Tuesday 2 June 2009

Happy days..........

Despite the gloriously sunny weather the past two days, I have been cocooned in my workroom for much of the time, sorting through fabrics, trimmings and ribbons and organising my toy dolls workbox.

I found the merest snippet of a wonderful silver/rainbow hairstripe silk, from a piece I bought nearly 20 years ago. Because I have only a tiny amount left, I have been hoarding it, unwilling to use it as I know I can never replace it.

However yesterday I decided to throw caution to the winds, and used a piece of this precious fabric to begin work on these two little toy dolls, which I finished late this afternoon.




I am so pleased with them.........aside from the gorgeous silk fabric, which I used for the bustled jackets, I have teamed one with a very pale aqua, and the other a soft pale cornflower blue and both have accents of contrasting colours in the costume/bonnet.

Each doll measures less than 1 3/4" tall and has jointed limbs. The costumes are completely hand sewn, using a tiny needle only slightly thicker than a human hair. The diminutive shoes are made from tissue-thin silk and have real leather soles. The tiny jackets have six individual pieces. Viscose for the minute ringlet wigs is meticulously wound onto the finest piano wire..........

Every element of the costume, every painstaking stage involved in making these little dolls should have me tearing my hair out, but strangely, whenever I sit down to make one, I can feel the stress and worry of everyday life just drain away, and a sense of peace, calm and contentment enfolds me. I become lost in the creative process and the hours simply melt away, till finally I place the last silk ribbon bow in place and sit back to admire the finished doll.

Happy days...........

8 comments:

Erika said...

OMG!!!!

Those dolls are marvelous

Sandra Morris said...

Thanks Erika.

If I could only make little dolls like this every day I would be a very happy bunny :-)

Crafts From The Stash said...

Sandra, I admire you immensely. I can sculpt dolls till the cows come home but I hate and detest costuming, I can sew but I dont like dressing the dolls. The tiny ones are the worst, I have 2 1/24th sculpts to dress and have been looking at them now for 2 months. Your tiny little ones are amazing. Your very talented :O)
Debie xxx

Sandra Morris said...

Thanks Debie :-)

I've been making and dressing dolls for almost 25 years, but nowadays I much prefer working on these tiny toy doll's dolls.
I admire anyone who can sculpt beautiful faces....I can do ugly, old, fantasy or character faces, but pretty ones are incredibly difficult to achieve. We all have different skills and talents, which is what makes the miniature world so fascinating.

rosanna said...

They are so pretty, it's astonishing how they are detailed in such a miniaturized size. I understand what you mean, when I stich on my 60 counts silk gauze I fell in a trance: I forget everything and relax. A friend of mine say that it s a Zen exercise.I supposed that it is also something related to lack of sanity ;o))

Joyce said...

I love those dolls. One of those days I might get round to actually getting one. I promise - one of those days.

Joyce

Sandra Morris said...

Joyce, I have some wonderful tartan ribbon which I'm planning to use for some special little toy dolls. Like the silk fabric, the ribbon has long been discontinued so I've been hanging on to it for ages. I'll post a photo when I get around to doing them.

Joyce said...

Oooh - sounds like something that could go in the nursery in the castle.