The Magic Bean

Freebie Friday - Products Doll Makers Can't Live Without

I've already shared some of my favourite doll making tools in a previous Freebie Friday post here and I thought I'd share my list of outstanding doll making products, plus the freebie patterns and tutorials offered on the websites associated with those products.

1.  Good Quality Stuffing 

I once had a whole closet full of stuffing that I couldn't stand - all different brands and I hated all of it.  There was nothing really wrong with it, it just wasn't what I prefer to work with.  I love Fairfields Polyfilstuffing (which I stock up on when I'm in the States or Canada).  This stuffing is quite slippery which makes it perfect for me with my weak hands.  I don't like stuffing that sticks to itself as I find it quite lumpy and hard work.  However, one doll maker's good quality stuffing is another doll maker's junk that they stick in the closet.  You just have to try different brands of stuffing until you find the one that gets you plumped up with joy.

While you are at the Fairfields site, check out their free patterns here.

2.  Jacquard's Dye-na Flow paint

I love this product as it is a paint that acts like a dye, so you can paint it on fabric which gives you greater control, but keeps the 'hand' or feel of the the fabric the same.  Plus, it is non-toxic so I won't poison myself using it in my tiny flat.

Check out the freebie tutorials offered on Jacquard's website here.

3.  Yadeno Mohair

Yadeno Mohair is so soft and lovely and shiny.  mmmmm....I'm such a texture person.  I particularly love the natural colours.   You make me feel like a natural woman.....  if you check out the website there are no freebies, but there are pictures of goats here.

4.  Prismacolour pencils

These pencils are soft enough to get great saturation of colour on fabric doll faces.

 

Click hereto see some demonstration videos from Prismacolour - I feel like an artiste already!

5.  Winsor and Newton Fixative

A lot of people swear by Krylon fixative to keep their doll's features from fading and smudging, but personally I like Winsor & Newton- I like my dolls with a stiff upper lip, British style.  And Winsor and Newton have a royal appointment - can't get more stiff upper lip than that.

Check out Winsor & Newton's resource centre for artists here - it has colour charts and archives and even notes on Health and Safety (I told you about that stiff upper lip!).

6.  Wireform Aluminium Wire

Amaco make an aluminium wire that is perfection for wire armatures.  Believe me, once you've used aluminium wire you'll never be tempted to use a coat hanger again!  Aluminium is soft and therefore easy to bend and shape, it is nice and light, and it doesn't blacken your hands or your fabric like galvanised wire sometimes does.

Amaco shares some free project ideas on its website here. 

7.  Pimatex Fabric

Robert Kaufmann make the gorgeous Pimatex fabric.  The ivory and parfait colours are great for doll skin and the fabric takes dye beautifully.  This fabric is such a high thread count that it makes a wonderful surface to draw doll faces on and it doesn't form holes easily, especially when turning fingers.

Check out the large number of free patterns on the Kaufman website here.

8.  Hoffman Bali Watercolours

Like Pimatex, this fabric is high thread count.  I love the Latte and Honeysuckle colours for doll skin.  The batiks make the skin a bit uneven - as real human skin is.  I think the batik gives a really nice "extra something" to the doll's skin.

 

Click here to see some free, mostly quilt patterns, from Hoffman.

9.  Dritz Fraycheck

Thisliquid prevents fabric from fraying.  I use it all the time between the fingers of my dolls hands to prevent the tiny seam allowances from fraying.  Fraycheck is also great for finishing off the ends of ribbons that adorn your doll creations.

Click hereto see some free projects from Dritz.

10.  Sewer's Aid

Sewer's Aid is great for lubricating thread and I find it very useful to run along the spool when I'm working with metallic threads or doing a lot of free motion machine embroidery.  It is also great for cleaning your glasses - I didn't make that up, it says it right on the package!

Sewer's Aid is made by Dritz  and I already gave you the link to their freebie page, but since I linked to Joann's Fabric site for Sewer's Aid, let's have their free project page here - I really like to squeeze in as much free stuff as I can get!

Wordless Wednesday - Dripping Spanish Moss in Virginia

Freebie Friday - Wrapping up the Tools

I'm thinking of making myself a really groovy tool tote or wrap of some kind, so I've been investigating some free patterns to see what else is out there.  Take a look at what I found.

This tool roll up from Craft Stylish is very manly, but funky with a fabric or leather option and embroidered labels.

This one, found on Whip-up, is a pencil roll-up (also useful in a cloth doll maker's arsenal) with an art supply tote to boot.

This needle case tutorial from Astrid Knits her Way Out was meant for knitters but could so easily be adapted to any craft tools.

Here is a paint brush holder that again, could be easily adapted to any tool.

Download a free tutorial from A Sewful Thread on how to make a marker or crayon roll-up here.

This felt craft organiser is so easy as it is meant for kids.

Turkey Cookies (cool name for a blog, huh?) presents this excellent needle holder case tutorial.

This page from Amy Butler is full of free patterns and if you scroll down you'll see one called the Sweet Greetings Portfolio and it is sweet indeed.

Here is a crochet hook roll-up from Planet June (that's the name of the blog silly, it's not from another planet really). 

Here is a needle case with a multi-tier effect from the blog Multicrafty (this crafter must like her multi's).

That about wraps up this week's free pattern and tutorial list of links. Groan....I know, bad puns.

Wordless Wednesday - Washington Monument

Below Average

When I was visiting in Canada, my youngest nephew asked me if I was as tall as Grandma.  'No,' I replied, 'Grandma is taller than I am.'  In fact, my mum is about half a head taller.  He asked me to go stand beside Grandma (he obviously needed the proof).  After a thorough inspection he seemed rather satisfied that I am indeed shorter than Grandma.  I suspect that this line of questioning was to establish the best way to monitor his own growth - first he'll be taller than Auntie, then Grandma etc.  I am just the first milestone, the first person to be taller than.  The fact that I'm about the height of the average 11-14 boy suggests that it won't be long now.

Funnily enough I'd been thinking about my height difference in relation to my mum quite a bit.  My latest doll, Finders Keepers has been designed to be taught as a class with a lot of teaching surrounding body proportion and using a wire armature to create whatever body proportion you want.  For example, my first version of Finders Keepers (pictured below) is my proportion 6.5 heads tall - below average for a woman, although incidentally perfect for an imp.

 

So if my head were two inches tall, this is exactly the height I'd be.

Now my mum is average in height (although not average as a person, I might add).  She is 7 heads tall and I made another version of Finders Keepers in her height proportion (pictured below).

 

When I was making this doll, I was struck by how much more grown-up this doll seemed.  It didn't seem appropriate to give her freckles. 

Only half a head taller than the first version, but I still felt that this doll was more mature.  I'll have to go back and take a picture of them together so you can see that half head height difference.

That little bit of extra height makes as much difference to dolls as it does to nephews.

Voices in my head make little dolls

For some time now a little voice in my head has been talking to me.  A little someone has wanted to come out and play.  No, I don't have a split personality - the cloth doll muse has wanted me to make a new version of my pin cushion doll Pinelope.  And this one is all ready to have a bubble bath.

 

The only problem with making this doll is that I couldn't stop yawning when I drew her face.  There I go again.  I can't even write about yawning without doing it.  I wonder if yawning is catching over cyber-space.  If you yawn madly for the next few minutes, sorry.

 

I'm going to be teaching both versions of Pinelope as an evening class at MM&M in September.  Stop by the MM&M conference website here and see what's happening.

Freebie Friday - Keep your Head On

It feels like my head is not attached to my shoulders at the minute.  It may be that I'm still not used to the fact that I've quit my day job and I get to make dolls all day or it may still be jet lag or it may be the weird dreams I've been having (why oh why did I dream that a Canadian brass band was playing a song about moose droppings in Iran while my husband and I watched on?).  So I decided to share some free doll tutorials on how to keep your head - or your doll's head in this case.

Patti Culea shows how she attaches a doll's head to the body here.

Deanna Hogan shares her tips on making a Tibetan Lamb Hair wig here.

Here is a really different tutorial on making yarn hair wigs that gives a very cool look that is far from the usual type of rag doll style yarn wigs.

If you are interested in rag dolls here are some tips for how to stabilise the neck of your rag doll to keep it from flopping.  And here is a tutorial from Crafty Sheep on how to create a yarn wig in the rag doll/Waldorf doll style.

Here's a fun wig tutorial using fur, click on each thumbnail for more info.

All this talk of losing your head reminds me of the poem, The Loser, by Shel Silverstein, read it at the top right of the page, here.  So don't lose your head - it's messy.  And problematic.

Tales from a Cloth Doll Class

I think every wasp in England has congregated in my tiny flat.  They are having a insect insurrection in my very living room.  I think it is a conspiracy to keep me from writing on my blog.  I'm sure that's it.  It couldn't be the jet lag that is preventing me from concentrating - it's definitely the wasps.  Definitely.

But I shall prevail. 

I have just returned from North America where I visiting my family and where I was teaching Gather Ye Rosebuds at Rose Gibbon's in Maryland.

 

There's the lovely Rose on the right and moi on the left.

What a pleasure it was to teach this fabulous bunch of ladies, from left back row:  Bunny, Toni, Sue, Rose, front row from left me, Sharon, Nancy Jo and Annie.

 

And I tell ya it was hard work.  I had to make dolls for two days.  And talk to ladies who liked dolls for two days.  I had to laugh for two days.  Boy this teaching malarkey is tough - hem, hem... did that sound remotely convincing?

 

Nancy Jo and Annie Hesse

 

Sue

 

Bunny and Sharon

 

I had so much fun that I am going back.  Well, I'm blaming Annie for that - Annie runs Magic, Mischief and Mayhem (MM&M), a doll making conference, and seduced me with the most fantastic line up of teachers ever.  So I'm getting back on a jet plane in September to fly to Kentucky to attend the conference. 

I will also be teaching a mini-class one evening at MM&M.  I'll be making Pinelope my pin cushion doll.  The class will be able to create the original Pinelope with her funky ear flap hat, scarf, thimble-tote and Converse running shoes. 

Alternatively, I'll be offering Bath Time Pinelope, created especially for MM&M, which features Pinelope in a shower cap, towel and fuzzy bunny slippers (pictures to follow shortly).  This mini-class will focus on drawing one of two expressions for Pinelope’s face as well as putting the details together on this cute, but useful doll.  I can't wait.

I don't know if there are any spaces left at the conference, but if you e-mail Annie Hesse a anniedolls@roadrunner.com you might just be able to find out.

As I'll be in the States again in September, I will be teaching once again with Rose, although date and particulars are not finalised.  I'll let you know.

If you or your club is interested in having me come to teach during that time, please e-mail me about what classes I offer at colleenbabcock@uwclub.net .  Then I'll have tosuffer through more fun filled doll making days with a bunch of great people.  Life is tough.  Tee hee.

Bea in her Bonnet is Back

I'm teaching an online doll class for Bea in her Bonnet with Doll Street starting August 14th.  Click here for more info and to sign up.

 

Freebie Friday - Tools of the Trade

If only I had known that these simple tools would have made life so much easier when I first started doll making.  So if you are at all serious about making dolls or softies, you should definitely have these tools:

1.  Turning Tubes

 

Some people have success turning doll fingers with tiny haemostats, but I can't live without finger turning tubes. 

Here's how you use them:

To turn the fingers, slip the brass tube from the set of turning tubes that is the right size for the finger, right to the end of the finger.  Take the small brass rod and press it against the end of the tube that is inside the finger.  Push the rod against the seam.  While maintaining pressure on the tube with the rod, gently roll the finger up and over the small rod. Repeat for each finger and thumb.  With your haemostats, reach inside the hand, grab the fingers and turn the rest of the hand.  Repeat for the other hand.

2.  Haemostats (I often see them spelled hemostats in the States)

Often also called forceps or artery claps, this tool was originally intended for medical purposes, but are great for turning larger bits of the doll right-side out.

How to use them:

Reach in the body part, grasp the inside with the haemostats and pull through the opening.

3.  Stuffing forks

Lots of people make their own stuffing tools but I think Barbara Willis' stuffing forks can't be beat especially for stuffing tiny fingers.

 

Here's how you use them:

To stuff the fingers, take a very small wisp of stuffing and hold it in your hand.  Using the small stuffing fork, twirl the fork over the stuffing until it forms a small Q-tip-like (cotton bud-like) shape. Stuff this into the palm side of the finger, under the wire.  Barbara shares her stuffing tips here.

4.  John James Darners No 7 needles

These needles are perfect for needle sculpting dolls as they are relatively long but slender so they don't create big holes in the fabric as you sculpt.

5.  Open Toe Sewing Machine Foot

The open toe foot allow you to clearly see your traced lines when sewing tiny doll parts.  It will make your life so much easier.

None of these simple tools are very expensive, but they can ease frustration and improve the quality of your dolls.  Invest in your art.