Life is a funny thing.

One minute I am floundering in a creative mire that has me wondering whether I will ever make another doll…
and the next I am working on several dolls at once, with commission enquiries coming thick and fast, wondering whether I will have time to get everything done!

I am very glad to be able to work again. Not working on dolls has felt not like a holiday, more like an enforced period of inactivity caused by something just not working properly. Like having one arm tied behind your back, or a leg in plaster.

My creativity ebbs and flows unpredictably. I have noticed that some of the people who were at their most industrious at the start of the pandemic have recently begun to complain of the same feelings of creative paralysis that hit me back in March. Our timings differ, but the cycle is the same. Who knows why some of us are galvanised into action, whilst others, like me, become paralysed into inaction. I certainly don’t.

I’m just glad that I am able to create again.

I’m currently working on some dolls for Sarah Campbell, using her new Atelier fabrics. They are inspired in part by the Bauhaus era of the 1920s and the work of artist and designer Sonia Delaunay.

Whilst I had heard of the Bauhaus (not just the band!) I had to admit my ignorance of the work of Delaunay. So I did a spot of research and found out what I had been missing…That’s Sonia, photographed in 1920. Now there’s a woman with style!

All the dolls I am making will have a 1920s/30s vintage feel to them, but they will not be flapper girls (who are nowadays seemingly almost the only depiction of 1920s style) because as you can see from the images above and below, Delaunay was fashionable without being a flapper; her designs were modern, artistic and to me at least, more interesting than flapperism.

And her work was no less stylish…Adding into the mix the geometric, “form as function” ethos of Bauhaus design isn’t the easiest thing to translate into dolls, but I’m having a good go!

Only one doll has been finished so far. I am quite pleased with her…There will be five more – including three Bauhaus boys. Boys are always a challenge…! I always find girls easier, for some reason.

Adding little details suggestive of the period, like these little 1920s-style Mary Jane shoes, is crucial…I am also working on another small batch of dolls, which I am going to put up for sale at summer solstice – June 20th. I’m not sure exactly where the inspiration for these dolls has come from…

There is a spring-cleaning theme to the first two, which I think originates from the increased level of housework required during lockdown. There’s nothing like three naturally untidy people sharing a house 24 hours a day to make you aware of the deficiencies in your domestic hygiene routines.

These dolls are a very different style from the ones I’m making for Sarah…I’m working on improving my sculpting of tiny faces in clay, using some new tiny tools I bought very cheaply on ebay.

The only tools I’ve had up to now – apart from my own fingers – were designed for children and made from clumsy plastic – not nearly small or precise enough to be of much use.

It makes so much difference to be able to manipulate clay with something more precise than children’s equipment – or just my sausage-fingers!I haven’t given up on my lockdown quilt, but work on it is currently stalled awaiting delivery of the wadding I need to quilt it. Everything takes so l-o-n-g to arrive at the moment.

Whether it will come in time for me to get the quilt finished to enter into the Festival of Quilts competition is looking pretty doubtful.

Ah well, that’s lockdown life for you. No popping into town, no mooching around charity shops or vintage fairs for supplies. But luckily, I have a cupboard full of fabrics (or perhaps more than one…) and, at the moment at least, enough inspiration to keep me busy.

My wish is for everyone else to be able to say they are as lucky. ♥