Look! A New Book!....Mathematics in Practicum

The girls have had their noses in THIS book all day...flipping forward, flipping backward, page for page, reading charts, learning new lingo and abbreviations...s1wyif, permutations, inversions, sequence....sound like a lot of mathematics? Imagine that...mathematics in practicum. Take the 1-row, serpentine, spiral and shaped 1-row methods and voila!....the end product?....rectangles, cylinders, triangles and parallelograms that form an infinite array of fabric textures and patterns.

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending Cecelia Campochiaro's Sequence Knitting class to learn techniques for creating an incredible array of fabrics. Cecelia Campochiaro is no newbie at knitting. Up until very recently, Cecelia worked full-time and knitted as a hobby in her spare moments. The result of those endless hours of passionate knitting....a published book....Sequence Knitting.

Sequence Knitting is an incredible compilation, created over the past 5 years, of Cecelia's knitted sequence patterns and contains the latest technique in knitting whereby a fabric can be created simply by knitting a sequence over and over. The book contains nearly 400 pages of beautifully photographed charts, patterns, projects and discussions about Cecelia's tried and true methods. This is a book for the passionate knitter at heart. If you are such a person and you're interested in purchasing the book, simply go to www.sequenceknitting.com. To find Cecelia, visit her on Ravelry, Facebook, or Instagram.

The girls are still deep in fiddling with the book. When they've finished perusing to their hearts' content, we will continue on with the rest of their clothing. Little one needs shoes and a hat. The hat she has on is borrowed and she insists on having her own. Big sis needs some shoes and undies. They're both also anxiously waiting on some toys for the road. They're giddy about meeting their mama and they can't stop talking about it, even in the midst of a fascinating new book.

A Comparison in Facial Structure

If you followed the last blog that was posted yesterday, July 15, you remember that the current work in progress is two sisters (whom I have a picture of, for inspiration). These are two beautiful grand-daughters to someone for whom I am making these custom cuties.

In the last blog, you recall that I was not satisfied with the facial structure of elder sister, the first version (shown below on the right). In the picture that I was given of the grand-daughters, older sister is a pretty little girl with beautifully defined and carved cheeks. If you saw the picture, you would guess her age to be about seven or eight years. I really wanted to convey her graceful and unique facial feature. But, try as I might, the result was what you see in the photo on the right below....a face that conveys maturity for sure....but, far beyond her years. The facial sculpting of elder sister version 1 reveals eyes that are much too droopy, cheek bones that are much too high and the hollowing of the cheeks that are much too puckered...giving the sense of a much older adult as opposed to an older child. So, as per usual, when trial #1 doesn't work, we move to trial #2, then trial #3, and so on until the desired look is achieved. And what you see in the photo shown on the left below is the final result....eyes are lifted and brightened, cheeks are defined and carved but still full and round giving a sense of childhood rather than adulthood. 

And there we have it...two sisters in the making.


Maturity in a Doll Face

Sculpting age into the face of a doll is taking me "ages." There are so many facets that determine maturing of the face. In babies and very young children, the cheeks are always overly-full and round. The proportion of the eye line relative to the length of the head is typically two-thirds of the length of the head from the top down. In a face that begins to show signs of maturity, the hollowing of the mid-face is distinguishable and the eye line is shifted to mid-distance on the head. It becomes even more complex when sculpting the face of a child who has passed toddler years but has yet to navigate the grade school years. In such a child, there will already be fat lost in the cheeks and the structure around the mid-face will have begun to develop. The proportion of the eye line on the face will also have begun to shift ever so slightly. Yet, all other features of youth and babyhood are still subtly present. To present these characteristics into the sculpting of a fabric doll face takes many rounds of trial and error. And even then, we wait for the final results. 

Here are two sisters...work in progress with the elderly one. 

With that, I'll leave you to judge the age of each child and mostly the difference in age between the two...THAT is the key factor here.

The Return of Scout

By the end of May the hummingbirds' Northward migration is complete. Yet, here it is, mid-June and Piper has not seen or heard from her bird, Scout. She's been waiting in angst for him, worried that a tragedy may have befallen him. But finally, today, the little rascal showed up.

He offered no explanation for his delay nor did he apologize for his delinquency. Instead, he popped his head in between the shrubery, where Piper was making her rounds tending to the garden and the flowers in anticipation of Scout's return, and greeted her with a cheery "tweet."

It's not as if she wanted an apology, but she was hoping for an explanation. After all, she is the keeper of his nectar and she works very hard to keep the other birds and bees away so that he may have food to eat after his long and exhausting migration over hundreds of miles across the oceans.

Just as a scowl appeared on Piper's face, to be followed by a scolding, Scout began twittering away to tell her about his long journey...how lonesome it was for him (because hummingbirds are a solitary creature and do not migrate in flocks). He spoke of how exhausting the journey was because there was a time in migration when he had to get off at dusk for a non-stop flight of up to 500 miles across the seas. That's a mighty distance for such a small fellow. Along the way, he had to stop at an oil rig in the middle of the ocean in order to rest his weary wings. He is now famished and he's so grateful to her for being here to tend to his nectar and to give him a warm welcome. And just like that the scowl went away from Piper's face, as quickly as it came, and the two friends chittered and chattered away to catch up on lost time. Such is the beauty of friendships between those who are close to one another but don't get to see each other often...things just pick up where it last left off, as if no time has passed at all.

I'm not sure where to begin telling you the story of how Piper and Scout came to be. I suppose I shall start by telling you that when kindred spirits cross paths, amazing things come to fruition.

Amongst the many ideas that float in my dreams (the endless list of characters to come to life) was a hummingbird. But, as with many of these floating dreams, the ideas are very slow to come to life for one reason or another. It may be a lack of time. It may be that I have such particular ideas about how I want to make something that I haven't quite figured out the details of how to go about the making. Both these reasons were the hindrances behind the making of a hummingbird doll....that is, until I met Ms. J. When this dear lady came to me and requested a doll that would involve the hummingbird, I felt that this would be IT. This would be the time for which the hummingbird that's been floating in my dreams will come to life and my heart truly jumped for joy. It's not only because the hummingbird is my favorite bird of all in the bird kingdom. But, it was also because I now had someone in the world for whom I could create this little creature and she would appreciate it for all that it is. So, thank you, Ms. J, for coming into my life and bringing with you Scout and Piper.

All About Piper

Piper is a Nectar-keeper. Her sole responsibility is to tend to the flowers and the nectar that is produced by the flowers so that the hummingbird will have food to sustain itself and live a long happy life (which is, at max, only 5 years). After her bird passes, she takes on duties to tend to and care for another hummingbird and this defines her joyful and very practical existence. She loves her work and daily tends to the flowers by keeping destructive insects from eating at the flower petals and she sweeps away dust and dirt that might contain organisms that take the nectar without helping in reproduction. In this way, the flower can do it's work to produce nurturing food for the hummingbird. So, her work is quite an important and essential one for the livelihood of these tiny birds.

Piper is a Wee-Bee Mini Elfcup doll. She stands less than 6" (15 cm) tall. She is made with all natural materials. Her doll skin is made with premium quality cotton interlock made in the USA. She is firmly stuffed with bio-wool also made in the USA.  Her seams are sewn twice for reinforcement.  She has embroidered facial features. Her facial structure is sculpted giving her a sweet little face with an itty-bitty chin, round chubby cheeks, and deeper set eyes. Her cheeks, nose and various body parts are blushed with red beeswax.  Piper's hair is 100% suri alpaca, wefted and then sewn into a crocheted wig. She is a sitting doll with sewn joints.  She also has a belly button and a bum.

Piper comes wearing a rugged workers dress made from100% iridescent silk lined with a 100% Thai silk. The dress was created with a crinkly and rugged effect by hand washing, hand crushing and then dried in heat for a short time. 

The dress' lining was shaped by shearing and then hand fraying. The dress opens fully on the back with 3 nickel-plated snap buttons. 

Piper comes capped with a hand knit hat made just for hummingbird Nectar-keepers. The hat was knitted with a 50% silk/50% cashmere blended yarn and created with a pattern that mimics the scalloped features found on a hummingbird's feathers. Her boots are hand knit with a variegated 100% merino wool yarn.

For tending to her work in the early hours of first light or in the late hours of twilight, Piper sports an oversized cloak made from a 100% cotton fabric with iridescent effects and lined with a 100% iridescent silk. The coat is reversible but must be handled gently to avoid snags that will pucker or ruin the delicate weave of the silk. It closes at the neck with a nickel-plated eye and hook fastener.

All About Scout

Hummingbirds are like fireflies...unless you are fortunate enough to either live where they live or have traveled to where they live, you may never encounter them in your whole life. With that said, we are indeed the luckiest people to live in the part of the world where hummingbirds fly free and happily. Here in California, they are fortunate enough to be thriving everywhere. On any given day, we are bound to see a hummingbird visit our garden. And I can tell you that each time I see them, no matter how many times I see them, I stop in my tracks to watch and admire them and let them take my breath away.

Hummingbirds are the tiniest of all the birds. Between all the species, they measure in the range of 3-5 in (7.5-12.5 cm). You can easily spot a hummingbird from afar because they are so extraordinarily tiny that they stand out amongst the other birds. They are the only creatures in nature that can stop dead in their tracks while traveling at full speed. Full speed can mean up to 60 miles per hour when they are doing a courtship dive and on average they travel 20-30 miles per hour. Because the hummingbird can rotate its wings in a circle, they are the only bird that can fly forwards, backwards, up, down ,sideways and  hover in mid air. Amazing isn't it?

So, you see, it is no wonder that I am hopelessly smitten with these magical creatures. And if you are ever lucky enough to cross paths with one, you too shall fall deeply in love with them...as it happened to one Ms. J from the UK. This far away friend happened to be on vacation in California sometime earlier this year and while she was here a fortunate stroke of serendipity brought to her an encounter with a hummingbird. And this was how Scout came to be. He is a creation made for a lady who was lucky enough to encounter the hummingbird while traveling in this region, truly a once in a lifetime experience if you don't live in their part of the earth.

If you're interested, here are some websites with information and photos of these magical and amazing birds; all about hummingbirds, hummingbird migration basics, Native American legends and mythology of the hummingbird, facts and fun information about hummingbirds. 

Without further ado, I present to you....Scout.

Scout is the tiniest soft sculpture creation I've made thus far. In past creations, there was Benja's clock, Cicindela's firefly, Puck's moon and there is also a gypsy moth in the making for a young aviator. In the process of deciding how I would go about making Scout as true to size as possible, because hummingbirds range from only 3-5 inches, I contemplated several different methods. Needle felting a bird would have been the easiest way to go about it. But, I felt that I wanted something with a lot of color and texture and needle felting would have limited both. Despite the challenges of doing a soft sculpture in such a miniscule size, I felt that this was the best method for creating a bird that would present richness in both texture and color and offer a wide range of options for both characteristics.

Scout's body is made from mud silk. Not to diverge too much, but mud silk is created through an incredibly fascinating process and dates back hundreds of years. It is also a very eco-friendly and sustainable process. This article, "Dye for Two Tones: The Story of Sustainable Mud-coated Silk," provides a very good take on the history of mud silking and talks about it's sustainability and eco-friendliness. If you want to see beautiful photos of the process, this site has a small article and lots of pictures. I chose mud silk for it's tight knit and firmness but yet still thin and pliable qualities. I wanted to embroider the fabric without layering backing into the fabric, which would add too much bulk for such a tiny creation. So, mud silk was the best quality for embroidering tiny stitches on a tiny object. Scout is stuffed firmly with 100% carded wool.

On top of the mud silk, Scout's body is decorated with approximately a thousand stitches of embroidery thread. I wanted to mimic the true patterns on a hummingbird. Have you seen photos of a hummingbird up close?....it is truly incredible. Just google hummingbird and go to images and you'll see how amazing the colors and details are on these tiny creatures....truly the handiwork of mother nature herself. There are no feathers like that of a hummingbird's. Their feathers are patterned in neat rows of scallop shapes and each strand is painted with an iridescent glow that is ever changing and magnificently brilliant. So, in order to mimic as closely as possible (by human hands anyway) the pattern and colors, I used embroidery thread to produce the smallest stitches that my clumsy hands can muster up. Between 6 different shades and colors of thread, I embroidered each scallop stitch for stitch and changed the color tones as I moved along, in order to give the illusion of iridescence.

I contemplated for a long time whether to make a standing bird or a bird in flight. At the end, I felt strongly that a bird in flight was the best choice since the hummingbird in flight is one of the many things that are mesmerizing about these creatures. Scout's wings are made of a 100% iridescent silk. They are shaped triangular like that of a real hummingbird's and handstiched with long ribbons of silk that were shaped, twisted and curved fold for fold to give the effect of volume. Hummingbirds can beat their wings up to 80 times a second during normal flight and up to 200 times per second during a courtship dive. The transparency of the silk fabric and it's iridescent qualities symbolize the blurriness of a hummingbird's wings while it is in flight.

Scout's tail is also made from 100% iridescent silk, machine stitched and then carefully hand frayed to give the effect of feathers. His beak is made from wood, colored with permanent black pen and attached with a tiny dab of industrial strength glue. Despite the industrial strength glue, his beak is still rather delicate because of it's miniscule scale and should be handled with the most gentle hands. In other words, Scout is not a toy and should not be handled by children. Rather, Scout will be happiest strung from a place where he is free to fly and buzz about in the air.

Scout measures approximately 3 inches (7.5 cm) long from beak to tail. And he stands about a half inch (1.2 cm) tall.

There we have it everyone....a hummingbird creation...Piper and Scout....custom made for one very special kindred spirit from far across the Atlantic.





Piper Awaits the Return of a Friend

Here is a small girl....waiting....

.....anxiously, excitedly anticipating....in her waking hours while tending to her duties as Nectar-keeper.....

....in her dreams, always looking upward toward the sky...keeping an eye out for HIM....always keeping an ear out, listening for HIM.

Piper is excited and anxious for the return of a friend. It is any day now until the return of Scout. And oh what a reunion that will be! This little girl can hardly wait.

Enter Puck

Act II, Scene I

The night of the next day

A wood near Athens

Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy, and Robin Goodfellow (aka Puck)

Fairy.  Either I mistake your shape and making quite, or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you

Robin. Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night.

- A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare

Act III, Scene I

Robin.  I'll follow you; I'll lead you about a round, through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier: Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometime a hound, a hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire, And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.

- A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare

Perched high above and out of this world sits a naughty little woodland creature who looks down upon man and mocks him with sly words of trickery and doses of magic. She wreaks havoc upon mortals and her cheekiness knows no end. Her name is Puck, also known by humans as Robin Goodfellow.

The creation of Puck was inspired by the ballet, The Fairie Queen, based on William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck came about when I received a custom order with only one specification...a doll inspired by the ballet. Prior to this, I knew about A Midsummer Night's Dream (although I had never read the play), but knew nothing about The Fairie Queen. It did not take much for me to dive into a bit of researching and then reading of the entire play by Shakespeare, before I decided that Puck would be the character to bring to life in this creation. If you have read the play or seen the ballet, you may understand why it was so irresistible to choose Puck as the creature to bring to life. No character stood out so boldly, so intriguingly, or so amusingly than little Puck.

Although Puck is male in the Shakespearean play, Puck is presented as female in the ballet, The Fairie Queen. I chose to bring to life the female version of Puck because that's who was tugging at my feelings when I had just a doll head looking at me without hair or body.

So, here she is...tiny, cute, and oh so adorable at first glance....

....but, upon closer look, you shall find a wicked, wild and mischievous little being who fondles with your mind in your dreams and awakens you to a world of disorientation and feeling dazed and perplexed.

But, don't be intimidated...she's only a sprite and though she likes to play trickeries, her heart is really not evil, just overly playful and a tad naughty. You may even find that when you meet her, she's very friendly and quite minuscule and vulnerable to loveliness.

I had such a ball making Puck! It's as simple as that. It's always sad for me when the process of creation ends because I have to leave the world of magic from which I've just come and switch gears so suddenly that it disorients me. Having been in Athens and walking with Oberon and Titania, Puck and Bottom, and the rest of Shakespeare's people, I find it dizzying to be back in 2015 with it's digital craze. Thank you, K, for bringing Puck, Shakespeare, and The Fairie Queen into my world and hence giving me a chance to fly off into the land of magic, at least for a bit.

Act V, Scene I

Robin.  If we shadows have offended, think but this (and all is mended), that you have but slumber'd here, while these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream, gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, if we have unearned luck, now to scape the serpent's tongue, we will make amends, ere long; else, the Puck a liar call. So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.

- A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare

Puck is a Wee-Bee Mini Elfcup doll. She stands less than 6" (15 cm) tall. She is made with all natural materials. Her doll skin is made with premium quality cotton interlock imported from Europe. She is firmly stuffed with bio-wool made in the US.  Her seams are sewn twice for reinforcement.  She has embroidered facial features. Her facial structure is sculpted giving her a sweet little face with an itty-bitty chin, round chubby cheeks, deeper set eyes and a naughty smirk. Her cheeks, nose and various body parts are blushed with red beeswax.  She is a sitting doll with sewn joints that are made flexible for easy movement and changing of clothes.  Her legs are shaped with permanently bent knees so that she may perch from on high and swing from the moon to cast spells upon the mortals. She also has a belly button and a bum.

Puck's spritely mane is made of a blend of wefted mohair and suri alpaca, looped strand for strand onto a crocheted mohair wig.  It is so lovely and fun to style into a number of coiffures. Just use your imagination and the possibilities are endless. Note: her wild and wicked mane can be styled gently to your heart's content, but Puck hates grooming (as all woodland creatures do). So, take heed and do not comb or brush that magnificent mangly mess. Also note that her wonderful hair requires no ties for any of the number of styles you see below...gently use her own hair to tie off the styling...wonderful and simple.   

Puck comes concealed under a hooded cloak made of cotton linen and lined with a 100% Thai silk. Her shroud is decorated at the collar with a handknit trim made of a 100% wool yarn.

Beneath her cover, she wears a woodland dress made from100% wool roving interfaced with a 100% cotton gauze material, then stitched and frayed. The dress is tied in the front with an alpaca yarn. Her dress is sturdy, but not meant for repeated removal and will not withstand rough play. Puck's booties are hand knit with a 100% wool yarn. She comes sporting a hand knit cap made just for her great fanciful mane. The cap is knit with a Japanese yarn blended of mohair, silk and wool and it was designed with two openings, one on each side to accommodate that wild, wicked hair that sometimes turn to horns.

Puck comes straddling the moon for this is the very moon that looks down upon A Midsummer Night's Dream. Her moon is made from a 100% cotton duck cloth lined with a 100% cotton muslin and trapunto quilted by hand, stuffed with 100% carded wool and lightly tea-dyed to give texture and color variation in order to symbolize the beautiful patterns, textures, shadows and shapes of our very own moon. The trapunto pattern is designed differently for both sides of the moon, hence giving a lot of variation in shape and stitching. If desired, the moon can be hung from the ceiling with Puck astride.

Ay! Puck! The little wee sprite who can "put a girdle round about the Earth in forty minutes" worth.

It's fun to be a mischievous little fairy....

....and have horns to show for it.

Even more spectacular is when your hair is actually your horn, which means more styling fun for this naughty woodland creature.

But, the best part of all, is that you get to ask your woodland friends to weave you head gear made just to fit those horns. 

Now, who wouldn't want to be a mischievous creature of the night?