Several people have messaged me recently, asking if I still have any Vasilisa Comfort Dolls available for sale. I don’t have the stamina to carve wood anymore, as I am living with Long Covid/post viral syndrome (blech). So, there won’t be any new ones and these are the only Vasilisa Dolls that are still available.
If you are interested in buying any of them, please leave a comment and I will get back to you asap.
These are the Vasilisa Comfort Doll ‘Mamma/Great Mother of All’ series- they are $75 each + shipping. They are between 4- 5 inches tall
Small Vasilisa Comfort Dolls: These two are $45 + shipping
And, the Kitten is sold but the Vasilisa Comfort Doll #14 is still available $50 + shipping
I just noticed that the background screen has a white loop that looks like it’s part of the cape sticking out of Lily Doll’s ear. Sigh…. not at all. I could go and re-shoot the photo or I could tell you that I didn’t notice it until now, which is what I have opted to do instead of the sensible solution of re-shooting the photo. Ah well…. and, perhaps you didn’t notice, but now you have.
And, if you did notice and thought that I did something odd, well you were right… I placed Lily Doll in just the wrong spot. Haven’t you ever placed yourself or something in an odd place? It happens.
Mercy on us all!
I weave all the dolls and bears and toys and clothes for the Lily Doll Project on the 5 inch wide Mirrix Chloe loom, which I am madly in love with. It’s a wonderful little sturdy, delightfully adjustable little miracle of excellent design.
Yup. Love it and highly recommend it. I keep having ‘Aha’ and ‘Oh Wow’ moments with it.
My apologies to the 8 inch Chloe loom, which is also a lovely loom, but I am totally smitten by the 5 inch Chloe.
Yes, I am lucky enough to have both, but it is the 5 inch Chloe that is my ‘go to’ loom).
By the way, on the 15th of each month through 2024, we will be releasing a new kit for a design that I have made for the Lily Doll project. They’re all available at the mirrix website.
We’re planning some other fun things, too. I’ll post about them as they come up.
Hope 2024 is full of good things for you and yours: Blessings and hugs ❤ and happy weaving!
The Pixel People are quirky little woven wonderfuls that I designed for the Lily Doll Project.
They began as doodles on graph paper and were so delightful that I had to weave them right away! They are very small, so they are quick to weave and are great little stash busters. (they’re 1 1/2 inch or 3.75 cm square). I always put a ‘Lucky Penny’ and a paper heart inside to make them even more good natured.
They should probably come with a warning that they are so much fun to weave that it becomes quite addictive to weave them. This is really okay, as people love them so much that the Pixel People jump merrily into other people’s hands and hearts and pockets, too.
I find simple little things to be endearing. That’s how I feel about the woven Pixel People that are part of the Lily Doll Project.
I was inspired to design and weave the whimsical little Pixel People when I was sketching on graph paper (one of my most favorite design tools). I was doodling ‘inside the squares’ and started drawing cheerful little faces in the squares. I was captivated by their sweetness so one thing lead to another.
I warped up my Chloe loom and these quirky little darlings evolved from those simple sketches. I love them with their little circle hands and feet, but you can also play with other options, too. They have lucky pennies and good wishes hearts inside, so they have very good energy.
They are fun to carry in your pocket or attach jewelry findings and click them onto a zipper, bag or as a charm on a pouch, phone or other device.
Stitch a pin back on them to wear them as a pin. Glue a magnet to the back and they can live on the fridge or a lamp or other metal surface. These quirky little Pixel People are fun, easy and a delight to make!
It’ s the festive season, so I designed a party dress for Lily Doll:
And, then I discovered that there is enough yarn in the Party Doll kit to be able to weave the Pinafore Dress (with a pocket!), so, I asked Elena and Claudia at Mirrix if we could add the Pinafore Dress to the Party Dress kit. They thought that that was a great idea. 😀
It struck me that people might want to weave the Lily Doll in a way that is unique to them. I love exploring creative and imaginative options, so I decided to weave a doll using the Lily Doll Pattern, but to change things up a little.
Well, LOL…. I ended up having to weave her arms twice, because I managed to (HUH?!?!) mess them up on the first go. Okay, so I un-picked them and wove them again. Got it right this time. Whew.
Then, I was weaving too late at night, when, thanks to Long Covid, my cognitive function isn’t always at the top of the loop- oops… and I wove the body in plain white, which I hadn’t meant to do. Went to bed shaking my head. Got up the next morning and wove the body using Herringbone technique. (I’ll do another post about weaving Herringbone on the Chloe loom). YAY! Got it right!
Next, I merrily wove her legs using pick and pick in tapestry technique which mysteriously gave her very out of proportion legs. Sigh. Un-wove them and wove them in pick and pick, but THIS time, I used the tabby technique. AND YAY! The legs are totally tickety boo…. whew…..
And, luckily, her dear little head (using the pink and purple yarn and hand dyed silk left over from the Party and Pinafore Dresses kit) turned out perfect the first time round…. so…. here she is!
Lily Doll would like to introduce her cousin, Lally Doll!
and here they are, wearing the Party Dress and the Pinafore with a Pocket Dress:
Ooh, I am so delighted with them! Even though I seemed to get so much wrong on the way to getting Lally Doll right, she was totally worth the effort.
The Herringbone technique is explained in step by step photos in my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame loom. It, and the kits and patterns for the Lily doll project are all available at: LINK
I am no longer carving wooden dolls, (health issues).
These One of a Kind Wooden Dolls are all for sale. They are $100 each + shipping.
I spent hours making little fitted shimmery vests, and spent more hours messing around with lace for skirts. Sadly, the lace skirts just didn’t cut it.
So, when a dear friend gave me some vintage hankies, I had an ‘aha!’ moment…. and the skirt dilemma was resolved: Tie the hankies on with ribbons. This is a super simple non-sew skirt option that I came up with decades ago for dolls in my book: Soul Mate Dolls: Dollmaking as a Healing Art. It works so well! And, now, I am happy!
Vasilisa Comfort Dolls that are Lucet Cord makers: LINK
These Vasilisa Comfort dolls are larger than the original ones….
This photo gives a sense of the size difference:
ARCH SHAPE VASILISA COMFORT DOLLS
HELPING HANDS:
In gratitude for all ways that people help one another. 3 1/2 inches/9 cm tall
THE BLESSING CUP: SOLD
about 3 inches/ 8 cm tall
“Being a Mother and Being a Daughter”
about 3 inches/ 8 cm tall
SWEET DREAMS:
about 5 inches/12.5 cm tall
A BLESSING FOR THE CHILD
about 5 inches/12.5 cm tall
AND THIS GROUP OF LARGE VASILISA COMFORT DOLLS HAVE JOINTED ARMS:
“Sunflower Song” We’ll never see Sunflowers in the same way again, will we? Praying for Peace in Ukraine and an end to the invasion
about 5 inches/12.5 cm tall
ROSIE:
about 5 inches/12.5 cm tall
BUTTERFLY DREAMS
I did the tatting, using shuttles that I carved myself. She’s about 5 inches/12.5 cm tall
DREAM CHILD
about 5 inches/12.5 cm tall (GLASS BACKGROUND NOT INCLUDED)
SURPRISE and her BABY
Surprise was a fascinating doll to create…. she kept taking me in new directions…. including wanting a baby…..
With her hat, Surprise is almost 8 inches/20 cm tall
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING ONE OR MORE OF THESE DOLLS, PLEASE LEAVE ME A NOTE IN THE COMMENTS (IT WON’T BE PUBLISHED) AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU ASAP
The Great Mother series of my one of a kind hand carved Vasilisa Comfort Dolls have their roots in my feelings of connection to the Feminine Divine.
I am influenced by images of the Goddess in all her ways of Being, as well as the Black Madonna, and by my dreams, drawings and tapestries, as well as my love of Sacred Geometry. I have a passion for flowers, especially the wild roses that bloom so freely here in Western Canada, so they are an important element in my work- for their connection to the Feminine Divine and for how they symbolize how I am rooted to the land I gratefully live on.
Each of these Great Mother Vasilisa Comfort Dolls is an expression of healing energy and of all the ways that LOVE unfolds in us and around us. My intention is to create one of a kind dolls that will lift the heart of the person who interacts with them.
I also see these dolls as a way of connecting our Present Self to our Future Self, and also to the Inner Child that still lives inside of each of us.
They are lovely to hold in the palm of your hand, but also to have in a special place like an altar or on a shelf with other treasured objects of contemplation, meditation and prayer.
I use all kinds of wood to carve them. I love using upcycled wood (including pieces of old pianos that have come to the end of their playing life, so our friend, a piano tuner, passes pieces of wood from the dead pianos to wood carvers and furniture makers to ensure that the wood is re-created into something lovely).
We are often given logs or pieces of trees from our neighborhood to burn in our wood burning stove.
But, we don’t want to just burn these precious trees that have lived long and lovely lives and then died.
So, my husband has built a sawmill from an old bandsaw, and he cuts slabs of wood from the pieces of log so we can make art with the wood, giving new life to the trees.
Here’s one of the Great Mother Dolls on one of the slabs (I carved her from another one of the slabs):
The chainsaw marks were really hard to sand out! Luckily, Jim’s sawmill now cuts us much smoother pieces of wood! This tree was a maple, so the wood is very hard.
The average height of the Great Mother dolls is about 4 inches, but it does vary with some of the dolls.
If you wish to purchase one of the Great Mother dolls, please post a note in the comments and I will get back to you asap.
GREAT MOTHER: DREAMING OF PEACE(MOTHER AND CHILD)
GREAT MOTHER: HOSPITALITY:
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-“Grace”Can you see how my tapestries influence the way I carve?
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-Holding Close
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-Water of Life
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-Dream of Greening
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-Rose Child
I have placed her on a fused glass piece that I recently designed and made, that is not for sale as it is going to become part of a larger piece.
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-Paradox
It can be challenging to live with paradox….
Vasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother-Forgive
TheVasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother Series has subsets –
One of the groupings that has emerged is the ‘Sisters and Aunties’
Here are the first 3…. Singing Together:
I love how they work together. I drew their shapes on the wood all at the same time, so it makes sense to me that they would form such a good trio.
TheVasilisa Comfort Doll: Great Mother Series – ‘Sisters and Aunties’
Great Mother Series – ‘Sisters and Aunties’ – Bending, Not Broken
Great Mother Series – ‘Sisters and Aunties’ – Courage
Great Mother Series – ‘Sisters and Aunties’ – Dreams of Roses and Greening
GREAT MOTHER: Courage (Dreaming and Waking)
MORE Vasilisa Comfort dolls that are available can be seen at LINK
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