Winter Blahs

 I have been experiencing a great propensity for being diverted from making dolls by the minutiae of everyday life. Not to mention reading books In The Daytime! November was very grey here and it sucked the spirit and energy right out of me. I looked over my dolls in progress and decided to complete some. In March I bought the North Coast Dolls kit for making a small needlefelted Waldorf inspired doll and because I knew it would take a lot of time and effort I put off getting into it. It was time to start.  As I began the instructions I discovered a couple of things that were unclear/impossible and didn't get a response to questions from either Little Oke Dolls, from whom I bought the kit, or from Meglena, the creator of North Coast Dolls. I put the doll aside for a while and finally managed to ask my question on Meglena's FB. I got a sort of answer, which made me decide to do what I thought was right anyhow. I carried on. Upon finishing the head, I discovered I had made it too big, so I was unable to use the sweet wig that came with the kit. I made my own out of dolly mohair. That unused wig will of course necessitate the making of another doll with the right sized head! 




At the same time I dug out a pattern I had bought from Gail Wilson for her cloth Fashion Doll. The very charming outfit looked like a lot of work, so it had gone down on the priority list for a while. Gail's patterns are great to work with, as she gives very detailed instructions and excellent patterns. You must, however, follow them EXACTLY to get the expected result. The outfit took a lot of hand work. The doll has combination underwear, a petticoat and a two piece dress, as well as a bonnet and snood. I used red roving I bought from our local yarn store for the hair. I love redheads! The snood, for which there are instructions, took a whole day to make, and then didn't fit! Next day I went online and began again after looking at a lot of full-size patterns. Success. Then it had to be dyed. I'm happy with it. The bonnet took a while, but turned out well, I think.



After quite a bit of soul searching, I have decided it is OK for me to make dolls in many different styles. For instance, Izannah Walker dolls, or Waldorf dolls, or primitive cloth dolls. All my dolls show my hand and eye as the maker. You can tell I made them. I am not going to astonish the world with my original unique dolls, at least not now anyway, so I will carry on enjoying myself hugely, creating dolls in any style that takes my fancy. I am currently starting a small Izannah and finishing up a cloth doll inspired by the portrait of Mademoiselle Riviere by Ingres. She has been waiting for her wardrobe for months!
A very quiet Christmas awaits us here in covidland. Reading through Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta novels and various Jodi Picoults.




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