The Other City

Discouragement

I keep meaning to work on some more still life type photos of the Gossamer Girls for you.  I don't know why I kind of dislike photography, but I have to get over that.  My partner encourages me to work on photostories with the Gossamers to generate interest.  I agree that is an excellent idea and I need to start.  I just need to forfeit the peace of of sitting and crocheting for a little while.  It is indeed fun.

At any rate, I have ordered a bunch of clothing for Emmaline for my birthday.  All made for American Girl dolls, but they fit her well.  I figure it would be cool to make and/or buy more clothing and photo props for the photo stories.  When I have finished my tiny house, there will be a little dolly room built on one end of my workspace just for this.  But I really need to set up a version here too.

Since I seem to be having trouble selling the Gossamer Girls, I wonder if there is anything different people would like?  Or perhaps I should do something as simple as move them to the Waldorf Doll section of Etsy. Waldorf dolls are wonderful, priced similarly to the Gossamers and seem to have a similar purpose.  I simply haven't because the Gossamers really are not Waldorf dolls.  But perhaps they have enough similarities.  Does anyone know?  I wish I knew someone else who was into dolls like this.

Upcoming News!

In the very near future, I will be separating out my Gossamer Girls line from my art dolls.  I will have a different store for each, since the Gossamer Girls are sweeter and aimed more at children.  I am taking my art dolls in a much darker, more morbid direction and it seems like a good idea to keep them away from things marketed to children. 

I just have to create a logo and get the new shop set up for the Gossamer Girls and they will be live!  Until then, please feel free to continue to buy them from my original store.

The new store is simple called Gossamer Girl Dolls.

The old store will remain The Other City.

Hope this all will work!

Quick Update

I am 99% done with a new art doll that I'm pretty pleased with.  I keep trying to push my work out of cute and into more unsettling waters.  It is a challenge to do with crochet, but I plan to work polymer clay into it and that should help.  I am trying to put together art pieces that I am pleased with so I can start looking into a show. I really have to get better at this self-promotion thing.

In other news, this is a trailer for Caitlin R Kiernan's latest book.  I absolutely love it and her work is inspiring my work for my hypothetical show.  Maybe I want to be Albert Perrault in crochet.  I admit nothing.  Anyway, everyone should go read this book immediately.   I do hope it comes out in audio soon as well.

The Drowning Girl Trailer

Why could I not get that to embed?  Annoyed now.

Degrees of Progress

So last week, my Etsy store had the best day ever.  I sold two dolls in the same day!  And I got good feedback for them.  I still get nervous about that, especially with my older work, which these were.  And then, I got an email from Ellis Ann at Thread asking for more work.  And she says I can keep a sample of my Gossamer Girls there, with a flyer with ordering information.  I am debating going to anothe store called Talulah Jones as well, once I get the flyers printed. 

We have run into some cash flow issues, here in The Other City.  It isn't too bad but we don't have much of an operating budget at the best of times.  I'm having a hard time finding the money for printing the flyers. At least, there is the free section of Craiglist for supplies for the tiny house.

If anyone is at all inclined to support handmade dolls, now is the time to commission your Gossamer Girl.  The Other City needs your help to grow.

Bread!

Nothing very exciting going on.  My dolls continue to not sell, even on clearance.  So, to take my mind off it, I baked some wonderful smelling bread.  I used my usual Amish white bread recipe, but added cinnamon and nutmeg and an olive oil and sea salt crust.  I'm not sure how it will come out, but I usually enjoy the contrast of salty and sweet things. It smells absolutely wonderful.

Sale Time!

There is a clearance sale going on in my store right now!

Visit cayora.etsy.com to check it out!

Gossamer Girls now Available on Etsy!

The Gossamer Girls are now available on Etsy!

Here is the listing!  Now it is a lot easier to take them home.  I am in the process of overhauling my Etsy page to make it more hospitable to this line. 

Hypothetical Dilemma

I follow a blog called Manboobz that is devoted to mocking the mens' rights community.  On of the oppositional commenters on that blog, a real reprehensible little troll, has said is is into dolls.  Or, to come at this from a different direction, Chalice was favourited on DeviantArt by someone who clearly is an amputee fetishist.  So my hypothetical dilemma is, what would I do if someone like this came to me and wanted to buy a doll? 

In general, I don't have much of a problem with amputee fetishism.  It's largely as harmless as foot fetishism.  So it would be a bit uncomfortable but not too horrible to see Chalice go to that guy.  I have heard people making fun of their friends at shows by suggesting that they want to have sex with my dolls.  I found this a bit awkward, considering I was sitting right there, but I've heard worse.

The real question is, would I sell someone who believes that women should only exist to satisfy his desires a doll?  Would I sell him the means to gratify his desires?  Well, the art mercenary in me says sure.  I want the money, and what do I care what they do with it?  I do already know that one of my dolls has been destroyed by a pet.  How is this really worse?  Furthermore, I have flat out thought I would make a line of love dolls, if crochet were adapted to it, and retire from Evil Law Firm.  Certainly the people who would want to buy a love doll would including horrible anti-feminists like this guy.  I don't find love dolls in general objectionable.

However, most love dolls in the world are made by men, and believe me it shows.  The men who buy them have no reason to disrespect their makers because of their sex.  And that is the key difference and now my decision is easy.  I will not sell to anyone who does not respect me as a person.  I guess this is another thing that will keep me out of the love doll business, no matter how mercenary I may feel. 

I wonder if strictly art doll people have this dilemma?

I've got a facebook page!

Well, actually, I had one all along. But now I have one specifically for The Other City.  Much more professional.  Everyone, and I'm sure there are thousands of you, should go like my page here.

So, I don't talk about it much now, but The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings literally changed my life as a child when I read the books. Back then, the films were not even rumoured. For example, the reason I spell rumour that way is due to Tolkien. I dislike the films of LOTR because the entire feel is changed for me. And my dearest characters were painfully altered.

But my sister just sent me the trailer for The Hobbit, which I had been avoiding. The shot of the dwarves singing The Misty Mountains made me cry. I used to sing that. And recite their names.

Please, Hollywood, don't fuck this up.

Weekend Report

So the weekend of Incredible Business is over.  It was hard going and stressful there for a while, but I came through it all right.  Now, I just have to play catchup with my blog and uploading things to Etsy.

Cirque Voltaire was a fun event, although the focus was definitely on the performers this time.  My dolls looked great, though, and I met some cool people.  Brandan and Ellie are always very supportive of my work.  Pictures of the work I displayed there will be up shortly.

I wish I could have attended more of the NIADA conference, but with my tragic inability to be in two places at once, there was some limit.  It was really wonderful to be surrounded by dollmakers, though.  Apparently, I remind everyone of their daughter or granddaughter.  I got the cards of several local dollmakers and got some good response to my work.  On the second day I was able to attend I brought Absinthe with me and everyone was impressed with her.  She is one of the best dolls I have made recently.  With the exception of my even more recent ones.  Also, I got a paper doll for each of my two lovely patrons.

In other news, I have applied for Art by Craft again this year.  It was really fun last year.  And I'm considering applying for the Fancy Tiger's Holiday Handmade fair.  I hear people do really well at that one.  I've started learning to weave and I'm making progress at that.  It's a fun change.

Also the Secret Project, which some of you know about because I'm bad at not talking about my work, is coming along.  The fun thing is it involves motorcycle rides.  The best kind of Secret Project.

Dolls Going Faraway

A good while ago, I dropped a little doll off at the Fancy Tiger.  He was for a collection of dolls that will be sent to children in Japan who have lost their homes in the earthquake. Brooke picked up the dolls from the Fancy Tiger today and made a lovely blog post about them.  The doll I donated is in the second picture, on the left.  He's a sweet little guy.  I hope he will make someone at least a little happier.

The best doll-related horror story ever!

Today I have found the holy grail of horror stories.  It is Lovecraftian and sad and strange and beautiful and scary.  And it has dolls and ventriloquist dummies in it!  It is unlike any doll-related horror story I have ever heard, read or seen in a movie before.  And I've seen a few. 

It is called Funeral Song for a Ventriloquist, by Douglas F Warrick and it appeared on the Drabblecast.  For those of you who do not know, the Drabblecast is a weird short fiction podcast.  It is amazingly good.  Here is a link to the story. Usually horror stories with dolls in them have them simply trying to kill someone or at best whispering to them that they ought to kill other people.  However, this one has them doing something ever so much worse.

Check it out.  You won't regret it.