John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara in 'The Quiet Man' as MINIKIN Dolls

We've been so busy with custom orders this week that I've completely neglected this blog. One of our favorite movies is the John Ford film, The Quiet Man. It's a simple tale about simple, country life in Ireland --- and the stars are John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

The Quiet Man seemed like the perfect theme for some Minikin dolls, so we designed Sean Thornton and Mary-Kate Danaher in their trademark outfits.

All of their clothes are made from wool/rayon felt, and their heads and hair (including John Wayne's cap) are needle-felted from 100% wool roving. These precious dolls are available in our Etsy shop, so be sure to take a look (link to the store is at the top of this page). Thanks for stopping by!

John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn in 'True Grit': A MINIKIN Doll

This is the first Cowboy Minikin! Rooster Cogburn (as played by John Wayne in the 1969 film, True Grit) seemed like a perfect choice for this venture into the wide world of the Wild West. Okay, so it was the eye patch that really inspired us to make this character.

Elizabeth and I are just crazy about Westerns and cowboys. This little Minikin is complete with his very own red bandana and tall hat. He stands at a whopping height of 4-3/4" --- perfect for a miniature John Wayne.

So, be sure to check out this adorable doll in our Etsy shop (use the link at the top of this page). Coming soon: John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hercule Poirot's Friends as Minikin Dolls

We have spent the past week making a set of Minikins based on Hercule Poirot's friends (as portrayed in the Poirot TV shows starring David Suchet). These were made as a special order for a friend, so they don't appear in our Etsy shop. However, we did manage to make another Miss Lemon doll, and she is now available on Etsy. More of Poirot's little friends will be coming soon --- and we're always open to filling custom orders! The photo shows a Poirot doll surrounded by his friends.

Minikin Dolls (left to right): Captain Hastings, Mrs. Oliver, Poirot, Miss Lemon & Inspector Japp

These little dolls range from about four to four-and-a-half inches in height. Their clothes are all made of wool/rayon blend felt, and their little heads (and Inspector Japp's hat!) are needle felted from 100% wool roving.

Captain Hastings wears an outfit loosely based on one worn by Hugh Fraser in Murder on the Links. Mrs. Oliver wears an outfit based on one worn by Zoe Wanamaker in Mrs. McGinty's Dead. Miss Lemon  and Inspector Japp wear outfits based on some worn by Pauline Moran and Philip Jackson in The Case of the Missing Will.

Poirot and Miss Lemon are both available in the shop. If you're interested in any of Poirot's other friends, then feel free to e-mail us or request a custom item. Thanks for looking!

Too Many Ideas, Too Little Time

Song lyrics for every crafter, I know,
but life without the ideas? Emphatically, NO!

Seven days in a week; it's always been so.
Why is there still little time left to sew?

So we work for six days and rest all the other.
Still can't get it done, one day looks like another.

Our days are too short, need no more things to do,
Since the orders we've got will all soon be due.

No time for long sleep, just an hour or two.
Quick shower will help, but no time for food, too.

Just a minute to spare, find some new clothes to wear.
Seems pointless, some days, 'cause I'm going nowhere.

Need to pick up the house and bring in the mail.
Feed the kids, brush the cat. I'm glad I'm female!

The tea has gone cold, dinner needs to be made.
Forgot to eat lunch, think we just need a maid.

Let's get back to work, can't put on the brake.
Seems like just yesterday that we had a small break.

Pipe cleaners are missing, the cats have been here.
I yell and I scream, but they don't seem to hear.

One more log in the stove, need to get some more wood
from the log pile outside. Wish someone else would.

The cats want their food, my brain's filled with mist.
What part was I on? Will it really be missed?

My feet are asleep, the laundry can wait.
If I don't get up soon, I'll start putting on weight.

The house is a mess, Lady Chaos doth reign.
Better bring in the clothes; oh, why did it rain?

Cobwebs and dust tell their own little tale.
Just sad when your cat has some on his own tail.

Sunlight is gone, but we still need two hours
to finish this thing or the sale won't be ours.

What? Bedtime already? The hours they flew.
It feels hot in here, hope I don't have the flu.

Back to work, Etsy store needs more dolls in their clothes.
It's been fun, gotta run. Our poem must close.

Each day brings new hope that we sell more than buy.
All workers at Peppermint Toes say "good-bye".

A Needle-Felted Llama (Made of 100% Llama Fiber)

I don't felt many animals, though they were great projects to learn the techniques for felting in the round. I tried my hand at a tree full of local Mid-West songbirds, a couple of sheep, etc. The idea of felting a llama had never dawned on me --- that is, until a friend wanted to learn how to felt. She has a lot of llamas, so she brought over some bags of llama fiber and we set about designing a little llama.



This is certainly a one-of-a-kind piece, as I used every last bit of the fiber that I had. Llama is extremely soft as raw fiber, but it looses a bit of that feeling once felted. It's still soft, but the fiber felts rather quickly and hard --- giving the finished piece a solid build. The body of this little fellow was felted to shape and then I felted longer pieces onto the body which received a generous haircut to give the llama his neat and trim appearance. 

Mom suggested the blue ribbon, and it gave this proud fellow a reason to hold his head up. The ribbon is felted from blue and yellow wool roving, and it is held onto the llama's neck with genuine leather thong.

This llama is available in our Etsy shop, so be sure to check him out via the link at the top of this page. Thanks for stopping by!
 

Inspiration and Motivation vs. Time

Inspiration comes from many of the 10,000+ books surrounding us in our home. We're crazy about books. Historical non-fiction mostly, but a very good piece of fiction does occasionally find its way onto our shelves. More Inspiration comes from the 500+ DVDs which have (grudgingly) been granted precious shelf space in the family room. Aside from a very occasional foray into color films and BBC shows, the bulk of our viewing is monotone. We are absolutely potty about black-and-white films. So, find your Inspiration in what you surround yourself with. Take a look at what you love most to do with your "free time", and pull your ideas from those things.

Motivation usually follows right on the heels of Inspiration. If you've really come up with a great idea, you should be "chomping at the bit" to get started. If you don't feel motivated to get to your work, then it's time to come up with a new idea. Personally, we buy a little insurance for our Motivation by designating one single thing to which we apply all the proceeds from a particular project. It keeps us motivated to know that our eBay sales allow us to go to book sales or fiber shows. All profits from our Etsy store have been designated to paying off our credit-card debt as quickly as possible. We're planning a Minikin to benefit the St. German's Restoration Fund (a very old church in Cornwall, England). If your needs run more basic, like buying food or paying the electric bill, then designate it for that. Be particular. It's a lot more fun, if you have a goal.

Inspiration and Motivation all in order? Great. It's the third part of the online-selling triumvirate which makes your hair fall out. There just doesn't seem to be enough time to do all of the things you want to do. The only thing that I'd like to say is that you have to remember this basic principle: something has to be taken out of a bag for every new thing which you put into the bag. Get it? If you're going to make things to sell on Etsy, then you will have to stop doing something else. It's that simple. Figure out what you will eliminate from your already-busy schedule, and then eliminate it. Don't put it on a back burner. Don't try to just add your Etsying into the already-full bag. Once you understand this, then you'll know just how much time you have for your crafting. Remember, you can't be inspired and motivated if you're mentally and physically drained.

So, do the very best that you can and have fun with your crafting. Let it be filled with joy. The joy will show in your inventory. We aren't hoping for a lot of views or favoriting. Just sales. Meanwhile, we look for inspiration, motivation and time. The first two come easily, the third being a little more elusive.

Philippians 2:3-11

Pierrot and Pierrette Commedia dell'arte FOGLEBERRY Dolls

A very rare pair of Meissen figurines were the inspiration for this pair of Fogleberry needle-felted dolls. The figures are part of a set that is the key to the mystery in The Affair at the Victory Ball --- one of the first episodes in the Poirot TV show starring David Suchet. The set used features six of the most famous characters from the Commedia dell'arte.

These dolls are based on Pierrot and Pierrette --- the characters who have inspired a lot of well-known clowns and ballerinas. In the TV show, the costumes from the figurines are made into real-life costumes for some of the actors. Those costumes aren't exact replicas from the figurines, though, so these dolls are patterned after both. The picture above shows the dolls and both sets of "models".

Elizabeth and I have admired the set of figurines for years and have tried to figure out a way to make dolls of them. We really wanted to make a set of Minikins, but we couldn't come up with a good way to capture the details of the costumes. Then, I learned how to needle-felt. Wow! Perfect. This technique was really the way to go. It was the masks that really made them fun. Pierrot even has his trademark tear. We've talked about making a Scaramouche doll in the future, so that's on a "back burner". 

I took artistic liberty with portions of the dolls, particularly with Pierrette's hat. I just thought that she needed a real French beret instead of the little flat. Making these dolls was very enjoyable, and they are the only ones that I've ever done as a matched set. Be sure to check them out in our Etsy store (use the link at the top of this page) --- and you'll be able to see more pictures in the listing. Thanks for looking!

Jules Verne's Princess Aouda as a MINIKIN Doll

Here she is! The final Minikin in our trio of characters based on Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. The costumes are based on those worn by the players in Michael Todd's 1956 film version of the story. A very young Shirley MacLaine played the beautiful Indian Princess, and this little doll is based on one of her beautiful outfits in the movie. She even sports a "bracelet", "necklace" and "ring" --- all made from gold thread.

 Making Princess Aouda was quite a challenge for Elizabeth when it came to the beautiful stitch-work on her dress and shawls. The clothes are trimmed in some cotton floss and a lot of gold-colored metallic floss. The gold thread looks beautiful on the finished product, but it's sure tough to sew. There are a lot more hours of work in this little girl than her two friends, that's for sure!

All three characters from Around the World in 80 Days are now available in our Etsy shop. Please, take a look (just click on the tab at the top of this page), and check back often!

 

BRANDING --- Banner Design & Packaging

Having spent 25 years in the marketing/printing business, it's important to me that our store banner and packaging have the same "feel" and appearance. The Minikins (our bread-and-butter line) inspired our logo with their packing boxes.

We originally had small wooden boxes//baskets in mind for packing. It looked great and felt impressive in your hand, but it shot the shipping/packing-materials cost through the roof. Not only did the wooden boxes add to the cost of the item, but they sometimes bumped our shipping costs beyond the cost of the Minikin itself. (Not to mention that it buried any chance for selling to the UK. That did it, since our Poirot Minikin is popular in the UK, and we don't want to make it difficult for those buyers to shop in our Peppermint Toes store.) So, we scrapped the whole idea and assembled a great combination of one lightweight paper-maiche box inside a bubble-wrap envelope.

Minikins are deservedly vain and don't like to be flattened or have water thrown at them. Their begging for a say in the packaging nearly drove us crazy. They insisted on special delivery in an armoured Brinks truck, but we nixed that when we found out that you can't drive from Ohio to England. In the end, we came up with packaging suitable to both us and them, attractive but cost-effective.

Here's how it goes. The Minikins are carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a small paper-maiche box. The box is "sealed" with a paper band. For protection during shipping, the whole of that is then placed in a 6x9" ziploc. Into the kraft bubble-lined envelope, and they're off to their new home.

That brings us, full circle, back to the banner design. One look at the cute box with its paper band, and we knew that the banner would have to imitate the finished product. Simply done. Lay the "shipping band" artwork on a paper-like background, and -- voila -- our own "brand".

Philippians 2:3-11

Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg and Passepartout as MINIKIN Dolls

Michael Todd's Around the World in 80 Days won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1956 --- and it certainly deserved it! You can't beat the combination of the beautiful widescreen and color shots, Jules Verne's classic story and the fabulous performances of over 100 stage and screen greats. David Niven plays Phileas Fogg, an English gentleman of means who sets off around the world. Cantinflas plays Passepartout, Fogg's valet and traveling companion.

Since this is one of our favorite color films, Elizabeth and I couldn't resist turning these fun characters into little Minikin dolls. We're very happy to announce that Mr. Phileas Fogg and Passepartout are now available in our Etsy shop. Mr. Fogg's traveling outfit is based on David Niven's "Safari" suit (as seen in the India portion of the film). Our little Minikin even has its very own needle-felted pith helmet!

The little Passepartout Minikin doll is based on Cantinflas' outfit in the film. There are even patches on the tiny pants. These are proof that Passepartout comes from "a very ancient family". He also comes with the large red carpet bag. Of course, this little doll hasn't put all of those brand-new bank notes in the bag, yet. :) Check back soon for Princess Aouda --- another great character from Around the World in 80 Days.

Please, take a moment to browse through our shop (link at top of page). We've got a lot of ideas and more Minikins coming very soon.

Agatha Christie's Captain Hastings as a MINIKIN Doll

We are excited to announce the arrival of Captain Arthur Hastings into the fun world of Minikin dolls. We've made a variety of Poirot dolls, but no Poirot is complete without trusted associate, Capt. Hastings! Played by Hugh Fraser in the Poirot TV shows, Hastings brings some lighter moments to often dark moments. He is the total opposite of Poirot, but they are a great pair of sleuths.

Hastings has a variety of interests (almost obsessions) when it comes to things like photography, fast cars and golf. In honor of this, our Hastings Minikin is dressed in plus fours and ready to "hit the green". His outfit is patterned after the ensemble worn by Hugh Fraser in the golfing sequence in Murder on the Links.

This little doll is the perfect addition to a Poirot MINIKIN, so be sure to check out both of them. Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for Miss Lemon! You can visit our shop on Etsy by clicking on the link in the bar at the top of this page.

Peppermint Toes -- How We Named Our Etsy Store

What does "Peppermint Toes" mean? Nothing to the world, actually. It's just a great name for a store and reminds us of a most remarkable cat.

We had a very special rescue cat, and we named her Olivia Peppermint Toes. Sarah & Elizabeth thought that she had the funniest-looking cat feet. Kind of like Mentos candy with toes on the side, stuck to the bottoms of thin, stick-like legs. Our store was named in honour of our much-missed Mama Kitty, who left the cares of this world in January 2013.

Naming the store was a serious issue for us. In fact, naming things has always been a serious issue around our house. Growing up, The Girls had hundreds of stuffed animals, and each new addition had to have a name before going to bed for the night. If it was right enough for Adam in the Garden of Eden, The Girls figured it was serious stuff.

Boy, did we try some doozies for this store. Mostly boring names, or names which had already been used. After long hours of discussion, inanity ran unchecked. I know, right now you're thinking that Peppermint Toes probably came out of the bottom of the barrel. Nope. It was the only name that got a nod of the head from all three of us. And that's a rarity around here.

Philippians 2:3-11

King of England MINIKIN Doll (Richard the Lion Heart)

Who doesn't like stories about Knights and Kings or Robin Hood and His Merry Men? I don't think that most people outgrow a love for those stories --- Elizabeth and I certainly did not! We've always loved imagining stories of Medieval Days, and British history is our favorite subject. With this love in mind, we decided to make a Minikin doll of the old King of England. We were thinking of Richard the Lion Hearted (as he appeared in the 1938 Errol Flynn film, The Adventures of Robin Hood) when we made this doll, but he could be any of the early Plantagenet kings. They all had red hair and would have worn this traditional symbol of England at some time or another.

This little King is very proud of his crown, too! It was made out of beautiful gold-colored jewelry wire --- just the right scale for a little man like this. As evidenced by his red hair, he has a bit of a temper. That was a Plantagenet trait, but he's really friendly at heart.

Another special thing about this Minikin is the fact that his body is entirely wound in metallic thread (serving as chain mail). Chain mail is an absolute must for a little warrior king like this, so he also sports an under-tunic made of shiny "chain mail" fabric. His red tunic, belt and cape are made of felt and decorated in royal splendour.

This little King is available in our shop on Etsy. Be sure to visit the shop via the link in the bar at the top of this page. Thanks for stopping by!

A Great Big Welcome to "Behind-the-Scenes" @ Peppermint Toes

Welcome to the "Behind the Scenes" (BTS) section at Peppermint Toes. Most of the entries will be written by Janis, one of our "behind the scenes" team members, with an occasional appearance by Sarah and Elizabeth.

The BTS section of this blog is where you'll find assorted ramblings about the goings-on here at Peppermint Toes. Nothing in particular, just a bit of this and that. A quick trip through some of the things that it takes to make Peppermint Toes into a store where people will feel comfortable and unharried. A place to unwind, even if it's only for a moment.

Unpretentious and slow-paced, our store motto can be found in Philippians 2:3-11. We want every buyer to feel like they're more important than us. We are not a studio, in any sense of the word. We have no aspirations to anything that grand. We are a family of four, all very crafty in our own ways, coming together to make this a fun shopping experience for you. All of our work is done in the family room, where we house our personal library of more than 10,000 older books and many hundreds of old movies on DVD. We use the best materials available in our dolls, as much non-synthetic as possible, and always leave room for improvement. We have plans to continue making these dolls for as long as they bring joy to our family and yours.

Even if you never make a single purchase from our store, we welcome you back as often as you care to come. Enjoy our new offerings, and spend a moment of carefree browsing. Just look at those little faces. De-stressing. Always good for a smile. Share them with your family and friends, and thanks for visiting Peppermint Toes!

Indian Brave: A Needle-Felted FOGLEBERRY Doll

If the bright colors of Merino roving were so perfect for a doll based on Carmen Miranda (see previous entry), then the beautiful earthy tones were ideal for a little Native American Indian Brave. Elizabeth and I had come up with the idea of a needle felted Indian doll when I first learned how to felt, but it was some time before he materialized.

The two of us have always been crazy about old Westerns. We like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy. The list can go on and on. Indians always play an active part in Wild West stories. The thing that always intrigues us is the Indian sign-language. In fact, we've acquired a couple of books on it over the years and learned a few words. When I finally got ready to start felting on this doll --- well, it wasn't a far step to think of designing him in a sitting position as if he was in the middle of signing a message. Paging through a book of Indian signs (illustrated by pictures of Iron Eyes Cody performing the signs), we decided on the work "chief". What could be more important than that??

Unlike the Carmen Miranda doll, this Indian Brave is not based on anyone in particular. What's funny is that I was actually inspired to work on this after watching the 1938 film, Listen Darling. Nine-year-old Scotty Beckett receives a really cute Indian costume from movie friend, Alan Hale. That did it. I was really in the mood to felt an Indian doll.

Elizabeth and I sat down with bags of roving and decided on a selection of "earthy" tones. To give some color to this little gent, I felted a bead trim along the sleeves and a wampum belt. These were loosely based on original costumes owned by Iron Eyes Cody. His headband is made from genuine leather and his necklace is made out of wood and metal beads.

Of course, no real Indian Brave would want to be seen without his own genuine Buffalo mat. This little man's mat is needle felted from genuine Buffalo fiber (boy, is that different than Merino!?) and backed by a piece of suede.

This proud little fellow is available in our Etsy shop --- and he is certainly a one-of-a-kind creation. You can check him out by visiting our shop via the link in the bar at the top of this page. Thanks for looking!