Black-Eyed Suzie

Dolls. Words.

Black-Eyed Suzie in the Press

Black-Eyed Suzie in STATUS Magazine

Black-Eyed Suzie in the PressYour Name11 Comments

  Black eyed suzie in status

I'm very happy to appear in the pages of this month's issue of STATUS magazine.  You can click the photo to enlarge.  I confess I hadn't heard of them until I was contacted about an interview (they are based in Europe and Asia), but now that I'm in there, I think they're fabulous, of course! 

Status cover

Thank you to everyone who visited, commented on and adopted during the update.  All the dollies were gone in under ten minutes this time, which was quite a shock.  So thank you for making them feel loved - they thrive on attention, vain things that they are...Although it sounds a bit strange to declare a maternity leave when what I do so seldom feels like work (well, maybe the packaging), I will be taking a little break for a while.  Between my very round and ungainly 8-months pregant body (Mr. L had to help me put on my sneakers the other day!), my classes and assignments, and generally trying to get our home organized and cozy in time for our new little person, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I just can't get as much done as I'd like.  But I'm sure I'll be chipping away at some dolls before too long, as I do so start to miss them after a while.  Even if I can only do twenty minutes here and there, I know something will surface again eventually.  The baby has put me in mind of making some stuffed animals and cloth dolls - can anyone recommend any good pattern books?  I'm a novice, but I'm keen...

Black-Eyed Suzie in Elle Canada & Alices

Black-Eyed Suzie in the Press, Ye Olde Shoppe UpdatesYour Name23 Comments

I've been a busy, busy dollmaking bee, so my apologies for not responding to all the kind comments about the first Alice dolls  - thank you all!  Just a quickie post here, lest I be any further admonished by dear readers for not sharing this (Kristyn, I have rapped myself on the knuckles, I promise!)  There's a short article about me and some photos of the dolls in the April issue of Elle Canada, which is on newsstands now.   Woot woot!

Elle mag 

You can also see the electronic version here.  Mr. L took the photo of me and I think it's pretty funny that neither of us noticed that my bra strap if hanging down over my arm.  Ah well... done, like most things, with our usual flourish of disorganization!  A special thank you to Katie Addleman for putting together such a nice profile. 

Elle cover

And here are the first nine Alice dolls.  These are all the smaller ones, and Saturday I will post photos of the larger dolls, as well as some figurines.  These are all between 10-11.5" and you might have noticed, a little bit different from my past dolls of this size;  I spent more time colouring the faces with pastels to give the faces more depth. I think it also gives them a slightly grittier look, which is a nice contrast to the extreme froufiness of their dresses.

Faces mosaic 2

Faces mosaic 1 

(Disgraceful misspelling of 'albino' but I just noticed it and am too exhausted to change it right now...)

Seated mosaic 1

Seated mosaic

Bf mid
 

Fabric Dreams

Black-Eyed Suzie in the Press, Things I did Today (or Yesterday)Your Name10 Comments

There are three places where I cannot control myself: bookstores, music stores and fabric stores.  Upon entering any one of these little shangri-las, I am immediately enraptured and enslaved - drooling and compelled to spend all kinds of money I don't have.  (And yet, there's a strange little plastic card in my wallet that tells me the sweet lies I'm dying to hear. "Go on" it says, "you have the money".  I try to fight: "But it's not real, actual money," I insist,  "I really shouldn't."  Then the little card gives me a wink and whispers those three deliciously evil  words: "It's real enough".)  These places embody the promise of something beautiful, something urgent and necessary that I haven't yet experienced, something that will make my life complete.  They are the aesthete's crack. My solution is simply to avoid these places altogether. After all, I have books that I haven't yet read, cds I've barely listened to, and  yards upon yards of untouched fabric;  I don't need more. But every once in a while, an opportunity arises that is too tempting.   Enter Marlene, Fabric Siren.

Fabric all

 Marlene is from Montreal but lives in England.  Her 93-year-old mother died recently, so Marlene is here selling her mother's house and belongings, and because her mother used to make clothing, there are entire trunks and  boxes of vintage fabric in the house.  A few weeks back,  Marlene heard me interviewed on the CBC  for a radio piece about selling handmade items online, looked up my blog and contacted me to see if I'd be interested in buying some of the fabric. Mosaicdb0830039e885914c019185e5b7477bcfb4e5b57
Interested?? Heaps of beautiful vintage lace, silk, cotton; I think you can guess how it all went down.  She very sweetly made me hot chocolate, opened the magic trunks, and gave me an incredibly good deal;  I left that sweet little house loaded down with bags of embroidered dreams.  Maybe I don't need it, but I'm so grateful to have it.  It's all of beautiful quality, and I love that it has a history.  Vintage fabric just feels different, both in the tactile and the woowoo senses of the word.  I think it will be perfect for the batch of Alice dolls in my head, demanding to be born.

Fabric 4
(I'll post the interview, even though I sound like a man who's just woken up from a nap: Download Cbc interview)

Also a big thank you to everyone who attended and/ or commented on my recent shop update - I truly appreciate your support!  Thirteen of the little ladies were gone within two hours, which was heartwarming to see.  I just have to keep them from getting big heads - dolls are, by nature, quite vain.

Dolls wrapped

The Good, the Bad and the Next Shop Update

Black-Eyed Suzie in the Press, Ye Olde Shoppe UpdatesYour Name8 Comments


This past week has been a bit of an emotional  rollercoaster here in Suzie-ville; some lovely and exciting things have happened, as well as a few of the crappier variety.  On the less pleasant side,  I had yet another computer fiasco and my dear, sweet life-facilitator is now idling at the mac shop, leaving me to (yes, again!) labour away on a seven-year old laptop.  Of course, I realize that as far as catastrophes this one is, well, not one at all.  But it is a reminder of just how very dependent I am on a machine.  Sort of creepy, actually.  But in the 'good things' category, I was interviewed a few months back for an article on Etsy and micromanfacturing, and it ran this in the Life & Style section of this weekend's  Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. You can read the online version here.

G&M article 

Probably the most exciting thing for me was the large photo of the divine Ms. Kelly they ran; it has led to many emails and some possibly other exciting media-type goodness, but my suspicious nature doesn't permit me to name it until it's actually taken place.  We shall see...

DSC02939

Back to the bad, my poor kitty (pictured here keeping Vampire Bess warm) was coughing unusual coughs last week, so  we took him to the vet and found out he has asthma.  Who knew??  I don't think I've ever heard of kitty asthma, but they have lungs too, so I guess it's not that weird.  But that bad becomes a good because it is treatable and after a few days of his medication, he's wheeze-free. 

Good again: I finally made some gift certificates for the shop, which I think are pretty cute.  Both digital and paper verisons are available here.

Gc wide 

Last in the 'bad' category is that my husband and the three other writers on his TV show were unceremoniously laid off with no warning two months before their job was supposed to end.  Merry Christmas, faithful employees!  In the words of a dear, French friend of ours in the same field, "C'est juste une maudite gagne de crosseur de poule morte!"  But let's turn that frown upside down; now I have a full-time (and exceedingly handsome) elf to assist with all my doll-making needs.  He's a very talented sander and varnisher and with his help, I'm getting more done than I dreamed possible.

Dolls 1

Here are few of the little ones we've been working on, all decked out in their Christmas colours.  I'm not a big fan of bright red or forest green (except when it's in a forest of course) so I've chosen colours inspired by cranberries, champagne and snow (incidentally, also three things I love!)

Dolls 2 

These ladies and several others will make their debut on Tuesday, December 1st at 5:00 pm Eastern/ 2:00 pm Pacific.  I'll be back with an official shop update banner in a day or two, once a few of these little darlings have some hair.

A party dress and a bald head in November? Brrr...The dolls say non!