The making of a Steampunk Troll

So as you may have guessed I'm writing about the doll I finished this week, Professor Hargate Dawkins Wardle Trevithick, or H.D.W for short. He was inspired by Utes Vasina's Troll pattern and I've been planning to make him for a while. Unusually for me part of my planning included sketching out a few of the small details of the doll. So this week I finally had the time to make him, I did have to design the clothes myself and this is where the sketches and planning really helped.

The next step was to add a few extra details to the apron pocket, plus it needed to be a bit steampunk. Luckily I had a few cogs and a small key but it needed something extra, my Dad came to the rescue with a tin from his shed. Apparently the tin was from my Grandads shed and contained lots of brass screws, bolts and copper nails. I filled two small glass vials with some of the tiny screws we found in the tin and I placed a couple of large brass studs or rivets in his apron and hand.

The last thing to be added to the apron pocket was a monocle and I felt it needed to be on a chain and I had a bright idea of using one of my lampwork glass dragon beads as well. So the little dragon became H.D.W's pet baby dragon Errol who holds onto the monocle as H.D.W tends to lose it.

So there we are I've finally made my Steampunk Troll, now I need to start planning for a special halloween doll. 

until next time

Vic xx

Book Club and something new

Its been a very busy week as I've been getting my house tidy as I was the host for our Book Club yesterday. As usual I baked cakes, my Lemon drizzle loaf and Mocha cup cakes, hubby and the kids were very upset as they weren't allowed to taste the cakes until today. I also cooked Chili and Nachos with rice, tortillas and salad, I got the mince for the chili from our local butchers it was a lot cheaper and nicer than from a supermarket.
The book I chose for everyone to read was Accidently in Love with a God by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff, I love Mimi's books as they are full of humour and they are the ones I will reread if I'm feeling a bit low. I would've chosen Stephanie Hudson's Afterlife saga for everyone to read but there are only a few of us with Kindle's which is the shame as I'm sure I would get a few of them hooked on the Afterlife Saga.

So to something new, I have wanted to try bead embroidery for a long time and more specifically beaded dolls. I did a bit of research and found out what I would need, well I thought that the price of Lacy's stiff stuff and Ultrasuede was too much for dolls, not a problem for jewellery. So I went to my fabric shop and managed to find some faux suede at a good price so I got a half a metre plus I could always use the fabric for my cloth dolls if I didn't like bead embroidery. Well as you may have guessed I love bead embroidery and I found I can sit and make something in front of the telly so even more of a bonus for me. The doll I made turned out better than I thought and I will certainly be doing a lot more bead embroidery.

until next time

Vic xx

Godzilla the chick

My son wanted some more baby chicks or ducklings this year, well as we haven't got a drake or a cockerell  we had to find some fertile eggs to put in the incubator. So while they were collecting some female quails my husband and son picked up three fertile Cream Legbar chicken eggs from the breeder. They went in the incubator and we waited, my son candled the eggs and two were growing. We waited a bit more and then we could hear a tiny cheep and a scratching on the shell one was trying to hatch two days early. Unfortunately it just couldn't get out of the egg so it died which was a real shame.  But the next day the last egg  was cheeping and wobbling and had made a small hole in the shell, we were very worried it wasn't going to get out. We left it a bit to see how it would get on and see if it could hatch without assistance but later it was quiet so my son gave it a little bit of help by removing a small part of the shell and the chick pushed itself out so we finally had a chick.  

Chicks when they are first hatched are really ugly nothing like the cute fluffy thing they become by the next day. So we have one chick out of three eggs and it looks like its a cockerell which is a shame as we could do with a few more hens. He is a noisy little thing and he's nearly two weeks old, but I don't think I should've let my son name it though as he called it Godzilla but the rest of us call him Chirpy.

 

Until next time

Vic xx

Night Walk

Saturday evening I'm off to the Tamar Lakes for a charity Night Walk. The walk is in aid of our local Hospice who are raising money not only for their hospice in Barnstaple but also for their Longhouse appeal a facility they would like to build in Holsworthy.

I've walked round the lake many times usually with the dog and my children during the day so at night will be interesting.  I'm going with my friends and I'm really looking forward to it, though I had better find my torch as there are no lights at Tamar. 

If you want to know more about the North Devon Hospice or even make a donation you will find the details on their website www.northdevonhospice.org.uk/

until next time

Vic xx

Photographing my dolls.

If you follow me on Tumblr, Facebook etc you may see my work in progress photos usually followed a couple of days later with the final photo shoot pictures. I have been trying to solve a issue with them, you see for my Elves, jewelery etc I use my pop up light cube / tent with a long piece of cream fabric as the background. I use the cream as it gives a nice warmth to the photos and it means my photos in my shops are similar. Well the full size dolls are too tall or the wings are too wide to fit in the light cube so I've been trying out ways to take their photos this time using my ironing board and my fabric. But first my fabric needed an iron to remove some of the creases I then took the fabric and ironing board into my conservatory as its has the best light in the house.

As you can see I pegged the fabric to the board, usually I drape the fabric over a stool in front of the board and stand / sit the doll on it but this doll hangs on a wall so she was suspended from a peg with a bit of strong thread. Unfortunately you could see the board though the fabric so I moved it around to another wall and it was a lot better.

 I would love a permanent area already set up so I can just take my photos but as space is a bit limited in my house. But this way is producing good photos which need minimal editing so I'll stick with it for a bit.

These photo collages show a selection of the photos I took of Ursula the mermaid.

until next time

Vic xx

Dolls and Beads

This is the second time of writing this post, I deleted the last one. So I've been busy with yet another doll, I seem to be on a roll with them so I just went with it. I decided to make the fairy from the patterns I bought recently. This doll was a little bit different to my usual patterns and it did take a lot longer, in total the fairy took 35 hours of work. Most of the work went on the decorations like a beadwork belt and jewellery for her wrists and ankles. As always I didn't really like the doll halfway through making but once the hair, wings and decorations went on she was lovely. 

I have two more dolls planned the mermaid and a troll, I got the fabric for their clothing this weekend. I just need to decide which to start first, it might be the troll as its easier than the mermaid. 

A week or so ago I made myself go and make some beads and it has taken me a least a week to get on and clean them. I decided to have a go with silver glass again, this could go very well or just be a big pile of brown mess. A few ended up in the water pot mainly an issue with the bead release but the rest they didn't turn out too bad. Some did storm and reduce a couple well refused to play, so out of a dozen beads I got a set of six and few orphans. One of the orphans has a jellyfish look so it may even be used for the mermaid doll. 

Until next time

Vic xx

Decorating and a new doll

I decided to have a bit of break for a couple of weeks mainly as it was the easter school holidays and last week we painted our kitchen. The kitchen has been bothering me for a while, its got cluttered and looked a bit tired. I would have loved to have new units but I think that will happen when I either win the lottery or when the kids move out. So I suggested we repaint it, naturally choosing a colour was the next problem we did agree on a green colour but which green, eventually we decided on a dusky grey green. It took about a day and a half and it looks so much nicer and refreshed.

I decided that I would only keep a few key pieces like on top of my dresser I have my cake stands and two vintage tins. The tins have a lot of memories for me as they were my Gran's, they are a Cornish Fairing biscuit tin and a Cornish Butterdrop tin. My Gran used to keep Rich Tea in the biscuit tin and the other tin was very special as she would keep sweets in there and we were allowed one before we left Grans after visiting or on our way to school.

So this week it was back to work for me and as I had recently sold my last doll. I decided to make a standing doll this time, this doll doesn't have and armature in the legs and has a bit of strong card in the boots / shoes to help it stand, though I think next time I may add the armature to give her a bit more stability.Naming her was the most difficult part I did have a name for the doll all the way through making her but by the end it wasn't right and then I had another name but again I wasn't happy with it. Luckily a lovely friend on facebook suggested Ruby on one of the work in progress photos I post on my page. Well that got me and my chief quality tester (my daughter) running through names this morning and we finally decided on Scarlet. 

She's a lovely doll and I did have to wrestle her back off my daughter as she really wanted to keep her, Scarlet is available on Etsy now. 

There may be a new doll next week as I'm waiting for a mermaid and fairy patterns to arrive along with some lace. 

Until next time

Vic xx