last autumn light

While taking these pictures of Milo the other day I could almost feel that I might have caught the last autumn light. Although it is still kind of warm around here the air has changed to crispy/chilly and the last leaves on the trees will fly down to earth very soon.

Little Milo certainly is the autumn-type (clearly, with that hair) and dressed to climb the highest trees, collecting all his finds in his tiny basket and trying not to loose his beanie.

He is a 45cm custom doll already heading to his new home.
Have a beautiful weekend!
XOX

PS: for more info about custom spots please send a message to vivi-rosalie@web.de or pm me via facebook

For dollmakers: tutorial about needle-felted doll heads

The head of a doll is probably the most important part for a dollmaker.

It starts with finding your "look" which involves to get very deep into facial features, proportions, studying all kinds of doll (and human) heads., browsing through anatomy and art books and the like. All of this leads to understanding how to create "the" face expression that you are aiming for. Once you have a clear picture in mind of how the doll should look like the hard work starts and it takes a while until imagination has become reality. It took several months in my case since I've started to needle-felt my doll's heads beginning of this year. 



Here is the result of my needle-felting journey  - developing my "look" took me several months.
Those of you who follow me on facebook have seen this little guy already - he's the one with the golden curls from yesterday's post

During this process I sometimes wished to have a tutorial or ebook or something - but there wasn't any.

Don't get me wrong - there is plenty of books dealing with this topic since the technique (and also the idea) is not new but I missed a modern and fresh touch.

 

This is why I decided to share my knowledge with you and started working on a step-by-step tutorial/ebook about needle-felting doll heads.

It will be available in my etsy shop beginning of 2015 and I hope it will support you to create the doll head of your dreams.

Have a great weekend!

 

XOX

Antje

From the heart

I don't know how many times I went back to my studio to hold Lilly in my hands and gaze at her little face. She taught me to be patient during the hours of felting and how to rely on feeling instead of seeing. I just lost myself completely in sculpturing her cheeks and defining her proportions. And suddenly I saw it all needs to come from the heart and if you follow your voice within everything will come to you.

 

 

She means so much to me because she has shown me that I can do it. I can do things I never thought I could and all I need for this is already there.

This is the one thing I promised myself while Lilly came to life:

from now on I will follow my heart and trust it will show me my way.

 

If you, too, have the feeling you didn't listen enough in the past (like me) just go ahead and do it now.

It's never too late to make your dreams come true.

xox

YAY!

Yes, yay! I couldn't resist to show you a snap shot of Lilly, my first 50cm baby doll with a completely needle felted head! This is the first time I scultured a head like that and I never thought I could do this!

 

 

 

I planned to use aquamarin for her eyes but the semiprecious stones didn't pass the safety tests for children so they had to go. Lilly has now felted eyes like all my dolls. So, enough with experiments here  - I'm going to keep that for my future dolls since I just love the look

 

xox

back in my studio

I finally made my way back to my little studio and immediately lost myself in needle-felting the head of this little girl.

 

 

 

She's going to get a curly blonde mohair wig and blue eyes made of aquamarine or crysoprase - I can't wait for the gemstones to arrive and see how they look on her! The idea to use gemstones as eyes as been on my mind for quite a while since nothing beats the shimmer and color of these...

xox

Summer in the city

yes, summer has finally arrived around here...

we had quite a few very hot days which is kind of unusual since we normally live under a constant cover of grey clouds and rain. So people just drop everything and spend as much time outside as possible, the whole city is buzzing, the strand of our river is crowded and you can see lots of kids playing in the water- 

best time of the year is here!

But sometimes you just need to take a deep breath without being surrounded by tons of people and that's why I did a little bicycle tour the other day where I shooted these pics of Leni. We found a daisied place and just enjoyed sitting there under the trees and let the sun kiss our skin...live is good!

xox

The real me

Those of you who still love Sex and the City as much as I do might remember Carrie Bradshaw stumbling and falling in front of a thousand cameras during a Dolce & Gabbana runway show - same thing happened to me recently (this is a metaphor - of course I don't have anything to do with D&G - unfortunately...).

So, things have changed unexpectatly and quite dramatically for me in the last couple of weeks since a business-related and quite important episode in my life has come to an end (when I don't make dolls I'm a psychologist btw...). The whole thing has turned my life upside down - you know, all sorts of emotional states and what not...but I'm a lucky girl since I'm blessed with a great family and some really awesome friends - and I own all SatC seasons!
So, let's see what Carrie did: she stumbled, she fell, faced her fears and picked herself up.

Ok: stumbled - yep, fell - yep, faced fears - check - picked myseld up - mmhh, not yet accomplished...you see, I'm still in that "peel-myself-off-the-ground" phase which is a good thing for both our home and my health since I'm renovating like crazy (you should see our kitchen after all this cleaning, painting, furniture polishing) and have started a really amazing vegan diet. The latter is actually quite a change since I never had anything to do with this type of lifestyle before but this guy has revolutionized vegan food and created incredible recipes - highly recommendable!

Matcha tea powder and Attila Hildmann's bestseller "Vegan for youth"

While I'm currently busy with my reset/find inner balance/rebuilding home program my dolls need to wait patiently for me to get back to them. I haven't touched wool or fabric for weeks and obviously all ideas and plans are in the back at the moment. But I started to redecorate my little studio today and got the feeling that I might get back to dollmaking very soon.

tiny flowers in my studio

 

 Here's a studio glimpse - a tiny boquet from our balcony, my book shelf and "Quilt Roads" from Kaffe Fassett - one of my all time favorite designers. Just looking at one of his books with those beautiful pictures of his magnificent quilts immediately puts a smile on my face...

And in case you end up stumbling: "The real me" season 4 episode 2....

xox

 

 

 

cherry blossoms...and a new dress

I recently made this dress for my daughter's doll Stella and as you can see on the pictures today was the day to finally wear it outside.

 

 

 

 

Life is just perfect....

 

 

...with sunbeams on your skin...

 



 

...and blooming trees...

 

We all enjoyed this precious moment admiring

the cherry blossoms swaying in the wind

and

I hope you do, too....enjoy every moment!

xox

Sunday upload: Tom

 

...Tom likes to collect stones...

 

...so much that he forgets to pull up his pants sometimes....

 

...and hides them in his jeans pockets...

....can't resist to climb on each and every tree...

....and has the best time sitting on top of them...

...is a very lively and adventurous little guy....

...is hard to convince to go to sleep...

 

....will always be the first wide awake in the morning....

 ...with a big smile on his face...

 

 

 

Tom is a 45cm RTG doll with apricot skin, dark brown felted eyes and golden Wendsleydale locks crocheted into a wig. He has a bellybutton and a bum and can sit unaided. He travels to his new home dressed with undies, star shirt, jeans overall, socks and a knitted jacket. And of course he brings his pyjama.

Find more info about how my dolls are made here.

 

Tom will be available on my etsy shop or via vivi-rosalie@web.de this Sunday, 30th of March at 7pm EST for 275€. (It's always difficult to find a good time for uploads - so if the time is not feasable for you please use the email option).

xox

 

CAUTION: item is not suitable for children under age 3! Choking hazard!

Ready to go: Tom

This is Tom.

He just got a hair cut and is still in his pyjama -

waiting to get dressed...

 

 

Hm, he doesn't like waiting a lot - and neither do I!

Everything is just way too slow today:

hands, sewing machine, knitting needles...or is it because ideas and thoughts spin around in my head just too fast?

I'm sure you know what I mean...

 

Nevermind - Tom is my next RTG doll

and

will be available sometime next week in my etsy shop.

More pictures will follow as soon as he got dressed...

 

xox

work in progress

 

no clothes yet and he still needs a bellybutton, bum and hair but I couldn't resist to show you a sneak peek of

Nick...

 

 

 

can't wait to see him with dark brown curls.

 

He is a very special custom for someone I've been knowing almost all my life. We were best friends a long, long time ago but as time went by we somehow lost sight of each other - but now it is great to have her back....

xox

A buddy for Johan

boys need dolls, too - clearly.

They need buddies to cuddle with, talk to and care for. So here is my first boy ....

...loves his knitted beanie...

 

...and all kinds of stars... 

 

 

...cuddles with a David Fussenegger blanket...

 

 

...and enjoys a few moments outside after staring out the window and waiting for the rain to stop...



Little Linus is a custom for Johan whose mother was smart enough to recognize his need for a buddy very early. This is what I love about customs - they open my eyes ( and my heart as well!). It's been my pleasure to make this doll for Johan who is such a sunshine!

XOX

Ready to play: Mona & Stella

These are my two girls for my first upload on

The Enchanted Toybox

on hyenacart

 

 

This is MONA

Mona is a girlie girl, loves chasing butterflies and everything in pink. So no surprise she will bring a pink butterfly to her new home. She is 45cm tall and  made with apricot colored Swiss trikot. Her felted eyes are deep brown and round shaped and her limbs are slightly curved. She has a bellybutton, a sweet little bum with dimples and can sit unaided. Her locks in different shades of pink and red also reflect her passion for color - they are made of hand-dyed Teeswater locks made into a wig.
She wears undies (not shown on the picture) a blue and white cotton dress , pink pants and blue boots.
 

 

 

 and here is STELLA

Cute little Stella is a 30cm blonde baby with light blue felted eyes. Her skin is made with apricot colored Swiss trikot and her hair is made of DollyMo yarn crocheted into a wig (a special technique ensures that the mohair strands appear on the outside of the cap only). She has a bellybutton, a sweet little bum and can sit unaided. Since she is still a baby her clothes are cosy and easy to wear. Of course she wears diapers (not shown on the picture), a red and white striped jersey dress with matching pants and a brown knitted dress with a matching hair ribbon.  Since she likes dressing up a bit she brings a second pair of hair ribbons and a  red barrette.

 

 

 

CAUTION: both items are not suitable for children under age 3! Choking hazard! Please always check any toy before handing it to your child.

 

 

I am super excited about this upload since I never used hyenacart before - so come on over and check it out! You'll find my auctions under http://hyenacart.com/stores/EnchantedToybox/ -

they will start on Monday, Feb 3rd at 7pm EST!

 

 

xox

next upload

 

 

 

a fresh breeze in my studio...
you'll see more about this little girl in one of my next posts

 

 

I originally planned to have one or two uploads in January already but nothing went according to plan (sickness and other stories...).

 

So my next upload will be on

February, 3rd on

The Enchanted Toybox/hyenacart.

I am so excited to be their guest!

xox