1. Playing soccer by the Lachine canal with the boy.  It's so breezy, green and peaceful up there, with water on one side and bike paths on the other.  And my little one running with boundless energy, chirping 'ba! ba! ba!' as he chases his ball.  Balls and dolls - his two favourite things, and a nice balance I think.

2. My mother's day gift: a Kitchenaid mixer. WHAT!? I thought I'd be an old lady before I could afford one of these glorious machines, but Mr. L has been squirelling away his credit card points for years and actually had enough to get my beauteous new mixer without spending a penny. (Let us not speak of interest rates at such a magical time.)  I confess I haven't even had a chance to use it, but visions of cookies and bread and super easy pie crusts dance in my head.

3. Wolf Hall  I'm doing my best to keep my eyes pried open for half an hour before bed to do some reading (have I complained recently about how M. still wakes up several times a night?) Currently, I'm reading Hilary Mantel's novel about Thomas Cromwell and the many machinations of Henry the VIII.  Beautiful writing and a page-turning story.  Delicious.

4. The Culture Gabfest podcast on Slate.com.  I read about this on my friend Tom's blog and now I'm hooked.  A trio of hyper verbal, witty, erudite culture critics/ writers deconstruct books, TV shows, movies, poetry and news coverage and are so freakishly smart and funny about it that they manage to find interesting things to say about even the most banal of topics (eg. Titanic, celebrity baby bumps).  And there appear to be many other great podcats on Slate, such as Double X and Lexicon Valley ( a whole show about words). There are not enough hours in the day.

5. My new pressure cooker. I know - another appliance.  Do I sound like a crazed, McCarthy-era housewife?  But it really is an amazing thing if you're vegetarian, or simply like beans.  It makes the most tender, delicious beans in under half an hour and this is miraculous after many years of boiling the crap out of beans only to have them come out...edible.  I've heard from a real Italian that you can make perfect risotto in seven minutes, which I find almost too good to be true but I'm going to try it this weekend.

6. Revenge.  Well, perhaps not a fine thing, but a deeply satisfying guilty pleasure.  It's got very rich people, very vengeful people, very bad people.  It's got beautiful women kicking ass (literally). Everyone is always impeccably dressed, shooting death stares at their various enemies and being super fake, rich-style, while they plot to destroy one another.  There's a moral centre, of course, but that's besides the point.  It's terribly silly and I love it. 

Anne Bachelier

I haven't had much time to to work on dolls (the laundry, oh the laundry!) but I've been thinking quite a bit about them and I'm excited about trying a few new things.  I'm planning on basing the next batch on some of my favourite fairy tales (think 'The Wild Swans', 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Jorinda & Joringel').  I've been looking at the stunning illustrations of Anne Bachelier for ideas. I'm also planning to make their clothing almost entirely from paper.  I've done a lot of paper bodices before, but I think it will be fun to try paper skirts as well. 

I've also been digging up photos to use as inspiration for faces because I want to try a few that are more detailed.  In the past, I've looked at photos of models simply because they're easy to find, but they never worked for me; models' faces tend to be very symmetrical and conventionally beautiful - far too 'perfect' for my tastes.  I'm drawn to faces that are unusual, that have somewhat exaggerated or asymmetrical features.  Lately, I've been particularly interested in women with striking profiles and strong noses.  One of my favourite (stranger) faces is also one of my favourite musicians, so I will making the beautiful PJ Harvey into my muse for at least a couple of my next dolls. I love that her face is both gawky and lush, severe and sweet.  Here she is performing my favourite song from her new album live.  It sounds quite different from her previous albums...gorgeous.  (And check that crazy head thingy.  Love her!)

Now for a Big Pimpin' edition of the Black-Eyed Suzie blog.  I'm super-excited about the release of my friend Tom Ryan's first book, Way to Go, from Orca Book Publishers.  Woot!  Congratulations, Tommy! I'm so proud of you!!  Tom's family are our neighbours in Cape Breton.  His parents are good friends of ours, and Tom is one of my favourite people. We have spent many nights driving around dirt roads trying to amuse ourselves.  Our houses are connected by a long, wooded dirt road, and at the risk of sounding all sentimental and nostalgic, there is even a shortcut we can take through the woods to get to one another's houses.

Tom lives in BC now, but I keep tabs on him through his very well-written and funny blog, Tom Wrote That; it even has these very fancy, new-fangled things called 'vlogs' (musings via video) that I'm very impressed by.  His book is currently available on Amazon and IndieBound.  Though I usually order books online, I'm going to go to an actual bookstore this weekend and buy a copy because I feel like this is an event worthy of traveling beyond the boundaries of my sleepy little neighbourhood.  So, while I haven't read it yet, here are a couple of glowing reviews:

"This book is a truly life-changing one. It will make you question your views and the way you inflict them on others." (YALSA YA Galley Teen Review )

"A very well done book about a front-burner topic, it makes a fine addition to the 'I think I'm gay' genre. Danny is very believable, and unlike so many 'issue' novels, the supporting characters are fully realized and multi-dimensional...A lot of kids will benefit from reading it...It's a story that absolutely needs to be told, and the author's approach succeeds beautifully. Excellent." (John Wetterholt Follett Library Resources )

Can't wait til you're back East, Tommy dear!

I will have fourteen new peices available this Saturday, March 24th at 2pm EST/ 11am PST. (you can convert that to another time zone here.) You can see photos in the the blog below, as well as in the previous blog post, or check out the listings in my Big Cartel shop, where you can also read descriptions and see the prices.  If you would like to receive a reminder by email at the time of the update, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

Lenore by Marmite Sue (36cm, porcelain)

Marmite’s Sue’s customizable dolls measure 14.2” and are constructed with high-quality materials; you have the option of human or high-grade synthetic hair, and either silicone, porcelain or glass eyes, all of which come in both natural and surreal colours.  Another remarkable detail is the possibility of changing the doll’s head, thereby allowing for multiple character options on a single body (the animation potential for this can be seen in Teaspoon, the video below by Marmite Sue.)

The faces themselves are my favourite element of these dolls.  There are three options (Willa, Luna and Noi) and each is at once sweet and dark, ethereal and arresting. Reminiscent of one of my favourite artists, Ryo Yoshida, Marmite Sue dolls are wide-eyed without being overly child-like. But in fascinating contrast to the beauty of the dolls’ faces, there is something unsettling in their aesthetic.  By carving into their ‘skin’ and sculpting their feet as stiletto heels, Marmite Sue evokes a subtle, exquisite kind of pain, thus drawing the viewer’s attention to the nexus of beauty and discomfort.

Dentelle in Pink by Marmite Sue (36cm, porcelain with human hair)

Clearly, these are art objects, not mere playthings.  But play is not a bad thing! The bodies are highly articulated, with two joints in the torso for a greater degree of poseability.  There is also the option of ordering either a permanent face-up (ie. the dolls' ‘make-up’ has been applied with high-fired china paint which cannot be removed) or a removable face-up (ie. the face has some permanent shading, but you can apply removable make-up with watercolour pencils and nail polish). Like the option of changing faces, this allows you to create many different characters for your doll.  There are also several different skin shades, from palest ‘Pearl’ to a rich ‘Cocoa’.

 To browse through Marmite Sue’s doll galleries, visit her blog, and you can also email her at marmite_sue@hotmail.com to request a catalogue. (Her porcelain orders are filling up quickly, but she has mentioned the possibility of a resin line becoming available soon on her blog.) You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.  Happy dolling!

Little Lace by Marmite Sue (36cm, porcelain with human hair)

Our friend Alexis, among an embarrassment of riches, gave M. the hilarious Iggy Peck Architect, which he now insists we read him at least twice in the morning and twice at night.  I thought he wouldn't get into it until he was a bit older, but it has great illustrations and he's captivated by them. Come back from Boston, Alexis - we miss you!  Harvard is not worthy...

You might remember from a previous post that I have a Fairy Godmother who lives in England.  She has spoiled me all my life and now she's doing the same for M.  In addition to giving him many lovely toys, snazzy outfits, his stroller and his snow suits, she has sent several books, my favourite of which is Margaret Wild's Fox for its darkly beautiful illustrations.

Congratulations on becoming Dr. Auntie Mo - we are so proud of you!

My dear, dear friend Rebecca gave M. one of the few Maurice Sendak books a didn't already have, and, like all the best kids' books, it is both sweet and slightly spooky. I was saving it until M. gets a little older, but now that I see how much he loves Iggy Peck, I might bring it out, if only so that I get to read it!

Rebecca also gave M. a Moulin Roty puppet that is so adorable, I've had to resist the temptation to bring it into my studio as decoration.  (I promise I won't be greedy mom - I've even given M. all my very favourite old puppets, stuffed animals and soft dolls.)  Baby, toys, books...it's even more fun than I imagined it would be...

Another clever thing Mr. L has done recently is resurrect our orchid, which stopped flowering after we left it with a friend for a summer. (The poor dears don't like to be moved.) I had written it off entirely and, I'm now ashamed to say, told him several times should be thrown out.  But he read somewhere that eggshells soaked in black tea was good for the fragile flowers so for two years he lovingly fed it with the icky brew.  The man has saint-like patience.

Finally, I'm getting a lot more time to work on dolls these days.  Mr. L got a new job at the NFB that is great in many ways, but the best for me is that he's only there three days a week and so I'm now able to work a few days a week while baby M. always has one of us here to dote on him.  It feels strange but good to have more time to be creative and I feel very lucky to have flexible work that still allows me spend so much time with my boy.

It's the story Shirley Mason, of a woman who was diagnosed with Multiple Personailty Disorder in the 50s, the psychiatrist who treated her (and crossed many ethical boundaries while doing so, including lying in bed with her patient while she administered shock therapy) and the journalist who helped turn the case into an international sensation. I'm very interested in illnesses that are cultural as much - or more - than they are physical. No doubt it will be very unsettling as all women profited enormously from the case.

I've been getting into graphic novels lately, as I've long dreamed about writing one (starring dolls, of course!) This one looks dense and dark, with amazing illustrations.  If anyone has any favourites, I'd love to hear them.

I also got a set of sturdy pliers to replace the dinky little craft store version I've been using all these years.  Psyched about those, but I'm pretty sure you all know what pliers look like, so moving right along...a Ureshii Gift Certificate!  Ureshii makes super cute yet very comfortable clothes that are made to measure; I'm just too old for anything that pinches, itches or digs into unpleasant places, so I insist on comfort so matter how lame that makes me.  Haven't settled on exactly what I'm going to get, but it will definitely include this skirt.

Thank you so much, my love.  I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm hanging on for dear life...

Also, a big thank you to everyone who left kind words about my latest dolls, and to those who adopted them.  They are all on their way to their new homes across Canada and the US, and I'm so very grateful that I get to do this. 

Four new dolls will become available this Sunday, February 5th at 2pm EST/ 11am PST. (you can convert that to another time zone here.) You can see photos in the the blog post below, or check out the listings in my Big Cartel shop, where you can also read descriptions and see the prices.  If you would like to receive a reminder by email at the time of the update, you can sign up for my newsletter here.