Xanthe Comes Home and Other Stuff

When you are a doll maker, you get to play with other doll makers quite a bit.........one thing we like to do is a kind of doll round robin, where you form into groups, each person starts a doll off and send it to the next person on the list who adds something and sends it on and so forth. Quite often, these dolls have accompanying journals, so not only to they acquire clothes, accessories and a personality, they have stories written about them as they go. I have just participated in the Art Dolls Only Travelling Doll Project in a small group that was within Australia.  My doll has just returned home from a farm in Western Australia where Kailee (Sophia La La) gave her gorgeous silk clothes. Before that she had been in Hobart with Grace at Little Arty Crafty Crow where she got her underwear, a handknitted cardigan and beret and some cool artist's supplies, including a sketchbook which is filled with drawings!

I still had Grace's doll, Netty, here when mine arrived back home, so they had a bit of time to "hang out" together before Netty went home to Hobart. Here they are together, chewing the fat.

Netty arrived with no face and a sad story of abandonment, all beautifully told and illustrated in her journal. I gave the story a happy ending, Netty a new face, hair and shoes and some warm things to wear over the silk clothes that Kailee had made. (It's colder here than in WA!)

Grace managed to give Netty a wonderful "found-in-the-attic" look by using a crackled paint finish and staining.

I loved working in Netty's wee journal - I tried to replicate some of the character that Grace had given it.

And one more thing: my grand-daughter has befriended a German exchange student over the past few months. The exchange student is returning home soon, so she is hosting a special farewell dinner on Saturday night. Ten girls all dressed in formal dresses and high heels! I think this will be the first time my almost fifteen year old grand-daughter has got so dressed up! (*thinks*: have to get a photo of that!) Anyway, we made a special little "Zozie" doll for The German girl to take home from Tasmania - the little heart-shaped pocket on the front has a rolled scroll with a hand-written message from my grand-daughter.

Busy week - even managed to fit in a bit of olive-picking in a friend's grove on Wednesday, started back with violin lessons and I'm cooking for a visiting Japanese businessman tonight. Bob is showing him around the state and has set up meetings etc. for him. Whew!