A Work in Progress Wednesday

 

This is my latest innovation in the bird dolls' design. I always felt that the legs were too clunky and heavy. Bird legs are fine and spikey but I did not know how to approach this.
Reuban, my fabulously talented son, started to experiment with spun cotton techniques. Building an armature for stability and then having created a starch solution using cotton wool and thread to create different types of feet and paws for his Imps.
Seeing the potential to make my birds more bird he gave me a tutorial and here I am. The bird dolls now have styalised yet realistic legs and feet and I am really happy with how they look.
So a huge thank you Reuban.
Having now seen what you can do with this technique I am making a series of bird dolls in Acufactum fabric all with the new feet. Hopefully in the future I will move on to first owls and then maybe even raptors. I have seen a male sparrowhawk in regency dress with killer talons!

Then and Now Post: My birds

 

My bird journey started twelve years ago. I love birds, particularly the passerines. So delicate yet the survive the perils of winter and drought, hot summers and full nests. I really admire the pluck!
As I sit in my workshop I watch the birds on and off all day. We back onto woods so we get so many different species from Nuthatches to Woodpeckers.
So I wanted to make a bird doll and this little carousel shows how they progressed. From the first bird(second photograph), she was huge and stencilled with acrylic then stitched. They all sold but were too big and clumsy. They it abandoned the paint and started to delineate in stitch (third photograph), my first blue tit received so much publicity but birds are delicate little guys not big clumsy dolls.
So I reduced the size considerably, so that they just sit in your hand. Still heavily embroidered just smaller (fourth photograph). This is how I made them for several years, they were smaller and neater but I do not like their clumsy booted feet. Bird feet and tiny spiky and bird legs are slim. So tomorrow I will share the next iteration. New even smaller patterns with very different feet, works in progress.

Una, A Miss Muffet Doll

 Una, a little Miss Muffet doll is part of the Perfectly Imperfect Weekend over on Folksy. Dressed in a lovely Acufactum print called Blossom Splendour, she has a warm gentle face with a tiny spider hidden on her pinny. With deep brown eyes and rust red hair she is a bonny little girl.

She has a slight fault as I caught the inside back of the lace to her dress when pressing the finished garment. You have to look inside the back of her dress to notice( with a good light). So she is on sale.
The event has been advertised for a while and I have been selling mostly old stock and patterns that I am not repeating. Quite a lot of stock has gone but there are some lovely dolls in the event.
The event runs 21st and 22nd of February and is called Perfectly Imperfect Weekend. There are always real bargains to be found. xx

Mia, The Elf Seeker

 

Mia, The Elf Seeker was inspired by the poem by Oliver Herford called The Elf and The Dormouse

Under a toadstool crept a wee Elf,
Out of the rain to shelter himself.

Under the toadstool, sound asleep,
Sat a big Dormouse all in a heap.

Trembled the wee Elf, frightened and yet
Fearing to fly away lest he get wet.

To the next shelter—maybe a mile!
Sudden the wee Elf smiled a wee smile.

Tugged till the toadstool toppled in two.
Holding it over him, gaily he flew.

Soon he was safe home, dry as could be.
Soon woke the Dormouse—"Good gracious me!

"Where is my toadstool?" loud he lamented.
—And that's how umbrellas first were invented.

While doing a January destaff and sort I found a collection of this wonderful if now discontinued fabric called Elf and Toadstool by Acufactum and just had to make Mia. Her dress is in this striking fabric and she is wearing a dark crimson wool cape heavily embroidered with toadstool motif from the print. With a toadstool spotted bonnet and tiny red wool felt boots this little lady is ready for a walk in the woods looking for her favourite elves.

A Strawberry Shortcake Doll

 

Well I am back sooner than I thought, not up to speed yet but getting there. Thank you so much for all your kind messages and best wishes, it was very heartening.
This little green eyed sweetie is my Strawberry Shortcake. Dressed in a pretty berry print by Acufactum and with a strawberry embroidered apron with a little hoop with a strawberry flower. A new style of crocheted hat with a little strawberry flower too.
Dolls have always been my thing form being a small child. I think being autistic I found them calming and a better alternative to the confusing people around me, I still do!!
Strawberry Shortcake came out in the late seventies and early eighties and I longed for this strawberry scented doll but for some reason my Grandma decided that if they were scented they must be inherently bad for you and I was denied. So her is my own representation with dried strawberry leaves inside her stuffing and a piece of rose quartz to her heart. She was a joy to make.
Another interesting phenomena of autism is that I am truly ambidextrous and I have never lost this as I aged. Working exclusively with my left hand has made me realise how right handed everything is, especially my sewing machine. I normally switch from hand to hand as I work favouring left for some tasks and right for others but being without my right hand has given my great sympathy for those exlcusively left handed folk out there. xx

Away for a little while, see you soon xx

 

EEk! I have caught two cancellations for surgery in the next two weeks. Simple eye surgery tomorrow now with more complex operation on my hand on Monday.
So I will be away for a while and will probably be back in around two weeks to a month. No new work for a while!
Please bear with me and I will be back in February, see you then xx