I found Puppenka! - a new logo for my handmade natural dolls

Poor little Majorane and Laurel got ready so-so slowly, because I was working on a new logo and blogdesign for Puppenka. I was not completely satisfied with the previous one, but I wanted to start the blog and focus on doll sewing rather then primping the layout forever. And now I feel I find the real logo for Puppenka.

The bloglayout is not totally ready jet, Blogger tricked me at some point, but I am so so delighted with this swinging little girl. She represents everything for me, what I want Puppenka to mean.

Kindness - I wanted her to be pure and sweet, having a smile hovering over her lips. For me, she is kind as an innocent always heart upon her sleeves three year old little girl.

Playfulness - swinging is one of the most basic ways of playing, a great way of calming a baby, and also develops lot of skills such as sense of balance and movement coordination. Hence it has an effect on body and soul.

Simplicity - I want my dolls to be simple but delicate. I think simplicity does not means that it has to be unexacting as well. She has simple facial features, a simple but pretty hairdo and a nice dress. I'm not fun of too much ruffle and glitter. 

Connection to nature - Swinging is usually an outdoor activity, which connects kids to nature. When you swinging you hear the birdies, feels the warm rays of the Sun. You experience the effect of gravity, and the flourishing of the wind.

For all this, she is Puppenka.

I kept the thread and nail trick at letter 'P' as well, referring the way these little dolls are made. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Little Majorane and Laurel has to wait just a wee longer, but I promise to introduce them soon. In advance you can find pleasure in the photos of their spring walk.

Have playful days!

Round eyes of a little rascal - challages of creating doll face for natural dolls

Two little dollies forming in my hands in the same time, a boy for my son and a girl for my nice. Finishing the eyes of a doll is a key movement of dollmaking for me. When the facial features are created, the little personality reveals itself. This is a precious moment, when somehow a doll comes to life. That is my favorite moment of creating cloth-dolls. So intimate, so touching moment...

But if the features doesn't work out, the eyes remain cold, that is everything, but my favorite. Sometimes it happens, and my beloved moments change into the most annoying and frustrating ones. And it happened again, of course when I'm making the first doll for my little son. It seems, when working for someone real close, dolls make me to take a roundabout way.

Eye-embroidery was always a mystery for me. I could plan the position of the eyes, the color and the approximate size, but the exact shape, it was determined by someone or something else, maybe by the doll herself. Embroidering on such an elastic, and unforgetting fabric is no picnic, but it belongs to the magic of these handmade natural dolls, I think.

While creating the face of my son's doll, after the long-long eye-positioning procedure, I pulled in the fabric, to create little pits for the eyes. I wasn't happy with the pits, but I couldn't tell what was wrong, since I liked the positioning, so I went on. I embroidered the eyes, and I couldn't see the personality. Such a frustrating thing to happen. I decided to re-do the eyes. And I realized, I accidentally cut the fabric with the threads. So I had to cover the head again. Since the tubing also broke, I decided to restart it from the very beginning, I was completely finished with a head, but I had just a big pile of clean, soft wool before me again.

So I was struggling with eyes, when something marvelous happened, the help came from Fabiola Perez, who is a gifted dollmaker (Fig and Me), in form of this great blog post. She shares sometimes here experience in great mini tutorials, which I'm really thankful for. This time the idea of embroidering the two eyes simultaneously meant the breakthrough for me. I tried two follow her method when creating the doll for my niece, and it worked! I love her eyes! I also found super little, and flexible embroidery needles, with which these satin stitches are much easier. 

However, the little boy triked me again. I tried this method when redoing his eyes, but he insisted on me to add one more layer embroidering since he wants to have round eyes. But working with to needles, creating the two eyes simultaneously gives me much greater control forming them.

These two little dolls are being created based on a brand new pattern. They are going to be approx. 20 cm high, and will have simpler body-structure and hairstyles, to fit better in the hands of the smallest. Wish me luck, so I can find more time to sew, to be able to finish these dollies soon.

Have playful days!

p.s.: Besides eye-embroidery, as you can see, I tried out myself in hair-embroidery for the first time, and I love it!

Naming dollies

..is a very big privilege. Personally, I really enjoy the process of finding a name, but I also think, it strengthens the connection between the child and her doll.  So maybe this privilege belongs to the "mummy".

During my university years even my clothes-horse had a name, so you can imagine, how much I enjoy naming dolls. Searching for the name is a challenge itself, finding it always induces happiness. When you find THE NAME, it seems it was never your idea, but the new little owner whispered it into your heart. I think, the name shows much of the doll's personality and helps to make playing with her more real like.

This is a real fun part of dollmaking, but still, the dollies made for a certain kid  will not be named by me. Of course I have to call them somehow, so I plan to use titles, which refers to their habit, hobbies or any kinds of favourites. Like Tricky, Brave, Dotty, Redhead, Shy or Strawberry. I would like to leave the magic of naming them to the little kids, who hopefully will play whit most of my dolls. I will still have plenty chances to name dollies, since the ones I make without knowing the future owner will get their name from me, yeeaaah!

Have playful days!

The beginings...

I think it may be interesting how I met with Waldorf dolls and started my playful and adventures journey in dollmaking.

It it really simple. I have seen some Waldorf style dolls on a Hungarian craft selling page, and I fall in love with it these dolls in that very moment. My husband bought me a doll from that dollmaker for the next Christmas. She is Reka, an always cheerful friend of mine. 

Reka was created by Marta Schnetzer from Stoffpuppe

Next summer I bought the book "Making Waldorf Dolls"  by Maricristin Sealey. To be honest, today I do not use the patterns, or hairstyles shown in this book, but it meant the only basis for me at the beginning. It also tells about the nature of dollmaking and Waldorf dolls, which was really interesting, since I knew nothing about these traditional toys.

I started on with my first "Corner Doll", what I made from an old T-shirt, and soon I created two 20 cm traditional dolls with a borrowed sewing machine. At that time I used materials, that were available, which was quite challenging. At this point, I have to mention, that I had no previous sewing experience at all. I struggled with the not so perfect supplies and my own inexperience, but I made a doll for my sister as a Christmas present. He had far too long arms, and was no perfect at all, but I was happy with him, although I really struggled with some steps of sewing him.

Next year from an academic contest price I bought my own sewing machine, but it was long before the next doll came. I had concentrated on my studies, got married, moved to a different part of the country and started working as an engineer.

In 2013 December I realised, I promised a doll for X, and two for Y, so in the end I had to make four dolls, in a short period of time. All were Christmas presents for sweet little kids, moreover, one of them was made for my God-daughter. At this time, I knew a bit more about sewing and I could buy better materials, which made the creating process more joyful then ever before. 

I think these four little figures meant the turning point, and I felt so motivated and enthusiastic. In the beginning of 2014, I searched as much information on the web as I can, and was really impressed with some talented dollmakers work, such as Fig&Me, Fröken Skicklig, Poppenliefde, Petit Gosset or Marias Nature Toys. 

The spring found me endlessly thinking and talking about dolls, designing limbed doll patterns, learning crocheting and knitting. The idea of this blog occurred to me approximately a year ago as well, so I started planning logos, collecting name ideas. During the summer I made my first large limbed doll, but I wanted to try out everything, so I made many many investigations, made many mistakes and changed my mind again and again, until she became ready in the beginning of this summer. Sometimes weeks went by me, without making a stitch, sometimes I advanced with triple speed. Later on I will write 2-3 post about her, and the making process, so stay tuned! Lot of sweet memory, many good and some hard experiences are connected to her creation.

And now here I am, I feel ready to show my work to the public. I hope some of you will find these dolls nice and loveable, and maybe also find it joyful to read about dolls, who are always ready to play!