Hmmmm

Thinking of getting an Angora bunny, the fiber would be nice to spin. Help! Someone stop me while it is still just a random thought!

Friday fun

Son number one is flying with Utah State University. The school has some really beautiful little planes. Today my brother and sis-in-law brought the kids up for the day, my son was so good to take them out to the airport and let them sit in airplanes. We all had a good time. We are surprisingly easy to entertain.

My sons, the kids and sis-in-law....

Kidlets ready for take off.....

One lone toddler on the tarmac.

Love, love my fambly, or as my father would have said, the whole fam damily.

Speaking of my father, he would have been thrilled. My father was in flight school during WW 2 ended up being a radio operator his brother was shot down over Germany towards the end of the war. He always loved planes and when my other brother worked on plane engines at this airport dad would often go hang out with him, work on engines and occasionally fly with him. I know my dad would be out of his mind proud of my son, all three sons.

It is one of the great sorrows of my life that they are not here to see these boys and an equally great sorrow that they did not see my brothers little kids. They would have been over the moon over these kids. That little toddler on the tarmac? sweet baby girl? my mom would have lost her mind over that baby, so in retrospect maybe its a good thing mom's not around.

debut

She has her dress held out and ready to curtsy, now if someone would ask her to dance. She might still be a bit young for a dance card, but her hopes are high anyway.

doll.done.

Well she is done.

She does not have a name yet, maybe it's Emma. She is 19.5 inches tall, handsculpted head and hands, her body is of canvas with a layer of gesso and tightly stuffed with cotton linters. Her face is painted with oil paint.

Her petticoat is lined and corded with a stiffened edging of cotton. she has pantaloons, a chemise and the dress is fully lined and removable. She aslso has a little padded bustle in the rear which is removable. I have made her as accurate as I can,to circa 1840-1850.

My camera is acting up, sigh, but I will get more pics as soon as I can and then she will be listed on my Etsy shop.

more progress

So here she is in her underwear on my cluttered, well-worn desk.

She has a Chemise, long undies, a padded, removable "bolster" to puff out her skirts in the rear and her petticoat is padded around the hem and corded. It is all done by hand except the really long seams and they are done by machine.

I like her a lot. Today I will finish the trim on her dress, age it abit and work on a stand for her then she will be done.

making progress

Making progress on the little hand sculpted doll. She is supposed to look like she is from the 1840's. Her dress is all handsewn, and as accurate to the period as possible right down to the cartridge gathering on her skirt.

I can hardly wait to put it on her, I just have to finish her little chemise, undies and petticoat. Petticoats from the period, which was before hoop skirts, where corded and padded to help them stand out, I can't decide if I will include the padding since that is an awful lot of bulk for a little doll. She will probably end up for sale on my Etsy site, I am making a much bigger one and I think I will keep the big one, we'll see how it turns out.

And then there are some more feathers, these are from Mountain Scrub Jay, cockatoo and the little yellow whisp is from a sulfer crested cockatoo. The antique paper is from the late 1880's.

the feathers in the previous post are asian pheasant, eagle, but since it is illegal to own eagle feathers it a goose feather and the gorgeous blue one is macaw.

feathers

Feathers gathered from the local little z00/aviary. Maybe this will be my next painting. Gorgeous aren't they?

Mr. and Mrs.

Bedtime for the Googles. Introducing Kate and Denzel Google. We call them googles because of the wattle which hangs down from their necks. As Denzel gets older his will be large and slightly obscene. Hopefully they will soon be very large and spectacularly feathered.