Zacheus and Ursula At Play

I love "faceless" dolls as I believe that without their faces the doll's personality can speak for itself. You tend to look at the whole doll for her beauty versus just looking at her face. There is a quiet beauty to "faceless" dolls and "Ursula At Play" is one of those quiet beauties. She is new doll from our "faceless" colonial boys & girls series.

She and her brother, "Zacheus At Play!" along with her best girlfriend, "Rebecca" are a tight knit group of boys and girls. They are all "faceless" colonial beauties who just love hanging out together. Rebecca is the most dignified of the group and the most studious. Ursula and Zacheus are much more playful and love to tease each other as only "brothers & sisters" can. They pay attention to their studies, but when their done - well, they just love to play.

Zacheus can play with the best of them. Don't let his frilly outfit fool you. Zacheus is all "boy" and as rambunctious as only boys can get. He might have a filly outfit on but that won't prevent him from climbing a tree, going down to the pond to collect tadpoles, rolling down the hill, or chasing after butterflies.

Ursula pays close attention to her studies and is very attentive to the needs of her brother, Zacheus and her best girlfriend, Rebecca. While she loves to play she never forgets her manners and always remains very ladylike.

Zacheus also pays close attention to his studies and is very mindful of his duties. However, when he gets a chance to play he really likes to do so. And, even his frilly outfit, won't stop him from doing so. He is a rambunctious and playful Colonial boy after all.

"Ursula At Play!" is a 12" Colonial "faceless" cloth doll with muslin body and blushed cheeks . Her boots are painted black and cross-laced. Ursula has a mass of curly brown yarn hair all over her head. She is wearing lace trimmed bloomers that are gathered at the waist. Her slip is lace trimmed and gathered at the waist, as well. Ursula's yellow print dress has a multi-layer lace trim down the center front of the dress bodice. The sleeves are gathered at the shoulder and lace trimmed along the sleeve hem edge. Her dress has a combination dress skirt and lace dress overskirt that are both gathered at the waist. Lace bows decorate the front and back of the bottom edges of the lace overskirt. She has a lace shawl wrapped around her shoulders with a ribbon bow in the front. Her lace kerchief sits beautifully atop her full head of hair and is tied in a knot just under her chin.

"Zacheus At Play!" is a 12" Colonial "faceless" cloth doll with muslin body and blushed cheeks . His boots are painted black and cross-laced. Zacheus has a mass of straight reddish brown mohair hair all over his head. His printed sleeveless shirt has a center front lace strip and is gathered at the neck and he is wearing a matching suit. His pantaloons are lace trimmed along the bottom hem edge and gathered at the waist. His lined and coordinated two section jacket has two-toned lined over sleeves and lace trimmed sleeves that are both gathered at the shoulder. The jacket top is lined and the jacket bottom is lined and gathered at the waist. It also has lace trim along the neck, front, and bottom edges and is fastened in the front with an antique button. The sleeves of the jacket are gathered at the wrist.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh

My “Sweet Julianna” Primitive Art Doll New E-Pattern

"Sweet Julianna! Sweet Julianna!" There should be a song about "Sweet Julianna."

Sweet Julianna is a sweet and shy young primitive woman. She doesn't want to intrude. She just wants to help where ever she can.

She loves cleaning, gardening, sewing, crafting, decorating and cooking. She's extremely creative and oh so clever.

She was "Martha Stewart" before Martha was.

Sweet Julianna is just the sweetest little thing. You can't help but love her. And, she has a head of the most gorgeous dark gray curly hair that you'd ever want to see. It is so thick that it is the envy of all her graying friends.

Her goal in life is to serve others and do a little crafting."

She has a mass of dark grey curly hair which she is trying to control to no avail under her kerchief. She is a free standing doll with a cloth body, embroidered face with glasses, frayed house dress with lace collar, and frayed apron with bib and ties. “Sweet Julianna” is coffee stained throughout. She just wants to help.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh

My “Helena” Colonial Doll New E-Pattern and Handmade Doll

“Helena” is a PROUD member of the “Gray Is Beautiful!” Club.

Helena is a 12" Colonial doll that is proud of her beautiful grayish white hair. She's a tough old bird and can definitely handle anything that is thrown at her. The reason for that is that there is nothing in life that Helena hasn't seen or done. Everything she's learned to do she has taught herself. She's street smart, wise, prudent, loyal, feisty, and delicate, too. After all she is a female. She may be tough but she still likes frilly, feminine things like lace trimmed dresses and lace shawls. Helena kind of reminds me of the two old biddies from the movie "Gone With The Wind." You might see her walking down the street conversing with everyone and definitely letting them know her opinion on different subjects. Of course, she's also the one you turn to when you need advice for you can always count on her. If Helena says she'll do something then she will. She has beautiful whitish gray hair underneath her straw bonnet. She is a free-standing cloth doll with an embroidered face, lace trimmed dress with lace insert and floral ribbon decoration, lace trimmed slip, and lace shawl. Her bonnet had velvet ribbon ties, velvet ribbon band, and a floral ribbon decoration.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh

My “Play Ball, Please! Jeffrey” Little Boy Doll

Play Ball, Please! Jeffrey just wants someone to play ball with him. That's all he can think about from the time he gets up until the time he goes to bed. He just wants to "play ball!" Anyone up for a little baseball. Come on now. Jeffrey wants to "play ball!" Anyone?

Play Ball, Please! Jeffrey loves baseball. Jeffrey is a free-standing boy doll. He has an undershirt, long sleeve knit shirt, and sweatshirt vest. He has knit pants and Champion athletic socks. His face is drawn and he has round black button eyes and ears. He also has a fabric covered wood head, wood body and wood sneaker feet. His hair is long, brown, and wind blown. He is carrying a ball and bat is his hands.

Copyright © 2004 - 2023 - All Rights Reserved - Designed and Written By Linda Walsh

My Tassels & Tiaras: A Winged Wonders Doll Projects Artful Gathering Class - Butterfly Dolls

As you all know I love taking online arts & crafts classes. I literally could spend 24/7 just doing that.

I have been taking online classes at Artful Gathering since 2012 and have loved every one of the eleven classes I've taken.  Each year the selection gets better and better making it almost impossible to decide which class to take. So far I've taken crazy quilting, mixed media art dolls, needle felting, cloth art dolls and paper-clay art doll making classes.

I have to admit I'm a little partial to any classes being offered for doll making and have taken several of those.  Four have them have been taught by Hally Levesque who is an exceptional art doll artist and instructor who has a passion for historic, primitive, and mixed media art dolls.

Hally's classes are always filled with historical tidbits, multiple projects, and very detailed instructions on the making of each of the class projects.

The class I took in Session One this year was the 11th class I've taken at Artful Gathering and, once again, it didn't disappoint.  It was another of Hally's art doll classes and was for making 3 different kinds of 1900 - 1920 art deco or art nouveau tassel half art dolls.

Hally's classes are always filled with historical tidbits and this class was dedicated to some of the more famous women of the 1900's like Mata Hari, Lillian, Gish and Theda Vamp.

Like all the other classes I've taken my projects don't always end up looking like the finished class projects.  This class was no exception.

No matter how hard I try my dolls always seem to have a tiny Victorian slant to them. Even if they are supposed to be vamps.  What can I say - I love everything Victorian.  In this instance I gave them a Victorian type hairstyle versus and vamp hair style.

Since the class was about creating butterfly type art dolls I decided to look at real pictures of butterflies.  I saw so many beautiful pictures of butterflies with beautiful colors I couldn't decide which color I liked best so I decided to make 5 dolls instead of 3.  I know, I can never do anything in moderation.

I saw a beautiful picture of a multicolored blue dragonfly that I liked, a black and orange monarch butterfly, a blue and yellow tiger swallow butterfly, and a blue morpho teal butterfly.  One of the projects was for creating a Luna moth and I loved the lime green colors of the doll so I decided to make her as well.

I'm not just partial to everything Victorian, but when I paint I always end up sponge painting parts of it.  So, this time was no exception.  Their wings, bodices, and gloves were all sponge painted.  Here's my results:

My multi blue colored dragonfly.

My blue and yellow tiger swallow butterfly.

My black and orange monarch butterfly.

My blue morpho butterfly.

My luna moth.

Each of the dolls has a little bit of sentimentality attached to it with regards to their hair, clothes and accessories.  All have my mother's pierced earrings and most have a necklace or two of hers.

Many, many years ago my sister-in-law asked me if I could use some old lace and ric rac trims she had that she was going to throw away.  I, of course, hate to throw away sewing and craft supplies that could be useful so I said I'd take them figuring she had just a handful.  Well, a handful turned into a ton of trims which I put into two large containers which I had saved over the years.  I could never bring myself to throw them away. You never know when you're going to use something and the tassels would put many of them to use - which I did.

Each of the dolls hair is also from some of the beautiful hand dyed alpaca roving my sister gave me. She and my brother-in-law are alpaca farmers and the owners of Rock Garden Alpacas.  She sells her alpaca fiber products at her Rock Garden Alpacas Etsy store.  

The multi blue colored dragon fly is my mothers favorite royal blue color and has her gold and blue dangle pierced earrings.  Her beautiful blue and black hair is a some of my sister's hand dyed alpaca roving that I combined and twisted for a curly Victorian effect and her breastplate buttons are from an old business suit of mine.  Most of the tassel trims were from the ton of various blue colored ric rac and lace trims my sister-in-law gave me as well as other royal blue mixed media trim pieces and ribbons I had in my stash.

My sister had given me a picture of a monarch butterfly she had taken years ago. I liked the orange and black colors so I decided to make one of those.  Her black drop dangle pierced earrings came from my mother.  Her beautiful orange and black hair is a some of my sister's hand dyed alpaca roving that I combined and twisted for a curly Victorian effect and her breastplate buttons are from another old business suit of mine.   Some of the tassel trims were from the ton of ric rac and lace trims my sister-in-law gave me as well as other mixed media trim pieces I had in my stash.

The blue and yellow tiger swallow butterfly above also has my mother's gold dangle pierced earrings and one of her gold and pearl drop necklaces.  Her beautiful blue and yellow hair is a some of my sister's hand dyed alpaca roving that I combined and twisted for a curly Victorian effect.  Some of the blue and yellow tassel trims were from the ton of ric rac and lace trims my sister-in-law gave me as well as other mixed media trim pieces I had in my stash.

The blue morpho butterfly above also has my mother's pearl drop dangle pierced earrings and one of her white bead necklaces that I took apart. Her beautiful teal and blue/green hair is a some of my sister's hand dyed alpaca roving that I twisted for a curly Victorian effect.  Most of the teal and white tassel trims were from the ton of ric rac and lace trims my sister-in-law gave me as well as other teal and white mixed media trim pieces  and ribbons I had in my stash.

My mother had a white and teal drop costume jewelry necklace that I loved and wanted to use for this project and thought it would be a good addition to my luna moth. The luna moth above also has my mother's silver dangle pierced earrings.  Her beautiful lime green hair is a some of my sister's hand dyed alpaca roving that I twisted for a curly Victorian effect. Most of the tassel trims were from the ton of ric rac and lace trims my sister-in-law gave me as well as other lime green mixed media trim pieces I had in my stash.

I had a lot fun making these dolls.  It took me a long time to gather all the supplies and accessories I would need for them and also took a long time to put all the extra supplies away.  If you're a crafter you know what I mean by this.  I had craft containers organized by type of supply all over my living room and the extra supplies I didn't use had to, of course, be returned to their container.  So, as you can imagine, it took awhile.

Despite the fact that my hand still shakes when I try to paint the faces I was pleased, overall, with the way my dolls came out.

Once again, Hally's class was exceptional. She's an amazing doll artist and provides all the detailed instructions in her videos that you need to make one of her dolls.  Her video's are well thought out, easy to follow, and entertaining.   If you love dolls and get a chance to take one of her classes you won't be disappointed. I certainly haven't been.

If you'd like to learn more about Hally and her beautiful art dolls please visit her Creative  Doll Works website.