And now for something completely different

I am making some dolls for my daughters from Patti Culea's book "Creative Cloth Dollmaking". This is a wonderfully inspiring book! The doll itself is interesting with her bead joints and I love all the diagrams on how to make faces using a grid technique-very cool!
My sister and I went to the Stitches Midwest knitting expo last Friday in Chicago. She is a big knitter, though I have never been able to do it! But I found some lovely yarns to use for hair and embellishments for these more artsy type dolls. I also bought some Miyuki beads which are SO beautiful! However I was quite well behaved and didn't spend much money at all.
This is a picture of the new doll I am making and some of the wonderful yarns and fibers I found for hair and embellishments! Yummy!

And here she is!

She is on ebay all this week. I can hardly bear to let her go! Her name is Penelope, and she is the first stump doll I have ever created. I plan on doing several more, with different costumes from different time periods.

Love this...

Beautiful Ribbonwork

Why does everything take so long?
Well, I've been working on my regency costume doll for some time now. I thought she would be done for ebay last Sunday, but here I am still not finished on Tuesday. Of course I went crazy adding silk ribbonwork(which I have learned is not the same as silk ribbon embroidery) to the bonnet. Part of what has taken so long is sort of learning this ribbon technique as I go. I checked out a wonderful book from the library called, "Ribbonwork; The Complete Guide, by Helen Gibb." This book is wonderful, and I will have to add it to my library.
The stump body in the foreground of this picture is the body I am using for my costume doll. She will have a paperclay head and lower arms and will be fastened to a wood base. Her costume is of the Regency period, with a high waist and puffed upper sleeves. She will also have a straw bonnet with silk ribbon embellishments.
She is almost done, but you will have to wait until she is done to see her! Coming very soon, she only has to be attached to her base!

Paperclay work

Ready to go live....

And already sold! Isn't that one for the books! Hooray! Hope the cat wasn't too usual, I just couldn't think of anything else to give her to hold. I hate that about deadlines! Now that it's too late, of course, I can think of lots of things. Those darn accessories are so hard for me. I spend so much time on the doll and her costume I just can't wrap my mind around the little extras. I do think they can sometimes be so important to make or break the whole doll. Gotta work on that!

SPSG deadline

I can't believe how quickly this month has flown by! It is already time for the new issue of Simply Primitives to come out. It seems like yesterday I was working so hard to finish last months doll. Boy I wish I could get a lot more done in a months time.
Here is the doll I'm working on. She is a small 13 " version of an Izannah Walker style doll. I did her head and shoulderplate in paperclay just like Ivy. This doll has the same basic body with a few tweaks to it. I made her an Izannah style repro dress, with low neckline, center gathered bodice, and box pleated skirt. Here is a sneak peek, but you will have to wait until the new issue of SP comes out to see the dress!