28th May 2009
My creative space this week has been quiet. I managed to finish the doll, but life is shifting slightly as Lily’s afternoon naps all but disappear and we get busier with friends and family. I am looking ahead at the next six months as being fairly full with the daily hub-bub of being a mum, but 2010 will be different again as Lily starts kinder and I start working again. What will that work be? That’s probably where my creative space has been this week – in my head, figuring these things out; making plans… The rest of 2009 is about working that out and setting things up ready to blast into action in February 2010.
More creative spaces at Kootoyoo – thanks Kirsty!
26th May 2009
I have almost finished this little girl, ready to send off to Eren and then on to Nicaragua. She needs a few more pieces in her wardrobe, because (well, really) a girl can’t go on a long trip to Central America without any pants.
She’s a funny one. As with my other punkdorf dolls, I made her sans-pattern. She’s got tiny, skinny little legs, one longer than the other, and big, boofy arms. While she looks a little dull in these photos (I find that these dolls are impossible to photograph) I think she’s actually pretty cute (even if I do say so myself) and definitely squishy enough to find someone to love her.
14th May 2009
This is the stuff that I pulled out of my bag (apart from the laptop) from last night when I got to go and do some stitching in a place where the ducted heating was belting out good warmth. Thank you to my kind host who kept it running for my sake even though it meant several people had to go bare foot to enjoy the balmy climate.
“My Creative Space” this week has still mostly been on my laptop doing my Every Day in May writing, but I have also been working on my doll to send off for the Casa Bernabe Orphanage project. Her head is much smaller than the dolls I made for my girls for Christmas but she should still be a decent, huggable size.
Other acts of random creativity this week:
1) I made a chicken pie. It wasn’t ready when I had to leave last night, but there’s enough to serve up again tonight and I am looking forward to that goodness. I learnt that I can make a pie (including the pastry) fast, if I need to.
2) I started sketching some ideas for a Paper Moon print. I will need to clean the studio before I can get the gocco out but it’s great motivation.
3) … hmm.. it’s been a bit quiet creatively speaking. Oh, but that’s right : the writing! Apart from yesterday, I have managed to get at least 500 words down every day, even though it’s way too cold to get up at 5.30 at the moment. My manuscript’s at 65, 363 words and that’s with some heavy edits. The plot structure is out.of.control – I was thinking yesterday that it’s a little holding a jelly (jello?) in my hands. No matter how hard I try and hang on to it, bits ooze between my fingers and the whole lot threatens to fall at my feet in a big messy splat. But it’s draft one, it’s always going to be a jelly draft. At least this one is raspberry flavoured.
Other My Creative Spaces here, thanks to Kirsty. xx
12th May 2009
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.
20th November 2008
I am all over the place at the moment but it feels ok. I go where the mood takes me (which is quite often to the top shelf of the fridge door where there is a block of Green and Black’s white chocolate). So what am working on? From top to bottom: The hand quilting on Amelia’s quilt – that’s taking me a while. And I am still making lots of those punkdorf dolls. One for new baby Georgia, one for Lily, one for Amelia, a tiny one for Mirabel, one first cousin once removed Baby X and so on. The doll pictured is for new baby Georgina – the other’s neck was way too floppy and the puckering really annoyed me and this one is a vast improvement, (although, very annoyingly, the string inside the head which squeezes the face into the correct shape seems to have come adrift so she is still kind of wonky looking). Her name is Tali (until otherwise named) which is Tongan for “waiting”… she was almost entirely made while I waited for news of her birth. And under that? I am always working on the garden these days and I am waiting on capsicum seeds to germinate in my biodegradable toilet roll pots… I may have inadvertently overheated them. And below that are a couple of pieces of trashy old ebay finds which are waiting on the back porch for a lick of paint.
But the project that is exciting me most today? It’s not exactly a craft project, it’s more an exercise in project management. Here’s a little clue:
More to come later.
11th November 2008
I finished another Waldorf / Punkdorf doll today. This one is a big one, around 50cm (20″) from head to toe. She’s still very wonky with an oddly shaped cranium (think Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Scull) and I just can’t seem to make any improvements on the puckered neck but she suddenly got a lot more charming when I added hair and eyes and a mouth. I am hoping she will be completely to-die-for when I finish her off with a matching dress (she is wearing a dress belonging to another doll here).
This girl was an instant hit with all the small people in the house, but is possibly reserved for little Miss X who is due to arrive any moment just a few streets away. There was some gratuitous sobbing when I had to break it to them that “Floppy” was off to a new home and I had to patiently emphasise all that stuff about how the special thing about these dolls are that they are made with great love and a particular child in mind and that they can’t belong to just anyone, and if they want one, it has to be made especially for them etc. etc. It seemed to do the trick. So now I have Christmas orders. “One with blonde hair and blue eyes, a light blue dress with purple stripes and pigtails … no… braids and red bows” for Amelia, and “One with pink hair and pink eyes” for Lily. Hmm. And I will have to practice the “made with great love” bit a whole lot more, and stop saying “crap, crap, crap!” quite so much.
5th September 2008
Look! I’m twittering (as of 22 minutes ago)! I seem to think in tweets these days so it suits my style.
Look! I’m making another Waldorf doll (I have been calling them punkdorf dolls due to my very un-Waldorf kind of approach. Lots of swearing and seam ripping).
Look! I found a very nice blog – beautiful dolls – and I wish I looked so incredibly gorgeous (and French) as I sew up my little creations.
