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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Old World Santa

I’ve been busy working on my Christmas sale dolls and ornaments. This is the first doll, a design by Deanna Hogan, her Old World Santa. He’s a nice size, just 15” approx.  A good size for one of the shops I keep some dolls in.

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Some details of what I used to make him include:

His hair is mohair locks that are needle felted to his head. Bet you didn’t know that Santa puts rollers in his hair and moustache, yes it’s true. I used some small bits of wire, wet the strands as I went along and just rolled it up and let it dry overnight. I was going to do it again, but a friends husband said he liked the hair, so I left it alone…

The outer coat is made from a faux ultra suede. I have a small stack of remnant pieces that I found in a second hand store. I guess someone started working on a jacket or coat and changed their mind. It’s lovely fabric and will work for lots of applications. The inside of the coat is a quilting cotton. The hood is linked with a Rosette patterned Minky. So soft, and I used the same Minky for the trim on his boots.

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His trousers are made from an upholstery fabric, the shirt is Dupioni silk. Once I had his shirt and trousers pulled on, I pushed a bit of stuffing inside the shirt, near the belt, just to puff him out a little. He was a little lean for Santa. I made the belt by cutting a strip of leather and used an old watch band buckle. His boots are made with a medium weight leather that has a bit of stretch. Enough to help with fitting them on him.

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I like to head to the dollar  store often, especially around holidays and seasonal changes. You can find some great doll supplies. The bag in this case is one of those. I took off the ribbon that pulled the bag closed and replaced it with a black cord, then stuffed the bag a little to plump it out.

To finish that, I glued on some little toys and trims. The walking stick is just a simple piece of a dried tree branch with a cabochon on top, a bit of chain wrapped around and a jingle bell on the end of the chain. At the bottom of the stick, is a simple ( I think it’s called) bead cap. A soft metal filigree cap, that I was able to press onto the base of the stick with a bit of glue and he’s done.

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5 comments:

  1. Romona, he is stunning! The details are amazing, fabulous work, someone is going to be very lucky to add him to their Santa collection! Deb

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  2. So awesome! Love all the details and your choice of materials.

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  3. Your Santa is looking fabulous! Our doll group has been doing clay, I must get back to soft doll sculpture.
    Your work is such an inspiration.

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