What’s nice about Etsy, is the personal contact between the seller and customer.

Sometimes this communication leads to interesting journeys…

When a customer of mine noticed that the items are shipped from Israel, she asked me if I lived near any religious sites. I happen to. I don’t know if it’s a real coincidence, because come to think about it, there are religious sites everywhere around here…

And so, a Plush pilgrimage was born…

First we went to the Mount of beatitudes, it was too early, so we just looked in from the outside:

Then we visited the Church of the Heptapegon at Tabgha, with the beautiful fish pond:

After that we went to Terra Santa at Capernaum, but the church wasn’t open yet…

So we stopped by next to Capernaum for the beautiful view of the sea of Galilee and the Date palms..

We also went buy the Orthodox Church at Capharnaum, the girls thought it was Barbapappa’s house..too bad that telephone line was in the way, but i guess the nuns need a telaphone just like us…

After all that was done, we went for a swim in the Sea of Galilee – we call it the Kinneret.

The Dolls joined us, of course..

the dolls going on tour before being posted to their new home across the ocean, together with a small stone I collected at each sacred place they visited:

I’ve been working on a custom Waldorf doll, for a little girl that lives in the Netherlands.

Thanks to email and digital photography, I can work together with a child in a far away land, to make her or him a custom doll.

Before starting work, I like to see photographs of the person the doll is being made for. Or even meet that person in person, if possible! That helps me fine tune the doll to capture something of it’s future owners essence and gives me inspiration for my work.

Then we start communicating, and deciding on the doll’s features.

First we decide on skin color, hair color and length, eye and mouth color, etc.

After that we start working on the clothes. First to decide what kind of clothes the child wants, new or vintage fabrics, floral or geometric patterns, etc.

Then  I photograph my fabrics, send a few photos with several options.

In this case she chose a vintage floral fabric for a dress.

Then we choose matching yarn for the sweater.

Here is the Cardigan in progress:

Then I add some embellishments:

If the child wishes, I mail photos showing the progress of the doll. It might be too creepy for  some children, but I think that it is also interesting for the child to see it’s friend being created and slowly bond with it.

Then it’s time for the shoes:

And some matching accessories:

When the doll is completed, I send photographs by email, and the doll goes into a box and shipped!

But not before she gets lots of hugs from my daughters before the jorney !

I’ve been sitting in the sun all day today and yesterday, finishing up these gnome babies, They were all sewn up and ready for their face to be embroidered.

I think this one is my favorite so far:

When I had a few done, I had an idea to present them in the shop together in a basket. I borrowed a basket from the girl’s toys and made it a new white lining.

They look so cute together, I’s been a huge success in the shop! I think I’ll make some more!

This week I’ve been working on a special Waldorf Doll, for a special girl called Talia.

Talia Wanted a small doll, and I made her an 11inch doll (28cm). This smaller size is super cute, and I think it was an excellent choice. A perfect size for an older child. All the other features of the doll, like hair color and style, eye color, color of the clothes etc, were also made according to Talia’s request.

Because Talia is a little older, I thought she might be interested in seeing how her doll is made and follow my progress. I posted photos to my Flickr account, and you can look at the them, starting at this photo.

It was real fun making a doll for someone I can remember being her age…I felt like a child again, making clothes for my doll. Not having to worry about small parts, I was able to embroider the doll’s Shrug I knitted, with tiny amethysts.

When I make something for a specific person, I have that person’s spirit in mind and they are like a muse. Meeting Talia before I made her doll, I could imagine her gently changing her doll’s clothes before going to sleep, but not into pajamas, that won’t suit Talia. Talia’s doll should have something more “Jane Austen” in style, and so I came up with an idea to make a night dress from a vintage hand embroidered napkin. I have a collection of handmade linens, from which I chose a classic white on white cutwork piece.

In the next couple of days I will add a tutorial for making a doll’s nighty and head scarf from a vintage napkin or handkerchief.