I've been thinking about the reality of maintaining so many crafts. I've been much more involved in knitting. I want to design my own dolls sweaters and dye my own yarn. The yarn dyeing is a long term thing, because it will cost so much to get started. Right now I want a totally frivolous Crazy Monkey combination hand powered swift and skein winder with a counter! That's like $700. I don't see that happening, lol.
But I thought I could sacrifice lace to get in more knitting and more sewing. It turns out I can't. I still love it, and I just bought a new pillow for the next project. Once I realized how I felt about selling the pillow, (in short, NO), I knew it wasn't gone for me. I may only spend 10 hours a week on it, instead of the 30 I was trying for, but that's still lace finished. I have two pieces ready to sew into outfits still that I haven't used yet.
I've had various money making schemes brewing in my head. One is to put together kits for my outfits, with hand dyed fabric and yarn and original patterns. Hopefully by the end of the year I can try it out. I wonder if I want to give out my patterns, though. Plus, many of my ideas are inspired from other artists, so I wouldn't be able to sell those. I don't know. I just know that I want control over my yarn colors just like I have with my fabric. I want the freedom to create my own knitted things. I want total control over the look of my work.
So today. I'm working on the third and final outfit for my doll exchange--three outfits for an expensive doll. Then I'll be able to actually sells things again. I think the lack of profit motive may have made me slower. I'm hoping I can move faster after this. I'm waiting on a new thread for knitting socks and a new color to knit the sweater. Plus I need to make shoes and a headband.
In the meantime, my big project is to make underwear for all nine of my dolls! I'm doing the six big ones first. I'm either going to gather ruffles or make lace today. It's a gorgeous, cool but not cold, day.
All this blog was inspired by Ravelry, that yarn black hole of time absorption. They let you link to your blog, and I thought how cool is that! So here we are! A blog post!
Hugs and kisses,
Simon
Wow....Simon you are so talented in so many ways:) The dress is stunning...her petticoat OMG...and her shoes adorable. So much work in one dress....wow again:)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your blogging again because I really don't like Facebook:( I don't know maybe it's the generation gap...me being older...but I find it so plastic and impersonal. Blah!
Facebook is kinda shallow. You can't post real stuff. I used to post to Love Journal, and you could really express yourself. But I guess it was technically a blog.
DeleteThank you very much for your kind words. This outfit took about three months to finish, but I'm very happy with it.
Hey! I didn't know you were back! Welcome back! I share Mary's feelings about Facebook. I keep one open to stay in contact with other doll makers and crafters, like you. Otherwise, I'm really not sure what it;s for.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the photos of the outfit completed. The shoes are very sweet. The undies are clever, keeping up that heavy skirt. You put in so much work, it's wonderfully ornate and so pretty!
As for selling patterns, if your work is inspired by others, but it's your own draughting and design, then it should be fine to sell. Fashion and art always have their inspiration from somewhere; it's what you do with it that makes it yours. And you do fabulous things, Simon!