tryitall

....still, primitive hits too close to home! lol

Victoria L

Beautiful dolls :)

drgranny

I sort of trade off. I have to be inspired to make a doll. To make a quilt I just have to choose my fabrics and pattern. When I am really inspired to make a doll she tells me what she wants and I give it to her. If I am not in the mood to make a doll it just doesn't come together and it just will not turn our well. Or if I feel I HAVE to make a doll and am not really in the mood then I may as well not haave started it. Does that make sence?

drgranny

The Primitave has a story. Her family was poor and lived on a small, poor farm. There was going to be a July fth celebration in her town. She wanted to have a new dress to wear and wanted red boots so bad she could hardly stand it. She and her mother went to the general store to find some cloth to make her a new dress. There was only money for dress fabric so her mother had to make do and be creative to make up the rest of her daughters new outfit. Her collar is made of a piece of a dresser scarf. Her pantaloons and peticoat are made from an old very worn pillow case. The surely was not money for new red boots so mother painted her old ones with the left over paint from the barn. The little girls name is Emma and she is very proud of her new outfit!!

KLO

drgranny, I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about how you go about making these dolls .... such as: do you use a "doll pattern"; how do you do the joints; what materials do you use for the doll bodies, etc. I am sure you don't have time for a novel but these dolls are so wonderful that I would love to know what goes into the process of making them. Thanks if you can do that; I understand if you cannot.

dixiebelle162002

They are truly beautiful and expess your love of art.

drgranny

OK. First of all I make my dolls from commercial patterns that are available from multiple sources(on the web). I don't make patterns. Some of my dolls are made from woven cottons such as Egyptian cotton. Some are made from knitted faux suade fabric. The mermaid was made from cotton and her tail is batik. They mostly 5 piece bodies + the head. No armature. The hands and arms are wired with chenille stems. The legs are cut so the top of the legs lap over the buttock area and as they are stitched, stuffing is added to make a butt cheek. The torso of the body is cut at the top sort of like a full corset ie. it has bust shape that can be stuffed just enough to make boobs or stuffed a lot to make her bodashus. The feet have heels of various shapes and heights and then are painted and decorated. From here some artists make the bodies and fully cloth it and then make the head and put on the neck. I usually get my body made and the legs positioned like I want them and maybe have an idea how I will cloth her, but the actual decision there comes when I give her her head. I always make 2 or 3 heads and needle sculpt them and then give her eye color etc. I make mostly red haired dolls. Don't know why exactly but it seems that is always what they want. Then I sometimes go ahead and dress her and try the heads on to see which one she wants. Sometimes she doesn't want any of them and I have make another. The bird cage doll I made the body onto the handle of the cage and dressed her from a blouse I found at the resale shop. Then she had to have a head and face that went with her looking into the sky for her bird that flew away. I think I only made 2 heads for her. The sky is the limit for embelishment. She will tell you when she has enough.

I thank you all for the great response to my babies!!!

yellowsnow55

Thank you for the explanation, I've made some dolls in my previous life (before M.S.) and know how much work goes into them. I made a few primitave ones as well, had an awful lot of trouble finding the sawdust to stuff them as I wanted to do them the traditional way. I also love your avatar by the way, are you the original 'old' lady who's determent to wear purple, like in the poem? And have you ever made a selfportrait doll? I'm sure that would come out real good. Love, Dea

grammysharon

What beautiful dolls you create :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

drgranny

Dea, No I'm not old enough to be the original "old lady" haha.
No, I have never tried to do a self portrait. My dolls always have much better bodies than me. Their are many other more interesting subjects to creat. I stuffed my primitave doll with dense poly batting. I don't like sawdust. I have made some dolls with sawdust but don't like it. You have to wet it to make it pack and then you run the risk of it not drying fast enough and it might mold.