Finally- the pictures! I took this picture of her standing, using a commercial doll stand.
I think I will make her a sitting stand- I think she looks much better sitting-
Getting a picture with the color just right was impossible. These all seem a little washed out to me,
although this one is probably the best.
I am happy with her. Especially…
-her hair
-to have made something new out of a very damaged, moth-eaten coat
-making a doll without a happy face
-and her hat
Okay, for all you who were actually trying to guess- her name is “Ione”. I choose the name from that list and then looked it up in my baby name book. It means violet mineral- which seemed perfect!
She is getting her hair done- her wig glued onto her head- so I’ve taken some pictures of the detail work. I made her 2 necklaces-
Mini frog closures on the front of her coat. They close with a sewed-on snap because I thought it would be impossible to actually button them.
Here are her shoes and socks- I ended up making her a new pair of socks- these are a better color.
I was trying to make her shoes look real for a girl (not too babyish), so I put a heel on them.
She should be ready to photograph by tomorrow. Right now I have to go and glue the back half of her wig to her head.
I take all the fabric out of the closet and the kitty decides the bolt of beautiful black wool is the perfect bed for his orangey self.
Yesterday I was working on shoes-
Today I went to Radio Shack and bought myself some new clamps- doll size. Smooth alligator clips are a great tool- I can’t believe I didn’t discover them sooner!
This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-
I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-
I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-
I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.
When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.
I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.
This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-
I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-
I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-
I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.
When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.
I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.
This is the fabric I got on my expedition to Sturbridge last week-
I’ve been cleaning my workroom. First I make an even bigger mess-
I pulled everything out of the closet, made big piles on every available surface-
I am moving furniture around- I moved another old bureau into the room and moved a small table out. I am trying to go through everything. Deciding what should be kept or what needs a new home. The pile of craft items up for adoption isn’t as big as I wish- I have a really hard time parting with stuff- but I have made some progress.
When I put things back, I always struggle over how to sort things. Should the fabrics be sorted by color, material or size of the piece? The worst problem is always the buttons- I have so many that I really like but I’ve never come up with a good system so that I can see what I’ve got. When I have things back together I will post more photos.
I got tired of organizing and cleared off a little space to get back to work on dolls. I really need to finish something! Tomorrow- doll posting. Todays photos of the project were fuzzy so I’ll try again.
I am in the midst of a massive clean-up and reorganization of my studio. I was feeling like I was drowning! And I couldn’t find anything. I really should go through all my stuff once a year just so I remember what I’ve got. It is very inspiring.
I enjoyed the post on names over on Wee Wonderfuls and thought I’d post something I’d saved from one of the Yahoo groups I read. Someone sent in a list of names that was printed in UFDC’s “Dolls News” in an article from August 1959. The list was gleaned from The Godey’s Ladies Book of 1857. On some of them, I’m not sure if the spelling is correct so I’ve put a (?).
Alba, Adelia, Alida, Athalie, Annot, Arabella, Berthanalda (?), Corilia, Claribel, Clotilda, Clarina, Euphemia, Elfrida, Euphrasie, Eulalie, Endora, Elfie, Elmira, Emmeline, Esmeralda, Ermengarde, Linette, Fidelia, Florinda, Floribelle, Fennilla (?), Georgianna, Hermione, Hortense, Hilda, Ione, Imogene, Imalda, Lanthe, Isodora, Keziah, Lilla, Lucretia, Letitia, Minnie, Maude, Mara, Maja, Melecent, Medora, Myrrha, Mira, Nyia, Parthenia, Selina, Sara, Sophronia, Telkla, Thyrza, Victorine, Zara, Zitelle, Zelica, Zayda, Amy, Agatha, Aurelia, Annabel, Aimee, Alida, Angeline, Blanche, Cora, Camille, Cecily, Dora, Dorcas, Delia, Ella, Elfrida, Fanny, Gertrude (Trudy), Geraldine, Henre, Ida, Iona, Jeanette, Jessica, Juliet, Josephine, Katrina, Lydia, Marcia, Monica, Mildred, Matilda, Natalie, Naomi, Nydia, Olympia, Pamela, Penelope, Rosa, Rosalie, Rowena, Renee, Rosabella, Rosette, Sylvia, Sybil, Sophia, Susette.
I am going to use one of these names for my latest doll- you can try to guess which one. I will show her with her name once I get her shoes done.
I met up with some doll friends yesterday in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We had a great day going to some of the textile stores there. We went to Wrights Factory outlet, then to a shop that specializes in antique and vintage textiles. Unfortunately I don’t seem to know the name of the store! It was really great though! These photos are from that store-
dolls in a crib-
lots of buttons-
a wonderful picture- looks like a photo but up close it looked like a drawing- hmmm? I think she looks like an Izannah Walker doll-
We finished out our day at some quilting fabric shops. I managed to find lots of fabric I couldn’t resist.
The inspiration for the expedition was that the terrific doll maker, Susan Fosnot, was in town to do a workshop at the Wenham Museum. She is from the midwest where she has trouble finding the vintage textiles that she likes to use for her dolls. She stayed overnight with me. Here are some of her dolls that she showed me-
We spent some time up in my studio pulling stuff out of bins and drawers. I gave her some fabric, but unfortunately, though I have tons of stuff I’d love to pass on, we both like the same stuff! I need to find people who need big buttons, 60’s fabrics and all the other stuff that I have that’s wonderful but I’ll never use. Speaking of which- I’ve put some more stuff on ebay. Vintage sewing patterns from the 50’s and 60’s. I have more, some from the 40’s, but I got sick of posting them, so I’ll do it another day.
I’ve posted a bunch more pictures over at Flickr.
Hopefully I am getting this in right under the wire. This is my Month of Softies contribution. I named it Chimera because that word and idea has been buzzing around in my head since I heard it said in a discussion of stem cell research.
I didn’t think I was going to participate. The monster theme had no appeal. But I kept thinking about it when I saw what people were coming up with. I was thinking that a cuddly toy isn’t my idea of a monster. I thought about what monster means to me- I got stuck on the sea monster idea, a giant squid or something. Then I saw this and this drawing by Mariana Massarani and I got really inspired!
She is made from my (box) graveyard of reject doll parts. 6 hands and 1 head. The body is made of a linen napkin I got last November and a piece of silk that was somebodies curtain once. The napkin has a large purple H embroidered on it- I used it as part of the body. I used vintage trims inherited from my mother and mother-in-law’s stashes. The buttons are mostly from a jar that my neighbor gave me before she moved last summer. I think that’s everything.
I will post better pictures when the light is better.