Poppet

I made this poppet on Sunday, out of sculpy and Spanish moss, just for fun. She is only 3-4 inches tall, but her little arms and legs move, and her dress has stripes/apron....I haven't made a poppet in forever! She is all nested in the hanging stuff on one of the windows in the studio, surrounded by sea whips, dried okra pods, cotton bolls and other such stuff. I love tangley clusters of things`

As a little girl, I loved my dolls. Big Jenny, who had strange grey hair and could (kinda) walk, the baby with the soft body, raggedy Ann/Ollie, my Barbies, Dawns and Jane West, the 'little people' of the metal doll house. Mum would let me tip the rocking chair in the living room over to make a house boat thing ( it was like a cave and had a spinner on the bottom like a ships wheel) and I would dress up in this white communion dress with my strawberry apron, a blond curly wig and a hat, play house for hours. With the smaller dolls- like the Barbies- I was much more into making stuff for them than the doll itself- Mum and I made a huge house out of a giant cardboard box, furnished it with funky furniture made of spray caps, margarine tubs... it had a shag rug and curtains and was quite hip. I *loved* that house.... I liked making clothing for them, but never did sew well, so it was always crooked and odd, but I had some excellent clothes made by the Rigos (my sister's friends, who were always A++ at home ec stuff) , left overs from Suzy and Barbie, some little things Mum made, and these beautiful hand crocheted things made by a friend of my Auntie Lou. I kept them all in a dark brown plaid cloth satchel- it had lots of little compartments- and I remember carefully packing it and playing with them in the back seat of the car on the long trips to California. I always was losing the shoes, 'piercing' their ears with straight pins (the kind with the round colored tops) and there were quite a few haircuts along the way.... When I was older I went through a major crafty stage of making endless Little-House-on the Prairie inspired clothespin dolls, with buttons for hair buns and dresses made out of hem binding. Tiny faces drawn on with flair pens.

Now I still work with dolls, embroidered fertility babies (that work!) the keepsafe baby I made for class, the Santas that I sold for so long... but I haven't made a little toy in a long time, and this was such fun! Some days, it's ok to play.