A Happy New Year !
I am starting the new year with a new face on my website.
It’s been five years since I opened my website, and I have had so many visitors since then.
I truly appreciate all the doll fans who came to view my website. My new website is more organized, and you can find dolls easily. Also now you can leave a comment in my guest book .
I have created a new doll perfect to be the cover girl of my new website. She is a 24-inch Bru Jne 11 with mocha colored skin. She can be a Mulatto doll but she is actually a Creole child from the 1860s .I had this order during the summer of 2011. My customer had a vision of her doll as “ Creole child from the 1860s pre-Civil War era “.I did not have much knowledge about Creole culture. So I started out by studying about it first.
Most of the dolls I make are reproductions of dolls dressed as girls in 1880s style. But this doll needs a dress designed from 1860s pre-Civil War era.To find periodically correct designs was another challenge since I am not familiar with them. I flipped through many design books and searched on websites. My customer also helped me to find dress designs. Then I saw this silk fabric at the UFDC convention in July, I immediately fell in love with it. I seem to get more inspired when I find the right fabric than by just looking through books. I also found a painting of a little girl from the 1860s and I was drawn to the color and design of the dress that she was wearing. I decided to use this painting as my inspiration to create a dress for my new doll.
Choosing a right style wig was another challenge to make this doll look authentic.Thank goodness for Wendy Feidt who creates many wigs for my dolls. She had a hair style perfect for an 1860s little girl. I added antique silk velvet ribbon at each side to complement her skin color. My customer wanted to display this doll in a sitting position, and the Chevrot style body I usually make may not be appropriate for that purpose.
I asked my friend, doll artist Ed Spencer, to make a composition body for this doll. As a result, she can sit on the chair elegantly without any support . I could have used more decoration like lace and frills on the dress. However, dresses from that era seem to have a rather simple line. They used lots of fabric manipulation techniques instead. Her dress may seem too simple but there is a reason for this.
I also made a little hat with lots of flowers for a special occasion .This hat sits on top of her crown so that it will still show her beautiful curls.
Upon completion she turned out to be a truly one-of-a-kind doll Her new owner named her “ Miss Fancy” and she lives in her new house with lots of other friends. I know many doll collectors name their special dolls and create stories for each one as if it is a real child.
I feel very fortunate to be able to create dolls that are being loved like this by their new owners.
I hope this year will be better than the previous year for many people. Please enjoy my new website for many years to come.
