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.

Liberty

Hello there! It's been quiet around Scarlet Elfcup for some days now. But, don't mistake the silence for lack of activity. There is one little girl who has been on travel with me for the past week or so and she has been celebrating day after day. Here on an island she's been busy rock climbing, snorkeling, swimming in the ocean, laying in the sun, hiking, attending many big family gatherings in preparation for a big family wedding. And now, she awaits the finale...a July 4th weekend celebration for the United States and a July 1st weekend celebration for Canada Day!

Meet Liberty!

The name Liberty was chosen for this little girl because she represents just that...a doll created in honor and in celebration of Independence Day (July 4) and Canada Day (July 1).

Liberty is Scarlet Elfcup's very first jointed doll. She is a Le Petite Elfcup doll. She stands less than 8" (20 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 are decorated with tiny freckles and blushed with red beeswax. Her nose and various body parts are also blushed with red beeswax.  Liberty's hair is made of mohair yarn and tied into two sweet pigtails. She is a sitting jointed doll.  Her knees, legs and elbows are sewn joints and her shoulders are string jointed. She also has a belly button and a bum.

Liberty's jointed knees, legs, elbows and shoulders allow her to be very playful. She can be set and posed in a number of ways that are not possible with an unjointed doll. The imagination is left up to you. Be precautioned that although her shoulders are string jointed, they are not to be bent beyond 90 degrees or twisted and turned beyond a 90 degree angle for this will put stress and strain on the string and it will eventually break. She, like us, does not like to withstand the pain of having her shoulders bent beyond a reasonable point. So, withhold from rough play with little Liberty.

Liberty comes wearing a white 100% cotton summer dress. Her dress is lined with a 100% cotton fabric and opens fully on the back with two nickel-plated snap buttons. Underneath she wears white cotton bloomers decorated with pink elastic lace. She brings along with her an extra change of clothes...a grey summer dress made of 100% cotton and Liberty of London fabric printed with Su Blackwell's floral art design. The dress is decorated with a hand knit capped sleeve made with 100% alpaca and a hemline adorned with soft grey tulle. The dress opens fully on the back with two nickel-plated snap buttons. Liberty's shoes are hand knit with 100% alpaca and embellished with two red buttons. Liberty also comes prepared with a button down, hand knit mustard cardigan made with a 75% merino wool/25% nylon blended yarn.

To top it all off (no pun intended), Liberty comes wearing a celebratory top hat made of the colors red and white to represent colors present in both the Canadian and the American flag and to honor the celebration of freedom for both countries. Her top hat is made of 100% cotton and linen and lined with a firm stabilizer.

Liberty is recommended for ages 8+ due to the nature of her delicate design (her shoulder joints are string jointed and very moveable, but they will not withstand rough play) and the many buttons and fasteners on her clothing that pose as choking hazards for young children.

Liberty will be available for 24 hours via The Northern Collective upload in Hyena Cart on Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 2100 hours (9:00 PM EST). This is a good opportunity to bring Liberty home for a discounted price. If she is still available after July 7, she will be placed in Scarlet Elfcup's Etsy shop at retail value....a good opportunity for those who are interested but don't have an account with Hyena Cart.

The Northern Collective is a Canadian handmade market place specializing in a diverse array of goods including dolls, clothing, hand spun yarn, knitted and crocheted goods, stuffed toys, felted arts and crafts and quilted items. Please visit The Northern Collective's blog and Facebook page to learn more about them and to preview the upcoming July 7th collection of beautiful hand made items by this talented group of makers.

I would like to send many thanks to Jaime Lynda and everyone at The Northern Collective for inviting Scarlet Elfcup to join as a guest in this week's grand celebration of Independence Day and Canada Day. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to be a part of such a talented and fun group. I can't wait to see all the beautiful hand made items that will be available on July 7th.