Do You Flickr?

WARNING: Browsing the many fascinating pages of Flickr can lead to the sudden loss of your entire afternoon and/or evening. Particularly when stumbling upon such photostreams as this one by Etsy's Team Miniatures in Dollhouse Scale. Grab a beverage first!

Do you like the toothpick dolls & Penny People you've seen on The Elegant Toothpick? Want to see more? When I've got new pictures to post, the first place they show up is on my photostream at Flickr. Works in progress, finished characters, and experimental projects all seem to end here, where they get along quite nicely.

This is Nereida, a 1-inch tall mermaid in a frame box. Find her & others like her in my photostream.

Have a Flickr account? Add me as a contact! I'm always looking for more photostream paths to wander down...

Queen of Hearts Toothpick Doll Sketch

I get so excited about starting a new doll. Because so few people make toothpick dolls, it's generally a make-it-up-as-you-go art. I learn something new with every doll I make.

My next over-ambitious project?

The Queen of Hearts - a three-inch study.

Reasons I'm excited about this doll:

~ The way-too-big-for-her-head Marie Antoinette style wig. Still working out the design, but should be fun.

~The large heart on the bodice will be entirely jewelled with teeny tiny glass micro-beads of reds, pinks, & blacks.

~ The crazy stand-out collar. No clue how I'm going to do that.

~ The million layers of skirt this woman will have, from the subtle stripe of the first layer to the heavy pink silk of the top layer.

Now, doll-makers will tell you that as they work, the doll will seem to develop her own personality, even dictating what details she should be given as she is completed. I tell you this in the faint hope you won't consider me too far gone when I say that I can already tell this lady is a snob. I had to rework the above sketch so many times because she didn't like the sleeve detail, or the collar wasn't right, or the skirt wasn't grand enough. You'll notice her head is not yet attached to her body - it's because we're still in negotiations on the exact style of wig.

Want to see how she progresses? Eager to find out which of us will win the battle of wills? (So am I!) Check back often - I'll be posting her progress regularly. You'll get to see photos of a toothpick doll from start to finish - that, or me breaking toothpicks in half if she & I don't get along.

Remember at the beginning, when I said that so few people make toothpick dolls? Want to know what you can do to change that awful truth? Check out the Toothpick Doll Tutorial (see the December 2008 blog archive on the right side of this page) & learn how to make a Toothpick Doll! Then, send me a picture! Together, we can bring the knowledge of toothpick dolls to the world! (End of melodramatic rant.)

Bits & Bobbles Swap

Attention, compulsive craft stash hoarders!


Malissa at Sleepy Hollow Folk Art Originals is hosting a Bits & Bobbles Swap. Basically, you fill a sandwich-sized ziploc with all sorts of fun stuff - lace bits, buttons, fabric scraps, etc. The kind of swag that you collect & hoard but may never get around to making a project out of.

You send your little bag of treasures (definitely helpful if the items match each other!), and then you receive someone else's bag - new stuff for a new eye to make a small project out of!

Want to sign up? Head to Malissa's blog entry about it: http://sleepyhollowfolkartoriginals.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-after-holidays-swap-rules.html

You have until Jan. 31 to sign up.

Toothpick Feature: Ye Olde Dog Catcher

Show & tell time! This was a custom piece of an old Victorian-style Dog Catcher. And yes, he's made of toothpicks.

Confession. It is so much harder to make a male doll then a female doll. Granted, the ladies have flowing skirts, curly hair, fancy sleeves, & miniature roses, while the men have pants, a jacket & a hat, maybe a mustache. But please tell me how you're supposed to make a thin, spindly toothpick leg look like anything other than a thin, spindly toothpick leg if you can't cover it with a wide skirt! I ended up using an entirely new body structure composed of round & flat toothpicks with him.

Confession #2. I really had fun with this guy. Maybe I just like attitude, but it seems that the dolls that give me the most problems end up being my favorite. When they're finished, that is.

OK, time to play spot the details! This dapper Dog Catcher has a newsboy-style hat - someday I'll have to do a tutorial on that. There's a whole inner structure that goes into hats.

He's got contrasting lapels on his jacket, & orange buckles. His sleeve has a tiny insignia.

See his tiny bowtie? Ok, look harder - it's there!

My favorite - his net. It's entirely hand-knotted. Such fun! Such torture.

See more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelamichelledolls/

Happy 2009!

It's already day 5 of 2009! So, how many resolutions have you broken so far?

Have you thought about what you want this year to look like? Do you know what you want to be different in 365 days? (Well, 360 & dwindling.) Ah, the power of goals. So, got some?

I just spent the past week settling on my 2009 goals. I'm a list person - love making them, love checking them off. Unfortunately, I can spend too long making them & not long enough checking them off, but hey, always room for improvement!

And speaking of improvement, here are a few of my 2009 goals:

1) Read 1 nonfiction book a month. No, crossword books don't count.

2) Launch Toothpick Doll Craft Kits. Everything you need to make your very own toothpick doll, except a third hand.

3) Be a craft vendor at a fair. There's this Pirate Fest in southern Georgia...

4) Submit my work for feature in a doll magazine, like Art Doll Quarterly. It could happen!

5) Work through a Chinese Language study course. Why, oh why couldn't I want to learn Spanish?

6) Complete a manuscript for a fiction book. Imagine all the room I'll have in my head when I get that out of there!

So, what about you? Got goals for 2009? How about just for January? Post them!

"He who does not plan, plans to fail." Or something like that. Happy 2009!

Ze Important French Award

Mealy Monster has bestowed on Angela Michelle Dolls the quite important & impressive-looking Marie Antoinette award! Merci, Mealy! We are highly honored & duly big-headed today about the whole thing.

In keeping of the spirit of the game, I have nominated the following equally fabulous blogs:

Sleepy Hollow Folk Art Originals

KyEliza

Berry Blue Creations

JemJoop

Barton Originals

Noodle & Lou Studio

Whetnall Watercolours

"Masquerade" - 1-inch Penny People

the RULES of de game

1 Please ad the logo on your blog

2 Place a link to the person from whom you received the award.

3 nominate at least 7 or more blogs

4 put the links to those blogs on your blog

5 leave a message on their blogs to tell them they are the chosen ones

Nutcracker Giveaway!

This ends tomorrow, Dec. 11!

Go to http://www.raechele.blogspot.com/ to enter to win one of my toothpick Nutcracker Christmas Ornaments!

These nutcrackers are made of toothpicks like most of my dolls, & hand-wrapped. His hat is fashioned out of clay, then covered in needlepoint thread. His face is my favorite part - it's made from tiny bits of colored cardstock that I've cut to make his mouth, nose, & eyes. His eyebrows are actually single strands of thread, stiffened.

Note: Although he is as charming as all princes should be, this Nutcracker will object if you actually try to crack a nut in his mouth. Please refrain.