching again this month at Gather Here. And I am going to the Sweet Paul Makerie in Philadelphia, but this year I am going to play instead of teach. I can’t wait! Hopefully there will be more teaching gigs- I will keep you informed.

Shows– I did 3 shows again this year- San Francisco Renegade, Chicago Renegade, and Crafty Bastards in Washington, DC. None of them was fantastic and it is making me rethink doing the shows. The shows are expensive and stressful but I get to see show-goers interact with my artwork and always meet amazing people. Unfortunately, my work is expensive compared to most of the vendors at the shows I do and I see so many disappointed faces which is very disheartening. The people that come to the shows are the ones who like my work, might be potential future customers, but are not ready to spend $$$ the first time they see my work. It is not as easy as switching to higher end shows since I am not sure my buyers would be there. My best “show” of the year was the pop-up shop at the Sweet Paul Makerie so I will be trying to think more creatively about this. Currently I am planning to take a year off from craft shows.

Licensing– The ornaments for West Elm were a big hit! I hear that the moose was the most popular and I love that! I still have some toy designs available at Land Of Nod too.

Gallery Shows– I did 2 this year. Don’t Play With Me in Pawtucket, RI and Good Mail Day in Dover, NH.

Dolls– of course! It was a banner year for making dolls!

Media– Little Thing magazine is amazing and I was delighted when I saw my profile, although I have no idea what it says! And I was in the New York Magazine 2014 Holiday Gift guide- that was pretty cool too.

Patterns– No new patterns in 2014 and I am really sorry about that. To make things worse, the EU has implemented a very complicated tax system on all digital products (as of Jan. 2015) that is impossible for a micro business person like me to deal with. Etsy did nothing to help it’s sellers deal with this problem, such as making it possible to sell only in the non-EU countries. As a result, I have pulled all my patterns from Etsy for the time being. I am sure something will get figured out eventually and I will let you know when they are available through Etsy again. That doesn’t give me any incentive to make any new patterns right now since I can’t sell them. Sigh.

Other stuff– I made a quilt for my daughter and flew out to Chicago to deliver it and have a fun, cold, weekend.

Gather Here made a sweet little video on their 3rd birthday called Why We Make. I’m in there for a sec.

Yes, a very busy year. Let’s see what 2015 brings me!

let’s review- 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 by mimik

My Christmas sewing this year- reusable lunch bags and shopping bags-

Another year goes by! I am thankful for my blog to keep my memories for me. It is fun to go back and review. Here are some things that made me happy this year-

– a new floor in the studio! I know it doesn’t seem like much but I love scooting around in my chair.

– I was in a show with some other fantastic doll artists. Thanks Nichol!

– I went to Honk! It was AMAZING!

– San Francisco- Loved it! Renegade and some vacation too.

– I got to meet Sonya for the first time when I went to SF. We’ve been internet buddies for years and it was a thrill to give her a hug in person. And then we got to meet again!

– I won something from a blog give-away- Thanks again Mr. Finch! I love my moth!

– My monthly meet-up with other like-minded crafty-biz people. We are starting our 4th year in January! This meet-up started from a New Years resolution and all I can say is, if you want something in your life, sometimes you really can make it happen!

– And Ryan, my 5 hour a week helper. It has been great fun having someone to talk to on a schedule.

Other important events of the year-

– I took Sister Diane‘s class about doing on-line classes. I quickly realized that I really didn’t want to do it. And that was absolutely worth taking the class to figure out. It became clear to me that doing the classes involves a lot of tech support- not something I want to do. And, being the kind of person I am, I would likely be unable to do any other work during the duration of the class- too distracting.

– 2 things that sound good but mostly were really stressful for me, book and licensing.

– I did 3 Renegade shows- Brooklyn, San Francisco and Chicago. I decided not to do any Holiday shows this year- the right decision for my sanity but maybe not for my business. Hard to know.

Tomorrow I will post my dolls of 2012.

2011 review- dolls of the year

Posted on December 31, 2011 by mimik

This has been a very busy year for me. I said yes to several projects that have stretched me in new ways. As the year is coming to an end, I am contemplating the paths I want to keep following and the ones that probably aren’t working for me. The year, now that I am looking back, seemed a little less creative. I feel as if I let outside forces direct me instead of following my own creative compass. I need to get back on track with that.

This is my round-up of projects I posted on flickr.

21 Tiny Worlds and I taught one workshop last spring. My big challenge with these is finding good tea cups.

16 foxes.

13 owls plus I made the pattern last February. And 3 babies and 1 bird lady.

14 Tattooed ladies and 3 girls.

And 27 handsome men- 4 lumberjacks, 2 Staffordshire inspired fellows and 21 tattooed men.

And all the rest- 7 kitties, 19 fish, 3 tikis and 4 dogs.

That adds up to 110 dolls plus the 21 Tiny Worlds.

And there are the things I made or worked on that didn’t get posted. Last February and March I worked on some patterns that will be included in a book that is coming out in June 2012. It is not a secret anymore because it is now available for pre-order on Amazon. You can see at least one of the dolls because he is on the cover!

I will be back tomorrow (maybe) for some more reflections and hopes!

thinking about 2009

Posted on December 31, 2009 by mimik

window

I have been thinking for several days about how to approach my review-of-the-year posts. 2009 has been a very strange year. Over here in blogland, things have been mostly fantastic. But, the blog is sort of a Christmas letter version of my life. In my “real” life,Â there have been challenges, anxiety, loss of some people I care about- my view of how my own future is likely to play out has changed dramatically this year. I am happy to see 2009 over. I have hopes for a new year- why does a new calendar year hold so much optimism? Anyway, here we focus on my artwork.

I started out 2009 thinking I would make it a year of challenges- every month I would identify something I’d like to accomplish but was difficult for me.

January- make a pattern. When PurlBee asked me in the fall of 2008 if I would make a pattern out of their felt, I said yes- my first challenge!Â I worked on it in January and delivered it as part of a fun trip to NYC.

February- teach a class. I taught the tiny world class at the end of February- it was great fun.

March was suppose to be the month to get back to work on the studio room… well, I did get back to work on it for a while… but, got totally off track when I got a contacted by Etsy about doing the Handmade Portrait. After that, all my energy went into cleaning up the house and studio. Luckily I only had about a weeks notice- otherwise I would have made myself crazy! It was a while before I got back to work on the room again.

April was probably the last month I consciously thought about the challenges. I said yes to participating in this print show– yep, that was a challenge (and a distraction). And I got to work writing my first pattern for sale- the tiny world pattern. It felt doable after I saw what a great job PurlBee had done, writing up the directions and photographing the steps for my doll pattern. I used it as inspiration and a guide.

In May, I launched the pattern- it felt HUGE! Apparently I spent June making dolls. Funny thing about that!

July was when I took a class and the first steps into Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. Talk about getting out of my comfort zone- that was 30 hours of stress. But, it turned out I absorbed more then I thought when I went back to it in November to work on another pattern. I also managed to get the studio room to a point where I could start the move-in process.

August- So busy! 1. All my kids were home for a few days! 2. I worked on settling into the new room, then figured that I really needed to get back to work and the mess would settle out in time… still working on that. 3. I taught another Tiny world class. 4. My camera broke. 5. And the Handmade Portrait came out. 6. Peter left for college and we became “empty-nesters”.

September was a trip to South Carolina and working to settle into the studio. October, another Tiny World class and some tattooed ladies. Also, I started working on a new pattern- a kitty. I got the pattern finished in November- and my head swelled up to the size of a pumpkin because I was so proud of myself for managing to get it done using Photoshop and InDesign- with a little help from Kerry! And December was, you know, December. Crazy month of selling and trying to fit in family and friend obligations.

The biggest challenge always seems to be how to make a reasonable living doing what I love. Because this is my job. I don’t mind working really hard but I don’t want to burn out. I am always looking for ways that I can generate income that doesn’t mean making more dolls- like the teaching, the patterns, cards, etc. We’ll see what 2010 brings.

Tomorrow I will be doing a wrap-up of the dolls and tiny worlds of 2009. I always love seeing everything all together. Happy New Years Eve!

Doll

the art and craft of Mimi Kirchner

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