Tag Archives: wooden doll

February 14, 2021 · 4:22 pm

Carved Wooden Spoon Wooden Dolls Hearts and Flowers 2

In my previous post, I showed you the little sister of this wooden spoon wooden doll- Springtime LINK

Her big sister is also a celebration of flowers and hearts and love …

Flora is in love with flowers-

and dreams of them, night and day

She has a Compass Rose to help guide her by the Sun and Moon:

Her heart shape spoon is extra large to help her gather and carry and share a whole lot of love and beauty.

When I was carving her, I was sure that there was a poem that was supposed to accompany her.

Sure enough, when I had finished the carving,

I went to bed, wondering what poem it was that she wanted me to burn on the back….

As I drifted off to sleep, this little haiku popped into my head,

so I jumped out of bed and wrote it down.

I burned it onto her, first thing the next morning.

Here is the poem:

“In the Seed

The Flower waits

Birthing

the Universe”. …………

❤

May all your seeds and flowers give blossom and birth all manner of beauty in your life!

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Tagged as #carvedspoon, #carvedwoodendoll, #carvingwood, #dollmaker, #dollmakingasahealingart, #woodcarving, #woodcarvingart, #woodendolls, carved wooden doll, doll maker, wooden doll, wooden dolls

February 14, 2021 · 4:08 pm

Carved Wooden Spoon Wooden Dolls Hearts and Flowers 1

I have fallen in love with carving flowers on my wooden spoon wooden dolls.

Nowadays, I carve the wooden spoon part of my wooden dolly spoons in the shape of a heart, to symbolize gathering and sharing love and kindness.

This Hearts and Flowers Sister is about 6 inches/15 cm tall and is a celebration of the river and the ocean and flowers and butterflies and dragonflies:.

To be honest, she’s also about dreaming of much much gentler weather than we are experiencing right now.

We have had a brutally long ferociously cold spell of winter, and I am so longing for Springtime, and for flowers to be in bloom

instead of blistering icy cold shattering winds!

I miss the ocean, and it’s so cold that I am not even going out to say hello to the river, even though we live close to it.

so I carved flowers as a love song to the flowers and waves for my longing to walk along the ocean’s shore:

It has been such a long time since the dragonflies danced in our neighbourhood

and of course, the butterflies are cozy in their cocoons, dreaming of springtime…

Seriously…. Springtime, I am longing for you!

I carved ‘Springtime’s Sister and the next blog post is all about her. LINK

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Tagged as #carvedspoon, #carvedwoodendoll, #carvingwood, #dollmaker, #dollmakingasahealingart, #woodcarving, #woodcarvingart, #woodendolls, carved wooden doll, doll maker, wooden doll, wooden dolls

February 5, 2021 · 1:18 pm

Learning to love the surprises when carving wooden dolls

I absolutely love carving wooden dolls, and have learned that the dolls have ways of taking me in unexpected directions while I am carving them.

This little bunny was carved from upcycled maple wood- a huge tree in our neighbourhood was cut down and we were given enormous chunks of the trunk.

I knew that a bunny was waiting to be carved from the wood,

but didn’t expect her to insist on a different body than I initially carved….

and then to want to go back to her original body once I had done more carving on it.

This lead me to make some changes and now, there are 2 rabbits, where once there was just one….

I was VERY surprised by this new rabbit, and am delighted with the ideas that she has brought with her!

Luckily, ‘Maple’ Bunny and ‘Surprise Rabbit’ are the best of friends:

I’ve made a tiny video that is all about going with the flow when creating one of a kind wooden dolls.

It also has a slide show showing the step by step process of carving a Maple Bunny’s head.

I hope that you have some lovely surprises and not unwelcome ones!

Take good care ❤

I forgot to Mention that a few years ago I carved a new Tottie Tomato doll for my blog

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 ❤

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Filed under carving wood, doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, spoon carving, Tottie Tomato Loves, wooden dolls, woodwork

Tagged as #spooncarving, #tottietomato, #tottietomatodoll, #woodendoll, carving wooden dolls, Tottie Tomato, Tottie Tomato Doll, wooden doll

December 29, 2020 · 4:34 pm

Carving Wooden Spoons is delightful

Oh my goodness! Carving wooden spoons is just wonderful!

Hard work, yes. but…. ohhhh….

I have been a wood carver for decades, but have just discovered the joy of carving spoons.

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!

Be kind, be safe, be well! ❤

Here’s the video:

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Filed under eco crafts & green projects, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, spoon carving, video tutorial, wooden dolls, woodwork

Tagged as #carvedspoon, #spooncarving, #spoondoll, #storytellerspoon, #woodcarving, #woodendoll, carved spoons, hand carved dolls, spoon carving, Spoon doll, Storyteller spoon, wooden doll

September 2, 2020 · 11:21 pm

Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam Wooden Dolls

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

Available in my etsy shop- LINK

AND a book of KNITTED DOLL CLOTHES for Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam

Available in my etsy shop at LINK

AND a book of Doll Clothes WOVEN ON THE 2 INCH PIN LOOM

Available in my etsy shop LINK

Here is the link to the facebook group for the Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam dolls LINK 🙂

How to make Tutus for Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam:

How to make shawls and other wraps for Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam:

Watch this page for more links to fun things for Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam. 😀

I hope that Merrie Sunshine and Minnie Moonbeam will bring you as much joy as they have brought me! ❤

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Filed under crochet, Dewberry Ridge looms, doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, knitting, mermaid, wooden dolls

Tagged as #crocheteddollclothes, #knitteddollclothes, #merriesunshinedoll, #minniemoonbeamdoll, #woodendoll, #woodendolls, #wovendollclothes, Merrie Sunshine Doll, Minnie Moonbeam Mermaid doll, wooden doll, wooden dolls

July 17, 2015 · 6:53 pm

Carving Wooden Dolls- My first homage to Hitty

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’:

Here she is after I varnished her:

Of course, as soon as she was finished, she began to campaign for more companions….

She was sure that she heard a little wooden dolly voice calling out somewhere in the studio….

Actually…. so did I…..

🙂

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Tagged as carving wooden dolls, doll making, hand made wooden doll, Hitty by Rachel Field, Hitty doll, Hitty dolls, homage to Hitty, making wooden doll, Noreen Crone-Findlay, wood doll, wooden doll, wooden dolls

August 7, 2014 · 11:24 am

Tottie Tomato meets the Quimper Hittys

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.

They were both so pleased to meet another doll of greenish hue!

Tottie Tomato was delighted to meet Min, Agathe, Constance and of course, Perdita.

Mungo Hitty had come along to see what all the excitement was about, but balked at being photographed.

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:

There were other splendid gifts, and I will tell you about them very soon 🙂

And, I hope that you are sipping tea with a kindred spirit, too, perhaps admiring a tiny pot of lavender and marveling at

Mouse Melons!

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Tagged as doll making, hand carved wooden doll, Hitty, Hitty dolls, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Quimper Hittys, Tottie Tomato, wooden doll, wooden dolls

August 5, 2014 · 4:00 pm

The Fairy Door opens again

Tottie Tomato and Peggotty Caroline heard sounds coming from the Fairy Door down by the apple tree.

What’s that?

A hand!

A hand opening the Fairy Door?

Oh!

A new friend!

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 decide immediately that Tennie Hitty is going to be a good friend.

Sometimes, you can just tell, can’t you?

And, they are thrilled that Tennie has come through the Fairy Door to live in the studio with them.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.crone-findlay.com

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.

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Tagged as doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, Fairy Door, hand carved wooden doll, Hitty doll, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Peggotty Caroline, Tennie Hitty, Tottie Tomato, wooden doll, wooden dolls

November 23, 2011 · 11:04 am

The love of Kokeshi Dolls

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:

Kokeshi-doll-collection-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(C)

That was it… I was smitten!

Here’s a close up with some of her wooden kinfolk:

Kokeshi-doll-collection-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-(C)

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.