Oh my goodness, how can I have forgotten to mention that the original Tottie Tomato doll that I made oh so many years ago had to retire because she wore out?
She’s living happily with friends in comfort and ease in my studio-
When it became clear that she was in tough shape, I set to work carving a new incarnation of Tottie Tomato. (See my About page for the story of how Tottie Tomato originated).
Original Tottie supervised my carving of New Tottie.
And the painting, and the finishing, and the jointing, then the crochet and tatting of Little Tottie’s new dress.
The smaller incarnation of Tottie Tomato is fine and fiesty and
Retired Tottie approves completely.
Tottie still goes off to the Story door-
and enjoys picnics there with friends –
She watches carefully while I create more friends for her….
and loves getting to know them…
Tottie Tomato is pleased that I have finally- FINALLY- given her a PROPER introduction and she sends you her hugs and love ❤
Oh my goodness! Carving wooden spoons is just wonderful!
Hard work, yes. but…. ohhhh….
At Solstice of December 2020, I cajoled my husband to let me open an intriguing package instead of waiting until Christmas.
He said yes, and I was off down the most wonderful ‘Rabbit Hole’!
He had bought me a spoon carving kit that has a book, a Slodj knife and a hooked knife as well as a bass wood spoon blank. Here’s the link to the kit from Lee Valley (no affiliations, no profit in sharing the link, but I love their store and hope that they live long and prosper): LINK
The picture above is the first spoon I carved…. for our grandson.
My husband loved it, so I secretly carved one for him for Christmas, too.
I asked my family if they would like spoons, and the response was an enthusiastic yes!
So…
and
And, then….
I couldn’t resist combining one of my other great delights, which is carving wooden dolls, with spoon carving.
The inspiration that poured out kept me out of bed for a couple of nights as I had to sit and draw and draw and draw
all the ideas that were just pouring out….
I have tied in a few metaphors that have been weaving their way around in my heart…
On Facebook, I learned about stardust that has been discovered in Antarctica and then having a long time friend
sent me a poem about how the trees are full of stardust (as we all are) just enchanted me!
I am now carving what I call: ‘Storyteller Spoons’ – hand carved spoons that are meant to stir up STORIES, not soup.
After, stories are food for the Soul 🙂
Oooh! I had to carve a Star Baby spoon from walnut:
And, I have started a series of ‘Stardust Sisters Spoons’- articulated dolls with moving arms,
This one is carved from a blank that my son made for me from a birch tree that died and was cut down
in his neighbor’s yard:
I carved this Stardust Sister from the bass wood blank that came with the kit:
I love the metaphor of hearts and hands working together, so I went back to
the drawings that I did for the first scoop that I carved for my daughter.
But, I added a hand to the spoon, and carved out a bowl in the palm of the hand
as well as in the scoop of the heart.
While I was carving it, it came to me that spoons are meant to gather things,
but also to offer them, which is the perfect metaphor for this spoon:
I will be working with Hearts and Hands together a whole lot!
I made a video showing some of the carving that I have done over the last 30 odd years,
as well as the very very first beginnings of getting started in spoon carving.
These are just the first spoons that I have carved, and now that I have worked out
a pattern language for myself with this, there will be many, many more!
(I hope!) 😀
And, I hope that you are finding things that bring you joy, too!
I have loved wooden dolls all my life and have made many, many of them throughout my life.
More than 20 years ago, I began a series of flat wooden dolls that I called: ‘Merrie Sunshine’.
I’ve worked with Merrie Sunshine off and on for all these years, but until the pandemic unfolded, it didn’t occur to me to make a mermaid sister for Merrie Sunshine.
I’ve been working on larger articulated wooden mermaids and it was these dolls that brought Merrie Sunshine to mind,
and then inspired me to give Merrie Sunshine a mermaid sister.
Here are Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam with my most recent wooden mermaid (the inspiration for all this)
I asked Donna and Gary McFarland of Dewberry Ridge Looms if they would be interested in making
unpainted, unfinished Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam dolls that people would then be able
to make uniquely their own.
They said that they would, and so here are what the dolls look like fresh out of the envelope from Donna and Gary:
MERRIE SUNSHINE: LINK TO ORDER from Dewberry Ridge Looms
and
MINNIE MOONBEAM MERMAID: LINK TO ORDER from Dewberry Ridge Looms
I have made 4 videos that show how to paint or color or decoupage the dolls to make them uniquely your own and how to stitch the dolls together
LINKS TO “HOW TO ASSEMBLE AND EMBELLISH MERRIE SUNSHINE AND MINNIE MOONBEAM DOLLS’
PART 1- How to’s for the Face, Hair and all kinds of things:
PART 2- More Embellishing
PART 3- How to use Washi tape and origami paper to dress the dolls:
PART 4- How to stitch the dolls together:
Here’s a little inspiration for the Merrie Sunshine Dolls”
and a glimpse of how I have embellished some Minnie Moonbeam Mermaid dolls:
And, dolls need clothes, right?
So, I have designed an eBook of CROCHETED DOLL clothes for Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam
Last August, I posted a brief introduction to my first homage to Hitty dolls. LINK
I have been carving and making wooden dolls since I was a very young girl, and it’s one of my passions, but hadn’t carved any homages to Hitty until I was utterly enchanted by the Quimper Hitty blog: LINK
The Quimper Hitty blog should come with a warning that it is utterly and completely addictive!
Such enchantment! Oh my!~!~
Thanks to the magical heart who creates the Quimper Hitties, I fell under their spell….
I really did mean to show how I carved my first Hitty, whose name is Tennie:
But, I got totally swept away by a combination of downsizing, moving and downsizing (after 21 years in a large house and barn and huge garage etc, downsizing to a wee house is intense!) and by the writing of my new book.
Well, this year has galloped past, and the book and photos and diagrams are now in the capable hands of the best editor ever, and I am able to take up all manner of things that I love…. like carving wooden dolls….
Here are a couple of pics that I snapped while I was carving ‘Tennie Hitty’:
Tottie Tomato and I are enchanted by the magical blog: Quimper Hittys LINK
When we went on holidays at the end of July, Tottie Tomato and I (Tottie Tomato, Pinkie and Blue Bear always travel with us), were delighted to be able to meet the Quimper Hittys and their charming Mamma.
Quimper Hittys’ Mamma bravely scrambled in under the rosebush and cedars by our trailer to take pictures of Tottie Tomato and the Quimper Hittys that had hopped into their traveling basket.
Bravely, say I, as Jim had been eaten alive by the fierce rosebush when he stalwartly anchored our awning, while being pierced by the lovely rosebush’s monstrous thorns!
Luckily, the rosebush allowed us to take pictures of our girls together.
And, I took pictures of the Quimper Hittys’ human as she got the girls posed together.
Tottie Tomato and Perdita Quimper Hitty especially took to each other.
It was a wonderful morning, sipping tea with a kindred spirit!
The Quimper Hittys gave Tottie Tomato some very beautiful gifts, which she showed admiringly to Pinkie and Blue Bear, as well as Wee Charlotte who lives in my traveling tatting case:
Tottie Tomato shakes hands with Victoria Kjersten Hitty, known as ‘Tennie’, but, Peggotty Caroline is so excited to meet their new friend, that she throws her arms around Tennie in a welcoming hug.
Tottie Tomato and Peggotty Caroline are very interested to hear all about how Tennie came to be behind the Fairy Door…. I’m sure she’ll tell them all about it over a lovely cup of tea.
I have been in love with wooden dolls since I was a little girl.
For many years, I collected Matroushka dolls, but a few years ago, in one of my favorite thrift shops, I found the Kokeshki doll that’s on the far right of this photo:
I was awestruck by the mastery of the wood turner who was able to create the head of the little girl in the middle on his or her lathe!
Isn’t she enchanting?
The little fellow on the right looked like he had been a lamp at one point in his life, as he had the remains of an old lamp fixture in his wee wooden noggin.
