There are the times that I am finishing up a lot of dolls and the times I am starting them. I find it amusing when people comment at how quickly I finish and post dolls when I am in finishing mode. They don’t realize all the pre-work that goes into each one. I have been working on these tattooed men since last Wednesday (3/28). I work every day, even weekends, although not all in the studio unfortunately. On some of the days I could only spend a few hours on them.

As I said in my last post, I started out with some tests of my new cutting and dyeing system. I spent all of last Thursday cutting out the fabric to be dyed (ie only the “skin” pieces). I cut out enough for 20 dolls. Friday was for dyeing, washing and drying. Then everything needed to be ironed, the other pieces needed to be cut out- shoes, boots, pants/tights, the sewing lines marked, then the sewing began. I divided the pile in half and started in on the first 10.

I sew them by starting with a flesh-ish colored thread. I sew the hands to the arms, the head to the body, etc, through all 10 dolls. Then I thread the machine with black thread and do the shoes/boots, etc. You get the idea. As they get sewed up, there is trimming to do and lots of clipping of curves.

Lastly comes turning them right-side-out. It is always a magical moment!

And this is where I was at lunch time today, 8 1/2 days later. I had 7 completely sewed and turned, 2 waiting for final clipping and turning, one where I forgot to sew one of the boots so it will wait until the next round of dolls gets to black thread.

This afternoon I started in on the next 10.

And this is just the beginning. Next comes the stuffing and finally, the giving them life part, the face and personality. And by the time I get to that, this part will all be forgotten!