Anatomy of a Doll - Part 2

O.k. now where did I leave off? Oh yeah, so when the doll finally told me who she was I was able to start the details. By the way she told me she was either a Fairy or an Elf. I've never made either one before so I was excited to get going. I started on the ears. Both elves and fairies have pointy ears so if I changed my mind I was good to go anyway.

UPDATE: I added links to the bottom of this post to the other posts in this series so you can follow along from start to finish. 

 

 I wanted to be able to pose the ears so I sewed chenille stems onto the ear into the shape I wanted and it worked really well. It was the first time I've done something like that.

I played around with ear placement for a while then got to sewing.

Here she is stuffed with her ears on. (Oh that sounds like some gross taxidermy experiment!) Majorly in love with her eyes.

Next I did her hands. This is the very first time I've done hands with fingers. I was really nervous but very pleased with how they came out. My doll hands to date have been a variety of paddle shapes and recently a square hand with a thumb as show below.

I thought I had a photo of me doing the hands but I don't. I wanted to be able to pose the fingers and bend the arm so I did a pitchfork type of wiring that seems to work just fine.

Again I used chenille stems then stuffed the fingers carefully. This is all a first time learning process for me.

Next the legs. Remember that great leg and boot? Well I'm not sure if it was the design or the embossed felt I used but the boot came out so skinny. 

Not real pleased with it but decided to add a sole and the bottom of the heel to give it some weight which helped a little. Loved the snakeskin felt for the boot so decided to use it anyway.

Oh remember my idea for the more natural breast? Yeah it's more like a boy chest than what I was going for but it's fine for this particular doll. (have to give the design more thought)

Thanks for reading along today. Hope you are enjoying seeing what I'm doing as much as I'm enjoying trying new things.

You can find PART 1 HERE and PART 3 HERE and PART 4 HERE

Worktable Wednesday

Still many boxes to pack up but I was going a little batty so spent yesterday in the studio designing and cutting out patterns. I feel much calmer now that I've chosen to ignore the stuff in the house that I need to finish doing and worked on some fun stuff instead.

The beginnings of some new plush dolls and 3 Tardis cut out and ready to sew.

Lita in a pirate hat just cause.

Sassy's Friday Feature - LEFTZ

LEFTZ on etsy has some of my favorite plush characters. They are fun and eco friendly. And I'm all about re-use, re-cycle anything and everything so LEFTZ plush are a personal favorite. The genius behind LEFTZ is Mary Casher. All LEFTZ creations are made using thrift store finds and donated fabric. They are also stuffed with plastic grocery bags, you know the ones that end up in the landfill or caught in the tops of trees. Mary puts these to good use and they make surprisingly good stuffing material. (these bags are all clean, btw) Mary also lets you know how many bags each LEFTZ creature is stuffed with. I tweet with Mary often on twitter. She's a lovely person and such an inspiration to a plush-want-to-be-maker like me. I own 2 great LEFTZ creations and can attest to the fact that they are very well made and just plain fun.

Mary's creations are called LEFTZ because they are missing their left eyes. The right eyes are fun vintage buttons. She doesn't use patterns so each creation is slightly different than the last.

Mary has had several of her LEFTZ creations featured in STUFFED Magazine and is having a giveaway on her blog of Pepper the cat that was featured in STUFFED. Giveaway ends September 23rd.

Giveaway

Ted and Dew Drop are in the sale section of LEFTZ shop and I believe once they are sold no more of these will be made. (no more sparrows will be made) So grab them up folks!

Ted the horse

Dew Drop the sparrow

Nessie the water monster

Mary had a plush series that she recently sold off and retired called Tribals. They are tree like creatures with spears. I was lucky to purchase one before they were all gone and I love it.

Retired Tribals no longer available for purchase.

Mary is taking her plush in a new and fun direction with the addition of monsters. Some are fleece and fabric and some like below are fur.

Bananas the monster

This monsters unique name comes from the fact that he used to be a monkey plush found unloved in a thrift store. He was taken apart and recycled into this fun monster. You can read about his transformation here. From Monkey to Monster

 

Geeky plush bunny

This guy was sold the same day he was listed. 

How awesome is he in his geekyness?!

There's a fish trend on etsy right now and LEFTZ does them the best! Look at these patterns and colors. Luscious and I don't even like fish but I like these!

 Largemouth Bass

Holiday ornament

Want a LEFTZ on your tree this holiday season? These mini largemouth bass are perfect. Grab them quick LEFTZ always sell fast!

Where to find LEFTZ

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtTales

http://www.facebook.com/LEFTZ

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leftz/

http://leftz.deviantart.com/

http://twitter.com/arttalesleftz

Featured in 2 More Treasuries.

My items are in 2 treasuries this week. Frank the plush doll is in a fun kids Halloween Treasury.

 Halloween Treasury

And Tallulah the owl is in a fun Owl Treasury

Hoot Hoot!

I really appreciate when someone has taken the time to include one of my creations in a treasury. Thanks!

Sassy's Friday Feature - Chickengirl Designs

I have a very fun and talented twitter and blog friend who is an amazing illustrator. Her name is Jannie Ho and she is Chickengirl Designs. If I was an illustrator I'd be Jannie. She has such a fun, colorful, whimsical style that I just adore and is perfect for the children's market but amusing enough for adults too.
Jannie is a children's illustrator (something I dreamed of once but well that's another story) and is well published in Scholastic, Highlights and Nickelodeon Magazines.

She also has illustrated several books for children. (I'm a sucker for kid's books. Love the illustrations and have a whole library of them just for me.) Jannie's books can be found on Amazon and in bookstores.

She also does commercial work such as gift card design for Target. Also partyware, textile design and more.

How adorably cute is this?!

I love her animals as people illustrations best as they remind me of my childhood love of Richard Scarry's great books.

For the stampers out there Chickengirl Designs has a line of Digi stamps available through http://www.iheartpapers.com

Chickengirl also has a line of ecards available at Pingg with some delightful illustrations. Look an owl...sweet!

Chickengirl Designs also has an etsy shop that did sell great prints and note cards but at this time doesn't have any items for sale. But here's the link in case she does add some, cause I know you'll want them!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chickengirldesign

More ways to contact Jannie and see more of her awesome illustrations.

http://www.chickengirldesign.com

http://www.facebook.com/jannie.ho

http://twitter.com/jannieho

http://www.chickengirldesign.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed seeing Jannie's illustrations as much as I always do!