Wakey, wakey!

For someone on holiday, I seem to be getting quite a lot of crafting done - perhaps not exactly the crafting I intended either! Yesterday afternoon I decided to wake up my Matryoshka dolls up from their deep slumber - I felt there was a limit to the number I could make dozing in the sunshine:) So a greater part of the afternoon was spent redesigning the embroidered face - lots of drawing, scribbling and then just jumping in with both feet first, which seems to be my preferred way of working!

I'd had an idea in my mind to make a vivid red Matryoshka with black embroidery, so this was the one I decided to 'wake up', so to speak! There were a few attempts to get the features looking the way I wanted - but we got there eventually. I've now developed a method of embroidering the faces, with enough leeway to make variations between dolls, which is exactly what I want. I quite like the starkness of the white embroidery against the white felt - it gives them an individual 'look'. It takes time to do the embroidery, but it's really satisfying and ensures that each one will have a unique identity.

You will either love or hate the second Matryoshka doll - it has a very distinct 'burlesqe'/carnival/theatrical appearance which emerged - personally I really like it, as someone who likes a little bit of the 'bizarre' and the unexpected. But I'm sure folk will have their own particular tastes regarding art dolls/matryoshkas, etc.

I had great fun deciding where to place the sequins, embellishments, etc - it's amazing how much this changes their 'personalities'. I love this plaid tweed, which isn't technically speaking Harris Tweed (the weaver possibly used yarn which had been spun/died on the Scottish mainland - this process has to be done in the Outer Hebrides as part of the 'criteria' for the cloth to be authentic Harris Tweed - fascinating facts, eh - hehe!)

The dolls are approximately 5 inches in height, funnily enough the same size as the rest of my 'tweedies', which ties them in quite nicely. Some people might be thinking, I wish she'd left these dolls sleeping peacefully - myself I'm hugely enjoying the extra dimension being 'awake' has given them, hehe!

I'll be listing these soon in my online shops, perhaps later today - I have one more doll I have in mind to make at the moment, so I'll see how that goes. These two will certainly be added to my Etsy and 'Blog Shop' in any case.

Lots of fun things happening while the Easter break continues - there were 9 'little' cousins, ranging in age from 5 years to 14 years, at my 'Big Sis's lovely Easter dinner on Sunday - it was quite a sight!! Catch up later - Cheerio an Drasda :)

P.S. I'll update this post as soon as the dolls are added to my shops.

Now listed in my Etsy shop :)