Givaway doll!

Wee Witch doll making class by June Crawford

Our teachers are so amazing! June Crawford is teaching Wee Witch this month and she is giving away a doll! Read all about the Giveaway!

It's so great when you find something on sale! Judy has offered us a 15% discount on this class until the end of this weekend! In this class, apart from making a lovely mermaid, you will learn Judy's secrets for making beautiful faces and elegant hands. There's also beading, costume illusions and so much more! Register right here!

Who can resist the siren call of the mermaid? The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria (according to Wikipedia), in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover. Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. In other folk traditions (or sometimes within the same tradition), they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans. I liek the last part the best!

How about you? Ready to flex your creative fins and create a mermaid?

Boudoir dolls are back

I am very excited about this class. Shelly has designed a wonderful doll and presents it two ways in this class. The doll is jointed for posing, with a paper clay mask and a vinyl body. This alone intrigues me - how will that be made? You'll see when you take the class.

Shelly's dolls recently appeared in Just SteamPunk ll. I am so glad Shelly will be teaching for Doll Street Dreamers. Look at that fabulous hat! I want to make one! Don't you?

Here's the place to register. And here's another version of the doll. Isn't she grand?

Mushrooms are growing

Paula McGee will be teaching this fun class next week on Doll Street Dreamers. He's called Wynnstan. Make him with or without a base, make him to shelter  a tiny fairy or as a seat for a fairy to sit upon. While doing this, you will learn to needle sculpt and create character with deft use of color.

Click the image to join the class. Get your supplies organised and you'll be all set for class next Friday!

Never taken an online doll making class? They’re a lot of fun. Here’s how they work on Doll Street…

• Once you sign up you will receive a confirmation email from me, then shortly thereafter an invitation to a Yahoo Group, which is the classroom.
• Once you join the group/classroom you can go to the Files section and download the Supply list. This gives you time to look for (or order) any needed supplies.
• Once the actual class start date arrives the first class lesson will be posted to the Files section of the classroom. It will be a PDF file (you will need the Adobe reader to view it).
• The lesson will consist of photos and text that will walk you through each step of the process. You can save the file to your hard drive, print it out, or both.
• The teacher will be available to answer any questions that you might have. Some of our teachers like to hold scheduled chats too – so there’s lots of interaction.
• Additional lessons will be posted each week. Some classes are really talkative – you’ll be helping and encouraging each other.
• As you work through the lessons you can upload photos of your in-progress work in a personal photo album – which is also helpful for the teacher if there is a problem or you want to be critiqued.
• The class will stay ‘up’ for approximately two weeks after the last lesson is posted.

What’s the best thing about online classes? It doesn’t matter where you live in the world – or what time zone you are in – you can work at your leisure and at your own pace. Work in the middle of the night or the middle of the day. It’s up to you.

Mermaid challenge - with Prizes!

A Doll Street Challenge – sponsored by Fairfield and Studio Galli

Join us on this fun challenge and aim for one of the fabulous prizes offered by our sponsors. The challenge is open to everyone, even if you are not a Doll Street member.

The challenge is to create a mermaid using one of the patterns available on Doll Street or a One of A Kind doll and submit photos for the web site. Size and medium is up to you! If you think that you are a beginner and stand no chance of winning, then think again. Check out the prizes and categories which have been created with ALL abilities in mind.

Click here to find out more! http://www.dollstreetdreamers.com/mermaid-challenge/

Dancing With the Stars

I'm happy to announce the new online class I'm teaching on Doll Street. If you've never made a doll before, begin here. If you've never taken an online class, begin here. How it works: you download each lesson, which is chock full of photos showing each step of the creation of the dolls. There's an online group, where you can post all your questions and I'll be there to answer them, everyday! You can't go wrong, can you? Click the picture to go tot he registration link:

Dance With The Stars as we learn to make these two cloth dolls - yes, two dolls from one pattern! Explore male and female characteristics as we take this class step by step together.

Read all about it -

Dawn Quixote and Sancho Samba have been dancing partners for seven years. Specializing in the Latin American dances, they have danced their way to the top of many competitions, including the National Championships in Guadalajara. By day, Dawn is a hairstylist in Twickenham, while Sancho devotes his life to the dance and training of young dancers and wearing fabulous hairstyles created by Dawn. Join Dawn, Sancho and me as we create their fabulous look! 

In this class, you will learn how to create a simple armature figure, how to make a moveable head, how to needle sculpt and paint the head, how to work with clay over cloth to create imaginative shoes and creative options for hair and costume treatments.

This class begins June 29th, 2012 and costs just $35. 

New cloth doll emerging

Cloth doll pattern
My new doll design is now called Tilly. perhaps Silly Tilly, I'm still deciding. You may recall, this doll is being designed for our doll club's 1812 challenge. She's 12" or so tall and is designed to be a child about 10 or 12 years old. This makes her proportionately a child to my Annabella doll pattern.

Since this will be a tableau, I wanted to convey some form of activity. so Tilly will be shooing chickens or maybe sheep. once I have finished the doll, i will needle felt some chickens. If those don't turn out well, I'll do a sheep, which is easier!

The pattern can also be a boy, since the figure is juveniles. So next, I may dress the figure as a baker boy.

I have made 1812 clothes for Tilly, but need to finish sewing her together before I dress her. Clothes are easier to make before you pose the figure. the shoes and wig are on, so I know she balances well. Sometimes I find the wig can make the doll top heavy! you can add weights, which I have done, but I wanted this doll free standing.

Blog giveaway
Just wanted to send a shout out to Colleen Babcock, who kindly featured my blog on hers last week, helping to promote my 1812 class giveaway. If you comment on my blog this month, you will be entered in the draw to win one of 3 online classes. The Costuming an 1812 doll class can be previewed on my Edwina dolls site.

New doll

A new doll is underway! I have scaled her to be a child doll, to fit with my Annabella pattern. Our doll club, All Dolled Up, is having an 1812 challenge, to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of the war of 1812. We decided the dolls should match in scale, so we needed a child doll.

I gave this one a youthful face. Freckles help that along! I designed the pattern to be either a boy or girl, 10-12 years old. I used woven cotton, I mostly work in this fabric. It could be made in a stretch fabric, though what size it would become, I'm not sure. Perhaps a good idea if one wanted a plumper figure.

The face is coloured using gel pens, pencils and powdered make up. She'll be dressed in the same style as my 1812 class. that's a short gown and petticoat. Today is my day to work on her and get her dressed. The body parts are all pinned, though i expect I'll pose her to be working in some way.

Don't forget - this month, if you leave a comment, you will be entered in the draw for a FREE class!

Learning online - Yvette, a period costume doll

This online class started last Friday. I am walking the students through the process of creating a free standing cloth doll, then costuming it in late 18th century style.

The transition from correct period costuming to a dolls' costume is an interesting one. Scale is very important. While keeping the lines of the original garments, they need to be simplified to make construction possible in the scale.

One place I did this was on the short gown. I eliminated the sleeve seams, which would have created bulk. I also faked the chemise and lace cuffs, which would have been part of the chemise sleeves.

Yvette is 16" tall and wears a corset, short gown and petticoat. She also wears bloomers. Strictly speaking, not accurate for the time. So why put bloomers? Because people always peek under the skirts to see if there is underwear. I kid you not! They do! To them, the doll is not complete unless she has underwear. So, modesty is another reason to add bloomers. The lace on the cuffs also helps the skirt stand out. So there's a practical reason, too.

The beauty of online learning is the teacher (me) is there to answer your questions, just like a live class.

The class started last Friday. It's a work at your own pace class, so no worries, you can still join in. Sign up at Doll Street Dreamers Creative College.

New costume for Annabella

Here's Annabella! The doll was made with my Annabella pattern, so she's a cloth doll. I have been playing around with wired ribbon to use in my dolls. Here's one idea I had. I sewed the ribbons together to create the skirt. The wonderful thing is, you can use the wire to shape the outfit!

I am pleased with her face, even though she's a little serious looking. The hair is not finished, but it looks a little like mine!! Don't they say we reflect ourselves in our dolls? It must be true, as I often see my own eyes looking back at me when I create a face. Those are the ones I see most often in the mirror, after all!