Barbara Willis's new book

Barbara Willis is one of the premier cloth doll makers and also a very lovely person. I've not had the pleasure of doing a class with her but I have met her and chatted to her at length at different shows over the years and many of my friends have done classes with her and loved the whole experience. Barbara is in Australia at the moment on a teaching tour - I would so have loved to have joined in the fun. My problem would be deciding which class to do.... There's this one called The Collector This one called Lillith

This one called Box of Memories

And - oh my giddy aunt - this one which is a mermaid journal

I have seen many of Barbara's dolls in real life and, let me tell you, as gorgeous as this eye-candy is - you have to see it in the flesh to get how rich and lush and layered and fantastabulous it all is. Barbara came to cloth dolls from the porcelain doll world and all of that experience informs her dolls from the daintiness of their poses to the use of silk and taffetta in dressing them along with exquisite accessories.

I will be ordering her new book from Amazon. I think I will need to laminate every page though so I can wipe off the drool easily.

What I've been up to recently

Well - not much happening on the craft front although I have made a doll (the basic pattern from Patti Culea's Cloth Doll Making Book) which is going to be in a round robin with a bunch of friends (this will start in January - scary thought). It's so long since I made a doll she's got blow outs in the finger and neck as well as being a bit lumpy in the stuffing department - I am really out of practice!

Hmm - also knitted a bag in fluffy yarn and also made some button necklaces (quick and easy - thanks to Kellee for showing us how).

My major project has been to start a blog about my great great grandfather - William Robertson. He started writing poetry and stories in his 70s - very fascinating. I've been helping my dad on his family tree.

He didn't really know his own father (long story) so finding family and making connections has been something of a journey of discovery and I think he is secretly chuffed to find out his great grandfather was a writer (as was his grandfather). As he said, "well it explains the poetic gene" - to which I wittly replied, "oh - good on you fat head!"

But my dad has always been good at writing (he's not talkative - too introverted for that). He wrote to my (maternal) grandfather to ask permission to marry Mum (because Dad was at sea and wasn't able to do it in person).

My grandpa was Police Commissioner in New Guinea after the war and he summoned my mother to come and see him. He had a great sense of humour and so he said very sternly to my mother, "this man is not a seaman at all." Mum got worried thinking he was about to tell her he'd had her fiance investigated and found some dark secret about him! My grandpa went on, "no - he most definitely is not. He's a bloody poet!"

Funny! Anyway - Dad's great grandfather William self published two books of poetry called "The Mountain Muse" and "Echoes of the Mountain Muse" - I have started blogging the stories and poems and adding additional information in on the topics and research and so on. It's right up my genealogical/ history alley! Take a look here.

Not Such a Blog Addict

Apparently I am not the blog addict I thought I was - there are many others who far surpass my meager efforts! Erica - thanks for not pruning me from your list - I shall try to be worthy of such an honour. I have been following your growing home renovation with equally growing bemusement. For God's sake woman - quit while you're ahead!

Judi W (who subscribes to 105 blogs) was the lovely person who told me about bloglines - so if I do become a certified blog addict it will be all her fault (lol). Actually Judi has started
another blog for people to comment on cloth doll patterns - ones they've actually made etc. and what was good/bad/indifferent about them and I've just realised I haven't added it to bloglines yet - so there's another one!

I have been an excellent mother this afternoon and whipped up a skirt for Miss Claire with a matching headband.

She refuses to get off the Sims 2 long enough to model the skirt for my blog (ungrateful little snit) but is wearing the headband.

So I will take a picture of the skirt all by itself.

I found the pattern here at Grand Revival Designs. The headband was a quick whip up with a couple of yo-yos made with the Clover Yo-yo makers. They are a groovy little contraption which makes whipping up yo-yos a doddle. I got the idea from Heather Bailey - and they are her fabrics featured in the headband and skirt. Heather actually has a rather lovely looking headband on her site - but I am too lazy and made up my own.

Visit from Ruth Prest

Ruth Prest is a dollmaker from the US - she is in Australia on a short visit and stopped by the shop today with Ann Maullin to say hello. That's Ann on the left and Ruth on the right. Ruth was such a lovely lady - she obviously couldn't bring a lot of dolls but she brought a book with all her dolls in it and Ann brought one of Ruth's giraffes that she had given her some years ago.

Ruth also brought some of her beautiful beading work which was stunning.

A group of dollmakers assembled to meet Ruth and brought samples of their work. Ruth is writing an article for Soft Dolls and Animals magazine about her trip down under - so we might appear in there at some stage!

Here's Marilyn Halcomb holding a new doll she's created - I can't remember what the doll's name was - maybe Purple Passion? She's got her corset on - but she's put on a little weight and can't quite get it done up at the back. I love the high heel slippers - very Gloria Swanson. (I'm talking about the doll here - not Marilyn !)

The little elf type fellow is Marilyn's version of Gloria Winer's new doll pattern. He really was an appealing little fellow.

Here is a beautiful textile piece that Erica had done with all sorts of beading and couching and interesting things on it. I previously attributed it to Ruth - but Erica let me know it's her piece. Actually I feel better now because I was so busy admiring all the things Erica brought to show that I forgot to photograph them!

Back to Ruth - she also had a couple of fabric postcards - love the Crane picture.

The tiny little baby troll was a gift to Ruth by Ute Vasina - here's a close up of it - you have to see this thing in real life to realise how tiny it is. If you look at it versus the size of the postcard - you'll get something of an idea!

It was a lovely day and so nice to see Ann, Anne, Marilyn, Erica, Annette, Natascha and even my Mum turn up to say hello to Ruth.

Being recognised as someone famous

I had a lady in the shop this afternoon who came in because she saw my picture in Patchwork and Stitching. Her daughter rang her while she was in the shop and asked where she was. She replied she was in the shop of a really famous person. Ha! ha! Very cute.

Now for all my dollmaking friends in the universe I said that they had featured my dolls in the article. When I said that though I hadn't actually seen the article - here's a scan of the pages - they really did make a feature of the dolls (and even my needlefelting ones too).

Very happy!

My L'il Monster

I didn't post a pic of my L'il Monster previously because he hadn't been quite finished. Here he is in all his glory - didn't quite turn out all cute like everyone elses - I must have been channelling my inner Goth. I think because I painted him black for the base coat and also because his mouth turned quite beaky for some reason. Anyway - I love the way the interference colours show up against the black. I also love the Jo Sonja Opal Dust which gives the sparkle. Here he is in the window of the shop scaring all the kids away.

Pam Grose workshop Part 3

Here they are altogether and finished - Don't they look great?

One of the ladies wanted to do one of Pam's more conventional dolls - here she is painting the lace piece on her skirt and her she is almost finished - a great effort for 3 days work!

Pam Grose Class Pt 2

OK - got sick of adding to the first post so thought I'd do a part 2.

The L'il Monster is a pattern but Pam also showed me how to do a wrapped armature and use the pattern pieces as cotton lyra skins - here is mine with the wrapped armature and beginning to put the skins over.

This is someone else's monster made with the conventional pattern stuffed around the armature and the stuffed feet

As you can see the creature can be posed in many different ways - creating the character.

Pam demonstrated an open mouth technique which was very interesting. Here you can see the basic form with the cardboard piece inserted to create the mouth. We then had to backstitch around the eyes to adhere the lycra skin to the base - this enabled us to put stuffing around the eye forms to make brow ridges, cheeks and so on.

Once the heads were put on we gessoed the whole body ready for painting. We also used Jo Sonja texture paste to add some dimensional scaly effects.

This is where it got really interesting as individual choices in posing, colour choice and layering reall has an effect on the outcome. I painted mine black.

Ann chose brown and green

Sharolyn decided on a water dragon

Stella decided on purple and green

Lorraine wanted a definitely female monster in purple and pink - don't you love the dainty pose and the long eyelashes?

Pam Grose Workshop

Well a brilliant time was had by all - three days of fun, creativity and laughter. Pam is a world class teacher and all round great person. We gathered to create a L'il Monster - Pam's newest class doll. Here is a sample of her monster . The great thing about the pattern is it can also be interpreted as a more conventional animal such as a dog or a cat - here's Pam's take on a cat.















Pam also brought some of her dolls to show - here is the Gypsy girl front and back and a close up of her face.

Pam had also made an angel and Christine and The Phantom from Phantom of the Opera (she's only just slightly obsessed as she readily admits!

Creative Cloth Doll Beading

Patti Culea is a very, very talented dollmaker and she has written several fantastic books on dollmaking - her latest book arrived in the shop today and I snaffled one for myself (don't you worry about that!) It's terrific - I love beading (thanks to Patti introducing me to Peyote Stitch). The most exciting thing is that Patti included my shop as a place to get resources in her book - so now I can be famous all round the world. Thanks Patti ;-). I should also mention that Patti produced this book in cahoots with Laura McCabe (an awesome beader would be something of an understatement in discribing her work) and Annie Hesse (a cloth doll maker who is also a talented beader. The work in this book is dribble inducing.