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

July 23, 2015

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

July 16, 2015

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

July 15, 2015

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

July 5, 2015

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 L e 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.

A Jointed Freckled Le Petite Elfcup 8" Doll

June 25, 2015

Awaiting the upcoming summer festivities is this little gal...

This little one is staying up late, skipping naps and sitting around restless....waiting for her turn to attend a sparkling, crackling, fun-time summer festivity!

In nearly one week's time, Scarlet Elfcup is joining The Northern Collective as a guest, for a fun-fabulous upload over July 4th weekend. More details to come later next week. For now, I want to introduce to you the most fun doll I've made yet....a jointed and freckled friend...

Do you remember when the Le Petite Elfcup 8" doll pattern was introduced back in February of this year? At that time, I mentioned that the creation of an 8" doll pattern was a way for me to lay the groundwork to move into a jointed design and to start exploring armatures that will allow for standing and posable dolls, yet will still allow me to work within the very small structure that I so enjoy making. As much as I would like to work within the miniature size of the 6" Wee-Bee Mini Elfcup, it turns out that jointed designs for a doll this size is not entirely effective. This, I discovered back in April when I was in the making of the little boy that would fly a gypsy moth. The gypsy moth boy is still my work in progress and though he was not jointed, he was partially armatured. And what I learned was that bendable parts, whether jointed or armatured, on such tiny dolls will yield more bulk protruding than it would yield a nicely posable or simply bendable doll.

There can be very complex technical methods involved in doll jointing and the options are endless. In BJDs, a maker can spend months jointing together a doll that has as many as fifteen joints all strung together to create total poseability in the head, shoulders, elbows, arms, hips, knees, legs, ankles, toes and fingers....it's amazing. In more classic dolls the jointing might involve thread joints, sewn joints, disc joints, or simple ball joints. For my first jointed doll, I wanted to stay very basic and to simply see and feel a jointed creation. So here is the most basic and simple jointed doll you can get. This little girl has sewn joints for her elbows and her knees and string joints for her shoulders.

Even in the simplicity of these joint designs, she just looks and feels more FUN! Her knees and elbows can bend beyond 90 degrees and her shoulders can rotate above and behind her head. Imagine the fun things that she can do with such flexibility.

With all that said, this little girl is extremely anxious for lots of summer fun. But, for now, I've asked that she sit tight and have patience with me as I work to make her some more clothes and a sweet little hand knit hat for the special occasion coming up. This is how she responded....

Stay tuned for upcoming details regarding The Northern Collective upload on July 4th weekend.

The Return of Scout

June 17, 2015

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.