Cottagehill

This weekend I had the privilege of being Guest speaker at Mid-York Doll Club’s Whimsical Christmas Event in Canastota, NY. Although, outside, it was cold and slushy, inside Theodore’s Restaurant, it was warm, decorated for the holidays and inviting. I was greeted by Joyce Rogers, the current club President and her trusty helpers, among many, Maria and Christine. 

      This is the yearly event where members from several New York State doll clubs, travel near and far to do what we ALL enjoy best…gather together to talk about the joys of dolls and doll collecting! The clubs represented were Broome County Doll Club, Dome City Doll Club, Henrietta Doll Lovers, Heritage Doll Club, Lilac Fashion Doll Club, Sashaholics, Triple-O Doll Club, Western New York Doll Club, and many UFDC Members. At, nearly, 50 ladies present, it was a full house!

      During the event, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with many of the lovely ladies who shard some of their personal doll stories and one woman share a video of the dedicated “Doll Room” in her home…amazing! Jonathan, my husband and side kick, also had a great time. We both were made to feel so welcome and comfortable by the warm and friendly group.

       My speech was well received and afterwards, some of the ladies had an opportunity to share some meaningful doll related, childhood memories. The event closed with Jonathan and me passing out the OOAK souvenir “Angel” dolls I created especially for this group…which they enjoyed receiving. I was thrilled to have been invited to this event and look forward to seeing my new friends again in the New Year! 

Chris, me & Joyce, club president

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! 🎄

Hi All,

        Hard to believe, but the scattered red and yellow leaves strewn all over my yard is proof that summer is over…too soon for me! Some days are still warm, but the evenings are already quite cool.  I’ve been spending most of my mornings in my studio busy working on a few new projects. 

        I just finished a “candle stick” bust of “Alice” of Alice in Wonderland. Apparently, I seem to have an incurable, life-long obsession with that book!  With sooo many wonderfully odd characters to choose from and so many ridiculously crazy predicaments they find themselves in, it’s impossible not to love it! I’m quite pleased with this permutation as, I think, I finally managed to make Alice’s face look like that of a “child” instead of an adolescent…lol!

        While working on Alice I started another bust! This one from my own imagination…“Jocelyn.” She’s not pictured here yet because she’s still in the early stages of development, but I plan on costuming her in a wonderful combination of pink and green fabrics I found in my fabric stash…they look great together! Once I complete painting her facial details and creating her costume, I’ve already decided that she MUST have red hair!  While working on Jocelyn…I started another bust…I think I’m on a roll here…lol! 

  Come and visit next month and see how they all turn out! That’s all for now…happy doll making!

Lillian

Creating body and bloomers

Hi All,
        It’s been several weeks since the ODACA Day Luncheon / UFDC Conference in Norfolk, VA.  For me, the event was fun and successful, so with that in mind, I plan to strike while the iron’s hot! 
     I have already started working on more of my tiny “Thistlebury” characters. The fun has been not just in the creating but also in naming the characters! As a HUGE Anglophile, I have enjoyed coming up with fun English names like Nigel, Cecily, Hazel, Aloysius and great, old fashion “estate” occupations, such as grounds keeper, butler, cook, scullery maid, combined with an endless array of animals to choose from, ram, goat, chicken, fox, hedgehog…I predict I will be having fun in my studio this winter…lol! See my sold out characters below.

I also wanted to share a few pics of one of the dolls I completed for this summer’s event, “Eloise.” I’m a stickler for creating a well-constructed armature that stands freely regardless of the use of a base, then, building up the body and, finally, fine tuning the costuming…check them out!

  Well, that’s all for now…

Happy doll making!

Lillian

It is actually snowing outside as I write this but I will not let that deter me from forging on with being creative…lol! It’s been a long winter, but I’ve been busy creating nonetheless.

I have always been a fan of the iconic “stacked” farm animal image, so I decided to create my own version. Turns out, hidden amongst my tiny treasures, I found a wonderful glass dome that was just the right size…

I thoroughly enjoyed making the rooster with his free flowing tail feathers…so much fun!

”Thistlebury” Character “Dr. Claude Jaquith, Village Doctor”

Story “Poppet” “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm”

I have also been busy, creating tiny characters from an  imaginary Village I named “Thistleberry.” These adorable, original, OOAK dolls were created to entice collectors! I will be offering them along with other collectibles, shadow boxes, large scale dolls, and more at my sales table at the ODACA Day Luncheon and Sales taking place on July 22 this summer along with the UDFC Doll Convention. The convention this year is being held at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel, in Norfolk, VA. We are all excited for yet another opportunity to come together, enjoy the festivities, the delicious lunch AND talk about ALL things dolls…what could be better! For more information about this cool event and register, please click on the link below. Hope to see you there! 

Happy doll making,

Lillian 

Happy doll making,

Lillian 

https://www.odaca.org/odaca-day-2025

Hello All,

It’s hard to believe that Christmas time is here again…where does the time go?! Christmas is my favorite time of year. For me it’s a time to enjoy being with family and being grateful for God’s many blessings. 

 This year I was inspired by a several wonderful “scenes in a mug” that I saw on Pinterest. They all looked so magical, capturing a moment in time…sooo cool! I decided they would be great to give as gifts and created a few, tailoring each scene to reflect a special moment in time for each recipient. Here’s how they turned out…

Each one was so much fun to create! I wish you all a very blessed Merry Christmas and a peaceful Happy New Year!

Happy doll making,

Lillian

Happy Doll-making, Lillian

There seems to be no end to what I can get into with all this time on my hands…lol! I’ve developed an idea for a new doll but started working on a component of the piece that will eventually be called “Birth.” I created three tiny babies emerging from eggshells as shown here.  It was a lot of fun to sculpt especially those teeny-tiny fingers and toes. I look forward to completing the piece soon… Enjoy!

August 13th, 2024

Ever wish you could simply do over a finished project you aren’t quite thrilled with? As doll artists, we certainly have a collection of UFO’s…UnFinished Objects…lying about. We all know how that starts; for me, I get thrilled starting a new project, working on it tirelessly for hours or days at a time. Then suddenly I reach a point where I can’t decide which direction to take, whether it be the facial expression, costuming details or hair color of a doll…I come to a screeching halt. I end up putting that project aside only to start a new one…lol!

This time around I was experiencing the “Do Over.” I wasn’t my first and I’m sure it won’t be my last…lol! When I created my Alice “teacup treasure” (pincushion) the first time several years ago, I enjoyed working on her. I did my best to ensure she looked like what I had imagined. I thought she came out Okay but anytime I’d happen to visit my website, I had a nagging feeling that I could do better. So…why not a do over?!

Above are a few pics showing how I scraped off most of the details of Allices’ face and reworked her hands which were a bit large.  I decided to add the hat…the result is a more refined and elegant Alice…after all, that’s what do overs are for!

Happy Doll making…enjoy! 

p.s. I also included pics of my Duchess. I started working on her face several years ago and just finished her… and am very please!

Hello Ladies,

 It has been quite some time since I last posted…six years in fact…WOW! In March, I retired from my position at a nearby Nursing Home where I worked as Therapeutic Activities Specialist for the last eight years. It truly was a joy and an honor working with the much loved elderly “friends” I’ve met there. I was responsible for developing stimulating trivia, engaging them in Name-That-Song…a real favorite, creating high end crafts…my specialty, and, leading them in really fun sing-alongs. Every day they interacted with their peers, shared a laugh, enjoyed singing and, hopefully, ended the day with a sense of accomplishment and well-being. I also developed a monthly in-house magazine full of brain teasers, trivia, word searches as well as a dedicating a whole page to “resident-of-the-month…which I enjoyed creating and they loved reading. I have gone back to visit them every month since I retired just to say hello…they are just as happy to see me as I am to see them. Here are a few highlights:

That’s all for now…I be posting more often now. Thanks for checking in…Happy Doll Making!