Izannah Walker Style ( Small ) dolls

Two little 10 inch dolls finished today. I started these dolls atleast two years ago and laid them aside for months, picked them up and worked on them for awhile and put them aside many times. It is hard to say why some of the things we make just take a long time, no interest, busy, not working out, can't solve a particular problem on them, just any number of reasons to not finish something in a timely manner, but today, the little dolls are all dressed up and ready to look sweet for someone to enjoy. The last few years have been hard for making dolls, because of other work, but the desire to make them is as strong as ever, in fact,  I have been thinking of making the tiny 5 to 6 inch dolls again, or atleast two or three of them. I had a recent setback on my new large Izannah dolls, which was the paint on the feet ( black oil on top of black acrylic paint ). this was really weird because I painted the feet in the regular way, except I did put on a coat of acrylic black over the gesso . ( nothing wrong there, and when that dried I painted the feet with black oil paint, there should have been no problem, but the paint would not dry. After a month, paint still rubbing off, I knew I was in trouble. Dreading the idea of starting over, because the feet are lots of labor to make, I put the feet under the warm water and began rubbing off the black paint. Oil does not react to water by just rubbing off. It should never just come off, so I am at a loss to know what happened. I got all the black off the feet down  to the cloth and a few remnants of gesso and sanded. I will re gesso, and skip the acrylic and paint my old faithful Ivory black oil paint again. Sometimes it is better to just stick to what you know and to the paints you know are reliable. Mama bought some oil paint at the hobby lobby and that could have been my problem. Well, I have to go back to my big Alabama doll and see if I can get her done. Christmas is fast approaching and I hope everyone is enjoying the good days, good weather, and looking forward to the holiday.

Izannah Brides and doll talk

I have held off on putting finished pictures of my three brides on this post, because I sent pictures of  them to a magazine, hoping they will show them, but after reading that putting the pictures on your personal blog is permissible, I have decided to show them now. These dolls were a huge task, and they are standing together now under a cover with sachets to make them smell good, until such time as I get a note from the magazine to send the dolls or they say no, and then I will be free to let the dolls go. While the brides stand silent soaking up the perfumed sachets, I have not been idle. I have made three more Izannah dolls, the normal size between 17 to 20 or so inches tall. They will be put together very soon, I have had to wait along time on the oil to dry, the black in the boots is for some reason, just taking forever to dry, but I have to be patient, as to do other wise will just cause more problems. Another project I am finishing is the little 9 inch Izannah dolls, 2 of them, which have been in the making for way to long, making them dresses that are  a mixture of antique blue calico fabric. A friend of mine, awhile back wanted a very big Alabama doll, actually this was close to two years ago, but now I have gotten to the point of soon finishing this doll too. If you have never made a Alabama baby doll, you wouldn't know how much trouble it is to make one, which requires new patterns, new face mold, lots of tweeking, and that is if you have a doll to go by, but the doll is getting done, so I am glad to be nearing the end of this project. My house renovations are still going along pretty well and is much of the reason my doll making is so slow, but I am creeping along and am able to make a few things. I will post the new dolls soon. Hoping everyone will have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy their family and more doll making.