At the beginning of June I started a project with our local primary school to make peg dolls and toy planes from recycled materials. See special guests page for the finished projects

After a bit of research I made this doll [with out the wings] as the test piece. After noodling around etsy.com one day I discovered Carolynelspeth's shop and her lovely dolls.

These set me thinking and inspired the peg dolls, but I wanted to have something different, hence the butterfly wings. The Peacock lady was born.

To see Carolyn's beautiful peg dolls and the other beautiful things she makes visit her shop on etsy and her blog.

Carolyn's shop

Carolyn's Blog

I had enough laminate left to make more wings. I have always loved the rare butterfly, the camberwell beauty, and wanted to attempt to recreate the subtly of it's wings.

I had a small amount of fabric left over from a dotty t-shirt that was perfect for her dress and the stripy stockings were the finished touch.

She is underneath nasturtiums planted by my five year old son, John.

I also have a shop on Etsy

Charlotte's shop

Both the butterfly dolls have migrated and now found homes in Finland.

Cinderella and Her Fairy Godmother were the very first dolls that I made

Many years ago I bought a copy of the Art and Craft of Papier Mache by Juliet Bawden. I had been flicking through this on winter evening and the chapter on dolls caught my eye.

One week later I had four legs, four arms and two heads, and know idea what to do next. However I am a regular haunter of our local charity shops, on the £ rack I found a glorious t-shirt, with lace neckline, that became their bodies, and the Godmothers dress. I also found the shirt that became Cinder's ball gown on the same rack.

Flushed with the success of the first two but still unhappy with the legs and arms I had another go. This time I changed the design slightly and so Princess Aurora was made.

Her dress was from a wonderful velvet shirt, this has also found rebirth as a cape, another dress and a small puppet mouse called George.

The part of the dolls that appeals to all the children who now own them is the elbow length evening gloves. The glamour of these gloves still captures the heart what ever the age.

I have since made a number of these dolls. This is the last of them, made for a little girl called Charlotte.

She is a sister to an earlier doll, they both have wonderful dresses made from the handkerchief sleeves and trim from yet another thrift shop find.

With this one I had discovered the technique of wool splitting to get the ringlet finish to the hair.

I am becoming a championship Charity shop lurker, and my rag bag is now full of wonderful fabrics. However the assistants think we are a weird family of differently sized people with questionable taste (I care nothing for the style only the fabric).