Post-Christmas, a day at the art museum with Mommy and LaoLao.

 

 Since I'm so far behind (as usual) on my photos, I'm starting with the last day of the Christmas holiday first...

 A gorgeous dinner with some wonderful friends.

 German cookies, as beautiful as paintings.

 New friends.

 The consummate hostess.

 LaoLao spending a last evening with her Q.

O tannenbaum.

 

I'm sorry for so many photos of this new Little Mermaid, but I think she must be my most photogenic jointed doll yet, because I can't stop taking pictures.

 Like most of my jointed dolls, she is sculpted in pieces from clay, baked, and then sanded meticulously. She is then painted by hand.

 As with the others of my new Les Sylphides series, her hair is made from un-dyed organic wool, and then hand-stitched to muslin. Her hair is very long, and can be arranged in various ways.

 Her tail is made from three separate moveable sections, and is covered in scales hand-cut from natural Osnaburg cotton. Each section is jointed with waxed cord. The fin at the end is stitched from the same natural cotton and also jointed with cord.

 Her crown is hand-stitched from Osnaburg cotton and stiffened with decoupage finish. The seaweed that waves from her crown and hair is hand-cut from the pages of an antique German book, and then finished with a flexible sealant. The garland of seaweed around her neck is also hand-cut and sealed from cotton.

 Her arms are sculpted from clay and immovable, but from the hips down she is flexible and changeable, as is her hair, crown and seaweed decor.

She is very interactive as a sculpture, in that you can pose her and decorate her in as many different ways as you can imagine. Obviously, I've been having fun with her!

 I spent the morning working on a little mermaid for my Les Sylphides collection.

 There are few things more satisfying to make than a mermaid! I'm not sure why that is.

 

 I think I will give her a crown and maybe a seaweed necklace before she is done.

Meanwhile, making gingerbread is a surefire way to brighten the day when you're down with the flu!

A new series! "Les Sylphides". They are sylphs, sprites, spirits of the air, woodland and water. Each is one-of-a-kind, each hand-carved and baked with an armature of wire for strength, then carefully sanded and painted by hand. Their wigs

are hand-sewn from organic yarn stitched to muslin. Their legs are jointed at the hips with waxed cord and they can be seated in various ways. Les Sylphides now available in my shop The Voyagers on Etsy.

 A terribly sad and difficult day in our country.

 A moment to be thankful for every moment we have with those we love.

This life can be so magical, and it can also be so fragile.

 

FLASH SALE today only Saturday Dec. 8, in both of my shops! 20% off your purchase, use coupon code FlashSale20 at checkout.
http://MaiaLarkin.etsy.com/
http://TheVoyagers.etsy.com/

 A few photos from our preamble to the Christmas holidays.

 I am, it has to be admitted, a Christmas fanatic. 

I love this season, and everything that goes with it. 

I love every moment, every indulgence, every ritual.

 By that logic, I have to attempt to make it to every appearance of "real" reindeer in the Denver area. In spite of the unusually warm weather we've had this year, the reindeer are in particularly fine form. This one, with his elaborate horn formations, was a stunner.

 And this very small one was probably Santa's fuzziest reindeer.

 Naturally, I've taken the opportunity to photograph some of my most recent works in their holiday finery!

 You'd never guess, based on this shot, that my girl's favorite "season" is Hallowe'en, and that she loves to watch scary movies, to listen to ghost stories, and to be read the Grimm Bros' dark Teutonic morality tales above all as bedtime stories. She is, if nothing else, multi-faceted!

 Q and I in some of the more psychadelic areas of the "Christmas forest" at the local garden center.

 Protecting daddy from the sharpest thorns in the cactus garden.

 

Hijinks among the ficus trees!

 Q and Mommy in the poinsettia wonderland that is the garden center in December.

  Making s'mores over a gas fire at the tree lighting in our local township.

...and making her very own fire! 

Do you remember the moment when you were allowed to light your very own match for the first time?