Patter from Patti

Breast Cancer Awareness month soon

After sending off my doll for a fund raiser in October I thought I'd remind everyone to schedule your mammograms for October.  If you haven't had one for awhile.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we need to spread the word to get those breasts smashed.                                                                                                                             The photo to the right is my friend Susan (with the short hair) and her partner, Helen.  Susan had a double mastectomy in February 2009.  She went through a long series of chemo treatments, then excruciating radiation.  But, she has survived and is doing very well.  She developed a couple garments to help women after surgery.  It sometimes takes someone like Susan, who is a designer, to come down with a dreaded disease to come up with solutions.  You can see their products at:

http://www.postop-tions.com

This doll was done for a fund raiser by Paulette, a wonderful doll maker.  Like me, she's lost friends to cancer and wanted to do something.  She made this beautiful doll that will be sold at a fundraiser to raise funds for breast cancer research.

We may not have money to donate, but most of us can make something.  I highly recommend it.  You feel so good when you make something and send it off to be donated to a good cause.  Very rewarding.

Until next time, keep well.

Doll finished

The doll for Making Ends Meet auction for breast cancer research is finished.  The embellishing took far longer than the designing, as usual.                                                                                                   As I mentioned in an earlier post, her clothing and a lot of the trims were purchased at Making Ends Meet in their home dec store.  Both the pink and the bronze striped fabric are home dec fabrics, but all silk.

I made tubes from the two fabrics and then made the silk ribbon roses and leaves in her hair and on her hat.        Her hair is also upholstery trim.  I love this particular type of trim for smaller dolls and wasn't sure it would work on this large doll, but it was perfect.  Type pad is being very twitchy tonight.        My sentences are ending up all over the place.                                                                                                                                       I decided my doll needed shoes, which were really simple to make.  And, the embellishments on her corset are from vintage costume jewelry.  I love going to Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores and buying bags of costume jewelry.  Her necklace is also from an old necklace that was falling apart that was perfect for the doll.                                                                                          If you click on the close-up picture it will take you to a larger image.  There you can see the heat-set crystals I added to her face and chest.                                                           She was truly fun to work on.  A nice break from my normal type of doll making.  I highly recommend doing something like this.  It is very rewarding knowing that she'll be auctioned off and bring money for a good cause.  The website for the event is http://www.makingendsmeet.com

Tomorrow I box her up and send her on her way.                                                        

Cancer doll update

Today I felt like I was on Project Runway.  John and I have been redoing two bedrooms and my Making Ends Meet Breast Cancer Doll was sitting with no clothing and her face wasn't detailed.  From 11:30am to 3:30pm I worked on getting her outfit made.  We had a wedding reception to go to at 4pm, but back home by 6pm and I worked until 9pm.                                                                                                                           She still needs sleeves, embellishments on her corset, heat-set crystals here and there and a hat.  I've had more fun today working on her clothing and can't wait to get her finished after church tomorrow.                                                                                To detail her face I used Copic's Multliner SP's with the brush tip inserted.  She needed bolder features so the brush tip worked the best.                                                                                                            Her clothing was made from silk fabric I purchased at Making Ends Meet in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  The trim you see on her corset, and by the machine, is also from the shop.  The shop is the one sponsoring the fund raiser for breast cancer research.                                                                                              Because I was playing around with stencils and Shiva Paintstiks I didn't want to cover her chest.  I saw a documentary on tatoo's and several women who had had double mastectomy's had their chests tatoo'ed.  You can't see it but I outlined her iris' with Copic's Glitter pens, and the vines and flowers.  All was heat set with an iron to guarantee she won't fade.  When I get her finished I'll post a photo before she is mailed to Kentucky.  She's due on the 15th, so I must get her in the mail Tuesday.  I've not named her yet.  That will come before she's shipped off.