I am listening to “Ayala’s Angel”, by Anthony Trollope. Thoroughly entertaining, but I don’t think I’ll put Ayala on the list of good names.
“What Clothes Reveal, The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America” by Linda Baumgarten. I got it from the library, but this book looks like such a good book, I might need to own it. The detail photos of embroidery are excellent.
I am back to bug pin production, now that I’ve sent the dolls out. It has been 3 months since I made the last ones. Now, all the little tricks and techniques that I had figured out have been totally fogotten… I can’t believe it! I am not completely starting from scratch, but it will definitely take some time and there will be waste before I get back up to speed… something I hadn’t really thought about when I had the plan of doing bugs for a few days every 2 months or so.
Fabulous dolls of Julien Martinez – written in frenglish?
Puppets of Scott Radke.
Puppets and dolls of laBeata
gotta remember these-
sandlady@sandlady.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~harryhurley/index.htm
http://www.ozarkcountrycreations.com/
http://gourdgracious.homestead.com/gourds.html
Finally finished! Stand and all. More pictures here. I will pack up the dolls today and ship them out to Kansas City tomorrow.
My critique? Hard to be specific, but I am not completely satisfied. I tend to be more satisfied with any artwork, when the process is more flow and less struggle… I kept hitting dead ends while working on this doll. Because of that, it will take me a bit of time to assess her with clear eyes. I’d give it a 92% out of 100%. Forest Child was 100%- I was completely satisfied with that piece when it was finished. I will be interested to see the written critique I get… I wasn’t very impressed with the one last year (about Esther), but the comment on the doll stand was correct.
Who would have thought that when my daughter went off to college, she would end up taking a class with someone who does work this beautiful and close to doll-making. These puppets are so amazing… I want to see more. I am hoping that she will be able to arrange for me to meet him and see some of his work when we go down to Bronxville for her show in April.
Is this similar to the work of Hori Hiroshi?
got over my phone phobia and finally called The Wenham Museum to talk about setting up a special visit with Susan Fosnot during WOW!. Turns out Lorna Lieberman is the acting doll curator- back again after retiring twice already- She is the owner of the amazing mint condition Izannah Walker doll that was in the Blue Ribbon Dolls show at Wenham last spring. She was also the person who gave the slide lecture about antique cloth dolls, that I went to last winter. She was really nice to talk to, and hopefully, if she is able, she will show us Miss Columbiaand the rest of the cloth doll collection. I think that it will be amazing to be able to see these dolls with someone who knows so much about them, their history and hopefully their construction. It would be a wish come true to hold some of these dolls.
I am still working on finishing the dolls for the Kansas City Doll Fair- I am working on the stands now. I decided 2 weren’t good enough and started over. I’ve got to go buy more glue now! I still have to put my signature on Haze and photograph her… almost done…
doll club meeting today. I learned a new way to do gathering with zigzag on the sewing maching…
We worked on turning hands, especially focusing on the fingers. After several tries I discovered I did better when I did NOT use the fray-check! I now have a pair of hands for my last gourd head that needs a body.
After I finished at Pasa Yarns, I drove to Sturbridge, to the Wrights Factory Outlet for more treasure hunting. This is the first time I’ve shopped at the beginning of the month- all the prices go down on the first of every month. It made shopping even more fun! So many bargains! The best stuff I got was two 3/4 yd. pieces of feather and bead trim ($5 a yd), 2 colors of bead on wire (.42 a yd), a fabulous feathery silver metallic (.29 a yd), and a yard of Mokuba ribbon- white with black polka dot(yikes- $5.49). They had all their Mokuba ribbon at half price, but it is still so expensive, especially compared to everything else in the store, that I couldn’t bring myself to splurge on any except this small bit- I love polka dots!- and a more reasonably priced 2 yd piece of gold.
I also got lots of metallic and black mini ric-rac for the bug pins (20 packages at 12 packs for a dollar), 18 packs (3 yds each) of Mokuba embroidery ribbon in assorted varieties, textures and colors, for 3 packs for $1. I got lots of spools of ribbon for the bugs, some for as low as .25 a 10 yd spool! All the right jewel colors too! Then I got some black velvets in various widths. I wonder how they would work on bugs? Also, some assorted gold trims (at .15 a yd, how can I resist!)… never know when I’ll have to dress another king and a really 70’s brown leather fringe… I don’t know- it just spoke to me.
Oh yeah, the spool of ribbon flowers for $4. I will have to bring some of these to doll club to share. I discovered that you can paint these flowers with diluted acrylic paint and so have any color you want.
Somehow I managed to get through my shopping spree with money left in my pocket- my budget was $100- although I came home with more than I could carry into the house in one trip!
Great day and lots of new and inspiring materials.
I had fun today. I went on a treasure hunt… a shopping expedition. First I went to Pasa Yarns in Uxbridge (Elmdale Rd). I remember going to a mill store at the same location in the 70’s, when I was weaving and doing more knitting, but this is a new place.
The store is a jumble of fibers, lots of dark corners. I’d wanted a flashlight. I was looking for wool suitable for doll hair and I did find some. You have to buy the entire cone of whatever yarn you want, so I now have more then a lifetime supply of light blond, dk. brown, and a reddish brown wool for hair. It was so cheap though… I think $3.00 a pound, that I can hardly complain about having too much!
I also came home with other wonderful stuff that I don’t need, but it was soooo beautiful! Wonderful mohair (at $6.50 a pound it is the most expensive fiber they sell) and mohair blends, thick and thin boucle, and some cotton that may or may not work for doll hair. I also got a pound of black roving ($5.50) that I will try for stuffing small black dolls and also for hair. It has a beautiful luster.
