Larger Dolls - Works In Progress

I still have not finished the third and fourth Tiger cats I have to do - sorry to those of you who are waiting. In some stolen moments, thought, started some efforts to make larger little girl dolls out of Birch wood. The first one above (still not painted) is 2 inches high and was carved out of a clothespin. She has elastic joints at the neck/arm/leg. I know two inches is hardly considered large - but for me it is :)


And, not to stop there in the larger and larger challenge - here is one even more HUGE doll I have started on the right above - I estimate she will be a whole 4 or so inches! Her head is carved from a piece of 7/8th inch Birch dowel and her body is the top part of a regular flat clothespin (probably won't leave that so obvious, hee hee).

Anyway, having fun expanding my carving skills. Next year, I will be taking a class in carving a full size Hitty being given by Gale Lyons - I am so excited! If you are interested, you can read more about that class on the Doll Carving Artistry network site.

Seeing Double

Finally have the request for another Lamb and the first of the Tigers done - wohoo! You can see the original doll on the left of the following pictures and the new one on the right...





If you have asked for a special request piece from me, I apologize for being so slow. I will be getting to everyone as soon as possible!

More Tiger Cats In Progress

My first attempt at "mass producing" duplicates of a doll. Not very exact, that's for sure. I have four Tiger cats to make and I have no idea how it will work out to do so many at once... The four of them are being carved from Sycamore wood. You can see some of my tools there: the Flexcut small pelican knife and a couple of the tiny diamond needle files I use. The tiny handmade dowels for his head/arm/leg joins are there on the lower right - those are made from red maple as it is stronger wood than the Sycamore. Heads are roughed out in the front row and bodies in the next. Legs and arms are still piles of little blocks in the back there :)


Fortunately, I still have my original Tiger for a model. He is watching the process with great interest - even offering some directions! Cheeky little guy!

New Lamb In Progress...

Been working on this new lamb doll forever it seems. The one I had made some months ago is on the left and my in progress lamb is on the right. I had no idea this particular head carving would be so difficult to duplicate! But I think she is finally close enough and will be done soon...

The ears are very thin and stick out quit a bit from the head so had to reinforce them with a dowel drilled and glued into the head. It is invisible on the outside, but I think it will help keep the ears from snapping off. One has to plan ahead as you never know where these dolls will end up!

The Sisters - Hanna & Grace

Well, these two little ladies are finally done and posing sweetly in a regular 1/12th scale dollhouse chair. I could not resist the cuteness factor in putting them in matching outfits. Hanna (standing on the left) is the larger of the two - she is a smidge over 7/8th inch high (23mm). Grace (sitting on the right) is smaller at a smidge under 3/4th inch (19mm). Their heads and limbs are carved from Maple wood and they have a Holly wood body. And yes, Grace there has blue eyes :)


Sweet little Hanna - pretty in pink!


Grace looking like a little trouble maker with her blue eyes :)

The Littlest Mermaid

OK - so maybe she isn't the littlest (who knows what else is out there in doll land) but she is pretty darn little. This little one is 3/4th inch high (19mm).


She is made of carved Vine Maple wood, jointed with elastic, painted with acrylics, and with little top made of ultrasuede and thread.


While she is not a deliberate take off of the Disney character, I did give her similar colors and think the name Ariel suits her very well :)


Here she is playing in the tub with the very fun rubber ducky made by the wonderful Snowfern.


And here is even more water fun!


And lastly, she is very happy to now have her own "teddy-fish" made by my friend Mariella. How fun is that?

We Are Ready For Painting! Work In Progress...

The last few days have been kind of scattered and have not gotten much dollmaking done. But at last these two girls are ready for painting. Little one on the left will be a brunette with a green dress and little one on right will be a blond with a pink dress... Will be doing that painting tomorrow morning as morning times are when my hand is the most steady.

This afternoon, I get to finally work on that Mermaid girl I have been wanting to do. Most of her basic block pieces are all cut out which you can see below - she will be the most complex doll I have made to date - there will be 19 different pieces that will form her head, eyes, hair, body, tail, arms, and joints. Her little head there has been started - that's the roundish piece :)

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu...

Am packing up some dolls to go to their new home today and this little song came to mind. Needless to say, I am quite attached to my work and parting is a bit difficult. I do know they are going to have a great time in Canada and be much loved. And this threesome will have each other... Little white bear waving good bye there on the right is my alter ego - he is the official "waver-goodbyer" as he gets to stay for good.


Little Raggedy is going off to my Mom's house. She sings, "Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu..."