And Then There Was Esmeralda

This is Esmeralda. Today I was going through a few of the boxes from storage, and I found her. I made her from air dried clay right before the Disney movie featuring Esmeralda came out. I was so mad that Disney used the same name, so I never finished Esmeralda. She was meant to be a marionette I think, but she's too heavy for that. She'd make a great doll. Or maybe someone has an Ozma of Oz style head collection. 

Should I finish her? Sell her? Stuff her back in a box.  I don't know. Sergio complimented her on Facebook. Then my boyfriend said she was 'Scary'. Then my friend Ted asked if I had too much make-up on. Everyone seems to have an opinion about poor Esmeralda.  And yes, she is bald. Evidently I never got around to making hair for her, so I wrapped her up in a vest for now. I'm undecided on what to do now. I have  plenty of current projects that need doing.

I also found some unmounted stamps I designed in the days I thought I was going to have my own rubber stamp store. I don't know if I should list those on Etsy or give them to my children. I don't think they are into rubber stamping. I found a lot of parts in one box to make many more dolls. The creative bug has bitten me but I feel torn in 100 directions.

Clay doll or marionette head by Fayme Zelena Harper

Esmeralda the gypsy.

Doll Making Tips

Yesterday morning and this morning I worked on my witch doll. As the wind picked up I had to put her aside. The hair is time consuming. I picked a hairstyle that is a lot of work. So that is slowing things down some. But it is bringing pleasure.

Intuitive Doll Making Tips

Keep more than one sized needle handy. A tiny one for beads, a regular one for hand sewing, and a big eyed one for embroidery at the very least. Stick them on a magnet or your favorite pin cushion.

Take frequent breaks to rest your hands and eyes.

Keep a shoe box full of things you might need like ric-rac, buttons, trim, beads, lace, felt, novelty threads, and so on. Put elastic around the shoebox so it won't spill.

Don't wear lipstick while making your doll.

Don't get ahead of yourself. Leave room for new ideas to occur to you.

Listen to the doll. Change course if need be. Be flexible.

Don't forget to stuff things before you sew the shape closed.

Don't accidentally leave any needles inside the doll.

Hide the knots inside the doll or under trim or in the seams whenever possible, unless they are a
design element.

Keep a color wheel handy for inspiration.

Have fun and quit if you start getting too frustrated.

Put things away before you are too tired to do it.

Sneak preview.

Making a Doll

Making this video took up a big chunk of my day so I hope you enjoy it.




I can't seem to get the embed code to work, so here is the URL: Dollmaking

Starting a New Doll

I was at home working on dolls but the construction workers were using a tile saw right above me. At least I got my new clown doll listed on Etsy here. Then I packed it up and got a lift to the library where I am loving the peace and quiet. I worked on the latest doll. It doesn't have a personality yet. So far it's just a beige/orange head and body. The witch doll is on hold until I get some black yarn for her hat and hair. Then I should be able to finish her in about an hour.

A Night Out With the Knitters

I was showing someone my witch doll yesterday and how I still needed to make the hair and the hat and maybe a broomstick or a cat.  As I was tucking it away it suddenly dawned on her.  "Oh, you made that from scratch.  I thought you bought it that way and had to finish it." LOL  I guess like a kit. Not only did I make it, I didn't even use a pattern.  I want each doll to be different. I want to flex my creative muscles.

At any rate, I didn't take my reading glasses so sewing the doll was out of the question.  But I was able to work on the knitting as the double pointed needles are fairly large and it's just regular size yarn (worsted weight).

One of the women was working on embroidery over a silkscreened background print, and it was so beautiful.  It made me miss embroidery. Must get back to that soon. 

Library Day

I've decided library days are a pretty good idea. I thought I'd get bored but I relish the chance to pick out a big clean table and sprawl.  The time just flies by.

So yesterday I escaped the heat at the library. After doing some reading, I went back to the kid's area because that room has the best light and the best work table. And today I was almost the only one in the area. I discovered the cartoon drawing books and I was in heaven. In fact once I got the arms sewn on the witch doll, I spent the rest of the time looking through the drawing books and came home with 5 or 6 of them.

So today I got some drawing done. If I live long enough, someday I'll be good at drawing. I just know it.

Heatwave Continues

I managed to spend most of the day yesterday at the Haskett Library in Anaheim CA.  It has great air-conditioning. I finished a vampire book, checked out more books, had an unhealthy lunch in their snack room, and worked on my witch doll. It made my day when a teenaged boy walked by and said, "Cool doll."

I can't hide at the library today though. I'm expecting my second oldest daughter and my first oldest grandson.

Side chignon for a hot day.

Happy I'm getting out of the heat.

End of summer self portrait.

I sewed the eyes on the wrong side of the doll.

The witch doll and her witchy maker.

Designing a Witch Doll From Scratch

On a whim I started making a witch doll. That reminded me of Halloween and I suddenly realized that it's not too early to be finishing Halloween stuff to list in online shops.  Starting now I have one month to make the item, promote it everywhere and one month to have it listed so I have a chance to sell it to someone and ship it to them before Halloween.  Crafters have to think way ahead and I never quite get the hang of that.

Clowny Clown Doll

My clown doll is pretty much finished. I need to figure out how to put a label on it and what I want it to say.  If I thought I could hand carve a stamp small enough that said Pigglewiggins I'd do that.  Sometimes I wish I'd picked a shorter shop name.

I like the way the doll came out.  I'm torn between tea dying the fabric for these types of dolls or not. There is more about this doll in my art doll blog.

Clowny Clown Clown

I've been hanging around with too many clowns lately, because halfway through this new doll, she/he/it suddenly became a clown. Once I made the pointy leg, and put it on the doll's head, I couldn't get the clown thing out of my mind.

When I was in San Luis Obispo, I bought a red photo box to keep the current doll in. Then I will finish that one before I start another one. The finished doll comes out but I leave all the needles, pins, fabric, buttons and so on in the box, and that becomes the next doll.  So far it's working.

I also stitched up a needle book out of felt to hold my needles and pins. That way I won't have to keep digging around for different needle packets.

Beverly the One-Eyed Girl

I decided to make today a work day and finished my doll and got it listed on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/listing/105269058/beverly-prim-style-folk-art-doll-ooak I named her Beverly because that's where I got the parts for most of her.  The blue velvet neck trim is vintage from Goodwill. It takes a  long time to sew a doll by hand, and not much less by machine, because the only part you can do by machine is sewing around the body parts. So even at $40. I'm not sure I'm making a profit. That's the way it goes with arts and crafts. Lots of love but not much money.

Back view.

Beverly with her one good eye.

Me holding her when she's all done.

Beverly shows off her hip hop moves.

Getting ready for "So You Think You Can Dance"

Self Portraits

I've decided to start doing a daily self portrait again which will be shown here: SP. I guess I quit the last time I tried because I got sick of looking at myself, and others had much fancier and impressive self portraits.  But now I don't care what others are doing as long as it helps me to document my life and what I was doing at the time. Another reason I stopped doing it before is because one guy comments constantly that he wants to see full body shots including my feet. I don't need a director, and seeing all of me at once is a bit too much for me. I don't want to be the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). And I'm not doing it for his viewing pleasure.

Me making a doll.

Ripple Knitting and Doll Making

This morning my daughter gave me a discount coupon for Beverly's so I went back to get a book on ripple knitting that I'd spotted yesterday.  I also got some more knitting needles to try out the book. It turns out I'm going to be here two more days so I splurged on craft supplies.

I got more doll supplies. I'm about to finish with my primitive doll. I'm taking Junker Jane's advice and finishing one whole doll before starting another so I can focus all my creativity in revealing that doll's personality. And maybe that will help me break the habit of starting 20 dolls and not finishing any of them.

Prim Doll

I thought my shawl was looking a little bland in taupe colored yarn.  So I got an alpaca/acrylic blend in a medium gray to add some visual interest to the shawl. I would have been content to stick to that project for the rest of my trip until I happened to be in a Barnes and Noble and ran across my Etsy friend's name on the front of a craft magazine.  Right there on the cover of Stuffed was her name in bold letters and a promised Artist's Profile inside.  Congrats Junker Jane.

So then I was bitten by the doll bug and had to go back to Beverly's to get some doll making supplies.  I got needles, thread, dark brown muslin, embroidery thread, eyes, and a bag of assorted trims. By the time I got around to making it my daughter was soon off work.  So so far I only have the head, and the eyes sewn together.  I cut out the body and legs. I have no idea how to add the arms yet. I wanted to work on it more tonight but the family wanted to watch a gory vampire movie, so we did that instead. No way to sew in a dark living room. I think I'll use buttons to hold on the arms and legs.

Sitting in Linnea's Cafe garden making dolls would make me happy if I could do it every day.

People passing by gave me some funny looks seeing this doll in a box.

I have one more leg warmer to make.  And some sort of necklace. Almost done.

Three New Dolls

We were back at our friend's house yesterday teaching part 2 of the arrow making class. While the boys made arrows I cut out more dolls. Unfortunately when I cut out the first 3, I forgot to add seam allowances.  That's what I get for talking and crafting at the same time.

So I put those away to use for applique, and cut out another one with seam allowances and got that one all sewn together.

I gave the first two dolls to my friends but I took photos before so here they are.  They will be the prototypes for my Etsy shop.  If you order now I'll go with $15 per doll custom order.  Once I get them officially listed, that might go up when I figure out how much time this is actually costing me. Click on the photo to see the bigger version.

My friend said he got his just in time. He said  if he'd gotten it a day earlier, he would have beat the stuffings out of it.

Laundry Doll

I wanted to work on dolls today but I had to go to the laundromat to wash the sleeping bags for our upcoming archery trip. No worries, I packed a little bin with all my supplies and made a doll while the bags were in the washer and dryer. Portable projects are so handy.

The doll I made next to the sticks I made for stick weaving.

I rather like them plain, but I'll be adding faces and clothes to some of them.

I always take a craft to work on at the laundromat.

Stick Woven Doll

Tonight I had some fun making a woven doll with the stick weaving method. It's nice to finally learn something with stick weaving other than making long items like belts and scarves. I see so many creative possibilities with this.

Gourd Doll

For the past three days I've been busy working on a gourd doll using pyrography. At this point I think I'm almost done and can show you some photos. It's a bit chilly since I have the door open and 3 fans running to push the smoke outside. Right now I'm taking a break to rest my hands.  It's like drawing with a really heavy pencil. I used painters tape to give me some guideline for the patterned areas.  I used a mechanical pencil to draw the birds and such. Then I erased the lines after burning. This helped me to fill the space and readjust motifs if necessary.  I combined nature and abstract patterns.  It just takes experience to figure out what shapes play well together and how to transition from one area to the next. The tape provides nice straight edges too.

There are a few bug holes that I'm tempted to glue beads into. But I like it straightforward like this as well.

Twenty Twenty Cat

Today I needed a project to take along on a long drive. So I grabbed two knitting needles. The only thing I had handy was 2 double pointed needles and some variegated yarn. I'm using them like straight needles anyway. I wanted to make a body that can either be a rabbit or a cat or even a doll. So I cast on 20 for the body and once it is long enough I'll fold it in half for the front and back portions.  Then I'll cast on 20 again per arm and per leg. If it comes out maybe I'll do a knit-a-long.

Clay Doll Faces For Gourds

Welburn Gourd Farm in S. California

Tonight I tried making doll faces on gourds using air dried clay. I have a feeling they will shrink as they dry and need to be glued on to be permanent, but by drying them on the gourds I'm hoping they will at least fit right when I glue them on later. The surface of a gourd is very slick. I did sand it a bit hoping that will help adhesion.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I won't get to work on the gourds outside much.  I brought two in to work on and made a face for each.

I did buy some paperclay once to try the same thing with, but I don't know where I put it or if it is past it's shelf life. A lot of art is trial and error. I'll let the clay faces dry overnight and see how they look in the morning. I don't know if I should cover them with a damp paper towel or wrap them in plastic so they don't dry too fast. If all else fails, I'll at least still have 2 intact gourds for future experiments.