Sally, Peggy, Jennifer, Trudy, Jane and Carla are all looking for nice homes!
Be here 11/11 at 11:00 to make them yours.

I’m just now putting the finishing touches on a small batch of handmade dolls that I’ll be taking along with us on our trip to Tokyo (thursday!). I’m running around like a headless chicken making sure everything is taken care of so that we’ll have a stress-free trip.

Our first stop in Japan is Design Festa. Paul’s been cranking out lots of great work to exhibit and sell. I’m looking forward to soaking up some creativity (and shopping!) but I will be offering a few tiny handmade babies and pose dolls at the booth.

I’m especially looking forward to going back to Tokyo for the second time. The first time we went I was crazy with anticipation, having no idea the wonders we would see. This time I’m taking comfort in the familiarity of my favorite place on earth – like going home after a long, stressful day.  No doubt there will be wonderful new things to see (and eat!), new friends to make, and new little alleyways to get lost in, but we have our list of things we cannot wait to do again.

Vintage japanese girl's room

I’ve been seeking out inspiration for vintage, japanese-style girls’ rooms while working on my dollhouse project. This link Paul sent me couldn’t have come at a better time

Super awesome badass. Want, want, want!

I ♥ Itokin Park

(this uncensored, unedited verbal diarhhea brought to you by extremely adorable blythe in wrestling bear mask and tuxedo)

(photo by Linda, cute little guitar from Variation!)

It’s time to break open the sealed container marked, “JAPANESE SNACKS”…

I was surprised to find that I have only found 14 unique varieties!  I need to get to the markets more often! My Kit kat scavenging rule is simple: I must find each flavor organically, meaning no eBaying or asking people to send them to me. This “hobby”’s all about the joy of the hunt.

Well, I learned a lot tonight. Thanks for bearing with me while I experiment with my selling method. Next time I may try a comment lottery so more time zones can participate. (and I will make sure that there are no crossposts to confuse commenters!).

Guess I just have to make more poseys!

♥

One big problem I was having was that I was making dolls at my tiny kitchen table. It’s about 5 feet round, and visible from the main room of my little condo. Just a constant mountain of fabric scraps, doll heads, and thread monsters, making it impossible for the room to feel tidy and forcing us to eat dinner on our laps. Something had to be done.

I re-arranged the spare bedroom (the furniture placement was horrible and I didn’t like even going into that room) and now I love my craft space.The room actually feels bigger, even though the desk is now square in the middle of the room and I moved all my craft supplies in there. It just feels like it’s inviting me to come in and get right to work.

Makin' Bodies

The first order of duty was to put it to use! Paul and I worked all weekend in that room, and we managed to finish two-and-a-half big pose dollies.

These dolls use the pattern from dolly dolly 16, with slightly different materials after I made a prototype that needed a bit of improvement. I LOVE this body pattern. I’ve adjusted mine a bit to give her longer legs and slimmer hands – the original pattern has large hands that make it hard to dress her in sleeves with small cuffs. Oh, and did I mention that they fit Blythe clothes? Instant wardrobe! They have difficult-to-fit feet, so socks and tights have to be super-stretchy.  I need to buy a case of Volks fishnet tights!

Here’s my second girl.  Her face was a little  inspired by one of the sweetest little pose dolls I have ever seen, Eve. While I was painting her, I just kept thinking of what it would be like to be a fly on the wall while someone painted a vintage doll – I bet they did it in about 5 brush strokes! This face took me about 3 hours, including letting the paint dry between coats and practicing first on a styrofoam-ball-head. I like her a lot, but need more practice so that I don’t have to stress about shaking my hand and screwing up the eyelashes.

Paul's dollie is a wicked little pixie

Paul made one too. He did a great job, despite my constant interruptions to give him instructions (It’s the “teacher” and bossy big sis in me). She’s got sparkly green eyes, just like daddy. While I was agonizing over getting skinny yarn to lie flat on my pink-haired girl, he decided to give her big fluffy black curls, which worked out wonderfully and went on so fast! I decided to make my second one a mohair girl, which I think may have been even faster. I wanted her to look like a fuzzy baby chick.

They are kind of a hybrid between Pose dolls and plush dolls. their limbs are wired so they pose really well, but their bodies are all cloth and fiberfill like a plush doll. If you use the pattern as it is, the doll is about 13 inches tall, but my little blonde has a couple of extra inches in her legs, so she’s 15″.  They also can stand on their own if you make their feet really stiff, which is fun for photos.

I think I will keep the two I have made so far for myself, only because they still have some flaws I want to work out, but I would love to make these to sell if there is interest in them. It’s fun to watch them come to life!

Anyway, I know I went off course from the tiny dolls for a bit, but I just had to try this pattern. I’ll be working on another batch of the micro pose dolls in the next few weeks.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I’m really looking forward to the warm weather we’ve been promised, and some time to craft!

The little clip above is of some recent eBay purchases. My Japanese nodder collection is getting nice and diverse! I’m up to 8 with the addition of these two little pups and the elf girl. I’ve gotta cool off the eBay ing and focus on making things to sell!

(could this post use a few more exclamation points? Clearly I am just excited that my work week is DONE.)