Merry Christmas to my blog family and where I've been...

Oh holy hot chocolate and striped candy canes! I wish it were those presents up above that I have been toting all week! What in the world were we thinking when we decided to move right in the middle of Christmas? I am so very pooped out! I know it's very much worth it though so I am beaming way more then griping!

I wanted to come on here though and let you know why I have not been blogging or commenting on your wonderful blogs. As you see above we have been busy busy busy! Oh my, I cannot wait to show you my new doll studio/craft room. It is totally fab and so much larger then anything else I've had in the past. Okay, to be honest I have never, yes never, had my own seperate sewing room! Can you imagine how excited I am?

I am sad though about one thing, due to this move and all that it had created I am having to get my Santa stuff sent out after Christmas and I didn't even get cards sent out. How Grinchy is that? Oh please do forgive me. I have a full size heart I promise =:o)

Not a lot of time so I better scoot, I am picking my eldest son up from the airport this morning. The best present ever!

Wishing you all a very merry and blessed Christmas in all the different languages around the world. For this beautiful holiday let all our hearts be one! Love is the universal language.

I love you all!

Sneak peek of my baby swamp monster!

Umm well yes, I said baby swamp monster. I mean really my friends, baby swamp monsters need lots of love too right?

The sweet face you see above is non other then little Kelp. He, or maybe even a she (I have no idea how to tell the gender of a baby swamp monster do you?) was found all alone and crying. Now I do have to admit, I was a bit thrown at first as I am used to rescuing Baby Giants not baby swamp monsters but I quickly scooped up this sad little baby and knew right away his/her name had to be Kelp. Yes, I know kelp is found in the ocean and not in a swamp but water is water so that's my story and ima sticking to that name *smiles*

Kelp is not fully ready to make his/her debut just yet but I can tell you he/she has just the most fun and delightful ears as well as such super cute large aquatic feet. Can you picture the cuteness in your head? If not, it will be a tad longer wait until I will be putting him/her up for show to find his/her new home so please be patient. Yes, patient, I just know there are a ton of folks out there just waiting in line to see a baby swamp monster LOL.

Oh me such fun!

Yes! Yes! An even better special touch!!!

As you saw in one of my previous posts I am all for adding special touches and putting as much thought/work into my COAs etc. as I do my creations. I have been putting a lot of thought into this area once again of late. Being a doll collector, as well as a doll artist, has made me very aware of some of the problem areas in this "sport". One of the biggest "pains in my toosh" for me as a collector was keeping up with all the COAs and nametags. Many times the COAs got misplaced and more then not, the hang/name tags would get bent. So no matter how beautiful and such a treat they were there were still problems.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr right?

Well my dolly friends I do believe I have finally worked out the perfect solution! While this is not a brand new idea to the doll world, as far as logo TAGS go, I would never take credit where credit is not due me, I have never seen COAs done this way in all the years I have been collecting and creating. I have decided to make COAs the same way you would a tag. So now my COA is made out of plastic (which cannot bend) with the dolls name, picture, AND edition number printed and sealed on it. How kick toosh is that? Even better, it is worn as a bracelet for the doll so no worries about it getting misplaced or lost! Along with the COA being on the bracelet there will also be a Tipsy Teacup hang tag. All this is then put together with a nice copper colored ring with a stretchy cord running through it strung with pretty beads.

I am so excited about this and love how the prototype turned out. It of course is a much more expensive way to do things BUT I feel collectors will appreciate having such a nice COA/hang tag/bracelet/treat more then they will be bothered with the added costs.

What do you think?

Ebbie has a ways to go but he's coming along, oh yes he is!

I must admit, I planned on having this little boy finished well before now but life sometimes sends unexpected adventures our way, so dear Ebbie has been on the back burner.

Although he is still in the early stages I do believe his features are starting to pop out slowly but surely creating such a fun and adorable personality.

I am thinking this lil guy is going to be a super fun hand full! What ya think?

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving here full of love, laughter, and smiles! I so pray all of you did as well. Isn't life a wondrous miracle???

Here's a few quick pics of the tree going up.

Oh yes yes, we love a messy country old fashioned tree here!

Sending a ton of love and holiday wishes your way!

Little touches truly make a wonderful difference...

I am happy as a crab to put a tremendous amount of time and work into my dolls and I do so with much happiness and smiles but It does not end there though, nope it does not. What am I talking about? Why, I am talking about the little things of course! Little yes, but they can make oh such a large difference, don't you agree?

Let me explain, I have been a doll collector for just about most of my life. I have always appreciated the amazing talent and skills that go into each and every creation that I excitedly purchased. After "blissing" through the initial excitement of the doll itself I would then move onto the little things. The COA for example, it was always such a huge treat when it was a well thought out and crafted one. Ones with art, color, or best of all a picture of the doll. The material it was printed on, the quality of the print. All those things were such an extra treat and smile. I hope that I am making sense lol.

Okay let me explain a little further. I purchased a doll in the past that was a very nice doll indeed but with it came a sadly thrown together COA. Now like I said, I have collected dolls most of my life so I am happy to say this doll was not purchased from anyone here in blog land and I will not say how long ago it was purchased but I was so sad to see that the "little things" were very much neglected. The COA was printed on standard computer paper which wrinkles and tears easily so when I got it, it was very much rumpled. Worse then that. majority of it was faded, had lines al through it, and missing ink spots all over. The printer it was printed on was extremely low on ink and it was printed and sent out that way anyhow. How super sad to put work into a doll and then just let the rest slide. If this doll lasts for years to come and can be passed on to the next generation of doll collectors it will do so without any documentation as the paper will no doubt not make it through. This is heart breaking to me. This was not a cheap doll and was purchased for over 200.00. It just baffles me.

Please believe I am not saying this to nit pick but to rather stress to all the doll artists out there that your work is so worth adding the little things to. Think of the love and time you put into your art. Think of all the smiles your creations will create as they pass hand to hand. Don't you want those people to always know who is sending those smiles their way? I so encourage everyone to always keep this in mind. You are worth it, yes you are!

So, what do I do? What I do is pretty simple to tell you true, but I make sure I do it with time, thought, and quality put into it. First off I use card stock or better. This makes sure that it has strength to hold up. Next I ALWAYS make sure my printer has plenty of ink and I always print on the highest quality level allowed, last after my COA is printed it is then slid into a heavy duty plastic sleeve that fits it perfectly. Yanno, kind of like the kind that rare baseball cards are slid into. Now I have a COA that will last as long as my creation will last (with popper care ofcourse lol).

Now for what goes on my COAs...First I make sure to have my logo printed in color up top, next is stating that its a COA, after that a full color photo of my creation, below that the name and edition number, and in finishing I list myself as the artist and hand sign each and every COA. It is then slid into it's plastic sleeve. Easy as 123 but will hopefully be a special touch that collectors will appreciate for years to come.

I do not end my "little things" there though. Nope, there needs to be more fun! I also do a hang tag that is tied onto my dolls wrist with ribbon. On the front you will see my logo printed in color and under that will be the dolls name. Open up the inside and you will see the logo of the doll line the creation comes frome and under that will be a short story of what the doll line is about as well as my signature. Turn the hang tag over and on the back you will see a picture of the dolls face with the dolls edition number underneath. It's close to being another COA all in itself.

I love adding these little touches!!!

So all in all, just something to think about and thinking is oh so good right??? LOL

Cough Cough Sputter Sputter, I have something to tell you...

Oh I really do have to admit this was not the picture I was hoping to post for you on this very early Tuesday morning. No indeed it was not.

Alas, my dear friends, I have caught the flu. My son was home all of last week sick and now the nasty little virus, that I do imagine in my mind looks much like the above picture, has decided to park it's nasty little self my system for a bit.

I am happy to say I am feeling a bit better though and am in high hopes to be back in the game before the end of this week.

While I have not worked on my Christmas boy during this icky spell, I have been able to tinker on my laptop which gave me a chance to create the new graphic for my Funkie Punkie line.

What is a Funkie Punkie? Oh I am excited to tell you! My Funkie Punkie line will consist of 1980's inspired dolls. How groovy can ya get? Hmm groovy, perhaps that word is dating a bit back before the 80's? Anyhow, you will see anything inspired from the funkie and fantastic long hair bands to the bright and colorful punk movement. I can so see a Boy George inspired doll popping out of this line, oh yes sireeeeeeeeeee! The possibilities are going to be endless and having grown up in the 80's, well lets just say this line will be special to my heart and a true treat for me to create!

I will tell you a little secret, the very first doll from this line is being created for a loved one and lets just say keep the word head banger in mind! Are you as excited as I am?

Sending my love, warmest wishes, and a non-contagious achooooooooooo your way!

Questions, questions, questions, and Answers!

I love getting emails from you and I've had a lot of emails over this last year asking me how I make my dolls. I've been asked what supplies I use, what my steps to making a doll are, how long it takes etc. I've also been asked if I sell my patterns, teach classes, or give sculpting lessons. I thought it would be nice to answer all these questions via a blog post even though I have already answered back through email.

I guess I'll start with some of the supplies I use. I use a ton of various supplies and mediums so I am just going to list the ones I use every time I sculpt and are a MUST have for me.

1. Piecemakers 5 inch sculpting needles...I have used this brand for years and LOVE them!

2. Cluster stuff...I started using this for my heads while experimenting and it is fabulous to sculpt. It's a bit of a pain to stuff until you hit a groove but I will not use anything else for my heads. For my bodies I use any good quality polyfill type stuffing.

3. Stuffing fork...awesome for stuffing fingers and hard to reach places.

4. Derwent water color pencils.

5. Curved needles...Fantastic for sculpting noses and I will not use anything else.

6. Mettler thread...all I will use for sewing my bodies.

7. Coats and Clark carpet thread...the only thread I use for sculpting.

8. Prismacolor portrait pencil set.

9. Acrylic paints, diff brands.

10. Gesso...I use clear, black, and white.

11. Fabric...I use windsor comfort, doe suede, craft velour, and muslin.

                               

So what steps go into making a Ree doll? Well first comes the pattern. This is a lot of trial and error and can really get nutty at times. Once I finally get the pattern how I want it, I am ready to start making a doll. The pattern gets put onto fabric, cut out, then the sewing begins. I normally sew the head first. After that I stuff it. Next I start the sculpting process. Once I get the features the way I want them I paint the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. Next comes the shading and details. Once I am done with all that I then do the hair. The head and hair always take me the longest and I am very tedious when it comes to those processes. I then sit the head aside and sew up the body. Stuffing comes next and then I start the sculpting process on the body. Once that is done shading and detailing come next. I then either sew an outfit for the doll or I put a cute store bought outfit on. The whole process takes me approx. 13-15 hours per doll. Start to finish I am the only one who touches the dolls but once I have my hired help next year it will change things a bit allowing me to create more dolls each week. My help will just be sewing and stuffing bodies, as I will always do the artistic work on all of my creations, but this will be a tremendous help and will really help me meet my demand. I am really excited.

Will I be teaching classes or selling my patterns? Right now I am having a hard enough time just keeping up with my sculpting so I do not think I will be doing either of these things anytime soon. I am not sure they will even be in my future but I always keep an open mind. I do try and post tips and such via here and my website though and I am always happy to help with questions if I can. I have tutorials on my website as well. There are FANTASTIC classes listed on CDA website http://clothdolls.ning.com/ as well as The Doll Net website http://www.thedollnet.com/. I have taken classes from both these sights over this past year, and let me tell you, you will not regret it. They are fabulous! If you are looking into making dolls or even if you are like me and have made dolls for a while these classes are a must and so fun.

I guess that just about covers the fun for now. As always it's been a true blessing sharing my doll making with you!

Que Tae or what? You tell me!

UPDATE: Que has sold!

Oh what fun I had with this darling girl. She is such a cutie or should I say Que Tae? Needless to say I am extremely please with how she turned out. I am just as tickled about her outfit.

I've had a lot of requests come in for straight weighted arms and weighted bottoms so I decided to give both a go on this darling and oh how fun she is to pose! She also has my standard jointed head.

Que loves to watch cartoons, eat rice crispy treats, and loves to color. She does NOT stay in the lines but we love it that way.

Que is availble on my website http://tipsyteacup.com/For%20Sale.htm

Wouldn't you like to make these curls?

I call these pencil curls, even though they are made with dowels and not pencils. I suppose you could make them with pencils if you truly wanted to but I do think dowels are the more practical choice lol.

I posted this procedure to make curls last year some time but while re-doing my blog the first time I wiped out quite a few posts, the pencil curl post being one of them, and I thought it would be nice to re-post the tutorial.

There are many successful ways to make curls, this is just the method which I developed that works best for me with the longest lasting results. Back when I figured out how to do these curls I didn't know about the online doll making clubs nor did I have any patterns that would teach me. I desperately wanted to learn how to make yarn curls without using the method of crocheting so my trial and errors began.

Now, I will tell you that I did know one person who did not make dolls but did hair makeovers on them whom figured out how to make this style of curl before I did (as I am sure many others in the doll world had as well) but she would not give her secret and I fully respected that, besides it made me work hard to understand how the whole process worked which in my thoughts contributed to my road to becoming a better doll maker.

Okay so enough of the jibber jabber.

What you will need:

*Two skeins of acrylic yarn (I prefer RedHeart for this) You can use two of the same color or two different colors. I have pictured examples of both.

*A large amount of dowels, 1/4 inch or smaller in width (too large will result in loose curls) and approx. 12 inches in length. I buy my dowels in 3ft lengths at Wal-Mart then snip them down to 12 inch pieces. If you want to use the larger 1/4 inch size you can buy bags of dowels at Wal-Mart in the wedding cake section already cut in 12inch lengths.

*A large GLASS baking dish

*Scissors

*Oven

*Oven Mitts

*Timer (or something to watch the time on)

*** Lots of patience and free time while watching TV (this is for the winding, unwinding, and cutting)

This is a super easy process BUT it does take a lot of time if you are wanting to do a nice full head of hair. I would say that the two sweet faces I pictured above took around 180 wrapped dowels or more. Yikes, a lot but so worth it! I bake 60 dowels at a time so that the heat spreads evenly.

Lets get started:

Get your yarn pulled out and tie the end of the two strands onto the end of the dowel then start to wrap the yarn tightly around the dowel pushing up as you go and making sure not to twist your strands. You want to tightly wrap as much yarn as possible on the dowel but make sure to never overlap the yarn. It needs to stay single layer. Once you are at the end of the dowel snip the yarn away from the skein and then tie off the yarn on the dowel and sit it into the baking dish.

Do the above step to the next 59 dowels (or however many you choose to make each round)

Next preheat your oven to 325. Actually ovens and such vary so it may be anywhere between 275-325. You do not want it too hot or it will discolor the yarn but too low will not give a strong enough curl. Put your dowels in the glass baking dish and bake for 45-60 minutes. Pop on your oven mitts and take the dish out of the oven and let the curls cool off. Do not touch them or the dish until all is cool. This may take a good while.

Once the curls are completely cool to the touch it's time to unwind them off the dowels. Pull them all off and then you are ready to cut them into the length you would like. For the all over curls I usually cut my curls into threes. Play around with lengths though, it's such fun!

Once you get all the curls cut and ready you can sew them onto your dolls head and make any style your imagination can come up with. This is a long process but not a hard one and it's so worth it in the end!

While this recipe may not make your tummy happy it's sure to be candy to the eyes once you see it on one of your dollies!

As slow as a turtle walking a snail???

Oh my, now could this truly be me?

Yes, yes, I do believe it is! Not really mind you, but I have to admit that I feel as though it is me much of the time.

I am so sorry to have not been keeping up with my blog posts but please rest assure that you have not been far from my mind or heart.

What have I been up to?

Well for one, I went out of town with my husband for a week while he worked. It wasn't the best town to visit, to tell you true, but I so enjoyed seeing his face after work each day and it was a pleasure to cook dinner for his crew. Those electric skillets rock! There were a lot of laughs and I did learn something important from the experience...I now know what town I NEVER want to live in LOL.

Now that I am back home I am excitedly back to work on my latest doll. She is a full size Asian Uht Oh and I have the most darling outfit for her. I cannot wait to share her with you and she should make her appearance sometime next week. After that, work on a little boy will begin along with a Gothic Giggle or two. I know many have been waiting on the Baby Giants and I do promise you I will get back to work on them soon. I had worked on so many of them after the first one was "discovered" in the forest of RaRa in the Yadish region that I got way behind with my other darling lovelies. I shall get it balanced out soon!

Warm happy fall hugs from me to you!

Halloween Uht Oh! Embir Nyte would love to say hello...

...before she heads off to her first day of witch elementary school.

Oh what a yummy sweet Halloween treat Embir Nyte is! I cannot tell you how much fun and enjoyment I had while bringing this little witch to life. I put so very much time and effort into everything about her including her outfit which I designed and sewed myself.

The hat! Oh now the hat I am very proud of! I knew what I wanted to created in my mind but I did not have any patterns for it. I do say it came out fabulous indeed for my first withches hat, wouldn't you say?

But before I talk about Embirs outfit I want to talk about her! I did several new things with her, the first and most noticeable being her eyes. They are much more detailed then my standard eyes and I love how they came out. The next being her sweet lips. Aren't they just the cutest? Both of these areas I used wonderful techniques learned in Kat's and Kim's online classes. You can take the classes too at CDA!

I also chose to do a straight arm on Embir which I made sure was floppy enough to have fun with while posing. Ofcourse her hands have all the wonderful detailing I put into all my hands but have extra shading to them.

Ooooo the tootsies! My favorite thing to talk about! Do I love baby tootsies or what? Couldn't you just smooch these precious baby feet all over? Foot fetish me? Nah, I actually care very little for adult feet. Nope all my love is for those darling baby and toddler feet. So yes I suppose I have a baby foot fetish lol.

Now her outfit I created from my own design using the most wonderfully rich fabrics. The bodice and pantaloons I made using a thick super soft rust colored chenille and the sleeves, bows on the legs, and witches hat I made using a fabulous corduroy earth tone print. Is she not sporting the most wonderful fall colors?

I definitely think Miss Ember is happily ready for her first day at Wiggly Warts Witch & Wizard Elementary School don't you?
Ember is for sale on my website: http://tipsyteacup.com/For%20Sale.htm

Oh wait, I must update, Embir is now sold and has found a happy new home!