Drawers!

I finished the Marie Louise drawers last night! I also did a little more work on the chemises. . .



I'm really wanting to finish both underpinning sets before next Monday's class, but, we'll see!

Speaking of class. . . This week, I finished the greenware cleaning on the head and shoulderplate. So next week, painting begins! Hooray!

Introducing: Marie Louise!

Very quick, before I go to work, here are a few pictures, as promised:







I am not a photographer. I couldn't find how to get it right so that the gold shows as shiny as it is in real life, and so you can't see things like the reflection of the screen in the window on her. But, you get the idea! Full-length view:



I am SO happy with how she turned out! The only real "mistake" I think I made is that on the back of her neck, I had a little bit of an issue with the gold dripping, because I did not mix it well enough. At the time, I did my best to wipe it off, but the funny thing about the gold is that even when it looks like you've wiped it off, it's still secretly there, and wiped areas turn purple when fired. My teacher used some nifty gold-removing stuff and managed to drastically reduce it, so all that's left is a tiny bit that you will never see because the doll will be facing forward! :)



I showed it to my husband and he said "she has a birthmark!" Ha ha ha!

Anyhow. So one tiny purple mark, but totally content with the rest of the doll? I'd say that's a pretty good turn-out for my very first doll, especially considering how very critical I can be of the things I create! ;)

Next up: Underpinnings!

Done!

It's official: My first ever porcelain doll is done! I finished assembling her in class tonight. She turned out awesome, and I can't wait to show you, but, the lighting in my sewing room is crappy after dark, so, stay tuned for pictures tomorrow! :D

Hooray for multi-doll patterns!

I love it when I am about to start drafting a pattern for a doll, then think, "hey, maybe this thing I already drafted/made is close in size," and it turns out to be almost perfect!

Charlotte's corset, on the new "Marie Louise" doll's body:



It is perhaps a little loose around the bottom, but not enough to bug me. I even already have a second corset all cut out and mostly assembled. I'll finish that up, and voila! A corset for Marie Louise!

This is exactly the sort of reason why I like all my dolls to be right around 1/3 scale. Then, they can share furniture, accessories, and apparently, sometimes even corsets! ;)

In other news. . .

Over the weekend, I thought I'd start Marie Louise's underpinnings. I pulled out the patterns and think I'll use the drawers and petticoat from the official pattern, but it looks like there is no chemise included, so I'll be drafting that. Not a big deal since chemises are easy. :) So, the only real hold-up is that I could not find a lace that I had enough of and thought would suit this project. And I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I'm not going to be able to find pretty trim at a fair price at JoAnn's. . . So I'm shopping online for it. Actually, trying to order it as we speak, but eBay is fussing. Which is odd, since I rarely have issues with eBay! I might have to go eat some dinner and try again later. . .

Doll class tonight! And this is an exciting night because I put the finishing touches (hopefully!) on Marie Louise last week, so tonight, I get to see her! And, if she really is done, take her home and finish putting her together! Hooray! You know, I didn't think I cared much for china heads, but this one has somehow weaseled her way into my heart. Probably because she's my first. ;)

Almost done!

Another week of working on my "Marie Louise," and, this might have been the last of the painting on her! Tonight I did all her gold jewelry. I sort of messed the back of the necklace up a bit, but, this is my first doll, so I'm okay if she's not perfect. . . I'm just glad I started at the back so I could make my mistakes there, and not on the front! The front, I'm pleased to say, turned out quite well. I'll have to see it after firing, to know if I need to go over the beads a second time. If I don't need to, then guess what? I get to attach her to the body and finish her! Hooray!

Next, she needs clothing. I seriously can not have another nude doll laying around this place, LOL! I think I'm going to use a combination of her official patterns, as well as some of my own invention, to create her complete ensemble. I should have everything I need for her underpinnings already in my stash, but I'm not sure about her dress. I sketched an idea for her dress from a book of antique dolls in class tonight, and it is pink and black (of course, this is ME we're talking about here, LOL!) On the way home, I got to thinking that the dress is actually described as lavendar, and I do have some lavendar silk taffeta in my stash, so maybe I'll use that. . .

Speaking of the drive home. . . I am being TERRORIZED by spiders! Seriously! The past two weeks before tonight, there was a GINORMOUS one crawling all over the windshield. After I got home last week, I finally managed to get him out. I thought my troubles were over, but tonight, he was back, and he BROUGHT A FRIEND! Ugh! One of them climbed the windshield and vanished and I was just waiting for him to dangle down onto my head, while the other one paced back and forth at the base of my side window, taunting me, until he finally crawled down the door (no doubt so he could creep up my leg and thus torment me, but too bad for him, I got home before his evil plan was carried out!) I don't even know what to do, but seriously. . . I have to get these little eight-legged fiends out of my car or I am going to die in a horrific accident because one of them finally landed on me! (The last time a spider made contact with me, I quite literally tore like a 4" hole in the seat of my pants trying to escape him!) Yeah. Spiders. Not my favorite!

Progress and babbling. . .

And my first doll is even closer to being finished! Last night, I prepared the molded-on jewelry for getting the gold next week. . . And next week's gold will be the last of the painting, so she's nearly there! And, I traced the pattern for her clothing yesterday. I don't know if I'll use the dress pattern, but I'll probably use the drawers and chemise pattern just to make life easy. Oh, and no more pictures of her until she's done, because then she can have a "grand reveal." ;) I will say though that the gold looks amazing! I think it was definitely worth the extra cost. :)

Before class, I was also tracing off some potential patterns for the 12" FFD that I have not talked about much here. And I've got a mock-up for an outfit for Fanny under way as well. You see, I just know that once I have my dream FFD, my other dolls will probably get neglected - at least for a while! So I'm on a mission to clothe them all!

And in final doll-related news. . . I totally woke up this morning having a dream that I was at the doll studio. In this case, I was painting a doll-size tea set. I was hand-painting little tiny flowers on them, and putting a fine line of the liquid gold around the rim. Now I kind of want to do this project! I'll stick in the back of my brain for future reference, where there's also the idea of doing my ornament for the annual Christmas ornament swap we do with friends, since we were looking at the different ornaments in class last night. People apparently do a lot of fairies around Christmas time, and that could also work as an ornament for our swap - a little fairy ornament! We'll see how amibitious I'm feeling when the time comes nearer. . .

Body in progress. . .

The other day I cut out the piece for the body for the "Marie Louise" doll I'm making in class, and tonight, I did most of the assembly:



I am not particularly pleased with this pattern, (which is the pattern meant for this doll head - #BP84). For one, the pieces don't all line up properly, and I am never amused when that happens. I just feel like there's no excuse, as a patternmaker, to let a pattern out your door if you have not made it up and fixed any places where seams do not line up. I had to take some ugly tucks on this doll's backside to get things to fit properly. I find this annoying when I've spent all kinds of time being tedious and perfect about cutting things out. *sigh*

Also, I absolutely hate closing openings of stuffed things, and I have had to do it FOUR TIMES for this doll so far, because there are four openings in her legs, and I'm not even done with the doll yet!

And finally, I'm not keen on her body shape. But maybe this is just the way china head doll bodies are, and/or who cares because it will be covered with a dress, I suppose. . . At least that's what I'm telling myself!

At least it's done. Or, nearly so. I forgot to bring her arms home from class, so I couldn't do those, and I won't finish the top until I have the head in hand so I can make sure I stuff/finish it so that the shoulder-plate sits nicely on the body.

I'll kind of be glad when this is done. I've really enjoyed the process of cleaning greenware, painting the doll, etc., but overall, I'm not a big fan of china head dolls. I like the "Jenny Lind" style dolls, (like the one I got last summer), but that's about it. I really hope doing this one china head is enough for me to graduate to doing a French Fashion doll next! *crosses fingers*

It's a boot!

In today's class, I really wanted to focus on the boots, because the sooner they get done, the sooner I can make a body, and the sooner I can begin messing around with a dress for her! And at the rate I tend to work, and the way I tend to demand perfection of myself when it comes to sewing, I know I'll be spending way more time than I should patterning her dress. ;)

I also did additional layers on the eyes, cheeks, and lips, in an attempt to darken these areas up a bit more.

I feel like I'm getting close, because all I really have to add that is new is the "eyeliner" (for lack of a more appropriate word) and eye lashes. Oh, and the gold. Did you know the shiny gold on porcelain dolls is REAL gold? How cool is that? It's a bit on the pricy side, but this is my first doll, and she will be really special, so it is worth it! :)

Less creepy now that she has eyes. . .

So apparently, I missed blogging last week! I was totally called out on it at doll class tonight. ;) Sorry Sharon! (Also, I may have called you Shannon this evening, and if I did, I'm sorry for that too - I work with a Shannon all day and I just suddenly feel like I might have called you that!)

Anyhow. So that I don't get busted next week, here is my progress from class today:



Quite different from the picture in my last post! She's less creepy now becaue she actually has eyes. Scariest moment of today's class? Cheeks! I was so afraid I would give her clown cheeks. But actually, I think the cheeks I gave her are going to be too light, as they lighten with firing. So I'll bet I'll be having a round two with the cheeks next week. . .

Here's another angle:



I am so happy with the way she is turning out!

I had a few minutes of class time left over, so got to flip through a lovely book of china dolls, and my brain started exploding from all the costume ideas. Yay for that! As soon as I finish posting this, I'm off to sketch some of the ideas so they don't drift away by the time I get around to making her dress! And, so I can settle on an idea in case I need to order fabric. Because that's the way I roll: STACKS of fabric in every closet and cabinet, and yet I always seem to need a new one!

Painting has begun. . .

Such fun at doll class again today! This was my first day painting. I love painting things! I used to do flower pots and ornaments and such, because I just really enjoy it. All I did was the hair, which feels like not a huge accomplishment, but I really want to take my time and do this right. I'm really happy with how it turned out! I even remembered to snap a picture today:



I also read the article from the Doll Artisan magazine this doll was featured in, and saw that the estimated year for this doll, based on her hair style, is 1866. Until I read this, I really didn't know what I'd do for her clothing, but now that I have a year, this is a starting point for my brain to burst with ideas! ;)

Here is the dress pattern designed for this doll (Seeley, #MP57):



It's cute, but. . . I think I'm just not feeling it, because I think I need a super elaborate 1866 ball gown! I'm all excited to crack open my books and browse my digital fashion plate collection for ideas. . .

Next week, I'm going to bring Charlotte with me, as they had never seen a BJD. Charlotte is excited to get out of the house, but lamenting my not having made her a fabulous new wig as I have long been promising! Poor Charlotte. She sits in her chair and gets dusty while I have been spending all my time and funds on other doll projects! Maybe I'll finish one of my unfinished projects for her this week. . .

Let the porcelain doll-making adventures begin!

I attended my first doll-making class tonight, and am happy to say it was quite a success! I got all my pieces cleaned and ready for firing. I very much enjoyed the process. It was the perfect opportunity to let my perfectionist side run wild, because the idea is to make the seams left from the molds disappear, and because I am straight-out bananas, I chose for my first project a doll with detailed molded hair. Typical "Jenni" thing to do! But as I've said before, I do love a tedious project, and so I found it enjoyable. Also, I just plain liked the feel of everything in my hands, if that makes any sense. . .

I wish I had thought to take some pictures of this process, so that I could share here on the blog, but I was so focused that it never occurred to me until the drive home. Had my camera with me even, since it's still in my bag from my recent trip to Oklahoma. Ah well. You just have to imagine the doll from my previous post, but totally unpainted. That about sums it up! You know, even unpainted, I think this doll is lovely. I hope I can do her justice with the painting. I was not too afraid to do the cleaning steps, and of course I've not a worry at all about making her body and clothing, but the painting - that freaks me out! It does help to find out that the paint comes right off (pre-firing, of course) so if you make a mistake, you can fix it. And, I've done lots of random craft projects that involved painting - some very detailed - so the brush should not feel completely foreign in my hand. Still, at the moment I feel certain I will not posess the skills to make brows that match!

Also, and this isn't very doll-related but anyhow, I am patting myself on the back right now for going out and doing this. I feel like my driving anxiety is always holding me back from doing things, but I really wanted to do this, and even though it was my first time making the drive (Glenn drove last time), and it involved multiple highway mergings, and was at night, in the dark, which is the scariest driving of all, somehow, I did it. And without a panic attack. Awesome! It will only get easier after this, because I will come to know the route and not be so petrified that I'm going to get into the wrong lane. And do you know, I didn't even have to do any of the breathing techniques. Which is odd since sometimes I still have to do those when I go to the grocery store! I must really, really want to do this doll-making thing! :D

Porcelain doll-making!

Today I went and toured a porcelain doll making studio, and I'm all set to begin learning to make porcelain dolls next month! Hooray! I had fun seeing all the beautiful dolls she had made, and drooling at the huge collection of patterns and books. And, I chose my first doll! She'll be Seeley's S628, "Marie Louise," pictured below:



At 19.5", she'll be the right size to suit some of the doll furniture/accessories I have, which is cool! And, I love the details of the necklaces and hair feather, which are part of the mold, and will be tedious (aka, fun, as I love tedious little projects) to paint! I'm super excited. :) The mold will be poured for me, so I'll be doing the cleaning of greenware, and then the painting. And then we'll do body-making and costuming in class too, which I technically can do on my own, but think it will be super fun to do it in a social setting. And to see if there's anything, regarding body assembly especially, that I'm not doing quite right, since of course I am self taught.

So, good times ahead! Yay! More doll madness. ;)