I have been asked to make a series of small cloth Russian dolls for a wedding in February next year and having never made one I thought I would try my hand. There are lots of lovely examples on the internet and having got some inspiration I set about making my own. Her face was the most important thing, everything else is just ornament but a doll's face is how she greets the world, you look at her face before anything else. I wanted a young face and I wanted to use my favourite technique of having painted faces but embroidered eyelashes and brows. I think I have nailed her eyes, they really work for me but I will play around with her mouth. Next came the hair, I always like wool tops for the hair and I had several wild attempts at making this work but I am happy that this technique is workable and looks very dapper. I like the body shape, this is mine and pleasingly plump but I was inpired to make the detailing of the lovely ribbon and felt by several dolls on the internet. They must be done by one person but I cannot find out who(update, thanks to Miss Misty, the ladies names are Caroline from Zouzou Designs and Denise Ferragamo). I like the idea of using ribbon and more personalised embroidery alongside the felt making them truly mine. All in all I am quite pleased with her, she is a little large for my wedding dolls, she stands 8 inches tall but I have had some very promising reactions to her, including offers to buy her so I think I will make more. I am going to make larger ones as companions and work on my wedding commission to make smaller ones around 5 inches, as well as making ones this size. I think I would like to include some of my sampler stitched pieces with felt on her tummy that link around her body design. I have also thought about making cat ones, rabbit ones and frog one but we shall see. I don't get as much time as I would like to play with new design ideas but really enjoy it when I get the opportunity.
I have been asked to make a series of small cloth Russian dolls for a wedding in February next year and having never made one I thought I would try my hand. There are lots of lovely examples on the internet and having got some inspiration I set about making my own. Her face was the most important thing, everything else is just ornament but a doll's face is how she greets the world, you look at her face before anything else. I wanted a young face and I wanted to use my favourite technique of having painted faces but embroidered eyelashes and brows. I think I have nailed her eyes, they really work for me but I will play around with her mouth. Next came the hair, I always like wool tops for the hair and I had several wild attempts at making this work but I am happy that this technique is workable and looks very dapper. I like the body shape, this is mine and pleasingly plump but I was inpired to make the detailing of the lovely ribbon and felt by several dolls on the internet. They must be done by one person but I cannot find out who(update, thanks to Miss Misty, the ladies names are Caroline from Zouzou Designs and Denise Ferragamo). I like the idea of using ribbon and more personalised embroidery alongside the felt making them truly mine. All in all I am quite pleased with her, she is a little large for my wedding dolls, she stands 8 inches tall but I have had some very promising reactions to her, including offers to buy her so I think I will make more. I am going to make larger ones as companions and work on my wedding commission to make smaller ones around 5 inches, as well as making ones this size. I think I would like to include some of my sampler stitched pieces with felt on her tummy that link around her body design. I have also thought about making cat ones, rabbit ones and frog one but we shall see. I don't get as much time as I would like to play with new design ideas but really enjoy it when I get the opportunity.
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