When I start a new ‘gurumi I like to crochet the arms first. I get them out of the way because they are kinda boring to make. I make most of the extra pieces first, like eyes and tails. Stuff like that. And then I get to do my favorite part: designing the head. When the basic shape is done I make the eyes. Yesterday, when I was working on a new doll (she’s a secret so far ;P ) I took a little side trip in order to paint a bunch of eyes.
A few months ago, when I was returning to my studio I bought a lot of glass eyes. I sort of regret that now…They are very expensive plus I don’t like how they sit on the head. They are rounded in the back so they aren’t flush with the head. This makes them look a bit bulgy. I used a pair for Cleo and I’m not happy with how they look. No big deal, but I don’t want to use them again. So I am going back to plastic eyes. The material isn’t as nice, but I feel like there are enough benefits to outweigh this. Like I mentioned before, they are a fraction of the cost, a pair of glass eyes costs about $2 whereas plastic eye are about $0.22. A huge difference. They’re easier to attach too. The plastic washers are nice and secure and I can put the eyes in before I finish the head; with glass eyes the head needs to be completed first and then you string the eyes through the stuffing. A total pain! Best of all I can indulge my color addiction.
In college I majored in painting, so I have a ton of the acrylic that I use for painting the backs of clear eyes. I love, love Golden brand paints. The interference colors are really fun. They are translucent and iridescent. I like to do a thin coat of an interference color before I paint on the color I want the eyes to be. This gives the eyes a shiny reflective look, pretty glamorous XD
Oooo I am excited! The new fawn pattern is all finished. You can get it here. I had so much fun revisiting this pattern. I hope you enjoy the new and improved addition. 
The finished fawn that I used as a model is availible as well.
Oh poor me! I have been crocheting a lot over the last few days. Although I would never give up my clover hooks they have a small draw back. The molded plastic handles have subtle seams where the 2 pieces of the mold must meet. That seam had rubbed the side of my index finger raw! Not a big deal, just an annoyance. I think I will get myself some Hello Kitty bandaids for next time 
So I realized that my mailing list and a few other important links weren’t showing up with the new theme. So I have gone back to the old one until I find one I like better that woks properly. Bah humbug!
I never anticipated how much I would enjoy revisiting old patterns. But I really do. Getting the chance to fine tune and improve them is great. This time around I have reshaped the head so that the back is more rounded. And I worked a lot on the hind legs too. I am so glad that I took the time to pick out all of the colors first. If I hadn’t picked them out before hand I don’t think they would have been so successful. This color combination had the potential to be quite jarring and unpleasant, but I feel like they are working out well because I figured out how I wanted to repeat the green it places all over the piece. I am going to sew the sequins on with tiny green beads and I might sew green patches on the bottoms of the hooves.
Oh and just look at my Turtle, my cat. Isn’t she a ham!? She has turned into a very needy little thing. She just won’t leave me alone while I work, so I let her hang around on my desk. Otherwise she would insist on sitting in my lap while I am trying to type or crochet.
Still plugging away at the bunny drawing. After ruining one attempt at a finished illustration I decided it was a good idea to do a bunch of studies first before a new attempt. I mostly focused on color. But now that I am working on another “final drawing” I find myself making different color choices. Hope it works out.
The thing about colored pencil is that it takes a loooong time. Especially the way I draw. I am pretty new to using them so I don’t use a bunch of different techniques. Right now I am making thousands of tiny circles to fill the color in evenly. I have to keep reminding myself not to be in a hurry.
My comments magically reappeared! Yay! I was hoping the problem would fix itself, and it did 
The special order fawn is all done and off the her new home. Here she is:
Working with a color scheme that someone else chose was a fun challenge. Making this fawn gave me the opportunity to revisit the fawn pattern in my book. This has been one of my favorite patterns. I enjoyed tweaking and improving it . Next I will make another fawn in order to proof read the changes I made. Here is the color scheme for the new fawn:
From past experiences I have learned that it is a good idea to chose colors and materials before I start a new project. I have backed myself into a corner before, ending up with a color scheme that I am not happy with. Also, I want to take more risks with the colors I chose. This makes preplanning even more important since I can get an idea of what the finished piece will look like when it is finished. The colors are a little off in the photo. They are a bit rosier in real life, but I didn’t want to spend all day photo editing.
Oh, and still no progress on fixing my comments. I’m sure it will get sorted out soon but my husband said it fixing the problem was over his head, so I have to find someone who can do it. In the meantime I have a bunch to do so it isn’t a top priority. Like I said in the last post, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need help with a pattern.
Well it looks like my web woes will take awhile to sort out. In the meantime, if you have questions or need to contact me for anything please feel free to email me. My address is: elisabethdoherty@sbcglobal.net
Hi Everyone,
My blog has the hiccups. Somehow all of my comments went missing. I am going to have my compture friendly husband take a look see.
Talk to you soon,
Beth
