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.
The unofficial start of summer is here, so I have decided that I must get out of my gardens and back to the creating table. There are many dolls and ornaments in progress that are calling for my attention! Here is a look at the spun cotton ornaments that I have added to Old World Primitives Etsy shop since my last blog post… yes, I am already preparing for Halloween!
And this is Laura, my latest primitive cloth doll with a sculpted Paperclay face – she is traveling at the moment, preparing for her feature in a future issue of Prims magazine. 🙂
I have been working ever so slowly on my Izannah Walker doll class, which thankfully has stayed open long enough for slow pokes like me. This is where I am at with my doll now – her sculpting is done, and I am ready to apply her stockinette next. I think that perhaps I have been hesitating with moving onto that step for so long now because I’m a bit nervous about messing her up!
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…).
I have managed to complete one of the work in progress dolls that I posted about last week, and get her added to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop yesterday. Her name is Emily, and she decided that she wanted to wear an outfit with a bit of a festive feel to it for the holidays. Here she is below, after her paint had dried, but before she was antiqued, getting ready to get dressed. Her skirt is made from reproduction mid 1800s fabric.
Here is Emily all completed, demurely posing for her photo.
Her friends will be joining her soon… but for now it’s back to work on completing a few more orders first for me. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Today I have decided to pull myself away from my gardens long enough to introduce Rebecca, the newest addition to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop. She is an OOAK cloth doll with a face sculpted from Paperclay. She is entirely hand painted, antiqued, and sealed. Rebecca’s early style outfit was inspired by my fascination with the Amish of Lancaster, PA and their old-fashioned way of life.
And now it’s back out to the gardens for me. This year my husband and I created two raised beds in our backyard, inspired by the great success our friends Dawn and Bill have had with them (and how delicious everything they grow tastes – we just got our first sample of the season at another amazing BBQ in their back yard last night). With some advice from a recent article in Early American Life, we now also have raised beds of our own – filled with 4 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, pickle cucumbers, orange bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, red and white onions, snow peas, strawberries, dill, parsley, garlic chives, basil, and cilantro. Many more veggies will be added in the late summer for a fall crop.
Meet Rosa, the newest addition to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop. She is an OOAK cloth doll with a face sculpted from Paperclay. She is also entirely hand painted and antiqued.
I also must thank Heather of Audrey Eclectic for presenting me with this lovely award:
Thank you so much, Heather. I will be back after I get some more work done to tag a few people with this award.
Old World Primitives has been updated for February 7th with the primitive doll pictured below.
SOLD
I recently took part in the Cloth and Clay Doll workshop offered by Gritty Arts Studio, and created this doll during the workshop. I have discovered that I absolutely love working with Paperclay on top of a cloth doll body, and definitely plan to make more dolls with sculpted faces in the future! The primitive doll pictured above is also hand painted and antiqued. I also have some more goodies in the works that will be added to the Old World Primitives Etsy shop soon too.