Something New Sunday...

You know I love Googlies right? I've been working on this girl for a few weeks on and off, now she's finally ready. She's celebrating with a little cake and juice....🥰

The Little Shop collectibles from Marks and Spencer, and my 1/12th scale table and chairs, are the perfect size for this 15cm Dollie.

M&S Little Shop for Dollie

She's dressed in a blue tana lawn and lace dress, with flower Liberty print panties. I made her a straw bonnet, and decorated her stand with a William Morris print.

Googly in Liberty Print Panties

Dottie Dollie Googly Clothing

As usual, all of her clothes are hand sewn, and fully removable.

She is a perfect cabinet sized doll, and is ready to display with her complimentary doll stand.

Dottie Dollie Googly Doll

 Her eyes are painted in my favourite grey/blue, which has such a lovely vintage look, and it works well with her lightly curled auburn mohair wig.

Kestner Googly Reproduction

You can find her now in my Folksy shop

Zouave Drummer Boy - Izannah Walker Inspired

Zouave Drummer Boy - Izannah Walker Inspired

 This special doll is my first Izannah Walker inspired boy doll, and he wears a costume inspired by the trend of dressing boys in military uniforms during the American Civil War. The bright Zouave uniforms especially caught my eye, so I decided to create a costume inspired by them. This doll is a new, unique sculpt.

Hand Painted Boots - Izannah Walker Inspired

His red trimmed black ankle boots, have been hand painted, and gently "aged".

Izannah Walker Inspired Doll

His hair is brown, and was painted in many layers, to give a beautiful depth, and lots of individual hair strands. He has short wispy strands across the back of his head, a centre parting, and wisps framing his face. 

His features have been painted with artist grade acrylic paints, and sealed with several coats of matt varnish. He has painted blue eyes, and  has been antiqued to give him a real "old doll" look and feel.

His body is made from calico, and his head and hands are hand sculpted from Paperclay.

Izannah Walker Inspired Doll - Boys Underwear

Izannah Walker Inspired Doll - Red Pants

He wears cotton drawers, and an under shirt. His wide leg pants are made from red cotton, and fasten with a hook and hand worked loop.

Izannah Walker Inspired Boy Doll

 His blue cotton jacket has a tartan lining, and hand stitched soutache braid decoration. His sash is made from red wool, with a pale blue silk trim, held in place by a black leather belt.

Zouave Drummer Boy - American Civil War

 I carved teeny drum sticks for him, and made a small drum for him to carry. It has the badge of the 5th New York Zouaves, from the American Civil War. All of his clothes are fully removable, and feature french seams and large amounts of hand sewing.

It was a lot of fun to work on a boy's costume for a change, I imagine there will be more boys in the future!

Finished on a Friday!!!!!

I've had an absolute blast working on these cute girls....and now they are all finished and ready to venture off to their forever homes.....  They are all cast from the same mould, the Kestner 111 jointed googly. All have custom, handmade mohair wigs & hand painted features.

Each doll is around 18cm high.

Dottie Dollie Googly Girls

Googly with Green

Googly in Undies

Googly Sailor Girl

Nautical Googly

Googly in Peach

Dottie Dollie Googly

 I have a few more of these girls in the pipeline, and there's still that mould making that I need to do....busy, busy, busy!!! 

Shop Update

It's been a lovely sunny day here today, if a bit chilly, but it's been great for taking photos.....

I've popped two Izannah Walker style dolls into my Etsy shop

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

Mary - Izannah Walker Doll - Dottie Dollie

They are cast in flumo, from my Mary mould, which I made from my own original sculpture. Each doll is hand painted and costumed uniquely........my short attention span wouldn't have it any other way!!!!

All the clothing is fully removable, the element of "play" is so important to me........ There's lots of hand sewing, and of course my favourite crackle glazed finish....

I try to give my Izannahs an English twist.....tartan was really popular in Victorian England, along with the ankle strap shoes. I've been digging deep in my vintage lace stash to embellish these girls undies too.....

Enjoy!

Not so Wordless Wednesday!

Although we're having a mini heatwave here this week - yesterday was the hottest September day since 1911 - this little lady is full of mellow autumn shades.....

Another Izannah Walker style doll, she's my original sculpt, hand cast in air dried slip, hand painted, uniquely dressed and available here.

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

 

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

Izannah Walker Inspired - Mary Autumn Shades

Wordless Wednesday

Doll Size Shoes

I've been working, on and off, for the last couple or weeks on some small footwear. Mary, my Izannah walker style doll can be made with bare feet, or painted boots, and the bare foot girl has been very patiently waiting for some shoes to add to her wardrobe.

Mary - Izannah Walker Inspired

Although many of the original Izannah Walker dolls have painted, laced ankle boots, I noticed that so many pictures of girls from the mid 19th Century showed them wearing ankle strap shoes, so I thought that Mary had best have both!

Izannah with Painted Boots

Ankle Strap Shoes

Ankle Strap Shoes

Laced Ankle Boots

Original Izannah Walker Doll

You can see lots more pictures of all things Izannah Walker related, and inspired here in my Pinterest board.

First up were red ankle straps. Everyone needs some red shoes, right?

Doll Shoe Parts

Mary ready to try her new shoes

They fit like a glove!

A second pair were decorated with a buckle in a dark brown leather

Ready for the fastener

The lace up boots were tricky to fit, but I still made two pairs....

Fitting lace up boots

Once they were all finished, it was time to write up the pattern...

Inspiration and finished shoes

Reproduction Izannah Walker shoes

Doll Shoes & Pattern

One of the things that I love most about being a doll artist, is that I get to chop and change what skills I use all the time! Next week it's back to clay and doll faces :0)