Sarah's Waldorf Playroom

Lots Of New Dolls Ready for Christmas Adoption

2011-11-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

I now have a new facebook page so drop in and "like" me! The dolls you see there are for sale on my website here. To enlarge the photos click on the thumbnail and then click again on the photo for an even larger size. Or see them at Etsy here. Here are just three:

Tips for Boys and New Dolls

2011-10-25T03:53:00.000-07:00

I love selling my dolls at fairs. The best part is not how many I sell, but the children's reactions. I notice that all girls are immediately attracted to the dolls, even 6 month old babies' faces light up as though dolls are already hardwired in their neurology. Some boys, usually between the ages of 6 and 8, fall in love with Frodo (as per photo) or the Parsifal knight doll. But most boys, especially babies and toddlers, need the doll to come alive for them.

A mother carried her toddler boy to my stall and pointed out a baby doll to him. The boy turned his head away in disgust. So, I picked up the doll and made it play peek-a-boo with him. I made it wave and talk, At first he covered his face, but slowly he started to look at the doll for longer. When I saw he was starting to look intrigued by this doll, I made the doll say: "Can I touch you?" A faint smile came to the boys face and he took his hands away from his eyes. He was still very wary, but now he couldn't take his eyes off it. The doll continued to make spontaneous comments like: "You could be my friend." Soon it was time to leave, but now the boy had fallen in love. He reached out his hands for the doll and started crying for it! His mum promised him one for Christmas, but he wanted it now.

I'm sure he won't be scarred for life over that little incident, but it demonstrated a point I always make: that boys need the doll to come to life before they see it as a 'being'. Make it talk, interact, give it a personality, give it a name, interests, make it have emotions ... the sky's the limit here.

_______________________________

More Gnomes!

2011-08-21T23:32:00.000-07:00

Spring is almost here and I will be at the Spring Market Day at Perth Waldorf School, Bibra Lake, on the 20th of September from 8.15am, with these gnomes, waldorf dolls, wool stuffing, tricot, my DVDs and more! Hope to see you there.

Little Parsifal Knight Dolls

2011-08-08T23:06:00.000-07:00

I just love making these little dolls. I buy the wood and wire frames Winterwood and make their hair from crocheted mohair boucle.

NEW PATTERN!! Medieval/Renaissance Outfit for dolls

2011-08-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

Finally the new Medieval Dress, Cape, Hair Wreath and Shoes pattern is available! The pattern is created for 13-14" dolls, but it be enlarged, as always. To do this, you need to print the templates and take them to the printers and have them enlarged by percentage, according to the doll size. Click on the pics for a larger view ....

This is the easiest clothing pattern I have, and the best one so far! I love short-cuts and this pattern has designed to be simple yet effective.

Included: 20 pages, 29 photos, 6 templates, and lots of clear instructions.

The Human Who Makes the Dolls!

2011-08-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

So I decided to wear the blue one on the night :-)

The Medieval Dress: First, the human version ...

2011-07-21T06:05:00.000-07:00

Within a few days I will have a new doll's clothing pattern out, which will be based on this stunning medieval dress pattern, which I made for a medieval banquet. It is such a simple pattern because there are no sleeves to set in. I was told by a medieval clothing expert from the SCA that the seamless sleeve was typical of that era, and it really looks effective. Watch this space closely as I will soon have this pattern available for Waldorf Dolls. The new pattern will include a cape, shoes and hair wreath!

The new pattern will be made for the 13-14" doll, but if you want to make it larger just take it to a printers, and have it enlarged by percentage.

The velour I made these dresses from has a rich look and feel about it. It has 4 way stretch and doesn't fray!! It hangs so well and doesn't crease no matter what you do. If you're in Australia, you can buy it from Spotlight in a variety of colours.

A close-up of the sleeve

Now to decide which dress to wear to the banquet;
blue or pink?? .......

Lost And Found

2011-01-31T17:53:00.000-08:00

We watched a movie called "Lost and Found" on Christmas eve, and my son loved it so much that he asked me to make a boy and a penguin. The story is very simple and there is no talking. It's about a penguin who befriends a boy and the boy wants to return the penguin to Antarctica, but when they get there they decide they don't want to be apart from each other. Here is the boy and penguin I made using the movie pics as a guide. I crocheted the cap and knitted the jumper.

Gingerbread Nativity Scene

2010-12-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Have you always had a secret longing to "eat" Christmas? How about a gingerbread nativity scene?

I used this recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/9761/gingerbread+men It was the right amount and great tasting gingerbread. Baby Jesus is a jellybaby, the sheep are marshmallows and everthing else is made from lollies and icing sugar.
The kids couldn't wait to eat it

There .... demolished in less than 2 minutes!

TUTORIAL: Waldorf Gingerbread Men

2010-10-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

These little gingerbread men are made from pure wool felt, though they look yummy enough to eat!

A cookie cutter works great as a pattern template:

I started sewing the two pieces of felt together at the first foot, then outside of the leg, all the way around the body and finished at the bottom of the second foot.

Then I stuffed them with wool, making sure I got the stuffing right into their hand. I then finished sewing up the stuffing hole

and trimmed the arms and feet with braid. The buttons and bow tie are made from black felt. I sewed the black bead eyes, starting my needle from the side of the head and finishing at the other side. The mouth is made from red emboidery thread and I used 2 stitches to make a smiling mouth, also starting and finishing at the side of the head. Sew some gold thread for hanging on top of the head.

TUTORIAL: Hair Layering

2010-10-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

I've been using this homemade tool, made by my husband, for the past few years. It makes the hair strands all the same length in layers, and saves lots of time. The hair layering tool is 22" in length, the pegs and 21" and 8" apart, and these 3 pegs can make 5 different hair lengths.

For a long haired 16" Child Doll, like my Radiance Child pattern, you would use 2 different layers for the hair. The first layer would be shorter and would be hooked into the crochet cap of the lower part of the head. To make these first hair lengths you would wrap the yarn around the 8" wide pegs.

Then you would cut one end:
Open them out:

Double them over and hook them into the back of the head of your doll's already crocheted cap:
Once the strands have come up to about half way or more up the head, you would wrap a second batch of yarn around the outside pegs:

Cut this batch at BOTH even ends, so you have a bunch of equal 18-20" strands:

The long strands are hooked into the top and crown of the head. Once finished, use your fingers to comb her hair so that it falls nicely. And here is the finished product! And she is available for sale either on my website, or on from my Etsy site:

Plus, if you dont' want to make one of those layering tool, then you can purchase a handmade one from me for $15.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How To Weight A Doll - TUTORIAL

2010-08-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

Weighted dolls feel so amazingly real, and children feel comforted by the solid feeling of the extra weight. The best dolls to weight are the baby dolls, and in this tutorial I am weighting the DreamTime baby from this pattern. I use quartz sand to weight my dolls because, for one, it is in abundance where I live and, for two, I have tried rice and millet and both got eaten - once by mice and the other by weevils! So I find sand the best product to weight dolls. I usually stick to between 200-250gms of extra weight, because any more than that puts too much pressure on the stitching and fabric.

Step 1: Find some sand. My backyard is full of it! Put it through a sieve and throw away any sticks or sharp bits.

2. Sew a bag (approx 3.5"-2.5") using the sewing machine on a small stitch, fill with sand to 200-250gms
3. Tightly hand sew the open bit, and soften the corners of the bag.
4. Now the bag is ready to place inside the doll's body.

5. Encase with wool stuffing:

6. Stuff the buttocks of the doll;
7. Push the bag, surrounded by wool stuffing into the lower belly region of the doll's body, then continue stuffing as before:
8. Use a wooden spoon to make sure that body is stuffed evenly.
9. Sew doll as per the rest of the pattern:

Your doll is ready! And by the way, this doll is currenly for sale on my website or at Etsy:

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a message below.
_________________________________________

Who Said Boys Don't Play With Dolls?

2010-06-18T00:28:00.001-07:00

These gorgeous boys, with their baby sister, requested girl dolls dressed only in pink and with long hair. Their mother tried to convince them that they would prefer boys, but they were adamant they had to be girls in pink, and with "flowers in their hair"! Thanks for the pic Jodi.

Finishing Touches that make a difference

2010-04-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

If you are using light colored hair, cover the embroidery thread with a small patch of tricot. You can either glue it on or sew it; If you don't put a patch over the thread, you would see it under the hair, but this way, it is hidden and looks more professional;

Tip of the Day: Make sure your eyeline doesn't move

2010-04-02T23:08:00.002-07:00

Symmetry and proportion of the body, and especially the face, are very important factors in making your dolls look good. Here is a tip to make sure the string eyeline doesn't move about when you pull the head covering over the sculpted head. Sew a few stitches with the string lying on the line that you drew when you measured the half way mark, before pulling the tricot cover over the inner head.

Easter Market Day

2010-03-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

I will be at the Easter Market Day at around 8.30am, on the 30th of March at the Perth Waldorf School, Bibra Lake. If you have any questions about making dolls, you are very welcome to come and have a chat with me there. I will have DVDs and dolls for sale that day. Hope to see you there!

Shipping Prices for DVD

2010-03-23T19:05:00.001-07:00

There was an error in the shipping prices for the DVD, ie it was charging too much shipping, which has now been corrected. The price for shipping the DVD within Australia is AU$1.50, and internationally AU$4.99.

It's All Happening

2010-02-15T05:24:00.001-08:00

Now that the school holidays have finished it's back to sewing again! I'm currently working on a couple of orders, then I plan to make more dolls for the "Buy It Now" page. Just contact me if you have any questions. I've got no idea where my Etsy widget has run off to, but I still have quite a few dolls on Etsy and the same dolls on my website; click on the page; "Dolls Ready To Go Home".

Christmas Stars!

2009-11-24T03:16:00.000-08:00

These stars don't look much while you're making them, but when you put them onto the window, they actually glow. Here is how to make them.

First buy some "kite paper" from your nearest Waldorf supplier. I got ours from Southern Aurora Books in Bibra Lake. If you're not in Perth, try your local Waldorf supplier, ie Willowwood Cottage or even ebay.

Fold the paper in half (to make this step faster, carefully place 4-6 pages together, making sure they don't slip and cut them all together), cut exactly down the centre, place them all together then fold again lenthways, and cut again. Repeat and cut them widthways, so you will have lots of rectangular coloured pieces of kite paper.

Fold the corners inwards on each piece as shown, then on only one end fold over again, as shown.

Once you have lots of 'uneven' dimond shapes, place a small amount of glue on the spots shown, being careful not to apply too much or your star will stick to whatever surface you're working on.

Place each 'diamond' on top of the other until

you reach the last one, which you will need to slot into place and onto a small amount of glue on the back of the starting diamond.

Hang in the window and admire!

Cute & Goofy St Nick's Characters

2009-11-15T20:37:00.000-08:00

It's only three weeks until St Nicholas day, so we got this St Nicholas and Black Peter pompom children's kit from Witte Engel in Holland and had fun making them up:
The kit ccomes with a pom pom maker, and my son had a ball with it. We made the little presents out of covered match boxes and the basket we found in Spotlight.

How To Choose Good Stuffing Wool

2009-09-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of two types of wool strands. The top one is felting wool and the lower one is stuffing wool. The difference is that the felting wool is much finer and more silky. The lower one is courser and has more space between the fibres. If you stuff dolls with finer, felting type wool, you will end up with more of a lumpy look, you will use a lot more, and it will be much harder work. Also, it is vital that the wool used for stuffing is completely dry of any Lanolin. Even a small amount of "grease" will eventually seep through the doll's tricot skin and create a "greasy" look!

New looks for dolls

2009-08-19T21:47:00.001-07:00

I now have these great new onesies in really beaut colours. So if you order a Dreamtime baby doll, you can have them dressed in one of these if you like... or stick with the old style.

And the Child Dolls with streaks in their hair, pants and tops and more interesting colours. The boy dolls remain traditional knights and Frodos, which are the most popular, and you can still order traditional girl dolls.

The Pearl At The Centre of the Spiral

2009-06-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

Our local Waldorf school celebrated mid winter with the interactive story of Yentz who goes off in search of the lost pearl, that is his inheritance. The children follow behind Yentz with their colourful handmade lanterns, as he stops to pass various character tests along the way around the school grounds, which is made up of bushland. Finally, he finds his way to the cavern where his lost pearl is at the centre of a beautiful spiral of fresh bouganvillia flowers. I was one of the spiral singers, so the only photos I could get were these taken during the warm ups.

The "Sewn" Farmyard!

2009-04-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

What do you do if you drool over The Knitted Farmyard pics, yet you can't knit very well? Easy: just create a farmyard out of leftover fabrics and old sweaters, and sew them together like a quilt. This is as far as I got, since I had to work this week; there are still houses to make, but we're having fun with it already.

Da Vinci's Last Supper Waldorf Style

2009-04-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

Jesus and the 12 disciples were made using the wood and wire dolls, with both felt and silk clothes and wool tops for hair (click on the pic for a clearer version).
Something interesting about this famous Da Vinci painting from my Foundations in Anthroposophy course a few years ago; our lecturer showed us the "wave" pattern created by the hands. Check out the pink line I've drawn on the painting below. I tried very hard to bend the little dolls hands (above) into the same "wave" pattern!

The Rule of Six

2009-04-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

I got this little list from this blog. It's short, powerful and easy to remember.

Six Things to Include in Your Child's Day:

• meaningful work
• imaginative play
• good books
• beauty (art, music, nature)
• ideas to ponder and discuss
• prayer

Sculpture By The Sea

2009-03-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

Every year Cottestloe Beach has a Sculpture By The Sea event. I liked this one:

My son and dh liked the "Lifesavers";

The setting sun and a swim ended off the evening:

St Patrick

2009-02-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

Here is St Patrick ready for St Patrick's day in 2 weeks. He is made with those incredibly versatile wood and wire dolls you can get at most Waldorf craft outlets. He is holding the famous "shamrock". Saints make great role models in extraordinary and "superhuman" courage and virtue. Kids love the story of St Patrick, especially the part where he bangs his staff on the ground and all the snakes go into the sea!

A Possum is not an Opossum

2009-02-04T05:37:00.000-08:00

Possums in Australia are CUTE! This caused some confusion to my American customers because they thought I was making an Opossum, which is apparently not a cuddly cutsie like the possum.

To clear that up, here is a pic of a REAL possum, from Australia. How cute is that?

I made this possum from the Hedgehog pattern in the book; "Trudy's Tiere"which is in German or Dutch, not English, and can be purchased from Witte Engel. It doesn't matter if you don't speak German or Dutch as the patterns are fairly straight forward. Just one thing - the patterns are without hems added, so be sure to add your hems all the way around the pattern.

New Dolls on Etsy

2009-01-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

This is Lucy; a 16" Radiance Child doll. You can adopt her from my ETSY store.

This child doll stands at 16 inches, and is made with pure and natural products. She is stuffed with clean and dry New Zealand wool, and her skin is made from Witte Engel's famous tricot. Her hair includes over 50gms of mohair, carefully looped into a crocheted cap. She is wearing a pure cotton outfit and pure wool felt shoes. She also comes with bloomers underneath and the dress is in two parts with pinafore.

Just Landing Again ....

2009-01-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

Been really busy with Christmas then school holidays. Also working a few days per week on an anorexia ward with teen girls (I'm also a nurse in my spare time). I taught some of them to crochet while I sat and crocheted wigs next to them. So I've finally been able to make a few more dolls and have uploaded some to ETSY.

To All My Customers - Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T05:35:00.000-08:00

Do you remember when you were a child? And it was Christmas? And there was magic. And the absolute certainty that anything was possible.

~~~

May you rediscover the child inside you this Christmas!

~~~

Memories Feed The Imagination

2008-12-21T05:06:00.000-08:00

"Memory feeds the imagination," says author Amy Tan. "The best thing we can give our children, next to good habits, are good memories," says author Sydney Harris. We gave our son a good memory over the weekend. He had the chance to sail on the Leeuwin Sail Training Ship for the weekend. These pics were taken after the voyage, when he returned today.He even steered the boat out of the harbour and in again, hauled sails and furled them again. He loved it and can't wait to go back on again.

He he is with his watchleader.One more quote; "The memories we collect, and give, brighten our lives as long as we live," (author unknown).

Crochet Christmas Pudding

2008-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

I didn't use any sort of pattern for this; I simply crocheted a cap, like a doll's wig, starting off with the cream color wool "brandy sauce", then adding the brown speckled wool until I had almost a sphere. I added wool stuffing and a stone at the bottom, then sealed it by completing the crochet stitch. As for the holly, I just crocheted and knotted the wool until it resembled holly.

Thy Light Is Glowing: Santa Lucia

2008-12-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

Santa Lucia,

thy light is glowing

Through darkest winter night,

comfort bestowing.

Dreams float on dreams tonight,

Comes then the morning light,

Santa Lucia,

Santa Lucia.

Today is Santa Lucia Day. St Lucia was a girl who was killed by the Romans for being a Christian. Legend has it that her ghost used to lead Christians fleeing persecution through the catacombs under Rome with her eyes on a tray, and a wreath of candles, leading the way to safety. Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_LucyAnd here are some St Lucia dolls I made with silk dresses and silk-tops for hair.

Happy St Nicholas Day

2008-12-07T00:13:00.000-08:00

The best children's party in Perth, if you have any Dutch heritage, is the annual Dutch Club's "St Nicholas Party". My husband's parents are Dutch, so I restarted this tradition in their family, and it's so much fun. St Nick is accompanied by "Black Peter", but at this party he has at least 4 of them. First St Nick goes around and greets everyone and asks if you've been good, while the Black Peters give out lollies and ginger bread biscuits to all the kids. Then he gets out this huge red book with a gold cross on it to check to see if any naughty children's names are written in there, and he then announces: "No children have been written in my book, so you will all get a present." The kids are called one by one to receive their present. Some kids have to have a further test to see if they've been good; Black Peter puts a sack over their heads and my husband thinks that the tradition with that is to see if a piece of black coal falls out. If it doesn't then the child gets a present. I had to have a quick word in Black Peter's ear not to put the sack over my son's head, or he would have probably freaked out! They usually have a magician but this one seemed to have vanished before we even saw him. But we had a good time anyway.

Nativity Scene - Waldorf Style

2008-11-26T23:17:00.000-08:00

Here is the Nativity Scene I made using 15cm wood and wire dolls:

Mary is wearing a red silk dress with a blue cloak and Joseph has a felt tunic and blue felt cloak. Baby Jesus is lying on a manger made from cinnamon sticks. The donkey and ox are made from felt. I put the LED lights inside the stable and around the scene. My son keeps switching it to flashing effects so itlooks like a disco! The "hay" is made from some silver-gold stuff I got from a Christmas shop that is supposed to go on the Christmas tree, but I thought it looked pretty cosmic in the stable (especially with disco lights!):

Here are my three Magi: Baltazar, Kaspar and Melchior. They are dressed in silk, and the camel is made from wool felt:

The shepherds' clothes are made from wool felt and I have knitted small waistcoats for two of them, and a crocheted cap for two of them.

The angel has a dress made from silk and her hair is made from silk tops. She has wings also made from silk:

A Gnome

2008-11-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

I got the idea for this little fella from the book: Gnomes .
He is made from the 15cm wood and wire doll and dressed in felt clothing. The ears are made from tiny pieces of tricot cut out and stuck to the side of his head.

Waldorf Story Books and Autism

2008-11-01T03:27:00.000-07:00

Social impairments are universal with autism. This study looks at why some people's brains are more altruistic, or socially cooperative, than others. "Cooperation does not just mean going with the flow: It involves actively helping others and participating in the reciprocal relationships that make human society possible. People can and will go out of their way to help others, even those not related to them - which seems unremarkable until one realizes that most other animals do not." Researchers then applied the theory to the study of autism: "Maybe autism represents a deficiency in the social parts of the brain that allow altruism and cooperation".
The Little Troll tells the story of a troll, stuck in his biology, where he is doomed to a tribe of trolls that are uncooperative and mean to each other. But this little troll wants something more than this wretched life. He sees the humans and longs to be like them, but doesn't know how. One day, he overhears a man telling a boy that if he doesn't help others and put others before himself, he is nothing better than a troll. The little troll has found the key that will unlock his prison - altruism. He spends the next few years helping humans and animals at every chance. The narrator says: "The more he helped others, the better he became at helping". Slowly he begins to lose his troll-like features and grow more like a human. The ending has him walking into a church where the people all say: "welcome to the world of humans". This is my all time favorite children's book.
Will the practice of altruism and cooperation remediate autism? I believe it will! Since my son was five, we have kept a Book of Good Deeds, recording every good deed he has done. Plus we encourage "random acts of kindness" as a fun thing to do, if only to pull out a weed from a neighbour's lawn. I truly think this has challenged him out of his own little world.

The Shire Spring Fair

2008-10-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Shire council puts on a couple of really good parties each year for its rate-payer hobbits, like us. One is the Christmas party, and the other is the Spring Fair. This year, the helicopter ride was the highlight:

I love the colour of the ocean around Perth! Alex was more interested in the control panel.

Back on the ground again, and these flowers are created from used plastic drink bottles:Alex holding a snake - something I couldn't do!

Tom Thumb

2008-10-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

This is Tom Thumb, made from a kit and pattern I got from Bear Dance Crafts I've made a few dolls from these kits. They always challenge me to learn new skills.

Remediation Through The Arts

2008-10-22T05:19:00.001-07:00

The following activities aren't done just to fix my son, I also enjoy them! Some researchers claim that autism is due to too much connectivity in the left side of the brain, and not enough on the right (or is it the other way around?), and with minimal connections between. I'd like to think what I do helps, but even if it doesn't we have fun anyway ...
Narrative: I'm still working on this with my son. I taught him how to start a story with a main character, a goal and some obstacles. I demonstrated how most stories have a first and second "turning point". He can't write, but he dictates stories to me, and I create little "books" out of them. He also likes to try to pick the turning points in movies and stories. What does this do for autism? I think it helps them understand patterns in social interactions and activities.
Art: This is definitely not my son's strength! But I bought some of those lovely Lyra colored pencils and we sit and draw a picture together sometimes. He will only draw trains, so often I'll turn the train into something else, or create something humorous about it, ie have it skiing down a mountain, or have flowers growing out of the window. I try to open his mind to new possibilites. Also, we play a game where I do a squiggle and he has to make it into something, and we swap over. Great for increasing non-linear thinking.
Literature: Good literature is my passion! I'm sure this also infects my son as well, as I love reading to him. Currently we're reading Story of the World by S Bauer. Stories enhance the imagination, which is lacking in autism.
Theatre: We love all the plays at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre: they are amazing quality production. Our favorite so far is The Arrivaland its coming again in November. See my previous post about The Arrival here
Time: I recently realised that my son has no ability to perceive "time". I've just started on trying to teach him visually, ie by drawing a plan of the day divided up into hours.
Drama: This would be good, but still haven't done much about it ... Great for "putting yourself in another's shoes".
Theology: I help in the Sunday School class each week. Great compass for kids with SNs who might find themselves disorientated in a world of moral relativism. Also teaches kids that it's good to be good, not for a reward.
Karate: Not "arts" per se, but exactly like the DORE program, except that it's super cheap, by comparison, and a lot more fun. Plus you interact and get different colored belts!

Size Doesn't Matter

2008-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

... at least to the child it doesn't. Customers often ask me what is the correct size for a doll, and shouldn't baby dolls be in proportion to the size of the child? This dilemma is a purely adult one! Children don't think of proportion in the same way as we do. In fact, they often like extremes: teeny tiny dolls, or huge enormous ones. Here are some examples from my son's toys. This family has a mother half the size of her twin boys, and a pet dog bigger than all of them: In the book The Doll People(see my previous post on this book),the family of dolls had a baby three times the size of the parents. This is mama doll telling Annabelle doll about their doll family: "(Baby Betsy) was very big, bigger even than you, Annabelle. She must have come from a different doll set. We didn't mind, of course. We already loved Baby Betsy very much ... We knew Baby Besty was meant to be ours." There is a picture of mama and papa doll carrying a giant baby.
So, even though some waldorf books out there preach about "correct sizes" for dolls for children, I don't believe there are any rules, and neither do the children. The only rule I go by is "fun"!

The Bear Who Lost His Song

2008-10-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

More photos of crafts coming soon. In the meantime, here is a story my son dictated to me. I did edit it slightly for clarity, but didn't add anything to it:

"Once upon a time there was a gummy bear and he had a song that went like this: "oh I am a gummy bear". But one day he couldn't remember his song. So he looked all over the whole world for it. He went to a puppet theatre. He drove in a car. He checked inside a trumpet. But he still couldn't find it! So he thought and thought and thought. One day he saw a fairy, and she said with her beautiful voice I will give you your song back to you, IF you go conquer the wicked giant of the east who is conquering the trains of the railway musuem in Bassendean. So he walked all the way to Bassendean and he found it and there was the giant waiting for him; he was on the traintrack. But that wasn't good because he was conquering the whole Mandurah lines. The mandurah line trains were big. Then the gummy bear took over the train and put up its electric bar and ZAP!! the giant was dead, and the gummy bear got his song back again."

5" Frodo

2008-10-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a tiny 5" Frodo I made today. The patterns come from Winterwood's bendy doll pattern book: http://www.winterwoodtoys.com.au/ except for the cape, which was just guesswork. The wooden dolls also come from Winterwood. Next, hubby is going to make a wooden Hobbit house, which I'll post pics of when it's ready.

The Power of 'No' Words

2008-09-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

"(The) speech before words is the vernacular of all beings. It is the original mother tongue, the language of paradise ... that few adults care to re-enter," says Horst Kornberger in The Power of Stories: Nurturing Childrens Imagination and Consciousness Shaun Tan's The Arrival- without words - is a captivating picture book about an immigrant who leaves his old familiar home and goes to a new land across the sea where everything's strange, from the food, the language, the writing script, the symbols, the customs ... even the plants and animals are like nothing he's ever seen before. Trains are floating ships and taxis are hot-air balloons. He has to navigate this strange land, and the story is told through the man's facial expressions and body language. The Arrival is a perfect metaphor for Autism. The social world of the autistic is just like a stranger in a new land where he can't understand what's going on. We've been going through the book page by page each night. As there are no words, only pictures, they highlight the emotions and body language of the man as he tries to make sense of his world. We love this book its expressive pictures.

Baby Turtle

2008-09-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

We found this baby turtle on the footpath and my son begged me to bring him home just for a couple of days. It's a Snake-necked turtle.Isn't he cute?!
We made a habitat for him and researched what they eat, which is apparently anything from insects to plants. My son named him Inka.

Bread - The Easy Way

2008-09-04T04:09:00.000-07:00

I've been making bread for over 20 years and I've found many shortcuts along the way! First the recipe: 8 1/2 cups of flour (I use half wm and half white), 2T of sugar, 1t salt, about 4T dry yeast, and 800mls of warm water. You don't have to mix the yeast and water separately: that's a myth. Mix all the dry ingredients together: Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and stir until thick, then mix with your hand until you have a ball of dough to play with:
Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough spings back quickly when you pinch it:
Have your child knead a small piece of dough and create a shape (my son made a snake):
push the dough into 2 or 3 containers like this, and cover with a warm wet teatowel:Leave for at least an hour, even 2 hours in cold weather. You do NOT need to punch it down half way through the rising: that's another big myth! The proof is in the pudding, and here my loaf has more than doubled in 1 hour 15 mins without re-kneading:
You will have already set your oven to 220C, so bake in the middle of the oven for 5 mins on 220C, then reduce the heat to 190C. Bake for 25-30 mins and "voila!"Your child will love home made bread they made themselves:

A Hobbit Cape

2008-09-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

This Hobbit Cape is made from a medium-weight grey cotton jersey fabric I found in Spotlight. It hangs really well. This pic is a bit blurry, but my son got a lot of compliments when he wore it to the school performance:

And here's the doll's version:

The cape
You will need some string, some chalk and your fabric opened out on the floor. Take the string and tie a knot in one end (we'll call this the neck knot). Hold the neck knot at the back of your child's or doll's neck and then measure down to see how long you want the cape to be. Tie another knot in the string at this point (we'll call this the heel knot). Fold the fabric once width wise. Take your string and place the neck knot a the corner of the folded side. With your other hand hold the heel knot and a piece of chalk along the fold of the fabric. Keeping the string taught, chalk a quarter circle onto the fabric. To make the neckline, measure about 2.5 inches from the neck knot and make another knot. Holding the neck knot at the folded corner and the chalk in your other hand with the new neckline knot, chalk a quarter circle neck line. Cut along these two lines and you will have your cape shape.

The Hood
For the hood, I cut out 2 diamond shapes, with one side of the diamond half the size of the opening I want for the head. I machined 2 sides together, opened it out and layed it along the neckline and machined along there.

The Leaf fastener
I sewed a hook and eye at the neck. Since I couldn't find anything like a large leaf button in Spotlight, I cut some doll angel wings in half and attached it to the neck fastener.

The Spring Fair!

2008-08-30T02:10:00.001-07:00

The wildflowers are just starting to bloom and today was the Waldorf Spring Fair. Between now and Christmas is the best time of the year in Perth, Australia.

Here is my doll stall: under the gum trees and out in the open sunshine:
Here is yours truly with the dolls awaiting adoption:

This is Fran Rosenthall: the Waldorf Kindy teacher who originally taught me how to make waldorf dolls. Here she is inspecting my latest batch:

That baby looks like me! I just love the looks on the kiddies' faces;

A spring flower children dance:

Someone was selling these wooden swords and sheilds and they were a hit! Here is a young page practising dragon slayingTwo more pages and some young damsels:

A happy customer:

2008-08-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Barbies "Don't Take the Oath"

2008-08-26T03:39:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a chapter each night of this book to my son, and we both love it:
It's called The Doll People and it's about a family of dolls that have taken the oath in the doll factory to keep the secret from all humans, and they are granted life. If they are seen alive by a human, they risk "Permanent Doll State". I had to laugh at this ..... Annabelle Doll points to a Barbie Doll and asks; "Permanent Doll State"? Uncle Doll replies: "No. Didn't take the oath. Barbies never do." My son couldn't work out why I found that so funny.

Some dolls really do seem alive. Look at this pic a customer sent me of one of my dolls 'reading a book' with a child.

Baby Fight

2008-08-25T01:50:00.001-07:00

This was sent to me by a customer who bought a DreamTime Baby doll. Here her daughter has just opened the present for her first birthday. Note the look on the baby's face on the left hand side.

He scooted over as fast as he could and decided to claim the doll for himself. Here they are locking horns:

A Walk Around Our Lake in Early Spring

2008-08-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

We live a stone's throw from a beautiful lake where cockatoos of every colour can be seen, water birds, like black swans, egrets, coots and the occasional white ibis. There are also bandicoots, lizards and goannas. I won't mention snakes ....

The Best Fair In Town

2008-08-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Only 4 days to go to the Perth Waldorf School Spring Fair where I've been selling my dolls for the past 5 years. So I've been sewing hard these past few months to keep up with the demand and to stock my stall.

It's a social event as well, as I get to catch up with friends I haven't seen since last Spring Fair!My son really enjoys it too.
Here are some of the dollies I have up for adoption this saturday:

I love watching the children's reactions to the dolls. Their eyes light up and their mouths drop open. Last year a toddler grabbed a baby doll from the table and wouldn't give it back. The mother had to prise it away from her as she screamed.

My favorite stall of all is the cakes! So much variety: each cake lovingly made by a waldorf mamma. Imagine a setting of shady gum-nut trees, new wildflowers, children dressed in nice pastels and primary colors, the smell of baking bread from the kindy and the sound of wandering musicians.

This photo was taken a few years ago, and I had sold almost all of my dolls at that point;

The weather so far, though, looks a bit iffy:

Saturday Shower or two clearing. Min 6 Max 18

If you're in Perth, it's on this saturday at 10am. Let's hope it's not going to be raining!

Lots to share, but need techie help!

2008-08-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much Nikki!!!