Arts of Delight

 Here she is, my latest doll. Making her body was a learning experience, and the next doll I made was modified because of it. The period Grodnertal dolls were mostly dressed in Regency styles, so I have been looking at a lot of paintings from that time. I think it may be my favourite costume period. Because of the scale of this doll, all her clothing has been hand sewn. Draping the pattern for her dress took a couple of days, and sewing the dress took a couple more. There were lots of adjustments to make. I had to piece her hat. The silk fabric came from a thrifted blouse, so I needed to cut it carefully. After all the fiddling this took, I may make a little rag doll, as a palate cleanser.

  Inspired by the charming ceramic dolls made by Jenny Barnett, and a chance image of a Grodnertal head she sculpted out of wax, I have plunged into making my own take on the wooden dolls made in the early 1800's. They were carved by people in the Grodnertal area of Germany during the wintertime when they couldn't work in the forest. They also go under the name Tuck Comb doll, because of the carved comb in the doll's hairstyle, or peg doll because of the pegs holding together their wooden joints. I am not sure who was responsible for dressing these dolls. I have read that many were sold undressed and then dressed by their new owners. The costumes have really captured my fancy. I especially like the late Regency/Empire styles, as well as those extravagant early Victorian dresses with gigot sleeves. Dressing dolls has taught me so much about historical costume, since I have to make my own patterns. Bless the internet! I am not handy at carving wood, so I have sculpted my doll...

All the upheaval in the world right now is taking its toll. A side effect of all this is to put us in the position of living in the present, which is A Good Thing in the grand scheme. We are in another lockdown, which gives me plenty of reasons to spend my days in the studio making dolls. It gives me joy, and who doesn't need that in their lives? At the end of 2021 I was keen to finish a lot of UFO's. I had completed a doll inspired by the portrait of Mademoiselle Riviere by Ingres, but she was not dressed. I made her undergarment, then her stockings, and researched chemisettes, because the dress I made was very plain. I love the ruffles on the chemisette I made. She is dressed now and only needs a stand so she can be displayed to advantage. It has been started, but I ran out of steam. At the same time I got all excited about making my own design for a doll with a baseball head, or a ball head. There is a doll on the mollychicken blog that is adorable and I made a version for m...

  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 t...

After a fair bit of work and a lot of support from Anna Eidt my dolls are now on exhibit for the month of November in the Gallery Of Sorts in the back room at the local crafts store Watson and Lou. They have been carrying my classic Waldorf dolls for a while and I feel honoured that they are willing to showcase all my different interests in dollmaking. Many thanks, Watson and Lou!

Today I finished a doll that has kept me busy for the past three weeks, (with days off thrown in). I wanted to make a cloth doll with a much more rounded head than the usual flattish one associated with primitive cloth dolls from the past. My eye was caught by a cloth doll made by Peggy Flavin that you can see on the website of Corgyncombe Courant. She has a nose that actually sticks out. Peggy graciously explained to me that the nose was made from paperclay that was glued onto the face before painting. Her doll was adapted from a Gail Wilson pattern, which uses darts to make the head round and gives it a chin too. I thought that I would try to make a doll with a baseball head and used advice from several sites on how to create my own head. After some experimentation I came up with a head I liked and proceeded to design a body in proportion to the head. After stuffing the doll I added a nose of paperclay, then sanded and gessoed her head and limbs. Next, painting the face. I always enj...

 I spent a great deal of time yesterday photographing and posting my most recent dolls on Instagram and listing them in my Etsy store. They all came together around the same time, as I found myself working on several at the same time. This black lady doll was a struggle to complete. I used a technique to paint her skin that did not turn out as I had hoped and she has a decidedly plain face. It took a lot of pondering to come up with her hair treatment, but I am satisfied with it. Even though her dress is very simple, it took a lot of work to make, as I had to adjust the gathers and fiddle with the back of the dress to get it to fit (clumsily). She has a full set of underwear too. The easiest thing about her was her painted on boots. I completed this little Izannah Walker doll and made her a period correct Sontag with tiny needles and fine yarn. I like the colour of her dress. I did struggle with her face, and I am still not totally happy with it, but she is launched into the world ...