Baby, it’s cold inside

Our heating is broken, and it’s warmer sitting outside in the overcast gloom than it is at the kitchen table. I feel like we live in the olden days – at least – that’s what I tell the kids as they peer at me under their beanies and try to move their arms to eat their breakfasts, hindered by all the thick clothing layers they’ve been made to pile on over their pjs and under their dressing gowns. 

Only a week until someone comes to replace the logic board in the heating unit. 

Three things that happened to me today (that didn’t involve complaining about the cold):

1) I made a new friend. Amelia’s new friend from school has a very nice mother who… SEWS. Ahh, kindred spirit.

2) I told my mum the plot of my novel over lunch and her eyes started moving in spirals like she was a hypnotised cartoon character. She told me it sounded very complex. 

3) I made the head for the doll to send to Nicaragua. I am making one of my punkdorf dolls and the swearing that goes on as I wrangle large wads of fleece has not got any less despite the practice. 

I haven’t written my 500 words for Every Day in May today, yet, so I’d better go do that now. At least my laptop is keeping me warm.

Dolls for the Casa Bernabe Orphanage

I have just signed up to make a doll to contribute to Craft Hope’s second project, which is to supply as many dolls as possible to the children at the  Casa Bernabe Orphanage in Nicaragua.

“The orphanage … house[s] children from the ages of 4 to 18, boys and girls.  They are currently working to not only feed and clothe the kids, they are starting to really focus on their psychological and emotional health as well.  When the children arrive at the orphanage, they literally have nothing and we would love to give them something that is “theirs.”

Craft Hope is working with Eren and the ORPHANetwork to provide handmade, soft-bodied dolls for the children.  Many of the children come from abusive situations and the dolls will allow the children to develop the mothering and nurturing instincts that most little girls have.

Here is what we are needing…   Of course, the dolls must be handmade.  We will need girl, as well as boy dolls.  We ask that the dolls have brown hair and brown eyes, since we would like them to resemble the children they are going to.  You may use any pattern you like.

If you have never tried sewing a doll, it’s okay!  Just give it a shot.  We aren’t looking for perfection, we are looking for the love that goes into making the item.  This is also a good project to get your children involved.  You can even put a little heart inside the doll.  Be creative, it’s your creation that will be loved no matter what.”

Sign up over at Craft Hope now if this seems like something you would like to be a part of, get sewing and send your contribution/s to Craft Hope in the States for June 13th.

Scrap happy

We are heading to Canada on Sunday so I am dashing about packing, repacking bags that small children unpack, sorting, making lists and generally feeling slightly panicked. In between I am finding moments to cut out a bunch of my new dolls. Above is the scene under my ironing board. I thought it makes for an appropriate photo for today because it looks a little like the way I feel. Argh!

Anyway (she says calmly, after a deep breath and a cup of camomile tea), blogging may be a little irregular over the next few weeks but hopefully I will post some gorgeous photos of lake-side Summer living! Hooray!

Doll design – cracked!

A good part of the last week has been spent tinkering away with my doll prototypes. Tinkering is a nice word for it really. It’s been more like CUT and HACK, RIP and CURSE. But I have finally made a doll that I can look at and think “yep, that’s where I was trying to get to.”

Here’s the final little sketch which I went from on Friday:

(I had to reconstruct it before I scanned it because it ended up being cut up as a pattern piece in the general frenzy).

And here she is:

All I wanted to make was something appealing, something easy and something that I could look at and see that I have left my mark on. Designing a new toy is not something I do very often. I don’t think I have done anything really new in years so it was pretty hard work for me. It was a completely creative pursuit but not entirely enjoyable.

Now I can play with the pattern – switching fabrics and giving her different hair… the fun stuff. I think I am going to change her legs a little and give her some feet, but apart from that it’s pretty much just trace and cut from now.

And just for fun, here’s the line up of rejects:

My main sources of inspiration in this project:

Rosa’s Ermelinda and Florinda (the reason I wanted to try dolls again in the first place), Fanja’s beautiful Lumi dolls, and everything Mimi’s ever made.

Thank you to the kind people who left really helpful and encouraging things in my comments or in emails last week. It helped a huge amount.

Prototyping

On my desk today – rag doll designs. I am trying to make a new doll shape and it’s driving me crazy! I came up with just the right proportions this afternoon only to think, “gee this looks familiar” and I fished out my copy of Hilary’s Make-Along-Story pattern and low and behold the shape of the body was almost the spitting image of Olive’s dress. And the head, while a slightly different shape, was about the same size too.

So it’s back to the drawing board and time to get out my old friend the seam ripper.

I am trying to get something a little bit vintage raggedy-anne, and totally appealing and altogether “me”.

As my mum said to me, I think I am trying to hard.

Also – do you see the little glimmer of that crochet rug on the book cover? Fabulous! I am dreaming in crochet most nights.

On my desk – turned wood

On my desk today are a group of beautifully turned wooden kokeshi-like dolls. My Uncle Michael has had a wood lathe for a long time but just recently has been spending some serious time turning out exquisite bowls as gifts and these dolls specifically for me to decorate. Let me tell you, it was with a tremulous hand that I approached the first one yesterday with a sizzling-hot wood burning tool. It’s hard to get my head around decorating them as in my opinion they are perfect just the way they are… but I experimented on the little peg-like one on the right.

The wood burning tool catches in the grain so it’s difficult to get a smooth line, but it was exciting and now my mind is buzzing with possibilities.

I tried wood turning at uni – it was incredibly difficult as a beginner (for me, anyway). It’s one of those activities like throwing a clay pot. When you watch someone with expertise and talent work at it, it looks beautiful, soothing and as easy as working with soft butter, but when you try it yourself things go (sometimes scarily) awry. I finally managed to turn a strange knobby thing to include in my woodwork folio, but it didn’t inspire me. Michael’s work *is* what inspires me.

The Friday Archives – Polymer clay dolls

I have had a seriously crazy, running all around the place, kind of day. But I did manage to get to IKEA to get another table and I bought a cute set of those drawers (helmer – just like Maisie has) to fit underneath for all the nicknacks which usually clutter my desk.

But it’s Friday Archives time. This week I have cheated a little and am republishing something which I put up on Loobylu in 1999 (or maybe 2000?). I made Phil a “Big-P Action Figure” for Christmas that year – and its place in history is nicely marked by the Segway tshirt (ahh… remember those days?). I made a whole crew of little dolls, all about 15cm hight. I was seriously inspired by Dame Darcy’s dolls at the time. I remember they were very fiddly for a novice like me – I made soft bodies from fabric and stuffing and polymer clay heads, arms and legs. I remember that each doll took me about a day to complete. Looking at some of the Dame Darcy dolls again – I feel inspired to make some more. I wonder if she still uses human hair? Mine was nasty acrylic stuff which never really worked

I am really enjoying all the Friday Archives entries that are popping up (it’s as simple as posting some of your past work – be it art, craft, writing or photography – to your blog). It is so interesting to see where people have come from with their work.