Christmas Dolls

These are pictures of the dolls that I made for my little sister, and 3 nieces and 1 nephew for Christmas last year. I would love to make them to sell too but between the amount of work it takes and how much I have to neglect my poor husband, I would be looking to charge between $150 -$200 per doll. So, with the idea that you would buy these for you kids, I'm not sure I'd sell any...though, you could buy them to set on your mantel or something. Anyway, I might put these pictures in my etsy shop (GO SEE MY ETSY SHOP! IT IS "THE LEMON LINE") and just say, hey, this is what I do, if you want a custom doll...you can see that this is what I do. Anyway, I'm not sure what to do yet. Though, I am drafting up some patterns to sell on etsy of the cutest...and I mean the CUTEST little stuffed critters EVER! Crows, rabbits, weasles, etc...they are the cutest.

Here is the dragon doll and the owl doll. As you can see the dragon has a tail and wings. What you can't see is that it has a ridge of spikes down its back, spiky fringe on its legs and arms and clawed hands and feet. The dragon's clothes include a firey halter-dress, a checkerd drop-skirt, and an orange cape with a bell on the end of a pointed hood (not pictured)

The owl has a cute little beak for a mouth and very large green eyes, and also a tail, and wings on its arms and backwards kneed legs (I'm not sure if you can tell with this picture or not). Her clothing includes a blue striped halter dress, a Damsel In This Dress shaped reverible wench corsette with light colored tree-bark fabric on one side and dark colored tree-bark fabric on the other. She also has a cape that is the night sky full of stars with a bell on the end of the pointed hood.
Here is a mermaid, a train conductor, and a horse woman. The mermaid also has fringe on her arms and legs and webbed fingers and toes. Her legs and arms a green and her body is kind of a crazy blue. She has a blue silk halter dress, a seaweed shrouded drop skirt and a matching bra-like top and also a cape that has sea animals printed on it with a seashell at the end of the pointed hood.

The train conductor has EVERYTHING (I didn't want my newphew to feel like since his doll wasn't a dragon or horse or something crazy that he was being cheated...he loves trains so much) His hair is embroidery floss and he has a red goatee (just like my nephew's dad) and his hands are sewn so he can hold stuff. He has a paisly button-down shirt with matching boxers, striped overalls with a pocket on the chest and two hammer loops on his hips, he has a fancy brown vest with a pocket holding a pocket watch that is attatched to the vest with a small chain. AND he came with a bucket full of tools that fit into his hands. He also came with a cloak with a bell sewn on to a pointed hood.

The horse woman has really thick and wild red hair. She has a horse body in kind of a fuzzy brown with a white tummy and socks on all for legs/arms. she has backwards knees like the owl and cute little wooden hooves. Her clothing includes a brown-striped halter dress, a grass skirt (which I STILL think is funny, he, he, he, he...) and a green, grassy looking cape with, yes, a bell on the end of a pointed hood.

Here is the group all together, you can see their hand-painted faces.

Here is a good close-up of their feet. (from left to right) the owl, the dragon, the conductor, the mermaid, and the horse.

I wish I had had the time to take pictures of them in their cloaks and also, as weird as it sounds, without their clothes on. There is plenty of fine detail on the clothes, but equally as much on the bodies. The women are all very shapely without being graphic and the man has nice broad shoulders and narrow hips too! All the dolls have fully movable joints; the shoulders and hips are sewn on with buttons and the elbows and knees are wooden beads.

The main idea came from a doll-making book that I love, but by the time I shrunk the patterns down, made a man version, added all the crazy extra stuff like fringes, backwards knees, and different feet, the design is MOSTLY my own. None of these dolls is even close enough to the original pattern for me to point out the differences.

Anyway, I had a great time making them, but I am afraid that they took FOREVER! (more than a full day each) so...I would have to charge a LOT!