Ilove to adorn my primitive dolls with primitive accessories, either bought or handmade. Let me describe some of the goods you can buy.
Every once in awhile I need to get out of the house and away from creating. When I can, I head out to an antique store or a primitive shop. As I look around I always keep my eye open for items I might be able to use with a doll. I get ideas for dolls while I am out shopping—perhaps an old garden tool will lead me to think of a garden doll. Little odds and ends and inspiration can be found in the most unusual places. Maybe an old pincushion or a tiny pillow, a little old granny purse, faded pictures from a bygone era that you can insert into a tiny frame, or a piece of vintage jewelry to add to a dress or put in an old jewelry box sitting in her lap. Old primitive kitchen gadgets are great, like rolling pins, sifters, wooden mashers, or a handwritten recipe that was your grandma’s, to accessorize a kitchen doll to set on your counter. Knitting needles and an old tin box, wooden bobbins, a yarn ball and paper tape measure, an old pattern and a pin cushion—you have what you need for a little seamstress doll. Unpainted wooden bird houses from craft stores are great to paint, decorate, and use with a doll.
Kitchen and household gadgets
Think about the possibilities with the holidays. Christmas ornaments for a Christmas doll to hold, tiny little trees or stars, or perhaps a battery operated candle light. Craft stores always have seasonal décor and you never know what item will give you an idea.
Winter means angel dolls. I use rusty wire for the wings and halos. I attach the wings simply by wrapping the wire around her neck and folding the wire to make wings. For her halo, I leave a long piece of wire, like the stem of a flower, and then I wrap the wire in a circle a few times to create the halo. I use a needle to make a tiny hole in the top back side of her head and insert the wire as far down as I can push it.
The possibilities are endless.
Of course, prim goods can also be handmade by you. Most dolls I create come with a handmade flag—it has become my trademark. I love to make a flag that carries the theme with the doll I make. Flags don’t have to be Americana. I use leftover painter’s tarps to make the flag part and I gather sticks from my backyard. I like to use cottonwood tree sticks because they shed their branches and they have bumps and nubbies, which make perfect holding spots for the rusty wire I use to hold the flag in place. Some of my flags have writing on them, like “Primitive Blessings” or “Garden Angel” or whatever suits the doll. I even did a doll that was holding a turkey; her flag said, “Eat Pork!” It was one of my most popular dolls.
How about making vegetables, or making a garden rake with a stick and rusty wire. I made a butterfly net using a stick, wire, and cheesecloth. You could make a little pillow and cross-stitch a cute saying or a date on the front. Or give your doll a doll or a baby—it is easy: make a small doll for the larger doll to hold.
Spring and summer: eggs, rabbit, flag, carrot, duck, corn, watermelon, green beans
Fall and winter: crow, candy corn, tree, pumpkin, candy cane, snowman, sunflower, candy
Seasonal goods are also fun: Easter eggs, flowers, and bunnies for spring; Americana flags and veggies for summer; pumpkins and crows for fall; and snowmen and angels for winter. If you plan ahead, you can even make one doll with the intention to change out her accessories with the different seasons.
Draw your own patterns, whatever your doll needs. There is always a way to make it yourself. Remember, what makes these items primitive is that they are handmade and designed by you. You will grunge them just like you did the doll and her clothes. Put them through the same process of painting, grunging, baking, stuffing, and sanding.
Garden doll primitive goods: carrots, bucket, corn, rake, beans
For the corn, I used an old pale yellow chenille bedspread. I cut it into corncob shapes, sewed it up, stuffed each ear with rags, then sewed the top opening closed. Then I grunged the ears of corn and sewed on long strands of raffia and green fabric strips to complete the look.
For carrots, I cut long triangles of fabric, stuffed and sewed them together, and grunged, painted, and sanded them. I inserted fabric strips for the carrot tops as I sewed the tops closed.
For the green beans, I drew the shapes, then sewed them up leaving a tiny opening in the top so that I could insert the stuffing. I grunged, painted, and sanded them, then sewed closed the little opening in the top.
If you make veggies, paint them after you do the first grunging and before you stuff them. After they are stuffed and sewn shut, give them one more grunging, using your paintbrush to apply the mixture. It is not necessary to dust with cinnamon unless you want to. Sand lightly when dry.
Pumpkins can have stick stems poked into the top. Sew around the hole to secure the stem; add vines if you wish before you close it tight. Make the vines out of green raffia or wood angel hair vines. (Look for this in the craft store by the moss. It comes in bags just like the green and natural color moss does.)
Experiment and try all sorts of fruits and veggies. Potatoes, onions, turnips … apples, oranges, strawberries … anything goes when you are making a garden doll.
Flowers are a fun accessory for your prim. Draw the shape flower you want on your fabric and very carefully sew around your drawing, sewing two pieces of fabric together for a front and a back. Now cut it out around the sewing very carefully—you won’t be able to turn it inside out. Get as close to your stitches as possible.
Grunge, bake, paint, and sand it as you wish.
Find a stick to use as a stem. You can wire the flower to the stick for a primitive look. Poke the wire through the center of the flower: start at the back of the flower, poke the wire through to the front of the flower, then back again to the back side of the flower, bending the wire into a U shape as you proceed. Twist the two ends of the wire together to hold the flower onto the stick.
RUSTY WIRE
I use rusty wire on many different dolls. It is great for wings and halos for angels, wrapped loosely around the neck for a necklace or collar around an animal. Use wire for handles for little purses or sacks or to attach a flag to a stick. Rusty wire comes in an assortment of gauges; choose the one that will work well for you. I use 20-gauge because it seems just the right thickness.
I have tried some of the common techniques to rust my own wire, but I can’t seem to get it right: the rust never seems to stick. I don’t like the smell and it is rather messy. If you try it, be sure to do so in a well ventilated place. Look for instructions online if you wish to try it for yourself.
RUSTY SAFETY PINS AND BELLS
Rusty safety pins can hold the doll’s hands together so you can tuck in a prim good. Use pins for a doll’s eyes, to gather her collar together for a quick fix if the collar is too wide, or otherwise adjust clothing. Rusty safety pins and bells come in a variety of sizes. I buy all the sizes to keep on hand. A rusty bell strung on a rusty wire makes a cute necklace. Add a bell to the tip of a Santa hat or to animal collars.