Tattered Saints

One Of The Many Reasons...

There are several pretty good reasons why I have a hard time selling any of my dolls.  First reason:  I like them.  Granted, I don't do as much with them as I would like, but I still enjoy changing their clothes, eyes and wigs and taking pictures of them and using those pictures in my art.  Second reason:  It's a pain in the hind end to get everything together and post pictures and write a good description on eBay.  I have to decide what to include in the auction...clothes, shoes, wigs, eyes?  If I keep all those extras, will I use them?  The third and probably biggest reason I drag my feet when it comes to selling a doll...PEOPLE.  People and their questions. 

1.  Would you add to or change the faceup?  No.  If you don't like the doll's faceup, buy her and change it yourself.  It takes lots of time and a fair amount of supplies to do a faceup...why would I do it for free?

2.  Do you have any clothes for her?  Would you include those?  Again, for free?  I'm already including some extras...what else do you want?  My blood?

3.  What size (eyes, wig, shoes, clothes) does she wear?  Do your own research. 

4.  Would you end the auction early and sell her to me?  No.  I went to all the time and effort to list the doll, why would I end the auction early?

5.  Would you do a layaway?  For three months?  No.  I am not K-Mart and this doll is not the blue light special.

6.  Would you do a trade for another doll?  No.  Again, this is an auction   it is not Trader's World or a junk shop. 

7.  And then after the auction ends and the doll didn't sell...What are your plans for her?  Are you going to relist her?  Would you accept offers?  No, no and no.

I'm keeping her, even if she sits in one spot until doomsday and grows mold and becomes a home for spiders.  

End of story. 

The other doll I listed will sell and the funny thing is, not one of the bidders on that doll asked any questions at all.   That's always the way it is...the people who ask the most questions never bid.  Go figure.

 

Please Don't Sell Us...

Awww, who can resist these pathetic faces?

This is why I can't sell them...

The Evolution Of A Journal...

I've been working in the sixteen page (Teesha Moore) journal that I made awhile back.  I'm finally "getting" this journaling thing, letting go and just using glue and paint and putting down images.  I've decided that I quite like using my own digital collages and pictures of my dolls.  This may turn out to be an enjoyable experience after all:

After more work:

We're having some fun, now.

More Fabric And Copyrights...

I'm working on more fabric painting.  I want to make a quilt with the fabric I've been creating and I think it'll take lots and lots of fabric.  I'm sticking to a palette of mainly black, gray, red, and related colors...graffiti inspired stuff. 

I'm now putting copyright symbols on my photos for reasons I won't go into here, but it's a step I feel is necessary.  Enough said.

 

 

The doll house build is almost finished.  We have to put the porch railings up and attach doors, and that's about it. 

 

 Hubby may not agree, but I think it's been fun working on this project together.  I couldn't have done it by myself.

Happy Tuesday.

Decisions, Decisions...

I'm bored today, which should be highly unlikely given all the stuff I could be doing. I don't feel much like doing any of the things staring me in the face...like laundry, cleaning, pulling weeds, preparing the guest area for company, cooking, or working on art.  I did work on a couple more painted fabric designs this morning, but one of them is a glue resist and it has to dry for 24 hours before I can do anything else with it.   Good news...all the fabric that I washed yesterday turned out fine...no bleeding, no paint washing down the drain, so that's one thing I can jump up and click my heels about.  Some of you curious types are probably asking what in the Sam Hill I plan to do with all this fabric...well, that is an excellent question, and one that I'm not sure I can fully answer at this time.  I did pre-order Alisa Burke's new book, SEW WILD which Ms. Burke herself claims will give me plenty and then some ideas for what to do with the fabric that I created from taking her class.  Soooo, I'm waiting for the book to arrive which should be tomorrow if the POST OFFICE GODS are smiling.    I was going to work on another journal, but that plan went by the wayside when I couldn't seem to cut the photo paper I wanted to use in the right size.  I won't go into any more detail, because it's kind of a long story and I don't come off very well in it.   Anyway...here are a few pictures just because I like taking pictures of stuff around the house.  It's some journal making junk and a shot of the fireplace in the bedroom where we have some red glass with tea light candles in them...hubby's idea...he saw something similar on the Gene Simmons Family Jewels show and liked it.  Who knew Gene Simmons was a decorating inspiration?

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and the title of this post is not totally irrelevent...I have decided to sell some of my dolls.  I'll start listing tomorrow on eBay.  How it goes will have bearing on whether I sell two or more.  I doubt that I will sell all of them, but I think I'm ready to get rid of most.  More on that as it happens. 

Toodles.

 

More Doll Dilemma...

I've gotten so tired of wrestling matches with my giant doll.  She won't stand up for anything, due to the fact that she's so heavy and in my opinion, she has way too many joints for such a large, heavy doll.  You would think that these dolls would be better engineered considering what they cost.  They should be able to sit, stand up, stand on one leg, do a head stand...well, they should at least sit and stand properly.  Some people have purchased doll stands for this doll, but I don't like doll stands.  If you can see a device holding the doll up, then it ruins the illusion somehow. I finally got annoyed enough to try something, and it kind of worked.  I put painter's tape on her waist joints, hip joints and knee joints which firmed those spots up enough to get her to stand...more or less. 

 

 

 

It was still hard to get her to pose in a good position, hence the weirdness of these pictures.  I bought the two dresses in the pictures last weekend at an antique mall and the pink one fits fairly well but the white one is a bit too big.  That's another gripe I have about this doll.  It's been harder than heck to find things that fit.  Things that I like, anyway.  I bought several pairs of shoes that don't fit, had problems with a couple of dresses, wigs are not great either...I like the wig she has on, but it won't stay on and is kind of wrinkled in some places.  I bought some eyes that didn't work.  I don't want to say that the bloom is off of this particular rose, but I'm afraid it is.  She does display well, when just sitting around in a chair or something but trying to change her clothes or move her around is a pain in the tushy.  If it wasn't such a long involved process to take pictures of everything and list stuff for sale, I really think I would get rid of all my dolls and their junk.  I may finally be burned out on this hobby. 

A Halloween State Of Mind...

Yes, I'm in the mood for Halloween and it's not even September yet.  I'm even thinking about turning the doll house we've been building into a haunted house...I think that would be cool.  I have tons of ideas for it, even though we're not finished building it quite yet.  I'm almost sure that's what I'll do...

Hubby came up with this idea for this handpainted sign...his idea and I created it...we make a good team:

 

I think it says "Welcome to Willcox House, where it is always Halloween",  or something like that. 

The other day, I was looking at the mess created by the doll house project.  Tons of scrappy pieces of wood and all sorts of odd shaped bits and pieces.  I found a bunch of pieces that I thought would make good tombstones for Halloween decor.  Here are two that I made, just to see what they would look like:

 

 

I'll probably use them as outside decor on the haunted doll house. 

In other artsy news, I've been doing some surface design work on fabric and having a good time playing around with that.  I'm also still working on some journaling and plan to make more journals, too. 

Other than that, I have to do some cleaning around here...I saw a dust bunny chasing the dog the other day. 

Cheers.

The Dolls Again...

I'm back on the fence about selling some of my dolls.  I had planned awhile back to sell at least two, then I never did anything about it.  I'm pretty happy with the group I have right now, I just think I have a few too many since I don't do that much with them.  Dolls, dolls, dolls...how did I get into this hobby anyway?  Oh yeah...I stumbled across DEN OF ANGELS about seven years ago. 

And speaking of doll forums, I get so confused at times.  I've been on the thread about Dollmore Lusions (my big, giant dolly) lately and the topic had veered onto whether or not Dollmore was going to come out with a new sculpt for the 80cm size doll.  It has recently been discovered that they are planning a new 120cm doll.  That's a BIG doll, folks!  And based on what the 80cm doll costs, it will be an expensive doll, too.  Very expensive.  I had mentioned that I was surprised that Dollmore would go in that direction due to the economy...here is part of my comment:  "Has Dollmore not heard about the economy in the United States??  I can't imagine many people paying that much for a doll these days..."   Another member burned me down about it, saying:  "There are still plenty of people who can pay that and more for a doll and I'm sure that Dollmore is well aware of our economy...How could they not be?"   Okay.  I stand corrected.  There may be a few people who could buy that new, expensive doll.  If you've got unlimited funds, go for it.  Whatever.  THEN...I look at the thread today and this is the comment I see, made by the same person who burned me down..."I just wonder why, in this terrible economy, Dollmore is making this new and very drastic change to the Lusion line."   WHAT THE...?????    Is it me?  Have I slipped a gear somewhere along the line?  Geez.  I don't get it.  I almost made a rude noise on that thread as a response, but I didn't.  It was hard not to, though.  I decided to vent on my own blog instead.  I'm allowed to do that, aren't I??  Well, from a few past incidents you would think not, but I'm the boss here and if it makes me feel better to vent, I will vent.  Thank you, and I hope everyone has a nice day.  I think I'll stay off of the doll forum for awhile.

 

Doll Modification...

I have a ball jointed doll that I've disliked ever since I first laid eyes on her.  I won't discuss the brand name of the doll here, although most doll aficionados will know, I suppose.  The doll arrived with a wonky leg.  I can't even describe exactly what's wrong with it...it just isn't right.  She won't sit worth a darn and doesn't stand very well either.  What do you do with a doll that won't sit OR stand?!?!  Well, I decided to modify her.  I'm quite mad about the work of the French doll artist Julien Martinez (go here to see his work and page down to see the Unoa he modded...an UNOA!!) so I'm going to do something similar to the doll I dislike.  I've started on her face...

 

 

 

I have a long way to go with this project yet, but I'm liking it so far.  And by the time I'm done with her, she WILL stand up...I promise. 

I've also worked on the small bamboo leg table.  I painted it with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White, then went over that with the Versailles color.  I hadn't used that color before.  I'm not normally a big fan of green, but this color is okay.  I sanded it down to the Old White in places and even down to the wood in places, too.  I waxed it this morning with clear wax.  It's drying now.  Before the sanding:

 

After:

 

 

I've got a bee in my bonnet about taking another online class or two.  Found a class on quilting that I might just want to try.  The price is reasonable and it looks like fun.  Not that I don't have enough to do, but what the heck. 

 

The Curse Of The Giant Dolly...

I had a bad case of grabby hands for my Dollmore Lusion long before I finally got her.  Since she's been here, though, I've had no luck whatsoever trying to find clothes, shoes, eyes and wigs for her.  I just want one really good wig that suits her and fits her head and one pair of eyes that fit her eyeholes and maybe a couple of pair of antique style shoes and a few dresses in the Victorian style that I love...but you would think I've been asking for the moon and stars.  Everything I've bought for her has not fit or not suited in some way.  I've honestly never had such problems outfitting a doll...and I've had all kinds of dolls, all different sizes.  The patterns I ordered from Morrissey...I waited, I begged, I emailed them.  It finally took a threat from PayPal to get the patterns.  Four pairs of shoes do not fit at all.  A pair of eyes didn't work.  A couple of dresses were passable, but not great.  The wig I ordered arrived today.  AFTER I had to lay in wait for the postman and ask him why the tracking showed that the package had been delivered yesterday, but I did not receive it.  Seems someone (a different mail delivery person, supposedly) had read the address wrong and left the package at an address down the street.  Fortunately, whoever lives at that address must not pick up their mail every day, because the mailman was able to go down the street and retrieve my package and bring it back to me.  Then, I open it in great anticipation only to find out that it is way too small for my doll.  I had specifically asked the person I ordered it from if he could make a wig to fit a Dollmore Lusion and he said YES!  Uh...not really.  Fortunately, I do have a doll or two that the wig will fit, but I am still left without a wig for Hadrienne.  The large, cursed, barefoot, incomplete dolly.  Dang. 

 

Not exactly the look I was hoping for...