Category Archives: doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making

October 12, 2016 · 10:38 am

Wooden dolls are grateful for Vintage Hankies

Last week, my daughter and I opened the very old small suitcase that I use to store my vintage hankie collection.

We were looking for the perfect hankie to make a dress for the little wooden doll that I had carved for her.

Miranda, the Mermaid that I carved last year, has been feeling the sudden onset of cold weather.

I overheard her complaining about the cold to Bessie Gnome, Coco, Thallie and the dogs about the cold.

As a Mermaid, Miranda doesn’t mind cold water, but the dry cold that she is experiencing feels very uncomfortable.

Luckily, there was a silk hankie with elegant lace that suits Miranda perfectly as a shawl:

She’s thrilled!

As Miranda was posing for the photo, perched on the edge of the suitcase, I noticed that there was a very sweet hankie that looked perfect for Lettie Bunny:

Lettie is now a cozy bunny, and tickled pink about it.

She feels that she can face winter in the Wall Doll House without a shiver.

Lettie spotted a tiny elegant silk hankie that she was sure would make Peggetty very happy.

She’s right!

Peggetty, Lettie and Miranda are all very content with their new wraps, and are so grateful that a friend blessed us with her mother and grandmother’s hankies!

A Very Tiny Doll Celebrates Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from very snowy and cold Western Canada.

Last night, we were heading out to our son and daughter-in-law’s home to join with many family and friends in celebrating Thanksgiving.

There were sounds of protest from the Wall Doll House in my studio.

The smallest (less than an inch tall) wooden Story Door Doll, who used to be known as ‘Itty’, until she declared her name is actually, ‘Thallie’ was sitting in her armchair.

She’s thrilled that she finally has a new dress, and declared that it was important to her to go out to dinner to show it off.

I protested that I don’t like taking her out of the house, for fear of loosing her.

She ‘pshawed’ me, and reminded me that I am perfectly capable of loosing MUCH larger things than her INSIDE the house.

Oh. Right…

She hopped into the Thumbelina traveling tin:

But I was planning on taking along the ~very last~ bit of weaving for the big tapestry that I am weaving, and not Thumbelina.

So, Thallie hopped into my seashell necklace, along with her friend, Inch Faery Bear, who is the same petite size as her. This makes them the best of friends, as they enjoy hanging out with someone who understands the world in miniature.

And, off we went.

After the toasts were ‘clink clinked’, Thallie was convinced that there were Similar Sized People as her and Inch Faery Bear hiding in the corks…. so we shall have to see.

The corks came home in my pocket, so it will be interesting to see if there are little people in them or, as my daughter suggested, little faery mushrooms…. who knows?

After the corks were filed in my pocket, I put Thallie back into the Seashell necklace….

and…. palm to forehead….

did not take even one more photo of the whole evening.

Oh my…..

Which I wish I had, as a beloved member of the family is on her way to London, England.

She’s moving there, so it’s going to be quite some time before we are all around the same dinner table.

We wish her the greatest of joy in her big adventure!

Pauline is accompanying her in her travels, and posed for a very Canadian moment before dealing with airports etc:

Pauline’s Human took a moment from enjoying her last ‘Timmie’ time to share a pic of this special moment.

(Only Canadians will understand this reference, I think?)

Anyhow, all the little wooden folk who live in the studio join my in wishing you a joyous Thanksgiving, even if you live somewhere else in the world. There is so much to say thank you for….

Thank you~~ ❤

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October 5, 2016 · 4:09 pm

Little wooden doll heads to London

I am so excited… One of the little wooden Story Door Dolls that I carved has been adopted and is on her way to England.

Pauline is ready for adventure in London!

Before she left, she posed for a slightly ‘Alice in Wonderland’ photo under a mushroom that popped up on the lawn.

Pauline looks forward to exploring Nature in the parks of London.

We wish the greatest joy to Pauline and her Human.

May they have splendid adventures and happy, happy times in London.

Hmmmm… I think we may have to go visit them someday…..

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October 4, 2016 · 2:45 pm

Vintage hankies become dresses for wooden dolls

I love vintage hankies and decided to use them to make dresses for some of the wooden dolls that I carve.

I needed to take a break last week, and my Story Door Dolls were beckoning me.

So, I used some of the vintage hankies that I have collected over the years to make them new dresses.

Lucky Pauline ended up with the most beautifully embroidered hanky.

I can’t bear to cut the hankies, so I do some crazy folding to make the hanky work as the skirt.

This is Tennie in her new hanky dress…. even though it’s not as glamorous as Pauline’s, she’s still very happy with it.

By folding and hand stitching the delicate old linen, cotton and silk hankies, the hankies remain intact.

This is a kind of archival use of the hankies, which preserves them, but uses them, instead of them languishing in a box.

I hand carve the dolls, which I call my ‘Story Door Dolls’.

They are all around 6 inches tall, and I use local woods for most of them.

They were inspired by Hitty dolls.

This little charmer was carved from Arbutus wood that was trimmed many years ago from the tree in my sisters in laws house in Victoria. I won’t be carving anymore Arbutus dolls as that wood is like iron! wow…. and ow….

And, yes, I do sell them…..

But not Pauline

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September 17, 2016 · 3:39 pm

Woven Women: 6th Sense One of a Kind Art Dolls

I have been working on new handwoven one of a kind art dolls.

They are a somewhat different approach to my Woven Women Mixed Media pieces.

Earlier this summer, I read a wonderful book, called: A Monk in the Beehive.

The author spoke about humanity needing to come to our senses, and to connect with our sixth sense, which is wisdom, intuition, peacefulness and integrity towards the planet.

This moved me deeply, and I have been thinking about it a lot.

This is how I have woven these thoughts together- in the first 3 of a series of ‘6th Sense’ Woven Women.

Each one is totally one of a kind.

I wove them as contemplations on wisdom, compassion, kindness, peace and peace making, connection, and a longing to care for the planet.

As I created each one, I would hold thoughts of wellness, integrity, and all the other attributes that I mentioned previously.

Weaving is a meditation in motion, and there is love in every stitch.

There is joy and tenderness in the making of the ‘6th Sense’ art dolls.

They are all approximately 17 inches tall and they can either stand and lean on a shelf, or be hung from the woven hanging loop on the back of the head.

Each one has 6 pennies- six cents- to represent the Sixth Sense, in all it’s manifestations.

I wove each of the 6th Sense Woven Women Art Dolls on many different looms, using a wide variety of techiques.

Here’s a video of ‘6th Sense- Intuition’, ‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’ and

‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’:

Photos:

‘6th Sense- INTUITION’:

‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’

‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’

If you are interested in purchasing a ‘Woven Women- 6th Sense’ One of a Kind Art Doll,

please contact me

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

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Tagged as 6th Sense Woven art dolls by Noreen Crone-Findlay, art dolls, doll, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, one of a kind art doll, Sixth Sense Woven Art Dolls by Noreen Crone-Findlay, textiles, weave, weaves, weaving, woven doll, woven sculpture, Woven Women mixed media weaving by Noreen Crone-Findlay

January 18, 2016 · 12:46 pm

Knitted Goddess Artemis pattern

I am catching up on all kinds of things that have gotten set aside for one reason or another.

One of those things is to finally get my pattern for the Goddess Artemis and her animal companions posted to my etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/264519152/knitted-artemis-doll-and-her-companion

The Knitted Artemis doll and her animal companions (resting rabbit, mouse and beaver) pdf pattern has complete charts with instructions for how to knit the Goddess Artemis.

I based the design on a painting on a clay pot that has been dated as 7th century BC. It was discovered in Boetia, which was part of Greece in that time.

The Goddess Artemis is the protector of the wild spaces and is always accompanied by animal companions, which is why she has them with her in this pattern. Because the wild places on the planet are so precious, inviting Artemis energy to protect them is a very good idea.

The finished size of the Artemis doll and her animals is determined by the thickness of the yarns that you use and the size of the needles that you knit with.

The doll in the photo was knitted with sock yarn and 2.5 mm knitting needles.

Here’s the LINK to the pattern:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/264519152/knitted-artemis-doll-and-her-companion

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October 7, 2015 · 11:29 am

An adorable gift

A dear friend of mine sent me the sweetest gift- a delightful little vintage dog who is very at home with the Story Door Dolls!

Her name is, ‘Lupin’, and she arrived with magical little vintage postcards that the Story Door Dolls loved!

Itty loved the postcard of the sailing ships as it reminded her of her great adventure!

Coco loved the postcard of the castle- she thought that it looked like it was right out of a fairy tale.

Lupin offered to give Itty and Coco as many rides as they would like.

Lupin has settled into the Story Door wall doll house happily and gets along very well with the other resident dogs. Itty was concerned about how the cat and turtle would handle having another dog in the house so, she ambled off to have a chat with them.

Thank you so much, darlin’ Caroline for this wonderful addition to the Story Door dolls! ❤

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October 6, 2015 · 6:56 pm

Another Mermaid

I’ve always loved mermaids…. so when a little block of wood called out, ‘Mermaid in here!’, of course, I had to get carving!

And, here’s who was in that wee block of wood…. tiny Siobhan:

Clever little Siobhan can tiptoe on her fins!

Miranda is very pleased to have another Mermaid in the studio.

Siobhan is very content, too!

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September 14, 2015 · 12:07 pm

A Visit to the Carousel Horse carving workshop

I’ve always loved carousel horses, and have made tapestries of them, but have never been inspired to carve one.

I much prefer to carve small dolls 🙂

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to Fort Edmonton Park in Edmonton Alberta.

We made a beeline to the Carousel, which has been gloriously restored by volunteer carvers.

I took Hitty Tennie and tiny Bessie Gnome with me.

It was quite a challenge to take the photo one handed, as we really clipped around, and the up and down motion was ~really~ up and down!

As soon as we got off, I pleaded with my family to have another ride, but they were interested in checking out other things. Sigh. (It really was wonderful!)

We went over to the wood carving shop where the volunteer carvers create the spectacular beauties for the large carousel (that we rode on), as well as the smaller carousels:

Signs told humans that they were not allowed to climb onto these particular horses, but I figured that small wooden dolls wouldn’t cause too much havoc.

The Hypocamp was exquisite, and the woman who was in charge of the wood carving shop asked if the girls would like to sit on it.

Oooh, yes, please!

Tennie and Bessie enjoyed looking at all the woodworking tools and templates.

Afterwards, two sweet volunteers who were dressed in 1920’s clothing, held them for a photo op at one of the small carousels:

Sweet summer memories!

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September 1, 2015 · 1:35 pm

Two of my hand carved Story Door Dolls for sale

I am selling two of my hand carved ‘Story Door’ dolls.

They are each 6 inches tall.

They are fully articulated and stand independently without doll stands, although they are known to play dominoes with other dolls and all fall down without giving notice.

Each of them comes with her hand woven dress and a hand woven shawl.

They are $150.00 each plus postage.

This is The Arbutus/Madrona Tree Story Door Doll:
Her head is tilted up so when she looks up at you quite winsomely.