Toymaking
I will post these again when they’re finished, but I started today on my Russian nesting doll project (after about a month of nervously wondering whether my order from Russia would actually arrive). It’s a ten part set based on “I know an Old Lady“, put together in the order of the song so it can be sung as the set is disassembled. Here’s a shot of my sketches for it —
I know an old lady who swallowed a cow,
I wonder how she swallowed a cow?!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don’t know why she swallowed the fly,
I guess she’ll die.
I know an old lady who swallowed a horse,
She’s dead, of course!!
The last line in the song is why the innermost piece is a tiny little skull. The smallest ones (the cow and the horse) don’t look like much in my sketch, I know, but they will be quite cute when I’ve had a chance to paint them.
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Wow, it is quite wonderful to see so much creativity! Will Nefarious paint them along side you? Or will you paint them for her?
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Nefarious has a set that she’s working on as well.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:56 pm
what method/ type of paint are you going to use on these??
i think they are addorable and ahve allwasy wanted to make my own nesting dolls!!
October 3rd, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I’ll probably paint them with acrylics and then do some sort of glossy top coat.
October 4th, 2007 at 12:13 am
those are fantastic, I’d love to see finished photos of both yours and Nefarious’
October 4th, 2007 at 12:29 am
that little one is super small. what are the dimensions of it? i saw that you had posted about these before and was going to get some for my baby, but i didnt realize they were so small. (not that id have to give them all to her of course..)
October 4th, 2007 at 2:34 am
I have a real set. I suppose I could take a shot of them… as you may or may not know I am Russian Orthodox and that is part of our culture. I helped sew aprons with Matrushka dolls on them for our upcoming holiday bazaar. I take it Nefarious is your daughter?
October 4th, 2007 at 8:04 am
you seriously do the coolest stuff with your daughter.
October 4th, 2007 at 9:34 am
The smallest one is tiny… Something like 3/8″ to 1/2″ I think.
October 4th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Thought this online discussion at Walrus might be of interest to you in terms of recent explorations into vertical farming:
http://walrusmagazine.com/alpha.php
October 4th, 2007 at 11:31 am
that’s definitely a hobby i can get behind. now i’m wondering about my own ideas for nesting dolls. maybe a large man disappearing down to a tiny skeleton a bit al’a Thinner.
October 4th, 2007 at 11:48 am
What a great project! I cant wait to see the finished product!!!
I didnt know you could get blanks, thats awesome!
October 4th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
What a fun idea!
October 4th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I second what estrojenn, what a pen name says, in fact it motivates me to be more artistic, and I am trying to produce art for the market, as well as do more with my daughter.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
haha. i was just singing that song to my girlfriend the other day when she complained of having a stomach ache. she thought i was crazy. i thought everyone knew that song.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
these are treasure
October 4th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
can you please post the link again to where you ordered those?
thanks!
October 5th, 2007 at 2:42 am
There you go again… being all creative
You never cease to amaze me with all your creations
October 5th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Wow, that’s absoloutely gorgeous! Adorable! haha
October 5th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Noníí! I can’t wait to see the finished sets
October 6th, 2007 at 6:13 am
this has made my day.
not many people seem to remember/know that rhyme..it was one of my favourites growing up, and still continues to be.
i sometimes catch myself humming the tune to it or singing it under my breath to myself…
i was taught it the other way around though..starting with the fly, working its way up from there, not down from the cow to the fly, and instead of -I know an old lady- ive always sang it as -There was an old lady..-
thats one thing ive always loved about old rhymes and nursery tales, so many variations.
thank you for sharing, shannon, youve made my day.
October 7th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
surely these are in the wrong order? Or the cat would be catching the dog which is catching the goat etc
October 7th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Oh wow, those are so frigging cute! I have some nesting dolls from Ukraine and Russia my dad gave me when I was little (he traveled a lot so I got a lot of guilt-fueled presents), but those are much more personal.
October 7th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
*HUG*
October 8th, 2007 at 12:26 am
hey p7tms….. havent heared from you in a while
October 9th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Here is where you can get a set of 5 nesting dolls… different from the ones posted above…
http://www.thewurstgallery.com/shop.html
My daughter is saving her money to buy herself a set, she is so excited. I look forward to seeing yours finished
October 11th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
shannon
you might be amused to look at this
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/matryoshkus/
cheers
October 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
*geek-squee* Тыква, that’s awesome!
October 31st, 2007 at 11:34 am
http://www.purcifuls-toys.com/setof10blanr.html
http://thewurstgallery.com/shop.html
http://www.goldencockerel.com/shoprussian.asp?c=Nesting%20Dolls
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:18 pm
i have a small nesting doll collection. i live in alaska, and being so close to russia, they are pretty common here.
November 27th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
[…] was asked how my Russian Doll project is coming. I must admit that it’s coming slowly because it takes me so much effort to paint […]
November 28th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
[…] eyes are so going to fall out of their head! Continued work on my “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly“ nesting dolls — from left to right (click to zoom), the spider, the bird, the cat, the […]