Cotton vs. Silk

I've been working on a new doll (you will get to see the first photos of her next week, most likely). She is a beaded BJD like Esmeralda, but with a couple of differences. One, I moved the ball joint in her torso down a bit, so that it is more centered in her waist. The other difference is the thread. Up to this point, I have been using organic cotton thread to make my dolls. I like it, but I decided to make this doll using ahimsa silk, for a few different reasons. The main reason is strength. I don't use beading threads, which are generally made of nylon or other plastics, even though they are very strong, because they are bad for the environment, and also for my health (I have chemical sensitivities, and when I tried using these materials I got really sick). So I like to stick to very natural materials, and, as far as that goes, silk is stronger than cotton. For my dolls, I chose an undyed, naturally processed, ahimsa silk. Here is a photo of it, next to the undyed organic cotton I normally use:

I love the feel of it when I'm working! I also like the slight sheen it has, very soft and subtle, kind of pearly. It's very luxurious and pretty. It doesn't knot as frequently as the cotton, and when it does get a knot, it seems easier to undo it. It is definitely stronger too - not once did my thread break, and it didn't fray as much at the part that goes through the eye of the needle either. 

On the other hand, although both threads are basically the same weight, the silk seems to be very slightly thicker, which was a problem with the 3 smallest pearl sizes I use as ball joints, because I couldn't pass the thread through them as much as I would have liked.

There was also something I didn't expect: my new doll is about three quarters of an inch taller than the last one! It doesn't sound like much, but she looks a lot taller. That isn't really a problem, though, as she is still a nice size, and sits nicely in my hand. It was just a bit unexpected.

So on the whole, I liked working with the silk, and will definitely use it again in the future, when the dolls have a similar skin tone to that thread. Otherwise I will have to use the cotton, because it comes in a bunch of colors, but the silk does not. 

New Photo: Amber Faerie Doll

"Amber Faerie Doll"
©2014 Debi Cady

The Amber Faerie lives deep in the gemstone forest, cultivating amber in the form of flowers and mushrooms, which she then distributes throughout the world. Amber is the stone of the zodiac signs Taurus and Leo, and is an alternate November birthstone. It represents eternal love, life and youth. It is also said to have many healing properties.

This image is now available on my stores at Cafe Press, Zazzle, Red Bubble, and my deviantArt Print Shop.

If anyone is interested, I wrote a post back in July about the making of this doll, with more photos. you can read that here. ^_^

Gizella

My new doll, Gizella, arrived this morning! She is a 35cm porcelain BJD by JRdolls. I named her after the balled "Giselle". So I just wanted to share a few pictures of her with you ^_^ The lighting today is pretty bad, so I will take more pics later.


I made her dress, wig and shoes, they are all made of organic cotton. 

All my girls together.
Top row: Ciara Angelique, Bu Yong, Ishtar, Kisa, Elena
Bottom Row: Kateri, Gizella, Katya

I have photos of my other girls to share with you too, as you can see in the group shot above, I made them all new wigs! So far I have only posted Elena's and Kateri's, I haven't had time to go through the other pictures yet. I will try to get through them this week...

Kateri

Kateri arrived on January 25, and I have been so slow about posting her pictures! I apologize, I've had a lot of work and a lot of projects going lately. Like my other girls, she is a porcelain BJD made by JRDolls, and is 35cm tall. I named her after Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who I admire very much. I think this doll is beautiful and sweet, very loving, just like the real Kateri :) Here is the first picture I took of her when she arrived:

Here are a couple of pics I just took of her today. She is holding pieces that I wove for her, I am still working on this project, but I want to make her a skirt out of them - they all have cute little llamas on them, and are made of 100% colorgrown cotton. I am pretending that she took a trip to Peru ^_^ The first photo shows her holding a piece with llamas at night under the stars. The second piece depicts llamas during the day, with a volcano in the background.

I will post more photos of this llama skirt as they are completed. Of course, Kateri will be modeling them all!