Black-Eyed Suzie Art Dolls and Oddities

Prezzies

Happy New Year!  Does anyone else out there feel like every year since 2000 has sounded like science fiction/ make-believe?  I don't know if I'll ever get my head into this millennium...Anyway, I hope all your days of late have been merry and bright!

I thought I'd share a few photos of Christmas presents I made, some of which I'll soon be adding to my shop as prints.  Yes, it's time to bring back the prints.  I never meant to leave them out for this long, but I looked up after my little boy was born and suddenly a year had gone by.  It scares me sometimes how quickly it goes by.

Bird Gehrls I & II, named for one of my favourite Antony and the Johnsons songs.  I have a few little left cages, so I'll be making more of these.

And one more ballerina...I think I'll make more of these eventually, too.  This time I used silk organza for the tutu instead of tulle and liked it even more. 

Making it reminded me of how I once insisted on wearing my ratty pink tutu to school (paired it with a plaid shirt).  My poor mother...she relented, and now that I have a baby I understand why. If we could somehow harness the willfulness and determination of young children, we could solve the world's energy problems.

Swan Lake Dolls

I've been away from blogland for a while, but I return bearing treats...I have finally finished and photographed all of my Swan Lake dolls! Completing these five dolls felt a little like a marathon at times; gone are the days when I could sit and work for hours at a time.  Now I sneak in an hour here, twenty minutes there.  So, while spending time with my babe is my absolute priority, I'm pretty proud to have finally finished these, despite being way behind my projected schedule.  ('Schedule' is a word that is beginning to seem preposterous to me!)But enough babbling and onto photos:

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Over the next week, I'll be making up the doll listings with descriptions, sizes and prices for each doll.  I'm going to wait until the listings and the newsletter are done before announcing the date of the update because I don't want to get stuck racing to finish things at the last minute.  I'll provide links to the listings in the Shop Update announcement.  Remember that if you would like to receive my newsletter, you can sign up by filling out the badge in the upper right hand corner of this blog, just below the banner.  I send out a brief notice a few days before each update, as well as a notice just before the dolls are added to the shop.

 

Getting There

First of all, thank you so much for all the lovely comments about Octavia -  I think she broke the record, and it was lovely to hear your feedback. Some people thought she looked less sad than some of my other dolls, and while that wasn't a conscious choice, I am feeling very excited about and grateful for all that is to come, so maybe she absorbed some of that hopeful spirit.  But although I smile a lot these days,  I won't be making any smiling dolls any time soon (or, most likely, ever). 

A few people have written me asking if I'm planning an update for fall, and I promise I am - I even have the pictures (and the glue in my hair) to prove it.  But I am moving slower than usual these days, which from what I hear, is normal in the third trimester of pregnancy. 

I was hoping to have these ladies finished by the end of September, but it's looking more like early October.  I don't know how much I've written here about my new program, but I'm back in school full-time for the fall (I'll take time off when the baby is born and most likely head back next fall).  I have now graduated with my MA in English (woot!), but Mr. L and I have both decided to study Translation (French to English).  Translation is big business here in Québec, what with it being a largely Francophone province, but really translation is big all across Canada, which is officially a bilingual country.  Anyway, we want to move to the countryside and we want to work from home and translation is one way to stay regularly self-employed from anywhere.  A phone, a computer and an internet connection and you're all set.   Supposedly there's an entire colony of Québec translators living and working in Bali, but I would never survive in a place where the weather is so consistently hot and sunny; I need my snowstorms and rainy days and fall is my favourite season...

Most likely, this next update will be the last of my small dolls for a while; I hope to do one last, smallish update with 4-5 larger dolls before the baby is born, and then I'll just have to wait and see how  this little creature wants to spend the days...

Fairy Floss in Shangri-La

Still being stunned daily by the beauty of Cape Breton... I've come every summer of my life since I was a few months old and I never stop being amazed by it. Mr. L has been quite swamped with work, so I've been spending my days reading, making sandwiches, going for walks, rolling around in the grass with the cats (who are ecstatic, of course) and sanding tiny body parts. In the early evenings we head for the beach and watch the sun go down. With this luxurious pace of life, I've finally had enough time to make some progress on my ball-jointed doll; I'll share some photos of her in the next few days.  But for now, I have a photo of a little doll bust I gave Rebecca (you'll remember her as my dear, dear friend whose house we're enjoying so much) for her birthday a couple of years ago.  I remember being in such a mad rush to get the bust done in time the day of her party that I didn't have time to take a photo - in fact I ran out of the house with the glue still wet!  So here she is, looking all pensive and tragic:

 

In keeping with the pinkish-creamish-fairy-flossish colour scheme, I snapped these lovely, pale poppies just outside the door.  I'd never seen white poppies before, and not being a big fan of bright red flowers (but, paradoxically, a lover of poppies), I was delighted to see these appear the other morning.

  
And have I mentioned that I've started to feel the baby kick?  Such an amazing feeling, like having a little fish and butterflies and tiny kick-boxer in my stomach all at once.  It makes me laugh and nearly cry.  Is there really a tiny person in there? I still can't quite believe it...

A Fairy Godmother

It probably won't surprise those of you who follow my blog that fairies aren't really my thing.  I love the idea of fairies, mind you, especially the somewhat menacing fairies of Irish folklore, but I generally find visual representations of them to be a little too cutesy for my taste (and sometimes weirdly sexualized, like those hoochie-mama fairies who lounge on toadstools wearing bikinis and looking like they just stepped out of the pages of Maxim).  But recently, my godmother's husband asked me to make a doll for my Godmother's birthday. (When family and close friends ask, my "no custom orders at this time"  dictum becomes a little wobbly.)  

And because when I was growing up, my Godmother was known as my Fairy Godmother, we agreed that the doll should have wings of some sort and a somewhat fairy-esque vibe (which to me means some diaphanous clothing and whatever else I feel like).  I also promised a tiny moose because my Fairy Godmother loves moose, and so I made a little albino moose and very stupidly forgot to take a single photo of him, even though I was quite delighted with how he turned out.  But I did manage to snap the fairy a few times, so here she is.

This fairy has flame-red hair, just like her human counterpart did when I was little.  So, why is she a Fairy Godmother rather than just the garden variety?  She used to help me get ready for school, and let me wear my tutu with a plaid shirt because I refused to be talked into something more sensible.  She gave me the best books, and once when I was about six and too small to reach the counters, she spread newspaper out all over the kitchen floor so that I could help make cookies.  We mailed the cookies along with a letter and some photos to my Grandmother in England, who later told my FG that when she opened the box left by the postman in the garage, she sat down on a box of old newspapers and cried.  

Happy Birthday Auntie Mo!

Happily Ever After...

I went on record last summer saying that I would no longer be taking custom orders, and while that's still generally true, I do find it hard to say no to family and friends, so I do still make the occasional special dollie based on a specific request.  Recently, I contacted a professor in my department about something altogether non-doll, and when she wrote back she asked if I was the same Sarah Faber who made dolls.  It turned out that she'd read the Globe & Mail article from a few months back but, never having taught me, didn't know that I was also a student in the department.  It was all quite exciting because I felt, for a brief moment, like a very small 'c' celebrity - I'm sure it's as close to that feeling as I'll ever get!  Anyway, said very kind professor asked if I'd make a custom order for her brother's wedding gift, and after she gave me my fleeting moment of feeling ever so slightly puffed up, how could I say no?  It turns out flattery really will get you everywhere...

 

These pictures aren't the greatest - I was in too much of a hurry to set up a proper shot.  But here is the happy couple, doll-style.  I fell in love with the boy doll - I think I'll have to make a couple for my next update...

 

p.s. Thanks for making the hat, baby... and the stands!  You're the best! Marry me!! 

p.p.s Newer readers: I didn't really just propose via the internet...we're already married.

Yo Miss

Finally: the first of completed Alices, all frilly and sugar-soaked.  But I want to tell a non-doll related story, accompanied by doll photos.  Is that just too mind-bending?  I think you can handle it...

 

Tuesday evening I met with my most-fabulous Ladies Literary Auxiliary a-Go-Go. (That is our official title - I swear I didn't just make it up.)  The Ladies Auxiliary is made up of yours truly and five super-smart and talented women who I've met since starting my master's in creative writing.  We were all in a writing workshop together last year and we appreciated each other's writing and critiques so much that we decided, once the workshop was over, to get together once a week and discuss one another's writing.   Every week a different lady sends everyone a chapter or story, and then we take turns making dinner and hosting the workshop.  So then we get together, drink wine, eat yummy food and rip someone to shreds. 

 

Oh, look how sad that makes these two.  No, we are quite tactful, but still honest and direct and the whole experience is so much fun and also tremendously  helpful.  As writers, we are usually squirreled away in our quiet little corners, sitting in silence and begging the muse to sing.  It can somewhat isolating, so it's great to get together and encourage one another (and of course bitch a little about the writer's life).  

But why the title of this post?  Well, many writers teach to pay the rent and you might remember some of my own screeds about teaching, back before I decided to throw my lot in with dollies full-time (try explaining that career choice at weddings - I'm nothing if not practical!)  But one of our group teaches full-time and the other night she told us about an email she got in response to a class assignment she'd given that I have to share here:

Yo Miss,

I didn't understand ur ass. one little bit.  Pls. clarify.

So, gentle readers, a reminder to us all: in this era of blackberries and twitter and MSN, let us choose our abbr.s carefully.  (We all agreed, however, that the student's correct use of a comma after 'Miss' was admirable.)

But what about the Alices???  No need to yell, imaginary reader. (Oh wait, that was just me yelling at myself again.)  They are coming along well, if a bit slower than I'd hoped.  Some of the little details like striped stockings and the eensy-weensy hairbands have been quite fussy and time-consuming, but I worth it, I think, because they're pretty dang cute.   I've also given most of their dresses double layers, to suggest the traditional Alice-y apron. Layers and ruffles and all-round girliosity.

Legless, with Dresses

Thank you to everyone who offered sympathy and advice for my back woes - I've been much more careful lately, and doing more stretches, sun salutations and swimming (a little alliteration, all?) which have definitely helped.  And though I promise I'm no longer being careless, I have been working away quite hard on my Alices, as I really want this update to be my biggest and best.  There are reasons for this which will be revealed shortly, but for now I must remain cryptic... My last post was so crusty, and with such, sad, anemic little photos that I decided I had to post some better ones.

 

You might remember a post from a few weeks ago about some lovely vintage fabric I acquired: gorgeous candy-coloured silks, mostly organza.  I think I might have to convert almost exclusively to silk organza; it's crisp yet soft, and holds creases, pleats and shaping so beautifully, and it's very pleasant to sew.

 

I've also given these dolls underskirts with ruffles, and continued to include lots of texturing in the fabric, which I'm discovering is so much more fun than trying to work from a pattern. So my  Alices are turning out to be quite frothy little confections; I never used to like pastel colours, but I love these, and whenever I walk into my little studio, it feels light and airy and sweet as marshmallow.

I'm also working on some larger dolls, but they are still mostly just detached heads, torsos and arms, so I'll have more photos of them as I progress.  I hope all have a ruffly, candy-coloured week!

   

An Unhappy Valentine & Five More Dollies

Here are the final dolls for tomorrow's update, as well as two new prints.

These four ladies are all  between 10 - 13".

The Unhappy Bride is fully poseable with a wire armature, and stands 16" (41 cm).

It would appear that groom met an unfortunate end, but at least she's sentimental enough to have  held on to a souvenir.

 
She also stars in one of my two new Valentine's Day prints.  Now, as you might have garnered from my blog, I am very much in love with my dear Mr. L., and yet I have a morbid streak that  compels me to flout the warm, sweet sentiments of Valentine's for stories of heartbreak and love gone horribly awry.  Abandoned young girls?  Eviscerated grooms?  Oh dear....

My Bloody Valentine

And poor little Dafia got all dressed up and put out her best tea set for her special one, only to be...

Stood Up

 

But hey, at least I observed the convention of red and pink, right? 

*Some important changes to my Shipping & Insurance Policies* 

  Every January, Canada Post rewards its faithful customers with a rate increase, so my shipping rates have gone up by about a dollar for dolls (this is still slightly less than the actual cost of shipping + materials).  Also, I will no longer automatically insure items under $175 shipped outside of Canada.  Items shipped outside of Canada are insured up to $100, so please contact me as soon as you purchase if you would like to purchase additional insurance ($2).  Items over $175 will automatically be insured for the full amount.  Also, tracking is available within the US for an additional cost; please contact me if you would like tracking. 

My most recent group of dolls don't really have a theme per se - I just tried to use more colour than usual in effort to rebel against the frozen drabness of January.  My dolls' hair and clothes continue to become more and more asymmetrical, which is fun because it gives me a lot of freedom and I really enjoying texturing fabric.  I'm posting the first ten dolls today and will post the next four on Tuesday.

Winnie, in the upper right-hand corner, is the doll whose proceeds will go to Doctor's Without Borders Haitian relief fund.  I named her after a little girl that was rescued after three days buried under the rubble.

I'm also working on a couple of prints; just keeping my fingers crossed that I can finish them by Wednesday.

(All dolls are made from paperclay and measure between 10" and 13" inches.)

 

 

Okay, I'm off to sculpt tiny feet!