So you might have noticed that my last post with this title did not, in fact, have any girls with antlers. This was because Typepad was going so slowly, I couldn't bear it any more. And in fact i still find there is a significant delay - is this just me? I'm not haveing this problems with any other sites or programs. But I digress. This is not an acceptable excuse for my absolute wretchedness at blogging of late. Le sigh. It's been a very stressful few weeks. My husband lost his job, and mine has been so busy, and I've been taking on extra work to try to make ends meet. But things are looking up - husband has job possibilities in the works, my course ends in less than a month and I really and truly have some girls with antlers. Well, I have Zoe for the second time, because she got a snazzy new hairstyle, and i have Lila, but first I have the Sad Match Girl:
Poor match-girl...she has seen better days, before she was made to go
work in the match factory, her stockings torn and dreams deferred...
Lila is one of my first experiments with plaster bandages for clothing. As much as I love sewing, these plaster bandages save so much time, and also give a nice, decaying sort of look (if decay can be nice?)
And here is Zoe with a rather more sophisticated hairstyle...a more mature upsweep in place of that hapless, hangy-down thing she had going on before. (When I was little, my mother used to call my long hair a rat's nest and convinced me that there were rats living in it and that's why I should let her brush it and she would utterly terrify me by using her hand to pretend there were rats running down my neck...either I was an incredibly naive child, or my mom had a sinister streak. Probably a bit of both.)
Finally, I've been working on some prints that I'm considering putting in my shop. They are a combination of an illustration a did a while back, cut fabric used for the clothing, and vintage paper as the background. I really don't want to 'cheapen' the look of my shop, or make it look unprofessional by putting amateurish-looking prints in, so I would love any feedback anyone might have - even if it's critical. This is the first one, and still needs some tidying up around the edges of the dress (where you can see the original edges) but I'll post it for now and see what people think:
I'm also working on some doll-related jewelry, so I'll be back soon with pictures of those experiments...