Ute's Blog

Say friends did you know Ute Vasina has a blog? You should check it out and while you are at it go visit her website and buy her patterns. I own the "Mopsy Pincushion" and absoulutely love the PDF cd format. It has tons of step by step pictures so you see exactly what the artist is teaching you. You won't regret it!

Our Lady of Walsingham--Doll Thumbnail

Well it's soon to be November and "that time of year" is creeping up on me. I am referring to Christmas and it seems most dollmakers who sell on ebay are making Santas, snowmen and snowqueens.

Now it isn't that I don't like those kind of dolls...it's just I don't like making them. That side of Christmas has never appealed to me. Maybe it's because my grandmother decorated the house with seemingly hundreds of Santas, elves, gingerbread houses and countless tacky red and green things; I suppose it would be safe to say I got burned out on that aspect of the holidays.

To the right is a quick sketch of the Virgin Mary taken from the Our Lady of Walsingham shrine in England. There is a reproduction of the shrine in our church. I like that she is holding a lily and baby Jesus while sitting on a throne and wears a crown. I love the image of Mary as the Queen of Heaven. I think this would be an easy doll to make. Also it would make an oppurtunity for quiet reflection.

I seem to have a lot of brands in the fire at the moment, so it may be a while before I can get to making this doll.

Happy dollmaking.

The Progression of Phoebe pt.2

Phoebe now has hair and let me tell you it took a lot of wool to cover her head. I had to make three batches of curled wool. The green headband is temporary because I wanted to see how her hair would look pulled back and up. I wound up not making a smock style shirt which is okay. I still need to decide if I want to make her a vest or pinafore.

The Progression of Phoebe

Patricia Rose says the best dolls are the ones that are completely planned before you begin making it. Lisa Lichtenfels also drafts every single aspect of her doll too. Judging from the excellent work of these two dollmakers, one can see how planning your doll in advance will help you to achieve better results. Now I must admit that in the past I just jump right into the dollmaking process. Sometimes my doll would hit a high note with me, but most of the time they would be just...eh okay.
So with Phoebe, I have applied this process. Above is the sketch I made of her. She will have wild orange hair pulled back with knotted headbands. Her pink blouse will be made like a smock trimmed with crocheted lace. Her bodice and skirt will be forest green trimmed with lace and beads. Without taking the time to draw Phoebe, I probably would have been lost and wasted time or even worse, wasting fabric.

Here is my doll before I painted her. The understructure is needle-sculpted cotton knit and the body is made from osnaberg.

Now Phoebe is painted and awaiting her hair and costume. I will post more pictures as I progress. Be sure to bookmark this blog!

Busy Bee

Well, I have taken a small break from selling dolls and now I am concentrating on design and pattern drafting. Without too much explanation, here are some snapshots of works currently in progress.