I had some fun making standers for my bead head dolls from dowels and pieces of driftwood.

With a felt cover embellished with paper beads.

The day and evening's progress....

.....I should have my White Maiden bead head doll ready by Saturday . It's going to be a few days of take out too, I'm suspecting. At the moment she looks something like a mummy, but that will change (I hope!). More...er..shape to her body than the elderly Granny. Same 16 guage wire armature; this time I used a clamp to help hold the wire while I twisted and that saved a lot of ache in my hands. Polyfil batting and washed unbleached muslin. In Australia we call this unbleached calico. Note the hands already prepared. I made a quick jig out of toothpicks and some styrofoam packaging material. Not the most sturdy jig, but it got the job done. The beads around her face are a reclaimed wooden necklace. (Well the background is in focus, but you get the idea.) This is roughly where we are headed with her: Back to work...or I should say back to super Fun!! More later.

Well, other than her stander. I'm so very pleased with her. We will be taking some pro quality photos of her with her stander in the next few days.

I have added the obi made from some asian print quilting fabric and some found fabric, and put on some hanging charms. Her hair is made from combined yarns. Her headress is of cottons and ribbon. Her necklace includes a piece of turquoise. All that is left now are her accessories and more painting on her hands.

I just keep wanting to stare at her. Her outer robe is now done - as far as I can tell without seeing the obi on her. I made her chemise from white poplin, tea dyed and aged at the hem with some painted "mud" stains. The more I looked at her bead hands, which I intended to paint, the less I liked them. So I made some tape covered wire hands. After a couple of tries, which included cutting away the big old paper bead, I got some hands I can live with. I still have more detailing to do on them, and I like that they are poseable. Still to be done - obi, hair and headdress, narrative book.