Waldorf Doll making

Just over a week ago, I attended a weekend Waldorf Doll Making workshop in Hereford! It was run and hosted by the very talented Ildiko of Waldorf Doll Shop. It was a very intensive 2 days ………….. and with ‘homework’ to be done on the Saturday evening too! That was to start crocheting the wig cap. Ildiko had us working hard, because there’s a lot to do to complete a doll in a weekend – she’s a very good and thorough teacher; and the ‘proof of the pudding’ is in the dolls we produced. And that didn’t include making the clothes either – they were already made for us. During the weekend, Ildiko also fed and watered us with plenty of delicious homemade food, biscuits and refreshments.

I’ve had a go at making a couple of Waldorf dolls over the last year, but with little success. It’s the head and face that’s the key – get that wrong and you’ll have a weird looking doll, so that’s what the majority of the workshop concentrates on. My interest in these dolls has been growing over the last couple of years – and at the same time, my interest in the teddy bears has been diminishing. The elephant I showed in the last post was the first bear I’d made in over 12 months and I didn’t particularly enjoy making it, so I see myself going down the Waldorf Doll route from now on so long as I can repeat the technique next time. I like that they’re made totally organically of all natural products, which is part of the Steiner principals. I also approve of the fact they are likely to be played with by children, which is why they are made so well. There are collectors out there too, but they are really designed to be played with.

Anyway, the little lady in green is the one I made - note, every bit is handmade! There were five of us making dolls and the next picture shows all the dolls together made by Sue, Alice, Manuela, Siobhan and me.

Now I don’t wish to offend anyone, but I just have to show you her cute little bum :0) 

If you're not familiar with Waldorf dolls, their origins are in the Steiner education system, although the original doll was of a much simpler design.

Maddy

Maddy  (like the colour, rose madder) is made from a very pretty pink curled Mohair fabric (20mm pile). She has a pink ribbon around neck, a little rose trinket pinned under her neck and a handmade crocheted flower headband.

Maddy is filled with firm fibre fill and steel shot for weight. She has black glass eyes with white felt behind them and has been aged with powder pastels.

Maddy is one of my larger bears so far, measuring 13½ inches/34cms from top to toe and 10 inches/25cms sitting height. She is 5-way cotter jointed – loose joints in the legs.

Also incorporated are my fabric ‘handmade at …..’ label and antique style metal ‘BL’ pin, which you can just about see amongst her fur!

And here’s a photo in my hand in an attempt to give size perspective.

Maddy can be adopted for £70, plus shipping and packaging

UK - £10 tracked and signed

Europe - £15, tracked and insured

Worldwide - £22, tracked and insured

A bit of this and that!

Well, it’s been such a while since I posted anything on this blog! I’m mostly busy these days making my Artist teddy bears, which I post on my other blog ‘Bilberry Lane’ – there’s a link over on the right hand side of this blog if you’d like to look.

I have though also been getting on with some crochet squares. I’ve had a bit of a change of roles at work, which now allows me more control of my lunch breaks; and so I’ve done something I’ve fancied doing for a while and that is to begin a 'Lunchtime Crafters Group'. There’s several of us who love a variety of crafts and spend plenty of our spare time discussing them, so I thought why waste an hour doing nothing much when we could be crafting and it’s given me a chance to get on with these squares. Now bear in mind I started these about 2 years ago and had completed the grand total sum of about 30 squares in that time – not many is it!!?? 

But in the last couple of weeks, I’ve made several more and sewn half of them together just by utilising my lunch breaks – good idea eh! The plan when I began them was to make enough to make a double bed cover, but we’ll see about that – this is a start – perhaps I ought to consider a baby cot cover LOL!

And next, I made this so called ‘Artisan’ apron! 

Do any of you ever watch Janet Clare on the Create and Craft channel? Well, this apron is her design. Her philosophy is that when the apron goes on, she’s in work mode, which in turn encourages her to get on with her crafting. I do like her philosophy, because sometimes I find myself doing all sorts of other jobs before I’ll settle down to sewing …….. I don’t know why! So I thought, if I made myself one of Janet Clare’s apron’s it might encourage me not to procrastinate (big word!!!) so much. So here it is.

And this last one is of Janet Clare herself in her original design!

I’ve just finished my latest bear, which I’ll hopefully be able to put on my other blog tomorrow, it’s just that I haven’t had a chance to take any photos yet, so check that out later if you like!