Tomato Boys and E-patterns


Well, of course, I'm still working on the Great Creativity Zone Cleanout. I got a little stalled on that because of life. And I'm working on a painting and on a little funny cloth doll.

The painting above was commissioned as a companion piece to a Tomato Girl painting I sold on Ebay. I'm trying to make a Tomato Boy painting that has the same feel and surface texture as the Tomato Girl painting, but I had a crackle failure due to humidity. So now the painting has a really shiny varnish feel. It's not that it's bad as is, it's just that it doesn't have the feel I'm going for as a companion to the other painting. So I began another painting. And it's still humid!


I'm also working on a doll using an Anna Mae Chestnut Junction E-pattern. I had said to myself "No more patterns!" but when there's such a sweet little pattern in e-pattern form, well, what can you do? E-patterns are so easy. I rarely order paper patterns now. I felt like making something that was all cloth - no painting, no clay. Unfortunately for most pattern designers I am unable to follow directions when it comes to finishing faces. I just have to do my own thing. One of these days I will be hauled off to pattern jail. ;-)

As I was making this little doll I remembered a woman named Harriet who was a live-in housekeeper at my granddad's house. We lived two houses up from granddad's house. My grandmom was ill, and Harriet was her care-giver as well as chief cook and bottle washer. :-) She used to read me stories when I stopped in, and let me sew, and give me Poptarts after school. I was about 5 at the time. Anyway, I tried to make a doll that had something about both of us in it - she looks a little more like Harriet, but she has the feeling and innocence of a 5 year old.


Click here to see the original Chestnut Junction E-patterns.




My 2nd Tomato Boy attempt in process. More painting needs to be done on his shirt and tie, and he's looking a little girlie to me. We'll see where he ends up...

Old Bears, Pigs and Paper Maches


I just love this pig!














Who could resist this serene beauty in her beautiful bonnet?
All these treasures can be found in Lucy's Doll House in Camden, Maine.

A Penny for Your Thoughts -
Claire Pruitt's Penny Cloth Doll Pattern



Last year I had the privilege to be a pattern tester for Claire Pruitt when she was developing her penny cloth doll pattern. It was a risk for her to let me, because I was fairly new to dollmaking ;-) Her Penny Cloth Doll is designed as a cloth interpretation of a peg wooden doll. The jointing of this doll is amazing, and I learned so much through making it. Claire Pruitt has a Penny Cloth Online Class that you can join at any time. It's self-paced, and the instructions for making the doll are superb. She has the clearest pictures with instructions I've ever seen. I wouldn't label this doll easy, but Claire's instructions made it easy!

Pictured above is Claire's original Bavarian Doll - she finished the face off with embroidery and I think the bun on her head is crocheted. She designed the doll so that the joints at shoulders, elbows, hips and knees are movable, just as a wooden doll's would be.

Dolls from Claire's Penny Cloth Class Pattern:



Claire Pruitt's Bavarian Penny Cloth Doll

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Dixie Redmond's Penny Cloth Doll

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"Mlle Cosette Dubois" by Lynn Gabos


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Kate Erbach's Penny Cloth Doll 1



Kate Erbach's Penny Cloth Doll 2 - "Blush"

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Iris Doll 1



Iris' Doll 2

You get the idea! Claire has made a pattern that has my favorite feature - versatility and flexibility. She leaves the finishing up to you - no cookie cutter approaches here, but provides lots and lots of inspiration pictures in her class files. Check out the link below if you're interested in signing up for her class. I had a lot of fun with it!

Penny Cloth Online Class

Presentation Boxes and Creative Paperclay

Unabashed Commercial: I am cleaning out my work area and listing lots of great stuff on Ebay. I am facing up to the fact that I am NOT a quilter, so if you are, then now is the time to check my listings...

now back to your regularly scheduled programming...



I've had this box around for over a year. In my doll study group we were talking about presentation boxes last year. There was a little doll in a matchbox on Ebay - an antique one. I bought this case box, put it on a shelf and then got behind in life. Someone else in the group actually made one about a month later and I hadn't done anything yet. I didn't want to be seen as copying her so I put it aside.



For the last couple of weeks, I've been painting this box with milk paint, sanding it, and painting it with another layer. Then I look at it, move it around my work area, etc. I'm not exactly sure which direction I'm going with it...but I have some ideas. I know I want to either put a doll and her wardrobe in it, or put a few dollie friends in it together. Making a doll the scale of the box will be challenging. :-)




Many of the more involved dolls I do are made using paperclay over cloth. I tried the harder version of paperclay sold on the paperclay website, but it's not as sand-able as the Creative kind. I have some paper mache on hand that I want to try someday, too.

There are lots of dollmakers who use paperclay beautifully - I started to make a list, but then I knew I'd leave out someone I really admire. Many of them are on my list of blogs to visit on the right.



A doll I made earlier this year...

Yesterday's Ipod...



Guess what I found in my "creativity zone"? The ipod of yesterday, the transistor radio. If you remember having these tilted in the sand while at the beach, well, then you are OLD. ;-) Before I started making and selling dolls I used to go to auctions and buy things to resell on Ebay. This transistor radio was in a box lot of other stuff I actually wanted. I put a new battery in to check it and it actually WORKS. What a blast from the past that was. Remember you could thread a belt through it so you were hands free? Anyway, onto Ebay it goes. I've set myself a challenge to find 5 things a day in there to sell and make room for my artsy ideas to be born.

Organizing Studios aka Creativity Zone


I got up this morning to do a search on organizing my Creativity Zone. I've been searching the web for ideas, and I found a reference to the book Where Women Create and I think I'm going to order that book. Here are a few other ideas I found on the web


BUT! I realize that some of you visitors here are also artists, who also have spaces to manage, and tips for organization. Sooooooo....if you have some ideas that work well in your studios, workshops, dungeons, whatever you call it, would you please comment and leave your idea? Or better yet, take a picture and write about it, and then leave a link to your blog in the comments section here? How do you organize your space? Any ideas from all you wonderful artists are appreciated! Please don't send pictures of staged rooms that you don't actually work in. AND Horrible before pictures are especially appreciated. ;-)

The thing that really gets out of hand is the felted wool I've made from sweaters and blazers that I've washed in hot. It doesn't fold well. I need a better solution for that. AND I need a better system for those little fabric leftovers. Right now I've just got them in a basket (overflowing!).

The dolls in case above are a perfect visual image for organization. Aren't they charming? I'm really into dolls and presentation boxes right now. I have a little pocketboook case that I've been painting and intend on filling with some small dollies.


It really is crowded down there. My Creativity Zone is in my basement. In my last house it was the dining room table, and even though this room is just a bit bigger than a walk-in closet (a small one) I'm so lucky to have this space for creating in. I love it. But it's worse than I thought, clutter-wise. A Flylady quote keeps going through my brain as I'm moving fabric around, trying to organize things...

"You can't organize clutter."

So....I decided to overdye some fabric instead. And watch the end of the Izannah doll auction on Ebay. And write a blog entry.

Addicted to Possibilities?



For the next two weeks I'm determined to clean out my Creativity Zone (also known as my studio or workroom). I use different words to describe the room depending on who I'm talking to. ;-) If I'm talking to serious artists of course it's a studio that is filled with Great Ideas and sometimes ANGST. If I'm talking to family I call it my workroom, because I want them to realize that I'm WORKING when I'm down there. But the phrase that fits for me, is to call it my Creativity Zone.

Right now it would be better called "Make-Do Heaven." I have so many things I've collected thinking they'd make great make-do dolls. And I'm such a packrat. I seem to be addicted to possibilities. Like the vintage thread above. Am I really going to use it? No. But all these things are crowding out my thoughts. So....what was I saying?

Oh, yes - I'm going to be cleaning out and making the Creativity Zone work better for me. So keep checking on Ebay because I'll be listing cloth, patterns, books, embroidery thread, buttons, trim, etc. I'm facing facts, folks! I'm not a quilter, so if you are, keep your eyes peeled. I'm not an emroidery person, so if you are, then great! In the past few months I've been able to narrow down my focus with folk art and I'm going to make room for those things that are specifically Northdixie.


Some time ago I bought this paper mache head on Ebay. It's not perfect, but I'm okay with that. I wanted to get a sense of shape and size, etc. as a reference for my own dollmaking. It looks like she's had some repainting around the eyes. I think she was listed as an M & S paper mache head. The seller said the damage "wasn't as bad as it looks in the photos." Well, yes it was, because the darn thing broke when I tried to put the head on the doll body the seller sent along with her. So I've had the interesting job of repairing a paper mache head. I'm so thankful for some of the knowledgeable antique doll lovers in some of the groups I'm in online - because they walked me through it.




I glued the pieces together (clamping them with blue painter's tape) and then glued a piece of linen on the inside of the shoulderplate to anchor it all together. If I were I to do this again I could do a better job, but everyone has to start somewhere. And it was a good learning curve for me. Anyway, I intend on making a body and dress for her, and will keep her for myself.




I'm thinking I might need to put another layer of glue on top of the linen.



This is a little repainted Greiner head that I purchased from a friend, Edyth O'Neill, who is in a doll study group I'm in. Edyth has an extensive doll collection. Several years ago her house burned. She has the huge task of restoring the doll heads that survivedthe house fire. This little doll head survived that fire and my friend repainted her. To me, this little doll head is an icon of grace and redemption. The love that Edyth bestowed on her with paint is evident. Because of the damage and subsequent repainting she's not worth much. But I love her because of her story! I will make a body and dress for her, too.

Maggie Bessie leaves Ebay behind for a new home!




Click here to see the antique
Maggie Bessie Doll auction

Wouldn't it be fun to know that one of the dolls you created was sought after
a hundred years from now? The seller said they had over 200 unique watchers viewing the auction of the doll above. She ended at $13,000 plus! Lucky, lucky winner!

Creating an Izannah Walker Doll Pattern


Original Izannah Walker Doll

(UPDATE  Wow - time flies. This pattern has been designed is available at the Izannah Walker Workshop site for more information. Now back to the post from 2007...)

It's the Holy Grail for many dollmakers. Can I create a doll with the timeless beauty of an Izannah Walker doll? I've received some e-mails from artists new to dollmaking (and that includes me) asking what pattern I used to make the Izannah Walker inspired dolls I've made. Well, truthfully, I started off with the torso of an Annie Beez doll pattern, made my own limb patterns and then added paper clay to the head. I used the pattern from Annie Beez Folk Art for my first two Izannah inspired dolls below. With each doll I make I feel I capture one or two things about Izannah's doll. It's through making them and studying her originals that I learn







For my third Izannah inspired doll I made my own pattern from start to finish and again used paperclay on top of the cloth head. Lots of layers and lots of baking in a slow oven.




Many patternmakers have made patterns that are good starting points for making an Izannah inspired doll. Some people love Sue Farmer's Izannah pattern, which I don't think is commercially available. Other people love to use Judy Ward's Emma Rose pattern as a starting point. Shari Lutz has a couple of doll patterns that would also be good starting points. Ike Putney of Pip Emma Creations has a pattern called "Matilda" that is excellent. And there are all those closely guarded patterns that dollmakers have made for themselves personally. :-)

Wouldn't you love to uncover some of Izannah's original patterns? The dollmakers in one of my groups were wondering where are Izannah's original molds for her doll heads? Wouldn't that be a discovery that would make your heart go pitter-patter?


My next step is to really study the pictures I took of an original Izannah Walker doll and try to make a pattern faithful to that particular doll.  So....stay tuned. I'm hoping to make my next doll with the newly developed pattern in the next month. And I'm hoping that she will be a larger size than my past dolls. But they are very labor intensive and it IS summer. ;-)


Columbian Doll Hand



I took this picture at my favorite doll shop which begins with L,
housed in Camden, Maine...

Erasers, anyone?

You know the old Ticonderoga pencils we used in school? Long school bus yellow with a salmony colored red eraser on top? When I was in school they still had lead in them. That's not the point of this post, but it may explain a few things about me. Rolling my eyes right now. Nowadays they use these new-fangled pencils that spin and click and all kinds of things. Anyway, I'm digressing again, because apologising is hard.

I was wishing yesterday there were a Word/Action eraser. Do you ever have something fly out of your mouth and wish you could erase it? You're thinking, "I did not just say that! Those words are not hanging out there in the air, right?" But of course they are. I wish this didn't happen to me often, but it does. I need to read the Proverb, "Even a fool is thought wise when he's silent" more. I need to activate my brain and ask the question, "Will this comment or action solve a problem or encourage the other person?"

A while ago I said and did some things that I wish I hadn't. Well, of course, I've done more than one, if we're using the words "a while ago". I'm in an evaluative mode right now. Last year I handled a situation in a way that ended up not helping a difficult situation for some people. It was the wrong way to deal with the situation I was frustrated with. I should have just walked away and said nothing. I can't take back the words, but I can learn from the experience. And I can attempt to mend fences.

The Bible says, "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks." I need to take more time to examine my heart before I speak or act.

Why Tomato People?


Yesterday my sister came over, picked up the tomato boy painting I'm working on, and said, "Why tomato people?" I didn't have a good answer for her at the time. I couldn't condense it down to 2 sentences. She did look a little concerned. But it's not as if I'm roving the grocery stores with a Sharpie marker in hand drawing faces on them. I save that for the potatoes. ;-)

The real answer is that I've been studying old folk paintings. I wanted to copy some old folk paintings so that I could learn, but I wanted it to not be "serious" - I wanted it to be fun. I'm more likely to take chances on a painting if there's a tomato for a head. So it gives me permission to experiment. At the same time I happened to see a pair of vintage tomato dolls sell on Ebay. I'm trying to get to the essence of what those old portraits felt like, but with some whimsey. There may be some deeper reasons that I haven't plumbed, but that's what I'm aware of for now. :-)

Things to Praise, Not Things to Curse



Listed on Ebay tonight at 6 Pacific time.

It's a discipline, isn't it, to find "things to praise, not things to curse"? It's so much easier to complain. I had a post all prepared, and then I thought back to how I'm trying to change my thinking. So I deleted that one. But it leaves me looking for something to post. I like to try and post here daily, even if it's just a picture sometimes, because I like checking out active blogs. Garboodles has a very active blog - it's fun to check hers out, because there's usually something new to look at. Yay, Mica!

Here's a fun activity to try - Making Wee Folk Dolls . This is definitely something to praise!

Here are the original artist's, Sally Mavor's, works online. They're enchanting. Yay, Sally Mavor!






Remember those prayer birds I talked about? Well, I've got one on at The Humble Arts. Here's a picture of it. Silly looking thing, isn't it? But a great reminder for me not to worry, but pray.

Orange and Proud of It?



I will now make Overdying Cloth as one of my collected satisfactions. The link takes you to a post on Dolls of Yore's blog entries, who is always sharing wonderful techniques and has great tutorials on her blog.

So last night I took a bunch of fabric that was a tad too bright and overdyed it with tan dye. Oh, my, how it softened it! It pushed the whites into the background, which was what was keeping me from using some of these fabrics. I found that the overdying worked much better with the red and white cloth than it did with the particular blues I had.

So now I'm walking through the house looking for things that would be great dyed. I have some cotton upholstery fabric I've been saving for years and I think I might try that and see what it does. I want to use it to cover my funky 70's crushed velvet dining chairs that I got at auction The story behind these chairs is bunch of us attendees at a local auction were sitting in these chairs to be auctioned. They are the most comfortable chairs in the world. They may be the ugliest, though. When they came up for bidding nobody was bidding on them. I said $10 and nobody else bid on them. So I got six dining room chairs for $10. That's the price of two Happy Meals. I think they wear their orange fabric with pride. My intention is to transform them with slipcovers. I've had that intention for a long time. People who are into retro 70's design really love these chairs.

Doll on Deck



Here's what's on deck for my next doll. She was definitely influenced by the beautiful Maggie Bessie doll which recently sold on Ebay. I think she's pretty, but perhaps she's needs to have the color on her face taken down a notch or two. Then when I finish her I think I'll make another tomato head doll (or two).

More collected satisfactions...



12. Roasted Vegetable Wraps from Montes International Catering (lunch today)
13. The sound of an ensemble of musicians who are in sync with each other.
14. Folding warm laundry on a damp, rainy day.
15. The feeling of being prepared for a task.
16. Chopping down an overgrown, unkempt, half-eaten yew that has seen better days.
17. The color of green tomatoes right before they get the first ripening blush.
18. E-patterns
19. A wonderful unexpected gift in the mail.
20. polka dotted cloth

Collecting Satisfactions 1-10



I have a tendency to measure life by highs and lows. This is not a good way, because you can miss a lot of life that way. Or you can feel disatisfied if you don't hear those angel choir sound effects all the time in the background of life. There should be a winking smilie but I've resisted learning how to do emoticons in html.

Not all of life can be graduations, falling in love, weddings, births, winning the lottery, discovering an heirloom in your attic, etc. Much of the beauty of life comes in smaller packages, but we sometimes miss them. One of my prayers and goals has been to actually do what it says in the Bible in Philippians 4:

"Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies."
I like to read Homekeeping Hearts. She has been writing about "Collecting Satisfactions”.
I followed the trail to find the original blogger who talked about this at this link - Collecting Satisfactions. When I read the list of "satisfactions collected" at Homekeeping Hearts it was a confirmation that I need to keep moving in this direction. I will be a better person and artist if I do.

So here are my first "Satisfactions Collected" in no particular order and certainly not in a most to least important order. They'll be written just as my brain offers them (which will be in a strange order, I can tell you), in batches of ten.

1. The sound of the birds and pouring coffee in the morning.
2. Children playing un-selfconsciously and with abandon.
3. The way that black and burnt umber make a perfect warm color for defining things in painting without feeling too cold.
4. A hug from a dear friend.
5. Watching my husband coach Little League.
6. Driving to a special doll shop in Camden, Maine is deeply satisfying.
7. Finishing a work of art.
8. The delicous point when you've finished all the works of art that were unfinished and you get to start with a clean slate.
9. Quilting fabric.
10. Shaping paperclay in my hands.
11. The smile the bass player has when he plays in worship on Sunday morning.

Thanks for checking in. If you want to try collecting satisfactions, go to the original post up Collecting Satisfactions.

Word of the Week: Signature



In one of my artsy groups we like to post a word to write about on our blogs. Well, this week, I'm the one who suggested the word, and I'm very late getting to it. But I have been thinking about it.

Most times when we hear the word "signature" we think about when someone signs their name. It's a way of making a statement - "I stand behind this." We sign checks, wills, documents, permission slips, etc. It's interesting when it comes to works of art. I used to have a hard time signing my paintings for a very practical reason - I couldn't do it very well with a paintbrush.

The word signature is sometimes used in the phrase "signature style". Which brings me to Izannah Walker dolls. You knew I'd get there, right? Many artists' works you can recognize even if they don't sign them - Jackson Pollack, Picasso, Izannah Walker. This past week I was able to take some awesome pictures of the construction details of an Izannah Walker doll. I'm so thankful for the shop owner who undressed the doll very carefully and let me click away. I've put those pictures on my Picturetrail album (the link is at the top right) to share with other dollmakers. Izannah has a signature style - her dolls have a timeless, wonderful feeling to them.

I, on the other hand, am merrily trying all kinds of styles and mediums. I'm not there yet. And that's okay. But I am signing my works now.

Searsport Rug Hooking is Wonderful!



Let's talk about Searsport Rug Hooking. My friend Tina and I were on a jaunt down to Camden to Lucy's Doll House, but this was our first stop. It's one of the places in Searsport that you must stop to visit. That and the Penobscot Marine Museum. Searsport Rug Hooking might be easy to miss - because the shop is housed in an unassuming center chimney cape house, built in 1790.



As you step through the doors you are enveloped with homey-ness and beautiful color and the spirit of creativity. The floors tilt and turn a bit, as old houses do, but every tilt and turn invites you to view something beautiful.






My friend Edyth O'neill wrote the book Pockets and Roll-ups for My Red Cape.



Scrumptious Color!



The owners, Chris Sherman and Julie Mattison, are a mother and daughter team who have been in business together for 25 years. And they are still smiling! ;-) and telling lots of "hooker" stories.



About 3 years ago, they sold the Searsport gift shop Silkweeds to open Searsport Rug Hooking. Chris and Julie graciously took the time to show us the building, and their passion for rug hooking was shining through! Not only that, they are extremely gifted at decorating and display. The shop meanders through rooms in the oldest part of the house - out to the area where cloth is sold for rughooking, and finally to a large classroom area. You really just don't want to leave! The visit there makes me want to take up rug hooking (new hobby alert!).





Chris (the mom) designs many of the rug patterns, and Julie (the daughter) hooks them as well as designs her own rugs. How interesting and rewarding it was to meet these two artists who work together. How fun it is to see the results of their artistic collaboration! Julie had a rug in process on the table in one of the old 1790 rooms of the business - and it's amazing how she uses different widths of wool strips, and different kinds of wool fabric to create a dimensional effect to the piece.



Another artist who works with them approaches rug hooking as a painter would approach a canvas. That warmed my artist heart! I sometimes have a challenge "coloring inside the lines."



I brought my little Izannah Walker inspired doll to show them, and it became clear she wanted to have her picture taken with the wool. Chris moved stacks of wool to make a home for her on the shelf.



What a beautiful place! Even if you are not into rughooking, you should stop just for the experience. I usually stop to fondle the beautiful over-dyed wool fabric. I purchased some beautiful red wool to make a cape for a Little Red Riding Hood doll. Scrumptious color!

Go to Searsport Rug Hooking! ;-)

"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden