The Wee Peeple Dolls

who have spent the last 8 weeks

at Scarborough Faire

now present:

The End.     yay.

This is what the Scarborough Fairgrounds looked like on Memorial Day.

A jolly torrential downpour on the last three days of the faire put us all
in good spirits!  Well, some of us maintained a good attitude.

Ok, most of us were damp and miserable....... and yet!

There were a few of us...

who really, really got into it-  Really into it...

The Lady Kandra, who took these photographs, actually missed the definitive photograph of the weekend

which would have borne the title:

Four Kids Laying Down in Thick Mud Making "Angels".

However...

she did get this photo of One person who was similarly inspired:

Doesn't this make you wish you were there... ?

So, after that, the dolls went home for the Summer

A Bog Blog...

The Bogman Coat

Spring, 2007

Ah, so now it's goodbye to Scarborough Faire, a unique community of artists and eccentrics who come together during the most tumultuous time of the year, in Springtime, when the Return of the Green is throwing everyones hormones into high gear, rivers are flooding, mud is everywhere, In this community of nature-loving "alternative-thinkers" who are especially alternative in the Springtime, in the midst of all the natural and unnatural chaos, there is always one person- one interesting character who for me stands out above all the rest.

This year it was- the Other Dollmaker.

We met one morning, in my Doll Shoppe at Scarborough Faire. Soon we realized that we had met before- 14 years ago I met Sandy in HER Doll Shoppe at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, where I purchased one of her dolls. We were much younger then. When we met again this year, in my shoppe this time, we were wise women sharing the highlights of our earth journeying. We understood each other's dollmaking motives, and mirthfully confessed that we found our own ways to simplify the process so that we never did the parts we didn't like to do- like she is a Dollmaker who hates to sew and I am a Dollmaker who who hates to stuff- so we designed our own kind of dolls which minimized any sewing or stuffing...

So, indeed, we communicated deeply about many things, but the thing that impressed me most of all about her was her coat.

The coat she wore was strange and magical and I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was a patchwork of wonderful golden browns bursting and radiating into velvety tans and burgundies, studded everywhere with some things that remain jewel-like in my memory- it had cuffs and a collar and the way it hung- it was it's design that made it so- strangely familiar.

"Well, I made it, you know." She said, matter-of-factly.

I was speechless for a moment, my mind trying to catch up with this new information. And then she said,

"It's a Bog Coat. You know, like the one they found on that Bog Man."

I am shaking my head. No. "What Bog Man? I don't know the Bog Man.
Who is the Bog Man?"

"You know- the man they found in the BOG!"

"What man in the Bog? What BOG?"

"Ok he was some prehistoric guy they found in a bog, from the Iron Age or something- he was remarkably well preserved. And he was wearing a coat similar to this one! They found, when they examined his garment, that it was nothing but a rectangle. This coat that I am wearing is made from a rectangle!"

I was just blown away by that- so I went home that Sunday night and googled
"Bog Coat" Images... and there it was. The Pattern. The rectangle.

So... I had to try it. I made a sample Bog Coat for myself, from a rectangle.
It was easy and fun- and it has that strangely familiar, prehistoric boggish shape.
Of course, after that I had to be in my shoppe telling the kids,
"Oh by the way, would anyone like to see what they were wearing
in Prehistoric Times?" And I come out with my Bog Coat on...

... and they all go ... WoW!

Although hers was much more magical, this is the basic design of the coat:

and here is the rectangle:

http://thequiltercommunity.com/Wc8f1c1a1f8b9e.htm

OK- that's the last blog about Scarborough Faire for a while...

now the focus shifts to...

Summer Doll Classes

 
Make your own doll in the Wee Peeple style...

Using your own special fabrics, beads, shells, jewelry, yarns,

and assorted precious and beloved stuff.

There will be at least three Dollmaking Classes this Summer.

Tentative Dates:

          Beginner Class:  Saturday, July 15th or

                                                    Saturday, July 21st (open to all)

Fairy Doll Class:  Saturday, July 28th

                                         (only open to Avanced Students)

     Witch Doll Class:  Saturday, Sept. 8th or

                                                  Sunday, Sept 9th (open to all)

DOLLMAKING  CLASSES

with Kandra Niagra

All BEGINNER Classes  $ 75.00

(Advanced Classes $ 85.00)

Includes one 9” Doll Body (your choice of colors),

a wooden stand, and Instruction.

All classes are held at the new

Wee Peeple Doll Gallery and Teaching Studio

located at   1378 Highway 71

(Between Bastrop and Smithville)

Directions

To Register for classes:

First, CALL Kandra

512-332-6680

Class Limit is nine people

Send checks to:

PO Box 326

Smithville, TX. 78957

Email:   bigkandra

If you are interested in joining us for Dollmaking

and let me know what dates are best for you.

I will be sending out the Actual Doll Class Invitations

LATER THIS MONTH

Have a great June. See you at the Doll Classes next month...