Four space explorers and their star ships. Ready to go.
My four little wool children are ready. Their beds are ready. Their bedding is ready. They are all wearing pjs. So they are ready. I was not ready.
You see, my husband started creating their four beds back in April. He finished them in July and sealed them. I was to make the rest and I did start working slowly on them, anticipating the fact that they would probably be some of the last beds he would make in a while, and some of the last dolls I would make in Canada in a while.
Time run away with us and this move to Mexico. So here we are, with four little dolls very excited to hear all about space and star travel, and four magnificent beds that will help foster their imagination in that regard. Are we ready like them? to move across the continent? No, not even close. But the time has come for us to say good-bye to them.
I’m gonna’ be honest with you, I found it extremely hard to concentrate working on them. For once, four chatty and bickering dolls at the same time is a bit much to handle. Second, our life started getting crazier and crazier…and totally crazier with each passing week. My normal dollmaking schedule, the one that allows me down time between decisions, rest for my wrists, regular clean-ups of the studio in between cutting sessions, was amiss. The woodworking shop was gone and nowhere to store these precious doll beds, but in the middle of it all. They can’t bump against each other, I was terrified of scratching them before they were even presented to you all. It was cookie.
People were coming in and out of our house to pick some of our sold furniture, the house getting emptier and emptier. Yet, I held on to the dolls. I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t working “harder” to finish them up? I mean, if you had seen the amount of stuff I had to do every day you would have cut me some slack…but I knew I could have worked a bit later, hand-sew or even knitted something for them. The truth is: I didn’t want to finish them.
I just realized this last night. So it is still a very fresh assessment on my part and I might be wrong. But I think I am right. I just didn’t want to finish them because that meant my last dolls in Canada were done. You might think this so silly of me, but the country that saw me evolve as a dollmaker will see me part very soon (although not forever of course). I didn’t want to close the chapter. I was so scared and terrified that finishing that last dolls meant I was closing the creative doors that opened to me when I moved here and started experiencing these urges to create.
Being a dollmaker is so ingrained now to who I am. I dream dolls. I think of them very often. Their stories come to me while I do dishes, sweep floors or walk the dog. I see hems and buttonholes in my daydreams, rocky beaches and meadows inspire my hands. I was so afraid that putting the last elastic on those pants, blushing those cheeks and fluffing that hair, might the last real thing I did with dolls. So silly. But it was true.
What if I lost it? What if I lost the passion, the gift that has been given to me? What if moving away from these forests meant I lost the connection to my inner doll world? I was so hesitant. So scared. Then last night I started dreaming dolls. Different dolls, many dolls. I could see them in the environment I would soon be in: the long and vast hay meadows, the fences, the weeping willows, the barns and old plazas, the thick adobe walls, my mother’s garden.
I dreamt so many dolls that I woke up with a new acceptance and realization: I will never lose my dolls because they live in my inner world. This world is not dependent of my environment, ie forests and lakes. I live in the world, on this Earth, and she will always provide for me. In the same way, this other world lives within me and I will always provide for it. Bits of fabric, tufts of wool. A needle. That’s what they need, and I need, to thrive.
As hard as it was for me to close the chapter with them, it is much harder for my husband. He had to sell all his woodworking tools that took him over three years to amass. He moves away from his country, with an open heart and dreams of re-starting his wood-ly adventures on the other end. Start again from the bottom up. So we are not quite sure when he will be back in operation making wooden toys. This is it for now.
So with that introduction I can tell you a little more about them now.
These four dolls are slimmer and smaller than my figlettes. They measure almost 16 inches tall and are of slim construction. They are much simpler with their traditional thread-sculpted faces, simple embroidered eyes and mouth and mohair yarn wigs. Their torsos are needle-felted, just because that’s how I feel they are best constructed.
They are all wearing summer pyjamas, and each one comes with a magnificent starship bed, created by my husband with a variety of hard and exotic woods. I can honestly say these beds are the most intricate and most beautiful things he has created so far in his woodworking career.
The bedding consists of a foam mattress with cotton/linen cover and a pillow made of same material, but stuffed firmly with wool. We want the children to have gentle wooly dreams. A cotton flannel blanket completes the set.
So I present you my last four made-in-canada dolls: Luna, Stella, Sunny and Moonie. Luna and Stella have cute head bands because they wanted a simple accessory and Sunny and Moony have sweet stellar badges sewn to their pjs.
This is Moonie:
Moonie is the eldest, and likes to believe he is the coolest by default. He is the one reading the others books, finding star charts and “teaching” them all about space. Just because he is the oldest child doesn’t mean he is rude or mean however, he is very kind and gentle with his little siblings.
Then this is Sunny:
Then we have his little brother Sunny. Who got that name not just by the shiny head of hair he has, but mostly by his disposition. Always chirpy, happy and willing to lend a hand. He is the one building space caves, using the sharp scissors for the mobiles and glueing it all together, especially for the little girls.
And here is little Stella:
Then we have little Stella. She is a bit melancholic and wishes with all her might she lived upon a star. She thinks star people are always bright and cheerful and keeps asking Sunny how he does it. Stella loves to hear stories about planet discoveries and new names for the stars. She loves any fairy tale that has to do with stars.
And here is Little Luna:
And the littlest of the bunch is my sweet Luna. She never gets into trouble as everybody always makes excuses for her, being the youngest. Luna loves thick construction paper, markers and paint. She loves to draw starry nights and has improved her Moons and Suns quite dramatically this year. Luna is a bit of a dreamer, but then again, all children are.
They are a rambunctious bunch, having pillow fights and enacting space battles every morning. They make forts with their blankets, but I’m told they are really caves in huge meteorites. They love to be put to sleep with stories of space travel and they know many of our star constellations. Star watching is one of their most favourite things and they soak up anything to do with space exploration. If you, or a loved one, has an akin inclination, I hope you can offer your home to one of these sweet little ones.
These four dolls and their bedding and beds are priced at $975 USD plus postage. Shipping to the US and Canada is $68 USD and taxes apply to Canadian residents. International customers will need a revised shipping quote as it varies quite greatly upon your place of residence. If you are interested in giving them a home, please enter your name and details in the form below, and choose the one you like the most. You can enter for as many as you want, but you will have to submit the form for each one though (please refresh the page so it loads again with a new form). I will keep the entries open until tomorrow August 30th at Noon EST (Toronto time) at which point I will close it and send Paypal invoices to those who entered for them and were chosen at random in the selection process. Paypal invoices will be issued then and are due upon receipt.
—THANK YOU TO THE KIND FAMILIES THAT TOOK THESE SPACE EXPLORERS INTO THEIR HOMES. I HOPE YOU ALL CHERISH THEM FOREVER AND THEY BRING MISCHIEF AND LOVE INTO YOUR LIFE.
If you are entering for one of them, thank you so much for your willingness to welcome our combined work into your home. We both wish you the best of luck.
In a few more days I won’t be here…I will be traveling to the place that saw me being born. I will be bringing my children, my husband and my dog. But I’m also bringing with me a much fuller heart than when I left, a very deep trust in the gentleness and strength of my hands, a strong belief in the power of creativity to heal broken hearts, and many friends made along the way.
Thank you for coming to read my journey through the pages of this blog. I will see you on the other end.
