Side Saddle

     The very last ordered doll I made when I closed my books was this side saddle doll. Definitely a nice doll to finish the custom orders on. She was made to look somewhat like a painting, to match an idea the customer had, and she was fun to make. 

      One of the struggles of making a side saddle doll is getting the skirt (or apron) to drape well. Fabrics just don't drape as well in miniature, which is a fact of doll making life. 

     I found a fabric (that I of course forgot what it is because I shop by feel) that drapes really nicely. I was not sure I could make it work for a doll because not every fabric will work well for a doll. That is also the nature of making custom dolls. 

    This stuff I found, which might be crepe, it might be something else, actually drapes incredibly well. I don't know that I would want to work with this fabric all the time, or for very small pieces, but it did work out well, even for the jacket. I think I also made the hat with the same stuff. That was a delicate process.

      This order had the unusual request of needing the dolls thighs to be incredibly small. The side saddle wasn't really made to fit a doll, so the pommels were somewhat small. I dremeled off most of the thighs (look how modern she looks with that insane thigh gap!) so she would, hopefully, fit the saddle.  

        In the end, the doll came together well, she fits the saddle, and she looks pretty nice. The skirt is definitely drapeable (which I have decided is a word) and she does resemble the painting. The veil on her hat is also removable, for a bit more versatility in her use.  

     I am still very much enjoying not taking custom orders, though I definitely had some fun and interesting ones when my books were still open. I am still making dolls, I think I have listed at least one every week, and I just got in a huge order of dolls, plus I went through my doll body drawer, and I have A LOT to work with. So there will be dolls and dolls and dolls in the future. For a while at least they will just be what I want to make. 

     I have been rethinking my live sale. I was originally planning it for the end of this month, but I should know better. With as blah as I get in the winter, as hard as the weather is for any sort of outdoor photos (which come out the best), and with just everything else, I don't really have enough time to finish getting ready. So maybe the end of April. I still have traditional scale models to dig out and photograph, tack, props, 1:9 scale dollhouse stuff. So yeah, it will be a bit before I am ready for the live sale. I still have micros and minis listed in different posts. And there are some new dolls (I will likely also have some from my personal collection) that are in posts. One of these days I will gather all the links into a single post. Today is not that day.