Bear with me

I haven't shown any bears yet. Here is a doll maker who makes polymer clay and cloth dolls, and also makes very sweet antique-inspired dressed bears, with heartmelting personalities that look like they have been hugged and loved forever. Whimsymoon - what a wonderfully evocative name for a doll business. Don't be sad, scruffy wee bear; I love you.

From Russia with....imagination

Not only are Ima Naroditskya's dolls beautiful and polished examples of dollmaking, her website is extraordinarily fun too. I like the curtain pulling conceit. It adds to the fantasy element and makes every thumbnail a fanciful treasure hunt. All her characters so clearly have a history and a narrative behind them. She also designs glass figure christmas tree ornaments. (Don't fail to run your cursor over the little yellow fellows guarding the procenium.)

BTW I should give proper credit to this photo which I believe is by Mimi Kirchner.

And another convention...

From September 30th through October 4th in Las Vegas, NV, there will be a convention for paper doll enthusiasts run by OPDAG. Early bird discount registration is open until July 1st. Scroll down and find info about a Spring Gathering in Summerville, NC March 21st.

I found the info about the OPDAG conference visiting the blog of Paper Doll artist, Elaine Jackson. Her figures may be physically flat, but they carry a lot of beauty and love into the world.

Du Buh Du retro aesthetic

OMG, Christine Alvarado of Du Buh Du Designs is giving away the most beautiful, wistful doll for her One World One Heart contribution. Based on a charming Irish folk tale, she is holding a swan and is 14 inches tall. Look at her dear little detailed shoes.

Christine's figures prove what a versatile medium polymer clay is - she makes her figures (and ornaments) from pc, then paints over them to create the doll's faces, hair and personalities. Their cloth dresses have a sweet retro style simplicity, with focus on the tiny prints. I love, love, love the series holding the masks invoking fairy tales from the ages. She also has an Etsy store, where she promises more new things in February.

Nancy Drew

Ah Nancy Drew, one of my daughter's favorite characters. Tonner has a Nancy Drew character doll - contemporary with lots of nice clothing and cool accessories. My daughter wants one although she is unsure if the hair is really titian blond as the books specify.


Madame Alexander created a small and briefly available line of 12 inch Nancy Drew dolls in 1965. They are very rare and valuable, dressed in the clothes of that time.


Nancy began her life as an 18 year old in 1930, the height of the Great Depression. It is interesting to see the changes in the cover art depicting her in different fashions as the different editions were published.


In 2009 she is a peripatetic modern girl in the Her Interactive PC games. And some very cool dolls appear in some of the games. In the most recent, The Haunting of Castle Molloy, a bunch of handmade portrait dolls are weird clues, one needing completion, and there is a doll house game that gives important tools. There are also antique dolls in the set decoration.

There is also a very cool puzzle that is central to Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, with part of the story being about a doll collector. In Legend of the Crystal Skull, the housekeeper has a voodoo doll in her room.

Author! Author!

Patti Medea Cularis is not only a spectacular cloth doll maker, but also writes the most luciously illustrated books about doll making. I have her Cloth Doll Couture, and I love her happy, colorful style. She has free patterns on her blog, runs classes and workshops, and travels the world sharing her passion for cloth dolls as a popular club and convention presenter. Talk about energy! And she still finds time to make dolls.

Bella bella

I love the look of Christina Bougas' Clea Bella - and she is made in the USA. There will be a whole line of limited edition theatrical and artistic characters with gorgeous costumes. Personally I'm interested in seeing the Sherlock Holmes figure being planned.

Knitted wire

Meanwhile Reina Mia Brill has just opened her new website featuring her portfolio of fanciful, colorful and award winning figures wearing knitted wire clothing and sometimes using wire as a surface treatment. Many of her figures are large in scale. They make me think of the happy side of fairytales.

Twisted wire

Another use of wire - artist Cheryl Button assembles mixed media "Lost Art Dolls" and puppets from found objects, polymer clay and wire, painting and distressing the surfaces to create intriguing yet vaguely disturbing human figures. Some are inspired by dark tales from folklore. They may not be pretty, but they have a remarkable ethereal beauty. The photography capturing the detail is rather wonderful also.

Into the Ethernet

Every now and then there's likely to be something here a little oddball. Here's a tutorial on how to make little poseable action figures from ethernet cable. This person likes making soldiers referencing action movies I think, but the principles would apply to all kinds of wire figures. (Just so you know, the rest of the site doesn't seem to have anything to do with dolls.)

Madi, the Magical Fairy

Here's a nice little line of commercial 12" play dolls for 5 and up. They all have interchangeable wigs that allow the child to alter the personalities in play. Each come with an information card about nature, which I suspect parents would care more about than kids. I know my daughter would like them just for themselves because they are cute, cuddly and have sweet costumes.

Tonner Convention coming up

The Tonner Doll Collectors' Convention will be held in Lombard, IL June 12th through 14. The theme is "On Film". Reservations are open now.

According to the website Robert Tonner is creating a whole new fashion doll sculpt for the souvenir doll. Ooooh!

The Tonner dolls are just plain gorgeous, and the variety is huge. My daughter has several including Hermione (pictured) and Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter collection . She also has a couple of Tyler's and they really are great to play dress up narrative games with. Her most recent gift from her godparents is the brand new Shauna with the ball joints. Very nice. Tonner's massive and varied collections deserve and will get several posts.

Pro Sculptor

Polymer clay is a wonderful medium. Jack Johnston, with his own product Pro Sculpt, is an absolute master of the material. His dolls have been nominated for Dolls Awards of Excellence a ridiculous number of times. He offers sculpting workshops, has founded an Art Doll Guild and inspired and educated uncounted numbers of art doll makers and figurative sculptors. My personal favorites - portrait dolls of historical individuals.

Generosity

There are some dolls that are so beautiful they almost make you cry. Adele Sciortino's cloth and embellished dolls are like that for me.

Adele also makes available for free a fantastic quarterly e-newsletter full of color photos and how to's and profiles of other doll artists from her second website about costuming. What is she kidding? This stuff is free? Yup.

Should have sent a poet.

Color and charm of Kathi Kuti

Kathi Kuti is another name surely familiar to doll lovers. A Kuti figure is generally unmistakable. Such mischief in the expressions, and wonderful color combinations in the costumes and attention to detail. I always enjoy looking at them and marvelling at how tiny they are. She says that one of her goals is to "connect with the viewer's heart and transport them away". Check.

Kathi is going to be at the Chicago International gathering of miniaturists April 3rd -5th. Oh the workshops - tiny furniture, blessed itty bitty babies, wee vignettes. Magical. Here's Lynn McEntire's "Tea for Two" workshop.

Nests of Fairies in Fabric

Happy cloth fairies with gossamer wings live in the Fairie's Nest from Cynthia Toy. Cynthia has an Etsy store (check out her timely Valentine Pixies), and also found on the Ning social network OOAK Art Dolls. More feast for the eyes.

Smiling Eyes in Beautiful Faces

Laurie Leigh is pretty much the gold standard of fashion doll repainters. She makes gorgeous portraits of celebrities and characters from pop culture. She makes painted eyes look alive, as you can see from her website's many delicious photo galleries. Read more in Haute Doll magazine.

Rusty Barn shows

This page is a list of a whole bunch of quilting and sewing art expos all around the western region of the US over the next year. Check the links list too - lots of suppliers.
The next one is in Phoenix, January 29th.
Scroll down for a admission discount coupon.

Hoffman Challenge 2009

Here is all the information for one of the big annual textile art and doll contests.

The entries are due by July 24th, 2009.

Last year's winning doll is by Patricia Wormuth of Oregon, interestingly a stump doll.

Jan McLean's doll designs

Jan McLean is an award winning New Zealand doll designer creating gorgeous OOAK and limited commericial editions of vinyl and porcelain dolls. They have many different personalities, but are all delightful. I like the pink hair and big eyes on this 2008 beauty. On this page of her website is great work in progress series of photos - scroll down.