Florence

...........is finally finished! I made her a red wool coat, hat and shoes with feather-stitched details and now she is ready for anything! The coat is meant to have a deep lace frill around the collar, but I am inclined to leave it as it is. The coat pattern was kindly sent to me by Connie Tognoli who researched all her "Columbian" patterns from original dolls. So apart from the possibility that I MIGHT add lace to the collar, this doll is done!
This doll was made for the MAIDA challenge which ends in a few days. Go to the MAIDA site to see all the "Columbian" interpretations.

Busy...........

It's such a busy time of year, with the garden producing so much extra that needs to be dealt with - I've made blackcurrant jelly and cassis and frozen a heap of peas. Tomorrow will be beetroot chutney and some rhubarb and ginger jam, if I have time. And an inundation of tomatoes is imminent! I'm very inspired, because Bob is building a wine "cellar" and storage room in a small spare room we had. I need to fill those shelves with delicious preserves!

Meanwhile, in the studio, work continues apace, with commissions and getting kit orders assembled and posted. Did I tell you I love my job?

Here is the Columbian doll made for the MAIDA challenge all finished:

She's a big, handsome girl and I enjoyed the challenge of making her.

For a complete contrast, here is a tiny doll I've been working on and another made using my "Pipkin" pattern:

Here she is in her underwear...

...and fully dressed.

She looks cute in her little knitted hat!

Finally, here is one of the commissions I have been working on:

These dolls are so much fun to pose and play around with.

So you can see there hasn't been much of a summer break around here.......but next week I'm off to   the annual string summer school for a week of music making by the beach. I won't say it will be relaxing, but at least it will be different!

One of the online groups I belong to is hosting a "Not My Colour" Challenge - The challenge being to create a doll in a colour that is not what you see when you look in the mirror. So using my recent pattern and face-mask, I'm making this little brown child. I suppose I could have gone with purple or green, but I think she's a cutie!

Progress

I have made some progress on this new doll 'Serafina'. She is another ADO challenge piece. She's all held together with pins in this picture - I've done a bit more since I took it, but I won't get any more done now until the weekend. Oh yes, the rodent in the original sketch has become a hatching dragon!

Something Halloweeny?

Here is a little working drawing for my next doll - a response to the ADO Halloween Challenge. Halloween is just not a 'thing' here........the seasons and colours are all wrong for a start! So I've never actually made anything with a Halloween theme........this petulant little witch will be a first. See how it goes.

For any of you keeping an eye out for my 100th post giveaway.........I think this is number 88.

WIP Update

Here is my Sylph, 'Aeris', with most of the assembly completed. She now needs to be prepared for painting and then painted. I haven't yet decided finally on a colour scheme, but I'm veering towards something fairly muted and limited. With blue.

ADO Challenge - Preliminary Drawing

This is one of the working drawings I have done for my interpretation of 'Air' for the ADO 'Elements' Challenge. (www.artdollsonly.blogspot.com)

The head is sculpted and with a glorious un-busy-with-other-stuff weekend looming before me, I plan to get a lot done.

New Works-In-Progress

Well.......I'm back at work. I've re-opened my Etsy store http://www.susiemcmahon.etsy.com/ and that has been keeping me busy. I'm going to be introducing some new products over the next few weeks - I had plenty of time when I was overseas to come up with some new ideas.

I' ve also sculpted this finished head and wigged it with some beautiful Tibetan lamb (given to me by Kate Erbach). I have some ideas on how to finish this head, but first I must make a body. The other head was sculpted this morning - still lots of work to do on this one. This is the beginning of my ADO 'Elements' Challenge. She will be based on 'Air'.

Ella Saturday

Here is 'Ella Saturday'. This is the doll I made for the Doll Street Dreamers Discworld Challenge. The Discworld series was written by Terry Pratchett, and before the challenge, I was totally unfamiliar with his work. A bit of hurried research (bless you, google!) and I discovered the character of 'Ella Saturday' who is a minor character in 'Witches Abroad'. I was taken with the description of Ella as a kind of alternative-reality Cinderella with dark skin and pale hair and decided she was the gal for me. She is also known as 'Emberella' or 'Embers' and unlike her Brothers Grimm forbear, she actually liked her position!

I have also posted an update of 'Ophelia' with all the finishing touches completed - they were quite minor - you may not notice!