Louie Louie Bebe

A sneak preview:

I have been quite productive lately. There are a lot of new dolls and softanimals nearly ready to list.

In the meantime, I thought I can share these with you:

 

 

 

She has no hair yet, but I think she's sooo sweet..

 

 

 

 

Sophia (4,) helped me make this doll's hair.

She said it needs a lot of pink, and chose the wool.

(Lamb's pride.)

 

Giveaway winner

 

This Giveaway was a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of you.

I absolutely enjoyed reading your inspiring, creative comments, visiting your blogs and facebook pages,

and the only thing I regret is you can not all win..

I truly regret not being able to send each and every one of you a doll.

 

Thank you all so much for participating!

I promise there will be more Giveaways, very soon.

 

Our winner is :

Hallie Keller.
Congratulations!

Please mail me with your address.

Thank you!

 

 

Waldorf dolls: Babies and babes, S.O.S

I have been incredibly busy these last few days. Boy wonder and Girl wonder, my two toddlers extraordinaire, went back to kindergarten, and I burnt the midnight oil every night, a l l  n i g h t.

There are new dolls in the making, but I had to pay attention to a few of the finished, ready to ship dolls.

Agnes, for instance.

Here she is in the previous set of pics:

 

           
 
 
 Agnes is one of my favorite dolls. She is so soft! Her hair is wonderful, her face so sweet and inquisitive, and I love her colours. However, I have noticed that she does not get enough love from visitors in my shop.

I have decided to take new pics. Here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

I think she looks lovely, but I know that I am partial and cannot be objective about her.

I need your help.

Tell me what you think and please, be honest. I will absolutely appreciate any word of advice.

<3

 

 
Moving on, to something completely different:

Baby.

Yes, there is a new baby in the hood. Her name is..gasp...Babe.

Very original, no?

 

 

The fountain of fresh doll names has run  d r y.

 

So. Yes. You guessed it..

 

I need your help.

Any suggestions, anyone?

 

Doll Giveaway

 

I have decided to start a little 'giveaway' tradition.

 

 

To participate you will have to be a fan.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Louie-Louie-Bebe/281117348872

 

Leave a comment here if you are interested in participating, and yes, yes, be creative!

 

Extra points:

* Blog about this Giveaway - earn an extra point

* follow this blog - earn an extra point

 

For each extra point leave a comment with a link or follower info

 

*Giveaway winner will be announced on April 14th !

 

 

Babe is a sweet little 8" /20cm organic waldorf doll.

She has soft, blonde loopy mohair hair and she loves wearing hats.

This is her new hat. It is a soft pale pink hand knit hat.

She wears a soft, warm, pink flannel onesie. She is so sweet that my son, who usually keeps a safety distance from dolls, actually gave her a spontaneous hug today and wanted his picture taken with her.

 

 

 

 

xx

e.

 

I really want to write, but I have been incredibly busy with work. I am working on new dolls and now that the kids are home on their spring break, it seems impossible to do anything around my poor, neglected studio.
I sneak up here at night, though. I cut and pin and play with the dolls, trying to decide how each of the new dolls will look.

Now Luca is unwell. He has been clingy and quite whiny these last couple of days, and today he was exhausted but could not fall asleep. He kept saying : Mommy, mommy..
It is so unlike him to be so clingy. I am sure it has to do with his father being away.
He does not have a fever- he says his throat aches.
He finally fell asleep around 1 a.m. and I am holding my fingers crossed for him to have a quiet night.

Pics, at long last

It has been busy around here. Somehow I managed to ship most of the orders, which is very, very good.

I always juggle through so many projects simultaneously, that it is  a wonder I get anything done.

My reading habbits are the same: I am currently reading..let's see..one, two, three..four books. I have a book open in the weirdest places. I read whenever I can, and because time is scarce and I do not want to waste it running around the house searching for 'THE' book, I simply have a book here, and one there, and one under there.

 

There are oh-so-many dolls in the making right now, that I have completely lost count. Some are just waiting to be dressed, some have blank faces- as this is the part I dread the most- embroidering the facial features can 'make or break' a doll. Other dolls are limbless, piled in the big green box.

I thought I would share  a few of these dolls here.

 

 
  

  This little doll is a custom order for a very special little girl.  I do hope she will love her!

 

 

This doll is very small. She does not have a body yet.

Miss Rose has been the subject of some, hmmm, experiments in hair styles extraordinaire.

I made quite a few hats lately, and I insist on trying them on each of the dolls,

because I am compulsive like that.

 

Grrrrrrawwwerrrrrr

 

 

Crochet small dolls

 

   

 

 
  

And that is not all, really it isn't, but I need my beauty sleep now. I truly, most definitely, absolutely do.

 
 

Spring is here, or so it seems. This is the best time of year, here. My apple tree is blossoming and the colors are magnificently delicate. I love apple blossoms.
This kind of weather is truly inspiring.
I have spent a couple of hours today weeding the garden and when I stepped back in I realized I simply must "weed" my studio as well. It is simply amazing what a mess I make whilst working. My desk is cluttered with bits and pieces of fabric, thread, wool felt, yarn, ribbon, books.
The shelves are a jolly mess of fabric.
Must tackle that mess. A tidy studio always makes me happy and boosts my productivity.
However, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, bees are humming and that apple blossom is - I swear- calling my name.

Work in progress : 18" doll

I have just realized most of my clients are under 6 year olds.

Shocking, isn't it? Perhaps I should offer free candy with every purchase, instead of a 10% discount. I have reason to believe this will boost up my sales considerably.

 

It has been a little busy here lately. I list new items almost daily, cut, sew, design new items, take photos, edit photos, reply to mail from buyers and clients and suddenly it is lunch time and I take a power nap and spring out of bed moaning and groaning to pick up the kids. Usually instead of two kids I pick up 3 and they all play outside until the sun sets in the west and it gets too dark to play, or the mosquitoes are too fierce and we all go inside the house and have some popcorn infront of the t.v (the kids) with a book (moi.)

 

Around 8-8:30 p.m the house is quiet. The little elves are sound asleep and I can start the third portion of my day.

If I don't get lured and sucked it by the computer, I am usually most productive in the evenings.  I thought I would show you what the dolls look like before they become dolls, but I cannot find the camera so this will have to wait. I can share this with you, though.

 

 

 

When a doll is in this state, I know I am nearly done.

 

Hanna - Waldorf Doll looking for a home

Hanna is one of the new dolls. She is so delicate. I absolutely love her. She has soft brown hair: lovely big curls and there is something so pleasant about her complexion. 

She is named after two of my beautiful aunts. Hanna is wearing a lovely dress made of Imported Japanese cotton in a dreamy floral design. It is off-white, cream, and the flowers are pale pink with a hint of moss green leaves.

  

Who is Louie?

When my sister and I were little, I used to make clothes for our dolls.

We had an old armoire in our bedroom and my mom took out the doors and we made it into a doll's house.
I made furniture for the dolls from scraps and things I found.

An old cigar box was decorated and turned into a bed, a shoe box became the wardrobe- with real doors that opened and closed, a candy tin was a perfect dining table.
I made clothes for the dolls. My mother taught me how to sew and I used to spend hours drawing pictures of fancy clothes for the dolls. 

   - - -    - - - - - -

After a long career as a fashion/custome designer, I finally found my passion on a cold winter evening, at my sons' Waldorf-education kindergarten.
Parents were invited for a doll making extravaganza. We all sat on tiny wooden chairs and made little star/bunting dolls for our children. It was a lovely, fun evening and it could have well ended at that but then, someone pulld a waldorf doll out of nowhere and I took one look and fell head over heels.

 

I spent the next couple of weeks glued to my computer, frantically trying to figure out how to make these dolls. I ordered every book I could find and bit my fingernails with anticipation.
But by the time the books arrived, I was already making dolls.

 

I love making dolls.

It is a long process and my fingers constantly ache from the pulling and tugging and sewing,

but I love to see how people react to my dolls. I am constantly thinking about new dolls, searching for better techniques, different material, but in the end, the beauty in making waldorf- inspired dolls is the simplicity of it all.
A bit of natural wool roving, cotton thread, embroidery floss and a bit of mohair wool, and voila!~ A doll emerges.

 

I work at home, in a lovely, spacious studio adjacent to the children's playroom, which is where quite a few of the dolls/toys end up, smudged in chocolate and bananas, after enduring some, err, affection from my 3.5 years old daughter, Sophia.
She likes to 'test-drive' my dolls and if I am not carefull, I will end up with nothing to sell. :-)

 

Thank you for reading and thank you for visiting Louie Louie Bebe.

Buy Louie Louie Bebe, support HandMade 

 

Visit Louie Louie Bebes' fan page on facebook, for more about the creative process, trials and tribulations:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Louie-Louie-Bebe/281117348872