Life Lessons

     This is hanging in one of the classrooms I work in. I feel that it is a very important life lesson and can, and should, be applied to almost everything. I have been meaning to take a picture of it for a long time and I finally remembered. And now I will talk about doll making. 

     For a long time doll making was difficult. The first doll I made took me 4 (long) days of work to finish. This was after having about 25 years of sewing experience. These days dolls are usually easy. But before they were easy, they were hard. Very hard. 

     Dolls go through ugly phases, just like any other bit of art. The ugly phase of dolls is long and can be incredibly frustrating. But if I don't give up on them they usually come together. Sometimes it's very hard. It has become easier over time. It has also become easier, over time, to "see" how they will end up. Which makes the ugly stage easier to work through,

     It is entirely possible for me to make a doll, start to finish, with no mistakes. I do it all the time. It is possible to make a new pattern, and have everything come together perfectly, from start to finish. But I don't learn anything that way. When I order a supply (of any kind) hoping it will work for doll making, sometimes it won't. And I have learned what won't work. I have tried techniques that won't come together, no matter how hard I try. I have experimented over and over. Plenty of mistakes have been made along the way. And I have learned a lot. Now I can hear (read) what someone wants for an unusual doll and I can think about the steps in my head. I can plan it out in my head, which comes from all the lessons I learned from all the mistakes I have made. 

     What is the point of this? The same point I always am trying to make. If you want to learn to do a thing well, anything, you need to practice. You need to try it, and you need to screw up. You really will learn to be better at whatever it is you are trying to learn, if you make those mistakes. And then keep on going and try it again.

    The Field of Dolls Online Fall show is open and accepting entries. You have 2 more weeks to enter and get your entries uploaded. The show is being held on OMHPS so please make sure you are signed up with them before you enter. You can use the site for free, but you will be limited on how much you are allowed to show in each show. I don't have any entry limits so premium members can show as many entries in each class (all different horses, one entry per horse per class) as they want. The entry form is here. 

     I also have been getting interest in the new miniatures club. Thank you so much! To make things easier for myself I am going to be shipping miniatures in January, April, July, and October. Other than International members, those will ship once a year because shipping costs are outrageous. So even though people joining right now have not been in the club for 3 months yet, I will be shipping the first miniatures to you in October. The sign up for that is on my ko-fi page, which can be found here.