Doll-A-Day 337: A Doll of My Own Making: Huckleberry Fuzzy

  Happy New Year's Eve! Today is the last day daily post of Doll-A-Day. It was a commitment I made at the end of last year. I was inspired by Dawn Smith's (Crazyquilter) Photostream on Flickr. She posted 365 days of her childhood doll Sara, a Nancy Ann Storybook doll. She has since done another year of Sara, and years of mini American Girls, etc. The difference with Dawn's 'year' was, it was all Sara, or all mini American Girls, plus it was only one picture a day. My idea was to do a different doll every day. My other idea, originally, was to only do one picture. That would have been a lot less time consuming! But I've been into photography for a long time. (I even worked as a staff photographer for a local paper for a while.) It has been a long time though, since I really did anything with my photography. Once I started taking pictures of the dolls I found myself getting artistic, and liking too many of the pictures to choose just one. Then of course, I felt the need to explain something, or talk about the doll or it's history. I started doing 'theme weeks'. Those posts got pretty long sometimes. But I really enjoyed the theme weeks. (I think my favourites were Red Heads Week and Oscar Week. They took a long time to do, but I'm pretty proud of them.) I enjoyed the writing, which is something else I used to do a lot,even considered doing for a living, but haven't done much with for a long time. I even learned some things myself from the research I did for the posts. I'm now a lot more knowledgeable than I was about a lot of things. I'll still do a theme week here and there, just because I enjoy them. But posting everyday, with all those pictures, did take a long time. I'm sure my family will be glad I'm giving up the every day posting, and I know I won't feel so pressured. During the year they often complained about the time it took, but when I offered to quit Ken called me a quitter and said I must go on. I hated to quit anyway when I had made the commitment. When I say I'm going to do something I don't go back on it. 
  I did miss a few days. You'll notice this is only Day 337, when there are 365 days in a year. There were a few days that life preempted and there just wasn't time to do a doll. There was also a lapse for a sad reason: I lost my Dad in May. I wasn't sure I would be able to go back to posting when that happened, or if I could, how long it would take. I also wondered when it would be appropriate to go back to posting. In the end, it helped give me something else to occupy my mind, which I needed. 
  As for the dolls I posted this year, some of them have left me by now. I let go of some that helped pay the gas bills or buy Christmas presents this year. There are those that I would never get rid of, but sometimes it becomes necessary to cull the crowd anyway! I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about! I may weed out a lot of other dolls in the coming year.It's just too crowded around here. But most of the ones I did a post on were dolls I really liked and don't want to get rid of.
  Now that the year is over, I'm going to be spending a lot of time doing some house overhaul. I'm going to be doing some painting, papering, carpet laying, floor tiling,and wall paneling.(I'm finally going to get that bead board paneling for the bathrooms and entryway.) I will still fit in posts though. I have plans for posts on homemade doll furniture,stain removal, and reviews of books with doll main characters.
  For our last regular Doll-A-Day I'm sharing with you a doll I made that I am fairly proud of. I always thought of him as a Huckleberry Finn type, but everybody seems to think he's based on my son Fuzzy!

Fuzz in 2011, about the same time I made the doll.

We'll call him Huckleberry Fuzzy.

He's made of solid polymer clay with no joints, so he can't change his pose.

Some people think I actually used Fuzzy's hair for Huckleberry. I didn't, but it's just about the same colour.

I have no idea what the spot on the chair seat is...and Huckleberry insists he doesn't either!

Sorry about the rabbit hair on the side of the house here. It sits very near the rabbit cage and Jerome sheds! I really need to wear my glasses when taking pictures!

He would be about 4 or 5 inches tall if he were standing.

I can't remember which chair I modeled him in, but he was made to have one foot on the chair rung. This one works, but he'd look better in a rocking chair like the one I used yesterday. As you can see, his leg has been broken at the knee. He was dropped repeatedly, and finally it took it's toll.

He's singing I think.

He should have a harmonica in his hand. I plan to make him one.

I like the way his teeth turned out...

...and his feet. His hands aren't too bad.

See you quite often in the coming year. You're not rid of me!