Recent Work

Saint Nicholas: Father of the Foundling, a primitive Christmas Doll Set

November 25, 2007 By Rebecca 2 Comments

“There is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”

This is such an impressive set & pictures truly do not do it justice! It is, in one word, breath-taking.

I’m proud to introduce to you Saint Nicholas, Father of the Foundling, and the humble gifts he plans to bestow upon some very special children. This set is my original design and is guaranteed one of a kind! I’ve used no patterns or molds to create any piece of this set.

Santa is a massive doll. Santa is, from head to toe, 34.5″ long. With his hood & wreath on, he measures 36.5″ long. Santa’s rocking horse measures 24″ front to back, stands 17″ inches tall, and is 5″ wide. Santa’s sweet little rag doll is 20.5″ long. All dolls have been made of muslin & stuffed with fiberfill. Santa’s lower torso has been rag-stuffed & bean filled in order to weight his bottom. Santa & his rocking horse have been hand-painted & sanded from top to bottom several times. Santa has been treated to a series of paint washes that give him a beautiful, deeply aged patina. Santa’s rocking horse has been stained to give him a super grungy look. Santa arms are lightly wired allowing him to gently hold special toys.

Santa’s facial features (nose & bottom lip) have been needle sculpted & hand-painted. He has the Kindest pale blue eyes with light green highlights. He has rosy cheeks (as every Santa should), detailed eyebrows & highly detailed wrinkles. Santa’s fingers have been needle sculpted. He sports brown painted & distressed gloves. Santa & his rocking horse have been accented & shaded heavily with oil pastels. They have been sealed top to bottom with clear, glossy sealer so that they may be preserved beautifully over the years & kept a lifetime.

I’ve constructed Santa’s sweet little rocking horse from 7 separate pieces. His legs have been lightly wired for extra stability. Each leg has been attached to the body with several strands of heavy duty button thread. The horse is attached to a 3/4″ plywood base constructed by my father, the wood artist. (I have yet to master the art of the jigsaw!) It has been painted & crackled. The horse is attached with hemp twine that has been sewn through the hoof & then wrapped around the wood base. This sweet horse’s mane & tail is made of raw sheep’s wool that I hand-dyed. It was lightly glued for extra stability & then needle-felted to the horse.
Santa’s super primitive rag doll was made by me so many years ago. She is one of the first dolls I ever made back when I was just seeing if I could make one. She is made from tea-dyed muslin. Her hair is braided raffia. She sports a pink & white flannel dress & a white lacy apron stitched with contrasting pink thread. Both fabrics are vintage. She is topped off with vintage buttons. Her primitive, unfinished look adds to her charm.

Santa’s sturdy boots have been highly detailed & distressed. They feature hand-painted laces. Santa’s bag has been made of high-quality, brown velveteen. It is lined with a sweet green calico & ties with a taupe satin ribbon. Inside it are several packages that have been wrapped in kraft paper & tied with twine & chocolate ribbons.
Santa is gonna stay super warm this year! Santa is wearing an off-white flannel shirt with vintage buttons. It features extensive hand-stitching & was dyed in a coffee & lavender bath. He is also wearing brown corduroy pants (with suspenders) which are hand-gathered above his boots. Santa’s removable robe is made from high-quality, hunter-green velveteen. I hand-finished the inside seams to help keep the “fuzzies” off Santa. I’ve trimmed Santa’s robe brown & camel faux fur. It has been attached by hand.
Santa’s wreath has been hand-made by me. It is only a half-wreath, making it fully adjustable. It has been made from sweet annie, bay leaves & dried rose hips which I plucked out of the woods behind our home.

Santa will be available on eBay beginning 9pm EST 11/25 – 12/02. Click here to view or bid!

Filed Under: Christmas, Dolls Tagged With: primitive doll, Rocking Horse, Santa

Sneak Preview: St. Nicholas, Father of the Foundling

November 23, 2007 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

Santa Close up:

One of Santa’s sweet presents:

Stay tuned Sunday for more pictures, a detailed description & a link to my eBay listing!

Filed Under: Christmas, Dolls Tagged With: primitive doll, Rocking Horse, Santa

Cordelia & Lottie, Velveteen Darlings

November 12, 2007 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

Cordelia has a special little friend, Lottie. And she wants to be just like her. Even if that means making her own carrot nose!

I’m proud to introduce to you Cordelia & little Lottie. These dolls are completely my original designs and are guaranteed one of a kind! I’ve used no patterns or molds to create these dolls or their clothing. Cordelia is 28" tall. Lottie is 13" tall. Both dolls are made of muslin and have been stuffed with fiberfill. Cordelia’s lower torso has been rag-stuffed & bean filled in order to weight her little bottom. I’ve hand-painted & sanded Cordelia & Lottie from top to bottom. Then I hand-painted & sanded them again. Cordelia has been treated to a series of paint washes that give her a beautiful, deeply aged patina & make her look oh so vintage. Lottie has been stained to give her a super grungy look. Cordelia’s arms are lightly wired allowing her to be slightly posed.

Cordelia’s facial features (nose & bottom lip) have been needle sculpted & hand-painted. Her little bottom lip pouts. Her upper lip is simply painted. She has the rosiest cheeks, detailed eyebrows & big green eyes. I’ve hand-sculpted Lottie’s head from paperclay. No molds were used to sculpt her face. She has a carrot nose & big, baby blue eyes. Cordelia & Lottie’s fingers have been needle-sculpted. I’ve painted white gloves onto Cordelia. Both dolls have been painted with premium acrylic paints. Cordelia has been accented & shaded heavily with oil pastels. They have been sealed top to bottom with clear, glossy acrylic sealer so that they may be preserved beautifully over the years & kept a lifetime.

Cordelia is wearing the cutest shoes! They have been modeled after an antique pair of baby boots. They have been hand-painted, shaded, highlighted & distressed. Cordelia wears painted white socks & pantalettes made from white muslin. Her apron dress is made from white muslin & 100% cotton pretty floral brown print. It features brown buttons on the front. Cordelia’s undershirt is made from white muslin. Her pretty fluffy collar is made from white cotton voile.

Now for that cape! Cordelia’s cape is made from high quality burgundy velveteen. It is absolutely the perfect shade of burgundy, not too pink, but deep burgundy. Cordelia’s cape features a gathered hood & is lined completely with a sweet red & white calico. It ties in the front with two dark taupe grosgrain ribbons.
Lottie is wearing a white muslin undershirt & a skirt made from a tan, 100% cotton print featuring berry sprigs & wings. Her *cute as pie* little stockings are painted on in shades of dark red & green. The stripes are shaded with brown paint.
These clothes feature tons of visible hand-stitching. All hems on both dresses & pantalettes have been hand stitched. All sleeves feature hand-stitching & Cordelia’s cape has been hand-stitched completely around the outer edge of both the body & hood. I’ve dyed all clothes (except the velveteen cape) in a coffee & lavender bud bath. They do not smell however. I simply dyed them in those substances to obtain the desired hue. I then hand-washed their clothing & pressed each piece with linen water.

Cordelia’s little carrot nose has been made of paper clay. I hand-sculpted it without the use of any molds, only my hand & a paintbrush! I painted it dark orange, more of a bittersweet, to better compliment the burgundy cape. It has been stained & sealed with glossy sealer. It can be placed over Cordelia’s nose & tied in the back with two pieces of hemp twine as shown. Or she could be displayed without it.

Cordelia’s hair is black 100% mohair. It has been lightly glued for extra stability & then carefully needle felted to her head in the sweetest little pin curls. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to photograph the individual pin curls. Lottie’s hair is dark brown 100% mohair. It has been carefully needle-felted to her head & is fashioned into low pigtails. Her pigtails are tied with chocolate ribbons.

Cordelia & Lottie will be available on eBay Nov. 11-18th. Click here to view or bid!

Filed Under: Christmas, Dolls Tagged With: Christmas, snowman

Twila, my interpretation of a primitive Americana Christmas doll

November 5, 2007 By Rebecca Leave a Comment

This special little angel is Twila. She is my original design and is guaranteed one of a kind! I’ve used no patterns or molds to create her. Twila is 29" tall from the top of her rusty, wired star to the bottom of her feet. She is made of muslin and has been stuffed with fiberfill. Twila’s lower torso is rag-stuffed & bean filled in order to weight her little bottom. I have primed Twila from head to toe with gesso. I then hand-painted her & sanded her. Then I did all that stuff again. Twila has been treated to a series of paint washes that give her a beautiful, deeply aged patina & make her look oh so vintage. Twila’s arms are lightly wired allowing her to be slightly posed. Her neck is supported with wire.

Twila’s facial features (nose & bottom lip) have been needle sculpted & hand-painted. Her little bottom lip pouts. Her upper lip is simply painted. She has peachy cheeks, detailed eyebrows & big brown eyes with yellow accents. Twila’s fingers & toes have been needle-sculpted. I’ve painted fingernails & toenails & accented her knuckles with brown paint. Twila has been painted with premium acrylic paints & has been accented & shaded heavily with oil pastels. She has been sealed top to bottom with clear, glossy acrylic sealer so that she may be preserved beautifully over the years & kept a lifetime.

Twila’s wings are spectacular! They have been made of muslin, stuffed with fiberfill, then hand-quilted with a swirl & feather design. I then primed Twila’s wings and hand-painted them with two coats of rich, light buttery yellow acrylic paint. I sanded them between each coat & then stained them to achieve a beautiful grungy,old look. They have been attached with a big, brown, cream swirled button.

Only angels have auras like this! Twila is surrounded by four luminous stars attached to rusty wire. I created Twila’s stars from paper clay, using absolutely no molds. They have been painted with 2 coats of buttery yellow paint & then topped with a coat of pale gold pearlescent paint. I then lightly stained each star to richen their appearance. The stars have been attached to the wires like beads on a string. They are not glued. Twila carries in her hands her own little guiding light. Her star was made of muslin & stuffed with fiberfill. I then painted & sanded it several times. I shaded, highlighted & detailed her star with oil pastels & chalk pastels. All stars, fabric & paper clay, & all wires have been sealed with glossy, acrylic sealer.

Twila is wearing a white muslin undershirt which has been grunged up good & proper. It is accented with a ruffle made of white cotton voile that runs down the middle of her blouse. Sewn atop the ruffle is a piece of jute twine. Twila’s apron dress is made of a sweet navy print & a lighter blue floral print. Both fabrics are 100% cotton. These pieces feature tons of visible hand stitching. All hems have been hand-stitched & there is decorative stitching where Twila’s apron strap attached to her dress. I’ve dyed her clothes in a coffee, lavender bud & vanilla bath. They do not smell however. I simply dyed them in those substances to obtain the desired hue. I then hand-washed her clothes & pressed them with linen water.

Twila’s hair is honey blonde 100% mohair. It has been lightly glued for extra stability & then carefully needle felted to her head. Twila’s hair is fashioned into a side braid & is fastened with a chocolate ribbon.

Twila is currently being auctioned on eBay.She will be available until Nov. 11th. Click here to view or bid.

Filed Under: Christmas, Dolls Tagged With: americana, angel, christmas doll