Because everything has been going so smoothly these past few weeks (insert sarcasm filter), almost down to the moment I finished up the mimics and started to take photographs my daughter came down with a fever. I was able to capture a few shots of the oatmeal mimic before illness struck. So, while I had announced the shop update for this Friday, I am going to push it back to Sunday the 20th. 
Photographs of the others will be trickling in over the next couple of days. 

I am finally nearing the finish line for this batch of mimics. I have the third one mostly wrapped up; I still need to finish her apron/over dress tonight. Oh, and of course the wig. I should be able to finish the fourth and final mimic over the weekend. So, stayed tuned as next week I will announce the shop update. The pricing will vary for each doll, but will range from $500 to $600 USD. 
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My daughter helped me take these photographs this morning. The dried beans were her edition. She is amazingly sweet with the dolls. She understands they are fragile and "mommy's work"; so while she is fascinated by them, she doesn't touch them. Instead she just hovers around them and soothingly coos at them as if they needed to be reassured. It warms my heart.

What a week... I am sewing my fingers off whenever I have a moment to do so in an attempt to have everything finished by next week. A number of sleepless nights due to toddler nightmares, a battle with a cold virus, and a horrific flare up of pain from TMJ has made my progress less than what I had hoped by the end of this week. I just cannot seem to "get it together" this winter. I am hopeful that spring will bring with it a little order and energy into my life.
Anyway, I have finished up one of the charcoal mimics (well, minus the wig). The stitching is a lot more time consuming than I had anticipated, however I think the effect has been worth all the effort. I have not scheduled anything for this weekend besides finishing up the other two, so I should still be on track for having everything finished and the ready to be posted for sale by the second week of March.

Also, as a side note, if you have e-mailed me over the last couple of months and I have not written you back, I will get on it sometime in the next week or two. I have the horrible habit of reading messages then answering them in my head, all the while neglecting to actually type out my response. When I am in the throes of working on pieces I tend to be even worse with this habit. So, once everything is finished and I have a little clarity I will set aside time to write everyone back.

Progress this week has moved so incredibly slowly. I finished the paint work on two more mimics, stained some fabric, finished up one set of limbs and nearly finished a second set. My little one is going through a lot of life changes this past month and it has rendered her understandably slightly more clingy than usual. Most of my time is being spent with her and when she finally falls asleep I have very little energy left for anything besides laying in my bed and staring off into space. My goal is to have the four mimics + three sprouting tuber ornaments finished and ready for a shop update by the first week in March. The threadbare doll I had started won't be finished by then, so I'll save finishing her for the following shop update in early June.

I had the goal of posting a blog update once a week; so far I have failed miserably. This winter has left me rather listless. The general malaise brought on by the nature of January mixed with recent hormone changes has created the perfect storm of stagnation. To be fair to myself, not total stagnation as I have made progress on the mimics - I just haven't felt like writing about it. I am slowly coming around and hope I can be a little more visible in the coming weeks. 
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I had five mimics cast; however, cold fingers + distraction led one to meet an untimely end with the concrete floor. Now there are four. The theme for this batch, which isn't so much a theme as a color scheme, is charcoal & oatmeal (which I believe I may have posted about already). I have one finished, well finished except for her hair - which, I suppose is a pretty critical part. This will be the only completely pale (or oatmeal) one. The rest will be on the dark side. Everything is hand stitched and embroidered, which took me quite a bit of time - longer than I had originally thought it would anyway. 

In other news, another issue of the DC Conspiracy's comic newspaper, Magic Bullet, just came out and I have a story (illustrated by the talented Hobbes Holluck) featured in it. The piece is titled 'Verdun', and if you have any knowledge of The Great War, you should pick up on the strong influence that horrific and eye opening moment in history has recently had on me. 

I figured it's about time that I jumped on this whole Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday (what a mouthful... am I missing one for Sunday?) business and have some sort of shop update and sale. I'm thinking Cyber Monday is the more appropriate day since it is an online shop (plus, it gives me some more time to squeeze out one or two more items). It won't be much, but a little is better than nothing. I have two Lit'le Cthulhu cast away ornaments that will definitely be posted (with a one day price of $20 instead of $25). I am working on a cloth doll pattern and my goal is to have one or two of those finished by Monday for the update (but no promises). 
I will post a shop update notification reminder over the weekend.

Both sprouting tuber mimic sisters are finished. I am very fond of them. I find they have an element of romance; which perhaps stems from my wedding anniversary earlier this month. Anyway, more pictures and notification of when they will be listed for sale will be posted no later than this weekend.