Dolls Coming Together

There's nothing nicer than when what you see in your head starts coming together in your hands. All the worries and niggles falling finally into place to make what you wanted it to be. And for once my doll is starting to look exactly as I first saw her in in my imagination.

I've spent this week dividing my time between sculpting, sanding and painting a custom order doll and working on my Storyteller in the gaps while things dry. And now she's really starting to look like herself.

I've added embroidery and tiny beads to the applique motif for the front of my Storytellers skirts, building up the design with a mustard colour chain stitch and a mix of silver lined and burgundy red beads. And I'm planning some sort of trim for the edge or the over-layer.

I'm trying to decide between a hand crochet edge, embroidery or more applique. But I think I'll use a mix of the crochet and applique so I can make her look as rich as possible. I want to keep her looking as if she's spent a long time making her clothes herself. I don't want anything too fussy or regal, but as a skilled travelled lady I'm sure she has learnt many skills throughout her life.

It took me a while to get used to crochet with such a small hook and fine thread, but I managed to get her shawl finished this week too.
Blocking something in my size has always been really hard so was something I always ignored. So of course I ended up with wobbly wonky edges and uneven stitches. Now I've made something so small I wanted to do things properly. So once I'd attached the fringe I stretched and pinned the shawl to a cork board and sprayed it all with water until it was damp evenly. I was so happy to see that once it dried it looked to neat and even. It's not like something I've crocheted anymore it's so tidy. And my Storyteller looks really pretty with it draped around her shoulders.

I'm now working on attaching her underskirt and finishing up her quilt, which I'm decorating with the same embroidery as her skirts.
I'm hoping I'll be able to work on her more next week if I get any time between work at the day job and working on my custom Siouxsie Banshee doll. I'm really in love with the silk I've used for her gown and will have to see if I can find any more of it anywhere. It's just so pretty with such a mix of colours and a wonderful texture.

Siouxsie is now ready to be strung together and start getting her clothes now that I'm sure that the varnish is completely dry. T get the right look I had to work on getting her blush quite harsh and red, just as they wore it in the eighties. And looking closely at the photos I have I could see she had three little dots painted on each cheekbone.

Making Siouxsie a kimono is going to be really interesting, and I'm hoping I can get the cut and fall of it just right. I guess it's time to break out Google and get some research done :)

xxx