The Land of Charlottes!
"Come one, Come all,
to the Land of Charlottes!"
Since late last summer I have been in complete doll mode and it all started from a Vintage Charlotte/Penny Doll that I bought on one of my travels. Since I was a child, I have loved my dolls and toys, always creating stories revolving around them, making clothes, accessories and displays for them, even making dolls of my own from the materials I had in my house.
Here is the First Charlotte I ever made called: Queen Lilly of Charlotteville!
Creating my own imaginery worlds allowed my imagination to soar, I still have many of the toys/dolls from my childhood, and from my mom's childhood, others I have bought throughout the years. My favorite vintage dolls are: The celluloid carnival dolls, kewpie dolls, dolls from around the world, China Dolls and the CHARLOTTE/PENNY BISQUE DOLLS, these vintage delights have become part of my artful world, from a handmade mold, I have been able to reproduce them in a variety of ways, turning them into dolls revolving around different storybook and character themes, used them to create doll heads/parts for my artwork and to sell in my stores for others to use in their artworks as well.These dollies have been sold all over the world, they have been customized through an option in my store, purchased already made and ordered for wedding showers and parties. They have graced the inside of my jar fairies/glass vignettes, inside altered art books, in assemblages, as wands, tassels and in ornamental bulbs. They have become cupcake picks, cake sticks and found on ATCS's, in jewelry, as charms and on boxes and tags. These dollies have allowed me to re-create that vintage world and explore other vintage dolls and story books.Some of the styles are apart of my charlotte doll line such as: The Queen Lilly Style and The Harlequin Wizard Style! Each one of my dolls are pressed into one of my many handmade molds, then smoothed, sanded, painted, triple glazed and embellished with a variety of materials both vintage and new.Some fave materials I use in my dolls are crepe paper, tulle, velvet, sequins, vintage piano paper or storybook pages, tinsel and German glass glitters.This is one of my latest Charlottes called: Betsy Has a Birthday.Here is a later version of Queen Lilly standing next to her friend: Queen Elizabeth!Here is another Charlotte I made, which is my take on the Mad Hatter meets a Victorian Socialite who loves the Garden, Sewing and Soirees, I call her Betsy Winklesby is from New England, A Socialite with family roots from England, South Africa to Nantucket and the Hamptons, currently Betsy resides in Nantucket, who set up a New England Sewing Society, where ladies will crochet, cross stitch, weave, sew and tatt for charity and personal admirement.

Betsy is an advid quilter and doll maker in her spare time, she teaches her children and friends children how to sew and donates hand sewn costumes to the Candyland Ball beauty contestants. Here is Betsy in her sewing best on her way to the Mad Hatters Sewing Tea Party.Here is Lana's Custom Charlotte I made for her called: Sweet Marie: reminiscent of Marie Antoinette in her garden soiree gown which is also similar to a Southern Belle strolling through her plantation garden.Meet Queen Charlotte II, Queen Charlotte is a sweet Queen from Charlotteville who loves dancing at soiree's, the color pink and tinsel tiara's.

Charlotte even has several pink and tinsel ball gowns and sparkly shoes, because you never know when a soiree will come up.Here is Sierra, The Sea Pageant Queen, all ready for the Seaside Ball.Meet another mermaid beauty, her name is Misty Plumbach a flapper mermaid from the 1920's, who loves to party, dance and sing in Sea York City.Meet the Seahorse Soiree Attendees: Maude and Miranda!No under sea party would be complete without the Fiji Mermaid, complete in her coconut throne, and glowing tinsel shells. This piece was made from a broken coconut shell I recycled, my charlotte doll head, crepe paper body, shells, dresden trims, tinsel, glitter and more.

To see over 200 photos of my various Charlotte Dolls, Projects I have made with them and the Charlotte Doll Supplies to purchase, see their images here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonfaires16/sets/72157619461473554/ to purchase these
dolls visit my Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5074220
and Website Store: http://www.moonfairesworld.com/curiosity_shoppe.htm

For custom charlottes which range in price from $25-30, contact me.

Look for my new doll head supplies I just made from 4 new doll molds I just finished, they are: China Head Doll Heads 2.25 inches in size and available un-finished and painted, I have Kewpie Style Heads 1.75 to 2 inches in size, again available un-finished and painted. I have a Large Baby Doll Head about 3.25 inches in size available un-finished, A 2nd Tristan Style called: Harley which is almost 2inches in size, the Marie Antoinette style have been added in painted form today, ujn-finished style added tommorrow, I hoep you enjoy them all!

Magic and Joy!
Lisa!

The Charlotte Costume Party!Meet Queen Esmeralda, Queen Millie, and Harlequin Maude, look for Violet, The Candy Fairy and Sugar, The Mer-Cupcake Queen!Sugar The Mer-Cupcake Queen and Violet The Candy Fairy are the newest additions to The Charlotte Dollies, who are all getting ready to go to their Costume Ball Tonight and Tea Party Tommorrow.
Here is a close up of Violet, in her party best.Here is Sugar in her sugary best!These girls just love their cupcakes and candies, they have even made a special batch of their cupcakes for tommorrow's Tea Party at Mermaid Cove!In this picture we have Miss Taffy, part of the Dollie Wand Series, look for Sadie, Shelby, Taylor and Tilly!Each of these wands are made from my rounded doll heads and other enchanting embellishments!

See you tommorrow at The Mermaid Tea Party! Don't forget to bring your cupcakes, tea hats and mer-tails!

Magic and Joy!
Lisa!

Mermaids, Charlottes, Tea Oh Boy!
As you all know, The Mermaid Tea Party is Fast Approaching, 2 more days till the tea and sea event begins. All the Mermaids are primping for this Springtime event, with fancy hairdo's tea time hats, mer-tail jewelry and clothing, crowns, jewels, and appetites for a scrumptious afternoon of delicious treats.

There is so much to do and prepare for, afterall, we have many mermaids and mermaid attendees coming for tea, I promise to share the recipes for everything with you all.

Even the Charlotte Dollies have been prepping for their costumes for the event. Here is some new photos of Queen Millie (Lily's Sister), Harlequin Maude and Queen Esmeralda.Here is a close up of the one and only Queen Millie, she loves cotton candy and sugar! Now here is Harlequin Maude, who just loves the carnival and diamonds!Queen Esmeralda's favorite color is blue, could you tell? These gals sure know how to dress, their costumes are perfect for Saturday's Tea Party, now the only thing left to buy is a mer-tail, Chanterelles makes the finest Mer-tails in the area and is super busy designing everyone's pieces for the party, if you call them for your mer-tail, tell them I referred you!

Okay Ladies and Gentleman, get your tea and sea best ready for the party!
Magic and Joy!
Lisa!

Projects made with my new Charlotte Dolls and Parts!
As many of you know, I have been working with different forms of clay and dolls over the past 8 months, experimenting with all kinds of clays, texture mediums and molds. I usually make molds of various old dolls I have, in full mold and half molds.

Then the process begins with filling and base washing. My painted doll pieces are sold with pre-painted faces and coated with a porcelain paint glaze for durability and a bisque look. Depending on the project will depend on which mold I use.
Here is a sample of a captured fairy assemblage called: The Doll Soiree Carriagewhere the fairy inside was created with a layered image and one of my doll heads using the bisque formula, and the wheels of this assemblage were adorned with the doll heads.In this next project I have done something similar only in a Christmas wire ornament which I call: The Queen of Candyland! Here is Candy Tinkersby, The Queen of Cupcakes, whose fave color is pink! For instructions on making these orbs such as an orb wand, visit the project in my new book: Altered Art Circus!Now meet the Fiji Mermaid made in pretty much the same way as the above pieces, but this time as a mermaid inside a coconut shell half.The above is a picture of The Tinsel Queen Parade using left over project items and one of my doll heads, flat back!Queen Pomegrana!Meet Elle Pixiestone!Valentine Queen!These photos above are of my full length Charlotte Dolls using the bisque formula and embellished with a variety of vintage and new materials, the next photo is of Queen Butterwicke made with my full length doll, attached to paper mache box and coated in beeswax!In these photos are examples of the doll parts in altered books using the charlotte dollies and the foam clay, which is perfect for scrapbooking and the paper arts. Visit my website at: http://www.moonfairesworld.com/ or my Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5074220 to purchase these supplies for your own artful needs!

Meet The New Charlotte/Penny Dollies!

A few weeks ago I purchased a vintage Charlotte/Penny Doll, when I saw her, I was instantly in love, she is the cutest from her pinkish hair to moveable bisque arms. The thing is all these vintage Charlotte aka Penny or Carnival Bisque Dolls which were made in either Japan or Germany tend to be quite expensive to buy.

As an artist and designer I'd like to use them in some of my projects but either I don't have the heart to attach them to a piece or art or don't want to loose their original state, this left me with a dollie dilema. I wanted a way to have tons of these, which I could make and give new identities too, keeping them in vintage style and with the storybook whimsy so many of them have.


After much thought and research I developed a technique to make your own using a variety of supplies, For now I'm not going to give away the 4 step process, because I am saving it as a project for my next art book, trust me it will be worth the wait. This new technique is fantastic and perfect for the in-experienced doll crafter or the advanced artist looking to cut some doll making time.


All these dolls and many more versions, ornaments and tooth fairy boxes will be available soon in my Etsy, Ebay and Web Stores. I will also be selling them at The Handmade Faire in Medford, NJ on Oct.25 and at Silver Bella in Omaha, Ne Nov.13-15.

Stay tuned for more dollies! Check my flickr site for more images!

Magic and Joy!
Lisa!