This is my Frankenstein doll....

There is no other way to say it.  She has a reject body without arms or head.

Not the clearest image, but you get the idea.  So the idea is I am making a doll for the Craft show here in Adelaide next week.  Now the theme is Musicals, which I assume is like 7 brides for 7 brothers or the Phantom of the Opera?  So I decided Baz Leurhman's Moulin Rouge would be an appropriate choice.  So then I had to find a doll idea.  Well there was a costume called Pink Campagne which was beaded and all ostrich feathers - perfect for a doll. 

So I have this reject body, which needs a head and arms.  But I am too lazy to make new arms, I knew I had some arms somewhere, hopefully they will be to scale........................
Then there is the head.  This is for the Cloth Doll Association, so she has to be cloth, so I decided to make a head.  A Barbara Willis style head would be good, all sculpted and cloth..................Well.............. you always should make more than
one head......................

Well, I thought I did a great job of  sculpting the head.
I even managed to add eylash wool for eyelashes.
But.................... the eyes were too small, and so was the head for the body.  So I had to make another head!!

But like Goldilocks, this one was too big and did not look very good.  My thing is mask faces, so of course I will have to find a mask face to make a whole new head!

And you know I did have a rather nice face that I could use, and I did find those arms, and I still have to make shoes, which I think will have to be sculpted from paperclay, because the Frankenstein feet are so out of shape..........................

Stay tuned to see the next episode of the Frankenstein doll alias - Pink Campagne!

Where do old dolls go?

I decided to add a couple of pictures of my early dolls, that I may not have shown.
This one is a pattern doll from Sherry Goshon, it is one of the first mask face dolls I made.  She turned out quite well, but she is nothing like the pattern that Sherry did.
 (When I have more time I will add the links, it's a bit late at the moment.)

This is another mask face doll created by Leslie Molen.  The pattern is The Gossips.

Now here is Moxie.  Another mask face doll which I had the pleasure of making in a class with Susie McMahon.  Again, she is nothing like Susie's Moxie, but at least I did finish her.  Often with workshops, if you don't finish the doll on the day - she becomes a UFO and then it takes forever to get back in the mood to finish.

You will be shocked to hear that the first 2 dolls have been dis-assembled.  I feel bad about doing this, but the challenge is in making the doll - then what do you do with it?  It can sit on a shelf for forever, with all the other dolls that come along.  You might be saying sell them on ebay, but you know, because they are another artists design, you often cannot 'sell their work' and as I have designed my own dolls now, they are not really my dolls, they are someone elses vision.  So the sad fact is that a lot of my dolls have been dis-assembled.  Many.  And there are currently a few more hovering over the bin.  So if you think I am wrong in doing this, you are welcome to suggest an alternative.  The more dolls I make, the more they change and some of these old dolls just don't belong anymore, and sadly are just not good enough to sell.

Hannie Sarris

I have just found out that we have lost Hannie Sarris.   I beleive she passed away in May of this year The pictured bust is called sadness and it is a recent work.  Hannie had for the past couple of years been doing workshops teaching her sculpting method in air dry clay.  When you visit the web site have a look at the wonderful dolls her students made.  I am devastated, especially since I bought her book

I learnt so much from her clear pictures and instructions.  Her dolls are beautiful.  I am ashamed to say I have lost her book.  I have a terrible feeling I put it out with the recycling.  I have searched hi and lo and with all the shifting from room to room and going through my stuff......................it is definitely gone.  And now Hannie is gone and there will never be that workshop to go to.

This quote I found on  Annadan  - the translation from russian is a little wonky......
I know that angels are all around us,
we go through life "the way" and are confronted with them at every turn.
Books that we read
The colors that we see
All information that passes through us
and we are through it - all is the manifestation of Angels,
manifestation in all - the main thing to feel.

The more things change the more they stay the same......

Surprise!  I could not stay away from my blog.  Even though I have not been making any dolls - well actually I did make these................but I will elaborate on that later...........
I just need to put something out there, I guess as a personal journal - although the whole world can see it if they choose - not that personal?
Anyway, I just have not had the time or inclination to make dolls.  Remember I moved into this terrific new space, and I had room to do workshops and blah blah blah.  WELL, I decided my creativity was stifled in that part of the house - it was too removed from the living areas and I would walk in and walk straight out again unable to pick up a piece of work!  There are so many UFO's that I could just quietly work on to finish - but nothing!
Soooooooooo - I am moving back into my tiny workroom.  Malcolm refuses to put any shelves on the wall, and the storage is all on one wall, not quite how I had it before.

So now I will see if I do get to make a doll in this space.  In November there is a craft show here in Adelaide and the theme is Musicals - so I will make a Moulin Rouge type doll, because I promised a friend I would make something.
A few weeks ago, there was a doll show in the southern suburbs and I found this.......................

When I was little, my dad would get books from the second hand shops, I remember reading the Rupert annuals.  I loved Rupert.  He was such a helpful friend - not as silly as Pooh bear (but I still liked Pooh bear too).
Many years ago I found a small Rupert bear in a shop here in Adelaide, but I did not buy it because I thought it was too expensive.  So when I saw this one, I had to have him, he is about 14"  (45cm) and compared to the little one (20years ago) he was a good price.
So, let's see if I can get something made in between all the work I have now I am working full time for my husband.
Also, I have come to a decision about my doll making.  I will no longer make or sell doll patterns.  As much as it is a great little sideline to earn money from this craft, I just don't want to do it anymore.  I don't actually want to teach either!  I still want to explore my own methods and create a distinctive style - which I do not have- so any dolls I make now will be just art.  I am a doll artist or figurative artist or whatever...........I am still trying to find my way, so teaching others is not really logical.  What do you think?

Well, I did make one thing

Here is a picture of little Elenor who is holding a dolly I made as a special present for her.  This dolly is not an original design by me, she is Lizzie by Karlene Atkins of katkins.  I had to reduce her size, she would have been bigger than Elenor!
At the moment I am knitting - my Winter craft - this is a pattern I found on the net
Mr. Bean style Teddy
Nathan has always loved Mr. Bean and we both think his teddy is the best, so I think I will be making a few of these.....one for me, one for Nathan, one for my sister, one for my cousin, one for my friend................

A quick way to make a quilt!

While surfing the net I discovered a new kind of puzzle.  Give it a try and see what you think.  At the bottom of the page you can go to other pages of puzzles to do.  Good brain exercise - and some interesting quilts!

Quilt puzzle

The Mystery of the Little Clock

It was this time last year that I was travelling all
over Europe.

While on our last stop in London, I happened to find a lovely little shop selling Royal Doulton with a  30 % off sale!  Now, I was very disappointed that I did not buy a Louis XIII clock when touring the Palace of Versailles.  So I really wanted a little clock and this one would do as reminder of my travels.  ( The truth is I still want that Louis clock, and I am going to have to go back to France to get it) - but I digress - I bought this little clock and was so pleased with myself.

So I have had this clock in the wall unit, and not really realised it is keeping time, but not the right time!  So, I will have to wind it forward........... but I looked and I looked and I could not find a winder or anything that kept it going!  I looked into the bottom of the clock and there was no way you could set it through the little holes in the bottom....  I asked my husband and he looked at me blankly - I thought men knew everything!

Then a while ago, a friend visited me to do some quilting, and when I told her my problem, she just smiled and said   " Oh, I worked in a jewellery shop, I know how to fix it " and with that she popped the front face out with her fingernail and adjusted the time and popped it back into its little resting place!  What about that !

Well I tried

I have decided (with a heavy heart) that I am going to take a long break from doll making and , so too my blog.  This has not been an easy decision.  But circumstances have forced me to realise the truth, which is that I just will not have the time to make dolls to sell/ put into competitions/ create patterns or just for fun.  I am basically going to be working pretty much full time in our carpentry business.  I know that I cannot be 'thinking about dolls' when I need to concentrate on 'office admin'.  We are at a transition stage in the business and there is a lot of  planning and development that needs to take place from now on.  I don't mind using my brain, and as far a my creativity - well, I can knit, quilt or do some embroidery.  Dolls do take a lot of time to make.  You cannot make a doll in a day - well not the sort of dolls I make.  I find it hard enough now to get on a roll and I hate the thought having UFO's.  I so wanted to finish this one but, by the time I think about the type of beading and costuming and colour and fabric choices, it will be forever in the making.  So I am stepping away from dolls and blog land for a while.  Knowing me, that will be about a week before I get itchy to do something.  It just seems, with the work load I have at the moment, dolls will have to be last on the list. So I will leave the site open, but it may be a while before I add anything - I think!
Till the next time.................
Sandy  :-)

The Unsold Sweethearts

These are the two little dolls, that did not sell at the show.  You can clearly see the difference in the mask faces, even though they are from the same mold.

The doll on the left has a mask made from buckram under the cotton lycra, you can see the original process I used here.

The other mask is paperclay over the original head and you can see it here.

The doll in blue has a much softer look for an all cloth doll. 

She looks a little worried or shy to me, which is good because it does give her character. 

So these girls can stay with me a while, I may sell them, when I decide to set up ebay or etsy.  We'll see.

So the show is over

Yes, the Hahndorf show has been and gone.  There is the merchant side of my personality, which likes the buzz of setting up and manning the sales stall.  But, I always end up with a tension headache, because no matter how early I start to prepare, I am always up at 2am still planning and packing and checking items.  Then I can't sleep because I need to be up bright and early..............well you know I am not a morning person at the best of times........
Sooooo.......I get to the show and fumble around and fall over myself trying to settle in - and the crowds, that have been lined up at the door, swarm in and start perusing.  Well, as it happened, I had only just got my doll on the table and a wonderful lady, who is a collector of ooak dolls, saw my little red head girl (I sort of named her Mary Jane - but not properly) and she said "yes, I'll take her, she's lovely". 

Now as you may remember I had 5 dolls to finish.  I can't believe I forgot to take a finished picture of Titania!  The last picture I took was of her in her panniers - but I kept adding finishing touches to her, and in the end - I never took a final picture!  Someone I know must have taken a pic so I will ask around.  The lady who won Oberon and Titania  in the raffle is going to contact me in the future, so I may get a pic.

I did finish the other 2 dolls that made up the Cloth Doll Club sign - I had the 'S' and 'h' to do, so here is the 'h'
and the finished sign with all the doll letters that other members made are in this picture.............

 It is a fun concept and the costuming ideas that doll makers come up with are astounding.  These are all the same doll pattern - with adjustments ( except for the 'o' faces and the 2 'l's).  It shows how much fun you can have with dressing cloth dolls.

And the final 2 dolls were the little sweethearts (my name for them) - which I did manage to finish - with the help of one of the traders (I'll post her details and tell you her trading name when I find it) - I needed hair to finish the second doll.  So I actually had 3 dolls on the trading table - the little red head, a blond dolly and a dark haired girl.  Tomorrow I'll upload the photos of those 2.
 I can show you the WIP of the blond girl..........................

Still unpacking and restoring order to my 'Studio', which now has curtains