I almost forgot how fun painting is.

 

At last I sat down in my studio.

I started this painting awhile back and have, the last couple of days, been wanting to do something about it.
It's really nice to sit down and work without thinking of anything special. This is a WIP and I don't know how it will end. Right now I enjoy the process of making it.

Isn't it fun to see the changes during ones work, new expressions and new challenges. I never stop wondering how I always forget about all the fun of one thing while doing something else. The only thing I do know is that I'm far too little patient to be really good at anything. To be really good one has to practice all the time I believe. Having fun is the most important thing for me, and as long as I'm pleased it doesn't matter.

This painting is inspired from my blogfriend Janet, over at random acts of ART,she always seems to come up with new and surprising angles and ways to put her girls, so she inspired me to try something different myself.  I always feel it's troublesome to start mixing the skintone, but after some time it becomes easier.
As you see there are alot of work left on this one.

It's far too long since I worked in my journal too, perhaps it's time to do that now. I have a few things I want to try.
Last day in October, where did this month go? Very soon it's time for washing and polishing again, and I feel I just did it. Oh well, not think about that yet.

Have a play and be creative!

Moonwalking.

 

Late last evening we went for a walk in the moonshine.

My plan was to photograph our beautiful citypark, to show you the sculptures. Unfortunately all the water was drained out to have a cleanup so it'll have to be another time.
We have this channel and a pond in the middle of our city and it's a beautiful place. An artist, born and raised here but lived his life in Italy, donated the sculptures to our county.
There are a rich birdlife along the water, mostly ducks and some black swancouples too. Some of the sculptures are placed in the water and have lights mounted to light them up.

 See the moon? It was a clear and frosty night, the snow has gone but the frost is still here. The whole park is full of rhododendron bushes, and in spring during the blooming it's stunning.

This is the sculpture called "Little Sunday Princess" she's placed beneath a kentaur. Little Sunday Princess is much loved of all children, they're giving her kisses and shaking hands with her. It doesn't show well in my photo but her hands and cheeks are very shiny because of all the touching.
The artist, no longer alive, is Fritz Røed. I promise to be back with a full version from the park.

Enjoy your day!

Surprises.

 

Do you often look through the content in your blog? The old posts.

 

A doll need a pair of partysandals!

When I see the stats I often get surprised over which posts have been visited. Posts that I forgot about a long time ago.
The top 10 most visited posts are known to me because they show all the time, but the other ones always surprises me. My most visited post shares the name with the American defence department in it's headline and that's the main reason it has all those visits, I believe. It was never in my mind that it would have such an impact. I wrote that post in an early stage of my bloging and had no idea of how it would do. The post I wrote about the colorsystem became a hit too, even though I didn't think it would hold much interest to others.
Other times it's the photos that creates interest, the post where I tell about my newly chrochet bikeseat is a magnet too, because of the photos. One of these photos has been shared several times at pinterest.

I think it's fun to see all the other posts that are being visited, once in a while I have to re read the post myself because I don't remember it. Do you often get surprised?
I can't see any pattern on what people mostly like to read, and I don't think much about what I'm writing. For me it's more like documenting what I'm doing at the moment.

Are you good at planning your posts? Do you consider the SEO's and all that stuff? I don't. Some might think that it's bad not to, but I think we're all different and not all of us try to make money from our blogs. When I first started this blog I made a decission NOT to allow adverticing what so ever. Mostly because I don't like it. What others do is for them to decide. And, I don't think it's wrong to make money from ones blog if that's what the blogowner wants.

Ready for party?

Have a wonderful day everyone.

The Autumn is over.

It's been snowing here, and the frost has come. Much too early! Normally we don't get snow before past newyear, but this won't last I hope. We have a fire going in the stove and that's nice, I like the good warmth it gives. We had a beautiful sunrise this morning, I had to photograph it. Can you see the snow on the roofs and a thin layer on the ground too?

I'm still in the mood of making dolls, right now I'm figuring out a way of making them sandals. Otherwise I've start to plan my part of the stand. A little "shop" is what I'm going to have if it doesn't disturb my friend too much. We're going to share a table during the Christmas market. Below you see how I've set it up just to try it out. See the shoe-shelves? I talked with my mother the other day, telling her that the dolls had so many pair of shoes, oh it's in the family, she replied.

The lower doll has sandals on but it doesn't show well. The one sitting in the chair is the newest one, she doesn't have any clothes yet. Green hair???? well it's a long story. She has a good and warm skincolor and green eyes. I've stopped using coffee, the other colors become clearer/cleaner that way.
I have to make one more to try the new yarn for the hair, not sure it will work but if it does it will be great. I hope you all have a bit warmer weather than we have right now, and that you enjoy your day.

Two ready for sale.

 

I have finally decide how to sell my dolls.

Socks, west and the underwear only. I think it's important that the new owners make their own clothes, grandpa's shirt or grandma's apron, that they use fabric with history. The shoes, mittens and other small pieces will be sold as extras.

Remember this one? She has had a makeover and now looks like 

this

And below are the two ready for sale.

I have not landed on the excact price yet but they won't be cheap, the price shall be fair to me. Otherwise there have been some interest for the dolls and that's great. I posted a photo on facebook and the reactions were good. At least that showed me that other people sees the same as I do in them.
If anyone are willing to pay what they will cost, is quite another matter. My thoughts are that I would prefer to give them for free to someone I know instead of selling them cheap to someone I don't know.
We'll see how it all ends.
Now I'm off to make another pair of shoes.

How do you feel about selling your art?

 

I knew from the beginning this one would be great.

The new doll I made is so cute I will have trouble selling her. I've often heard that painters have trouble selling their paintings and I never understood it. Now I know the feeling. It's almost like selling a part of myself. But, I can't keep them all. The first one I made I have to keep because I don't remember how well I secured every bit and part. The other ones are very well made so I'm sure they hold high standards.

Yesterday I had so much fun photographing the dolls, I must have hundreds of photos. I would really love to be able to make a little movie with them acting. Wouldn't that be fun?

I'll show you three photos and add some text I imagine they are saying. Here we go.

Viva, standing on the floor, says :

 Oh, are you my new sister?

No name yet, saying:

I'm sad, I wish I had long white hair too!

The two on the floor :

Don't be sad. You're special too, now you're the one sitting in the chair.

I'm laughing, can you tell I'm having fun? Handyman is laughing too when I show him all the fun photos.
The other day I was looking through my stash and found a shawl I made way back. That shawl had fringes of the "white hair" yarn. I had forgotten all about it and was more than happy to find it. The new doll got similar hair as Viva but it's mixed with another one too.

The new one has shoes and handcuffs and I sewed some small goldbeads onto them. I know I shouldn't have but couldn't resist. They are well secured but I'll have to tell the buyer to check on it every now and then. When it comes to the short haired one, I'm very tempted to replace her hair. But I have decide to jazz up her clothes a bit and see if that will do.

Just for fun I've noticed their "birthdays" so I'm planning on making them birth-certificates. That way a new owner will know their birthdays. If the buyers will let me know their adresses I was thinking of sending a birthdaycard for each doll and perhaps a little surprise too.

As you understand I've had a good weekend, I hope yours were good too.

Teatime.

 

Yesterday I was browsing the internet and found some great inspiration.

Want to share a cup of tea?
I didn't mean to make this post before next week but I couldn't resist. The cupcakes are so easy to make and I believe they can be made in a thousand different ways. I saw some cakes on this blog, and got so inspired that I had to try it myself. Aren't they fun?

I've made these three so far and I'll make a lot more, but not at the moment. I was in the middle of making a doll when I did this so I'll have to finish the doll first.
I just wanted to offer you all a cup of tea and wish you a nice weekend!

Right now......

 

Since I'm out of ordinary work, I'm concidering to start as a shoemaker.

But I love my present customers, they are greatful for whatever I make. They don't speak and have no wishes. I bet you've guessed what I'm talking about. Doll shoes. The red pair in front are made in fabric, I intend to make a pair in shiny offwhite too ( balerina shoes) I have this white leather to use as soles.

 I've had some difficulties to find buttons for the eyes, but yesterday I found some that I believe can work well. So today I'm going to make another doll. I found some other stuff too, and now I have great plans of what to  make. Isn't that strange, each time I visit a store of this kind I could have baught half the store!

 But, I have too much in my stash to buy much. Some small details are ok though. See the little bird buttons? They're so cute I couldn't leave them behind.
Now, I'll have to start the new doll so this is it for today. Best wishes for all of you.

Sandras day.

 

It's pretty amazing what this organization does for the children.

I can't show you other than  small glimpses of what has been going on this year.
The evening started with official speaches and a representative from the county gave the organization a certain amount of money. The two speakers ( in Bunad) told us what the whole team had been doing and the children animated it by acting on the stage. Very fun to watch.

Below is the apprentices, Sandras group. They were singing amongst other things. Sandra in the center of my photo.

Here is Sandra's stand. You've seen most of it earlier. She had added some jewelry and a glass she had paint on. This stand was  made all by herself, no adults were allowed to help out decorating for her. We did talk about it, though, the last weekend she was here, and she discussed it further with her mum.

This is a stand made by another apprentice, her theme was horses as you see.

 Jewelry, flowers and lots of different themes. Everything nice displayed, and all of them had their own poster. Everything is organized by the children, even the board work are their responsebility. ( a few adults to keep a certain control and give some advice) Their experiences are of high value for the rest of their lifes. The main slogan is: Learning by doing.

 A proud girl posing in front of her stand. 

In a moment of silence Sandra told me that several adults, unknown to her, had been in contact with her to give their approval of her work. How very nice of them to do so, and how important for Sandra to hear strangers tell her that. Luckily she is good at recieving kind words.

 With MUM!

 Sandra and I, she's eating cake and I'm talking.

On her diploma she got very good remarks and all her work was highly approved. The leader of the apprentice group, Randi, came to me to tell me of her surprise when she saw Sandra's project book. What impressed her the most was that Sandra had made the book itself and that she describes every project so accurate. Randi had shown the book to several other leaders and none of them had seen anything like it before, for a 10 year old that is.
Well, Sandra and I agreed on doing it properly when we first started. And, how can children learn to be accurate if no one shows them how to? To write the process in her book was one of Sandra's favorite tasks. First she wrote on single sheets, just to try different sentenses or different ways of saying it, and then in her book. She loved that, and all the time she felt pride over her doings. That's the way it should be, isn't it?

Nice ta-dah moment this evening!

A little something

 

I made a little something for Sandra today.

Tomorrow is her big day ( and all the others too) which marks the end of her 4H project this year. The Autumn exhibition. It has been very nice to be able to help her and to watch her growth with the different tasks. I want to mark the end by giving her something I know she likes and that she can use whenever she wants. ( art related)
I wrapped it up and then painted on it. Not the smartest way of doing it but, too late to think of that now.

I also made this carrierbag for her. They always need something to carry things in so I thought it was a good idea. Untill I noticed the photo. Do you see it's in reverse?
First thing I thought was to make another one but I think it's good for Sandra to see that I make mistakes too. She always says that I don't make any mistakes and always compare to that. Now there's a proof.

I'll share with you her big day. I'm so excited for her and can't wait to see it all.

Now I'm off to make some dinner for Handyman. Have a nice evening.

Quite pleased

 

I didn't reach my goal for the week.

 

I made the coat but the balerina outfit has to wait. I'm not as pleased as I want to be with the tomboy doll. To make her a bit more girly I made her a dress and a west, and the coat. I had much fun making the coat, using all my dressmaker skills. I doubt it will make a differens but I hope that the child who is going to play with this doll will learn something about quality and how things should be made.

It looks like there is a stain on the coat but there isn't. I dwelt a long time before making the pockets, after all they won't be needed but then again they do belong there.

It's quite fun when she holds her hands in the pockets. I know it's not a good habit but.........
She had to get some boots too. A hat of some kind is a must so I'll have to figure out some ideas.

Here she didn't bother to close the coat. Doesn't she look fun? I have to smile when seeing her. Yesterday Sandra and I went on a research for what to use for hair on future dolls. I found some good replacements for the white hair I used on Viva. Viva's hair is so soft that it bows down even when I put it in high standing pigtails.

I did manage to make some mittens too, of course she needs to have mittens during winter. I didn't make the thumb though, that would have been almost impossible to make and even more difficult to use. Her west was ment to be a jacket but sleeves over sleeves isn't that smart, I think, so it became a west instead. Her dress is made of  40 year old bedlinen. I remember my Grandma had some similar to this. By the way her coat is made from the finest wool fabric. I had a suit jacket made in The US back in the 1930's, some time ago I threw it away but kept the back piece because it was such a nice fabric.

I'm excited to see if they will sell. Will people see the differens and does it matter? Time will show.

I hope you've had a good time too.

I certainly need to get used to this one.

I hvae to admit that I didn't use my brains when I made her hair. She started out with quite long hair but I had to cut it inot what you see in the photo below. Can you see there is far too much hair? I shouldn't have sewn two strands at the time, one would be enough with this yarn.
I did paint her face using watercolors just to bring her a bit more to life. She is still wet in this photo.

I did it quick and without bad feelings, but I have a hard time getting to know her. This one is not much girly, more like a tomboy in fact. I just have to find her personality and make her some clothes that fits.

She needs color other than white and a much more clear expression. That's my challenge right now. Today I'm having a friend over so it won't be much doll working.
Otherwise it seems we are going to have a sunny day today, much rain lately so a sunny day will brighten up a bit.

A little creating after all.

In between all the battles this weekend I found moments for creating a new doll. It's always something special to see who the new one will be.
A friend of mine came over the other day and said to Handyman : So, your wife has started playing with dolls again. He sort of shake his head and answered : Nothing surprises me anymore.
I believe he was surprised and I'm glad to still be able to surprise him after 35 years.

Cut outs ready for handsewing.

All sewn and waiting to get stuffed

Stuffed and arms and legs in place. Next thing is to give her a bit skintone. I use coffee to "paint" her.

Coffee work done. Before the coffee I wet her with pure water so that the coffee color will be more even.

Below she has got the decorative seams in place. When making these seams I also secure some weak spots. Around the thumbs and the points between her head and shoulder.

Can you see I changed her headform a bit? Not sure how wise that was but now it's done. At this point I'm always excited to see how the face are going to be.

Her face started.

I'll show you the rest later on.

I've had a very effective weekend and am satisfied with every single bit of it. I hope you've had a nice one too!

We wish you a nice weekend!

Just a quick hello to wish you all a nice weekend.

Viva and I have had such a lovely week, but now we have to break untill next week. I'm beeing busy the whole weekend. Next week I'll make a winter coat and a balerina outfit for her. At my workdesk right now are a pair of summer shoes made in fabric (stretchy) It will cost me alot more work than I thought of from the beginning. They will be part of the red dress outfit.

Below is a photo showing the aprondress from the backside. In fact I had to make her a new aprondress, the first one was a bit too wide. This new one fits much better.

The aprondress outfit almost done. I'm thinking of making a couple of ribbons, so that she can wear pigtails once in awhile. The blue shoes are made of cotton yarn, the soles are made of wool though. Summershoes I think.

Viva says: SEE YA!!

I'm going to party all weekend. Tomorrow night a huge birthday party and Sunday guests of my own.
Untill next week.

BE WELL!!

Little by little she get dressed.

We're doing well.

I'm still making clothes for the ragdoll. What you can't see below is a hairband I made from the same fabric as the dress. This is the test-dress I talked about in my former post. I lined the dress with a very smooth fabric so it will be easy to put on. In the back the dress is closed with a hook and eye. The opening goes 10 cm down the back.

In between the photoshoots she gets a little shy again. Look at her movement here, I couldn't  resist making another shot. This pose was an accident ( or coincidence) I didn't plan it. One of these golden moments.

Last photo shows something ment to be an apron for the test-dress, but turned out to be a dress of it's own. I really like her with this one, and I could make her a blouse in what color I want. As you see I knit her a pair of socks too. Better wear socks than shoes indoors. Her pose here was planned, I helped her to hold the arm up high. ( a needle in the sofa)  By the way, her hight is 40 cm's with exception of the high hair.

Perhaps a little too much white, but still I like it. Her hair is held in a ponytail on top of her head. It can hang free or in pigtails. I think she needs the hight of it as it is now.
I'm not sure I can sell this particular one so I'm planning on doing another one for that purpose.

Have a beautiful day wherever you are!

Meet Raggedy Ann.

I've started something that grows in mind.

First of all I had to make her some underwear. I didn't think, just made. It became old fashion like. Have a close look at her back. Even the buttonholes are handsewn. The lace is made directly onto the garment so it works as the final finish. Notice her waistline, dosen't she have an elegant figure?

The neckline has a laceborder too.

 And so does the sleeve edge and the bottom line of her pants. I have to make her another set of underwear, she has to have some in silks I think, and the pants need to be shorter

Her boots was made with winter in mind, and they are part of a complete outfit.

She is a little shy, and asked me to be quick with my camera.

 It's almost like she's blushing.

Here she's got her hat on. It had to be quite large because of all her hair. I'm planning to make her a coat to fit with her shoes and hat. Perhaps something fun for her hands too.

Look at this face, can you see her expectations? Well, that's the way I feel it anyway.

I believe I would have loved a doll like this one when I was a child. All her clothes are going to be real. No cheating in making. I know very well how to make "real" clothes, and I think it's much more fun when it feels correct. Right now I'm making a dress, testdress. I have to make the patterns as good as possible so that takes quite some time. But it will be much more easy if I make anotherone. Besides it's fun to make the patterns too.