The Magic Bean

Freebie Friday - Making Dolls Furniture

Lynniah who asked last Friday's questions about doll making also asked:

I haven't yet found any easy way to build a table and chair for the gypsy to sit and gaze into her crystal ball yet either....Making backgrounds/furniture for dolls takes serious creative thinking apparently..That is actually my favorite part.. I like to have my dolls in a background or doing something, other than just sitting there collecting dust... I think perhaps, I need a doll school !!

Well Lynniah, I've scrounged around to try and find free patterns and tutorials for making doll furniture.  I focussed on ones made from household items and that are fairly low-tech.  A lot of these ideas are meant for kids and some aren't that flashy, but could so easily be jazzed up with some imagination.  Keep in mind that these bits of furniture are designed for all sizes of doll and might be able to be changed to suit your needs.

Having said 'low-tech' you do need to be able to cut plywood or have someone do it for you to make this bed, but these chairs and tables are easily made with blocks.

This upholstered chair is easily made with foam, fabric and wood beads.  Very cool looking but easy.

This slide-show shows some really cool ideas of how to make a dolls house and furniture out of household items.  This project is very child friendly but all the bits of furniture are so cute and imaginative.  When I was little I would have been all over this like a dirty shirt.

Here's another great idea for a Kleenex box couch or chair.  Great idea for making upholstered furniture.

These toilet paper roll chairs are pretty simple but could easily be dressed up.  You could use mail tubes for a larger doll but use the same method.

This slide show shows how to construct a very beautiful rustic twig chair for dolls.  I love this one.

And hereis an equally gorgeous rustic table tutorial in the form of a slide-show.

Maybe these last two might suit your Gypsy doll Lynniah.  If not, maybe this round up of free doll stuff has given you food for thought.

Freebie Friday - Ask and Ye Shall Receive

I made the executive decision (being the boss of this blog and all) and that when I went on holiday to Canada I was also going to have a mini blog holiday.  Cause sometimes this posting free stuff every week can just get tiring.  And as a result the posts get a bit tired.  So, now I'm all refreshed (and only mildly jet lagged) and ready to try a slightly new kind of Freebie Friday.  Sometimes people write me questions regarding doll making via e-mail.  And it has occurred to me that others may have similar questions.  So why not answer them on the blog so that others might benefit from the responses.  I know I don't know everything there is to know about doll making, but as my mum  says I'm not backward about coming forward, so here's my opinion for what it's worth.

Lynniah asked:

Can almost any standing doll pattern be turned into a "self-standing" doll if they are armatured? I have noticed some patterns look self standing in a photo but when you actually buy the pattern they are not... is there a size that will not stand alone, such as larger dolls? Is there any special trick to making a doll self standing that was designed for a drilled stand? Finding "self-standing" patterns isn't so easy. I have only done one, and it was for a very small armatured 11" doll, so I didn't know if larger dolls can be made to stand alone... ???

Lynniah, I've experienced the same thing, where a doll is called 'self-standing' and is not very steady on their feet.  I've made a couple from patterns that do stand but are very precarious for instance.  And as they say, the taller they are, the harder they fall.  Personally, I find that a wire armature is the best way to get a doll to stand.  The thickness of the wire (or guage) depends on the size of the doll. Personally, I like aluminum wire like this one at Joggles.  Good wire for this is also often stocked in sculpture sections at fine art supply shops.  There are a couple of ways of creating a doll with a wire armature.  You can make a doll body from a pattern and insert the wire into the body pieces and stuff around it as I did with my Water Lily.  Although she is more free-crouching rather than free-standing, she is really very steady on her tippy toes.  So if you want to learn that method, that class is still up and running, click here to see more (now that was a shameless plug).  The other method is building the armature and then building up the body with quilt batting (or wadding).  I find dolls made with this method are really steady on their feet, especially if you use or make good shoes.  Click here to go back to a previous Freebie Friday where I outline this method.

I must admit there I have a very big personal bias when it comes to stands.  Unless the stand forms part of the look and design of the doll, I don't like them.  I know many people use them and I understand why, but I still don't like them.  So does anyone who is reading this have any experience with stands?   Why not comment and let us know how you do it?

Not all dolls can be made to be self standing.  Watch out for jointed dolls as they are harder to make self-standing especially if they are bead or button jointed.  Also some dolls have feet that have been structured not to stand (like my Soul Whisperer doll for instance - that online class starts today, by the way, watch out, another shameless plug coming: click here if you are interested in that class).

A larger doll can be made to stand, but the larger the doll, the larger the width of the armature wire and the same cautions as above apply. 

Then Lynniah asks:

And...one tiny last question for you.... do you know where one can find info on learning how to create costuming for your dolls?  I didn't find too much out there on the web on costuming...I've not had any luck finding books on the subject either....

Well Lynniah, costuming I know a heck of a lot about.  I actually have a degree in theatre design and production and specialised in historical costume, so I know weird things like the exact year the crinoline changed shape before it switched to a bustle (1868, in case you are wondering).  My favourite books that give a good overview are by Nancy Bradfield, Costume in Detail and Historical Costume 1066-1968. Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion books are also fabulous.  Norah Waugh does some great books too. 

The well acknowledged doyenne of costuming dolls in the cloth doll world is Adele Sciortino.  Check out her free newsletter here which has tips on doll costuming every quarter. 

If anyone else has some pearls of wisdom to share on these topics please leave a comment so that we can all share in the knowledge.  We're so much smarter when we share, aren't we?

And if anyone else has anymore questions why not pop me an e-mail?  I'll do my best to answer it and then throw it out for comments and then everyone can take a crack at it.
 

Freebie Friday - Publishing your Own Patterns

I'm working on a doll that I am loving but feel if I show her too soon I'll be jinxed.  Speaking of jinxed - we had a near miss with my newest design when my hubby got some salad dressing on my partly completed doll.  There were some frantic hand flapping moments, then a lunge for the stain remover, but Himself has been saved from eternal doll damnation as the grease stain has sucessfully been removed.  Phew!  Thank godness I seem to have inherited my mother's flair for stain removal, or my hubby's new name would have been Mud!

In fact I'm loving this new design so much, even in her partially completed state, that I'm thinking of offering her as my first ever pattern.  So....time to do some research on how to publish patterns.  Here's what I found:

Linda Walsh's article on How to Design a Print Pattern and an E Pattern, here.

Here is an article on how to get your craft pattern published, it's pretty basic but it's a start.

Here is some guidance from Mimi Winer on Copyrighting patterns.

Here is a link to some software that is available for creating patterns.  Most have free demos so you can give them a test drive.

Here is an extremely cool interview with dynamic designer Amy Butler.  I found her insights really helpful.  She talks about how she markets her designs and found it really interesting.

So stay tuned to see the doll in question.  She's a cutie and as we speak, stain-free.  Long may she stay that way!

Freebie Friday - Tips that Will Curl Your Hair

A little while ago someone e-mailed me and asked if I knew how to curl doll's hair. I guess, the lovely person who wrote thought that it all my wisdom (hey, no laughing from the cheap seats) I would surely know how this can be accomplished.  And I do, but mostly because I am really good at making the most of other people's wisdom.  Here's some tutorials on how to curl your doll's hair.  Or of course, you can cheat and do what I do - buy hair that is already curly.

If you are not into cheating then try these:

Rivkah Rosenfeld shows how to use knitting needles to curl hair here.

Cynthia Howe, Queen of Miniatures, shows how to create a regency style wig with curls aplenty here.

Here is another tutorial meant for doll house scale dolls but equally relevant for curling any doll hair.

Here is a tutorial that includes some general tips on styling doll hair as well as curling hair.

Now, this next tutorial is a bit off topic, I'll admit, it's about styling a doll's fringe (that's bangs for those on the other side of the Atlantic), but heck it's my blog and I'll do what I wanna.  Click here to check it out.

I only wish I'd discovered doll making that time that I cut my own fringe just before picture day.  I could have used the practice.  And my mother wouldn't have had a coronary. 

Freebie Friday - Getting the Best from your Blog

I've been writing my blog for about a year now.  You meet the best kind of people and it really helps to keep you focussed on your work, while at the same time connected to a community of people who do what you do.  Being the great big nerd that I am, before I started to blog I went to the library and got a book on how to write a blog.  It taught me lots about how to make the best of blogs.  So if you read blogs but don't write one this Freebie Friday is all about how to get started.  If you already have a blog, but want to improve it, use more tools or increase traffic to your blog, check out these links to help.

Here's a great tutorial from a craft blogger to get you started, including links to great tools like Google Analytics.  She is admittedly a bit Blogger biased.  (Blogger is a blog powering platform, by the way).  As I use Typepad, I am a bit more in favour of Typepad.  But I feel it is best to compare the different options and pick what's best for you.  If you need help with the pros and cons, check out this comparison chart to decide what's best for you.

If you decide Blogger is indeed right for you check out this video for how to get started:

If you prefer Typepad, here is a video tutorial:

Or maybe Word Press is your preferred poison:

So what if you already have a blog and now want to attract more people to visit it?  Check out these suggsetions on how to maximise traffic to your blog from SeoMoz.

If you already have a blog, are you using widgets?  Widgets (besides havinga cool name) can really help spice up your blog as well as drive more traffic to it.  Check out this video for more info:

Robin Good has some great videos on You Tube, this one features 4 really great widgets that you can make use of:

I could really go on forever, there are so many resources to help you get the most from your blog, but hopefully this has got you inspired to write and share whatever it is you're doing

Freebie Friday - Stamp Magic

If you are anything like me you'll have rubber stamps coming out the wazoo, but don't use them all that much.  So this freebie Friday is a round up of great ideas for using rubber stamps to create fantastic fabrics.  I've even got few links for how to create your own rubber stamps.

If you have never stamped on fabric before here are some tutorials to help with the basics:  Patti medaris Culea gives her tips here and Lenna Andrews gives her ideas here.  Mimi Kirchener also has a great tutorial from her experimentations here.

If like Mimi you want to create your own stamps here is a tutorial on how to carve your own from Alma Stoller.

Here is another stamp carving tutorial using an eraser as the base of the stamp.

If you want to get a bit fancier, you cn use a masking technique to overlap rubber stamp images, click here to see the tutorial.

I love this idea of using rubber stamps to emboss velvet.  It is such a simple technique but really effective:

So get out some stamps and have at the fabric stash!

Freebie Friday - Business Cards

I often say to myself that I really must make up some business cards so that I don't have to scribble my blog address on whatever scrap of paper happens to be handy.  Maybe you have the same problem.  So here's Freebie Friday to the rescue - it's all about free business card templates and free business card holder patterns.

Businesscardland allows you to customise the colours as well as your details, see their template creator here.

Templates4Cards allows you to edit their templates here.

Jukeboxprint has some cool designs here.

Marketing Hub offers some cool templates too, here.

Once you've got your free business cards, you'll need to store them in a very cute business card holder.  Check out this free pattern for a Business Card Keeper from Amy Butler. 

If you do exhibitions or have a studio where you might want to display your business cards, thisgreat doll pattern by Jevne Eilts is also a card holder. 

Go on, you'll have to start practising saying 'Have my card'.

Belated Freebie Friday - The Eyes Have It

I've committed a sin!  I got to late Saturday evening and thought, "It's Saturday and I forgot to do a Freebie Friday, ahhhhhh!".  I've let you all down. Mea culpa, mea culpa.  But I do have a good excuse, it was my 8th anniversary of my first date with my hubby.  Last year we totally forgot, and ended up remembering in the queue at Tesco's.  It wasn't very romantic, so this year we decided to go out for dinner.  As we walked down some marble steps in the rain, approaching the restaurant, Himself lost his footing and almost lost it, but I grabbed hold of him and he regained his balance after sliding down a couple of steps.  A bloke sitting at the bottom of the staircase looked at me and said, "Lady, I don't know what's so special about you, but you've sure swept him off his feet."  I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve my fabulous Hubby, but I sure am lucky.

So here is a round up of tutorials on how to make your own eyes for cloth dolls or even for polymer clay dolls.  Glass eyes can be expensive so these are some great alternatives:

Here is one method using polymer clay or air-dry clay from Marika's dolls.

Noni Cely has a great tutorial on making polymer clay eyes here.

Here's another polymer clay version of making eyes for dolls.

Rivkah Rosenfeld shares some eye-making tips with some good ideas on painting here.

And for a change of pace and look, try this tutorial on making cloth eye balls, including a peak at how they are set in the head.

Better late than never, right?

Freebie Friday - Flowers and Fungi

Ah, alliteration is so satisfying.  Not only are these tutorials great for embellishing dolls or creating little settings for tiny fairies, but you could use them as brooches (the flowers anyway, fungi brooches would just be weird).

Here is a great little tutorial for needle-felting a flower.

I adore these dahlias made out of ric-rac.  Usually, I see ric-rac and shudder to think of the dance skirts my mum used to make me with rac-rac edging.  I don't know why I shudder, I just do.  I have ric-rac issues.

Here is a super cute dandelion tutorial.  Hey, don't knock dandelion's, one woman's weed is another woman's flower.  Don't you love it when kids pick you a 'flower' and it's a dandelion.

Whip out your hook and whip up this chrysanthemum crochet pattern.

Here is a great tutorial on how to make prim sunflowers.  Grungier than Kurt Cobain and twice as cute.

And on to fungi...doesn't this little mushroom beg to have some teeny fairy seated on it?

And this mushroom doubles up as a free pincushion pattern - sweet.

I feel that this Freebie Friday was florally fabulous.  And free.  This Freebie Friday was sponsored by the letter F. 

Freebie Friday - Living on the Edge

There are so many great ways to trim doll costuming.  Here are just few free tutorials to inspire you to trim and embellish your dolls.

One of my favourite ways of adding sparkle to edges is with a bead picot, like I did with the Soul Whisperer's waistcoat below.  Click here to see how to do it.

I'm dying to try this beaded scallop edge.

This tutorial on creating interlocking loops also looks promising.

Plus there is this vertical net trim tutorial.

My friend Romona gave a free tutorial on her blog on how to make your own beaded trim here.  If you buy this type of trim pre-made it is really expensive, so this is a great way to do it yourself.

I love this tutorial on making your own ribbon trim from Fembellish.

Or how about a simpler look, click here to see how to stitch a blanket stitch which makes a nice edging.

There are so many other ways to trim, to embellish to jazz up those edges - we could be here for hours, but let's keep it short shall we? Have fun and remember to live on the edge.