Nature Friends

New dolls have been added to my Amanda May Shop this evening.

This one is my new favorite:



He comes from the forest, obviously, and is clearly descended from royalty (notice the crown and decorated staff). I think he is ready for an adventure...

Freebie Paper Doll!

I decided to make the Moody Girl paper doll a freebie. No special reason, I just love paper dolls and hope to pass along the many happy hours I had as a child cutting and snipping and making new clothes and houses for the dolls (3-dimensional houses for some reason, but the difference of dimension never bothered us).


There are two pages, the first is the doll and I recommend printing her out on a stiffer paper or cardstock. The second page has three outfits. I also read a lot of comments here about printing on magnets which I have never tried but think is an absolutely fabulous idea.

Here are the pdfs:

Paper Doll
Clothes

Have fun!!

Pod Babies

These mini pod babies were added to the shop last week sometime.



They were a lot of fun to make. Since they are so tiny, they worked up more quickly than my regular sized needle felted dolls, but I was able to give them a surprising amount of detail, with tiny hands and different colors in their clothes.

I am working on a couple of the larger dolls at the moment, enjoying the shaping and rather sculptural qualities of working with fiber in this way. I was surprised to learn that people find these dolls frightening because of their fuzzy faces. After a bit of research, I think I can smooth the faces somewhat by wet felting them after they are basically put together. It was something of a shock though, I am so used to thinking of these dolls as sweet and childlike.

Busy Days!

It seems that in the Spring things just get busy. I don't even really have that much to do, but if I am not outside enjoying the days somehow, I feel that I am missing out.

That said, I spent quite a lot of Sunday asleep on the sofa. Day of rest and so forth...


One inside (mainly) thing I was able to accomplish in the last few days was finishing up a couple little needle felted dolls for listing in the shop. They are very sweet, I am especially fond of the green polka-dotted jumpsuit.

Another little lady in the Shop!

She's about 3.5 inches tall, spunky and pretty and ready to venture forth! Visit her at amandamay.etsy.com!

New Dolls and Old

My little shop is back in business. It was never actually closed, but it was sadly neglected for a while there while other things took precedence. Things will do that.

Some are new and some have been around a while. This gentleman was introduced quite some time ago, but he was waiting for his wife to return from her hair procedure before he ventured into real public life. As it turns out, the hair problem was somewhat more complicated than expected and I am afraid our friend got a bit fed up. He actually hardly knew the woman, it was more a marriage of convenience, so don't feel bad for them. Someday perhaps she will get some hair and then she too will wander out into the world. As it is, the dear man is waiting a smidgen impatiently for someone to offer him some new adventure...

My dear dancing lady has also been listed. She has been a regular around the studio for a while now, just gadding about. But I am afraid she has become a tad bored with me. I don't blame her, I'm hardly here these days what with work and the dog and the nice Spring weather, and she's getting restless. So off she goes!



And then there are some simple Waldorfian-ish finger puppets. These little princesses were a means of mental relief for me from the lengthy process of the needle felted dolls. Where those are time consuming and detail oriented, these are relatively basic and wip up in a very satisfactory instant-gratification sort of way. And they have such sweet character in their simplicity. These sweethearts just plain make me happy!

A New Little Man

... is in the shop! Check him out here.

Blogger won't let me load any photos right now, but you can see more pictures of the little guy in my shop!

A set including one each of the three paper doll postcards is also available now.

Yippee! Mail for Me!

I got my little box of paper doll postcards in the mail today! I personally enjoy these way too much, and I hope some other people will as well. Here is the new little lady:


And here she is again in her darling wool coat and cute little matching hat and scarf set (I also love the boots - that's the beauty of paper dolls: I can dress them in the clothing I covet!):



More pictures at the shop listing here!

Paperdoll Love

These paperdolls totally put my little dears to shame. Such detail in the costumes! Such classy faces and amazing precision!

Found at A Dress A Day.

Big Storm!

Actually, it isn't even snowing that hard. But the weather people are calling it a Winter Storm, and I am more than happy to comply. Especially since I have several new dolls in the works.



Plus a puppy who just wants to play!

Paperdoll Postcards and Mail for You!

New in my shop! I am very excited about these, they have been on my mind for a while and it is very satisfying to have the completed product in my hands.

The items in question are Paperdoll Postcards! A sweet shy little girl paperdoll and four outfits on a beautiful soft gloss postcard. The doll is inspired by a vintage sewing pattern illustration, hand-drawn and digitally colored.



I have a long love of paperdolls. My mom had a terrific collection from when she was a child, and I collected and made my own as well. The Dover Publications catalog was highly anticipated in the mail, and the Tom Tierneypaperdoll books were my absolute favorites. Recently I remembered how much I always loved Tierney's work, and I looked him up online and sent him a note. His niece replied with a very nice message and I was as excited as some people might be upon getting Obama's autograph!

So anyway, all this rambling to tell you about my cards! I am obviously fairly excited, and I would really like to share! So leave a comment here with an email address, or send me your address in an email (make the subject line "paperdoll postcard"), and I will pop one of these cuties in the mail to you!

Good night my friends!

And a Boy!

My very first needle felted boy doll is dressed and ready to meet the world! I think he is very sweet, he has a pensive face but looks like he could kick a soccer ball with the best of them!


This was also my first attempt at a wire armature, which turned out to be a bit of a hassle. Three felting needles were broken, effectively halting my needle felting evenings until the emergency refill pack arrived from Ewetopia. It is good to have friends with connections.

My favorite part of this little man are his ears.



I am tempted to go back and add ears to all the other dolls I have around.

Visit my shop for more pictures!

Summer Sweetheart

Now available in my shop! She is not a Lenci, I still have some practicing to do to get to that level, but she is very sweet. If I do say so myself! I think she can be a wonderful dollhouse inhabitant, or a sweet little friend to stick in your pocket. Or she can decorate a desk or nature table, as others of her compatriots now do!!

I have been having some dilemmas on the pricing front. If I priced these dolls so that my time was actually worth, well, something, they would be way to expensive for anyone to buy. Conundrum. I am working on ways to cut down on production time while keeping to my meticulous standards of quality, we will have to see how that works out.

The part of making these dolls that takes up the time is felting the body. It takes an astonishing amount of wool to make each one, and compacting it in layers and layers is time consuming. The really fun part is when the basic body shape is together, and I can start to individualize it. Extra layers are added on to make bumps and curves, the legs must be rounded out and the tummy plumped up. Then the face, for sure the most fun part. It is amazing how the dolls come to life once they have eyes. Actually, I usually try to leave the eyes until the very end, it is hard to stab the needle into it when it has eyes. (Just to clarify, for those of you who are unfamiliar with needle felting, it is a process in which barbed needles - often recycled from industrial felting machines - are poked and jabbed at the wool, causing it to felt).

Two of my dolls have so far headed off to new homes. I know that this one is looking forward to traveling too!

What I would do for a Lenci

Actually, I have no idea what I would do for a Lenci doll, probably not too much. But I would love to see some of these in person. Perhaps hold them and try to discern how they were created. Marvel at the intricacy and attention to detail. These dolls are just so lovely.


I think the one in orange is my current favorite. These images are from a 1990 copy of "Dolls: The Collectors Magazine" that I have had since probably sometime around 1990. The Lenci dolls have been a constant source of inspiration and fascination
since I first saw them, and I have carried the magazine around in my stash of sewing books for years. Every now and again I come across it and examine the photographs again, hoping for some clue as to how they can look so lifelike and full of attitude.


This one was my favorite as a child, if I remember correctly. She is so bad-ass.


Apparently they think that several of these dolls were modeled after glamorous film actresses such as Marlene Dietrich, Clara Bow, and Lillian Gish. Most Lenci dolls that I have found online are much more childlike than these. Perhaps the children's versions were more common? I don't know, and other than in the magazine - which actually has avery interesting if not overly informative article - most of what I have found written about Lenci dolls and their history is so poorly written it hurts my brain. Oh well.


I just got the magazine out again last night because it occurred to me that with needle felting, I could actually achieve something similar to the Lenci ladies. I have a long way to go, but the soft scultpural quality that I admire is definitely a quality achievable with needle felting. It is very exciting.


The costumes on these last ones are so incredible. This is what I am striving for. Someday.

Photos from Dolls: The Collectors Magazine, May 1990

New Doll

I just posted this sweet little lady in my shop. She is another needle-felted creation, with cloth clothing. They are just so much fun!



In other news, I start my new job tomorrow! Very exciting. Must get some sleep...

oo, I'm Featured!

Very exciting! Erica from FiddleLee just featured me on her Etsy Treasures Blog. There are some pictures of my work that is for sale on Etsy, and an interview. Thank you so much Erica! I'm so honored!

Treasures, Etsy style

Today I happened to be in the right place at the right time and I scored myself an Etsy treasury! For those of you unfamiliar with Etsy, the treasury is a section of the site where people can "curate" their own display of pieces, usually the work of other Etsy sellers. To be honest, I am not exactly certain why this is so darned popular, but the fact remains that it is, and that it is very difficult to become a curator. This is because it is only possible to get one when there are less than 222 in all. When the amount hits that special number, anyone who happens to be around can click in and win!

I am suspicious that part of the draw of having a treasury is the feeling of accomplishment at having managed to get one.

That said, it was fun to find a selection of items out of the vast inventories on the site. My theme was dusty pink, and I found a wide variety of items that fit in that color scheme - you can have a look here!

I also posted another little felted lady in my shop. She is a flower child, I think, with a penchant for running barefoot through clover fields. She is also a dancer, light on her feet and fond of pirouettes.


You can find more pictures and a description of this tiny dancer here.

The littlest witch

This little lady was just posted to my shop. You may remember her from this post a little while ago, but now she has explored a little out of doors, and she is ready to travel further to a new home!


To see more, visit her in my shop!

What to do?

So I have this doll's head, made quite some time ago and still in need of a body. It has travelled with me from Toronto to Vermont, and has not made any progress. The head is made with a wire armature, covered in fabric which was then gessoed and painted. It sits on bare wire shoulders and has a small soft cloth torso.


Perhaps it can become an interesting puppet? I just don't know, but I always feel guilty leaving half finished dolls lying around, especially when they have faces. I know I would be frustrated in their situation!

Wool and what I made

I got these exciting bags in the mail a few days ago from Ewetopia Fiber Shop. Specially ordered for doll felting, I got a yellow mix for hair, a peachy skin color, a nice mix of reds, and some browns and grays. I was looking forward to these new colors, because gray is just not great for skin, although the little doll I made is pretty durned cute, if I do say so myself!



I think the little witchy hat makes the gray skin work ok.

An Introduction

I would like to make an introduction.



This gentleman would like to shake your hand.



His name is Edmund and he recently made an appearance in my studio.



He is quite friendly and sociable, and he walks 2 miles every day. That's why he has such lovely shoes!



His wife is currently undergoing some operations (she might not like it that I'm telling, but her dress was not fitting properly and her wig was completely wrong. Those might not seem to require surgery per se, but when one is only 6 inches tall one's problems are necessarily of a different sort). She should be along to meet you soon.

I am not sure if Edmund is a father or not - it seems likely, however, so I wish him and all the other fathers out there a Happy Day! (yes, one day late. I did call my own dad on time though!)

A New little friend

This evening was spent in the creation of a wee new lady,



who will soon be mailed off as a thank you for the fantastic cookies I received yesterday from a friend...



Its been a while since I really got into a project. I dreamt the holidays away, far removed from my cozy little crafting corner, and had a whole slew of ventures ready to jump into upon returning. The past week, however, I seem to be suffering from a crafting variation of writer's block. Maybe just because there was so much I wanted to do, I haven't been able to start a thing. This evening was a breakthrough though, and with luck the ennui will not return.

"Ennui" is my favorite word right now. As I work, I have been listening to "The Scarlet Pimpernell," by Baroness Orczy, on cd. It is a romance of political intrigue during the French Revolution, very dashing and exciting and full of French accents. I speak absolutely no French, but I wish dreadfully that I did and so I repeat "ennui" to myself in a throaty whisper and make believe I am in Paris.