Friday, March 13, 2009

Living Dolls

by Julianne
http://www.GrandmasGirl.etsy.com






Our second daughter, for reasons apparent to us, has been the recipient of more baby dolls than I can count. From the time that she was learning to walk, this plump living doll with short blond curls, received plastic baby dolls for every birthday, for every Christmas, and for every event and no good reason in between. They pleased her enormously as little children do learn by imitating their parents and most little girls want to take care of a baby the way that they see their mothers taking care of them. But as she got older, the joy of receiving these well-intended gifts was beginning to fade. Eventually she did mention that all she ever gets are baby dolls and she is tired of playing that.

Still, one cannot resist giving this particular child dolls. Since all four of my daughters seemed to prefer rag dolls over plastic, I decided to create some simple older age dolls to expand the imagination and my husband and wife series was born. From watching her parents interact and take care of home business, going to work, shopping, cooking, taking care of pets, and discussing "What are we going to do about "Johnny?" she was able to extract hours of new imagination to work from and this has developed into very practical thinking for her; a primary focus of Grandma's Girl.

Because of my interest in all types of people and cultures, I moved toward giving my doll pairs places in the world, designing my own costumes from traditional clothing worn in such places as Vietnam, Austria, Spain, and so forth. But I am a secretary at heart, thoroughly enjoying being given instructions and carrying them out, and have dedicated most of my recent work to orders placed by commissioners who have their own ideas about their dolls and who they should look like. These "Portrait Dolls" have very simple features and while I do not try to copy the exact facial details of a person, I do try to capture the essense of the person. I do this by encouraging the commissioner to tell me their favorite qualities about the person, or themselves, details on occupations or hobbies, by using photographs, and offering plenty of fabric options for clothing. This is particularly important with the passage of laws like the CPSIA, where parents can choose exactly what they want their child to be in contact with, the sorts of fabrics they know are best for them, and the types of closures they know they can handle. The dolls are made to be played with, sturdily constructed, and hand washable.

My personal desire to please people and to share in their delight with their own living dolls, my secretarial nature, and the love of needlework and sewing which has been passed down to me from my beloved mother and her mothers have worked together to serve well the creation of "Portrait Rag Dolls."

I am deeply honored to be a part of this growing team of Etsy Custom Creators who are pleased to create a personal experience for every individual.