Have you seen what is going on over at Gather Here? They are doing a raffle to support the Red Cross’s effort to help victims of Hurricane Sandy- all the info to join in is here. I donated the doll model I made for the book We Make Dolls– He was on the cover!
There are lots of amazing prizes- check them out here. I have been obsessed with the news of the damage from the storm and I’m so happy to be able to find a way to help.
Maybe it is a bit cold for butterfly hunting? But, he is an optimist.
His vest shows his passion. And his sweater is cashmere.
I will try to get the boy foxes into my shop this weekend- probably on Sunday. Also, I am still playing with the photo size- let me know if you are having any problems.
Another Autumn fox-
I made a cashmere hat for him. It makes me laugh!
I am experimenting with photo sizes with this new format. The pics appear just right on the blog page but were very large for people getting my posts by email- hopefully this will be better.
Happy Halloween everyone! Maybe you didn’t even notice but my blog was offline since Saturday. My husband tells me it got hacked, but honestly, I’m not sure what that means though I am sure it’s bad. He had to do all kinds of computer voodoo to clean it up so he spent even more time updating things around here. Thanks Honey! How do you like the new look? There are still a few things that need to be fixed and some things I need to figure out but I wanted to get back online as soon as possible.
We survived Hurricane Sandy with minimal damage. We lost some roof shingles and got water in the attic. It is fixed now. The power was out for just long enough that it felt like a fun adventure. We were very lucky. A lot of my neighbors are still without power and I’m sure the adventure is getting very old. And the news from the New York area is both very distressing and I can’t tear myself away from it.
I have managed to pull myself away from the news reports long enough to finish one thing- a professorial fox, dressed for Autumn.
Let me know if you notice any blog problems that I might want to know about. I know the early posts (2004 and 2005) are a mess and will hopefully be back at some point. Thanks!
A little fox girl with mushrooms on her skirt.
Here are all three together.
I hope to get them into the etsy shop this weekend. I will note when I do.
In the shop now.
I went down to the Cape to see Salley and her amazing artwork!
I’ve seen enough of Salley’s artwork to know it would be worth the drive to see this piece in person- it was amazing! She blogged about the visit here.
We sat in her studio and chatted, we walked in the woods, we visited the show, we had lunch… and it was a perfect Autumn day. Salley’s studio is so beautiful- I always enjoy visiting and seeing what she is up to. Lots of work-in-progress!
Today is the target day for the Land Of Nod Holiday catalogs to arrive in peoples’ homes- So now I can shout out the news!
A target date means that some people already have them and others not quite yet. Luckily I received a special delivery catalog so I’ve seen my dolls on paper and also at the website.
As you can see, they are producing a fox couple, a kitty couple and a bunny couple. The dolls are being made in India. At the top of the page is a sweet elephant designed by Hilary and on the left are some fantastic Cotton Monster creatures. I will confess that when I was in Chicago in September, I visited the Land Of Nod offices and the Cotton Monster hedgehogs were the ones I wanted to sneak into my bag and take home!
It is hard to understand the scale from these photos, but they are smaller than the ones I make and sell. Here is a photo I took (a YEAR ago!) when I was working on the prototypes-
In the course of the project, various bits and pieces changed because of child safety or problems with getting the right materials. The finished foxes have not got scarves, shawls, purses… but, if you wanted to, you could make your own, right?
There are also 4 babies- what I call swaddled babies and they are calling Bundle Babies (Love that name!) The Land Of Nod version has an awake side and an asleep side and is also smaller than my art pieces. Here is a photo of the prototypes (asleep side) they sent me for approval last Spring.
Here is a link to the catalog pages- lime, yellow, orange, red
If you click over to Wee Wonderfuls, you can read how Hilary went to a Land Of Nod store and was able to see a few things in person. She sent me this photo of the doll and also the tag- how exciting is that!
It has been a long process- more than a year. This introduction is just one more step in a journey that has been all new to me. I am now going to watch with curiosity, excitement, anticipation, how these babies make their way into the world!
Well it used to be anyway.
I finally admitted to myself that my nice old linen jacket was looking bedraggled and didn’t really fit right any more. And one of the buttons had broken. It was time to recycle it. I think it makes a pretty great little fox jacket!
I am imagining that the squarer eye shape looks a little like glasses.
I love the bunny fabric. I bought it in San Francisco this past summer.
Here is what is hiding in her school bag-
She has a little pocket hanky- a scrap from one of my Dad’s old shirts.
The dress closes with a snap in the back-
She is ready for the fluctuating weather of Autumn. One minute it is hot, the next you need a little shawl!
Another finished lady.
I put a tiny button on her back- so cute!
When you start down a path, you just never know where you will end up. Who would have ever thought when I started making dolls,
that I’d end up here!
What an amazing world!