Please Meet Hogarth & Cruikshank

Such mischevious boys~ but the bestest of friends! Mamma has dressed them in their best coats for their first day at school.....'The Eisendorf's Seminary for Egg Painting'
They're quite excited! Hogarth is such a ham~ he's the one with brown spots & his arm around Cruikshank.
"See!!!" He exclaims....." Just look at my steady hands~ I'll be egg master before anyone elce!"
Aren't they sooo cute! They are both singing Beatrix Potter's 'Here comes Peter Cottontail' as they merilly go skipping off to school~ better not be late boys!

Hogarth will be on eBay later today~ hope you'll stop by and visit

Darling
This is Ladye Constance Cullpepper.....but I call her Darling. She is one of my 'Grande Dame' Queen Anne dolls, and is just under 2 FEET tall. All of my Grande Dames are larger, with reproduction wardrobes that are made just like real adult size pieces. Even ladye's Pompadour wig is removable. I offer special programs every now and then exclusively for my Grande Dames and their owners~ like Parties, & New Clothes!
Darling is hand sculpted mache, with inset antique brown glass eyes. She has a very high forehead, which, in the first half of the 18th century, was very sought after as a sign of royalty.

Everything, like on all my dollys, is hand stitched. Her saque back gown laces closed in the front over a brown silke stomacher. She wears knit stockings, linen shoes with leather soles, antique linen shift, mull tucker for modesty over her bosom, petticoat, pannier hoop, gown, and wig. She also has accessories like her silke Bergiere bonnet, antique lace lappet, and green silk velvet shawl.
Her dress is a reproduction cotton c1840...BUT~ at this scale it is a perfect representation of the marvelous large scale bizarre silkes of the early 1700s. She wears antique lace engagents under her 3 tier sleeve ruffles
Here is my Darling readying herself for tea in the morning....she has not yet put her wig on, so wears an antique lace lappet to cover her head
Grande Dames also come with their own cloth covered box, that matches (usually) their first dress. Above are some of Darlings pretties, on the lid of her dolly box(this is the inside)
We are off to the shoe maker again this morning....as her very nice brown linen latchetts are just tooo plain...........

I'm such a pushover..............
My girls definitely know how to handle me to get what they want~ here is Mifs Penelope Pringle Temper Tantrum~ess extraordinaire. She really does love her new hair, and so do I! You can see more of her in the 'Mantua Maker's Mercantile', link to the right, where she is available for sale......IF you can handle her that is!

A c1805 Child's Crimson Day Gown, Spencer & Bonnet
The Americans called it 'Federal', the French~ 'Empire', and the English~ 'Regency'.....whatever your nationality, these were the years from 1795~1825

I love this dress~ it's one of my favorites....but if you read my past posts, you'll find I have several favorites! Just take a moment to look at my precious Emma, and the gown that commands her. While your dreaming, add in the fact that when this gown was made, and worn, Thomas Jefferson was our third President, elected in 1800. In 1803, he would lay down a cool 15 million dollars to purchase Louisiana from France. We were coming out of the stuffy 'Georgian' period, and into a new century with many new found freedoms~ a large one very noticeable in the dress of the day. Jane Austen (1775~1817) would write her now famous novels~ Sense & Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Persuasion (1817), and Northanger Abbey(also 1817). My own Emma would befit a character in any one of Jane's 6 novels.
Dress was very controversial at the turn of the 19th century.....no more rigid whalebone stays....no more petticoats~ why~ if the wind blew in the right direction, you could see the 'full body' female silhouette..... nearly all of it! It was all quite risque! White was the 'in' color for fashion, the new Grecian form was very simple~ the waistline had risen to just up under the armpits & below the bust line. This dress is so very rare~ and especially in this fabulous crimson red color. Its made of super fine & sheer muslin, and is together with its original 'Spencer' jacket.
The Spencer is fully lined in linen, with red silk ties in the front. The arms are quite long~ in perfect fashion for the era~ they were worn slightly pushed up the arm, with the frill on the cuff worn down over the back of the hand. This would have been a summer dress. You cant tell from the pictures, but the gown is so fine, it can easily pass thru a ring the size of a .50 cent piece.

Emma wears a black plush velvet bonnet original to the era~ c1805-10. Inside the crown is remnant of a makers label~ only a very rich little girl would have ever worn this bonnet. Its stuffed with horsehair & wool batt in both the brim & crown, and is trimmed just in the front in a very simple & stylish row of velvet covered buttons & black braid.
Don't ya wish you knew what she is giggling about???
Classic style and simple form. Simply Beautiful

Red Hair....Tantrums..... & Country Bunnies!

Do they have anything in common? Well, probably not, except I have had my fill of all today! Remind me, please, never again to make a dolly with RED hair. My son Josh has red hair, and on occasion, we are 'graced' with his ever so red temper.......so I would say I'm a connoisseur of the red hair temper.....but NOT from one of my own dollys! Sometime last evening past, Mifs Penelope Pringle decided she no longer liked the hair we had both agreed upon. I told her that her hair was very becoming, and was special because it was a reproduction of a real antique Queen Anne's hair. This did not work. We both went to bed rather displeased with the other, and I had thought, that after she slept on it, she would see things my way when she awoke this AM. I was soooo wrong.

Can we say shrieking???? To begin~muttering words most unladylike under her breath....only to begin shouting and throwing things all about. She had all the lids off the boxes that I keep 'dressing' supplies in thrown all over the floor.....bits and flouffs of hair & silke ribbons were flying everywhere~ if she would have thrown herself on the floor and began to kick and scream I would not have been any more surprised. I cant believe what a spoiled girl she is! I have created a MONSTER! I wont go into the nasty details....but after seeing her head shaved BALD....she did get a new Pompadour do......and in no other color than~ RED!

The boy's ~ Hogarth & Cruikshank....they were so frightened they dare not come out of hiding! Hogarth just couldn't take it any longer, and had to cover his eyes! LOL

The beginning of the year means fundraising time for the Museum! Running a privately owned Museum is expensive~ I couldn't do it without much help & support! I have added a "DONATE" button on the sidebar to make it easy for you~ so if you enjoy visiting the BLOG & would like to help preserve pieces of our past for future generations to enjoy & study, I hope you will take a minute to show your support! You can also help us by making a purchase at the 'Mantua~Maker's Mercantile', Diamond K Folk Art on the TDIPT Mercantile, or by bidding on an eBay auction!

This years 5,000.00 fundraiser will directly support the following:

*New point & track lighting for the gallery

*UV light filters for new lighting

*4x20' overhang porch over Gallery Entryway

*10 child mannequins

*5 adult mannequins

*archival materials including acid free buffered tissue for storage

*acquisitions fund renewal

And.....as a THANKYOU to my patrons, Once our goal is reached, I will be holding a drawing for a FREE MACHE DOLLY!!! Want to enter??? Its EASY~ here are the particulars:

**Each Diamond K Folk Art purchase, or special order will earn ONE entry to the drawing.

** EACH 10.00 DONATION will earn ONE entry to the drawing.

** There is NO limit to the number of times a person can enter!

The winner for the Grande prize drawing will get to choose an existing dolly for their prize, or, request a custom dolly!

All purchases made from Jan. 1st 2008 are eligible, and HAVE been entered allready!

Don't be shy~ every little bit helps!!!

And So.........The Mischief Starts already................
It has been horribly cold here at the Olde Madrid Plaza in Southern Colorado....it was minus 22 below zero this morning~ so when I heard shouting and overall disagreement coming from the studio, I naturally assumed that the gas heater had turned off, and the girls were chilly. It was just last week I caught Mary Easty trying to abscond with Ladye Elizabeth's wrap.....She looks so innocent, yet I find there is definitely a little devil in her! Oh~ but I'm getting off onto the wrong road......back to this morning. As I entered the studio, I was SHOCKED to find several of the girls crowding around the doll house...6 BUTTS~ yes, all I could see were 6 colorful hinies bumping about~ and I'm thinking~ why on earth are the girls trying to all get in there??? They KNOW they wont fit! As I made my way thru, I found the reason for their discourse. Just LOOK at that MESS! Flour all over.....my brand new bag of chicken scratch opened and spilled onto the floor~ and my ice box nearly wiped clean out! When I saw that all the carrots we put up last fall had disappeared, I glanced over my shoulder and the "boys" were no where to be seen...........they re not even painted yet and already up to such mischief! I KNEW they were going to be a handful.....and this is why I don't make up "boys" that often.
All I had do, was follow they're little messy trail of tidbits from the dollhouse... I found them 'hiding' in amongst my pine garland........Boy's definitely will be boys! Little stinkers!!!