"Prints, Charming" is here!

Once upon a time...well, late last night, to be honest...we put the finishing touches on Prints, Charming, the new exhibit at the Castle in the Air gallery. Because this is our second show, we had the luxury of being used to the gallery space and how to put up the art. We do have some rather unique pieces this time, however, including a ten-foot long framed print, several portraits only a few inches wide, and books (glorious books!) from the Dromedary Press line.

I've been living with some of the original images from the show for many years, some for just a number of months. Now that they are all dressed and gathered together, they all seem fresh and new and as though they are all part of the same family, which of course they are--princesses, magical animals, and my hero, Commonplace Mouse, who has been immortalized in time for the show not only in print through Dromedary but also in doll form by Caron Dunn!

Marvelous Marolin

You may be surprised to learn that, among all the glitz of the season, one of our most beloved collections at Castle in the Air is the beautiful and understated work of the Marolin company. This family business has been making the finest paper mache sculpture -- including this exquisite nativity scene -- for over 100 years in Germany. Their pieces have been part of Castle in the Air since the store opened.

Our visitors always notice the Marolin nativity scene in December, of course, but throughout the year we also display the company's fairy tale characters and other historical figures (we currently have Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Adam and Eve, among others), and our teachers often incorporate Marolin doll parts into their classes. In fact, Marolin brought the parts shown here out of retirement exclusively for Castle in the Air. Our store is he only place to find them. We loved these expressive faces and sweet little arms so much from the moment we saw them, that there was no way we would let them vanish into memory like so many other lost treasures.

Peek-A-Boo Lovey

The multi-talented Caron Dunn has done it again, charming us with another precious project. We've recently seen Caron's felted friends, and her watercolor painting classes are always popular and fun. But this week she brought by her latest creation -- a delightful little doggy who plays peek-a-boo when he pops out of his festive cone.



Watch the video to see him do his thing, and visit the Online Shoppe to sign up for the class!

From the home studio...

I've been making time to spend in my studio at home lately. It's really my own world, and I have a great time getting lost in music and all of the little details of my projects. Recently I've been spending time learning the joys of creating with paper clay. Here is a picture of one of my new friends who has come about from that process.

Her face and hands are made of paper clay attached to an artist's armature, and I made her clothes from painted fabric. She's part of a larger project that I hope to tell (and show) you more about in the near future. Rosanna Pereyra (doll-maker extraordinaire and creator of the weblog Fractured Fairytales) and I met during this year's One World - One Heart festivities, and we've been corresponding as I've worked on my dolls. She's been a real mentor, sending encouraging replies to my emails and pictures, and gently pointing out where I can make improvements (like in my sense of proportions). Thank you, Rosanna!

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Little Polka Dot...

...kids! That's exactly what I found on Sandra Evertson's blog last month, and her photographs took me right back to being a kid myself, when I spent hours porcelain painting. I told Sandra about it, and before I knew it she had mailed me two of the little chubbies!












It was so special to see some of my "pocket friends" again. Holding them I am transported back to the days of my after-school doll making classes when I was eight years old. Digging around at my mom's house, I was able to find a tiny tea set from that era. Bradshaw Hedgehog was kind enough to help me set up a little display of them all so you could take a peek for yourself.

Bully Good!

Our holiday displays have attracted a tribe of Native American dolls to Castle in the Air. Some of these adorable and intriguing figures are from the Skookum line of souvenir dolls, which were popular in the American West from the 1920s into the 1960s. Others are ingenious mimics inspired by the success of Skookum.

Skookum dolls were first made in the the 1910s by Mary McAboy of Montana. She used apples for the dolls heads, pinching them into faces as they dried and adding black pins for eyes. The bodies were made of blocks of wood or stuffed muslin sacks, then adorned with horse (or sometimes human) hair, blankets, and jewelry and other accessories. McAboy's production was a cottage industry until 1920, when she partnered with H.H. Tammen Co. of Denver, Colorado, to meet the growing demand for the dolls. Tammen used plastic and other materials instead of McAboy's homespun components, but the spirit of the dolls was retained.

We love the skeptical sidelong glances on their faces. Legend has it that the dolls who look to their right have the power to grant health and recovery. The ones who peer left are imbued with the opposite mojo.

And just what is a "Skookum?" In McAboy's day, "skookum" was a popular word in the American Northwest. It originated with Chinook traders as a means of describing quality merchandise. Anything "skookum" could also be said to be "bully good!"