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.

 

Putting It All Together...........and other things

 I finally got this big girl put together - this is the biggest doll I've made in a long time, but of course, she had to be sized to fit those beautiful antique boots. She's around 23.5 inches tall (60 cms) The permanent wig will probably add a little to her final height.

I've dressed her temporarily in a vintage baby dress I had and plunked the wigging material on her head for this photoshoot while I think about her clothing. 

The next job will be hand-knotting the wig and styling it appropriately. I'm using this blonde lincoln wool, because it is the only thing I can find that's long enough to make a wig for this big girl. It's not as lustrous as mohair, but it should make a lovely wig. As you can see, the antique baby boots fit her perfectly! I also need to add more painted detail to her hands and feet. Very happy with progress.

I've had a couple of other projects on the go that I've recently completed. Firstly, in late 2022, I bought a vintage "Sasha" doll that I spotted on a stall at a fair. She dates from about 1974, which is about when I noticed these lovely dolls and really wanted one. At the time, with a young family, money was pretty tight and I couldn't really justify the expense of one of these dolls. 

They were quite pricey. Only had to wait fifty years to get one!

I got this one naked and with a bit of an amateur haircut (which was salvageable) for a reasonable price. She's sat around naked for quite a while, but a few weeks ago, I got the urge to give her some clothes. Which I did - tried to make them appropriate to her era - smocked gingham dress, knitted cardi and hat in kid mohair, knitted socks and red leather buckled shoes. I've named her "Lucienne".

Then I thought Lucienne needed a playmate, so I designed a doll based loosely on the proportions of the original "Sasha" dolls. I didn't want to make a replica, but I made a more simply sculpted head than I usually do, with a neck joint. This doll is also jointed at the shoulders and hips. The wig is hand-knotted suri alpaca hair. I dressed her in a similar way to my Sasha doll, with a smocked dress, angora knitted hat and cardigan and knitted socks with leather sandals. She was fun to make!

Some New Work

Although my doll-making has tailed off a bit due to the commitment I have made to renovating my house and garden, I'm still constantly making them, albeit more slowly.

Firstly, I have this brother and sister pair in their winter woollies. They are both about ten inches (25 cms)

Most recently, I completed this little child - she about eight and a half inches tall (22 cms) with jointed shoulders and hips and needle-sculpted fingers, toes and knees. In a departure (or maybe a return) I painted this doll's head with oils. I do love the different, translucent look of oils over acrylics. It is somehow more subtle and sympathetic. I'd almost forgotten how much I loved to look. 

It was looking at the recent work of Susan Fosnot an American cloth doll maker who makes exquisite oil-painted dolls that inspired me to re-visit oil-painting my dolls. More to come, I think.

Here she is - so much fun to make!

It's Spring!

Winter is something of a time of torpor for me.......I tend to stay close to the fire and be a bit inward looking. Which might go some way to explaining why I haven't posted here since April! It's not as if we even get particularly severe winters here - in Tasmania, the coldest state in Australia. Our winters are mild by North American or European standards. No snow to speak of, a few frosts, some rain but also lots of sunny days, but still I like to huddle up inside in winter.

Spring has arrived quickly and greenly this year - things are burgeoning in the garden and I feel more inclined to look outwards. Longer days, warm sunshine and life feels good.

But my winter days by the fire do produce a fair bit of artwork, so here is a sampling from the last few months.

A sweet red-haired girl in a smocked dress and winter woollies:

 

An Izannah Walker-style doll in clothing trimmed with feather stitch and crochet:

 

"Sparrow":

 

"Mouse"

 

                                                                     
                                                     "Juno":

And a doll made to Deanna Hogan's "Verity" pattern. I called her "Patience" because she waited ten years to be made! I also made her a little wooden chair to be patient on.

 And that was about it for winter projects, apart from a few more jobs around the house which you can read about on my home reno blog at http://www.fourteenstepstothebluedoor.blogspot.com.au  

I've started working on some new things now and I promise to blog about them very soon! 

Simple Pleasure

While I enjoy the challenge of stretching my doll-making abilities into areas of innovation and experimentation, I sometimes also love the pleasure of making something quite simple. The recent work I made for an exhibition stretched me a bit technically so these little dolls were a bit of an antidote......and what fun I had making them!

 

Very simple constructed in basically two pieces (front and back), they are softly stuffed and I used a bit of basic needle-sculpting to define the neck and the arms. The mask faces are glued onto the front of the head and a few extra details added. This one is Kiki:

 

......and this one is Coco: