Tag Archives: natural fiber art doll

Just in time for Halloween

Posted in Hand made gifts, Waldorf doll by

I’m not really a big fan of Halloween. I mean, I enjoy dressing up in costumes on occasion and I won’t say no to the occasional Twix or snickers, but usually, in my mind, Halloween is the holiday we have to get over before we can get to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Be that as it may, I have a bit of a Halloween themed doll to introduce you to. Of course, Harry Potter is not only about pumpkins and spooky things but it certainly came to mind with this doll.

I didn’t set out to make a Hermione Granger doll, but as I was pinning her bushy brown hair in place, the boys were listening to a Harry Potter audio book in the background and the idea came to me. Hermione is definitely my favorite character in the books. I always identified with her a bit- not because I’m really brainy or particularly bold (I’m 99% certain I’m a Hufflepuff) but I was always kind of a teachers pet and enjoyed raising my hand in class almost as much as Hermione. (With not nearly as many right answers, mind you.)

Laying that aside, we all know that Harry wouldn’t have gotten very far without Hermione. So I decided to base a doll off of her, figuring that there might be a few other Hermione fans out there.

Her Hogwarts uniform is pretty self explanatory. A pleated, gray, wool skirt, crisp collared white blouse, a soft knit vest and knee high socks with sweet, buckled Mary Janes.

Then, of course, she proudly wears her Gryffindor colors in a tie around her neck, as well as lining her soft black cloak. And let’s not forget her wand. She has a tiny loop in her hand to enable her to hold it, as well as in her cloak- for safe storage when she’s not out saving the wizarding world.

So there she is! Yes I’m aware that this reveals a nerdier side of myself, but I don’t really care. I hope you like her as much as I do. She’s on my shop tonight!

Now please excuse me- I’m off to carve some pumpkins. Happy Halloween!

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Brown eyed girl

Posted in dolls, Waldorf doll by

Hello friends. I’ve been a little busy of late with summer VBS, several family birthdays and a triple order for some customized dolls but I wanted to take a quick minute tonight to introduce someone else to you.

This is Hazel. She’s my fourth attempt at a Waldorf inspired, natural fiber art doll and I’m finding each one to be a little easier. I’m never quite sure which direction that little starting sphere of wool will take me. It’s part of the fun of needle felting. After a few hours of sculpting, it appeared that Hazel was going to end up with some lovely, round cheeks. So in keeping with that look, I decided to add a few dimples and sculpt more of a smile into her slightly wider mouth. She ended up looking so cheerful and rosy and brown! So I figured brown with a hint of blush would be her theme in the clothing department as well. Her skirt is as full as I could make it and her rosy pink bolero and green belt accentuate the floral motif of this particular calico quite well.

Her hair, in my humble opinion, is the best I’ve done yet. It’s taken me a while to figure out the best way to do these cotton jersey wigs, but I think I’ve finally figured out a better method. Not the easiest of course, but it just hangs more naturally on the head and is easier to style.

Here are a few shots, in no particular order. She stands a little taller than her sisters- about 15 inches.

She’s on my shop tonight! Let me know what you think! Thanks!

A Penny for your Thoughts?

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I’m finding, now that school and work are done for the year, that I have a lot more time for sewing. That being the case, I thought about hitting the ground running this summer and really filling up my shop. It’s already too hot outside to do much else. But then, seeing all the things that need to be caught up on around this house after such a crazy year, I figured I would rather keep taking the sewing easy- stitching a bit of clothing here, felting a bit of wool there and generally not stressing about it.

Waldorf dolls, even more than my regular dolls are all about the process. Each detail takes time and consideration and shouldn’t be rushed. And why would I rush? Simply to say I have made such and such number of dolls this summer? My demand is really not that high right now. And so, I’m not setting myself any sewing goals, other than to continue learning and improving this delightful new doll making method.

And now for the title of this post. I’d like to introduce you to Penny! So called because of her coppery blonde locks. And because she’s so bright and cheerful looking.

She turned out a little more petite than my other attempts. There’s no saying just how big their heads will be when you start out with just a little ball of wool. You just keep adding a bit here and a bit there, trying to make sure the cheeks are an even size and the chin isn’t too big and the forehead isn’t too tall or too short. Then you have to cut out the body to fit the head. So Penny ended up a couple inches shorter than my other two dolls- a little over a foot tall.

I felt she needed a hat, because it was just really cute when I put it on.

Even without her hat, her hair makes a lovely, coppery golden crown. I really do love this jersey hair. It’s so much fun to play around with.

And this skirt. It’s pretty great. I made a several layered lace petticoat underneath to make sure it stood out nice and full and then did a full- gathered, floral, circle skirt over the top so it could be as fluffy as possible. She also has a simple, embroidered, white peasant blouse for a top that gathers at the top with a draw string ribbon and ties in two sweet little shoulder bows.

She’s on my shop tonight! Let me know what you think and feel free to pass this on!

Marta!

Posted in dolls, Hand made gifts, Uncategorized by

It’s so fun, naming dolls. I haven’t really done it in the past, figuring that most people like to name their own dolls. But there’s something about these sculpted waldorf dolls. Something about all the labor that goes into them- the starting with a simple wool sphere and somehow sculpting a face out of it with no pattern. It makes the creative process seem, well, more creative! Each face slowly emerges under your fingertips and is so individual, you just have to name it!

I chose the name Marta because it reminds me of things soft and sweet and loveable and this girl is just that- all pinks and pastels and it brown eyes and soft, fluffy clothing. I’m just gonna leave a photo dump here and you can let me know what you think!

She’s on my shop now!

A first

Posted in dolls, Hand made gifts by

Last week, I took the plunge and started on a dollmaking method I’ve been curious about and admired from a distance for a while. Waldorf dolls have been around for a long time and the idea behind them is to keep things simple- facial features minimalistic so as to promote imagination and make sure all materials are from natural sources. I have made a few basic waldorf dolls but what I’ve really been itching to try are their more labor intensive relatives- natural fiber art dolls.

These dolls are daunting to attempt. They involve a curious method of sculpting a three dimensional face using nothing but a pile of soft wool and a special needle. This method ends up looking something like this.

Yes, this took a while. But it was so much fun. And I was a little amazed that I was able to make a recognizable face out of it on my first try!

Then this sculpted face is covered with a ‘skin’ of soft, stretchy fabric. In this case, I used my favorite unbleached organic cotton jersey. Then a couple simple eyes are stitched and the fun nose and 3D mouth emerge.

I didn’t have a pattern for her- I was just waiting to see how big her head turned out before I added limbs. And those were sketched out and went on pretty easily. The really nice art dolls use fine quality mohair for the doll hair. This stuff costs a fortune and adds quite a bit of value to these dolls. I wasn’t ready to fork over that kind of money until I knew I could actually make one of these. So I stuck to my good old cotton jersey yarn, which I really like. And it makes these less of a collectors item and keeps them suitable for children to play with, which is what I want for my dolls.

Then, of course, there was the clothing. I had a lot of fun designing this ensemble. The blue, linen fabric for the dress came from my stash of remnants, leftover from one my old dresses. The darling (if I say so myself) eyelet coat came from a skirt my sister donated. The shoes I made from velvet with ribbons, because when you’re a doll, you can get away with stuff like that.

Oh. And I gave her ears. That’s a first, but probably not a last.

So here she is. I’m calling her Natalie because she might represent the birth of something new. We’ll see. I love my other dollies too. But who says I can’t do both?

She’s on my shop tonight!