February 17, 2007: I am introducing my latest cloth
doll creation here.
This is Peony Rose, a fairy princess whose task
is to hang the proper colors in the sky when the people
need to see a rainbow.
Peony Rose is made from
designer Allison Marano's Uilleanne pattern.
Although she appears to be sitting, the doll is kneeling.
One feature of this pattern is instructions to make polymer
clay eyes, bake them, size them,
paint them and insert them in to the cloth doll face. I made these eyes and plan
to make more because they pick up light like a human eye does.
Tiny applied eyelids hold in the clay eyes. Another feature is to make the tiny
eyelashes of organza.
This doll is sixteen inches tall, and measures nine and a half inches high
kneeling. She has stitched on limbs and fully articulated fingers.
Her face is needle sculpted and painted with colored pencils and acrylic paint.
Her hair is of fancy yarn and is stitched on. Another feature of this pattern is
that there is no pattern
for the clothing. Ms. Marano has included instructions for taking two lengths of
material and draping,
designing the dress according to the current doll maker's own design and
stitching the clothing to the doll.
I added another piece of organza for the bow on her left shoulder. Her
underpants are two peony petals.
Her wings are made of pale blue organza to which I added iridescent white
Angelina fibers that project the rainbow colors of the doll's clothing.
Peony Rose has a different fairy name, but she refused to tell it to me,
insisting I call her by the name presented here.
Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago I posted doll heads I had made as
part of my Advanced Doll Design class and I posted two of them as what I
considered absolute failures. Most doll designers disagreed that any of my heads
were failures and Kate Erbach, my designer and doll maker friend asked for my
two "failures" to show me they could be made into wonderful dolls. She made the
first head into Farris, the Carpet Elf and he can be seen
here. You will have to scroll down on the left to the two dolls with the
name of Farris.
Well, the other "failure" head was for a female doll and
Kate said she could be made into a beautiful woman. I laughed and said that she
reminded me of my first grade teacher named Hedwick who scared all of us little
first graders out of our skins; she did this for generations, even my sister
Lynette, who came along ten years later. I said the doll would look like a tough
prison warden with that face. Did Kate ever prove me wrong! She made Hedwick as
a young woman and she is lovely. Kate also wrote a story about the doll Hedwick,
made it into a little book including pictures, which she stitched and bound.
Here is Kate Erbach's creation of Hedwick; my only contribution is the
head/face.
Hedwick
Kate made the lounge and all other accoutrements; it has a long rolled
pillow behind Hedwick, and a lovely silk pillow on which her arm rests. She made
the doll's body, clothes, and the leather shoes and added the long curly wig and
the jewelry.
I will merely summarize the fictional story. Hedwick was in love with Raoul, a
handsome fellow who worked in his parents' diamond mine in Argentina and they
became engaged (note the rock on Hedwick's left hand). Raoul was supposed to
come for the wedding, but some grave problems intervened in Argentina and during
that trip Raoul was reduced to smuggling diamonds into this country
in an effort to save his family's business. He was caught at the border and was
not given the opportunity to contact Hedwick. Alas, she waited and waited and
when Raoul did not come for her or contact her she was broken hearted because
she thought he had betrayed her. She grieved for a long time and then decided
that in order to get on with her life she would go to college and become a
teacher. Knowing she could never trust enough again to marry and would probably
never have children, she became bitter. She relished her power over the children
in her class and tended to take her bitterness
out on her little charges.
How different her life might have been had
Raoul only been able to contact Hedwick and explain why he was unable to come
for her!
Kate and I sent this doll to my sister Lynette, since she
even had heart palpitations due to her fear of her first grade teacher and
because she is facing shoulder surgery soon and we want the fun of this
caper to cheer her up. I had the doll here for a couple of weeks and it was really hard to part with
her. As Lynette says, pictures do not do any of these dolls justice, they must
be seen to understand how magical they are.
Especially dolls made by Kate Erbach. They are awesome in their quality of
execution and beauty.
Lots of birds have been feeding outside my window in the
cold weather and I caught these pictures:
Cardinal, White Crowned Sparrow and Mourning Dove
Male White Crowned Sparrow
Female White Crowned Sparrow
Female Cardinal. Beautiful in her own right,
although the brilliant coloring of the male
sometimes causes her plumage to be
disregarded.
The birds really covered the feeders and suet during the snow
we had a week or so ago.
I love watching the birds feeding as I work in the studio. The white crowned
sparrow female was hopping so fast this is the best picture I could get of her
through the window.
Until next time, stay warm!
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Last revised April 07, 2007
