Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Innocent joys


Dollmaking is one of life's innocent joys.  As the doll takes shape within your hands, there is no room in your mind for negative thoughts.  Time slows down; the focus is on the creative magic taking place before you.  Whether you are crocheting, sewing, knitting, sculpting, or simply wrapping wire with floss, the doll is taking shape before your eyes, with a piece of your soul wound around it.


These dolls are derived and inspired by a series of YouTube tutorials by Emilie Lefler.  She has 60 tutorials, from 9 to 19 minutes in length, where she shows you how to create some truly beautiful dolls from bead, floral wire, floss, and flower petals.

The first tutorial shows you how to make the basic doll.  The only thing I do differently from Emilie when making the dolls is to wrap the end of the wire at the hands and feet, instead of securing with hot glue.  In fact, I don't use any hot glue in the making of the doll body (a bit when doing the hair, though).  Instead, I bury the beginning of the floss when wrapping the doll, then at the end insert the floss tail into a tapestry needle and run it into the dolls body for an inch or sew and cut off, as in the image below.


Also, my dolls are shorter, since I bend up the bottom of the leg about and inch or so to wrap all around the foot and then up the leg.


These lovely dolls are easy to make; I've used flower petals, fabric circles, and crochet to make their outfits.  Some of them are remove-able (the crochet one's) others are not.  After each doll is complete there is such a feeling of sweet accomplishment and joy.  Giving the dolls away shares this joy with others.


Here is a fun way to create a stand for  your doll, which can be embellished or not to your heart's content.  Using wood plaques or wooden disks or coasters, glue a small wooden spool to the disk.  Make sure the hole in the spool is large enough to accommodate one foot of your doll.  After the glue dries, decorate your stand as you like.  The top one I just added buttons and ribbon roses randomly, the one on the left is a birch disk (from Michaels) with a wooden drawer knob masquerading as a mushroom, and the one on the right rather more elaborate with a crocheted doily and flowers glued down.


One dainty foot fits into the spool, and holds the doll in place :-)


Three dolls on one stand!


And a sweet Emerald doll for my sister's birthday :-)

Create a space for joy and make a doll.


12 comments:

  1. Innocent joys indeed, creativity and enjoyment. These are such sweet little dolls and stands. Perfect gift for your sister's birthday.

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    1. Thank you so much for your sweet words, Lorraine :-)

      warmly,

      Beth

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  2. Love the dolls but the stands give me so many ideas! So pretty. :-)

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    1. You could make something like this for so many different types of dolls!

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  3. Behind on my reading. Just saw these. Love them. As always, your dolls are so sweet looking. Hugs from Nancy

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  4. Beautiful, blessings 🌷🙏🌷

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  5. I love how you describe making dolls as such an innocent joy.💕I feel the same way.💕Definitely no room for negativity when you’re making a doll.💕 I saw my first example of a yarn doll with a wood bead head maybe only 3-4 months ago. After my 2nd one I was hooked! I love it so much. I wanted to ask, what kind of wire you use? I can never seem to get complete instructions, in English for exact supplies. That, has made my journey a little more difficult. I have a huge creative streak tho. So I just watch them over & over until I figure it out 🤷‍♀️
    I’ve been wanting to switch over to wire bodies & make skirts from flowers. Thank you in advance. I’m glad I found your blog!

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  6. Thank you. Beautiful. Can I ask you what gage wire you use? I can never seem to get supplies from videos because most I watch are in languages I don’t speak.🤷‍♀️ I just watch a few times & make it. I’m totally addicted!💕I’ve been making yarn dolls with wooden beads for heads. So love your stands!

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    1. My favorite wire to use to make these dolls is cotton pipe cleaner. You can get this from 'A Child's Dream Come True' the cotton is much less fuzzier than the regular type of pipe cleaner in most craft stores.

      You can also try using, and I have, Florist wire, or 16 t0 18 gauge aluminum wire. I hope this help.

      warmly,

      Beth

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