Well, I hope I’m back. I intend to be back but I also intended to be thin and rich and those didn’t happen so who knows. Life has been less than ideal of late. My health has deteriorated dramatically, I’m constantly exhausted and in pain and frequently can’t remember words so please, bear with me. I’m doing my best.
I haven’t written much for months. I have 500 words of a story written to order for an anthology which should be available this year. I hope I have enough charge to do some work on that after this post. We’ll see.
I’ve had to give up many of my hobbies because of pain but I have found a new hobby I’m really enjoying: dollies! I have totally regressed and have started to collect, craft for, and photograph ball jointed dolls – BJDs. My first was Lillith, a recast Fairyland Littlefee Ante (the name of the sculpt/mold). She is insanely pretty and so easy to photograph and make things for. I’ve discovered a love of sewing tiny clothes to fit my dolls and sold my big Brother fancy sewing machine to buy a small basic machine from Hobbycraft. It’s perfectly adequate for what I need it for and it means I can use it more often as I can leave it out on my over-chair table and not have to humph it away each time I want to sew something. I sold my old iPad, a leather handbag, my 3DS game machine and several games to finance her. It was totally worth it.
Next addition to my collection was Ethel, a recast Island Doll Bru. Her full name is Don’t Look, Ethel (too late!) and I think you can see why. She is tiny but has a huge head so I had to buy a wig for her that was intended for a much bigger doll. Her hair is far too long and I am plucking up the courage to cut it a bit. She has a chubby wee body that doesn’t seem to fit any clothes I can buy for her so everything she wears has to be handmade by myself. So far she has a dress and a wee trouser suit. I’m still looking for shoes for her. I sold my collectible Charlie Bears to finance the purchase of Ethel.
At Christmas I got a beautiful Matte face factory Blythe doll, Bree. I adore her red curls and she is so easy to make clothes for. There are loads of pattern available, unlike for Ethel where I have to make it up as I go along. She is stunning but…I’m having trouble bonding with her and I’m not entirely certain why. I am considering selling her and using the funds to buy accessories for the others. We shall see.
Last, and by no means least, is Lettice, a recast Fairyland Pukifee Nanuri. I cannot tell you how much I love this wee girl. Her face is full of cheek and mischief. She has one bought outfit, a cute wee dungarees set, and I made her a summer dress, again with no pattern but it was easy enough. She is 15cm tall and insanely cute.
It’s my birthday in a few weeks and I think I’ll get another doll, this time a STO Happy, maybe with a brown bobbed wig. I’m torn between a Scottish name or another old lady name, probably starting with an L. Lena? Loretta? Leona? who knows.
Anyway, dolls are my new hobby, my new obsession. They make me smile when I look over at them and I usually keep at least one of them beside me all day. My depression has been the worst it’s been for over 20 years so anything that gives me genuine, innocent pleasure can’t be wrong.
I’ll be back with a non-doll post soon.
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