A new cuddly doll

This young lady was a commission, she needed to have some removable clothes, different textures and some crinkly sounds...

Her wrap and skirt can be taken off to reveal a cotton romper suit underneath, every piece of fabric has a different texture and her wrap makes a lovely crinkly sound which will hopefully please the little girl who's birthday present it is.

On my table today...

Today I'll be mainly giving these guys some skin, and cutting out a fabric doll....

It's getting towards that time of year again....

Hello, I've been terrible at blogging over the past few months, sorry! I've been very busy with lots of fun commissions including some puppets for two short films, I'll post about them soon.

I've just listed my first Christmas Fairies of the year, I can't quite believe it's time to start thinking about Christmas already, this year has flown by.

Jemima

Francesca

and Flo

Francesca and Flo are finger puppet fairies. I'll be making more fairies, and I'm planning on making some boy fairies!

 If you'd like a fairy with a specific hair colour or style then do let me know.

I also have lots more Liberty print finger puppets to list, and some more puppet dolls dressed in Liberty print, I'm planing on making up for my absence with lots and lots of new things for you to see over the new few weeks!

Another finger puppet doll

I do love making girls with fabulous beehives!

A girl with a pretty dress and sparkly shoes.

This is another portrait doll, the full size version will be taking this mini version to Greece when she moves there next month, she'll sit on her dressing table. I hope they're both extremely happy in their new home :-)

New portrait doll and exciting news!

Hello, I'm sorry I have blogged in a while, I've been crazy busy making portrait dolls, I haven't even had a chance to photograph a lot of them. I finished this guy today and did get some photos, he's the first doll I've  made with shoes in a long time, I'm rather proud of them!

One of the things that has been taking up rather a lot of time is preparing for an exciting exhibition I'm taking part in - from the 25th to the 1st July I'm going to be in Dubai! I've been asked to take part in an annual doll exhibition, and to give some demonstrations of my process. I have to make a number of dolls for the event so that's been keeping me busy! It's going to be a fab week, I can't wait! It took me a while to believe the invite was genuine, I thought it was far too good to be true!

Tilda

This is Tilda, she was named by Christell, one of my Facebook 'fans' (I do so dislike calling people that, but that is what facebook decrees them to be...Facebook followers, contacts, acquaintances, those are terms I much prefer...) I got so many brilliant suggestions for her name via facebook and twitter. It was REALLY hard to choose which to go for, I need to try and work out how to have a vote on here, so next time I can put up all the suggestions and you guys can vote for your favourite.

Anyway, I hope you like Tilda, I have a few more dolls lined up to list over the next few days, then we're away for Easter, and I have a show going up the week after (Pirates of Penzance at Wilton's Music Hall) so things may go a little quiet, but then I'll be back.

 I'm planning on trying to list an item a day throughout April. So I'll be making a number of smaller items and creatures to keep my puppet dolls company.

Today's listings

Daisy, the newest in my Liberty dolls collection is now available on Etsy and Folksy.

And Eleanor, who's development you've seen on this blog is now on Etsy and Folksy!

Thanks to Claire and talking beads for providing them with such pretty names.

and now she has hair and a mouth too!

She still needs a name, so if you have any ideas then do let me know!

She's getting there....

She still needs hair and a mouth, but she's getting there!

Work in progress.

I've been playing around with lots of new ideas recently, and this is one of the results of that. She's very much a work in progress as you can see. I haven't even given her any skin yet, this is just her basic shape constructed from masking tape and bamboo. I think this style of doll could make lovely christmas angels (yes I'm thinking about Christmas already!) This young lady isn't going to be an angel though, I shall post some more pictures of her as she develops in the next few days. Do please tell me what you think about this new style of doll by leaving a comment below!

Duckpond Market

Well I did it! My first art/craft market! It was a great day, so friendly and some wonderful stalls. I had a bit of a crisis the night before when I realised that no table was provided, but with some creative improvisation I got around not having anything to use (thank you to Mr Roselullabydolls for stopping me from panicking for long enough to think something up!)

I sold 2 dolls and and plenty of postcards, there was also a lot of interest in my portrait dolls, I'm very glad I put together some literature to give to people about them.

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I didn't sell a single brooch though, which I was rather disappointed about, but I think I need to look at how I present them, I'm not sure that many people realised what they were, and I was so busy talking to everyone about portraits that I didn't explain them.

I'm really looking forward to next week up in Cambridge, and next month back at Duckpond!

Real life places to see my work!

So far, almost all my dolls have been sold online, but over the next couple of weeks I'm going to take part in my first ever art/craft markets!

This Sunday - 21st Feb - I'm going to be at Duckpond Market in Ruislip. I've visited this market a few times, and it's just gorgeous. Started up by a local woman last year it's turned in to a roaring success, with high quality arts and crafts, a farmers market, children's activities and lots of fun entertainers.

Then on Saturday 27th Feb I'll be up in Cambridge at the Made-it Market. This is a brand new event which is taking place in 'The Shop' which is a fabulous community art initiative.

Towards the end of March my work will be part of a group exhibition in a shop window in Camden, and there are other exhibitions coming up around Harrow and further afield.

So I'm very busy trying to get lots of dolls and doll brooches made!

It's a terrifying thing, putting your work that you put your heart into out there for all to see, but even more terrifying is sitting next to it and seeing everyone's reactions!

I've been putting a lot of thought into how I'm going to display my dolls, something which as a trained set designer should come very naturally, but most sets I've designed don't have to be transported on the bus and erected in half an hour!

Currently I'm planning on using two of the cardboard dolls houses I blogged about here as the main display areas for my dolls, but I need to think about how to show off my brooches, postcards, literature about custom 'portrait' dolls (which I still need to create!) , business cards, guest book and of course prices! I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes to learn from!

If any of you have wise words on the best and worst ways to display things at art/craft fairs then please pass them on!

If you want to be kept up to date with events my work will feature in then do sign up to my facebook fanpage.

Four more puppet dolls dressed in Liberty's fabrics! All girls this time, there'll be a couple of boys coming soon. I've experimented a bit with their hair dos this time.

Martha and Connie - custom dolls

These dolls were made as imaginings of how two sisters who are at the moment gorgeous little toddlers would grow into beautiful young women. These dolls are going to be companions for the girls as they grow. Its such a wonderful thought that I've created things which will be a part of their world for a long long time.