My daughter just gave me "permission" to allow myself to "throw cautiion to the wind!"
For quite some time I've managed to stay away from crating dolls with that look. Everything I created in the past has only been tea-stained or coffee-stain with the added smell of cinnamon and vanilla ~ nothing really grungy though. Oh, I'd stain one or two things more heavily than the others, but still nothing really grungy. Then a little before last Christma I happened upon this quaint little store in my town. Everything in this little country store was old and worn with such patina. I found myself ooooohing and aaaaahing over other crafters' creations. I remember thinking that as a dollmaker I should be creating stuff like that. I should broaden my horizons because if this is what the public wants, I should try my hands dirty and go at it. I set about buying a few odds and ends that to use as accessories for the dolls I was going to create. And, I was actually quite excited about the whole process. Then I had hand surgery. (I told you about that, right?)
Anyway, Christmas came and went, and the New Year began. My hand was healing (slowly) and when I looke up ~ it was almost the end of February and I still hadn't convinced myself to get down to "grunging." I did get back to crafting and creating, but I nothing "grungy." And then a creative block set in and ...
While trying to gather inspiration, I came across piece of another crafter with the same "illness." In all the remedies she offered, what stood out the most was her suggestion to "try something new ~ something you wouldn't ordinarily do." How about that! Had someone reported me? LOL
So I gathered all my "stuff" and set my plan in motion. I began to grunge ~ or at least my version of it. Trouble was, I wasn't satisfied. Everything else I'd seen was more ... more dirty ~ more grungy. I had to get this. I became determined. I began to look for "recipes." I even purchased a couple of patterns that promised to have the "perfect" staining recipe. Heck, I even bought a recipe. I must say, though, that initially I was dissappointed. Each of the recipes were basically similar and turned out that one was really no better than the other.
So, I got to thinking, kind of putting everybody's ideas together to make one. I don't mind telling you - trying to find just the right combination is hard work. I still don't have just one. I have a bunch of them. All to different degrees. And when I'm working on something, it's still trial and error. And, getting to the error takes a bunch of trials. And, to me they still weren't grungy enough.
I only got close - really close after my talk with my daughter. Wisdom from the mouth of a babe. She simply said: "Mom, you've got to give yourself permission to get it wrong!" You see, I come from a line of sewers, seamstresses even. When I first began making dolls, it was the hardest thing to have a thread hanging, let alone tear a piece of fabric and leave the raggedy edges. In the beginning, ven my raggedy rabbits had french seams. (Don't ask! lol)
So, last night, after repeating what she'd said to myself and mustering up the courage, I hung up from her and drafted a wacky pattern. Sewed it up, stuffed it and dowsed it this gunky stuff that almost caused my bathroom sink to be permanently tan. I baked her and spritzed her, and rubbed her with cinnamon and poured the gunk over areas and rubbed some more and painted and ... whew! and there she lay ... one of the ugliest but grungy dolls I've made to date.
Now, I've got to figure out how to dress her. LOL
For quite some time I've managed to stay away from crating dolls with that look. Everything I created in the past has only been tea-stained or coffee-stain with the added smell of cinnamon and vanilla ~ nothing really grungy though. Oh, I'd stain one or two things more heavily than the others, but still nothing really grungy. Then a little before last Christma I happened upon this quaint little store in my town. Everything in this little country store was old and worn with such patina. I found myself ooooohing and aaaaahing over other crafters' creations. I remember thinking that as a dollmaker I should be creating stuff like that. I should broaden my horizons because if this is what the public wants, I should try my hands dirty and go at it. I set about buying a few odds and ends that to use as accessories for the dolls I was going to create. And, I was actually quite excited about the whole process. Then I had hand surgery. (I told you about that, right?)
Anyway, Christmas came and went, and the New Year began. My hand was healing (slowly) and when I looke up ~ it was almost the end of February and I still hadn't convinced myself to get down to "grunging." I did get back to crafting and creating, but I nothing "grungy." And then a creative block set in and ...
While trying to gather inspiration, I came across piece of another crafter with the same "illness." In all the remedies she offered, what stood out the most was her suggestion to "try something new ~ something you wouldn't ordinarily do." How about that! Had someone reported me? LOL
So I gathered all my "stuff" and set my plan in motion. I began to grunge ~ or at least my version of it. Trouble was, I wasn't satisfied. Everything else I'd seen was more ... more dirty ~ more grungy. I had to get this. I became determined. I began to look for "recipes." I even purchased a couple of patterns that promised to have the "perfect" staining recipe. Heck, I even bought a recipe. I must say, though, that initially I was dissappointed. Each of the recipes were basically similar and turned out that one was really no better than the other.
So, I got to thinking, kind of putting everybody's ideas together to make one. I don't mind telling you - trying to find just the right combination is hard work. I still don't have just one. I have a bunch of them. All to different degrees. And when I'm working on something, it's still trial and error. And, getting to the error takes a bunch of trials. And, to me they still weren't grungy enough.
I only got close - really close after my talk with my daughter. Wisdom from the mouth of a babe. She simply said: "Mom, you've got to give yourself permission to get it wrong!" You see, I come from a line of sewers, seamstresses even. When I first began making dolls, it was the hardest thing to have a thread hanging, let alone tear a piece of fabric and leave the raggedy edges. In the beginning, ven my raggedy rabbits had french seams. (Don't ask! lol)
So, last night, after repeating what she'd said to myself and mustering up the courage, I hung up from her and drafted a wacky pattern. Sewed it up, stuffed it and dowsed it this gunky stuff that almost caused my bathroom sink to be permanently tan. I baked her and spritzed her, and rubbed her with cinnamon and poured the gunk over areas and rubbed some more and painted and ... whew! and there she lay ... one of the ugliest but grungy dolls I've made to date.
Now, I've got to figure out how to dress her. LOL
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