What I did Over Christmas

  Well, you didn't hear from me, or Tammy World over the holidays. I had a lot of projects I was trying to get finished for Christmas. In the end, I had to give up on getting a couple of them done, (I'll save those for other occasions.), one didn't get finished, and I actually did finish two of them. The two I finished were ornaments I was making for Emma and Ivy. I used a couple of the miniature dolls I made, that they had specifically said they liked. Emma had said years ago that her favourite of my little people was my ice skating girl, Sonia, (named after ice skater movie star of the 30's and 40's, Sonja Henie.) She had her own day on Doll-A-Day once. You can see her HERE.  Ivy said she liked the newsboy she helped me with, printing up tiny newspapers for him to carry, and the little boy on a sled. They both had their own Days too. You can see the sled boy HERE, and the newsboy HERE.  The newsboy wasn't wintery, or Christmassy, so I picked the sed boy for her ornament. If there was going to be a problem, I thought it would be because she would have preferred the newsboy over the sled boy.

   I had a bit of trouble figuring out what to use for ice in the skating girl's ornament. It had to be something small that would curve to the bottom of the ornament, otherwise the skater didn't have any headroom in the ball. In the end Ken suggested the clear contact paper I had gotten out for one of the other things I was making that I didn't get finished. It worked perfectly. I also came across some mini trees while looking for something else that I could cut down for the far away trees in the background of the sled boy ornament. So I did finally get the ornaments finished in time for Christmas. They aren't exactly how I envisioned them, but then, what ever is? 

  Here is the skater ornament.

  Originally there was no tree in the front of the bubble. But I decided it was too bare and needed something. So I added the tree. I kind of wish I had left it bare, because the tree is too bushy and she keeps getting her leg caught on it. My intention was for her to dangle from the top of the ornament and sort of look like she was skating, as she would move when the ornament was bumped. But now now she gets her leg caught on the tree, and frequently gets stuck sideways.

  The fishing line she's dangling from is just poked through her hat with a needle, so there is no change to the doll, and she can be removed from the ornament if it's ever wanted. And in case anybody who read her Doll-A-Day post is wondering, I did put her second skate on her before sealing her in the bubble!

  Here's the sled boy ornament.

  He came out pretty much as I wanted, but I would have preferred bigger empty ornament bubbles to put them in. The only bigger empty ornaments I could find wouldn't work though, because they didn't open up. They were just to be filled with things through the little hole at the very top, things like tinsel or glitter.

  Like the skater girl, he's been kept original, and can be removed from the ornament if it's ever wanted. He's sewn to his sled, and his sled is sewn to the snow. So they can be taken out and taken apart. I did this stuff in case the girls ever want to just leave them as dolls, in case the ornament gets broken or damaged otherwise.

  The girl's opened their ornaments at the same time. Remember, I thought the problem might be that Ivy would have preferred the newsboy. Well, it was worse than that. She liked the sled boy ornament, but preferred the skater one! She had never mentioned preferring that one before! Emma offered to trade her, but Ivy said no. She was okay with the sled boy, but she would have preferred the other one. I can't win.

  So there you are. That's why you haven't gotten the post on October's doll show yet! But it's ready to go and will be the next post up, very soon.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #33: Miniature Skating Girl

  Well, my shoulders are better. I don't think I even thought about them today. However,it was still quite a day. In the afternoon,as the snow was starting to melt, (even though we were still one degree below freezing),I heard a strange noise coming from the basement. Ken went down to investigate, after I insisted that what we were hearing was not the furnace. It seems the hot water pipe had burst and water was pouring out into the basement. Ken shut the water off on the hot water line, and later went to work. In the evening I was sitting in the living room when I heard a similar strange noise,and a couple of bangs. Investigation found that the hot water pipe had burst too. Once again, water was pouring into the basement. I shut off the hot water line. Luckily I had drawn a couple of big pans of water just before Ken shut off the cold water,because I thought he was shutting off all the water,and I hadn't gone back upstairs to pour them out. At least I could wash my hands. I did discover that you can actually microwave Cream of Wheat. That was good, because I was in a Cream of Wheat mood and Ken had used the pan I use for that when he made his lunch today. Of course, I couldn't wash it, because,well,you know. No water. *Sigh*

  Moving along to the reason you are here. Today's doll is one I made myself.

Please excuse my fingers. I've had a bad habit of ripping them up since I was a kid. I tried to camouflage them. It was hard not to get them in the photo though, because the doll is so small,and can't stand up on her own.

She's this tiny girl. I usually call her Sonia Henie.

Sonia Henie was a ten time world champion, and three time Olympic gold medal winning figure skating star of the early 20th century,from Norway.

Sonia Henie is credited with popularizing white skates and short skirts for female figure skaters.

She was so popular that, for a time, she became a movie star, and for three years in a row,(1937,'38,and '39), she was one of the 10 top box office draws in the country.

Life magazine tracked the rise and fall of the stars' box office popularity in the 1940's. Sonia Henie came in at number 8 in 1937,number 3 in 1938,and number 10 in 1939. After that she disappeared from the top ten list.

I didn't actually model this doll on Sonia Henie,but they're both blonde skaters with a 1930's look.  So I nicknamed her Sonia Henie.

(For an informative article about Sonia Henie you can go HERE.)

Sonia Henie and Tyrone Power in "Thin Ice",1937. I have never seen this movie,or, come to think of it, any Sonia Henie movie. Somehow I channeled that hat tassel though.

She's only a little over 2 1/2 inches tall.

She has a felt covered wire armature,so she's posable. This is her skating pose.

It was cold out when I took the pictures, so I was hurrying and forgot to change her pose.

Her head is wooden,and painted with acrylics and sealed with a non-yellowing glaze.

Her clothes are felt.

She even has a little felt muff.

 

As I said, she has a felt covered wire armature. That means she has felt hands and legs. It looks ok, but it does mean her legs are 'hairy'!

And so are her clothes.

Her 'skates' are painted on. I really should give her laces on her skates.

The blades are staples!

See how hairy her legs are?

I really like this doll. Emma said that this doll is her favourite of the miniature dolls I've made. For both those reasons,'Sonia' is still here with me,instead of being sold on Etsy or at a doll show,like most of the other ones I made.

 

 

  I hope I am running out of bad news to tell you! This is getting to be a pain. (The pain was in my shoulders, but now it's elsewhere, if you know what I mean!) We won't be able to get the pipe situation taken care of until Monday. But I'll see you again tomorrow for another doll.