Handy

I don't enjoy making doll hands. They're kinda fiddly.

They look like big fat mittens after I've sewn and turned them right side out. But they really come alive once I've done the hand-stitching between the fingers. If I'm in a hand-making mood, I make as many as I can so I don't have to do them too often. For the witches I give them a watered-down coat of celery green paint--or as I call it, ghastly green. Sometimes I'll embroider a spider on a witch hand. That usually gets a fun comment or two from shoppers at a craft fair. No so much on a nun...
Clay hands aren't quite as challenging. Once I've got the mitten shape, I take the slicing tool and pretend it's a loaf of bread. I cut 4 nice slices--enough for 2 sandwiches. This clay hand is going to be glued to something, so I didn't slice it all the way through. I need a nice flat surface so the glue will adhere. The most difficult part of making clay hands is knowing where to place the thumb. Once that's mastered it's a piece of cake.

My hands, on the other hand, don't look very good.

It's probably because I spend so much time in the Treehouse glueing and painting and working with clay....and occasionally trying to stick a needle through my finger when I mistake it for a doll part. Or maybe it's just from all the pretend cooking and cleaning I do...