A lovely customer in Australia contacted me about a custom doll just after I insured my finger at the studio. I was so excited and yet so sad, because with the finger not working, most tasks in creating an Olive Sparrow Child are just impossible. Yet the finger started healing, I gently and gingerly worked on the doll over the past months. When I was able to remove the cast during the day, the finger was very stiff, but I actually think that I helped heal faster by working with it.
About a week ago the doctor gave me the go-ahead of living cast free again, except for heavy work. Now the doll is finished and I am so excited to show her to you.
I asked her for her name and she said Molly. This is what I do with my Olive Sparrow Children, when they are complete, I hold them in my arms, I give them a big hug and ask for their name. Molly immediately responded.
We had beautiful weather yesterday afternoon, and she asked me to go into the garden to have a picnic amongst the strawberry plants.
Molly loves bunnies and she wanted to have her picnic with them.
She tacked up Huxley's play horse and wagon to bring all the dishes and bunnies outside.
It was very warm yesterday (27 Celcisus), so Molly took off her shoes and smock. But she was still hot, so when she started running around the garden, she decided that just wearing her smock and bloomers was just the thing to do.
The smock is reversible, and the natural linen side is shown here.
Molly loves her cotton hat and thinks that it just looks so stylish that even though it is hot, she can still wear it.
I showed Molly the roses that have just started to bloom in the garden and she immediately wanted to see them up close. I asked her to put some of her clothes on again, as the thorns of the roses can prick her. She was happy to oblige.
The rose is called Rosemarie (my mother's name) and the sweetest, softest pink, and a heavenly scent.
Here Molly wanted to put on her green silk scarf to show you how warmly dressed she will travel to Australia.
Molly then wanted to pretend being a gardener, cultivating her own flowers. She changed her clothes again and is wearing her silk scarf as a kerchief.
We heard some birds chirpping and thought we should go see if we can find a nest. So we went to the front of the house to climb up the sour cherry tree.
Phew.. that was a lot of work, but we did find a nest.
That bird told us that his twin sister also had a nest with eggs, right across the street, in front of the high school in one of their young apple trees. We bide farewell to her and headed over.
What a magical encounter.
We were starting to feel tired and hungry.
Molly sat in the high chair and had a little snack.
Which gave her a whole lot more energy and she decided that she wanted to play dress-up again, it was really hot after all.
Now I have to admitt, that I was getting tired, and asked her to put her travel outfit back on so that we could take some more pictures for her future family in Australia. She was happy to oblige.
Now Molly is waiting for her trip to Australia. Unfortunately, we're in the middle of a postal strike. Hopefully it will be over soon, and Molly can go on her long trip. She is such a sweet soul and so much fun, that it will be hard to let her go.
Molly is 38cm tall (about 14.9")
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.
