Tindaisies

Left: Original drawing and Right: Pancake doll based on drawing

Harold Wideman

Harold is prototype number 2 in my pancake doll project. The first was Alice O’Grady.  Harold is the father in  The Widemans vs the Narrowsmiths (link this) story that I drew three years ago.

Harold went together easier than Alice.  Reasons for this include a rudimentary pattern was already made and a procedure had been established – and the Jeff Beck CD didn’t seem to hurt, either.  =D

Front

Back

The biggest change I made with Harold was opting to embroider his facial features (and the hairy chest) rather than using permanent marker.

I really like the effect of the outlining stitches, they seem more “definite” and appropriate for a sewn object. The lenses in his glasses are painted on the cloth with acrylic paint. I also elected to not sew the limbs at the elbows and knees because that seemed to stiffen them which was opposite to the effect I’d wished for.

The hair was sewn directly into the seam where the front of the head joins the back, exactly like Alice’s hair only much shorter.

Left: Original drawing and Right: Pancake doll based on original drawing

Aunt Lucille

Lucille is the aunt in the infamous Baked Spaghetti Casserole story.  Lucille’s fingers are separated with black thread, in keeping with the quality of the simple line drawings that inspire me to make these dolls. Lucille came together yet easier than Harold, but her hair was a real challenge. Harold Wideman’s and Alice O’Grady’s hair were sewn into the seam that joined the back of the head to the front.

Back

With Lucille, because her beehive hairdo is piled on top of her head, the back would have been bare, which I found unacceptably odd. Four tries later, I arrived at a very simple solution.

Aunt Lucille's Baked Spaghetti Casserole

Here is the baked spaghetti casserole. I used variegated orange embroidery thread for the spaghetti and liked the glossy quality to the thread because it looks convincing enough to make around the mouth turn orange, as greasy spaghetti will do.

Hmmmm…..

Harold and Lucille and the Baked Spaghetti Casserole...

Here they are, together. The unfortunate thing is, Harold looks exceedingly uncomfortable. Is it because he has succumbed to the wiles of Aunt Lucille and is worried about Mrs Wideman finding out, or is it because he is worried he will be offered some of the Baked Spaghetti Casserole?

Maybe I should make Mrs Wideman next …!

My latest project:

Machine sewn, cloth pancake doll made from scrap cotton fabric  and embellished with hand drawn permanent ink.

So I took a huge detour beginning yesterday and decided to do some sewing. This isn’t completely unheard of for me. Once in a while I get the creative urge as I have a sporadic fascination with seeing the people I draw become “real” in the third dimension.

Whenever I begin a sewing project, it never starts with a pattern. It always begins with a pair of scissors , pencil and tracing paper in the spirit of someone who sets out to take a shortcut through a subdivision without first consulting a map… And so I work away, cursing and wishing  if only I could be happy purchasing a pattern and following directions.

Ah, but you see, then it wouldn’t be one of my own creations…  so I press on until I have sweated out a satisfactory conclusion even if my family wonders who the Medusa is that’s taken over the drafting table in the front room.

Alice, who was sewn on my old Singer 513 sewing machine,  is the first doll I’ve made in a few years…

Five years ago:

Hand sewn, cloth pancake doll made from scrap wool and cotton fabric, embroidery thread, Fimo and acrylic paint.

Five years ago, I made Iris Monohan. Unlike Alice O’Grady, Iris is entirely hand sewn. She was a project I worked on over the course of several evenings and although she took much longer, sewing by hand was far more relaxing. Her eye, mouth, hands and boots were sculpted in Fimo and then painted.

Judging from Iris’ over all visual effect, one would have thought she’d be the most angst producing.

My daughter was very partial to Iris and insisted on taking her to school in her second grade for show and tell…  I dearly hoped Iris didn’t spawn nightmares for some of her classmates.

Aftermath:

Work Area

Me sewing is a messy, explosive business. However, after taking this photo, the table was cleared and is now ready for regular drawing activities to recommence.