Thursday 26 September 2013

The Effner's are coming.....

...Well, actually they are here.  Here are three little girls that will melt your heart.  I also have a darling little 301 Bleuette that I finished recently.  All the girls are listed on my website
www.thedollladyinc.com
You will also find them listed on Ebay.  So if you'd like to see additional photos of thee cuties.....click on the link above and enjoy.....

The 301 Bleuette

Isabelle.....love her face!

 Little Lou...I love you too.....

 And who couldn't love Smiling Jenny?

Sunday 15 September 2013

Santa

I have been working on this for quite some time....a good 5 months or so.  Santa and friend are a wedding gift for my hubby niece.  IMHP!  Which stands for...I made...he paid.  When Julie and Dwayne got married, they didn't want any gifts...big bummer for me.  After the wedding I decided I didn't like that....I wanted to make them something that they couldn't get anywhere else.  So I got thinking...poo on that, I'm going to ask her what she would like and if she doesn't tell me....I'll make her what I want to.  So the next time we saw Julie I asked her...."What would you like as a wedding gift from Jerry and I?"  She hesitated a little....then I said, "if you don't tell me, then I'll make you want I want to make you."  That did it...."I'd like one of your Santa's....in traditional colors."  So I started in on her Santa the next day and this is the finished product.  After seeing the finished project I decided I needed one for myself....So I guess I'll start another one!  Santa stands 26 inches tall, I used red upholstery fabric for the main portion of his suit, trimmed it in white beaver.  The inset fabric down the sides of the pants, the sleeves of his jacket and above the fur trim on his hat, is a beaded moss green ribbon anchor a wider golden ribbon.  Three large leather buttons down the front of his jacket.  His hair and bread are white mohair.  His bag of toys is a coordinating upholstery fabric.  The tops of his shoes are painted with poinsettias and the bottom of each shoe is painted with a Christmas Tree.  Little Smiling Jenny is wearing a red outfit and matching hat made by SassySusie, she also has on red leather lace-up boots. 





"Laying his finger aside of his nose......"



Sunday 8 September 2013

A story of a dirty girl..............

This little composition baby doll came to me from her original Mama.  A few months ago a lady from Wayne, NE stopped by my studio.  She had a doll trunk with three dolls from the early 30's.  They were all in pretty good condition, especially the baby doll.  We talk about the work they would need.  I mentioned that I was working on a new program on doll restoration.  She left with the dolls and was going to discuss what to do with the dolls with her mother and she would be in touch.  Last week I received a call from her...she wanted to show her mom my studio.  So we set a time and she and mom arrived as planned.  When they walked in, I recognizes the doll truck and thought they had decided to have these dolls fixed up and looking pretty once again.  They had indeed talked things over and what they decided to do was to give me these dolls to me because I would take care of them and could use them when I did my new program.  I feel very honored that her mother would entrust me to care for her three childhood dolls. 

It's been a long time since I worked on a project strictly for my enjoyment and pleasure and when I saw that little baby doll again,  I knew I wanted to bring her back to life right away.  She needed to be re-strung (as you can see by the photos) so that's where I started.  I took her about and got out my doll cleaner and went to town.  I thought I was going to need to repaint her since she was so scratch up, but once I started cleaning her, I realized, those weren't scratches at all.....it was dirt.  This little girl was really dirty.  Once she was cleaned up, I touch up her lips and lightly blushed her cheeks so the two matched.  Then I lightly re-sealed her and put her back together.  I also washed her original dress and did a little mending on it.  She's as cute as can be and will make a wonderful addition to the dolls I'll be sharing in my program.
 Here she is before her cleaning.....

 If you look closely you see the areas on her face I thought were  scratches.
 He body was is really good shape....dirty, but the composition is in great condition.
 Here she is, all clean and looking purdy again....

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Frustration and New Girls.

I don't know how many of you are signed up with the Yahoo Groups, but what is going on at the moment is a right pain in the ol' behind!  For those of you who are not on the Yahoo Groups...thank your lucky stars.  Yahoo has decided that the Groups need an update.  You must understand...none of the members of these groups (and there is a lot of them) didn't want things to change, we were all quite happy with the way things were going.  We could chat with other people....post photos, edit photos....delete photos, find files, all that stuff.  It was simply and enjoyable experience.  Now this so-called "New and Improved" version has brought 90% of all that to a halt.  Yahoo hasn't finished loading the changes and not all groups are switched over as yet.....Yahoo has left all the groups in limbo and we have limited abilities at the moment and it's not fun.  The chatter has also dropped because people can't figure out how to even post.  This is total incompetence at it's best.  I keep telling myself....patience...but I have to admit, I'm beginning to run out of it.  Finish the job Yahoo or put the old format back!

Now for some happiness.....I have finished several new dolls lately, many have already been adopted, but I thought I'd show them to you anyway, because it's fun to look at dolls...they make you smile and feel good.....everything has been listed in my online store and many on Ebay.   Unfortunately I can't post any photos to the Yahoo Groups....because...read the first paragraph again.....;-)
 The Long Face Jumeau
 Aiko....She is so cute!
 Bru 13
 Bru Shandele
 Daisyette
 EJ Jumeau
 Rosette
 Rosette
Tete Jumeau