31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 21 Great Materials to Try in Santa Doll Crafting

I am sort of cheating tonight. It is now 11:00 PM and I've been gone all day. Frankly, I'm just to tired to type. SO...I'm posting this to at least get something turned in for today.

I have been trying to win a bid on this product that sounds like it something I really should try.

Stacie Laurell air dry cold porcelain polymer clay

·      Smooth

·      Pliable

·      Holds fine details well

·      Dries to a durable hard finish

·      Easy to condition

·      Easy to mold and sculpt

·      Colors blend beautifully and effortlessly together

·      Does not dry out rapidly while working with it

·      Comes in a variety of colors and variations

·      Clay can be stretched to make very thin pieces such as flower petals, leaves etc

·      Does not flake or crumble

·      Does not require baking

·      Finished pieces can be sanded and varnished

·      Nontoxic modelling clay

·      Can be used for a variety of crafts and projects such as jewelry, pottery, molding & sculpting art, cake toppers, baby doll sculpting, charms, beads, scrapbooking, doll miniatures and more! 

·      The possibilities are endless with our clay

This is the best clay around. You will love the way this clay feels in your hands and will be impressed with how well it can be shaped and molded.

In a previous post I mention that I was shopping for glass or acrylic eyes for my Santa dolls. eBay is a good source for finding lower prices: however, they still are rather expensive. 

About a week ago I was at Rolling Hills Ministry's Thrift Shop (the best shopping in all of Ruston!) and picked up some well played with porcelain dolls with glass or acrylic eyes. They were less that $2 each which is much less what I have been paying for eyes online. So, I picked up four dolls. 

PHOTOS to FOLLOW

No, I don't plan on gouging their eyes out!

I thought I would try building up my Santa's faces over the porcelain with this air-drying product and give the dolls a new life. Every now and then I find porcelain dolls that were mass marketed as collectibles, but mostly they just collected dust. If this product works out like I hope it does, I think I'll start recycling some of these inexpensive dolls in to Santas.

By the time I buy the eyes and construct the body, I've already got $20 invested, so why not try taking a short cut. 

Now, if I could just win an auction so I can test the product out.

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 20 If the Lord Meant for Me to Have It...

Yes, I've been blessed with another gift of something I've wanted for a long time. After about 26 to years of waiting, I finally have a Lee Middleton Doll.

It's a long story, but if you've read my other posts, I mentioned that I worked in a mall in San Antonio, TX back in 1987-88. During my dinner break, I would stroll around the mall and visit with some of the friends I had made at other stores.

There was an upscale toy store that carried Madame Alexander and other pricey dolls, including Lee Middleton Dolls. I would go in there and visit the babies. These were really the first dolls I had ever seen that looked so incredibly lifelike.

A brief history of Lee Middleton.

Lee Middleton was a self-taught artist from Ohio who, in 1978, began sculpting her dolls in her home. Her original vinyl dolls with a porcelain feel started production in 1984. Sadly, she passed away in 1997, but her company and quality of dolls continues with the current artists Reva Schick, Eva Helland, and Jane Pinkstaff crafting beautiful babies with a variety of expressions.

So, I found some Lee Middleton dolls on shopgoodwill.com and there was one (a Reva Schick sculpt) that closely resembled my son, Ross, when he was a toddler. I figured if I was going to invest in a Lee Middleton doll, I may as well try to find one that looked like one of my children. According to the auction's description, it is a boy...a boy wearing pink.

This particular doll reminds of Ross at around 2 years old, especially the tussled hair. I've bid my maximum amount plus shipping and handling is really high on shopgoodwill.com. I have some competition and there are still 3 days left so there is a chance I won't be the winning bidder.

However, if you've read my previous posts, you'll know that one of my favorite sayings is, "If the Lord meant for me to have it, I'd find it at Rolling Hills." (or a garage sale, thrift shop, eBay, etc.) Well, today I had this feeling I should go to Rolling Hills. I needed some craft paint and a small piece of fabric for a cape for the Santa I wrote about yesterday because I'm not too crazy about his outfit. 

The minute I walked in the door, I spied a Lee Middleton Doll on the shelf and for only $18.75 + tax. 

Her (the doll was wearing a dress) hair was a mess. In fact, even after I conditioned it and combed it out, it is still a mess but I found out that I can use a curling iron on it and that should smooth it out some. Still, she/he had the same face as the one I liked on the Goodwill auction site. 

So, I carried the doll around the store while I look to see if they had any craft supplies, I found a great piece of fabric, then I shopped for boy clothes and found this cute Halloween outfit. 

I got a lot of smiles, and few people stopped to look at the doll, but when I went to check out, the girl behind the counter was horrified. 

You see, they know me there, and lately I've been scooping up baby dolls to make Zombie Babies. Perhaps she was afraid that the Lee Middleton doll was about to suffer the same fate. Oh, please! I only zombiefy the dolls who are a little worse for wear and give them a whole new life...and UNDEAD life. Bah-haa-haa-haa!

Anyway, back to this doll's sweet face. Here he is pictured with my son at two years old. There is no sculpt that I am aware of that looks any closer to Ross. The shape of the face is very similar, and so are the eyes, but the mouth is a bit different, and as Ross put it, the skin is quite a bit darker. Come to think of it, Ross did get rather orange when he started eating carrot and sweet potato baby foods. Hmmm?

This doll reminds me more of Ross between 10 to 18 months when he had his beautiful curly hair. He's about 16 months in the photo. Once we started cutting his hair, it was wavy but it never really got those baby curls back. We called them doo-doo rolls because our son, Gray, who was five then, thought that was funny. 

From this angle, the doll looks so much like the back of my son's head and fat cheeks when he was little that it gives me chills. 

So, my plan is to give this doll a good cleaning, see what I can do to make this hair smooth and shiny again, add lashes, and paint Ross's eyebrows and hairline on the face. 

After all the reading I've done on Reborns (for my Zombie Baby research) and the images I've seen, I think I should try my hand at this popular craft. Who knows, perhaps I will become a "Reborn Artist". 

Well, I supposed it sounds better than a Zombie Baby artist.

So what does all this have to do with Santas? I've been looking on eBay for Santa outfits, size 0-3 months. Let me know if you find one...with a hat!

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 19 Buying Santa Claus Collectibles through Online Auctions PART DEUX Another BAD Experience

I was doing a search for Santas on eBay late last night. I like to search through "Ending Soon" auctions every now and then. Of those that were about to close, I found a three auctions with no bids and very low starting prices. One of the auctions had a small David Frykman Santa, and two of the auctions had a House of Hatten elf. Now, I don't collect elves, but I do have a few vintage and a couple of HofH. I do have a couple of Frykman reproductions, but now that he has retired, perhaps they will become more valuable.

Anyway, I noticed that the seller had a rather high shipping amount, but I felt at least the elves were worth $30, plus I would get all the other ornaments that were mostly mass produced resin Santas.

The good news, I won the auctions because no one else bid on them. I sent a note asking the seller if he would consider combining the items and reduce the shipping but he wouldn't. The shipping for 29 ornaments was $29, which in eBay terms is known as "padding the shipping".  So I asked if the seller if he would please consider taking a smaller lot I won for .99 off the transaction bringing my shipping down to $20 (still high) but I did not hear back from him.

So, this morning I wake up and check my email so that I can read Lara's Blog and find that the seller has responded by canceling ALL of my purchases. I sent him a message and he replied (not is a pleasant way) that he refused to sell them to me and for me not to bid on the relisted items.

And no, sellers are NOT supposed to do that, but I guess he was miffed because he did not get want he wanted for items.

Of course, I contacted eBay's customer support and I filed a complaint. I also mentioned the "padded" shipping and the rep "Tom" added that to the report as well. When Tom read the emails (all correspondence through eBay is available for CS to read) he said that the seller's behavior was uncalled for and he put that in the report as well. Then Tom told me to bid on the items and if the seller blocked me or refused to sell me the items again, he would be suspended. So, there!

The seller did this to me and I responded appropriately. I was unable to leave negative feedback since the transactions had been cancelled which concerns me, because if gets away with this, what is to prevent him from doing it to someone else.

Just a word of warning, on an online auction, the item you won is not yours until it is in your hands.

So, according to my favorite  quote, "If the Lord meant for me to have it...", I guess the Lord did not mean for me to have these. But in the nonBiblical quote, "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." He did give me something else.

Well, like I said, it is not mine until it is in my hands.

I was exhausted this evening and after dinner I slipped down in my chair and searched the "Ending Soon"...will I ever learn?

Nevertheless, I found this Santa!

So, for less than the other lots of commonly found ornaments, I was able to get this (perhaps one of a kind?) Santa figure who is 27" tall. I think the tallest Santa may be half that size, but I am looking forward to his arrival!

Now, I know that there are those out there who think collecting and/or crafting Santas is a waste of time and money, but it is cheaper than therapy.

To me, Santa represents generosity and, like Saint Nicholas, not expecting something in return.

Santa is not the only thing I "collect" but it is the only thing I OVER-collect. I have no intentions to beat out Jean-Guy Laguerre, the Guinness Book of World's record holder of over 25,000 Santas.

Besides, I sell some to buy others every few years. I really don't spend THAT much because I mostly shop at garage sales, thrift stores, and place low bids on eBay.

I think it is much more fun to "hunt: and find the really good deals.

It all goes back to, "If the Lord meant for me to have something, I'd find it at..."

And if you come to my house, you'll see that the Lord is VERY generous.

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 18 Dusting Santas

I have been following a fellow 31 Dayer,  Lara, and her blog 31 Days of Less Clutter and More Peace. I enjoy having my morning cup of tea and reading her daily post.

This is a bit ironic being that I seem to thrive on clutter, it is the sustenance that inspires me, but I really like a lot more when it is organized.

While taking photos of my Santas for this blog, I discovered how terribly dusty my Santas had become. Usually, at the beginning of November, I start the process of dusting the Santas I display year round. I have a cabinet in the foyer specifically for my chalkware Santa collection and on the top, I display some of the Santas I have made.  I have a few on shelves in my dining room, but most are either in the china cabinet or on top of it. In the house alone, I have over 100 Santas on display.

I really dread it this year because I have been dropping things lately. It might be my getting older, my arthritis, or if I am distracted, I am more likely to drop something. It is really frustrating since most of the Santas I keep on display year round are fragile...and expensive.

Sometimes I would like to sell all of my collection, but then I probably just collect something else.

I got as far as opening the china cabinet door, took one look at all the work I had in store, realized I was tired from waking up this AM with a severe migraine and did not want to risk dropping anything...so I took a nap instead.

Now, at 11:15 in the evening, I look over and that cabinet door is still open. Well, I guess the least I could do is close it before I go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 17 We interrupt this blog to bring you ZOMBIE BABIES

That's what I said, Zombie Babies!

I posted on an earlier blog about how my search for glass eyes for my Santas brought up references to "Reborn Babies" and I started searching through images of these lifelike dolls. Well, some of the better ones looked like actual babies.

Something else kept popping up in my search, and that was Reborn Zombie Babies. Then I started looking on eBay and Etsy where there are a variety of styles.

This is a ZOMBIE BABY

So, instead of working on Santas like I am SUPPOSED to be doing...I have been painting my own Zombie Baby.

My very first Zombie Baby is named after Michonne, as in The Walking Dead. 

But in my version, She was one bad@$$ Zombie Killer until one of the Unbit grabbed her Samurai sword and took a couple of good swipes at her. Obviously, she didn't make it.

Now she'll reek havoc like never before, and she won't even need her sword!

The thing in her stomach is her voice box.

She used to say a little bedtime prayer, but with the battery running down it sounded a bit creepy

When I bought her she had two cute little ponytails, was "nekkid "and looked a bit played with. I don't think anyone will be "playing" with her now!

The first thing I did was cut out her eyes...GROSSSS!...and replaced them with clear glass marbles.

After I re-styled to her hair and teased up the bangs and strands of hair in the back to make it look like patches of hair.

Then I sprayed a gray primer for plastic all over her head and body.

Because her hair was so silky and shiny, I had to spray paint it just to dull it down.

Her scars were created with a hot glue gun by both applying glue or by using the hot tip to manipulate it.

It took me about seven hours, including the hairdo, to transform her into a Zombie Baby but I really enjoyed myself. I learned a new technique with the glue gun.

I've been getting a lot of comments about how scary she looks and that she's going to give someone nightmares.

Well, then. My job here is done.

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 16 My Most Expensive Santa

I almost titled this post "My Most Valuable Santa" but VALUE really doesn't have as much to do with what I spent on it, it is more of what it means to me.

Since this Santa is the one I paid the most for, that does make "Trudging Santa" by George John my most expensive Santa.

If you've read my previous posts, you might remember me writing about at shop, St. Nick and Friends in Wimberley, TX, that was only open for a few years back in the nineties. I can't recall if it was 1992 or 1993 when my friend, Judy S. and I first found the shop and marveled at all the original hand carved Santas created by famous artists like Bolinger and Costanza, and some carved by not-so-famous artists. 

Since both of us were new mom's and neither of us could justify purchasing any of the original work by the famous artist, we both picked out a couple of hand carved Santa ornaments, and Judy found a hand carved Santa pulling a sleigh with a tree on it, carved by a Texas artist. 

Then Judy found a Trudging Santa (much like this one) by George John.

We both marveled at the craftsmanship and colors. Even though John's work was priced much lower than the more famous artists, he was still rather expensive, at least for my budget. Judy was concerned whether or not she should invest in such a piece, and even considered putting back her Santa and the sleigh even though we'd already decided on the perfect place to put it in her home. Still, she could not resist, and both Santas were bagged in the shop's adorable little canvas bags and her Santas have decorated her home ever since.

I really admired her "Trudging Santa",  he is so simply styled yet you can see how he is struggling to carry the heavy bag and cumbersome tree. Red, gold, green, and navy have always been my favorite colors and his face has such a serious expression as if his efforts are of utmost importance. 

A couple of years later, George John carved another "Trudging Santa". It would have been way too expensive for Judy to purchase this as a gift, so instead, she ordered several of my Santas gourds to give to her family and friends as gifts.  With that money and a little extra cash, I was able to purchase my own "Trudging Santa". 

We never had a chance to meet this artist, or have I ever found anything about George John on the internet. He may have just whittled as a hobby and perhaps he created very few Santas.

"Trudging Santa" has always been on display in my home, he has a special shelf my brother made for me, and is flanked by two antique wooden candlesticks.  

Every time I look up at him, I think of Judy and all the fun we have had over the past twenty-seven years. Even though she's still in Texas and I live in Louisiana now, we keep in touch and in August this year, I spend almost two weeks with her. I just love her!

Now, I do have other Santas that were marked up as much, if not a higher price than I paid for him, but I bought them at after Christmas sales, etc.

Getting back to what I said at the begin, "I almost titled this post "My Most Valuable Santa" but VALUE really doesn't have as much to do with what I spent on it, it is more of what it means to me.". this Santa does indeed have a GREAT VALUE as a reminder of my very dear friend, Judy S. and all the good times we have shared.

31 DAYS of SANTA CLAUS Day 15 It's Not How Much You Spend; It's How Much You Save

I am very proud of myself for making it almost half way through these 31 days!

But I don't think my husband is going to be as pleased...

We have a saying around our house that I used as my title for this blog post.

I had placed a bid on another Anthony Castanza Santa and shortly after I place the bid, the seller contacted me and told me that her sister's dog and chewed on it so she took it off eBay. That, and being sniped at the very last second on two Russian Ded Moriz (not that I really needed anymore) was making me feel rather blue. So I searched eBay for some interesting Santas and found some I that appealed to me.

I made offers on four listings and when the seller accepted them, I became the owner of a beau coup of Santas. I realized that if you combined all the Santas I just purchased they would probably be more than the majority of people even use to decorate for the holidays. The funny part is that there was at least one in each lot I really wanted. But after giving it some more thought, and the fact that I was getting them for such a great price, some of the others started to grow on me.

Now, I mentioned previously that I don't collect Santa "dolls "per se, but I do have a few. However, I have had my eye on a certain House of Hatten Santa Figure and today I found one in a lot with three other Santas.

On December 12, 2005, House of Hatten closed up shop after almost 30 years in business. These pieces were already collectibles, and what wasn't snatched up at their big going out of business sale, hit eBay and were going for much more than their original retail prices. Nearly ten years later, these pieces are still winning the hearts of collectors and are selling for top dollar at various auction sites.

I just happened to find this guy by luck because H of H was not mentioned in the title or the description. But I recognize that cute face and jumped right on it!

These size dolls are running anywhere from thirty to fifty dollars.

Not only was I able to purchase the H of H Santa at nearly half of its going price, as a bonus, I get these two other adorable Santas.

Now I know a bit about handcrafted Santas and a bit more about popular Santa artists, but I have to say that I have never seen these before.

I can tell by their style that they are by the same artist, especially by their adorable faces. The fact that their beards are made from Tibetan or Mongolian lamb hair (Yes, they call it hair instead of wool) usually means a higher quality figure but the fake fur is more of a "made in China" finish. Well, most of the artist's reproductions are being made in China and real fur is rather difficult to work with because it does shed.

Regardless, I think these two will be keepers. Unfortunately, the patchwork Santa will have to go in my sell pile.

But there is more...

After I made an offer on the House of Hatten listing, I decided to see what else the seller had available and found these. Well, believe it or not...I have always wanted one of these Santas on a bicycle. I know...right? Except the one I had seen before was much larger. But hey, this guy's proportions will look better with my other figures. Now, the seller said that these were all wood; however, I believe that the one on the bike will have a resin body and the one of the polar bear will be resin as well.


I am rather certain about the polar bear because I have a similar Santa on an elk.


















Now why Santa is on an elk, I have no idea, but a polar bear I can believe.

Seriously, I've GOT to dust!

Even this Santa with the sour expression will look great with my other hand carved Santas.






































Don't touch that X...there is still more!

I made an offer on this listing because, well, since I was making an offer on the other "dolls" I thought I throw this one in as well.

He appears to be made by the same artist as the other two from the first eBay listing. The quality looks the same. I believe he may have a wool beard, perhaps mohair, and his face appears more chiseled. Regardless, I think he's adorable.

This Santa also came in the lot. Even though I don't collect "figurines" I really like this one and I am glad he was in this lot.

He might be a keeper as well.

He is pretty enough to fetch a good price on eBay.

Now this one might just be a mass produces resin figure for discount stores, but his base resembles another artist's work and could be one from the eighties. I won't know until he arrives in the mail.

This guy and the other Santas are really not my style, but don't worry, I will find them good homes.

And finally...I just had to make an offer on one more lot because...

there is a House of Hatten in there.  See if you can spot him.

Well, I did! Now, I think this guy might be damaged. He probably was holding bells in his hand and his hanger is missing. Don't worry, I know how to fix him.

The other reason I was interested in this lot are the toys. Since I craft Santas I like to have toys to put in their bags and this lot has not only toys, but toys in a bag!

The ceramic sleigh is also not my style, so I'll have to sell it to help pay for all the other pieces.

Selling things on eBay will be my November project!