I Sold One of My Handmade Miniature Dolls! And More Besides!

  I'm still working on the tale of London, but I have a quick story to tell.
  Yesterday was the small doll show here in town. Nobody ever makes any money, but the tables are only $20 and it's a nice chance to sit around and talk with friends. My friend Karen was there. I haven't seen her since the big doll show last year. I had a table and I did sell a few dollhouse items, and actually made back my table cost plus 50 cents! Then I had a couple of other sales that excited me, because I sold some of the things I made! Two ladies, mother and daughter, each bought something I had made. Mom bought this little lady.

She's an inch tall. (The doll, not the lady who bought her!)

And she has moveable arms and legs.

I have probably shown her to you before as a Doll-of-the-Day, but I'm very proud that somebody wanted her enough to buy her!

It's always sad to see your creations go. You want think they're going to a good home,where they will be well taken care of. After all, alot of your time went into making them.
  The daughter bought three of my miniature bulletin boards. I don't think I had photographed them. They were the kind with criss crossed ribbons to hold the things on the board. Mine were extra nice because I even bothered to tuft them, as if they had tiny buttons, like the big ones.They were all different. One was sort of teenage themed, with prom tickets and birthday cards. One was sewing themed. It was made with fabricc that had pictures of tiny scissors and spools of thread, ('cotton reels', for our British friends.), and tucked in the ribbons were a pair of metal scissors, some pattern packets,etc. I think the third one was for a child's room, and had birthday party invitations and drawings. 
  I was more pleased than anything that somebody had bought something I made. It's been pretty discouraging taking stuff to several shows and not selling a thing. I was selling my dolls pretty well on Etsy,(I'm Tamsykens.), but then I didn't get anything put on for a while, and I never got anything back on. Emma came over and helped me get the stuff on in the first place, but by the time I needed to put things back on, I had forgotten how to do it, and Emma hasn't had time to come over and help me start over. My kids get frustrated having to show me how to do things on the computer over and over, but I really have no memory for it. I have always been bad about remembering computer steps. Years ago, in 1989, when I worked at a shoe store, we opened and closed the store with a computer. You can imagine, back in those days it was a much simpler computer than we have nowdays. But I could still never remember the steps to the procedures for opening and closing the store.Unless I had my written directions I couldn't do it. Sometimes I still messed up. It was a pain, because sometimes I opened the store by myself, and closed with maybe one person with me. I HATED it. I'm much better with things I can do by hand. Or even count with my brain. Just don't ask me to do computer stuff. I still barely get along doing this blog!

Doll-A-Day 207:A Doll of My Own Making : Boy With a Sled

...otherwise known as Sled Boy. At least, that's what he's labelled as in my pictures.

He stands only 1 3/4" tall.

He has a wooden bead head, which has been painted with acrylic paint and sealed with a non yellowing glaze.

His body is wire, covered with felt, so he is poseable.

His shoes were painted and they have real laces made from thread.

His sweater and hat are actually made from a piece of sock. (Don't worry. It was a new sock!) 

I didn't make the sled, but after I had made him he just looked like he needed it.
  See you again tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 178:A Doll of My Own Making: 'Mama Doll'

  I'm absolutely pooped and in pain after mowing the yard. So,while I kick off my shoe to try to ease the pain in my foot, (Nothing in particular wrong with it, I just have a lot of pain.), I am going to use some already taken pictures of a doll I made for today's doll.
 First of all, thanks to Emma for helping to clean up the look of the blog. She made it a little less cluttered so hopefully it will be a bit easier to look at. She also added Adsense. If you don't want to view the ads they can be blocked, I'm told. But at this point a few cents here and there will be a help. It's a trial run, so if there are complaints I can remove them.
  And while I'm thinking of it,Magic Attic Alison is attempting to do her part to help pay for the van repair. She is for sale on Ebay right now if anyone is interested. You can recognize her because I used the same pictures (plus a few for details) that I used on the blog post! I also finally have one of my hand made dolls on Etsy again too. It's my tiny one inch tall old lady that I featured on Doll-A-Day 132. She's doing her part to help pay for having the cement poured for my Dad's veteran's plaque which came in last week. UPDATE:Both Alison and my 1 inch old lady have been sold.
  A while back, on Doll-A-Day 87,I showed you Papa doll. Today I thought I'd show you Mama doll. Both have been sold, but their memories linger on...

She has an upswept 'do.

Her little lace shawl is removable.

 You can see how small she is next to this quarter.

 

She can be seen on the slideshow on the Tamsykens web page, along with Papa and all the other dolls that I have already had to say goodbye to. (They have been sold.Sniff!)

Like Papa she has tiny sculpted thumbs and painted on shoes.

She's wearing a lace petticoat under that dress. I can't remember if I put bloomers on her or not. Probably.

Her head is wooden, and painted with acrylic paints, and sealed with a clear glaze.

She doesn't seem as expressive as Papa in these pictures, (Maybe he just has more to say.Whatever he's saying, she seems a bit shocked by it here...), but her little arms and legs are poseable too. They're felt covered wire.

Mama has red hair, and side glancing eyes. I made Papa to match her, so he has side glancing eyes too. When placed on the appropriate side they can look at each other. (Or not, if you want to have them made at each other...) Mama and two little girls in footie pajamas were sold to the same lady. She requested Papa to go with them. One of these days I'll show you the little girls.

  That's it for today. See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 165:A Doll of My Own Making: Tiny Regency Lady

  Shew! According to my son Fuzzy this was the hottest day of the year so far. It was so hot that I spent most of the day outside working, rather than be in our oven of a house! (No air conditioning.) I took pictures for what will be a longer review post, but it was so late when I finished working that I'm just doing a quick post and am saving the review post for some time when I can devote more time to it.
  So today's doll is another that I made myself.

The metal ring at the bottom is the base of a stand I made  to be able to display the dolls at shows. It's not attached.

This lady is less than an inch and a half tall.

As you can see, her shawl is removeable.
She's made of polymer clay, and her arms and legs are jointed, so they can be moved.

She's made to look like an old fashioned china doll.
I mixed a very pale colour of clay, and then painted her with acrylics and glossed her with the glaze I talked about yesterday,Triple Thick.

 She doesn't look as nice here, but you have to remember, she's enlarged MANY times!

She has little sculpted curls all around her head.

 I was pretty proud of the way her hair came out.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 154: A Doll of My Own Making: Pink Princess

  Well, it was kind of a last minute decision, but Emma and I went to the Barbie auction today. We got up early, (after going to bed late!), so we got very little sleep. I couldn't sleep when I went to bed, so I didn't even get the sleep I could have.Anyway, we're both exhausted. Emma did her radio show and came over for dinner. I mowed part of the yard and have to go pick Ken up from work LATE tonight. So, for the sake of quickness, I am showing you another of the dolls I made today. I'll show my auction goodies tomorrow.
  Today's doll is a pink princess that I made for the repeat customer who ended up never paying for her that I told you about before.

She's about 2 and a half inches tall.

Like most of my other dolls that I have shown you, she has a wooden head,a wire body covered in felt, sculpted felt hands, and painted on shoes.

Her face is painted with acrylics and glossed with a non yellowing glaze.(Hang in there Margarita. I haven't had a chance to check the name of that glaze yet!)

I think her hair is mohair. It's been a while since I made her. 

 That's all for today. Tomorrow we'll see what I bought at the auction today!

Doll-A-Day 147:A Doll of My Own Making:Polka Dot Girl

     First of all, London Peony, your prize is in the post. As I said in the reply to your recent comment, never assume a man has actually done what you asked him to do. Ken just got your package off today,after I assumed he had done it Monday, and then Tuesday, while I was gone, since it seemed to have disappeared from his desk.To quote the SCTV sketches with Mrs. Falbo and her side kick: "You know what happens when we assume: It makes an ass of u and me."

Today's doll is a little girl I made.

She's only about 1 3/4" tall.

Like some of the other little dolls I made that have appeared on Doll-A-Day, she has a wooden head,a wired body covered with felt, sculpted felt hands, and painted on shoes and socks.

Her wired body makes her poseable.

I always see her as on her way to or from a birthday party.That's supposed to be a balloon she's carrying.

Her hair was a bit more curly when I first made her. The curl has relaxed a little over time.

That's all for today. Tomorrow's another doll.