Tuesday Talent - Curious Pip

I have followed this lady's blog for some time and just adore her screen siren dolls and illustrations.  Curious Pip is Sarah Burford from Bristol in the south west and her work derives from those glamorous ladies of the golden age of Hollywood.

Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard are all ladies that you find in the Curious Pip blog, plus so many other famous names you don't know where to start looking it is all so good.  The doll style is unique and the costumes are so well done with wonderful textures and detailing using period couture inspirations and vintage fabrics.  Sarah won the Best Vintage Artist of the Year 2014 by the Vintage Awards, and if you peep into her world you will see why.

Not content with creating wonderful starlet dolls, Sarah also lists her cards and illustration of the period on her Etsy shop. For real feel of the era, with lots of Hollywood stills and film memories visit the blog at 'curiouspip.blogspot.co.uk', there you will find a link to the Etsy shop but be warned these glorious girls sell out quickly but should you want to order someone special Sarah will work to commission.  Currently the blog is boasting a wonderful Esther Williams doll celebrating 'America's Mermaid'.

I am a big fan of old movies and when at university, being very shy, the only society I was a member of was SAAT - The Society for the Appreciation of Afternoon Tea - twelve of us used to meet once a fortnight, bake cakes and spend the afternoon watching an old film on video.  My favourite is still Katherine Hepburn in Philadelphia Story 1940 - happy days.  For a real treat check out Curious Pip it is a gem of a blog, fun and friendly, with great dolls.

Myrna Loy as Nora Charles with Asta

Also, just to let you know, there is a website at 'www.curiouspip.com'  with more information on Sarah and with a great gallery of so many of her glamorous dolls.

A Grand Day Out - Chatsworth Florabundance

 Just had a great weekend at Earth and Fire in Rufford Abbey, a lovely ceramics fair that Becca will show at next year, so we were having a gander to check out the show.  The day before however, we made a stop on route to Chatsworth, the home of the Duke & Duchess of Devonshire.

We picked a great day because it was the start of their Florabundance festival.  The house was filled to the brim with beautiful floral arrangements, each reflecting and enhancing the rooms they were in.  The house and garden are always worth a visit but the flowers really were the best way to make a lovely house even more amazing.  Its still on tomorrow and is well worth a visit, Florabundance is on in June every year.   A beautiful setting for some stunning flowers, really enjoyed this, a truly great day out.

Little Jenny Wren

This is a commission piece for Roos, a lovely lady in  Zwolle in The Netherlands and she was quite keen to have it included in the blog. So thank you for that.  The photos are not great but the light today is not good and she has to be packed and sent off straight away.

So this is Jenny Wren and she is a tiny bird doll, the smallest I have made at just eight inches.  The commission was for a bird doll to be given as a birthday gift so included the request for a card to be made with the same fabrics.  The doll had to be delicate and so I made Jenny.

It was interesting to work embroidery onto a cloth body form with no painting, I have done this with the crows and enjoyed it so this is a style I must explore further. There was a lot of embroidery and the photos don't do the doll justice.  Her dress fabric is a really old piece of William Morris inspired fabric, teemed with an Oakshott plain - Oakshott is a company based in Brockworth, Gloucester and make some of the finest quality plains I know of.  Her body is also an Oakshott fabric and took embroidery really well.  Her outfit is finished with a fine piece of embroidered lace from 'zettayotta' an ebay shop based in South Korea and really worth checking out for amazing laces and trims.

Her lavender bag had to be tiny and the finished piece was just over an inch square, worked on 32 count linen evenweave.  Had to work that with a magnifying lamp but I think is finishes her off nicely.  Roos didn't want a typical card but a little something that could possibly be framed after.  I wouldn't of chosen to make the card motif so dark but it teamed with the doll so had to be.

I greatly enjoyed working this doll and for once it was good to be able to show a commission piece.  I hope you like her and I will be making more to this scale because I love the size and the finish you can achieve.

The Lavender Bag  - just one inch square

Lace Trim Detail from 'zettayotta'

A sense of scale

Detail of Back Finish

The Card in Progress

The Finished Motif

Tuesday Talent - Poosac

Poosac is Kim Smith from Edinburgh and I know her from her Etsy shop, which is delightful and from Pinterest.

Kim is a textile artist and illustrator working from her home studio up in Scotland.  She tells us she made her first Poosac toy in 2000 and their originality always makes me smile. Her styling is wonderful and she uses linen as a staple which gives her designs a lovely quality feel.

Check out her Etsy shop for all kinds of wonderfully eccentric and beautifully designed creatures, as an illustrator she also offers really unusual cards.  'Hello Gorgeous' would be a perfect if cheeky birthday card for my husband.  Really love this lady, really love this bear, a bit of silliness does you good.

Gertie - All in Pink, Ochre and Turquoise

Oh, another little tubby lady, this is Gertie and she is another Nora Style Doll.

Made to my own pattern, she has the usual hand detailing and this time is dressed in a jazzy modern print that I picked up as a clearance bundle. The fabric is a lovely quality and great to work with.  I like the tones and contrasts that tie the overall designs together.

Gertie is sooo blond, this is a new Trimits colour that I found and makes a real blond statement, I like it with this fabric but you would have to be careful how you team this as it is non too subtle.  Words like arrant or audatious or just plain sassy spring to mind, this little lady has attitude and that sits well with me.

She is finished, as always, with back buttons, a bead brooch, ribbons and a lavender sachet which compliments her frock.  Her stripy legs and leather shoes complete her look, I hope you like her.

Tuesday Talent - ZouZou Design

ZouZou Design is a Scottish company based in Edinburgh that makes all kinds of doll themed pieces and patterns.  From cloth matryoshka to cloth kokeshi dolls, brooches and buttons, all with their distinctive and beautiful faces.

Their faces are offered as prints for you to use as you wish to hand painted and embroidered faces on choice cloth craft pieces.  They have recently branched out to include Day of the Dead style faces that are very appealing.

I know very little about them but I think they are a them rather than an individual artist.  They have excellent shops on both Etsy and Folksy with nothing but five star reviews.  You can also find them on MollyMakes shopping area.  I find their style very charming and I adore the brooches they have been putting together, very tempted. Have a peep at the shops and I am sure you will be tempted too!

Phoebe - All Bright and Breezy

This is Phoebe, she is a tall girl at 18 inches, made to my Agatha pattern and is dressed in a piece of Kaffe Fassett fabric by Rowan.  I have no idea how old the fabric is but I bought it at our local vintage fair.  I have never worked with a Rowan fabric before, it was great to work with but creased easily.  Much more vibrant than my usual fabric but fun. Stitching her jazzy lavender bag was great too and I like the finish.

Her underskirts are made with recycled fabrics, the pink an old linen blouse of Beccas and the white are actually off cuts from a pair of Mum's curtains. Her last underskirt is tulle to give her skirts extra lift.

If you are in the area, the vintage fair at Cedar Farm Gallery is the second Sunday in every month and at £1 entry is a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.  The coffee there is very good and if you fancy lunch the cafe is great, really fresh.  I bought a victorian tin full of mother of pearl buttons for £6 which I think is a steal.  Cedar Farm is in Mawdesley down Back Lane, their website is www.cedarfarm.net - its one of our favourites.

Olive - in Summer Greens

 This is Olive, she is in soft greens and creams.  The fabric is just lovely and very fine in weight, I think it makes for a pretty dress.

The pattern is of course one of mine but it is an odd one.  Whilst looking for another old pattern I came across this and had to try it out.  Olive is a big girl, she stands 16 inches but is also broad in the beam.  That said she makes a pleasant shape and I am quite fond of her.  She has a careful, watching expression and she will make a strong companion.

I keep all my old patterns, most of them with pictures and labels telling me who or what they are but I must of missed Olive's pattern because she emerged as a nice surprise.  I like my girls big and bold.  I hope you like her and she makes you smile.

Tuesday Talent - Smokery Art Dolls

 I have followed this lady's blog for a long time and just adore her unique doll style. SMocherySmArt's Dolls is Kay Warner from Eastbourne on the south coast.

She describes herself as a 'figurative artist working in fabric, fibre and thread' and the highly stylised, decorative embroidery on her dolls bears this out. Kay creates several styles of doll but I find myself drawn to her elaborate stump like dolls.  Her owls, witches and Christmas spirits are just great.

Each figure is made up of heavily embroidered self made fabric which is then styled into the body of the doll with the addition of a detailed needle felted and painted face.  They are truly original and the work involved in each doll is considerable.  Three little photos here does not do her talent justice so you need to check out her blog at 'www.smockerydoll.blogspot.co.uk and visit her busy Etsy shop or her Facebook pages. Her chatty, friendly commentary is very welcoming and you can find lots of dolls to enjoy.  A true English free spirit.

A Grand Day Out - Ruthin Craft Centre

 Had a great day at Ruthin Craft Centre, three wonderful exibitions in their galleries.  The Language of Clay featuring Anna Noel in gallery two and Bob Crook's stunning glass in gallery three.  It was, however, Pauline Burbidge in the main gallery that brought me there.

It was, naturally, an exhibition of her quilts. Featuring layering, printing and cyanotypes all inspired a 'Spirit of Place'.  Two threads of work ran throughout the exhibition, the fine art pieces of Quiltscapes and the more practical pieces belonging to Quiltline.  There were strong blues, greys and blacks with softer pinks and reds in contrasting pieces, you are able to get close to the works, no glass, to appreciate the striking hand stitching and detailing.. Go if you can, this exhibition is so inspiring.  If you can't take a closer look at Pauline's work at her website 'www.paulineburbidge-quilts.com'.

Well on a more practical topic, for visitors to the craft centre, the cafe has reopened and is ok, not great but ok.  Lousy coffee but the food was fine.  Shame the last people left.  Sadly lots of the supporting shops are now empty but the centre is trying hard to recruit new artists and there is information about all things craft in many of them.  The galleries still have to be the main draw for us. A good day and great things to see, if you are in the area its well worth stopping off.