She liked the doll's face and clothing, but thought the key and keyhole were silly and unneeded. However, showing the pattern to her parents and thinking about her career, she thought she might like to make the Secret Keeper (as named by her designer, Barbara Willis) after all. In the picture below, you can better see the antique key and escutcheon that serves as a breast plate.
The pattern designer calls this an "intermediate" doll - that is apparently reflected in the doll's fingers and wiring. This doll is 17 inches tall and has a separate thumb and little finger, and although the three middle fingers are not turned individually, each one has its own wire. So the Secret Keeper has been able to hang on to her key while Cheryl finished sewing on details, like the beads that trim the oversleeves, and the striped cuffs, seen in the closeup below.
This Secret Keeper is obviously Elfin - in the top picture you can see her ears are pointy, and this next closeup shows that her lace trimmed, soft leather shoes have curled toes.
Below the doll is posed to show how well she fits in to her new environment, where Norris' car keys are placed in the leaf-shaped plate on the shelf. The doll pattern came first, then the key and escutcheon from a local architectural salvage store, then the key shelf (complete with antique keys) and finally the doll.
But clearly Cheryl is not a true doll maker. The real ones say that when they get to a certain point in the doll's construction - adding the hair is a likely place - the doll tells the maker what her name is. Cheryl does not really even care if the doll has a name.
2 comments:
She's very lovely! But no name? Really? hmmmmm, are you going to make me break out the Woonsocket?
I'm liking this - a finished project! Is there a reason that she is facing sideways on the rack? I'm thinking perhaps she is watching the front door.
But she really does need a name.
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