2018 Doll Year in Review

    Here we are at the end of 2018. I am still bad at blogging. I think this is only the 4th post of the year, the last was in July. I could say my New Year's resolution is to update the blog more often but I would like to be realistic. Anyway, it's now time for the doll year in review. With some other stuff thrown in because why not.

The first doll of 2019 was this conquistador. He was an interesting challenge and was also the reason I learned how to make doll armor! So now I can make pretty much any type of doll. Some just take a bit more thinking about.

In total I have made just over 1200 dolls (1203 all together I believe.) I didn't know I was getting that close to a milestone so #1200 is a judge doll. The last doll of 2018 was this rainbow design western pleasure doll. She was stuck in my head and had to come out. I am happy that she came out almost just how I pictured her.

 

 In February I participated in NaMoPaiMo for the first time. I am not really a painter so I did not have high hopes for the outcome of my model.

 Still, my spotty mule is not bad. He is not great, but he is not bad. I am planning on entering NaMoPaiMo again this year. If nothing else it's a lot of fun painting "with" so many people!

 I even painted my hair in February. I have missed the pink. Also, looking at myself now, and how far the pink has grown out, reminds me how fast my hair grows.

This was the year Travis proved he can make absolutely anything look good. Even the little roll-up sunglasses they give you at the eye doctor. Elecktra and I actually had the appointment but Travis wanted the sunglasses too.

 Travis also did great things with the Unified Track Team. (game face)

and was definitely part of the team.

 In total I made just 20 Western Pleasure dolls. There were times when I felt like all I made was Western pleasure dolls. I guess I imagined that.

I did some chaps and chinks with stamped yokes. I did work the end of last year on learning how to tool, but I am not great at it in people-scale. Doll scale remains something that is beyond me. Maybe I can find time to do more practice.

I made 22 "other" dolls (they don't fit in my typical categories)

Pokemon themed jumper

Portuguese Rider

Era side saddle rider from Poldark

Bride

Marie Antoinette (with removable head)

 I only made 5 cowboys, some of them were bendy

I made 31 English dolls of different varieties. 9 casual English dolls

11 hunt seat dolls

 6 dressage dolls

and also 5 youth hunt seat dolls. 

 

 I also made 5 western youth dolls, 9 casual western rider dolls, and just one showmanship doll. In all I made 93 dolls in 2018. Not bad for a year when a lot was going on.

I sculpted these hugging bunnies for a good friend of mine. They were based on a cartoon another friend of ours posted on Facebook. I think they are cute.

 

 My husband started a T-shirt and sticker business. I got some fun stuff from him and tried to help with promotions.

 

 I got to hang out with Morgen again at TRXC. I am sure I have some "better" pics of us but this one amuses me.

 

Morgen was judging performance and while she liked my vaulting set-up, which was also new for this year, she did recommend a tweak which I am happy to say looks great!

  

The neatened up pad makes the entire entry look more polished. This also proves that often, if the judge gives you advice, following it can pay off!

 

 Later in October Travis and I went to the Best Buddies dance. He is such an awesome pirate!

 I went to some horse shows

 Did fairly well showing between 1-3 horses at each for a super low-stress experience.

 In the end I have also managed to lose 37 pounds this year. Hoping to lose a bit more next year. I am actually very happy with how 2018 turned out. I had some really fun times with shows, the track team, random silliness and good friends. We had 6 full weekend tag sales to downsize after the purging of the house we did in July. We still have some more stuff to get rid of and will likely find more as time goes on. Maybe Spring will bring some more tag sales. Who knows. Not all of this year was perfect, no year is, but it was pretty great. Next year is bringing some big milestones. I'm turning 40 in March. Ethan and I will have been together 20 years in April. Elecktra turns 21 in May. Travis will graduate high school in June. In September Ethan and I will also have been married for 10 years. Hopefully I can get lots of dolls made and some new projects I have in the works will turn out well. Here's to hoping for an awesome 2019!

Breyerfest Weekend (not much about Breyerfest)

I haven't posted since February. I have partially the same excuse as last time, I am bad at keeping up with the blog. I also have some other excuses. Besides regular school stuff I am also a paraprofessional for the Unified Track Team. Specifically for Travis. It's awesome getting to work with him and this season was excellent! He qualified for the division sectionals AND the state finals! The season starts at the end of March and goes through June. So very busy all day and all afternoon and sometimes into the evening.  That doesn't leave much time for dolls or the blog. But this kid is awesome and worth it! 

 Not only was there a track season but the end of the school year is crazy. I have no idea why other than maybe everyone is tired and ready for a break. But the end of the year is sheer madness. Still, I did work on dolls before school and during my free period. I got a decent amount done that way. 

Once Summer break started I think I was nearly comatose for a couple of days and then I had a burst of energy. Crazy energy. I got SO much done! I was doing huge cleaning and organizing projects in my house, I got TONS of dolls done. I am starting to slack every several days or so now, but I still seem to have an amazing amount of energy for getting things done. I am in an all out house purge and it's wonderful! Everyone should go through everything they own once in awhile. You'd be amazed at what you are holding onto. 

So with all these dolls I have been making what have I done with them? I have been listing them on MH$P in batches! I have gotten some really fun fabrics from a recent miniatures fair that has made it's way into many new dolls. I got a bunch of miniature feathers that inspired me to make a fabulous hat! Seriously, I make driving dolls so I can make cool hats. So I have been busy but it's good busy. Elecktra turned 20 in May and Travis turned 18 in June. I don't know how those babies turned into grown people, but it happened. 

Currently I am working on a handful of doll orders and then I will get back to making random dolls. I will likely list some of them for sale now and some of them will get put away until TRXC in October. I do like to have a variety of things for sale then. Breyerfest is going on right now and I am excited that a friend picked up a couple of models I wanted for me. One of these years I will go to Breyerfest. For now though I will go and jump into another sorting project and then get back to doll making. I'll leave with some pics of the dolls I have made since May. Enjoy and happy showing! 

updates and NaMoPaiMo 2018

    Anyone who follows my blog knows that for me to not post for months at a time is not an uncommon occurrence. I am, in fact, really bad at keeping up with my blog. I don't always have anything I feel is interesting to talk about or I don't have photos (and the blog posts NEED photos!) or I just forget. So I guess it's time for some updating.
    A little over a year ago I went from being a full-time doll maker to a full-time paraprofessional and a part-time doll maker. For anyone who doesn't know what a para is/does, I am student support and help kids with special needs. Sometimes all I need to do is go around the room and make sure everyone is actually working. Sometimes I have to sit and help one particular kid with every step of the work. Sometimes I have to break things down so the work is easier to accomplish. Most days I love my job. The beginning of this school year was interesting as my co-teacher was on maternity leave and through a series of unfortunate events I ended up being the substitute until she came back. It was odd but interesting. And some important things I learned while teaching. 1. Teachers really don't get paid enough for what is asked of them. 2. Planning periods are not even close to being long enough. There were other things too but these were some really important points. 

Selfie during Spirit Week. I'm a scientist, since I teach science.

I have been taking doll making much slower these days but it has been wonderful. I don't end up working all day and into the late evening. I have been spending more time with my family, which is always a good thing, and I am less stressed about dolls which means enjoy making them more. But really, who wouldn't want to hang out with these kids?

Travis making tacos

Me and Elecktra

So life in the past year has been very different for me. But in a really excellent way. Still making dolls, just at a slower pace. So if you are looking for dolls from me, make sure not to order last minute. It's a lot less likely they will get done on time.
      So now on to NaMoPaiMo! Jennifer Buxton started the National Model Painting Month last year. It was modeled after the National Writing Month and was meant as a way for people to "get together" and paint a model horse. Sharing tips and encouragement was the point. People started sending prizes, though the prizes were sort of an afterthought and an added bonus. Not everyone who finishes their model will get a prize, there are not enough for that. But finishing can put you in the running for a prize. 
     I personally think the best prize is the positivity of the group, the tips, the tutorials, the encouragement. And it's a great way to break up a long winter. Winter is my least favorite season. I live in New England so it's awful. We get cold, ice, snow, weather mood-swings.  Ethan and I are planning on moving down south as soon as we can. I look forward to being warm. Anyway, as I was saying, NaMoPaiMo has been a great experience. Last year I didn't even finish prepping my model. Life happened and I slacked off and it just didn't happen. This year not only did I finish the prepping but I also finished my official entry AND a bonus horse! I was really proud of myself and glad to be of help with prepping questions. I am not a good painter, but I can prep in my sleep!
    So here are some photos of my NaMoPaiMo journey. Enjoy! 

Me and my nude mule, ready for February 1st!

The face looked the hardest, so that is where I started.

Some spots on the neck and should of one side.

getting closer...

closer still...

I did it! This is Monet. She is the 4th or 5th horse I have ever painted to completion.

Since that was way too much fun I decided to paint this guy too.

Honestly, he's so tiny he only took about an hour.

He has no name and he is not going to be a show horse (mule) but I think he's cute!

NaMoPaiMo has been so much fun I decided to "paint" my hair again too! Paint all the things!

NaMoPaiMo 2018 has been an amazing experience. Jennifer has put together one of the best hobby experiences for so many people. She's worked tirelessly to bring the hobby community together in a fun and educational way. Even people that are not participating in the painting are having fun watching the progress of others.
    I learned a lot and I really enjoyed having the feedback from so many people that helped me to keep pushing myself to take out the paints and do something. I love doll making and I love teaching and being a Mom but it's been really great to work on something that is still fairly new to me. Hopefully I can find some interesting horses to start prepping so I can be ready for NaMoPaiMo 2019! It's an incredibly experience painting with 600+ friends! I wonder how many entrants we will get next year.

2018 First blog and 2017 year in review

Western pleasure doll. January 2017

2017 was a very unusual year for me. I only managed one blog post so I'm sure not many people really know what was happening with me. First off, in March I got hired on full time as a paraprofessional at the high school in town. I had been subbing as a para, mostly in the same class, since October of 2016. Being a substitute was very stressful for me. Walking into a new situation several times a day was not my idea of a good time. It's also really hard to help the students if you don't know the classroom routines or any of the kids. Full time was great, though I was still new at the job and somewhat unsure of myself. I have teenagers, but dealing with other people's teenagers was a bit foreign to me. Plus I had to learn on the job, there is no training for paras.
    We had school battles throughout the summer to try to get a reasonable placement for our son. With that and taking it easy from the stress of the end of the school year, I was not really in a dolling mood. In general I was a bit tired and burnt out, and I did make some dolls over the summer, but at a much more relaxed pace. It was really nice actually.

Western pleasure doll. January 2017

   The start of this school year was wild. I knew my co-teacher was going to be out the first few months on maternity leave so we were going to have a long-term substitute. That ended up being a huge disaster which ended in her being let go and the school asking me if I would cover the classes for the next 7 weeks. It was somewhat terrifying but I said I would do it so there could be at least some normalcy for the kids. In the 7 weeks I was a teacher I learned some really important lessons; 1. planning periods are not remotely long enough. 2. Teachers really don't get paid enough for all the work they end up doing at home and all of the money they dish out of their own pockets to get things for their classes. 3. I am actually a pretty good teacher. At least when I don't have to do the extra stuff like go to staff meetings or talk to parents.
    So from the beginning of October to right before Thanksgiving I was teaching full time. I had almost no time or energy for making dolls, which came at sort of a bad time since I like to get as many dolls as I can made before the TRXC weekend. I didn't have tons of dolls this year, but I had a bit of a variety, some saddle pads, horse boots and other odds and ends. So, let's have the year end review!  This year I made:

Teeny tiny dolls made in August 2017

14 western pleasure dolls
11 hunt seat dolls
9 casual western/working western dolls
4 cowboys
4 specialty dolls
3 casual English/cross country dolls

3 showmanship dolls
3 non-hunt seat youth dolls
2 hunt seat youth dolls
2 dressage dolls 
2 driving dolls; 1 male and 1 female.
For a grand total of 57 finished dolls. 

Driving entry SNEWRU March 2017

Latte's SNEWRU winnings

Latte's winnings at QVPO

Not as prolific a year as in several past years. But I did manage to get a good amount of dolling time in considering how much else was vying for my time and attention. So, let's have some highlights from the year! There was the debut of my doctor's buggy in March, which I was challenged to show. The driver is the one male driving doll I made this year. I was going to retire Caramel Latte, but after I accepted the challenge to show the harness entry my showing focus changed for the year. Caramel Latte was now my main show horse for 2017. She did very well at the Southern New England Winter Round-up in March. This show is hosted by Brenda Bednar and is a wonderful show with both performance and halter classes. Though I don't bother with halter classes. 
In April I attended Quabbin Valley Performance Open, which is hosted by Joan Fauteux. Joan has been hosting this fantastic all performance show for years. I again showed Caramel Latte in as many classes as I could reasonably show her in. 

Mocha Latte at Baystate Live

 In August I attended Baystate Models Live. Baystate was originally my show about 100 years ago and it was an all halter show. Maria Firstenburg took the show over when I didn't have time to host anymore and gave the show a huge overhaul. It became a huge 2 day show with an extensive division list and now included performance! I have tried to make it every year to support the show. This time around I showed Caramel Latte and Mocha Latte. Mocha Latte ended up with overall reserve champion. You can still see Caramel Latte peaking into the photo. 

Doll #1100

In October I made my 1100th doll.  The occasion went unmarked since I didn't even notice until probably a month later when I was putting photos in my doll book. #1100 turned out to be an upper level dressage doll, so not even anything particularly fancy. This doll used a new pattern designed by my good friend Joan Yount. It has beautiful lapels that still look very realistic and lay flat with much less bulk than past dolls. Perhaps I will be paying more attention when doll #1200 gets made. Though at my current rate of dolling that won't happen until sometime in 2019. We'll see how things go.

Casual western ladies

TRXC sales dolls

TRXC sales dolls

TRXC sales dolls

TRXC dolls and winnings

Throughout August, September and October I worked on dolls for my big TRXC weekend sale. The show was held at the UMass hotel in Amherst, which is only about 35 minutes from my house. I was thrilled to have the show so close to home. It also allowed that my good friend Crystal could come and see the madness that is me showing in performance. She and I have been friends since way before I found the hobby and she hasn't had a chance to see a show before TRXC. That was a treat for me! Also she stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a few of us (both days!) which is always welcome. 

Larry and I and Dunkin coffee

   2017 was sort of a wild ride from start to finish but it was a pretty good year all around. I made some dolls, got a full year in a new job that I love, did some horse showing and had a pretty good time. We did end up with a great placement for our son. I am now much more comfortable in my job and figured out if I just treat the teenagers I work with like my own kids (tease them when they need it, listen when they need to talk, be a bit crazy, etc). I had an excellent showing year and while I also probably had more stress than I have had in awhile, there were mostly good things. Here's to hoping 2018 is another excellent year!