I did the man who was lying in the old meat tray looking at me. A lot of dolls live in polystyrene meat trays. The trays are very old because I’ve been vegetarian for years but the supermarket expanded polystyrene trays are cushioned, ideal for either porcelain bits or entire dolls. They’re good for poured dolls and bits out of the kiln, I have a zipped bag full in the garage, when the last meat tray cracks I’ll have to stop.
Twelfth scale dolls take so long. I do them with fully removable clothes and I’m very picky. I can make a garment three times until I like it. I undressed the first Tudor lady and remade her shift. I do have labels on the dolls saying they are undressable but I don’t know if anyone is ever brave enough to do it, so probably no one else will ever know the shift is perfect. I do.
Fortunately I’d already made a wig for the bloke. This is good, circular stitched miniature wigs can take a day each to do.
First I did him some underwear. The underpants are not removable, well, you could with scissors, eventually. The vest had to be good because he’s going to wear a vest, a gold chain and an expensive looking jacket.
The light isn’t that brilliant but he does have the most beautiful purple eyes. I don’t think I have any purple eyes left. One of the advantages of going to Thuringia for eyes was that, as doll’s eyes have been made there for over a hundred years, you can get every colour of glass rods that has ever been. Most of creativity works like that round the world, wherever you get a concentration of craftspeople doing the same thing, the supplies for all aspects gravitate to the place where people need to buy them. I used to go the the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter once a year. If you want to buy tools for jewellery making that’s the place to go. On the main road there are jewellery shops and down the side streets little groups of tool shops.
Once he had his underwear on I kept picking him up and kissing him. Big mistake, I’m supposed to be putting him up for sale in a fortnight.
See how good the vest and gold chain look under the jacket. The jeans are proper and removable. It isn’t a zip, it’s Velcro but it works the same. Most of today was making the jacket.
The hat, shoes and working belt are lovely yellow leather. I have a lot of coloured leather of various thicknesses because I bought the small hides to make the cushions for the S&H which had to be strong enough the withstand cats and children and I have a box of the thinnest leather for doll shoes, which are also sewn, as was the hat.
I haven’t got time to set up a proper studio, but if he wants to write a quick shopping list..
Isn’t he lovely? Someone will ask how long he took to make. Thirty three years of practice, six weeks pouring, five weeks cleaning, two days firing, one wet-elbow day grit scrubbing, two weeks china painting and refiring, two weeks matching body parts, three weeks stringing and, just for him, a week dressing.
He’s going to be my top price which is £50. I know there are people making Fimo sculptures in a day, gluing on clothes and asking £100. But he isn’t a thing to collect and put. He is a friend to play with, out of my heart into the hands of the doll maniac who will love him.
Got to make a doll stand and put him in a box to go.
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You can see him in person in two weeks, here