Fairy Babies

I can't believe that there are only a few more days left of September. It seems like just a blink ago the kids were starting back to school and it still felt like summer. It is definitely fall here in Wyoming now. The mornings are so crisp and the leaves have started turning a few days ago. Our neighbors apple tree was so loaded this year it could barely hold it's branches up. They were kind enough to share their bounty with me, so I have been busy making applesauce, pie filling and even drying a few.

 Fall is my favorite season of the year. I love the slower pace after the crazy business of summer. I have spent my last few mornings on our back porch. Curled up under an old quilt and enjoying a steaming cup of hot tea and savoring the smells of fall and the beautiful colors that are starting to emerge. I sat so quietly comtemplating this morning that a doe and her fawn walked through my back yard only a few feet away and never even noticed me. How can a day go anything but perfect when you start a morning out like that?

I haven't given up on my last Treasure Keeper doll but I needed to put her aside for a couple of weeks while I gear up for my fall craft sales that I participate in. I try to keep most of the larger more elaborate dolls to sell online as I find that the local shoppers love my smaller and sometimes simpler dolls. That works out great for me since I am able to do more of them with the limited time I have. I am almost finished with the batch of fall fairy babies that I will show at the craft fairs. Then I plan to work up a few Christmas ornaments. I am still working on the design of the ornaments but I'll share a sneak peak as soon as I get all the technical type stuff worked out of them. I am thinking more of a Victorian/Edwardian theme of ornaments this year. I think it is because of all the time I have been spending on the Treasure Keeper trio of dolls.

Here is a peek at some of the sleeping fairy babies, I have a few of them on my Etsy shop.

Last But Not Least

I'm working on the final doll in the trio. They've really been fun and I have enjoyed playing with all the antique laces and ribbons. I feel the need for color now after so much vintage white. The next doll I have already been toying with in my sketch book is a Super bright, whimsical autumn doll.

Here is a sneak peak of the final doll. I am pretty sure I have her name picked out but I will wait to reveal it after she is finished.

This is her swag that she will be holding in her arms.

 I have her face lightly penciled in, waiting for some color. I am in love with her pearl and Sterling Silver choker. I am wishing I had one in my size!!!

Faith

I've finished the next doll in the trio. She decided that her name should be Faith, not "Love" as I had planned. Sigh..these dolls they have as much attitude as my real children do. At least with the dolls I can turn off the light of my studio, close the door and walk away from them until I am ready to deal with them again. If I could only do that with my teenagers, I'd be a happy mommy!

Since I didn't do wings with Hope I won't try them with the rest of the trio. I'll save the wings for some future project. The red heart that Faith holds had been bothering me so I sewed up a pink one but was surprised to see it fade right into her dress. Back to the red one again, however when I put her all together I noticed that instead of taking over with it's boldness of color it seemed to compliment her attitude and her story.

The fun of art is seeing how everyone who views it has a different view on how it makes them feel, what emotion it evokes. With art dolls there is also what is the doll's attitude, what is her story.  So, here is my artist's point of view on Faith's story as retold to me by Faith.............

Faith was born in the early 1900's to a very affluent family. She was brought up with the best education and material comforts available at the time. She posseses all the manners that were expected of a young lady of her station in life during the Edwardian Era.  Upon reaching her 18th Birthday her father announced her betrothal to a man from another fine upstanding family in her community. This union was to increase the social standing and financial security for both of the families involved. Faith is normally a very sweet tempered girl, very obediant to her parents wishes and loved by everyone who knows her. However, unbeknownst to her family, Faith had fallen in love with someone her father considered well below her social status. Her True Love was sent away and Faith was ordered to have no further contact with him.  Hence her name, "Faith" as Faith clutches her tattered velvet heart she dreams of her true love and lives every day with the Faith that he will find a way to return to her and they will be together again forever.

Hope

Well, I finally finished the first of the series I am working on." Hope" was my favorite so naturally she demanded to be completed before her sisters. I am pleased with her, as with all of my dolls she had a few surprises for me. I made her a gorgeous set of vintage lace wings and she announced quite loudly that she DID NOT want to be an Angel, she wanted to be a Bride. I've found it's futile to argue, so a Bride she is. An Edwardian Era bride to be exact. A beautiful bride if I do say so myself. (Ok, probably a little bit of bias here.) I have her up on my Etsy shop hopefully someone else will love her as much as I do!

This was the first doll I have made with a gusset head. I have to admit I was a bit nervous going into this but Kate Erbach has great patterns that haven't led me wrong yet. So I took a deep breath and sewed my first gusset. Easy peasy. I don't know what I was so worried about. I do like the look of the more three dimensional face that the gusset allows. I'll have to do a few more now that I know I can handle it.  I've added a link to the Treasure Keeper pattern that I used for "Hope"

When starting these dolls I really didn't expect them to take so long without having legs, and the costuming being part of the doll. However, using vintage and antique materials I found it took a lot of time to stabilize them so that they will not be too delicate and cause the doll to fall apart in any way. I put at least the same amount of time into them that I usually do on my dolls. I know I am too much of a perfectionist with all of my art but I can't seem to get away from it.

I have "Love's head finished and drawn, now that I have "Hope" done, I plan on working on her next. The red velvet heart is still bothering me so I am going to try a pink one, it won't be velvet but I do have some nice pink vintage satin that I think will work up nice. I really want the emphasis on these girls to be on their fabrics and their face so I plan on trying to keep their head pieces the same neutral white as their gowns. It is proving to be a bit of a challenge, but a fun one!