My half doll obsession is continuing but I haven't been able to get past the proportions this doll ended up with. You'll recognize her from an earlier post where I mentioned having put her on a wooden form that I ordered when I bought the doll. It made her much, much too tall. I put her in the back row of my group of half dolls but she still stood there looking like Lurch in a silk dress and glaring at me for having done that to her. So, long story short, I took her apart and made her petite! What do you think?
I used a pattern for her pin cushion skirt based on an antique drawing. I streamlined it and, with her permission, I combined it with techniques from Shirley Bligh's pattern. Please click here for the patterns. I have worked out five sizes and it should be easy for you to enlarge the pieces or make other "in between" sizes if you need them.
Following are two more half dolls that I've added to my collection. Many of the dolls have beautiful, and sometimes elaborate, bonnets. The one on the left is an antique. Her bonnet consists of three colors and she also has a snood. This totally covers her hair in the back.
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The half doll on the right was made by doll artist Hendrika Smith of Australia and was cast from a mold made from an antique. The original probably only had a bonnet with feathers but Henny added the roses and gold high lights. I hate to really call some of these beautiful dolls reproductions as they are more than that. They would be so much easier for the doll artist to do if they were, as the painting on an antique is usually more simple. As you can see from the photo, the newer ones are more elaborately done with added flowers, decals, real gold, and vibrant paint. These newer dolls also take more firings than the antiques did in order to get the desired finish. I love the antiques for their simplicity and the new ones for their tasteful glitz...does that make sense??
