Some Progress on the Alabama Baby Doll

A sculpted Baby new year: this is the doll I am working on for the Alabama Baby Challenge for the Maida group.

I changed her eyes from my original sculpt, made her head more rectangular, and when I added fabric to her, put a seam at the top, as is shown in some of the photos of the antique dolls.  It looks a little Frankensteinish, but oh well, how can you get the first sculpt totally right.  It's to learn.

I kept seeing more things, the more photos I looked at.  The main thing was the eyes; they have no lids, they are sort of like triangles.... and so many variations in head shape among the photos I looked at. 

But be that as it may, I came up with this, and am now making a body pattern. 

I like dolls in this stage; when I have decided on them.  I feel some relief that I have decided in some corner of my mind; saying okay, move forward. Although I kind of wish I had just started over, rather than changing the sculpt I did originally!

Happy New Year!

Alabama Baby Challenge

There is a challenge going on at the Maida dolls group, to make an "Alabama baby" doll.  This was billed as an "indestructable" doll, made from around 1905 to the early thirties. 

 Image  from Theriault's - hope they don't mind

I looked at several of the doll photos online, and was all set to go....I sculpted a head using Paperclay, trying to get her little turned up nose

and the jowly cheeks; but I didn't have a firm grasp of the eyes...or the mouth...
 so I ended up sculpting them more like this:

Image from Skinner auction site.  This is a Philadelphia Baby!

My sculpt

 So I have to change her face later, if I am to call her an Alabama Baby doll....

Hope everyone is having a good Holidays.

   

New Googly Available

This Googly is now available for sale on Etsy..... she is twelve inches long, and comes with all her clothing pictured.  She seemed to like pink so much, I gave her as much pink as I could.  Her wig is made of human hair, and all her clothing is handmade. 

The dress is cotton with vintage old stock crepe du chine sleeves.  Her underthings are of the same crepe du chine.  For her dress and hat trim I found old matching ribbon.  Her shoes are made of leather with tiny bows. 

Her hair can be styled, combed, even washed or wetted to take curlers.  I could not think of a name for her yet, but am calling her "Pinky."  I think she has some of that Googly childish yet somewhat adventuresome charm.  Her face is made from a mold I took of my own sculpt.  I painted her in acrylics.  I do enjoy making these dolls.  

Note to Maida members:  If you are interested in this doll, I am offering a discount to Maida members.  Please contact me through this site or through Maida, and I will adjust the Etsy price.  

Time for a Tam?

I decided to make a tam o'shanter for the boy doll I am working on, and consulted the book "Hat Making for Dolls," which I had bought on Amazon.   There was only a drawing of a rectangle and a circle, and "sew band to circle," for instructions.

I made three, before I had figured out the proportion of band to circle.  If the tam was too large, it looked - well, too large, and if too small, it perched on his head and looked cute, but - too cute. 

Too big, too little, and just right.

Tam O'Shanters are named for a poem of the same name by Robert Burns, written in 1791, according to my dictionary which has a kind of odd illustration of a man wearing one.  They go up pretty high on the one side, I noticed. 

So, here is my tam-making method: 



It is a circle attached to a band.   I figured the diameter of the circle should be larger than the head measurement. 

- First, measure around the side of the head, at the angle you want the hat to sit, like so.

- Then draw and cut out a circle.  The proportion I found to look good, in cutting out the circle, is to multiply 1.2 x the head measurement you just took.

The head measurement I took was 13 inches.  I cut out a circle that had a diameter that was approximately 1.2 times that, or 15.5 inches. 

When cutting out the circle add whatever extra for your seam allowance.  I added one quarter inch all the way around. 

Machine sew a basting stitch around the circle your seam allowance or 1/4 

inch, gather and check how it sits on the head,

pulling tighter or letting out as needed.

Then lay it down and check that the gathers are even

all around, and re-check it against the head measurement.

Pinning the band, right sides together

Cut a long strip of cloth on the bias, turn it up a quarter inch, and hem if you wish.  Pin it right sides to the gathered circle, cut off excess and machine sew.   Be careful you sew down all the gathers as you sew.   

Fold over the band in half, and tack down usng hand-stiches, on the inside.  

Then as a finishing touch sew on the pompom, going up from the inside all the way up through the pompom and then back down again, repeat, and knot.

And there you have a tam o'shanter for a doll or anybody.  I hope

this is helpful if you want to make a tam.

Brooding Over a Boudoir Doll

Here is a boudoir doll that I bid for and won recently on Ebay.

I had to bid on her, liking her gold satin dress, and the floppy satin hat.   I'd been thinking about buying a Boudoir doll, and this one hooked me.

Her eyes, though, are missing paint and she is missing some paint on her lips.  When I looked directly into her face for the first time, I actually jumped up and said "Ah!  She's scarey!" 
"Put her away, you're making me scared," my husband said. 

I went and researched more online about these dolls.  They were quite a fad.  After reading about them, I had swirling in my mind the elongated limbs and neon-eyes of the artist-illustrator Tamara de Lempicka.  And the elongated women whom I never liked, by the illustrator Erte.  And Hollywood's golden age, the flapper movement, decadence.  All these trends were swirling around and so these dolls were mass produced, and various designs and construction patented to capitalize on the trend.  The dolls petered out by WWII.
I wonder why I got this doll.  I guess I wanted to see what one is actually like in person.  As in, how does its presence feel.  I don't see them ever at the local doll shows.  They are not expensive (yet) to buy. 

This particular doll, I am pretty sure from the marking on the back, is a "Keeneye."  The satin of her costume is a blend of pink - gold - green.  I cleaned it (above are her leggings, cleaned and below is the skirt, cleaned) and it has that satiny feel now, and wonderful sheen: 

Then I tried to draw boudoir eyes on cloth, using a little abandoned doll of mine I had sitting around.

This looks odd but I guess that is how I feel so far about the boudoir doll.  

A Pink Googly

Here is another "Googly" doll, that I just finished!

She is my interpretation of a Googly doll.

I hand-sculpted the original head in Paperclay.  The clothing is all handmade by me.  There is old-stock garter trim on her dress.  The sleeves (and her "knickers") are made of old-stock crepe-du-chine fabric  from the 1930s.  I made her hat from new hat-straw, and handmade her booties and wig.  The photo above was taken with the stand underneath, which distorted her dress. 

She took many months, because I worked on making a pattern for her dress, tried to get the wig just right, and the summer was so busy.

Here's her pigtail look, using new ribbon for hair ties:

Thank you for taking a peek.  

Sequins and Binky

I've been working on Binky, a doll for the Art Doll Quarterly circus challenge, and painted his face the other night.

It's been quite a process trying to find him the "right" hat.   You don't want the hat to compete with the eyes.  The scale of decoration on the hat has to be the right size.  And, it all has to co-ordinate; but not too much, because after all, it's a clown.  So you have to throw out the rules there, too.  After trying the pompoms (I have bought way too many pompoms) above, I tried for a smaller "dot," and tried metal sequins.  I ripped sequins off of some new, outrageous hologram-sequinned fabric.  These sequins flash every shade of color there is, changing with the light. 

I wondered how did they sew all those sequins on the net? 

This gave me a neat piece of netting, with sequins falling off of it.  Love making new things look tattered. 

I swear it seemed that Binky was getting excited over the sequins too ....

There are more decisions to make about his costume.   But, he might end up with a sequined hat.  I think he is hoping for one!

Changing My Mind

I have been busy making a circus-themed doll, for the Art Doll Quarterly magazine circus doll challenge.  The deadline is September 15.

I sculpted the doll over a cloth body, along with three dogs, in Paperclay.  She was to hold rings for them to jump through.  I was going to crackle and antique the dogs, and was calling them in my mind the "crackle dogs"... "Snap, Crackle and Pop."  The one going through the ring is Pop. 

I liked the dogs, and the doll; but after getting most of the project done, except for hemming everything, I had to admit:  the doll's face wasn't very cheery, for a circus. 

I often, when a project is almost done, go off on a tangent or something, and try something else.  

So, I decided to try

a different doll, using a head that I sculpted a few months ago.  Here is a work-in-progress picture, below. 

I made his hat by stretching felt around a finial, securing it with a rubber band, pulling the felt very tight and then painting it with diluted Elmer's Glue.  Then let dry.

Tentative name... Binky.  or maybe Emile.  I think it's important to feel cheered when you look at your work, and he makes me feel happier.  Hopefully I can get him and the dogs done by the mailing deadline. 

It's Pouring Rain!

A wonderful rainstorm just came overhead and dumped water on us!

It's raining in Sonora!  Hopefully the Rim Fire will be doused!   

A Boy's Form and Clothes

I have been working back and forth on a larger head, for weeks.   Putting on clay, sanding off clay.  It's kind of like revising a story.  You have fun adding extra verbiage, and then you spend the next session taking most of it out. 

I worked out a pattern, using paper towel

and then palette paper, for the body. 

He will have short arms, and somewhat short legs.

Now it is

almost time to transfer all the paper towel patterns

to palette paper 

and then cut the body out of muslin fabric. 

For his clothing I thought it would be dated to the 1890s, with shorts, suit jacket, and a little hat.  I also want to use some plaid fabric.   Looking at some images online, the suit below from 1890 seems to be for an older boy.  It has all the elements I want, but looks pretty formal maybe due to that lower neckline to the suit.

 The 1890 outfits above are also rather complicated to sew.  I also doubt that plaid would be the right fabric choice.

 So I sketched my own take on a boy's suit with a medium-high collar, in plaid, with either plaid or plain pants.  And some hat styles and accessories that could go with it.
So I guess it's coming along, this boy doll.  

A Moment with Twill Tape

A seamstress friend gave me a box of odds and ends --  one nice thing about making dolls is that people give you boxes of notions.   In it was several rolls of cotton twill tape.
Twill tape is a reinforcement that is found in old doll clothes.  I've seen it used to reinforce armholes in human-sized costumes. 

I realized that if I sewed it on flat, the stitches would show through to the other side.  

So I figured I needed to press the seam allowances together, (not apart as they are shown here) and then hand-stitch the tape to the seam allowances.  Kind of just finishing the raw edges.

I am sure I will find other uses for twill tape.... If someone reading this knows about uses of twill tape for  reinforcement, please share.  

Inspired by Googlies

After several months of designing my own pattern for the body, and using my original sculpt for molds, I have finished my own interpretation of a Googly doll.  She is available on Etsy.

Her arms rotate forward and backward, on her wooden shoulder joints.  She is weighted with a little bag of artist sand, so she can sit well.  She also comes with a large hair-bow, like little girls wore in the early last century.  

Her head is of Paperclay, painted with acrylics and sealed.  Her hair is a wig made of human hair.
She comes with all her clothing and her handmade shoes and hat. 

You can see the listing for the doll here in my Etsy shop.

Esmeralda's Ready to...Rest!

 I just finished Esmeralda, who is largest Izannah-Walker inspired doll I have made, at 31 inches.
 I hand-sculpted her in Paperclay, and left a bit of the clay unsanded on the surface of her face to make her look a little aged and "pitted."  I had a choice of fabrics of course, but chose this one and I think it looks nice and fresh.  Her pantaloons and long chemise/slip I handmade in light muslin with very old eyelet trim.  She wears a garden hat I made of very old lace curtains that a friend had given me.  The removable lace collar is also vintage. 

She just looks so...... placid.  Or, willing to sit and listen to you, on the sofa.

 I had fun painting her curls.   I just used burnt sienna, ochre and burnt umber. 

Dixie Redmond at Maida group said she reminded her of Tillie the doll in "The Story of My Dolls," a fanciful book about antique dolls, which was published in the Thirties.  What a compliment....

   I have been so inspired by Dixie.  Without her tutelage I would not have learned to make vintage-inspired dolls.

I want to give her some tea!    

Patterns for Unders

The little Googly doll is being fitted for her underclothing...  I tried a pattern from "The Dolls Dressmaker" by Venus Dodge. 

Since I had never used this book before, I cut the pattern out first using striped scrap fabric.  Batiste intimidates me somewhat.... I have a hoard of it, because I put off using it.  

Anyway the pattern worked well for the knickers as it turned out.  I had her hair on, to show a friend, but have to take it off again as it's something you put on last.  But she looked cute here so I had to take a picture.

I have been making patterns by tracing on artist's palette paper, finding that is a good paper to use for a pattern piece... coated on one side and writeable on both sides....

Garden Grows (with some effort every day)

The echinaceas are starting to bloom.  I had never grown them before, the blooms last for weeks.

The roses are on their second surge.   This year, we discovered grape vines.  They have a nice "aura."  

 

The hydrangeas are starting to bloom.  The one in the middle is an oak leaf and the one on the right is lace cap.