About Me

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IMAGINATION IS THE EYE OF THE SOUL Joseph Joubert. I am a mother of four...I still remember the smile that refused to go away for weeks after our daughters birth. To have a little girl appear after three sons seemed such a miracle. I have always enjoyed My Doll World, sharing it with Lara when she was little. Today I design knitted outfits for miniature dolls and enjoy every minute of it. The fact that the outfits are removable is what makes it so special for me. Using ever finer threads has opened so many MINIATURE DESIGN opportunities.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Miniature Knitting Patterns Belly Button Baby

All I can say is I have been really busy knitting this last month.  Concentrating on unfinished items.

The older I get the quicker time seems to pass, one day running into the next.
Sometimes I have to really think about what day of the week it is.

I had designed an outfit a couple of months ago but did not manage to finish it.
 Here it is at last, I have to knit it in both threads so as to make the necessary adjustments,
 this is always in length and Yoke of the outfit.


KATHARINA

Miniature Knitting Pattern Katharina for Belly Button Baby


This new design I have called Katharina I thought it rather a beautiful name.


Miniature Knitting Pattern Katharina for Sean



The pattern has instructions for both dolls knitted in different thread.

This time I have included a 
Cape, Dress, Long Jacket, Shawl, Bonnet,  Booties and Diaper

When my friend Dianne Smith who test knits for me saw the design, she commented 
"It looks so Victorian" and I agree with her.

The pattern is ready in English and has a little left to do in the Dutch translation.

As per usual I charge 7.50 Euros per pattern and accept PayPal

Monday, May 7, 2012

1:12th Scale Miniatures

I was asked to give a talk on Miniature Knitting at the Cape Town Lace makers Guild.
This I did on Saturday afternoon and was amazed at the lace that the ladies produce.

I have finished the second Afghan design....so everything that required my immediate attention was done and dusted....

So I spent the day trying out my new punches that I bought from Hanky Panky in America, only to find I had two ivy leaf punches in the same size,  not to worry I am sure it can be sorted out.

I have a vase of parrot tulips in my home, made of silk. I NEVER thought I would EVER have silk flowers in my home, never say never. When I first saw the vase I thought they were real, they looked so bright and happy somehow.


At miniature guild we have made flowers but we are given a kit, I wanted to start from scratch and these cheerful flowers was a good place to start.

Not having all the necessary groceries was not going to stop me so I improvised a little and learned a lot in the process.

Provo Craft punches the scissor type are not so good they unfortunately don't give a clean cut, I tried sharpening it by punching out in tinfoil, not at all sure if it helped.

I had bought various papers as they seemed fine enough to make flowers. I had been told that airletter paper was a good place to start, so with that texture in mind had chosen various papers with no particular flower in mind.

I choose a see through paper quiet stiff for the leaves and coloured that with the pastel pencils as well. Not having a punch for the leaves I hand cut them instead. The colour is a bit light but I will continue making these cheerful flowers till I perfect to a degree.

I did not put the stamens in the tulips that will have to be given some considered thought, maybe fimo or air dry clay would work for that.

My friend Erika had given me some papers and the one felt exactly as the coral piece I had. I put ordinary printer paper in the punch at the same time as the finer paper and that did help somewhat, but there is a little nick right at the top of the punch.


I believe we should come up with our own Latin names
 for our miniature flower tryouts!

I choose to colour each petal individually as I wanted only the tips of the petals to be a little lighter, takes a while but very therapeutic, I have not made a container as yet but thought a jug in a copper or brass finish should look good. Going to try making one out of cardboard that everyone has been doing. How to get the finish is anybody's guess at this point.....Mrs Google here I come!

In the meantime they are planted in a temporary container......




Did you know that real tulips continue growing in a vase of water...
At least 3 inches.

Most of the flowers have 6 petals, then some have 7 or even 8 petals.
All this flower making was jolly good fun!!!

I would like to try the cardboard jug today but have to do homework first in that I'm
off to read "iPhone the missing manual" by David Pogue 

Reading the first 18 pages had me going Ooohing and Awhing....(Spelling???)
I now realize I have bought a space ship by comparison to the little Nokia I have been using all these years!

Enjoy
Sharon




Friday, May 4, 2012

1:12th Scale Miniatures

Thought I would share with you one of my most favorite miniatures.

A pram by the Roberson's.

I so wish I had kept a little black book of all the treasures I had bought over the years...

Stating -  Date - Price - Maker it sure would be a lot of fun to look at it today.

More and more collectors are concentrating on quality and not quantity, these will be the miniatures that survive into the future.....

All I do remember about this pram is that it is more than 15 years ago that I bought it,  at the time it cost me 69 Euro's and I had to save up for it. I have since bought a second pram from the Ronbersons as this one was almost identical to the pram one I had for my first baby, and this time it cost 180 Euro's

The real life carriage pram was second hand it was in perfect condition, taking Shane for a walk on our dirt roads was anything but peaceful, the poor little might was bumped around so much I had to only walk in the garden....but seeing it parked on the verandah with a little hand waving about under the net was so beautiful.

The joke was the pram would not even fit into our motor car.....



I had also bought the hat bag and parasol from a fair in Johannesburg..... once again I do not know who even made them. Then years later I got my friend to make a doll so I could display the pram and doll together ...

The quality of the ostrich feathers are an absolute delight, now I know one can curl feathers using your scissors, similar to curling ribbon when wanting to decorate a gift but the quality is not there. Have to make some inroad into sourcing those as well.

Enjoy
Sharon