FRIENDS

Showing posts with label dolls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dolls. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

SPARTS.............Do You Love Them Too?

Ok..You got me there. Yup it is a word I made up! I love Dolls. I love Art Dolls. And I love making Dolls from Spare Parts. Thus...........Sparts!

This little guy is called The Hardware Man and his body is an old door lock mechanism with the knob mounted on a base which is a square block of wood distressed. His actual arms are little forks and he is holding a length of chain. His cape is wire mesh and for a crown he wears a small Tuna Fish can with the edges curled down and a lamp pull chain and other little embelishments.

I call this little trooper Birthday Boy. His body is an old iron candlestick and his arms are made of barbed wire. His hat is made from copper and he holds some little embelishments one of which is an altered domino. He has a flowing gown of heavy mesh fabric from an old drawstring laundry bag and little flowers for cuteness. Raffia completes his emsemble at the neck.


This is my Bottle Baby and she is a little charmer made from a bottle and heavily soldered under beeswax, and cheesecloth for the texture. Alcohol inks are used while the wax is hot. She has tiny porcelain arms and wears an old dog tag. Her crown is an old brass cuff bracelet.


And this is the gal I'm presently working on. She will get her name further along in the creation process, but I wanted to show you how "doll like" she looks at this point and I'm sure that will all change as I just started her but her main body will be that red checked lamp shade rolled up that you see and I found that hot red shiny belt while Thrifting so of course it will be a part of her and her hair will probably be made up of many of those red coiled wires with beads. So a Spart in the making here.


And I know exactly why my mind suffers so from being able to complete a project. It is the Studio Imp. He is very tiny and runs with a pack of little imps just like him I believe. Because I used to think I was just messy. But nope. Because I can go in my studio and have everything put away nicely and looking all neat and such and leave just for a few minutes to do housework of course and when I return this is what I find! Utter chaos. The imps scatter everything out and leave complete boxes and storage bins out and all helter skelter like you see here.


They're not satisfied just poking nosily through one area. Oh no....they they then feel as if they must go to my tool table and mix up the fabrics with the tools, the paint with the thread so you can not even discern what area of the room it is!


It's almost as if they hear me close by and jump from one table to the next and they end up in the sewing area and scatter laces, threads and all the sewing notions from one end to another so I can't find a thing I'm looking for.


And last but not least they will not stop until they have piled stuff onto my chair so that I cannot even sit down in my own Studio to work or play. Then I finally finish in the other part of the house and think NOW I can go back in my little haven and be creative and walk into the room to this. I tell you if I could only get my hands on those impish creatures. I wonder how many of you are bothered by the Studio Imps and what is your solution?????????????

Have a Wonderfully Awesome Day, My Sista Girls! Mollye

Sunday, August 9, 2009

A Little Walk Down Memory Lane

I was poking through old scrapbooks and came across one filled with old pictures of the first dolls I ever made to sell! I began my dollmaking career in the early 70's to supplement our income for Christmastime and my love of dollmaking led to making soft-sculpture dolls and I treked to the craft shows in the surrounding states during festival times. Some patterns I bought through Vogue and Judi, and Carolee Dolls and adapted them and I exchanged patterns with dollmakers throughout the world and then just begin experimenting with different body pieces to create "Molly's Dollys". I stopped making dolls in the 80's but have always been a collector and now have a new interest in the art dolls of today. I thought you might like seeing some of my very earliest dolls.

This image was of me and my youngest son Jake (age 39)at a craft show when he was 12 years old! I always managed to recruit one kid or the other to help me in the booths. It was fun times for me and I hope not too bad for them. Many times my Mom went with me and she would sell all her little crochet treasures. That is a special memory for me as I lost her in 1988 and miss her so much still. I think often of the fun we as "old gals" could be having now!

These little Trolls were made from pink velour and look at the fur hairdos!
36" Shirley Temple with yarn ringlet curls.


I believe this doll was adapted from an old Carolee Dolls pattern. They were good sellers because the soft sculpture toes, fingers and facial features was a new thing then and people loved the realism.They were also fast to make as they could wear a size 9 month baby outfit so you didn't have to make the clothing!


Brother and Sister dolls made from a Vogue Pattern with velour bodies and yarn hair. Clothing and leather shoes were custom made.

A fun little trio of dolls using muslin stuffed very tight and then painted with flesh colored gesso. Hair was yarn and clothing custom made. I believe they stood about 24 inches tall and would stand on their own. Arms and legs were attached by buttons.

These two dolls were made from an adaptation of one pattern, the one on the right was a "Nancy" look alike of the Sluggo and Nancy comics and had a muslin body. The one on the left was made of velour with yarn ringlets. All my dolls had handpainted eyes and most had sculpted mouths and noses.


This big boy was an adaptation of the Shirley Temple doll and had fur hair and custom clothing with white hightop baby shoes.

And what's not to love about Betty Boop. This type doll never sold well for me as I think people were more taken with the baby type dolls and the slender body type did not appeal much to children as they wanted babies they could dress and undress and were cuddly and the adult collectors were looking more for porcelain dolls.
And that concludes my little blast from the Molly's Dollys past. Hope you enjoyed it.

Happy Trails Cowgirls, Mollye