Welcome to my new blog! Great to see you all!
Some time ago, I got a bit tired of the felting I'd been exploring for the last 10 years. You know the feeling, you want a new challenge, something exciting to take on and really dig in to!
I decided to write in English simply because most of the doll blogs that I follow are written in English (You'll have to excuse language errors!)
When I surfed the net, I found great blogs on American cloth dolls. This caught my interest, I've never seen anything like it! Some 15 years ago I made a couple of Waldorf dolls and some soft animals for my kids when they were small. I was aware of antique porcelin dolls of course (historically mostly imported from Germany), and ragdolls (like the ones in the header). In Sweden poor people also made simple dolls from wood and bark.
But Lo and behold; I never ever heard about Izannah Walker, Maggie Bessie, Colombian dolls, prairie dolls or prims!
I really fell in love with this painted cloth doll style and ordered some books by Miriam Gourley and Therese Cato and got started. The first face I panted was on a piece of strong, tightly woven sheet that I bought on a flee-market. I prepared the surface with ordinary ceiling color and then sanded and painted with acryl colors and put a varnish on top.
Then I made a pattern myself to a doll intended to sit and now I continue my exploring with sewing and color! I still use old sheets because they are really strong and holds the filling.
At the time being, I'm working on a small Marie Antoinette since a friend of mine wanted a large one, like Amalia who stands by herself. It's great fun to think of ideas on how to embellish the dolls and paint them. I will take some on-line classes too in order to develop my skills. I LOVE MY NEW HOBBY/PASSION!
Some time ago, I got a bit tired of the felting I'd been exploring for the last 10 years. You know the feeling, you want a new challenge, something exciting to take on and really dig in to!
I decided to write in English simply because most of the doll blogs that I follow are written in English (You'll have to excuse language errors!)
When I surfed the net, I found great blogs on American cloth dolls. This caught my interest, I've never seen anything like it! Some 15 years ago I made a couple of Waldorf dolls and some soft animals for my kids when they were small. I was aware of antique porcelin dolls of course (historically mostly imported from Germany), and ragdolls (like the ones in the header). In Sweden poor people also made simple dolls from wood and bark.
But Lo and behold; I never ever heard about Izannah Walker, Maggie Bessie, Colombian dolls, prairie dolls or prims!
I really fell in love with this painted cloth doll style and ordered some books by Miriam Gourley and Therese Cato and got started. The first face I panted was on a piece of strong, tightly woven sheet that I bought on a flee-market. I prepared the surface with ordinary ceiling color and then sanded and painted with acryl colors and put a varnish on top.
Then I made a pattern myself to a doll intended to sit and now I continue my exploring with sewing and color! I still use old sheets because they are really strong and holds the filling.
At the time being, I'm working on a small Marie Antoinette since a friend of mine wanted a large one, like Amalia who stands by herself. It's great fun to think of ideas on how to embellish the dolls and paint them. I will take some on-line classes too in order to develop my skills. I LOVE MY NEW HOBBY/PASSION!
