Bessie says...

Merry Christmas to you!

Amethyst. Not a Christmas Elf.

When I tell people that some of my doll heads

 are made of leather

they pull a face,

like I've made some kind of 

monstrous mask of rawhide.

I can understand that 

'leather head'

doesn't seem like a 

pleasant description of a doll.

Amethyst is a cloth doll

whose head is made of
stiffened and moulded leather.

I actually made her about seven years ago, 

and she came back specially

for a photo shoot.

I started making dolls

 with leather heads

because I wanted to make cloth dolls

with three dimensional profiles

and realistic features.

I'd tried felt

and I'd tried cloth over paper mache

but neither of these had been satisfactory.

Then I saw some moulded leather masks at a craft fair.

Remember those, way back in the 90's?

I had to guess at how they were made.

Fortunately for me, my first attempt,

using thin leather soaked

 in diluted PVA (white) glue 

worked well enough.

The leather was draped over a cheap bisque doll head,

and pushed and moulded into shape.

I found I could influence the expression of the doll, 

depending on how I squeezed and shaped

the leather while it was drying.

Usually the leather dries to a warm yellow.

 Like Bess, here.

Amethyst, however, is painted.

And she's painted because

I buggered up the original  face.

Originally, she was going to be a boy Elf.

But I had real problems

getting his face to look masculine.

(Even for an Elf.)

He got cute ears, though.

So I made him into a girl

and she belongs to my dear 

sister-in-law, Cherie

Amethyst has a gown of vintage green satin

and lilac silk,

with a dark green velveteen bodice.

She has little green leather ballet shoes

made over a tiny last.

Green glass leaves hang from her chain belt, 

and she wears

an enameled and jeweled headpiece 

and over-sized brooch to match.

The jewellery was the original inspiration

for the design of the dress.

She even has a green leather dagger sheath to match her shoes.

With removable dagger, obviously.

I didn't know how well the 

leather heads were going to last, 

when I first made them.

But Hubby has a little boy doll

I made over ten years ago, 

and it's exactly the shape

and the colour is as bright

as the day it was made.

And I'd make more

and put them on Etsy,

I just still don't know how to describe a

leather-headed doll

without it sounding a bit

creepy...

Talking of creepy,

this is my Christmas door wreath.

"And then let any man explain to me,

 if he can, 

how it happened that Scrooge,

 having his key in the lock of the door,

 saw in the knocker, 

without its undergoing any intermediate process of change 

-- not a knocker, 

but Marley's face..

The Coventry Carol

Such awful news. Anything I'd write would be inadequate, but my heart goes out to the children and parents and teachers and families caught up in this tragic event.

Psyche Knot.

The Box

See, I entered a giveaway.

You know, one of those giveaways

where the prize is utterly awesome

and you don't really expect to win,

but you enter anyway,

because you're crazy like that.

You make wishes on your birthday candles

You clap during Peter Pan.

You salute magpies,

(More on Magpies later)

and you enter giveaways for

amazing things,

Well, I entered such a giveaway and the prize

was a doll by M Ann M Creations.

Melanie Ann Mercado

makes the most beautiful dolls.

She creates them from papier mache

(I know how to spell papier mache. 

I just don't know how to find the accents)

over a wire armature, with nuts and bolts for joints.

 They are the ultimate paper dolls.

She's also a witty genius in the

 creation of more traditional paper dolls.

See this Can Can Dancer.

Isn't she a hoot?

How about this one?

On the front it reads

'A woman who

seeks to be equal with men

lacks ambition'

Yes, indeed!

You can see why

 I've been a fan of

her dolls for a while.

Melanie  has a feature

in this Winter's

Art Doll Quarterly.

Each of her dolls have a very individual character,

expressed through their faces

and clothes,

 accessories and furniture.

All made of paper.

Aren't these breathtaking?

So, obviously, I was going to enter a giveaway

 for one of her spectacular dolls

And I won!

Dear me, yes!

So, here is the de-boxing

(which apparently is the proper term

for taking a doll out of its box.)

of this wonderful doll

See the pretty ribbons?

Heck, I would have entered the giveaway 

for the ribbons!

They're now stashed in my ribbon box.

And now, an edible, visual pun.

I see what you did there, Melanie!

Funny and witty and tasty!

Oh! See her?

I was literally holding my breath

as I lifted her out of the box

The pretty shawl 

was in its own little box

and is made of soft, drapey paper.

I an so lucky and so thrilled to have won her!

Thank you, thank you Melanie!

Here are some of Melanie's

own photos of her doll.

It's been very grey weather

and my own photos don't really

do her wonderful creativity justice.

She's poseable, and her head turns.

Little paper sash,

 and her hair done up

in a cute little Psyche knot.

Her name is Jane.

Isn't she lovely?

For Melanie's Etsy shop, see here.

For her blog, go here.

For M  Ann M  Creations facebook, here.

Thank you so much, Melanie.

I was absolutely thrilled

 to have won Jane. 

She's exquisite!

Oh. Magpies?

More on this later.

Blushing Furiously

And if you want to know why,

go over to Teresa's wonderfully dollcentric blog

A Magical Whimsy

where she talks about my Miss R doll,

which arrived at her home last week!

Miss R as a work-in-progress.

My face is so pink!

Thank you so much, Teresa!

What wonderful things you wrote,

you make me blush!

Also,

over at Zoey's and Nanna's World

they're having a

 $100.00 visa card giveaway.

I couldn't see any comments

 or anyone else entered yet

so I thought I'd flag it up.

Because, for those of you 

who haven't noticed

Christmas is coming.

Oh my gosh!

 Ella found a new home!

Ella the Tall