Rainbow Tomatoes!

bursting forth!!

Yay June!

The Highway Gardens are Producing edible food!

Probably due in large part to

Lots of Rain- the Rainwater tanks are overflowing

and the Overflow Barrels are full too!

Wow!

Meanwhile, the Dollmaker has been obsessed!

Certain Dolls were clamoring for Adjustable Hands in order to

 "get a grip" on the hilts of the Doll Swords!

                                                                                                                                               June has been about

                                                               the Improvement of the

They were

 "hands down" - the main focus this month...

But she has always felt that there was room

for improvement..

Hand Freedom!

(When nothing is glued in to the hands)

it's definitely an upgrade!

Dolls want to be able to "speak with their hands!" 

right ho!

So, the first hands this June

 were stiffened using ordinary felt on one side

 and hot glue on the other.

This worked great, actually! 

The stiffened delineated Fingers could be positioned

to keep their Gesture (good, but..)

BUT (On the other hand...)

1.  This Style is not adjustable..

2. The fingers are a bit flat...

3. The Hot Glue shows.

and

4.  Felt works really well.. but..

 Felt Hands never match the Head Fabrics!

So, the secondary Hand Challenge

was to solve all those problems

and

make the fingers bendable.

Naturally, using wire was the obvious solution...

Dolls with Wired Hands can

Grasp, HOLD and LET GO of many different things..

Bendable Fingers!!

Hand Jive!

Give her a big hand!

That Fusion Paper turned out to be useful

for making Other Things as well!

Very thin batik fabrics can be strengthened using the

Iron-on Adhesive Fabric.

The Dollmaker looks forward to exploring the different brands.

 has also been a month

 for Home-made

Due to the unfortunate disappearance

of the standard 

Top Hats

from the marketplace..

(Top Hats which the Dollmaker found to be quite "handy"...)

She was rather pressured to start

making her own Hats...

This is actually going well.

In the spirit of recycling found objects...

The Dollmaker even used Ribbon Spools to make

those old-fashioned

Boater Hats!

These heavy holders accommodate her longest swords

minimizing the danger of tipping over..

working with the Thin Set again was so much fun

she just kept on with it...

 ...inserting shiny found objects, magical symbols,

 trinkets, keys and baubles

kind of in the style of the Mandala.

On the small one the Dollmaker used "Boat Shells" from

the New York beaches of her childhood.

(compliments of cousin Laurie!)

So... Summer Begins!

May we all be in good hands!