more swaddled babies

Posted on November 21, 2006 by mimik

The baby dolls were the biggest seller when I did the sale, so now I am making more for the next sale… production. I haven’t done production in a long time and I can’t say I’m loving it. I am feeling stressed and anxious, over tired and like I have way too much to do. Actually a lot of that is holiday related- I think this comes on me every year. So many demands, so many disruptions. But, in the end, I tend to find deadlines inspiring and I am happy with how these babies came out. I played around a bit with the proportions and the pattern. The face is bigger and the body a slightly different shape. It always amazes me how much difference even a slight change in the pattern can make in the end shape. Also, how different the doll can look, depending on the fabric- this is mostly about the stretch and the stuffing.

This first little one is made from an old wool blanket-

blue baby

I love this vintage ribbon-

blue baby face

This one was a vest from LL Bean in a former life-

check baby

I am finally getting to use all the great ribbons I’ve been collecting for so long-

check baby face

I love this brown ribbon. Both the green fabric and the ribbon were from my mom’s stuff-

green baby

green baby face

And lastly, this little red baby-

red baby

I combined several ribbons here-

red baby face

There is another photo here on Flickr. All of them, together, in the basket.

postcards- seasons summer and fall

Posted on November 17, 2006 by mimik

and here are the rest of the seasons-
Summer-

postcard a

postcard b

postcard c

and Fall-

postcard d

postcard e

postcard f

I’ve done with postcards for now- I’ve run out of Peltex 72, which is what I make the cards on, and my local fabric store says they sell it out as soon as it comes in. I’ve ordered a bolt and now can stop thinking about the postcards and get back to work on the dolls. I went out to some of my favorite local thrift shops this week. I got a load of nice sweaters in wool, cashmere, angora and mixes of these. I needed some bright colors for the babies. I was also able to get a nice old wool blanket and some fun, vintage woven wool yardage. I am always on the look-out for stripes in colors that I like, but they are very hard to find. I’ve been giving the washing machine a workout since I brought it all home.

sweaters

postcards- seasons spring and winter

Posted on November 16, 2006 by mimik

Spring-

postcard 1

postcard 2

postcard 3

Winter- I really like these. I used a few sequins on each one to add a little sparkle.
I like how on this one, the sky fabric has nothing to do with snow and yet that’s what the design turns into-

postcard 4

I like how the face on this one is painted- pink cheeks, chin and nose- so cold!

postcard 5

and in this one, I used some wool blend felt which I’d washed and it puffed up- I like how it looks for the jacket.

postcard 6

I guess this fits into Summer- it was the first one before I’d really thought things out. The birds are printed on the fabric- I didn’t do that part.

postcard 7

I’ve finished the rest. I’ll photograph and post them tomorrow.

getting inspired

Posted on November 15, 2006 by mimik

In the last few days, I’ve had several people ask what inspires me so I thought it might be a good idea to post about it, i.e. give it some actual thought. Years ago I took my son to a talk given by Philip Pullman. He was absolutely brilliant. One of the things he talked about was that people often ask where he gets his ideas. He said something along the line of- the ideas come to my desk and if I’m there, I get them. If I’m not, I don’t. I loved that explanation! So much of the art is just being at your desk and working. I googled “Philip Pullman inspiration” and I didn’t get that story but got this explanation. (the first paragraph) Not as funny but also excellent.

I am inspired by materials (these days beautiful fabrics), things that I touch (robots with the sewing notions for details), the seasons, the little stuff going on in my life everyday, some odd thing that I’ve read about (example- fat fairies), the photos of what everyone else is doing all over the craft blogging world and Flickr, a new technique that I’ve learned, my family, color. And if I am working on something, and if it doesn’t have a face, I probably won’t stay interested for too long! If I hit a dead end, I have 2 ways of recharging that usually work. I go back to my older work, look through it and try to come up with a new approach or simply do another one. I have found lots of inspiration for the postcards by going through old photos of my pottery. The other technique is to go through all my materials. That way I get 2 things accomplished- clear out some stuff and almost always find something that sparks an idea.

back to work, sort of…

Posted on November 14, 2006 by mimik

I had a great expedition up to the Fiber Studio. It was a beautiful day for a drive and so after scooting up on the highways, we meandered back to Boston on back roads. I bought wool roving and batting to do wet felting. There was such an amazing assortment of colors and types of sheep and all kinds of other variables that I don’t know how to figure into the equation… so I chose solely based on color. Well, actually I bought a bag of assorted colors (the smaller balls) and then filled in with what wasn’t in that. I like playing with felt for doll hair and embellishments. I was inspired by these juggling ball also, so who knows where I’ll go with it.

wool

Now I’m back to work starting with postcards. Here is what I’ve done in the past 2 days- 7 postcards, ironed onto the backing but I still have to satin stitch around the edge and then cut them apart. I’m working on a “Seasons” theme.

postcards

sale report

Posted on November 11, 2006 by mimik

The sale went really well yesterday. It is a long and tiring day, but I know lots of the other people who were selling their work and lots of the people who came and shopped. It is a very local and social event and I would have had a good day even if I hadn’t sold anything! The round table worked out very well with the only drawback being that I didn’t know where to stand. Here was my table at the beginning of the day-

table 1

table 2

table 3

table 4

People were enthusiastic about the work. I sold a good amount of my work- not so much that I am worried that I’ll have to kill myself for the next sale in a month, but enough that I was surprised and pleased when I counted up at the end of the day. Today I’m going on an expedition up to New Hampshire to the Fiber Studio to spend some of my money!

pricing

Posted on November 9, 2006 by mimik

I got a question today- How do you price your work? After thinking about it, here is what I wrote back-

I think about it in several ways.
one- how much would I be willing to take for something and I won’t feel like I’ve been insulted, won’t feel sick, and/or wish I’d kept it.
two- I have a fantasy that I should earn $100 for a full day of work (ie 8 hours ). If I think something took 8 hours, I should get $100 for it. Of course this is very rarely straight forward. I don’t include my design time and mistake time. I am always second guessing myself. Could I have done it in 8 hours if I’d worked harder? kept a more accurate tally of time spent? been more organized? And it doesn’t include materials. so I know it isn’t really sensible, but it is still a model I pretend to use.
three- there is the fantasy of what people will pay. I am always guessing at that. I don’t try to sell my dolls in a gallery because they take 50%. I can’t believe that I could double the prices and still sell them. Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know. Besides most galleries seem to be afraid of anything that looks like a doll… not art enough? The gallery sales thing worked for me when I was doing pottery so I have had experience selling that way.

I wonder how this compares with other people? I think fiber arts work not something anyone get into to get rich- you just can’t get back the time you put in.

It was so beautiful this morning. It was misty and everything was wet from yesterdays rain. The color was amazing. Everything seemed to glow! I took a bunch of photos and posted them at Flickr.

november

robot 7- fembot

Posted on November 8, 2006 by mimik

Remember way back in July when I posted this as unfinished? I was making no progress so I put it aside. There is nothing like a deadline (or upcoming sale) to get me motivated and I’ve finally finished her!

robot 7

robot 7 too

None of these photos are great but it is pouring rain so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it…

She is big and solid and red and I think will be a real eye-catcher on my table.

big lady 4

Posted on November 8, 2006 by mimik

all hands-

hands

Lady number 4 has the white gloves. Here she is-

big lady 4

the color is better on these next 2-

4 face

4 torso

She has vintage knitted lace- I love that stuff. It seems to be the only lace I ever use even though I have tons of other beautiful pieces. Her vintage black buttons are oval, faceted and glass. The red wool fabric came from a Japanese skirt that I bought at a Yard Sale sponsored by a local Japanese organization- they have a great yearly event that I try not to miss.

I got all my stuff priced and tagged for the sale on Friday. Tomorrow I am going to try a test set-up. I will be displaying on a round table. I’ve never done that before. Think round…