Doll Heads for Sale

I think the best gift you can give a child is a handmade toy. It's tough if you cannot afford a cute waldorf doll made by a famous doll artist. That pricetag of around $200 and up just seems whole lot of money. But once you consider that up to 20 hours of labor can go into a single doll, her clothes, and accessories in order to get every little detail right - you may think it's a bargain.

Have you ever considered making a waldorf style doll yourself? Maybe if you put your mind to it you could get it done by Christmas?  Well, the hardest part about making a doll is the making of the head. Even after years of making them it still takes me, the professional, about an hour on average to make a good doll head. I dedicate about two days a month to just that task.

I am not sure whether you noticed. I recently added a couple of doll making supplies to my Etsyshop. For those of you who would like to create your own professional looking doll, I definitely recommend buying a dollhead. I think the head of the waldorf style doll is the most important part of the doll. You can have the finest materials and greatest pattern, but if the head doesn't turn out, your doll will not look so great. When making a waldorf doll you have to remember: "It's all in the head!"

Want to give it a try? Then "head" on over to my shop and purchase a head. I am not sure how many I will be selling this season. For now I am only offering the size that is suitable for 10-12 inch dolls. I think that is a good size for a starter doll. If you need a bigger or smaller size you can send me a personal message.

A bum for my dolls...

I have been "bummed" out about this problem for years: How come my dolls never sit so well? It is a fact that traditional waldorf style patterned dolls have trouble sitting nicely. The original waldorfy pattern does not allow for a real bottom. The doll has a rectangular box-type of shape. The legs fold out from under that box. If you try to sit the doll on a smooth surface - even when you lean it agains a wall - the doll tends to slide down and lay flat. This is especially true when the doll is in the nude and sitting down on a smooth surface.

It's very frustrating for the dollmaker and seller when trying to take photos. It has been bothering me even more lately. So since I am in the process of freshening up my shop and going back to the drawing board I decided to add a "butt" panel to my original doll pattern design.

I took an oval piece of fabric and added it to where I normally just insert the legs. This way the doll gets a more cylindrical shape. I was quite intrigued by the results. The doll can sit nicely on her bottoms without having to lean against an object. From now on dolls will be able to listen to lectures from me about putting on their best smile during photo shoots. I love it!

I think many a doll collector and doll mama will be happier too that their dolls won't keep sliding down when they are trying to pose them on a chair or a bookshelf.

I am very please with how the first prototype doll turned out. Unfortunately I didn't get very good pictures during the process of making this first one. It was too dark in my studio. When it's 100 degrees outside I close all the blinds...Otherwise I'd perish in my little studio that is surrounded by windows.

So the photos here just demonstrate that it is possible to sew some sense into a little dolly. After years you can still improve and tweak a pattern you thought was quite perfect and make it even more so...

Dolls in Progress...

Slowly some sweet babies are coming alive. In this picture you can see 4 different heads in the skin colors I offer. I have a pink flesh color, a yellowish beige color, mocha, and a dark chocolate brown. It's always interesting to me how different colored fabrics seem to have different stretch. Or is it just my imagination?

If you look closely you can detect that the dark brown fabric always ends up being a bit more lose and stretchy. Not sure why that is. I did everything the same.

Now off to decide what hair color to choose for a mocha doll. I have a request for golden mohair by a customer. I have never done this combination. I am not that daring a person. I usually go with black for brown hair for that skin color. But why not? There are a lot of blond children with darker skin out there. So tell me which of the two you prefer:

                                                           Is it the golden golden girl?

                                                               Or the medium blond girl?

When I first looked at the yarn I was sure it was the bright golden color. But now I am thinking the lighter color looks better...Decisions. Decisions.

Working on Some Doll Heads

After the Christmas rush I was quite tired and worn out. It was high time to clean up my little one-room studio and get organized. I could not see the workbench any more for the piles of fabric and notions hither and yonder. Then I had to do the pesky paperwork. I swear I'd rather be making dolls than keeping track of receipts...

Next I thing I figured I was all out of dollheads. Had to start some new ones from scratch. This is the perfect activity for the first week of year if you ask me. Here is how they all start those little lovely children of mine.

Each Waldorf style doll, small or big, starts out with a wound ball of wool. It looks so easy, doesn't it? But if you ever tried you might find that it takes quite a bit of patience and skill to get perfectly round globes of wool. Even the littlest of my babies has a tiny ball of wool inside their head - all handmade! So please forgive me when I get a tad impatient with people asking me for a discount. I know $10.50 for a tiny baby may seem a lot of money to some folks. But you must understand that each little one was created with care and lots of love - all wound up in this tiny ball of wool. You cannot put a price on that really. Unfortunately I must!

If was a rich gal I swear I would give them all away for free...I'd give one to each kid I see crying in the street. I'd give one to each adult too, just because...they are so darn cute, and we all remain children at heart.

Keep your Heads...when making Doll Heads

I have once again run out of pre-made doll heads. I admit, it's the least favorite part of making dolls in my book. I need good music and lots of strong coffee to make it through a head making session.

I can't believe I actually used to offer pre-made heads in my Etsyshop. I  cannot bring myself to offer them any more - because that would mean I would have to make even more heads...Don't care what you offer me. I ain't selling them no more!

What has always fascinated me about Waldorf style doll heads, is the fact, that a number of people will follow the same recipe or formular for making them, yet their dolls look completely different. Just browse the internet and compare different dollmakers. It's quite intrigueing.
Kind of reminds me of cooking. Our perceptions of the end product are so vastly different as cooks. Is it because our tastebuds are different, and we taste the food and add different amounts of seasoning? Maybe it's that way with doll heads, too?

I prefer a rather firm and roundish looking head. I like my heads to be proportionate to the size of the body I am making. I measure each head as I shape it and try to make them the same size for a 12 or 15 inch doll.

Do the ingredients used in the process make a difference? I am sure it is another factor. What type string are you using? I have tried many different things over the years. Some books recommend dental floss. Ever tried that one? I found that plain old cotton crochet yarn works best for me.

The wool plays an important role too! If it's not carded right and full of plant residue such as straw and leaves - you will get frustrated because you spend so much time picking out foreign objects...I like my wool to be fluffy, white, and super clean.
Over the years I have received bags of wool from friendly souls. Proudly someone will present to me a bag of wool they bought at a craft fair they visited. Sadly I can never use it because it was carded differently. Not sure what they did to the fibers but usually the fibers are matted together and I am not able to wind the wool into the balls.

That's how each doll head starts -  at least - according to my formular...
If you have never made a doll head before, don't give up too soon! It takes many tries to come up with a recipe that works for you. I wrote mine down on a card as a reminder. I look at it as my own special concoction - recipe card. LOL. Seriously, you would think after so many hundreds of heads I would know how to do it. But I love to have it handy, in case I lose my head (patience) and turn into a total basket case while making another batch of heads...

Doll Maker at Work...

Check out the look of concentration on the dollmaker's face. Okay, you get three guesses. What am I working on in these pictures? I mean, what part of the doll?

What's in your Bookshelf?

Here you get a peek at the bookshelf I keep in my studio. It has a lot of great books on sewing, knitting, crocheting, and doll making. Do you have a bookshelf in your sewing room? Any recommendations for me?

What lies Beneath...Unmentionables

I am confused with the English language once again. For a few years now I have been labeling this set of doll clothing that I sell as a "Bonnet and Bloomers" set. The reason I named the underwear part "bloomers" was because I had a strange experience on my flickr site. I had posted some pictures of doll underwear there and immediately got spam messages from various sites advertising Russian mail order brides depicting scantily clad women. Seriously...Wow! After that experience I thought long and hard about how to label my product differently to prevent this from happening. It had just never occurred to me that the usage of the word "panties" could trigger such a reaction. I am sure when I post this article I will get plenty more of this type of spam. At least I have a filter on my blog. Nanananana!

It appears there are tons of different words for underwear in the English language. Do we have that many in German, I wonder? For the English language I found the following: undergarments, underclothing, unmentionables, lingerie, intimate apparel, underlinen, underclothes, panties, panty, undies, underoos, shorts, lingerie, drawers, briefs, slips, delicates, bloomers, and knickers. I guess I have a better understanding of the word unmentionables than I used to...LOL. Feel free to add to the list in your comments.

I looked up the word bloomers. Webster's dictionary defines bloomers as
a : full loose trousers gathered at the knee formerly worn by women for athletics
b : underpants of similar design worn chiefly by girls

Looks like I have been mislabeling my sets. The undies I sold were really shorts and didn't reach the knees. But now I have created sets that are longer and reach past the knees to the ankles. What should I name them?

I am totally lost here. What would be the proper word to use for the doll clothing items I make? Plus I need words that won't lead to the afore described troubles...I'd be grateful if somebody helped me name my sets correctly. Kindly leave your suggestions in the comment section. And no indecent pictures, please! =)

Doll Heads/ Puppenkoepfe

I am so sorry, dear reader! I do apologize if I bored you with my musings on soccer. But when you are German and a soccer fan, it just can't be helped... I promise I will not mention soccer again! Or at least for while...Just once more, for the records sake I have to report: Germany came in third in the World Cup. What a great game against Uruguay! Did you know that Uruguay has only 3.5 million people? Do they all play soccer? What a great team but Germany persisted. Millions of Euro spent on the sport can't lie...

Congratulations to Spain who won the title in the end! But boy, that was one ugly game! 13 yellow cards! Plus there should have been at least one red card for the carate kick by a Dutch player... Not much fun. Now I have to wait four more years for the fun to start again. Aren't you relieved I won't be talking soccer any more?

Not sure where the next World Cup is going to take place. Anybody know?

During the breaks in the games I worked on some doll heads. I admit it is not my favorite kind of activity. But I was all out of heads, and what is a dolly without a head? Doll heads are so much work. Making a number of them really hurts my hands after a while. But somebody has to the job of rolling the wool into smooth even round balls. I have no helpers or elves. Christmas is on the horizon. Curiously kids and husband refuse to be roped into this project...Sigh.

I think I was able to make 13 nicely shaped wool balls between watching free kicks, corner kicks, and goals. The secret is to get them perfectly smooth and make sure they do not have any holes or gaps, for once you stretch fabric over the wool any such gaps will show!

Voila! The perfect head! Now I just have to do it 12 more times...

Dolly Makeover...

One of the great things about Waldorf style dolls is that they can be repaired or restored. If you have a doll whose hair got matted or all loved up from lots of play time you may want to replace the hair.

In order to do this the top layer of the wig must be carefully removed stitch by stitch. You can use a seamripper or small pair of sharp scissors. If the wig underneath is still in good shape you can leave it on. But maybe you want an entirely new hair color. You could change the doll's hair completely if you wanted to. In that case you could remove the entire wig and make a new one.

The doll you see in the pictures is little Zoe. She recently came for a visit to get a Spa treatment in my studio. Doesn't she looke like new after she got the new hair do?

If you are wondering what I have been up to...

Happy December!

I just wanted to show some new pictures of my growing collection of Pocketdolls. I believe I have 42 different colors now. Some of them I will run out of soon. It makes me so sad to see a pretty fabric go. Do you ever get sad when you run out of a fabric and know you will never be able to find it again?.

I have this great rusty orange velour. The one after the bright orange/tangerine baby. Almost gone...And then there is the sweet moss green. I cannot find it anywhere. Please, if you know where to get it drop me a note!

I am addicted to fabric...Any others here? Feel free to 'fess up here! Is there a fabriholic anonymous group somewhere?

What became of the heads/ Was aus den Koepfen wurde...

Last weekend I made heads. Here is one of the dolls that came to life with one of the heads I made. I named her Jenny. I think she turned out so cute! I love her coloring. The golden mohair yarn looks so nice with the lavender bow and nightgown.

Letztes Wochenende habe ich Koepfe gebastelt. Diese Woche wurde einer der Koepfe in klein Jenny eingebaut. Ist sie nicht suess? Ich find ihr goldenes Haar passt wirklich gut zur lila Schleife und dem lila Kleidchen.

Some thoughts on making doll heads...

In my opinion the most important part of a Waldorf style doll is the head. The head needs to be the perfect size for your doll. If it is too big or too small your doll will not look right. In order to achieve a successful doll you must get the proportions right! I guess being trained as a painter and taking lots of "life" drawing classes, has helped me immensely with this aspect of doll making. After all, dolls are just imitations of the human body, usually the child sized body. When you look at a painting with human figures, you'll probably find the one with the right proportions more beautiful and pleasing to the eye. I believe the same is true for dolls.

If you have ever made a Waldorf doll you probably know how much work it is to make a doll head from scratch. The ingredients and tools used are rather simple: a strong kind of thread or string, floss, cleaned carded sheep's wool, a piece of stretchy cotton tubing, scissors,doll maker's needle.

It takes me about an hour to make a good head. I admit it is not my favorite part of doll making. In fact I like to make heads only about once every couple months. I call it my head making day or fest. I will make between 8-10 heads in a session - usually spread out over two days. I find that making a number of heads at a time improves the quality. With each head I get more into the grove until they finally become effortless and perfectly even.

Here are some pictures of my latest "headfest". I had fun arranging them in different ways.

More Cute Shoe Offerings

I have made a few more sets of doll shoes using the needlefelting technique. Paired with Japanese Kawaii fabrics these doll clothing sets are simply irresistable. Don't you agree?

How long does it take to make a German Doll?

I get this question a lot. So I thought I should devote one of my blog entries to it.

Often people will ask me if there is a discount when they buy more than one of my dolls. Then I have to tell them that making a Waldorf style doll takes many hours of work. Most of the work is done by hand. If you know how to sew or have ever attempted the task of making a cloth doll from scratch you may know how hard it is, and how much labor goes into the production of a single doll.
Aside from the fact that the materials I use are high quality, hard to come buy, and mostly shipped to me from faraway places because I cannot buy them at the local store - the price of a Waldorf style doll is mostly explained through the many hours of labor that go into it. Here is a list of the many steps it takes to make a doll:

1. Washing every piece of fabric and materials that goes into the dolls, ironing: 1 hour
2. Tracing and cutting out the body from interlock fabric: 20 minutes
3. Making a shaped doll head : 40 minutes
4. Sewing and turning the body: 30 minutes
5. Stuffing the body: 45 minutes
6. Sewing on legs, arms, head: 1 hour
7. Embroidering the face, putting on blusher: 30 minutes
8. Making the hair/wig, sewing it to the head: 1 - 1.5 hours
9. Making the doll clothes: 1-1.5 hours
10. Putting on final touches: 30 minutes
Total: 8 hours

Of course each doll is different. Depending on the clothes and what hairstyle, the production time may vary. But when you look at my list, please understand that I cut no corners. Whether I make 1 or 10 dolls the labor remains the same. Maybe I can save a few minutes if I trace and cut 10 doll bodies and make a number of heads at once. My husband and children find it quite amusing whenever I am having a “ head making day.”
To turn out a high-quality German Doll I must put in at least 8 hours of labor per doll. It also takes time to order and search out materials. After a doll is finished it has to be put on my virtual “store shelf.’ Taking pictures and listing an item is one more step not included on my list. Getting it to the customer all wrapped up and pretty another…
So really when you consider all the hours of labor that go into one of my sweet dolls, my asking price does not seem all that high any more. I have to pay myself at least minimum wage to continue…
Each doll is a little work of art. I enjoy the process of creating each little personality.
I tremendously enjoy being able to stay at home with my kids. I also like being my own boss, manager, advertising agent, photographer, shipper, wrapper, accountant, and and and….

It sure beats working at Walmart…