A SUMMER PROJECT

I usually find that summer gives me some spare time to work on a special project or two. This summer, I decided to make another large oil-painted (head) doll to fit a pair of antique child's shoes that were a gift. I made one a while ago as a special order and thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. I'm now retired so I can make things at my leisure and as I choose. This doll will have a jointed cloth body and will probably end up being around 21" (53 cms) tall. 

                                                               The antique child's boots

I sculpted a head from air-dry clay after working out the approximate size it needed to be, using the boots as a guide. 

                                              The head sculpt. 

The sculpt was covered in cotton knit fabric, which was sized, sanded, gessoed and under-painted ready for the oil painting process.

The prepared head, ready for painting.

Oil painting takes quite a while, because it is done in multiple layers, which require drying time in between.

The first layers of oil paint.

                                                                  Subsequent layering

While I was waiting for the layers of paint to dry enough to continue, I drafted a pattern - hopefully it won't need to much adjustment. I've also been working on the wig. And thinking about clothes and finishing touches. 

Long Time!

I haven't posted anything here in quite a while - my bad! Life seems to get in the way of regular blogging and I'm not sure the limited traffic on blogs these days justifies the time spent writing them etc. Despite that, I'll try and be better and more regular, because I DO like writing a blog - if for nothing more than that it is a kind of potted diary of what I'm doing. 

Here's some new work:

Rueben and Daphne.

These are two cloth dolls completed earlier this year.

Two knitted frogs - DotPebbles pattern

These were great fun to make.

And finally, just to show evidence of the cold snap we had this past winter, here are some pictures of frost tracery on my back porch windows after a week of hard frosts.

Two Cloth Dolls

Spring is really in the air after a particularly mild winter - my fruit trees are in blossom about three weeks early and bulbs are flowering everywhere. Time to come out of hibernation and get into the garden! I am usually quite productive over winter, and this year is no exception.

One of my winter projects was the making of these two all-cloth dolls. They are a bit experimental in how I made the heads. They were needle-sculpted in wool first and then given an overlay of knit cotton fabric, which was catch-stitched to the form underneath. It was a lovely way to work. Both dolls are around fourteen inches high and finished with all the usual hand-made detail.

 

Recent Work

Autumn is slowly drifting into winter, so I'm starting to spend more time inside when it's too inclement to work in the garden. Autumn came late this year, but now, a few days before winter officially begins, the trees are almost leafless and grey, rainy days are more frequent.

More inside time means more working on dolls by the fire, which is a lovely thing to do. Here are two dolls I've recently completed. The little boy in the sailor suit was commissioned and the striped-dress girl was started last year as a needle-felting experiment. The head on this doll is needle-felted then covered with fabric which is catch-stitched to the felted form underneath. I'm quite happy with the result and may make more dolls like this.

New Stuff

Here are some things I've been working on in recent weeks - some of these are available in my Etsy  store (link in side bar)..........some special little "Sukeshi" dolls and a couple of needle-felted critters. Always busy!

 

ALL DONE!

Well, this "Baby's Boots" project is finally finished! I'm particularly pleased with how she turned out and I love how her clothes suit her to a T.  The wig (made from Lincoln sheep locks, which are more hair-like than woolly) worked well, too, styled using rags to curl it in the old-fashioned way. I used cotton batiste for the underwear and worked a crochet edging on the petticoat. The dress is smocked white-on-white with a crochet edging around the collar. 

The coat is made from some lovely boiled-wool fabric in dark teal with black feather-stitched details, with the collar and yoke lined with champagne silk. I knitted her hat in a shade to match the coat (lucky find - last ball in the shop!) and lightly felted it. The stockings are cotton knit. The bear in some of the photos is from my collection and was made by my sister. Linda. Her new owner has given "Baby's Boots" the name "Clara", which suits her very well!

 Here is the finished photo-shoot: