arabella cucumber

a new autumn leaf

2009-04-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry things have been so quiet here lately. Life has been absurdly hectic and the time has come for me to admit that these days I've had less and less time to make dolls (though I have been doing lots and lots of fledgling writing) so....

I'm going to wish you all a wonderful autumn (and if you would like a gorgeous handmade pumpkin candle like this one to celebrate it with, you can nip down to a little light on High St, Westgarth and pick one for yourself), say a big warm 'thank you' to everyone who has read my blog and supported me in my doll making ventures, and invite you to visit my new website, imaginatively entitled:

annabranford.com

saturday morning

2009-02-15T02:59:00.001-08:00

We got up very early on Valentine's day and set out for ceres with our baskets of stock...

Chickens one and two dry felted these exquisite dolls...

Jo, did some needle-felting too...

and this is what she made!

Chris made some utterly gorgeous jewellery...

Peta made heavenly pockets of lavender and rice (which small hands were quick to grab as you can see) ...

I made some bits and pieces too, including these dolls in little pouches...

Claire contributed exquisite oriental accessories...

A little over $350 was made towards the bushfire appeal and a wonderful time was had by all.

Thank you so much to everyone!

fighting fire with craft...

2009-02-09T23:06:00.001-08:00

I think our local news is being broadcast globally so you probably already know that over the weekend, here in Victoria, bushfires claimed at least 173 lives and 922 homes, leaving 4200 people homeless.

In the midst of all this devastation (and I'm very grateful to note that I'm unscathed and that, so far as I know, all my friends are too) it is incredible to read about the ways in which the community has drawn together to help. From big corporations donating millions, to taxis giving free rides, to my local coffee shop donating a dollar from each coffee they sell this week, there's a very reassuring amount of good will in the air.

In a bid to join it, I'm planning a little craft stall at ceres this coming saturday to raise funds, taking along a few dolls and other bits and pieces I'll be making along with some gorgeous contributions made by some ever-so-crafty friends. If you're a crafty local and have something to contribute, please drop me a line (arabellacucumber.gmail.com). I'll be paying for the stall and running it myself, so any proceeds will go directly to the appeal.

The children from my sunday school have made some beautiful jewelry for the stall, so children's contributions are very welcome and will be treated and presented as the treasures they are.

Please let me know if you'd like to contribute or be involved!

The Snowman

2008-12-22T04:39:00.000-08:00

This little Christmas film, based on Raymond Brigg's beautifully illustrated story, came out in 1982 when I was seven and it was an important part of the Christmases my family spent in England at my grandparents' home in the New Forest. You wouldn't think that childhood joy and adult sadness could possibly be brought together so seamlessly as they are in these twenty-six minutes of animation.

I feel now, as I did then, that a particular variety of magicalness only really happens in England. I'm sure this perception is bolstered by the fact that I experienced England mostly at Christmas time, which definitely gave it an unfair advantage over the rest of the world. I loved the view from the plane as it landed, seeing all the fields laid out like patchwork and the tiny lit-up matchbox houses and knowing that my grandparents were down there in one of them. I think this scene was made all the more poignant because of the absolute joy of those landings and the necessary sadness later of rising up away from it again.

That song triggers something in my neuropathways and makes me smell things and see things and think things from twenty-five years ago.

A Christmas Carol

2008-12-20T03:51:00.000-08:00

Another secret whisper...

I don't really like Charles Dickens very much. I think he goes on a bit when he's describing things and he doesn't leave you any room to imagine anything for yourself.

But I do really, really love A Christmas Carol. I've seen and read all different versions of it and even at the school play standard of performance, the story still carries me away to the point that I worry that Scrooge might not be redeemed in time - which of course heightens my relief and joy when he always is redeemed.

One thing though, I wish 'scrooge' hadn't come to mean someone who is tight with money. It seems so unfair that Dickens' character is always remembered at his worst, when he ends up being so lovely. A scrooge shouldn't be a miser - it should be someone who sees the error of his or her ways and is able to do a complete turnaround and transform into someone wonderful.

If you feel like hearing the lovely song from the Muppet's Christmas Carol, 'One More Sleep Till Christmas' (sung by Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit - hooray!) I found it here.

(Actually, though, there are quite a few more sleeps till Christmas.)

O Little Town of Bethlehem

2008-12-10T04:54:00.000-08:00

It is a true testament to the loveliness of Christmas that we hardly notice the feebleness of the words to the carols we sing every year. In no other context would we tolerate a rhyme like 'when they are both full grown' and 'the holly bears the crown'. We would definitely look sideways at a phrase like 'But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes' or 'We three kings of Orient are'. But they must slip into our unconsciouses at a time when we are so full of cake and dazzled by candlelight and wild with excitement that our critical capacities never really catch up. And a good thing too, probably.

But one verse I love from beginning to end is this one:

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by
Yet in the dark streets shineth the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight

In Melbourne, where it's warm and sticky by Christmas time and you go for long walks in the evenings because you've been inside all day trying to stay cool, this image comes wholly and beautifully alive. It's so easy to imagine that young family looking around in the dark stillness for somewhere they could stay.

I think the nicest version of this carol I've ever heard is the one by Aled Jones with Libera, which you can listen to here if you like.

peg dolls

2008-12-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

You probably think I never make any dolls anymore and I was starting to think that too, but then visiting The Friendship Tree really inspired me. The orange felt and the little rusty bell are from there and the greyish brown felt is from here (I'm still on the first boot). You can make one of these just while you're on the phone to someone and they look so companionable when you put them all together...

gingerbread house

2008-12-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today I made a gingerbread house with my sister. So much fun....

The Friendship Tree

2008-12-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

If you're having any trouble unearthing your Christmas spirit (or creative spirit, or cheerful spirit or almost any other sort of spirit) and you're in Melbourne anywhere near the northern suburbs, there's somewhere you have to visit. It's called The Friendship Tree and it's at 272 High Street in Northcote.

It's one of those little spaces that make you almost feel you've just visited another world. There are rusty bells, mossy stones, rolls of chunky handmade felt, wooden toadstools, carved pebbles, scoops of sparkles, child-sized brooms and Christmas wreaths and best of all, nestled throughout all these beautiful things, are tiny pixies and fairies and other little folk all faceless and felted with hoods and shoes and wheelbarrows and other things that make hearts like mine glad!

some more christmas decorations

2008-12-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

Today I finally took some Christmas decorations to Pippa May Cook - the angels I showed you before, some robins and some hearts. They're all from 100% recycled materials as usual. In fact, twenty-five decorations later I am only about two thirds of the way through one boot!

If you'd like one you can visit Pippa's at 719 High Street, Thornbury. Or of course you could drop me an email.

Miracle on 34th Street

2008-12-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas films are kind of a mixed bag in my opinion. More later on those I love, but for now I’ll tell you a secret.

Whisper…I don’t like It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m hopeless with scenes in books and films where horrible things happen to elderly people. I’ve never recovered enough from the bit where the old chemist gets sprayed in the face to even begin to enjoy the happy ending…end of whisper.

But one of my very favourite Christmas films is Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 version). I love it for all kinds of reasons. It’s wonderfully clever and complex in its approach to the importance of magic and faith. It navigates the problems of commercialism without being reductive or cynical about the importance that Christmas and its trimmings have for lots of people (like me). And it's not every Christmas movie that can provide an interesting and measured critique of psychoanalysis while warming your heart and renewing your sense of wonder.

This is Kris Kringle (played by Edmund Gwenn) and Susie (played by the completely delightful nine-year-old Natalie Wood):

Lovely quote: "Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind."

christmas angels

2008-12-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

Pippa (of the lovely Thornbury Cafe Pippa May Cook) asked me to make some Christmas decorations for her shop, so I decided to chop one of those slippers up and get started. The bodies are about four centimentres long, they're made of all recycled felt and beads and they hang from gold threads. When A saw all twelve of them all lined up on their tray he said they look like Christmas space invaders...

but I think they're quite sweet.

first sunday in advent

2008-11-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

This morning my Sunday School group celebrated the first Sunday in advent. We read the story of the annunciation, lit the first candle on the advent wreath, and then the children assembled our nativity.

I suspect it's the first nativity to have been attended by a wombat, a turtle and a lump of amethyst (though I have read, with interest, of badgers in the Old Testament, so I suppose anything is possible).

Happy first Sunday in advent to you!

big hagrid shoes to fill

2008-11-27T00:03:00.000-08:00

I had a good find in an op-shop yesterday while I was looking for things to make Christmas decorations out of - these not-worn, unbelievably massive, chunky felt slippers. Look how big they are next to my feet!

Because I don't know anyone with HAGRID feet, I've been thinking I might use the felt to make some Christmas angels. I've never had such beautiful felt to work with before!

But I've had them on my coffee table for a couple of days now, and the more I look at them, the more they seem to have a sort of symbolic value. The world has been so kind to my dream of writing for children. Just now it's giving me more than I ever ever asked for. Like, borderline miraculous stuff. And it feels a bit like having requested something from within the realm of the ordinary and being given something from the realm of the utterly extraordinary!

And there's also the metaphor of having big shoes to fill. My aunt was one of the really, really wonderful children's writers. My favourite book of hers is called The Fated Sky. In fact it's one of my favourite books of all time, children's or otherwise. And there are other reasons to be proud of her too, like this and this.

She was also a bit of a magic sort of person.

In the meantime, having big shoes to fill sounds like a scary thing, or at least a challenge, but that's not really it feels. It's more just a nice thought that maybe with her first book, she felt a little bit like this too.

folding and shelving

2008-11-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

I have struggled since second grade (when our teacher read my class the story of Sadako) to fold a paper crane. I buy those beautiful packets of origami squares with a heart full of hope. And yet the sight of the instructional diagrams on the back gives me a sinking feeling. It's the same one I have when I buy a beautiful piece of furniture, only to be presented with a flattish box and an allen key.

The first few steps are absurdly simple and over-explained, lulling me into a false sense of security. Fold the square paper diagonally in half so that you have a triangle (a shape with three sides). Take this instruction manual out of its packet and unfold it so that you can read it. And then, without warning it happens. Rotate fold 45% to the right, squash flat, partially invert outer fold and repeat on all four sides. Use shelf clips to pre-clip posts, tapping downward in order to engage post.

I've mastered the paper crane.

The shelves are in their box, under the bed.

eggs, mice and slippers

2008-11-11T20:22:00.001-08:00

Life as a fledgling children's writer has been too exciting lately for much to have happened in my life as a doll maker (I don't want to blog any chickens before they hatch, but I will say that my egg has some good sized cracks and I'm pretty sure I can hear a bit of cheeping).

Even so, I have made a couple of little things this week.

I made this mouse from the remains of a soft brown jumper which was mostly made into birds, three of which should be in Baltimore right about now. It is sort of an experiment as I would quite like to make some Christmas mice).

And I made these slippers from recycled kimono fabric and lining (the top bits) and recycled corduroy pants (the soles).

Sooo comfy.

haiku of a bridesmaid

2008-11-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

If I fall over
I will ruin the wedding
But my hair won't budge

(Here you can see a teeny bit of the dress.)

Three Birds for the Uterus Brigade

2008-10-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

(I bet I'm the first person ever to write that sentence...)

Just in case you were thinking that I never make anything anymore, you're almost right - there hasn't been much time for sewing in the last couple of months. But this morning I finally finished these off and have sent them off to join the Uterus Brigade:

The Uterus Brigade raises funds for people who are infertile and for whom ivf is difficult to access for financial reasons. They do this by running auctions on ebay and I think they are opening an etsy account too. Funds are being raised at the moment for Vee and Max, a couple dealing with infertility and cancer, and Mary, who is in her ninth year of trying to have a child.

If you follow the link given above, you can learn more about these people and also about the workings of the brigade. If the cause interests you, you can help by donating something, or by bidding on something here, or just by sending your good wishes out into the ether.

A Room of One's Own

2008-10-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

Following on a bit from my previous post about introversion, I've been rereading Virginia Woolf's essay, A Room of One's Own. I like the essay for two reasons, one quite good and the other probably not very good.

The not-very-good-reason is that it refers briefly to a Manx cat, which is a cat without a tail. Manx means 'from the Isle of Man', which I am and which not many things are. I think it's a nice and friendly looking word, good to stumble upon while reading.

The slightly-better-reason is that I am a firm believer in the essay's main and often quoted premise: that 'a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction'. I'd only qualify it to say that, if she is me, she needs both of those things (though not a great deal of either) to properly enjoy life at all.

But further on in the essay, Woolf loses me a bit. She starts laying into her female predecessors whose lifestyle choices are deemed to have caused 'the reprehensible poverty of our sex'. She suggests that they might have been usefully employed in business or trading on the stock exchange, asking if instead they have been merely 'Powdering their noses? Looking in at shop windows? Flaunting in the sun at Monte Carlo?'

I understand her frustration and sense of wasted opportunity, but I think I was especially sorry for her damning indictment of her friend Mary's mother, depicted in a picture as 'a homely body; an old lady in a plaid shawl which was fastened by a large cameo; and she sat in a basket–chair, encouraging a spaniel to look at the camera'.

It's all very well to have a room and some money of your own, but is that really enough to equip a woman to write fiction after a day on Wall Street or running a business? Surely she also needs some time - not just to write, but to spend in her room, and outside in the sun, and walking in the evenings to see what people have put in shop windows.

And if she does have a little bit of time, why on earth should she not spend some of it in a basket chair wrapped in a plaid shawl fastened with a big cameo, enjoying the company of a spaniel? It sounds like a lovely morning to me.

I bet Mary's mother was secretly a fiction writer...

The SVP Official Introvert's Bill of Rights

2008-10-15T03:13:00.000-07:00

I've discovered a new blog I love. It's kept by two writers, Robin LeFevers and Mary Hershey, and it's called Shrinking Violet Promotions. The authors identify as introverts and their blog is about how they set about promoting their work in light of their social preferences.

I identify 100% as an introvert and I love their official 'Bill of Rights', pasted below (with full credit to LeFevers and Hershey).

THE SVP OFFICIAL INTROVERT'S BILL OF RIGHTS

1. Introverts have the right to claim a sacred space of their own for recharging, rebalancing or simply enjoying a single, solitary activity.

2. Introverts have the right to leave social events "early" as needed.

3. Introverts have the right to explore and choose the marketing and promotional activities that feel best suited to their unique style and preferences.

4. Introverts have the right to abstain from any marketing (or life) activities that result in boils, a resting heart rate > 120, and/or loss of any bodily function.

5. Introverts have the right to marry other introverts and bear children.

To this excellent list I would only add:

6. Introverts also have the right to not marry anyone and just have a cat.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

2008-10-11T03:32:00.000-07:00

One of my (many) goals for the summer is to read a children's book every day. I have a bad, expensive habit of plucking beautiful new ones off the shelves, but am developing better, more economical habits, such as buying fistfuls from op-shops (ten for a dollar - hooray!) and utilising the local library.

Today I read this book by Eleanor Coerr:

I knew the story already, but that didn't stop me from loving and sniffling my way through this version.

I especially liked the little bits of poetry included, like Mrs Sasaki's old poem:

Out of coloured paper, cranes
come flying into
our house

and the poem for Sadako when she was little:

O flock of heavenly cranes
Cover my child with your wings.

Ramona

2008-10-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems so full of the doom and gloom of the economy and the probability of a big depression coming soon and, like the good sociologist I am, I'm wondering how that will play out for trends in popular culture.

I wonder if, during times of need, people lean more towards escapist fantasies into over-the-top luxury (Sex and the City, for example) or if there might be a new-found interest in the kinds of books and films that illuminate all the small pleasures scattered through the everyday world? I think I'd really appreciate a shift towards the latter.

What books like Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel and films like Amelie do for me now, Beverly Cleary's Ramona stories did for me in childhood, unearthing all sorts of hidden joys and making life seem filled with interesting pleasures. So it's astonished me, rereading the Ramona stories now, to find that almost every narrative in the whole series is concerned with the Quimby family's poverty and the different ways they find of making the best of it.

This, for example, is Ramona's new two-wheeler, of which she's extremely proud (and for which I, with my real two-wheeler, envied her!) Her neighbour Howie, there in the background, took one of the wheels off for her and here she is, figuring out how to ride it.

I'd love to think that these kinds of books might find their way to the fronts of the shelves again. Or that, if the doom-mongers are right and everyone is eventually too poor to buy books, they might at least stock some extra copies of Ramona at the library, so that another generation can learn the small pleasures of pulling out tissues, squeezing out toothpaste, losing a tooth and having a brand new eraser.

marking 84 essays

2008-09-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

how to buy a bridesmaid's dress in ten easy steps

2008-09-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

1. Have good clear parameters in mind, e.g. something slightly below knee length, a nice neutral colour and a style which is simple and timeless (since images will be available to all and sundry on facebook ever after). Budget sensibly.

2. Set out early in morning to allow full day to try on every dress in Melbourne. Consider possibility of finding lovely dress, reasonably priced and surprisingly flattering, within an hour or two of arriving in city. Then a nice early start could be made on Christmas shopping. Congratulate self on being organised enough to think about Christmas shopping in September. Brilliant.

3. Arrive in city and begin with short-listed shops. All dresses either resemble s&m gear or pregnancy tents. Stop at gift shop and buy nice smelling candle thing as sort of extra Christmas present. Convince self that this constitutes an encouraging start.

4. Double anticipated budget and move onto round two of shops.

5. Make mistake of telling stick insect shop assistant about required bridesmaid dress. Fend off ridiculous suggestions for almost half an hour before sneaking out while she is in the store room looking for strange silky dungarees she claims are quite the thing for bridesmaids this year. Wonder if stick insect actually knows what a bridesmaid is.

6. Suspect that high-waisted empire line dresses so highly recommended by Trinny and Susannah might prove a pleasant surprise. Try on several. Resemble three-year-old girl with peculiarly old head. Start to feel irritated by increasingly sickly smell of candle.

7. Become actually nauseous, possibly from candle, possibly from sight of self in dress surely suitable only for drag queen, yet triple anticipated budget. Stop for fortifying cup of tea and dump revolting candle.

8. Set off home utterly disconsolate.

9. Stop at local food shop for cheering dinner and look without much hope in clothes shop next door. Find nice dress, slightly below knee length, neutralish pale pink and sort of 1920s. Try on and like. Check price with dread. About 1/2 anticipated budget. Take to counter and be told that rack is 30% off this week. Cheer shamelessly and buy.

10. Prance around flat in new dress, trying on with various shoes and jewellery, enjoying slight resemblance to extremely stylish mum's mum, who wore similar dresses in the 20s and always looked lovely.

And there it is - in ten easy steps.

a year past

2008-09-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Your noisy feet
Your gentle kiss
We'll miss you
always
always
always

Milly Molly Mandy

2008-09-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

My bathtime reading of late has been a collection of Joyce Lankester Brisley's Milly Molly Mandy stories which I read as a child and couldn't remember anything about (other than that her real name was Millicent Margaret Amanda). I definitely hadn't remembered her family looking so Amish!

But now that I'm rereading the stories, they are all coming back to me - the one with the village party where she wins first prize (a fairy doll) and swaps it for the booby prize (a rabbit with sad eyes) and the one where she saves all the different scraps of fabric so she can feather stitch her mum a 'most beautiful tea cosy'.

Best of all I like the one where Milly Molly Mandy enters a competition for 'the best miniature garden (grown in a bowl)'.

"Next she went poking about down by the brook and she found some nice moss-grown bits of rotten wood; one bit looked just like a little green mossy cave, so she took it home and put it in the bowl by the holly tree; and then she planted some grass and a daisy root in the rest of the space, and it really looked quite a pretty garden. It grew so nicely, and the baby holly-tree opened out its new little leaves as if it felt quite at home there."

Ahh!

loving the springtime

2008-09-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Spring seems suddenly to have arrived in Melbourne. The jasmine in my back garden has exploded and the evenings feel like a perfumed bath.

I love springtime :)

two monkeys and three sisters

2008-08-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

This morning these two went off to Small Dreams in their snuggly sock clothes

And were joined by these three sisters

I hope they all find happy homes.

no news, just new shoes

2008-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

someone in Colorado called Karmen whose hat I like

2008-08-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the prolonged silence - I think the most gaping hole yet in my blog-updating history!

Here are some excuses:

1) I just started a new job and omg I am busy
2) My sewing machine is broken
3) I have a secret project

Regarding that secret project can you, dear reader, whoever you are, think of something that symbolises creativity without being tied down to any particular form of art (ie not specifically related to painting or music or whatever)? Any ideas will be gratefully received and considered.

I have been looking online for inspiration and found this collage, on a blog called Chaotic Utopia.

If you would like to see the image in it's proper home and also read some interesting stuff about how and why spirals happen, here are some thoughts by someone in Colorado called Karmen whose hat I like.

clever and inspiring people

2008-07-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here is the website for Mine Kids in Olinda, the new toyshop I mentioned earlier this week. It looks amazing...

I also found a glowing and well deserved review of Pippa May Cook, the cafe where Jewel and I breakfasted yesterday. I second the writer's motion about Pippa's crumbles but I think the small gallery of children's art near the wooden stove deserves a mention too.

my first guest blogger! (her pen name is 'jewel')

2008-07-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

Today I had a day with Anna. First we did our hair in two little buns with flowers

and then we went to Pippa May Cook which is where some of Anna’s dolls are and I had tea and Anna did too but she also had a rassberry and armond tart.

After that we went to get our nails done at the beauty salon. We had our nails done by a lady called Josie. She was nice and funny. I chose the colour that was called Hollywood and Anna got the colour nude pink.

After that we caught the train to the city and had sushi on Flinders lane

and then we went to Kikki K and Smiggle and I got some folders.

[Thanks for a wicked day Jewel - love Anna xxx]

happier than I look

2008-07-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

Excuse the watermarks...I found this online today, from an article in the local paper late last year!

For someone who actually really enjoys sewing, I always manage to look completely miserable doing it in photos...

Mine Kids in Olinda

2008-07-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

Today I packaged up some dolls to send to a toy shop which is opening tomorrow called 'Mine Kids in Olinda'.

What a good excuse to have a weekend away in the mountains some time soon, just for the joy of seeing them on the shelves (or, of course, the even greater joy of not seeing them on the shelves...)

Wishing the new shop all the very best for its grand opening!

sex and the city

2008-07-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

I always do this - ignore something that everyone is talking about and then, four years later, realise it's interesting and beautiful! My insomnia has recently reached new heights of ridiculousness and so I have been making my way through the final series of Sex and the City. I think this is possibly the most beautiful dress in the world:

a new doll design

2008-06-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

This is a new doll design I have been working on...

saint seraphina

2008-06-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

I've been absent lately partly due to laptop nightmares but also because of some research work I've become involved in, to do with Roman Catholicism.

This is Saint Seraphina, the patron saint of sewing (among other things):

She is said to have lived in poverty but to have been a gifted spinner and seamstress and to have used these gifts for charitable endeavours. Then when she was older she was afflicted with some illness which she bore very gracefully, but which meant that she had to be carried on a board, always in terrible pain.

Poor Saint Seraphina. I hope her hands are poised like that to show the lady squatting beside her exactly the length of velvet ribbon she needs for her next charitable project.

happy birthday lucy!

2008-06-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

Just recently I had the lovely job of creating a custom doll for a very good friend of mine. It was to be a birthday gift from her grandmother. She has drawn this beautiful picture of the doll:

She is so clever :)

I got mail!

2008-06-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

St Andrews Markets

2008-06-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I took some of my dolls to St Andrews Market, which is just about the loveliest and most idyllic place to spend a morning that I can think of (except maybe bed).

My friend Sam, who sells the best caramel nuts ever (they make your clothes smell lovely if you have a stall beside hers and I should know) picked me up early in the morning and we drove out through the mist and cold and into that little paradise of fresh air and drumming and children with dreadlocks. We'll be there again this coming Saturday if it isn't too rainy and I'll have some pictures for you.

Or, of course, if you're a local you could come and say hello. I would love that :)

update

2008-05-25T06:04:00.001-07:00

To those who helped with my small contribution to the Uterus Brigade project, just wanted to let you know that their fundraising goal was met last week, meaning that Calliope will be able to access the IVF treatment she has been hoping for. If you're the finger crossing type, I believe things will be getting underway for her in July. Awesome :)

new things

2008-05-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

I hardly ever shop, partly because I don't have time and partly because I am not much good at it. But just recently I went shopping and did REALLY well. I think so anyway. These are the things I bought:

A top that makes me look pregnant but sooo comfy. I think it will be good for after Christmas dinner...

Some pajamas bottoms with berries on them...

And some woolly socks...

Hooray!!

Day in the life of a doll maker with OCD and the morning off

2008-05-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

7.00 Wake up to message that work is cancelled for the morning. Make pot of tea and take back to bed with book and cat.

8.00 Still in pyjamas, set up sewing machine and doll-making things. Sew and enjoy growing sense of wellbeing.

9.30 Reflect on probability that others would have frittered away such a morning. Count items made and congratulate self on industrious nature.

10.00 While enjoying gentle hum of machine, suspect self of having attained stage of creative enlightenment and contentment most can only dream of.

10.30 Decide to head out for work at 11.00, leaving full hour for leisurely tram ride. Ponder the unlikelihood of industriousness, creativity and excellent time management skills co-existing in the one person. Reflect on fortunate fusion of own character traits.

10.45 Regretfully set pyjamas aside. While dressing, wonder how much better Tom Hanks might have fared in Cast Away if he too had been industrious, creative and organised. Further embellish fantasy of own management of desert island situation.

11.00 Set out for tram stop with spring in step, mentally devising solar water heating system involving showerhead made of coconut shell with holes in it.

11.05 Think suddenly of own shower and wonder if turned off properly. Go back to check and, while there, check hair straighteners. Both fine. Set out again, still making excellent time.

11.10 Try to remember turning electric blanket off. Have vague mental image, but could be from day before. Go back to check and, to make trip seem worthwhile, check hair straighteners again, also heater. All are off. Advise cat it’s all very well to look disdainful when you’re not the one who’ll have to sort things out if home goes up in flames. Apologise to cat for outburst. Pour out extra cat biscuits to demonstrate sincerity.

11.20 Arrive at tram stop confident that, short of natural disaster, odds are good that home will survive day.
11.30 Board tram with plan for leisurely trip abandoned in favour of mad rush.
11.35 Attempt to eliminate niggling suspicion that, somehow, something is still on. Reassure self by bastardising Principle of Ockham’s Razor (that, with every unknown variable, the likelihood of something being true is cut smaller.) Proceed to divide chance that something was left on in the first place, by chance that first check missed it and second check did too. Divide that result by chance that cat could figure out how to turn something on in absence. Factor in approximate probability that, even if electrical goods were left on, place would in fact burn down. Feel marginally better.

11.40 See fire truck heading in direction of home and further employ Principle of Ockham's Razor.
11.45 Arrive at work with fifteen minutes to spare. Have cup of tea. Admire sensible people who have been there since 9.00. Envy Tom Hanks and lack of anxiety-provoking appliances. Seriously rethink morning's judgement of fellow human beings, previously dismissed as members of incomprehensible rat race, who in fact appear considerably less wired than self despite morning off.

cast away

2008-05-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

Being not a huge fan of either Tom Hanks or Helen Hunt, I never bothered with this film but it was on the telly, muted, last weekend while I was marking a big pile of essays. By the time I got to the end of the pile there was still a bit of the film left and I've found myself thinking about it ever since.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, Tom Hanks plays Chuck, a FedEx employee who washes up on an uninhabited island with a load of unopened FedEx packages and nothing much else and lives there for four years. So he was isolated from all human contact for quite a while and presumably thought he would die there, which is admittedly a bit grim. But even so, he was surrounded by a heavenly aquamarine sea (full of fish) and dwelt among rows of coconut trees (full of coconuts). And THIS is how he lived:

All he seemed to do was run about on the coral reef needlessly cutting his feet and then crying and bleeding everywhere.

If that was me, stranded on a desert island (particularly with the benefit of two blades from a pair of iceskates, a deflated dinghy, a dress and various other potentially useful items which he had), it would have been much more like this:

(The image above is by Stylist Laurence Pasquier, though I filched it from my friend Peta Rudd's blog Colour and Design)

Having made a fishing net out of coconut fibre and a fire from two sticks, I would have sat on my deckchair (fashioned from driftwood fastened with iceskate laces) resting on my cushion (made from squares of dress fabric stuffed with more coconut fibre), put some lovely fresh fish on my campfire and, with a nice cool shell of coconut milk, watched the sun go down every night, hoping no one found me too soon.

What does this entry have to do with doll making? Well, the closest Chuck comes to creativity is drawing a face in blood (ew) on a volleyball from a FedEx package and naming it Wilson...the brand name of the volley ball. His gradual descent into madness is largely represented by his growing tendency to regard 'Wilson' as a living companion.

But I bet that while I was sitting in my deckchair having dinner and watching the sun go down, I would find some way of making a few dolls to keep me company, so I was looking online to see what sorts of dolls people have made from beach materials, and I found this beautiful doll on a website about viking children's toys:

I'd love to find one of these on etsy.

happy mothers day to my mum

2008-05-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

My mum is being tricky to get hold of this mothers day, but just in case she has time to check my blog while on her travels, this made me think of her, as daisies always do...

Sending lots and lots of love, hoping you're having a lovely time and looking forward to seeing you soon xxx

mothers day eve

2008-05-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I looked after two gorgeous girls I know and helped them to make this beautiful paper breakfast tray for their mum for mothers day tomorrow.

I am a genius and I apply my wisdom daily

2008-05-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

I have an ambivalent relationship with the concept of affirmations. I have seen The Secret (twice actually) and I think there is a grain of truth in the idea that, just as a rotten attitude breeds more rottenness in your life, so might a positive attitude attract good things.

Then there is the leap to the idea that repeating positive statements in your head (or sticking them to your bathroom mirror or whatever) is a vital step in having a positive attitude. Again, I don't want to sound unduly scathing. If I was able to say to myself, 'what is the unique gift in this situation?' every time I dropped something, instead of 'nice one, idiot', like I usually do, my morning routine would probably be fundamentally altered.

But whenever I see or read something like The Secret, and get tempted to try and censor my 'inner dialogue' (you see how well acquainted I am with the discourse?) I always worry that I might stop believing myself when I actually do have a positive thought. That is, if every time I am filled with horror and dread about something, I say to myself 'I am calm and confident about this upcoming challenge', could it backfire? Could it get to the point that when I really am feeling calm and confident, some other inner voice will whisper 'You're only saying that to mask your feelings of gross inadequacy'?

See, this is why I need to sew. It shuts all my inner voices up.

100 languages

2008-05-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

One of the big challenges in our sunday school group is that we range from children with almost no english to children with fluent, native english. Since our focus is so often on stories, it can be really difficult to ensure that everyone understands and can get involved if they like.

I have always loved the Reggio Emilia concept of the hundred languages. To quote part of a poem written by its founder, Loris Malaguzzi:

The child has a hundred languages
A hundred hands
A hundred thoughts
A hundred ways of thinking, of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always
A hundred ways of listening, of marvelling, of loving
A hundred joys for singing and understanding
A hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent
A hundred worlds to dream.

So I have been drawing on this idea to try and rework our curriculum to be more multi-language oriented, as well as drawing on another concept that is much newer to me, that of Godly Play. Godly Play involves providing children with lots and lots of world-building materials and encouraging them to use them to explore and develop sacred stories.

Because we have only just started, our resources are pretty limited, but here is one of the children making a beautiful yarn doll to contribute:

And here is some of what I found, to my delight, when I went to pack up our Godly Play table:

springs back when lightly pressed...

2008-04-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

As someone who is severely culinarily challenged, I've always been intrigued by the idea that when a cake is done, it 'springs back when lightly pressed'. I've never got that far in my own baking. I can SEE from the soggy runny bit in the middle and all the black stuff round the edge that no one will be needing to lightly press anything to establish how successful my cake is. But the magical Pippa (of the fabulous and ever-so-snug-on-wintery-days cafe Pippa May Cook) asked a while ago if I would try making some soft toy food and here it is - the first tray of muffins I have ever made that really do spring back when lightly pressed!

This is my favourite one. I finished it off while I was chatting to my mum on the phone last night.

I took my half-dozen into Pippa's today and she had the splendid idea of doing the next batch with fragrant spices in them and she even gave me some to try - cloves, cardamom pods and cinammon sticks. So the next batch will be infused with Pippa's magic dust :)

a new doll...

2008-04-29T01:12:00.001-07:00

in front of an old favourite painting...

autumn at sunday school

2008-04-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is our altar, decorated by the children for autumn...

..and here are a couple of our autumn prayers:

never been good with boys...

2008-04-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

A lovely woman at my church asked me if I could make a boy doll for her grandson's birthday and here he is, the girliest pirate that ever roamed the seas.

I think I'd better have another try.

wool wool wool

2008-04-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

A lovely friend of mine, who has supported me in my doll making pursuits right from the beginning, sent me a box of treasure this week:

It looks so tempting sitting there on my coffee table and has given me a zillion ideas for things to make!

nothing to do with dolls but...

2008-04-21T03:33:00.000-07:00

if you feel like warming your heart and ruining your eye make up, have a look at this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LExJ6oN4hUo&feature=bz303

arabella cucumber postcards

2008-04-17T01:21:00.000-07:00

After work today I printed some of these. It's very exciting as I have always wanted to design a postcard.

sisters

2008-04-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new range of dolls since I got back from my trip, all at different stages of completion.

Here are two sisters in the set:

meditation continued...

2008-04-15T05:09:00.000-07:00

Mulling over the idea of sewing as a form of meditation on the tram this morning, I remembered reading somewhere about a religious group, though I couldn't remember if they were Amish or Mennonite, who deliberately included a flaw in each piece of their quilting work. The idea was to acknowledge that no one except God could create something perfect. It will be a VERY long time before I have to make a special effort for my own work to include a flaw, but even so, it got me thinking.

So when I got into uni I did a bit of research to find out which group it was, and it turns out that Amish and Mennonites and all kinds of other people have had the same kind of idea. Among weavers of Persian carpets, it was called the 'Persian Flaw'. Mennonite quilters called the deliberately incongruous piece a 'humility patch'. I also found suggestions that Navajo sand painters and Islamic calligraphers have worked with the same premise.

The thing is, I'm not sure that imperfection really does undermine beauty. One of my PhD supervisors uses the expression 'the grit in the oyster that makes the pearl', to describe the way an element which seems a bit out of place can lend something (a story or a tune, for example) its especially appealing quality. Maybe it's a similar idea to the Japanese concept of wabi sabi - the principle, I think, that an object's beauty can emerge through its imperfect and transient qualities.

Amen to that, eh?

meditation

2008-04-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've never been any good at meditation and even though I'm quite bendy, I'm can't sustain much interest in yoga either. I don't know why - I love peaceful music and walks and I can concentrate on things for so long that I quite often find myself sitting in the dark in the early stages of dehydration/starvation, not having realised how much time has passed while I was focused on whatever I was doing. So I think I should be an excellent candidate for meditation, but for some reason, just when I think I'm doing it right, I realise that actually I have been wondering for the last fifteen minutes if I left the oven on, or if Britney will be alright in the end, or if there might be a way of making a convincing cactus out of felt.

Then again I love sewing so much that I sometimes wonder if it might be a sort of meditation in itself. Something about the rhythmic, repetitive action seems to at least slow my thinking down and guide it away from stressful minutia towards greater and more peaceful things.

So I've been thinking this morning about spirituality and sewing and especially about Shakers and their expression 'hands to work and hearts to God'. This is one of the versions of the symbol they sometimes include on their work:

I love it.

after a week of the flu...

2008-04-11T00:03:00.001-07:00

I feel like this.

I'm not sure who to thank...

2008-04-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

I am SO blown away by the generosity of the bids for the doll I have offered for auction in support of the Uterus Brigade. Because they have placed the doll on auction, not me, all I can see is 'bidder 1', 'bidder 2' etc so I have no idea who to thank...but whoever you are, bidders and well-wishers alike, I do thank you! Ever so much! And I know Calliope (the woman for whom funds are being raised at the moment) would too.

I am nursing the worst cold in the WORLD and have a sore red nose and even so, you have put a big smile on my face (between sneezes, anyway).

:0)

see?

philanthropica cucumber

2008-04-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

For literally years now, a woman I've never met and know only by the pseudonym Helen has been part of my daily routine. I'm an early riser and generally I get up, make myself a pot of tea, bring it back to bed, check my email accounts, read google news, and then see what Helen is up to. I'm not sure of my work timetable for the next month, I can't remember whether the recycling goes out tomorrow or next week, and I'm only pretty sure I have someone coming round in the afternoon, in which case I'll need to tidy up a bit. But Helen? I can recall with perfect certainty that, after rather a struggle, her twins (who were six months old the day before yesterday) are enrolled in swimming lessons which will begin on the 25th of April. It's absurd.

Anyway, Helen is involved in a project which I'm very happy to have something to contribute to: raising money to help this woman access fertility treatment. Basically her organisation, the Uterus Brigade, are requesting donations of ebayable items, listing them, and giving 100% of the proceeds for the cause. If you would like to know more about the Brigade (including how to donate something yourself) you can read about it here, and if you would like to bid on one of the items you can look here.

Predictably I've offered a doll and here she is, pregnant to embody my wish for the cause she supports.

If you were interested in bidding on her, that would really make my day. Most of my dolls are made from only mostly recycled materials - this one is from completely recycled materials, from her freshly laundered linen body to her unravelled-jumper hair! You can bid on her here where she is going for a mere five english pounds/$10.80 australian/$9.97 american. I will post her free to anywhere in the world she is wanted.

a brilliant week

2008-04-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

My first proper week back has been a brilliant one! As you can see I have two new stockists :)

The first is Pippa May Cook - the lovely cafe I wrote about when I first discovered it. I am so excited they will be there! And the second is Fairground Child, a gorgeous shop in North Carlton which specialises in locally made and fair trade products. For as long as I can remember I've daydreamed about something I have made appearing in the windows or on the shelves of shops like these...it's a lovely thing when a daydream comes true.

These are the most recent dolls I have made, though since I took this photo they have little beaded bags to carry tiny rice steamers and crockery miniatures I bought at the markets on my trip. Now they are all at Fairground Child.

an actual post about doll making

2008-04-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

This is the first of a new set of dolls I've been working on since I got back (and not finished - obviously!)

yarn doll

2008-04-01T00:21:00.001-07:00

I spent today with my friends Rachel and Jessica and they showed me a new doll making technique they learned at school.

Apparently you can do them with a skirt (like this one) or with pants! We had the best time :)

home again, home again

2008-03-28T15:22:00.001-07:00

I arrived home yesterday and felt a bit like the mole in Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows -as though my flat had been missing me and was pleased to have me back again (florence, my cat, let me know in no uncertain terms that she was glad too. She is currently curled up on my feet, purring her head off.) It's lovely to be home.

In my knee high stack of mail I found three copies of a magazine I love, Get Creative, with one of my doll designs in it - hooray!

Here it is, though if you would like to see it properly and not via my fuzzy photos you can click here, or of course buy a copy - it is a doll making issue after all.

missing you

2008-03-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

I decided not to bring any doll making stuff with me on holiday. Having just finished my PhD thesis and worked a few different jobs to make a break possible, I really wanted to take time out. I miss them as you can see.

hoi an

2008-03-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

I think we've landed in paradise. To get to the beach from our hotel you walk over this bridge and past some rice paddies and there you are. It's heaven. And I am SO making conical hats for my dolls when I get home.

beautiful hanoi

2008-03-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

Today I was feeling much more like taking pictures. While we were having pan au chocolat in a cafe, I was playing 'if I could live in any of these flats, which one would I choose?' I decided on the little skinny yellow one with the beautiful cluttered balcony.

Every now and then a woman came stepped out onto the balcony to show her brand new baby the world...and what a beautiful world for him to be emerging into!

This picture shows you two things which make big contribution to the streetscapes here - one is the practice of using a stencil to spray paint your phone number all over your shop, and another is making your dinner out on the street with your friends and children, cooked on one of these little stoves, into which people shove coal, bits of paper and anything else that is lying around. The whole of Hanoi smells like a bonfire because of these! I love it.

a lovely surprise

2008-03-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Hanoi yesterday evening and spent today strolling around very slowly trying to take in the most amazing fusion, where berets and conical hats wobble past on pushbikes or zoom alarmingly close on motorcycles, and where wide wicker baskets carried on sticks deliver croissants and baguettes along narrow streets to tiny patisseries underneath layers and layers of wonky balconies. I hope to have some pictures for you tomorrow but today I didn't want there to be even a camera between me and Hanoi. Also I didn't want to be distracted by something picturesque and get hit by a motorbike.

The pollution is intense and our hotel is gorgeous, so we were lazy tourists for a couple of hours this afternoon. While my significant other ate mangoes in the bath I browsed for doll blogs and, to my absolute delight, found this written by a woman I met at a market a couple of days before I left. She is a doll maker with a special interest in Steiner dolls and her daughters, one of whom I met, are doll makers too. Their blog is called the maidenhair tree and these are some of their utterly beautiful dolls:

Finding Jo's post and these gorgeous photos was the most beautiful link with home in a hotel room full of antique french furniture and tropical flowers!

The appeal of the miniature and the gargantuan

2008-03-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

It turns out that the miniatures I found at the market the other day are part of a whole genre here. You can buy whole bakeries, fruit and vegetable and street food carts and tuk tuks just exactly as they look here and perfectly to scale, that would fit in the palm of your hand. I love them and have been thinking a lot about why people like to see familiar things recreated in tiny forms. My favourite theory on this is Tolkien's - that we are driven to create because we have been created in the image of a Creator.

Then, in contrast with these tiny things, today we went to see the reclining Buddha which is every bit as awe-inspiring and beautiful as people say. To give you some idea of the scale, I am about as tall as one of his toes.

We got to the temple on this boat along the canal. I love seeing the higgledly piggledy backs of all the flats, with washing hanging out, pot plants, big cooking pots and tiny shrines.

tuktuks

2008-03-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

I love tuktuks! All the people who complain about them on the blogs etc that I read before coming here are whingers. They do swerve around and you do have to hold onto the bars, but that is part of why it's fun. This is ten seconds of today's trip to the market.

chatuchak markets

2008-03-08T05:41:00.001-08:00

Today we went to chatuchak, a massive weekend market. We walked around until our feet were sore and our jeans were sticking to us and we could hardly carry all our bags, and still only saw about 15% of what was there.

One of the things that surprised me was that alongside all the amazing things I had never seen before, such as these beautiful miniatures which I could not resist:

there was loads of the same stuff I see at markets in Melbourne and have seen at markets in India and England such as t-shirts which say 'take me to your dealer', effigies of Ganesh and little woven raffia boxes which always seem to be the traditional craft of whatever country you are in. Globalisation is at least as evident in flea markets as it is in shopping malls.

Living Creatively

2008-03-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

To my delight, just before I left for thailand I received a lovely email from a craft website I like, Living Creatively, telling me I had won their softie-making competition! Entrants were to make a softie in the likeness of a celebrity, so no prizes for guessing who I chose.

They're sending me a gift voucher of my choice (hooray!!) and I chose Readings, the best bookshop ever.

I LOVE bangkok

2008-03-06T05:01:00.000-08:00

This place meets every one of the silly romantic ideals of a Western tourist like me. On the streets you can buy coconuts, whole fish grilling and staring at you with their mouths full of lemongrass, long spears of melon and papaya which people with little carts chop, slide into plastic bags and hand over with a bamboo skewer for about 20c. Cats wander all over the place with their tails cut short. Mothers put their children in makeshift beds at night time markets and they play little computer games under the covers. There are shrines all over the place and people kneel in front of golden statues and pray holding fistfuls of incense and red roses. Its hot and sticky but I feel as though I could stay forever.

In terms of craftiness, bangkok is a funny mix of inspiration and slight discouragement. People make beautiful things and sell them on street sides for prices that would not even cover the costs of materials back home. But at the same time it is impossible to be around so much evidence of creativity and innovation and enterprising...ness without going into overdrive with new ideas of your own.

Part of me wants to try to photograph everything - I loved this billboard:

But other things don't work so well photographically, like the extraordinary view from our nineteenth floor hotel window, which reflects from another window a wide road full of cars, tuk-tuks and motorbikes weaving in and out of each other. Right now it is night time and the thousands of tiny streaming lights look like the candlelight procession at Lourdes.

adventure!

2008-03-05T04:36:00.000-08:00

This is me heading off from tullamarine...so exciting...

something different

2008-03-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

This is a doll I made for a friend as a gift for her sister after being given a detailed description of her.

I love making custom dolls for people - it's a brilliant way of trying out new things, like short hair and berets :)

something about being 32

2008-03-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

When you're 32 suddenly everyone you know gets pregnant. The first of my old inner-circle high school friends announced her pregnancy last week. Last night I spoke to a friend I went to primary school with who is pregnant with twins! And almost everyone I look up on facebook has a beautiful round tummy and a euphoric look on their face.

play kitchen

2008-03-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

A friend I babysit every week was given a beautiful painted wooden play kitchen for Christmas and we have been using felt scraps to make some food for her to serve.

tram craft

2008-03-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the set of pale-pink-and-green set of dolls that I have nearly finished. Mostly they have been made bit by bit on trams to and from uni.

Fact: Between Thornbury and Bundoora on the number 86 it is possible to make two jackets OR bead one scarf OR put most of the hair on a doll.

pippa may cook

2008-02-29T08:50:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the extra day in 2008 I am going to have breakfast at a new cafe on High Street, Northcote (number 719 I think) called Pippa May Cook. Everything there is homemade and tastes just like it and the whole atmosphere is inspiring and beautiful and cosy - perfect for a grey old leap year morning.

I found out yesterday that my lovely boss at work is expecting her first granddaughter to be born today - one of those babies I used to worry about when I was a child, who only has a birthday every four years!

Anyway, a few posts ago I said that this was the most beautiful image of a woman ever captured on camera, and definitely the most beautiful of Frida Kahlo. But now I stand corrected...by myself...I take it best that way.

Look at this:

If she lived in Northcote, I am perfectly sure she would have her breakfast at Pippa May Cook.

a new model

2008-02-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

This is doll is being custom made (she isn't finished yet) for a friend who has requested a plumper model. She is lovely and squishy to hold...

I think I might make a few more with the same build.

new kettle

2008-02-27T00:32:00.000-08:00

Last week a friend gave me a kettle that had been her mum's many years ago. Knowing I like red things (but apparently unaware I lack green thumbs) she suggested I grow something in it in my garden.

But I think I found a better use for it...

librivox

2008-01-30T23:15:00.000-08:00

I promise not to make a habit of plugging things on my blog, but I have recently learned of a website which I just have to recommend. Some of my work at the moment involves assisting university students with disabilities and the student I have been working with for the past few weeks is a wonderful young South Korean woman with a vision impairment, learning English as a second language.

Today she gave a presentation to the English class about Librivox, which is a website providing free audiobooks to the public. The books are out of copyright, read by volunteers all over the world and are used by people with vision impairments, including those in developing countries who have difficulty accessing audiobooks.

I hope to contribute to the site some time in the near future and if you would like to join me, the address is http://librivox.org/

some new designs

2008-01-30T00:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you to anyone who is still looking after such a long silence! I've had lots of work on, but I've also filled the cracks with lots of sewing, working with lots of pale fabrics in soft pinks and greens...my very favourite colour combination.

This last one has a belt buckle made from some jewelry my aunt gave me which used to be my grandmother's. I think it was once on a dancing shoe...

rose street markets

2008-01-12T01:36:00.001-08:00

Whenever I am feeling a bit low on inspiration, best of all I love the Rose Street Markets on Saturdays. It was especially excellent today, partly because I was there with two lovely friends I haven't seen in ages. But also because we met some children who were selling beautiful jewellery, toys, brooches and mobile phone/sunglasses cases they had made themselves.

There were three of them and they design under the name 'gij' which they created from their initials. Their work is amazing!

I bought a brooch and a toy which I have already started using as a pin cushion and my friends bought some beautiful things too.

frida frida frida...

2008-01-12T01:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being so quiet lately...I have been uber busy tying up the loose ends of my thesis (so nearly there!!) and also doing some sewing.

These are some Frida dolls I have been making as a set. I think they look a bit cross...

But after marrying that horrible Diego, who wouldn't be?

Fee B Squared

2008-01-03T03:31:00.000-08:00

I made this doll this evening for some friends of mine who requested one in the likeness of RRR's Fee B Squared - a big fan of the Pixies and an all round fabulous woman in my opinion.

I'm not sure I've really done her justice but I've had brilliant fun trying! I'll deliver it tomorrow and see what they think.

a titchy one

2008-01-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

This pocket-sized doll was made mostly from left over scraps of other dolls.

She was made during our mind-blowing new years heatwave and I felt sorry for her in her wintery outfit...but a bit envious of her hummingbird brooch, which I would love to wear.

happy new year!

2008-01-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

I hope you're having a splendid a new year so far. I have a sneaky suspicion its going to be a good one :)

Though I've been working hard to tie up the loose ends of my thesis (at last!) I've also been trying my hand at making sock monkeys. I LOVE sock monkeys. These two are in the early stages of creation as you can see...I can't quite decide what to do about clothes/facial features etc.

And if you were wondering what they are sitting in, that is a hammock chair my lovely boyfriend gave me for Christmas. It hangs from my verandah and I have my morning cup of tea in it. I love it.

christmas!

2007-12-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

These are some of the beautiful gifts I received this Christmas to ensure a happy new year of doll making!

In the picture below you can see both a beautiful set of tiny drawers (now full of beads and buttons and things) and a lush selection of new fabric scraps stacked above.

And this is a gift which I think will inspire some new arabella cucumber hairstyles...

I hope you all had a happy and peaceful Christmas too.

o christmas tree, o work bench

2007-12-21T03:27:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I turned my little fold-out writing desk into a work bench for doll making. That worked well until I put up my Christmas tree, since the only place my tree fits is in the space created by folding up my writing desk.

So while my tree is up...

my doll making stuff has been transferred to my normal desk...

and I write at my dining table.

Around the sewing machine.

Sigh.

fame and glory in Northcote

2007-12-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

Arabella Cucumber dolls appeared today in our local newspaper, the Northcote Leader, in an article entitled 'Have a Merry Green Christmas' about Christmas gifts made from recycled materials.

Clearly that was a morning well spent, cleaning and polishing my flat to perfection for the photographer, given that you can hardly make out one thing in the background. I even put flowers in the bathroom (not that I thought she would take pictures in there, I just thought she might need to go).

Anyway, I'm delighted that my dolls were included in the article, and that they appeared alongside such beautiful things as Pram Outings clothing, Jennifer Kerr mosaics and Flashback fabrics!

Plus it's really rather nice, having flowers in the bathroom.

golly, matilda and some sparkles

2007-12-17T19:20:00.001-08:00

This is a picture of my aunty mentioned in the previous post, with 'golly and matilda', made for her by my grandmother.

And these are two new dolls of mine, with brooches made from my grandmother's jewellery and sent to me by my aunty!

Things have been going so well lately in the doll making world that I think it might be my gran looking out for me - though my aunt deserves an honorable mention too :)

treasure!

2007-12-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Just recently I received a package in the mail that brought the biggest smile to my face, a bit like when Amelie finds the tin behind the tile in her bathroom! It was from my aunty, who lives so far away that we've hardly ever seen each other, but I have the nicest memories of the times when we have.

Anyway, this is part of the note that came with the parcel:

In one of mum's drawers she kept a pretty little round box. Pewter with a pink lid. I can only guess that originally it was a chocolate box. In it she kept broken old dress jewellery - probably from her youthful days as a ballroom dancing competitor.

Yesterday I read the latest on Arabella Cucumber's blog. I suddenly remembered that little box full of sparkly clips with 'diamonds' missing, odd earrings etc etc ... Mum and I knew we were saving them for some purpose, though. Perhaps Arabella Cucumber is it!

I am going to love working these into some new doll designs. I had already made lots of dolls before finding out that my grandmother, whose jewellery this was, was a doll maker too!

I'm thrilled to bits with each and every piece.

gingerbread house

2007-12-15T22:55:00.000-08:00

This afternoon my sister came round and we made a gingerbread house! Actually the gingerbread part was bought for me from ikea by my lovely boyfriend because the brand name is Anna's (and my name is Anna...) - we just assembled and decorated it. We even melted sugar to make glass for the windows :).

If you click on this picture and enlarge it you will see...Father Christmas in the chimney, a little person skating on a melted sugar pond, a mail box with mail in it and a bird sitting on top, a Christmas tree and a door with a wreath.

Around the back there are two snowmen with hats, a log pile, an igloo and a cat...

And at the side some flowers and pebbles...

one little, two little...

2007-12-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to try a feather head dress on one of my dolls for ages now and, although this one started out as a Frida (hence the monobrow) I tried this trim on her and I love it!

This doll is one of my smallest yet, only eight-and-a-half inches (excluding her new head dress). I think she's going to be one of those dolls I end up not wanting to part with.

best job in the world?

2007-12-12T04:48:00.000-08:00

I spent most of today with two of my most creative friends.

While I worked on a new doll, they sang me the carols from their recent school Christmas concert and made these beautiful Christmas decorations for their tree from felt and sequins.

I am pretty sure I have the best job(s) in the world...

I had a feeling...

2007-12-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

I had a feeling when I woke up this morning that it was going to be a lucky day, and look at these fabrics I found in the op-shop down the road!

This is a beautifully intricate lobster embroidered onto a big square of white organza:

This is a scarf made of wonderful crinkly kimono fabric:

And this, I think, was once the strap of a tapestry bag (but will soon be lots of little skirts).

Another excellent thing happened today but I'll tell you about it a bit later :).

miraculous medals

2007-12-07T23:14:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I finished three dolls I have been working on this week and put them in my etsy shop. They are smaller than the usual ones (only about nine inches tall) and they are all wearing miraculous medals. Here are some details...

Some of my PhD research has been on Marian visionaries and I love the story of St Catherine Laboure, who is said to have had the vision of Mary showing her the medal which would give its wearer 'great graces'. Mary's command was 'Now it must be given to the whole world and to every person'.

These are the tiniest miraculous medals I have ever seen, made of a very light metal, but with the images replicated absolutely perfectly.

As the self-appointed queen of Christmas spirit, I pronounce it an excellent time of year for all things miraculous!

new shoes

2007-12-05T16:07:00.001-08:00

Slippers actually...they are my early Christmas present to myself and, as a fan of all things cross-over, I love them.

My next few dolls will definitely be wearing slippers like these.