Primitive Folk Art by Old World Primitives
Handmade Primitive Dolls and Ornaments
Prudence is the newest primitive doll in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop this week. She is a one-of-a-kind doll that I fully hand painted and dressed in a 19th century style dress that I made with tan calico fabric and antique lace trim. Her body is made of stuffed muslin, and her head is sculpted from Paperclay.
I thought you might also enjoy a peek at what she looked like as a work in progress.
I am busily assembling a cast of characters for Halloween this week… the last spooky spun cotton ornaments and chenille Halloween ornaments are below. The spun cotton witch kitty will have a sister tomorrow.
I have a few new dolls in progress too. I am excited to use my new antique shop finds – grungy old buttons and antique lace – in some primitive creations.
I have been all over the place since my last post… oh gosh, where to start. I’ll start with the embarrassing part first – my husband and I attempted to move for the second time within three years, and our plan flopped once again. We have been trying to move from the suburbs to an older farmhouse in the country… something that I always thought was my dream… to live in a 1700s or 1800s farmhouse decorated like one of the homes I have so often drooled over in Early American Life magazine. But our attempts to move have taught me that this may not be my ultimate dream after all. The country escapes that we found ourselves pursuing were still just a little too “more of the same,” albeit in less developed areas. We don’t have the big bucks required to completely “get away from it all,” and we just couldn’t find anything that was quite enough away.
So now we have a new plan in mind… bear with me here, as this may sound crazy… to save up enough money to REALLY move into the country… or rather, a step closer to the wilderness. We are going to save up, purchase a motor home, sell our current home, and pursue the freedom of living full time on the road, camping at remote, wild and beautiful spots along the way. This is an idea I have been toying with for 6 years now, but I never thought I would be able to make it happen. I felt too entrenched in my current way of life despite how much I wanted to give this a try. But now, if we can save enough to make this plan feasible… there is a new goal in the horizon.
So. I’ve wasted a ton of time this summer house-hunting, packing… and then un-packing (ugh!), but I’ve still managed to get some new dolls and ornaments created, and to do a bunch of gardening and pickling too.
Do you think my tomato plants are happy?? 😀
And now I invite you to meet an extreme primitive doll named Nadine, and a primitive witch make-do named Hexe:
Plus my newest ornaments in spun cotton, spun glass, and chenille:
All of the new creations above can be found in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop.
Since our last visit here, I had the pleasure of once again attending the Antiques in Long Valley show in Long Valley, NJ where I scored my beautiful blue antique chimney cabinet last year. This year the show was just as amazing as the last… there were so many wonderful goodies that I wished I could have brought home with me. The booth where I bought my cabinet last year was once again filled with wonderful pieces of furniture and many Sold signs. This year I was on more of a budget than last year, but I did manage to come home with two finds that I am really pleased with – a small and extremely primitive hand forged shovel…
…and an antique German spun cotton ornament to add to my collection. The technique used to make it is different than I have seen before, so studying it will also assist in my education process as I learn this old technique.
I am continuing to really enjoy where my journey into spun cotton has been taking me. Below are my newest spun cotton creations that are still available. I am also archiving my designs on a new spun cotton ornaments page of this blog. Custom orders for designs you may have missed are always welcome.
And finally, I have some progress on my first Izannah Walker style doll from the workshop that I am taking. It has been hard to tear myself away from my current obsession with spun cotton to work on her, but I’ve gotten a bit completed! I have her torso sewn and stuffed, and her head with shoulderplate stuffed and pinned onto the torso.
After sewing the shoulderplate in place, I shall begin sculpting her face – I will share how I do with it in an upcoming blog post.
I will end for now with a big thank you to Cathy of the always-inspiring One Pink Goose for presenting me with the Sunshine Award, which is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blog world. I am honored!
I have found my way back into doll land this week and I am pleased to introduce my newest creation, a new primitive doll named Leticia. She is a good witch made of cloth with a sculpted Paperclay face. She is entirely hand painted and antiqued. Her skirt is made of lightly stained olive calico fabric with a tan flannel waistband. She wears a matching tan flannel witch hat and has two tiny black seed bead buttons on her hand painted shirt. She is available in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop now.
I have also been making some new spun cotton ornaments since my last post… more will be on the way soon, too. Below are my newest designs – the two cat ornaments are available, and the angel ornament is sold.
And now I am off to work on balancing the time I spend making dolls and ornaments more equitably… and to get working on my Izannah Walker workshop doll! I have my enormous booklet of instructions all printed out, and, brushing off any feelings of intimidation, I am going to get started on my doll today. I will try not to let all of the ideas that I have for new creations distract me too much (paper dolls will be in the works soon…).
Due to wonderfully encouraging customer response, I have been busily working on more spun cotton ornaments since my last post (as my doll parts still sit patiently waiting). Below are pictures of my latest spun cotton creations – all except the bunny holding the Easter basket sold before I got the chance to post them here (some traveling as far as South Korea… that was exciting!). If you see one that you like but missed, custom order inquiries are welcome.
I had fun doing some shopping on Etsy last week as well. My little Trooper has been happily snuggled up in a cozy new cat bed that I bought for him from mimi0201.
Trooper is the baby of the family, and he likes to have his very own bed in each room of the house. Until last week, the living room was the final room he was missing a bed in… and I knew that he needed one there when my husband set his empty backpack down on the rug, and Trooper snuggled up on it like it was a bed. He seems very pleased with the switch to his cushy, fleecy new spot.
And speaking of needing… or shall I say kneading… I also picked up this adorable card from Pet Scribbles for my hubby for Valentine’s Day. I absolutely love it, and her customer service was amazing!
It’s unexpected sometimes where a creative journey will lead you. I think this as I look over at two unfinished dolls that are still waiting patiently to be painted and clothed. It seems that ornaments completely took over my time during the holidays… when I was originally thinking I’d be making a lot of dolls… and that I am just now thinking about getting back to my doll making again. I have taken a few baby steps getting back into it by beginning my Izannah Walker doll workshop… well, okay. I’ve cut out the pattern pieces and traced them onto my fabric. 🙂 I hope to get a bit more done this weekend, and perhaps paint and clothe one of those patient dollies sitting on my work table.
But for now, I have bunches of new ornaments to share. Chenille dog ornaments for small dog lovers with a pug, a terrier, and a little mutt in the set; two sets of chenille St. Patrick’s Day ornaments, and another new spun cotton ornament. I have yet another mostly-finished spun cotton Easter rabbit ornament that I will also be offering for sale soon. All of the ornaments below are available now in the Old World Primitives Etsy Shop.
This weekend I reluctantly packed away my Christmas tree and ornaments and all of my santas, belsnickles, lights, garlands and other Christmas decorations and bid them farewell until the next holiday season. I am always a bit sad to see all of them go. My very favorite Santa doll will be staying put all winter long because he’s just too fun to pack away so soon. But, now there is room to start bringing out some Valentine goodies.
This week I added two new sets of chenille ornaments to my Etsy shop – a new set of cat ornaments and a new set of Easter ornaments. I made each set versatile enough to be multi-seasonal too if you’re like me and like to stretch out each holiday season as long as you possibly can.
I am also excited to announce that I will be offering a new line of spun cotton ornaments in 2010. My first offering has sold already (photo below), but more will be added to the Old World Primitives Etsy Shop soon.
I still have some primitive dolls to finish up as well – they have been sitting neglected in my little studio for too long now and will be getting some more attention this week. And in just one more week, I will also be starting on another new adventure – learning to make Izannah Walker style dolls, courtesy of Dixie Redmond’s Izannah Walker Workshop. I cannot wait to get started learning how to make these beautiful antique style dolls. If you would like to join me, a link to the workshop is below. I am sure it will be both challenging and great fun!
Wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season! I am excited that we should have a white Christmas this year – the foot of snow that fell here last weekend hasn’t done too much melting yet.
On to my exciting news that I have to share – I am honored to have one of my chenille angel ornaments featured on the cover of the Winter 2009 issue of Celebrate 365 magazine. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my copy of the magazine to get a peek at what is inside as well. A picture of the cover is below.
I also have two new sets of two Valentine’s Day ornaments to share. Both sets are available now in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop. These little Victorian ladies are made of chenille with crepe paper skirts.
December is such a fun and festive month here… I love decorating my primitive twig tree, each year with a few more new ornaments than the last. I always keep some pine scented candles burning throughout the month to make it smell like we have a real tree. As I unwrap my winter folk art decorations and place them about the house, each one brings smiles and gets me in the Christmas spirit. Below are a few peeks at my primitive Christmas decor this year.
I have also been working on some new ornament designs for next year, beginning with Valentine’s Day. I added a new set of vintage style chenille cupid ornaments to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop today. They are ready for the season of love with their Valentine hearts and arrows.
