Antique Doll Apron Designs Are Icing on the Cake

Edyth's pattern for four doll aprons drafted from civil war era and late 19th century examples are sure to delight both doll collectors and doll makers.  Visit Edyth's doll blog to read about these antique aprons and to purchase her pattern.  These types of aprons are often found on antique Izannah Walker,  papier mache and China dolls.

An Inspiration Tool

I, Dixie, used to save hundreds (thousands?) of inspiration pictures on my computer.  But since the advent of Pinterest, I have pinned what inspires me to a board called "Dolls".  For the most part, these are antique dolls, but occasionally a tutorial or modern folk art doll finds a home there.  If you love antique dolls or make dolls inspired by antiques, you might find this an inspiration tool as I do.  Here is a screenshot of this inspiration board.  Click the image to view the board.

http://pinterest.com/dixie_redmond/dolls/

Pinterest is also a great research tool.  If you are learning about something, and you do not want the world to know, you can create a secret board, hidden from the public.  

The dark side of Pinterest is that if people are only interested in images, once the images are pinned on Pinterest, they fly around freely without people visiting the source page.  That has definitely affected readership of this blog as well as the Izannah Walker Chronicles.  But, we adapt and overcome.  We learn to make the new tools work for us.  

So...visit the inspiration board above.  You'll find lots of inspiration for making antique inspired dolls.  

Let's Party! Celebrating 5 Years

For over 5 years this site has been celebrating creativity and being inspired by antique dolls.  What better way is there to celebrate this milestone than to have a cyber party?  So, I got a cake....and candles...  Wait.  Where are the guests?

Oh, that's right.  Here they are! These are some special Iznnah Walker inspired dolls created by lovely doll makers. 

L-R, dolls made by Jackie Hendricks, Artis Corwin, Dixie Redmond, Elaine McNally and Martha Bishop. 

To celebrate 5 years of inspiration, I decided to learn a new skill, to pour reproduction heads of a German covered wagon china doll in composition.  This required me to learn to pour slip in plaster molds, which was a big learning curve! Psssst!  As part of the fun I am making 5 of these available to MAIDA Dolls Group members to purchase.  

For MAIDA Dolls Group Members to Purchase

Edyth O'Neill joined in with me to mark this day by designing a body pattern for the reproduction head above.  

Below you can see one of the heads painted, and placed on a body made by Edyth with Edyth's antique style body pattern.  This body pattern fits the reproduction head, but is also appropriate for antique papier mache and china doll heads. 

To Purchase Edyth's Body Pattern
$7

 

GIVEAWAY -  (THIS IS AN OLD POST and is over). I am giving away this wonderful sculpting tool made by Gail Wilson.To win this sculpting tool, leave a comment on this blog post.  I use this sculpting tool almost exclusively.  This tool was a game changer for me with my sculpting.  It fits perfectly in my hand, and is way better than the skewers I started out on, or the cheap wooden tools I found locally.  It is carved from apple wood. To read more about this tool, you can visit this page on Gail's site and scroll down to Molding Supplies, to Gail's Special Wood Tool. 

And last, but not least, please visit Edyth's lovely new blog.  

Here, have a piece of cake.  :-) 

Thanks for coming!

February 28th Cyber Party for MAIDA Today

Five years is something to celebrate!  

The purpose of this blog is to honor the creations of the past and inspire present doll makers by those works.  I (Dixie, blog creator) have been thinking about ways to celebrate the five years.  I bought this image on Ebay as one way to celebrate.

A physical party is not possible, but a cyber party is!  So be sure to join on the 28th of February for our birthday bash.  There will be some fun things for "door prizes" and some surprises as well.