Izannah Walker Style Painting

Currently, I have an Izannah Walker style painting up for auction on Ebay. Check it out here.

MRSBO Adoption: Minerva Heap

Welcome to this week's adoption. May I introduce to you Minerva Heap. Orphaned at the age of six, she is the sole survivor of her family. Her parents were members of a local acting troupe. Apparently, as the story goes, they came to untimely demise during a performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Rumor has it that one of the local critics was so offended by the Heap's maudlin portrayal of the love-struck couple he added some "foreign" ingredient to the prop vial of poison to enhance their performance. How sad! The local newspaper quoted the murderous critic as he was dragged away in shackles as saying, "Here's to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss they died." Can you believe the fiend had the gall not only to misquote Shakespeare, but to confess in iambic pentameter!

It can be said that Minerva is destined to be quite an actress herself. Already she is prone to overly dramatic interpretations of the mundane and occasionally will faint is she does not get her way.

Minerva Heap is a one-of-a-kind doll and made right from my own patterns. She is made out of cloth and paperclay. Her dress is made out of cotton and embellished with black galloon and tiny glass black beads. Two black grosgrain ribbons adorn her curly blond locks. She holds a tiny handcrafted polymer clay book entitled, "Complete Works of Shakespeare." The book is pinned into place. Minerva may sit on her own or stand with the assistance of a doll stand.

Potential Parents click here.

Minerva Heap WIP

Now that I am finished with my Queen Anne doll, I am happily back to my little orphans. My latest little monstrosity is Minerva Heap. Stay tuned for more pictures and information about her.

My Queen Anne is finished at last.

At long last, my Queen Anne is finished. I went back and re-did her skirt. The original was to boring. I won't go into any details, but nonetheless, I am happy with her. She will go up for auction on Sunday, November 25th. If you would like to be notified by email when I have a new doll up for auction, please sign up for my Yahoo mailing list to the right.

Queen Anne...almost there.

I am so close to finishing my Queen Anne. I've been doing a lot of hand sewing and just had to take a break. Here she is wearing her shift.







I have since made her stay with hand beaded trim, underskirt, jacket and over-skirt. My goal is have her ready for auction on Sunday November 25.

So in the meantime, search "Queen Anne" on Ebay to see what my contemporaries are up to.

Here is the official banner for Coffee with Tea's (CWT06) Queen Anne launch.



And lastly, here is a fantastic montage of old wooden dolls.

Queen Anne WIP

Here is my latest endeavor. It is a Queen Anne reproduction doll. Well, perhaps reproduction is not quite the right word because I am not carving it out of wood nor am I using glass eyes. I think interpretation would suit it better. So here is my interpretation of a Queen Anne doll. This doll also marks the first time I am using wooden dowels to make a free standing doll. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. For her dress I am going to use my fabric I received for the Treasures of the Gypsies challenge this year. They sent me some lovely purple and green silks and damasks. Purple has a history of favor amongst the regal. I have just finished painting her top coat and I'm about to paint her face. Stay tuned for more pictures of her.

Adorable Otters Holding Hands

How adorable is this? It goes off the cuteness scale...big time. Be sure to watch until the very end.

Mrs. Cluttersbuck

Here is Mrs. Cluttersbuck. She is finished. This is a big doll measuring 27 inches. Sometimes you make a doll that is very dear to your heart, and there is no doubt in my mind Mrs. Cluttersbuck is one of those dolls. I have decided to keep her. She is just too special for me.

Mrs. Cluttersbuck's Joel Ellis Style Apron

Someone in my one of my Ebay groups did an apron for her own Izannah Walker doll. I loved it. In fact, I told myself the next doll I make should have an apron. So I pulled out one of my favorite books, The Ultimate Doll Book by Caroline Goodfellow and studied the picture above of an original Joel Ellis doll with it's starched apron. The book says the apron is "stiffened cotton with printed "embroidery."" So my goal was to make my own version of this apron.

I drafted a pattern. Next, the pattern was transferred to red broadcloth and "stiffened" it with a light interface. After I sewed the pattern and turned it inside-out, I began recreating the original Ellis design with pencil. There was some debate over whether I would actually embroider it with white floss or paint the design. Painting the design won out in the end. I used a white gel pen and used a pin to create the dots.

Here are the pictures I took just after I finished painting the apron. The final step is sew a buttonhole and attach a button.