Monday 4 August 2014

Getting Somewhere - Doll Making Stumbles

I've been in a slump and trying hard to work my way out of it. And finally I realised that I need to concentrate on what I want to make, not on what needs to be done.
So what if I have dolls staring up at me half finished. I'll get to them in the end and they'll be better off waiting so I can give them everything they need rather than forcing myself to work out my ideas and making them a chore to do rather than a pleasure. Better to let my daft brain work things out in it's own time and get back to having some dolly fun :)

Some of you may remember my Storyteller in her wonderful marbled silk. Well, she's still here and looking rather splendid perched on top of my pile of cases watching over me while I work. I don't work in one particular place in the house, but rather have a large Welsh Dresser as my store cupboard in the dining room and various bits stashed away throughout the house. My beautiful wooden sewing box sits on an old vintage school type stool in our living room, and I sew or paint, sculpt and wig, anywhere I feel like at the time. Most of the time this is with Cris during the evenings while he watches TV and I talk through bits he wants to listen too (Oops!). So my Storyteller looks on at us both waiting for me to finally decide on what she needs to finish her off ready for the world.

Guinevere has suffered my slowness after we had such a hard time during our holiday from the day jobs. Cris and I had planned to do lots of lovely things, from finding stock for his Vintage shop (www.CuriousCris.etsy.com) where he sells his finds from our treasure hunts, to getting a lovely big batch of new dolls sculpted, sanded, painted and ready to dress. We had day trips planned and evenings out. But our holiday was one of those filled with illness and bad backs, trips to the vets and days spent worrying.

My darling little Meanna had to leave us, and I'm glad she wasn't ill long. My poor girl couldn't fight off the virus she caught and I miss her everyday. She was 16 years old and had been with me since I was 21 as she was a birthday gift from my mother. I still walk into the room and expect to here her chirrup and purr at me from her chair. All the work I'd planned to do on Guinevere took a back seat and I just didn't have the concentration to work on her. So she's going to join my Storyteller for a little while. I need something new to fill up my attention for the time being. Something to take my mind elsewhere.

I had also planned to get a number of Podgy dolls finished and ready to launch as a new line in three different sizes with extra little bugs and animals as well. I did get three finished and listed in my shop - www.NatashaMorgan.etsy.com - and have since finished a larger bunny version called Hop who needs to be listed too so he can find a new home. I have the Duchess Georgiana to take photos of and list too as I finished her just before I injured my back. And I'm planning to get them both ready and listed next weekend so I can introduce you.

This weekend I was as busy as I could be sanding the last of the sculpts I had waiting and painting layers and layers of skin tone and detailing the faces of my new batch of paperclay jointed dolls. It was good to be busy, and they all now need stockings and shoes before I can varnish them. Of course when I looked I found I had run out of white acrylic! So I made sure I got that ordered before coming to type here. I mean, their little feet will get cold without their stockings, won't they.

During summer my mind always seems to wander to Halloween and all the creepy ghoul's and monsters I could make as one of my dolls. I've always loved the old horror characters and have planned out a few zombies and vampires to make over the next few weeks. This first will be a little boy called Lugo, who's mother named him after her favourite horror actor. You can catch a sneaky peek of him in my WIP photos posted to my Facebook page if you don't want to wait until next post to see him :)
Take care all.
xxx

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