New Dolls & Work In Progress

I've been very lucky lately. I've had lots of lovely custom orders from some of my favourite customers, and they brought me some great ideas :)

I've made a Wonderland set and another little White Rabbit girl. As well as a Katrina Van Tassel (from Sleepy Hollow, a fab Johnny Depp film) peg doll for a lovely lady.
And my little Daemon Ruby found a home before I could get her in the shop and is off to a great home very soon with the lovely Emily :)

After making so many you'd think I'd be tired of sewing but............ NO :)
I'm already working on my next two dolls and have my one after that all lined up. Unfortunately my lace from China for Lucrezia Borgia has got lost in the mail so she's still waiting to be finished and I'm still waiting for a second delivery. At least I'm keeping busy in the meantime.

This lady is a doll I've wanted to make for a long time, but I had to wait for my next sculpt batch so that I could use these amazing eyes for her.
Nelferch (also known as Nimue) is the lady at the centre of the Lady of the Lake legends. Of course she needed a gentle face, and I'm working in colours that I've seen for myself at the lake where she is supposed to have emerged from the waters with the sword Excalibur. It's a beautiful lake high in the Brecon Beacons National Park South Wales, and we often visit that part of the country as it's not too far away and always a stunning place no matter what time of year you visit it.

I'll be mixing a number of the legends surrounding Nelferch in the story I tell with this doll, including that of Excalibur and the tale of her marriage and return to the waters. So far she has her underwear made from white cotton, with a petticoat edges in an ivory frothy trim and embroidered ribbon. Her under-dress is a soft sand colour made from heavy cotton with a brushed finish and edged in a cream crochet trim around the hem and sleeves.
I'm also going to make her an overdress in a lovely shade of slate grey I think, but I'm not too sure what this will be like yet. I need to look up some more information first before I decide.

While Sewing for Nelferch I'm also working on this little guy. He's looking quite smart at the moment but won't look quite so when I'm done with him even though he's done his best to look smart. You see he's a chimney sweep. So he never quite looks perfectly clean as over the years the soot has worked it's way into his skin. But today he's made an effort, as he always does on such occasions, as he's been asked to call at the home of a young lady to wish her luck on a very special day. Did you know that it's considered lucky to kiss a chimney sweep on your wedding day?

We always like to go search through flea markets and car boot sales on sunny days. And yesterday I was so glad we went to one. I found this little boat, which I know doesn't seem like much. But I've been looking for a boat like this for a long long time so that I can make a version of The Lady of Shalott as painted by Milais. This little row boat is just perfect as it stands on it's own and is just the right size to hold one of my small dolls. She she'll be next, my Lady of Shalott :)