Merle

Thanks for this Fransisco!

Walter Turns Two

My monkey turned two!  I made him this tent out of leftover fabric of mine.  It's a crazy mess, but he loves it, though it only took him a couple of hours before he realized the bamboo poles may be better weapons than tent-holder-uppers.  I found the pattern for the tent in the wonderful book Growing Up Sew Liberated.  I did change it to make it more colorful and wild, like my child, but the plain canvas one in the book is lovely too.

Peek-a-boo.

Cake!  Walter's a fan.

Frosting is delicious.  Just a simple fact that you probably knew already.

I wanted him to wake up to a bit of magic and wonder so I cut some sticky vinyl up and stuck it to the window.  All monsters are "Rawrs" to him.  Rawr!

I have a two year old!  How did this happen?

Walter plays cars on the window ledge here, so Joseph and I also gave him a dramatic background scene with sticky vinyl.  Can you tell we are reading Game of Thrones?

Rainbow cake!  Every bite is a tie-dyed adventure! 

Happy Birthday, Little Man.

Next up I get to work on a wedding present requested by someone who keeps a beautiful food and gardening blog, and who rocks my socks off.

Also, just a reminder, everything in my Etsy shop is 25% off until Friday!  Coupon code is AllDolledUp.  Snatch up some new friends for your couch!

Sale Time!

My artist talk was yesterday.  I was so nervous, but about 10 minutes in, I found my groove, and it went well.  I hope the students found it useful.  It was so nice for me to curate the show and create and give an artist talk.  Being a stay at home works the brain in other ways, but it was so nice to do some deeper thinking and writing, something I wouldn't have just done on my own.  Also, I went miles beyond my comfort zone for my public talk, but I didn't pass out, and life carries on.  Now I feel a bit stronger than before.  Cool.  So, to celebrate I will eat chocolate bunnies (celebrating looks a lot like regular life for me in that statement) and I will have a sale in my shop!!!  When you check out of Etsy just put in the coupon code ALLDOLLEDUP to receive 25% off!

Thanks so much!

Mimi Kirchner

Mimi Kirchner needs no introductions because she is very well known in the world of soft dolls. I love her work so much.  The shapes of her dolls are great----especially the broad chested fellows above and the big sweater grandmas.  They are just so comical, and they easily become animated in my mind.  I can imagine those sweater grandmas watching Wheel of Fortune and practically becoming one with the couch they are sitting on.  The men I see walking around in a manly manner and tipping their hats to any ladies in sight.

Here is a short bio that she wrote for her blog:

I am a Boston-based fiber artist. I live with my husband- Ben Hyde- in a Victorian era (1892) 2-family house. I have 3 kids who are mostly grown up and doing their own things. I graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1976 with a BFA.

Her craftsmanship is unmatched.  She is just so, so, so good and exact about everything.  And all the little details send my heart aflutter.  People tell me they wish they had my patience, but there are various degrees of patience, and in the doll making realm, I think hers is the highest.  Look at that naked robot!  Yoinks!  So incredible!

I could snoop around at this photo for hours.  What are in all those drawers?!  Maybe things only Mimi sees the potential in.

She sent these foxes for the show as well as three others.  With Mimi's work, you can look at it for a very long time and keep discovering new things, which is one of my favorite parts about art observing, the continual surprise.  Her characters are so specific, you can spend a lot of time developing their stories in your head.  Do you know that the girl fox has a pig inside her purse?  A tiny pig!  I peeked inside it when I was hanging the show.  That had me smiling all day.  My goodness.

That black object on her table with the strap is some sort of magnifying goggle contraption.  I saw her using them on her Handmade Portraits video on Etsy.  Also, I think you really know your craft on a personal level to have so many scissors!  I really aspire to be at her level one day.  I think lots of soft artists look to her as their model for craftsmanship.

Thank you to the fabulous Mimi Kirchner!

Mimi's blog
Mimi's shop.

Jess Quinn of Small Art

I am a big fan of Jess Quinn. 

This is the first image I ever saw of Jess Quinn's.  She didn't have a big internet presence at the time, but now she posts her work regularly and I am never let down.

Jess has a degree in painting.  She makes her living off of her dolls and also does model making for a stop frame animation studio in Bristol.  She never seems to have a shortage of ideas, and she makes many, many beautiful things, each surprising.  It's as if she has an entire alternate universe stored away in her head!  I just think she is incredible.

She makes many types of dolls, some textile, some wood, some clay.

An elephant looking surprised, maybe because he woke up wearing a sweater.

A studio shot.  So colorful.

She uses which ever medium seems right for a particular character, Here is a quote of hers from her Etsy biography: Everything is made by myself and I love each process and material to be openly expressed, each stitch or paint stroke is visible a trace of my working hand. I love colour and have collected a fair amount of vintage fabric over the years, these are added into a lot of my work, a hint of nostalgia added to something new.

She is fearless with her materials.

Thank you Jess for what you bring into the world!

Her Etsy shop is here and her blog is here.

Jennifer Strunge of Cotton Monster

Jennifer Strunge is the one woman show behind cotton Monster. Jennifer graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art. During her senior year at art school she began making quilts with eyes and then gian soft sculpture pieces out of blankets. After seeing the delight that her monsters brought to people, Jennifer founded Cotton Monster. In addition to making monsters, Jennifer works for Black Cherry Puppet Theater, bringing puppetry programs to schools and recreational centers in Baltimore.

Her monsters are so bright and wild.  Jennifer uses a lot of recycled fleece and knits for these guys.  I have never seen a doll maker use re-purposed fabric in such a cohesive way. 

 

 

Re-using fabric for these monsters make me think that they come to life from a pile of dirty laundry.  Like, if you leave all your dirty socks under your bed, they will sprout teeth and start to form appendages and come alive!

She also does impressive custom work.  Look at this hat from a child's drawing!  Great!

Another hat.  I love these so much.

Her monsters are so sculptural and I think look especially nice under dramatic studio lighting.

Thank you Jennifer Strunge for your wild designs and delightful monsters

!

Jennifer has a great website and also an etsy shop.

Jessi Halliday Messalic from Simpli Jessi

Jessi is from Michigan and received her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. She works as a designer in an architecture firm, but "needed a part time muse" so she started making dolls under "Simpli Jessi".

I think Jessi's dolls are so sweet and represent a softer, more gentle world.

The expressions on their faces are fantastic.  To me it looks like they are great listeners and always amazed and astounded at what everyone is telling them.  It looks like they want to know more, like they are saying "ohhhhhh?!".

Here is a group she did for a show called Stitch Wars,

Works in progress.  The bodies of her dolls are made from linen, which gives them a soft, down to earth feel.

Her dolls are entirely handmade. Natural linens, organic cotton stuffing, felt, yarn and recycled fabrics are used in every doll - making each one unique and special. She is inspired from my childhood, from traveling, from meeting different people and from collecting their stories.

This girls hair is great.

Thank you Jessi for making beautiful things!

Jessi's blog is here and her Etsy shop is here.