Sonnenwiege - Hebammenpuppen: custom dolls

Sonnenwiege - Hebammenpuppen: custom dolls: Before I start my summer vacation, I want to tell you that I will offer custom dolls again in September! First only one spot for a chil...

Stina is available again!

Notice from 7/2/14: Stina is sold!

Few misunderstandings on both sides causes that the drawing of Stina went a little bit (just a little) wrong. It would take to long to explain the details. The thing that matters is: She is available again and I decided to offer her directly from this blog. Stina, her baby, placenta with cord, clothing with hand knitted details and baby carries cost 395 Euro + 38 Euro for registered, insured shipping. If you like to give Stina and her baby a new home send a mail to tabea.korten@gmail.com. If she is still available I will send you an invoice and my paypal address. She's ready to ship and will be on her way the first working day after payment. Infos and Terms can be found here. I highly recommend this doll for school children and to show them first with parents accompaniment. This doll is not suitable for children under three years due to small parts and magnets. Choking hazard.

One of the problems ,why the drawing went wrong, was that Facebook changed its algorithm. I received mails from people who were disappointed, because the Facebook post with the notice of the drawing was not, or to late shown on their comment wall. So I decided to announce next time on the landing page of "Sonnenwiege" when new dolls are available - at least one week before the sale starts. 

If I´d want to reach all the people who liked my page via Facebook, I´d have to pay for it. And this would be not affordable for me, if I had to do it every time. I want to try something new. I created a Facebook group to announce new dolls and custom spots. So if you want to make sure you wont miss a doll via Facebook, I welcome you to join this group: New "Sonnenwiege" dolls and custom spots. Of course you are welcome to post pictures of your "Sonnenwiege" dolls there. 

And I will also leave a note on Twitter and Flickr.

I hope on this way everyone who is interested, will achieve the news. I don´t want to leave people disappointed ;).

Have a nice day, Tabea

OOAK Waldorf inspired doll 'Tini' :: Sonnenwiege Online Shop

OOAK Waldorf inspired doll 'Tini' :: Sonnenwiege Online Shop

Tini is waiting excitedly if she will find a new home tonight.

Eine sonnige Begegnung

Just a few days ago I found this Pinn on Pinterest: 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/176977460327267442/

A friend send me this, because she thought I would be interested about this other artist who is making birth giving dolls. And of course - I was. So I became aware of Lina Maria Aguirre and her beautiful website. Her label is called "Sonniger Wald" and she started making dolls years before I founded "Sonnenwiege". Her kind of making dolls fascinated me. Her way to tell stories with her dolls - not only with her birthing dolls - also with her "another beings of the wood" - touched me.

I wanted to contact her, but as her website was mainly written in Spanish, I was not sure if I could contact her in German or English. But I was lucky - she also found my page - just a few days after my first visit on her site. She wrote me a mail and a brief exchange of mails resulted. I´m lucky to met such a dear colleague in the virtual world. But there was a drop of bitterness beside all the kind words we exchanged. Lina wondered if I made my photos probably based on her ideas - without mentioning her as the author. I was kind of shocked. Because respectful interaction with other people and appreciation of the creative performance of other artists is very important to me.

Some similarities of her and my pictures are really amazing and so and I can understand her suspicion.

However, my images could not be made ​​according to her ideas, because I did not know her photos when I was making mine. My pictures were inspired by experiences I made while working as a midwife. 

I can´t and I don't want to undo the pictures I've taken.  But I can and I want to introduce to you the fabulous art of "Sonniger Wald".
I want you, my dear readers, to know about this great artist, who lovingly deals with the same theme over years, that also captured me: Birth and maternity. The love of family.

She made this pictures long before I ever thought of my first birth giving doll. 

I´m glad that she contact me and we could "talk" about this misapprehension.

I´m so sorry that my pictures made Lina feel robbed of her work, without that I had aware done something wrong.

I think it is important to beg everyone: Respect the creative work of others. Let the work of others be your inspiration, but respect the copyright. Mention the source. Respect the creative works of others as they should respect your creations  And if it happens without awareness - talk about it and search for a way to pay tribute to original author.

This should be my way to pay tribute to the fabulous art of Lina. And maybe you like to see the pictures of her and mine in direct comparison. Now that the anger has dissipated, I enjoy looking at these pics. I admire Linas eye for details. I am excited about the similarities and the differences.

   Sonniger Wald:

Sonnenwiege:

Sonniger Wald:

Sonnenwiege:

Sonniger Wald:

Sonnenwiege:

Lina has a beautiful mind and a generous heart: She contacted me asking friendly and not blaming me. I hope that many of you will visit her at this place full of fantasy and magic. You will find her Facebook page here and her portfolio at Flickr.

Lina, I am glad that I´ve "met you"! I admire your creations and hope to see more of it. 

Sincerely, Tabea

OOAK Waldorf inspired doll 'Tini' :: Sonnenwiege Online Shop

OOAK Waldorf inspired doll 'Tini' :: Sonnenwiege Online Shop

This little summer girl is waiting for you!

About new dolls, new ideas and a new online shop

(Liebe deutschsprachige Leser, ich habe beschlossen dieses Blog nur noch in Englisch fortsetzten, da die meisten meiner Leser aus dem englischsprachigem Raum kommen und es sehr mühevoll ist alles zweisprachig zu verfassen.Ich bitte um euer Verständnis.)

Finally it is done. After almost three years, the first dolls are for sale. Thursday I will open the doors of my new web shop at IndieCard.
I want to say "Thank you!" to all those people that supported and not forgotten me and my dolls the last years. Your loving feedback and mails were definitely the most important support for me. And the reason to dust off my sewing machine and start with doll making again.
Now that Mona and Alexa are finished and their stories are told. I want to tell a little bit more about what inspired me to sew them the way I did at last.

As midwife I was always fascinated by birth giving and breastfeeding dolls by other artists. But I could not find a doll which captured me in a way that I wanted to purchase it. So I began thinking about sewing my own. I don´t wanted to create a toy, but tool for midwifes and childbirth educators. The beginning was hard. I had to figure out completely new ways of sewing and constructing dolls, These childbirth education dolls have to be extremely stable. To demonstrate the birth process, the dolls are pushed and pulled at different spots.
The construction of the doll body is very complex and I decided to machine sew the limbs to the body.So I had to stuff arms and legs through extra openings that had to be closed careful with small stitches by hand. The seams are inconspicuous, but a little visible.

It was also important to me to create adult proportions for the "mother dolls". While crafting it turned out that it was significant to make the head smaller and to construct a neck.

But the most difficult thing was to create the wigs of mother and child. I wanted to show the fontanels at the baby's head. And the head has to withstand some rubbing. It took some time but then I found inspiration while watching a pretty famous little person: Fröken Skicklig`s Kiki in the meadow.

I think most of you will know this amazing little girl created by the fabulous Juliane alias Fröken Skicklig. I knew and loved Juliane´s blog for a long time. Juliane enchants me with her dolls, pictures and stories. And she is one of the most creative doll makers I know.

I had never seen anyone before using wool felt for a doll wig like Juliane did at Kiki. So I tried wool felt,too. And it turned out to be the solution. Wool felt is a wonderful material for doll making. Meanwhile I´m using it not only for the wigs, but also for other details like the placenta and cord.

I wish you a sunny and untroubled Sunday!

Talk to you soon, 

Tabea

Mona`s story