Dough Ditties

Never Too Old to Play with Dolls

2009-12-27T16:06:00.010-05:00

This past July, a friend asked me to make clothespin dolls of her family for Christmas presents. My friend was 8 months pregnant at the time and getting a head start on Christmas. Her request was something like this:

Her mom and stepdad just moved into a new log home and she wanted the log home as a backdrop. Her mom with a pig and stepdad with a John Deere cap. Both wear jeans and flannel shirts.

Her husband's sister and family: The husband enjoys the Irish sport of hurling. The wife is an avid reader (her faves: Harry Potter and the Twilight Series). One daughter with a Mickey Mouse and the other with a Barney.

I got off to a great start making the cabin backdrop. Time consuming sawing each dowel rod, but it soon came together. Then I started making the dolls using Creative Paperclay instead of my usual clothespin method. I joined a Yahoo air-dry clay group several months ago and was eager to put the many ideas shared in that group to use. Creative Paperclay indeed is exceptional for sculpting detail, but I didn't like the finished painted look, so many months later did the dolls again with my old white bread and white glue dough which has a more porcelain look (heads and hands).

Then I was stumped for another few months with the family of dolls, trying to figure out how to vary their height (since I rely on the standard clothespin size) and also how to do the husband in shorts. I ended up cutting the clothespin and adding dowel legs with Apoxie Sculpt. I added Creative Paperclay to the husband's legs. I affixed all the dolls to wood bases using Apoxie Sculpt for their shoes (an air-dry clay that is very durable and holds great). I usually sculpt hair on the clothespin dolls, but with the wife and 2 girls, they had such beautiful long hair that I decided to use wigging tutorials and try my hand with mohair. Here are my final results. Still a lot to learn, but I sure had fun making them.

Other details: the pig is made of Creative Paperclay, as well as the John Deere cap, shingled roof on the cabin, and scrolls on the screen door. Mickey Mouse and Barney are made of Sculpey/Fimo.

If you'd like to learn more about air-dry clay techniques, check out the Yahoo group and the New Clay News.

Most Unusual - Most Fun

2009-11-16T20:51:00.004-05:00

I've had many unique requests for custom ornaments over the years, as you may have noted from earlier posts. I never dreamed I'd receive a request to make an ornament of the human cell. How creative to imagine such a personal gift. What made this ornament the most fun for me to make, aside from the wide array of vibrant colors, was that the recipient is a biology teacher whose passion on teaching the human cell inspired a young lady to become a nurse. Awesome!

Monkey Business

2009-10-23T13:18:00.010-04:00

If anyone asks me what I've been doing this week, I can literally say I've been monkeying around. That fits well with my personality. I've always had rather large ears, short brown hair and brown eyes, and extra long arms and legs. Some of my nieces called me Aunt Mary Monkey when they were growing up. I rather liked that, not so much because of how I look but more that it allowed me to be goofy enough to live up to the name.

I've been busy making 30 organ grinder monkeys, which will eventually become attached to organ grinders for a custom order. If you like beautifully illustrated books with heart-warming lessons for children, you must see Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. The inspiration for the organ grinder ornaments comes from this book, but my artistry doesn't begin to compare to Mr. Ibatoulline's!

Just had a thought - How cool would it be to find a little recording of organ grinder music to add to the ornament? You'll find me monkeying around on Google now . . .

Boutique to Benefit March of Dimes

2009-10-12T23:06:00.014-04:00

This coming Saturday (October 17), I will be displaying my Dough Ditties at the Hoosier Artisan Holiday Boutique at The Mansion in Carmel, Indiana from 10 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Fine arts and crafts will be on display from 50 Hoosier artisans (who are also members of the Etsy Indiana Street Team - Incrowdteam). I'll be donating baby-related items to the raffle: an acorn baby, an oak leaf woodland angel with baby (both of salt dough), and a clothespin doll with head, hands and her baby shaped from air-dry dough.

I'm looking forward to meeting other Etsy artists and to having an opportunity to support the March of Dimes. Please stop by and say "hi" if you're in the area!

Highland Wedding Cake Topper

2009-10-03T21:15:00.005-04:00

How neat to get a request for a wedding cake topper personalized to the bride and groom! When they met, she was a highland dancer and he a drummer. This made my day since, as you may have guessed by now, I love to make celtic ornaments, especially custom ornaments that match the individuals' tartans.

I had a challenge with this, however . In the past, I've made the bride and groom as one ornament and epoxied them to a base. Since the bride is in a dance pose (and standing on one leg), it seemed best to keep her separate from the groom. Once the ornaments were complete, it didn't look right to just stick them on the wood base, so I used an air dry sculpting putty to make a grassy knoll for them to stand on.

Imagine a wedding with bagpipes, drums and highland dancing. Not sure that was part of the wedding plans, but it's fun to imagine nonetheless.

Buchanan Tartan

2009-10-03T21:10:00.004-04:00

This is the first time I've painted the Buchanan tartan on custom piper ornaments. I really like the bright colors and especially the yellow. Lively tartan.

Policeman Piper

2009-08-20T21:50:00.005-04:00

Just a quick post of a custom order I did of a bagpiper with the Chicago Police Pipe & Drum Band. The quality of the photo is abysmal, but the cuffs of his socks are called "popcorn" which I made by adding tiny balls of dough. It's so much fun to add the details!

Old Treadle

2009-08-19T13:22:00.014-04:00

I mentioned in the previous post that there are 5 times as many words in the English language today as there were in Shakespeare's time. I'm sure the word "treadle" was in Shakespeare's vocabulary, but is it possible it can soon become archaic?

A few years ago I obtained an electric sewing machine from Freecycle to replace the old "treadle" machine Stan and I found in his grandparent's attic and which I used for all my sewing for over 30 years.

Why did I ever replace the treadle? Oh, I figured I could do so much more with electric. I also thought I'd eventually run out of places to find the leather belts used to operate the treadle and I thought it was such a hassle to put the belt on and then to shorten it every now and then when it got stretched out.

What to do with the old treadle machine? I didn't have the heart to sell it or give it away. It had helped me sew quilts, curtains, doll clothes, little boy clothes, and even underwear over the course of our marriage.

Today, for some odd reason, I pulled the electric machine away from the wall and replaced it with the treadle machine. I oiled up the old machine, found a fabric scrap, and began to treadle away - delighted to no end that the stitches were just as even and perfect as could be!

Out with the new and in with the old! Just look at that beautiful machine - 1920s vintage. Can you believe the attachments it has? Fancy stitching and buttonholer. And I have the original operating manual too.

As I treadle, listening to the low whirring of the moving parts, I have to wonder . . . what ever possessed me to replace this fine piece of workmanship?

...So What Does It All Mean?

2009-08-19T13:03:00.003-04:00

Last week I received an email from Purdue University. The email had a link to a YouTube video about how we're living in exponential times (click here to view). I was quite overwhelmed after viewing the video, which ended with "...So What Does It All Mean?"

My first reaction was that as a society we are spinning out of control. I was reminded of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament: "everything is meaningless." We need to put God back in control, put Him in the driver's seat, rather than letting exponential matters be the rule of the day.

That same day I heard on the radio that the one-millionth word was added to the English language. The above-mentioned video points out that the English language has 5 times as many words today as it did in Shakespeare's time. How many words do we need? Only the Word of God.

Since the bombardment of that video, I am content to think about simplifying life, rather than keeping up with the times. To be sure, I won't go to the extreme of cutting phone and power lines, but there's an "exponential" number of other things I can eliminate and instead fill in that time by drawing closer to Christ.

I never even read the rest of the email from Purdue. I'm certain the intent was to ask for funding for more research to keep up with the times. I think it more beneficial for me, however, to invest not in the things of this world but to narrow my focus on what really matters.

Sisterly Love

2009-05-14T08:17:00.013-04:00

Showing the full depth of sisterly love, a customer requested a special ornament for her sister. The sister is middle-aged and always teases her older sister (my customer) about getting her navel pierced. Thus the request for an ornament with a pierced navel. She wanted the navel ring to have a "diamond," so I ordered tiny Swarovsky rhinestones from Etsy, using one for the navel ring and a smaller one for the toe ring. I created the ornament working from a photograph, trying to capture hairstyle, facial features, and clothing. The customer requested additional accessories (the sunglasses and toe ring). Topping off the uniqueness is a cape of She-Ra, Princess of Power, who the sister jokingly dreams of being.

Ah, this is why I love to do custom orders!

More on Edible Dough

2009-05-09T11:29:00.002-04:00

Last month I posted a no-knead bread recipe. I've been tweaking that recipe and this past week made really good bread (at least in my husband's opinion). I have to share this:

1 T. granulated yeast (1 packet)
1 T. salt
1/2 c. honey
1/2 cup applesauce
2 T. melted butter
3 c. lukewarm water
3 T. ground flax seed
6 2/3 c. whole wheat flour

Just put all these together in a bowl and stir, cover loosely for 2 -3 hours, refrigerate overnight (loosely covered), shape into loaves, place in greased loaf pans, let rise 1 hr. 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Bake for 5 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 - 50 minutes. This slices much better than the other recipe, and the texture is almost like a quick bread. I think the applesauce makes the difference.

A Different Kind of Dough

2009-04-07T12:40:00.003-04:00

Besides crafting with dough, I also love baking all our own bread. For years, my favorite recipe was Anadama Bread. I recently came across a 100% whole wheat recipe posted on Mother Earth News' Twitter that is so easy (no kneading) and yet delicious, so am sharing:

1 1/2 T. granulated yeast (1 1/2 packet) (I use 1 T. instead)
1 T. salt (I use 1 heaping teaspoon instead)
1/2 c. honey
5 T. neutral-flavored oil (I use canola oil)
1 1/2 c. lukewarm milk
1 1/2 c. lukewarm water
6 2/3 c. whole wheat flour (I use 6 1/2 c. flour + 3 T. ground flax seed)

Mix yeast, salt honey, oil, milk and water in 5-quart bowl or container.
Mix in flour (I used a spoon, but dough hook or dough attachment on a processor should work too).
Cover loosely and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (flattens on top); 2-3 hours.
Refrigerate in lidded (but not airtight) container and use over the next several days. I've been baking it the same day, so I keep it in the fridge for 2-3 hours before baking so it's easier to form into loaves.
When ready to bake, lightly grease loaf pan (I use up all the dough at once = 2 loaves). With wet hands, scoop out half of the dough for 1 loaf. Keeping hands wet, quickly shape the dough by gently stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four "sides," rotating the ball 1/4 turn as you go.
Drop dough into loaf pan - should fill the pan slightly more than half full.
Cover and allow the dough to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Lightly flour the top of the dough and make slash marks with a serrated knife across the top of the dough.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees about 5 minutes before baking time, with an empty pan on the very bottom shelf.
Place the loaf (loaves) in the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the pan and quickly close the door. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until deeply browned and firm.

Yesterday I added boiled cornmeal and 1 c. oatmeal flour and had excellent results again. Yum!

Progressing --- Slowly!

2009-03-14T18:59:00.006-04:00

I'm slow to come out of hibernation. I mentioned works in progress a couple of weeks ago and don't have much to show for it. Here's the latest on my wizard. All he needs is to be sealed (3 dips in gloss polyurethane).

I've been sidetracked by some custom orders: a 40-something gal with a pierced naval wearing a She-Ra cape, a bass drummer in a Toronto pipe and drum band, and animated Scottish highland cattle. (Can you see why I especially love doing custom orders - they are so unique!)

I'm still working on the organ grinder. I've painted the monkey:

With nothing scheduled this coming week, I hope I will have more progress to show next Saturday!

Tips for Bread Dough Art - Painting

2009-03-02T09:27:00.009-05:00

For most ornaments, I leave the dough uncolored. The natural color of the dough is just right for "flesh" tones. For African American ornaments, coffee can replace the water added to the dough or shades of brown can be added to the dough. There are instances when I color part of the dough before shaping, rather than trying to get a brush into tight places after the piece has been baked, like the white fur on a Santa suit. To color the dough, simply knead a little acrylic paint into the dough until the desired color is achieved. Be sure to knead the dough thoroughly or you might have a marbled effect. Years ago I used poster paint, which was bright, but also had a somewhat translucent effect. The poster paints I've tried lately have a terrible consistency and I now use acrylic craft paint. I've learned that quality differs between brands and even between colors within the same brand. I steer clear of the cheapest brands. Here are some basic tips for painting the baked dough art:

Use a pallette to keep colors separated and to easily blend new colors.

Completely rinse brushes between colors (no-brainer) and change your rinse water often.

Start with the lightest colors first, then add darker colors. One example is a red-and-white striped shirt. Paint the shirt white first, then add the red stripes. Another example is with hair color. Start with a pale shade of yellow for blonde hair, then add darker shades at the part and sideburns.

Use a broad, flat brush for large surfaces and smaller pointed brushes to get into hard-to-reach places ("round" or "pointed round").

Add water to the color in the pallette to get the desired consistency, and be sure to apply a uniform coat.

For stripes, use a thin, flat brush. I've cut off the ends of old "scriptliner" brushes to get this effect. I also use Elmer's "Painter" brand pens in various widths. They're convenient to use, but are sometimes harder to control than brushes.

For dots, use bamboo skewers. The pointed end works well for small dots and the opposite end for larger dots. Be sure to use just a bit of paint on a flat surface to dip the point in, then apply to your dough art (not at an angle, but perpendicular). It's always wise to experiment first so that the dots are uniform in size.

A touch of metallic paint or glitter glue can add a nice effect, but sometimes doesn't show up well after the ornament's been sealed. You might add these touches after the sealing process, especially if using permanent metallic pens.

Fine detail on the faces: For the eyes, start with the iris by making "dots" with the right size bamboo skewer. If you're right-handed, start with the left eye first, so your hand doesn't block your view when you do the right eye. Wait for the color to dry, then add the pupil, using the pointed end of a bamboo skewer. The next step is the fine detail around the eye (lashes, eyebrows). I use a "Scriptliner 1" brush or a fine nib and India ink. I do the black outline of the mouth at the same time. When the paint or ink dries, then add a small touch of white to each eye for its reflection using a very fine point ("Scriptliner 1" brush). Then add a touch of color to the lips. Finally, add the rosy cheeks using a "round" brush and watered-down, rosy-colored paint.

Ask yourself, "Is this the effect I want to achieve?" If not, try different colors and different techniques. Experiment. Other tools to use are sponges, stipple brushes, rubber stampers.

Etsy

2009-02-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

October 2008 I stumbled across Etsy.com. Etsy is for handmade items, vintage, and art/craft supplies only. It's taken me a while to learn all the features of Etsy, but just for starters, here's how Etsy has helped me:

It was SO simple to create my own store on Etsy and to sell. I think I made a sale within 2 days of setting up.
Posting items and Etsy's commission is very reasonably priced.
Etsy features articles to help artists market their wares. They showed me how to add my Etsy store to my Facebook. Through that, I found an Etsy team on Facebook called INCrowd, which led me to the INCrowd street team, which is all Indiana artisans - great for networking! Yes, I'm proud to be a member of the Etsy INCrowd Street Team!
Another recent Etsy feature explained Twitter and blogging. Thus, I joined Twitter (which I haven't quite figured out yet) and this blog, which I think I'm figuring out.

If you're a budding artist, or collect vintage items, or have a craft you do for fun but might want to make some extra money with, I highly suggest you visit http://www.etsy.com/.

Tips for Bread Dough Art - Shaping

2009-02-27T09:04:00.000-05:00

I'm often asked about the making of the dough creations. I use the standard recipe (also called "salt dough"), which is 1 c. salt, 1 c. water, 2 c. white flour. Here are some basic tips:

Allow the salt to dissolve in the water for 1/2 hour before adding flour. Fine salt, like popcorn salt, is ideal, or it can be blended to a finer consistency. I just use generic table salt without iodine.

Knead the dough until it is free from lumps and has a smooth, soft texture. You may need to add more flour or more water to get the right consistency. Kneading is VERY important! Don't cut corners here! Wrap the dough in clear wrap and keep it covered as you're working.

Shape onto a greased cookie sheet. If you're making several ornaments at a time, you may want to cover the finished ornaments with clear wrap until you have enough to put in the oven.

When shaping, every part starts with a ball. Take a bit of dough, roll it in your palms to make a ball, then roll it between your palms and/or palm and finger(s) to make a cone shape (body) or snake shape (arms), etc. One key to shaping is to "mess" with the dough as little as possible. The more it's messed with, the less smooth it looks.

Tools for shaping are everywhere. I use knives, combs, rounded end sculpting tools (for making the indentation in ears, for instance), curved sculpting tool (to make the crease in men's knees), large straws cut with a "V" in the end (to make cheeks), and the Sculpey tool that's used to make stringy hair and "fur" trim for Santa suits.

Attach each piece to the ornament with a bit of water. Saliva's fine, but I was concerned about salt intake and use a paint brush dipped in water to add each piece.

Be sure and insert a loop of some sort for hanging the ornament. It's best to use stainless steel, due to the salt in the dough. If you forget to insert the hanger, you will have problems dipping in the sealer. And due to the salt content, dipping is essential to preserve the ornament from humidity.

I bake the ornaments at 225 degrees for at least 3 hours. I let them cool and then squeeze them to be sure they're not at all soft. If they're still soft (weather is a big factor), I set the oven at 225 and bake them until all moisture is gone. If I'm not painting them right away, I store them in a plastic bag until it's time to paint them.

I'll continue with the painting steps on another post.

New Ornaments

2009-02-26T23:23:00.000-05:00

Every year I like to come up with a few new ideas for ornaments. In 2008, I began to make the wide array of Scottish ornaments beyond the 2007 bagpiper ornament. My new clown ornament of 2008 was a jester.

So what do I have in mind for 2009? Somewhere I got the idea to do an organ grinder. I've started the process by shaping some monkeys from cold porcelain. I'm eager to paint the monkeys then shape the ornaments. Half the fun is coming up with an idea, then figuring out how to put it all together. (The monkey pictured fits on a quarter with his tail hanging over, to give you an idea of size.)

I shaped some wizards last week, but need to paint them. Deciding on colors and accents is fun, but sometimes I don't have a clue - just have to give it time for it to click.

Dough Ditties History

2009-02-26T22:30:00.001-05:00

In 1974, my husband and I married and traveled monthly from state to state in a 17-foot camping trailer (Stan was in a Westinghouse training program). I soon tired of finding work in each new location, so went to the library to find a craft to do in hopes of making it into a business. I found some books on dollmaking and soon the little trailer was populated with all sorts of amusing characters - rag dolls from old T-shirts and fabric scraps, cornhusk dolls, clothespin dolls, papier mache dolls. It was hard to part with the early dolls and many were given as gifts.

Marketing dolls was not my forte, so we ended up hauling them to a flea market so we'd have more space in the tiny trailer. A customer suggested we should set up at a doll show. Doll show? She gave us some info on a show in Peoria, Illinois. We had no idea what to expect, but soon learned the world of dolls is immense! At that point, I was making dolls by sculpting heads with Sculpey over a blown-out egg shell. The bodies were cloth with wire armature. Their hands were also sculpted of Sculpey. I learned they were "character" dolls. We called our business "Pinkamink Dollworks" because we lived along the Iroquois River, which was called the Pinkamink by the Pottawatomi Indians.

We met Dianna Effner at the Peoria Doll Show. She was doing amazing work then (late 1970's) and is now a world-reknown doll artist. Dianna and her husband Randy also made bread dough ornaments, which was a popular craft in the 1970-80s. I spent a week at their home in Peoria to learn more about doll sculpting, but Dianna and Randy generously encouraged me to try bread dough art. Learning the basics from them, my husband and I were soon traveling and selling bread dough ornaments throughout the midwest.

For three years we were full-time crafters. It was a constant challenge - finding the best shows, knowing trends in customer taste (colors, collector themes), booth displays, etc. We thought we'd have a better shot of getting into the very best shows if we transitioned into porcelain. We bought a kiln and I started making porcelain figurines. We did get into some better shows and had some success with the porcelain, but it just wasn't the same as working with bread dough. Stan decided to help his dad full-time on the family farm. We were soon involved in other areas (like raising our son Adam, born in 1981) and the craft business was put on hold for awhile.

In the late 1980s I began making dough ornaments again with my friend Doris. We set up shop in an old farmhouse near Brook and did several shows throughout the year. The ornaments were still a hit at shows and Doris augmented the display with her flair for wreath decorating. But in 1992, Stan, Adam and I moved to West Lafayette and again crafting was put on hold. I became a full-time legal secretary and did very little crafting.

After nearly 15 years as a full-time secretary, I "retired" at the end of 2006. I spent January 2007 doing things I never felt I had time to do while working. I began baking all our bread and making more meals from scratch. I had time to knit, read -- and then it hit me -- time to make bread dough ornaments again.

So in February of 2007, I made a batch of flour, salt and water and shaped some angel ornaments. The dough felt so good. It's so soft and pliable and warm. It wasn't long and I had a long list in mind of all the ornaments I'd like to make. It was just like the "old days" except that we now had the internet. We researched to see if bread dough ornaments would even sell in today's market and found several websites. We found websites for craft shows. We wondered about setting up our own website and finally did that in June 2007 (http://www.doughditties.com/). Since we no longer lived along the "Pinkamink" River, we decided to change our name to Dough Ditties, as many of our ornaments involve music (fiddlers, fiddling pigs, bagpipers).

I had an idea to make a bagpiper ornament. I used toothpicks for the pipes. It was such a fun ornament to make and its popularity led to a whole line of Scottish ornaments: highland dancers, highland games athletes (caber toss, hammer toss, stone toss), drummers, fiddlers and guitarists all in kilts. I continue to improve these ornaments to be more authentic and detailed.

Our best selling point is custom work. I can make an ornament of nearly anything a customer can dream up. I've made bagpipers in their particular family or band tartans, grandchildren with their favorite sport, a boy with his pet goldfish, a man playing the piano, a bride and groom. The best part of making custom ornaments is knowing that it's a one-of-a-kind personal keepsake. No way can the discount stores offer anything as unique.