The Olive Sparrow

Olive Sparrow Child -- Toby

Toby is 31 cm tall and was the first Olive Sparrow child to be adopted at the Winterfair of the Toronto Waldorf Academy in December 2010. 

He was purchased by a mom, whose boys are already too big to play with Toby. Yet Toby brought back so many memories for her about her boys being little, she just fell for him.

 

Toby wears up-cycled linen trousers and a natural linen shirt. His vest is from an up-cycled woolen and felted sweater and his hat knitted from fair-trade Manos del Uruguay yarn.

 

Toby loves his wild head of hair and won't let scissors near it. He is full of mischief and loves to tell ghost stories. 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

 

Just a pretty picture...

Sometimes that is all we need to smile...

Olive Sparrow Child -- Lilli

Lilli was a custom order to join some of the Olive Sparrow children sold in 2009. She is 35 cm tall and has gorgeous black hair. The same hair as the mother of the children that received her. 

Lilli is a very stylish girl and a real tomboy. She loves her jeans that are reversible -- this makes it easier if she gets some grass stain on them to keep wearing them... 

 

Black can be a harsh colour for hair on a fair skinned doll, but Lilli pulls it off with her lovely eye colour and just a touch of girly-ness, methinks. 

Her body is the same as Emmi's and definitely a new basic pattern for me. 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

The Olive Sparrow Child -- Kerri

Kerri is Emmi's sister. She is 31cm tall and loves that she is a red-head. And contrary to conventions, she loves to wear pink!

She was purchased for an older girl (I think 12 years old) who had never played with dolls, but her mother felt that she would still be well received. A few days ago I saw my client and she told me that her daughter opened up the present and exclaimed: "This is the best present ever!" and rushed over to kiss her mother (much to the surprise of her and her grandmother who was there with them). It is for these wonderful stories that I love creating the Olive Sparrow Children.

Kerri's tunic is made from up-cycled linen fabric and has a free-hand machine embroidered little heart on it's front. Her hat is knitted from a wonderful alpaca yarn.

This is just a teaser to let you see the tiny stitches I use to sew the bodies. I also sew each seam twice for sturdiness. Kerri's hair is high-quality merino wool that I hand-dyed to give it variegation, more like natural hair. She has a lovely head of hair, ideal to fashion into many styles. 

I also embroider the lips with a few stitches, rather than one very long one. I want to ensure that the lip threads do not get caught on anything. It also provides me with many possibilities in altering the expression of each little soul.

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

The Olive Sparrow Child -- Emmi

Emmi is a 35cm tall girl, my favourite smaller doll size and a newly developed body pattern. She is sweetly plump, and so adorable to hold. 

Unfortunately, these pictured don't do her justice, they make her face look flat and her lips too big. It is sad that I do not have better pictures of her. She was one of my favourite Olive Sparrow children I made for the Winterfair at the Toronto Waldorf school, and she went to a wonderful new home together with Kerri, whom you will get to meet in the next profile.  

 

Emmi's shoes are sewn from an up-cycled angora sweater and the ties of her shoes are hand-made cords from sock wool.

I hand-dyed the scarf she is wearing in a graduated rainbow pattern. Her hat is a soft alpaca wool with a fun pattern that matches the pattern on her tunic.

Emmi is one of those little girls that is just sweetness personified, yet she is also not shy to tell you what she thinks, a perfect friend.

 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the whispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

The Olive Sparrow Child -- Elwood

This big boy really grew close to my heart... He was created for a client whose children all receive a Waldorf Doll when they are little. The little one is just over 2 years old and named the doll Elwood (an absolutely wonderful name me thinks).

Elwood was finished in November, but stayed in some temporary clothes until the middle of December. During that time he grew so close to my heart that I had a really hard time letting him go to his new family. He kept telling me stories of adventures he planned on having in his new homes and how he would hug the little one whenever he was sad. He also told me about the importance of keeping secrets that are whispered to him. 

Elwood is about 52 cm tall, so a big boy. His scarf and shoes are sewn from up-cycled wool sweaters, his shirt made from an up-cycled men's shirt. My client owns a lovely wool store and provided me with the wool for his hair, matching her son's hair. 

 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the  Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting  a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the whispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 
 

Custom Order - Clothes

The time leading up to Christmas 2010 had me very busy with a selection of custom orders. The next few posts will document these. 

First up, a clothes order for a customer that purchased 3 Dolls from me in 2009 and wished for extra sets of outfits. There where some additional outfits in addition to the once here that I didn't document. 

Please forgive me for the less than stellar quality of the photographs here. I had my camera stolen and had to resort back to my old Canon Powershot, a great camera for outdoor pictures, but just terrible for indoor shots.. please bear with me.. all my creations this year will be photographed with my lovely Nikon D3100 DSLR.

Hand-knitted hats, a boys outfit, skirts, dresses, blouses, cardigans for 1 boy doll 45cm, 1 girl doll 45cm and one smaller 31 cm girl doll.

Detail of boy's outfit, linen shirt, pocketed trousers and felted vest.

Very traditional dress for 45 - 52 cm doll with linen facing at the hem and linen belted waist. 

Same dress from behind.

Drop-waist dress with linen trim and felted wool cardigan with ruffled edge and crochet neck band. 

A large portion of the fabrics are from up-cycled clothing, others are from my vast stash of cloth. The client came to my house to choose fabrics she liked and I created to clothes around them. 

All seams are sewn with french seams for a beautiful finish and durability. The felted items are sewn with a zig-zag stitch to allow for stretch when the dolls are being dressed by little hands. 

 

Sharing Love

Happy Day of Lovin' Everyone...

 

Being grateful for love received and always, ah, always trying my best to give as good as I get:

Romantic Love

Motherly Love

Friendship Love

Platonic Love

Sexy Love

Nourising Love

Neighbourly Love

Creative Love

Natural Love

Silly Love

Happy Love

Bittersweet Love

Unrequited Love

Animal Love

 

Filling my life and the world with Love. Today it's easy, the rest of the year working damn hard at it....

        "Wer nehmen mehr als Geben liebt, verkennt was Sinn dem Leben gibt"

(Text on a Gingerbread heart I received as a child. Probably not for Valentines' Day, as it was not a celebrated day in Switzerland during my upbringing. Means roughly: If you prefer to take rather than give, you miss the purpose of Life.)

 

Little hearts knitted from free pattern: (please check back later, I can't find the link right now, but will keep looking)

Here is the pattern from Berroco

Felting around

Amongst my friends it is a well known, although not much talked about secret, that I am a bookaholic. I've recovered sometimes over the years, then purchased one book and bingo, back on a binge. The good thing is that because of my profession as an artist these are a business expense. Especially, since my books are primarily of the reference type, with lots of pictures and eye-candy. To give you a sampling of the categories, there is a whole shelf of japanese crafting books, a VERY large variety of Waldorf crafting and pedagogical books, and then there is the shelf of felting books.

This large library of felting books was started when I was in art school in the 90's and since then every book published and deemed worthy by me was added. All with the intention that I wanted to study felting. There have been some workshops over the years. For Example, circa '96 with Joan Livingstone at the Harbourfront Centre Craft Studio, followed by explorations in my own studio. I was always fascinated with felting because it gave me very similar effects to paper making (my main study during the art school years), except without the 10,000 dollars of investment into a Hollander beater and a press. It's so wonderfully simple, take sheep wool, comb it, align it, add some soap and warm water and elbow grease, and WOW! there it is.

My art career however had a mind of its own and took of into the direction of mixed media fine art. Once I started working with Resin I have not been able to do any textile work in the studio to keep the space as dust free as possible. Resin acts like a magnet to any dust that floats by.

Yet felt remained on my mind so much that in 2008 I ordered a large amount of felting fibre to be shipped to Switzerland, so that I could pick it up during a visit and bring it back. The cost of the extra suitcase being cheaper than shipping it to Canada. Summers where going to be for felting and since we have a wonderful covered back porch, that was what I would do.. Spend one day a week outside felting. I now have to announce that it is officially 2011, I have yet another order of wool that I brought back from Switzerland last year, and there was only one morning during the summer spent felting with a friend. The wool is downstairs and well.. not getting turned into felt. There are about 10 kg's of wool or over 20 lbs. 

But there is light... During my visit to the old home country last year I had the wonderful pleasure of taking a workshop with Christa Heiz in her wonderful studio. I spent 3 days felting with her and another student, while Huxley attended the public Kindergarten. Working with Christa was so inspiring. I managed to make a lovely bag, a sculptural piece and a play structure for Huxley's Playmobil, as well as a flower and a ring. 

Felted, waiting to have the handle part cut out

Finished bag drying in shape

It was with the inspiration of these smaller items, that I threw all caution into the wind last week and while I was preparing the next collection of abstract pieces that I did some felting at the studio. I am so inspired and think that I might now be able to do more regular work. 

The concept of felting these flowers was taken from one of my felting books in German, however, I spent quite some time planning the laying out of the fibres, i.e. colour sequences. Also the petals are cut by my own design, not based on the instructions. 

This puppy finger puppet was wet-felted and the instructions are based on a few different books. It was going to be a mouse, then turned into a puppy. The basic shape is wet felted, the eyes, nose and mouth is needle felted on. Very delicate work, yet so satisfying.

This boat-shaped vessel was created from a free-form resist. I feel a connection to this form, it is one of my internal symbols. I did not have a specific purpose in mind, and I think this might need to become a series of pieces.

 

Some of my future felted items will end up for sale through the Olive Sparrow. This has been intended all along, since it's business tag line is "Good handmade Goods". Any feedback on these tentative steps toward felted goodies would be much appreciated. 

PS: there has also been a lot of doll-hat knitting going on, textile studio clean-up and set-up and a new camera is now mine.. with the forecast for sunshine later this week, the opening of my Etsy store is coming into close sight.

 

Every Child's Right

After a telephone call from a dear friend of mine, informing me that there are some wondrous frozen waves down in the Beach(es) here in Toronto, it only took a moment's thinking to decide that it was something that I had to show Huxley.

This was what we found:

 

 

 

Then this is what Huxley did.

 

We where there from about 4:30 pm until 5:45 pm. There was one other dad with two little ones (probably about 3 and 4 years old), some adults and with/out dogs. Am I strange to think it odd that the beach wasn't crowded with parents and children trying to see this transformed beach? I am not judging others, I know that for many people we probably under-book Huxley with after-school activities. 

When I first told Huxley that we would go to see the ice-waves, he wasn't excited, he actually asked me if instead we could go skating. I shared with him my last experience of this phenomenon was about 23 years ago, during my first winter here in Toronto. He didn't say much, except to ask if we would be able to touch the waves. I said we would have to see how safe it was. 

Immediately upon our arrival on the beach he was mesmerized. My little boy that can hardly contain himself and has words on his lips almost constantly was overcome with a deep quiet and solace. He was awed, so was I. The beauty of this landscape, has something outerwordly to it. Huxley became one with it, and yet he let me lead (another thing that his strong personality doesn't often grant me). 

Living in this big city, yet reading your many blogs and watching your children grow up close to the land often has me wistful. I feel that I am not giving Huxley enough of what he needs. It is a real effort to muster up the energy on a weekday to zoom around after school. 3:30 is when school is out, dinner should be by 6, so including cooking time of about 1 hour, that means we have but one-and-a-half hours to do something meaningful. Generally I have been working all day at the studio and am looking forward to just coming home, making him a snack, sitting down in front of the computer and quickly checking my e-mail to see if there is anything business related that needs tending too before the end of the day. All to often, this quick time at the computer turns into that precious hour and a half and I begin cooking dinner guilty of not having given that time to him. 

Today I feel that I have made up for some of these days, and am also inspired of trying to think of more little outings like this. I think it is his right, as it should be all children's rights to experience the natural world around them at all times during the year, especially when Mother Nature has given us a particularly wonderful gift -- like frozen waves.

Have you been outside in nature today? What did it take for you to make it happen? I would love to hear from you