Category: folk art dolls

Time got away from me this busy holiday season, and I never got a chance to post all of my newest designs for fall and Halloween before it was time to start working on orders for them. So now that I have already started working on Christmas versions of the two primitive dolls below, I figured I should finally post their Halloween versions first.

This is a reclining primitive Halloween cat doll, dressed in a black witch hat and a black cheesecloth scarf. Look for her in a Santa hat in my Etsy shop later this week.

And this is primitive Halloween moon wall decoration wearing a black witch hat. I envisioned him as a Halloween man in the moon, but some think he looks like an old crone, which I can see too. S/he will also be in my Etsy shop wearing a Santa hat later this week.

I received the Spring 2011 issue of Celebrate365 magazine in the mail this week, and am very pleased to share that two of my spun cotton ornament designs are sharing spots on both the front and back covers along with such talented artists as Debbee Thibault, Lori Rudolph, Nicole Sayre, Sharon Andrews, Vergie Lightfoot and too many more to list! Take a peek at all of the talent that Connie packed onto the covers of this issue below.

Roderick Cattingham is almost ready to meet his public – he just has to select the perfect antique shirt buttons to match his pants first.

Mr. Cattingham decides to enlist the help of Frederick Bunworth, who is known for his impeccable taste. Mr. Bunworth helped pick out an outfit for Horatio Hopkins too, and Horatio has since hopped off to his new home.

Roderick will be all dressed and ready to present himself in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop tomorrow. Two new spun cotton Easter bunny ornaments are looking forward to his arrival.

Prudence is the newest primitive doll in the Old World Primitives Etsy shop this week. She is a one-of-a-kind doll that I fully hand painted and dressed in a 19th century style dress that I made with tan calico fabric and antique lace trim. Her body is made of stuffed muslin, and her head is sculpted from Paperclay.

I thought you might also enjoy a peek at what she looked like as a work in progress.

I have been all over the place since my last post… oh gosh, where to start. I’ll start with the embarrassing part first – my husband and I attempted to move for the second time within three years, and our plan flopped once again. We have been trying to move from the suburbs to an older farmhouse in the country… something that I always thought was my dream… to live in a 1700s or 1800s farmhouse decorated like one of the homes I have so often drooled over in Early American Life magazine. But our attempts to move have taught me that this may not be my ultimate dream after all. The country escapes that we found ourselves pursuing were still just a little too bit “more of the same,” albeit in less developed areas. We don’t have the big bucks required to completely “get away from it all,” and we just couldn’t find anything that was quite enough away.

So now we have a new plan in mind… bear with me here, as this may sound crazy… to save up enough money to REALLY move into the country… or rather, a step closer to the wilderness. We are going to save up, purchase a motor home, sell our current home, and pursue the freedom of living full time on the road, camping at remote, wild and beautiful spots along the way. This is an idea I have been toying with for 6 years now, but I never thought I would be able to make it happen. I felt too entrenched in my current way of life despite how much I wanted to give this a try. But now, if we can save enough to make this plan feasible… there is a new goal in the horizon.

So. I’ve wasted a ton of time this summer house-hunting, packing… and then un-packing (ugh!), but I’ve still managed to get some new dolls and ornaments created, and to do a bunch of gardening and pickling too.

Do you think my tomato plants are happy?? 😀

And now I invite you to meet an extreme primitive doll named Nadine, and a primitive witch make-do named Hexe:

The unofficial start of summer is here, so I have decided that I must get out of my gardens and back to the creating table. There are many dolls and ornaments in progress that are calling for my attention! Here is a look at the spun cotton ornaments that I have added to Old World Primitives Etsy shop since my last blog post… yes, I am already preparing for Halloween!

And this is Laura, my latest primitive cloth doll with a sculpted Paperclay face – she is traveling at the moment, preparing for her feature in a future issue of Prims magazine. 🙂

I have been working ever so slowly on my Izannah Walker doll class, which thankfully has stayed open long enough for slow pokes like me. This is where I am at with my doll now – her sculpting is done, and I am ready to apply her stockinette next. I think that perhaps I have been hesitating with moving onto that step for so long now because I’m a bit nervous about messing her up!

I have found my way back into doll land this week and I am pleased to introduce my newest creation, a new primitive doll named Leticia. She is a good witch made of cloth with a sculpted Paperclay face. She is entirely hand painted and antiqued. Her skirt is made of lightly stained olive calico fabric with a tan flannel waistband. She wears a matching tan flannel witch hat and has two tiny black seed bead buttons on her hand painted shirt. She is available in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop now.

I have also been making some new spun cotton ornaments since my last post… more will be on the way soon, too. Below are my newest designs – the two cat ornaments are available, and the angel ornament is sold.

And now I am off to work on balancing the time I spend making dolls and ornaments more equitably… and to get working on my Izannah Walker workshop doll! I have my enormous booklet of instructions all printed out, and, brushing off any feelings of intimidation, I am going to get started on my doll today. I will try not to let all of the ideas that I have for new creations distract me too much (paper dolls will be in the works soon…).