S.ReetzBears

Hi everyone!So sorry I haven't posted in such a long time,but I have been so busy with everyday life,wicked subzero temps and consumed making new designs for the new year.I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are off to a great new year.My resolution for the new year was to add some new items to my line of bears and friends such as paintings and prints,some neat little painted cloth folk art kitties and bears and something I really miss creating....dolls!As many of you may know before I made my bears,I was a dollmaker.My favorite dolls were the antique cloth dolls such as Izannah walker,Martha Chase,Kathy Kruse, and Alabama babies just to mention a few.At the time I was creating this style of dolls,around 1993 there really wasn't a interest of collectors for these types of dolls as there is at the present.I can remember sitting at craft shows where the customers asked if they were actual antiques and it was quite frustrating at times having to explain these styles of dolls as most people never heard of them before.I never let that stop me from designing new dolls such as the mask type face ,sculpted clay face and my favorite but a bit tricky,the complete doll head made entirely from pressed,molded cloth just like the true Izannah and chase dolls.I also love to sculpt the more realistic dolls from clay to make sweet faced toddler style children.I hadn't made or sculpted any dolls for about 3 years so I felt a little rusty at first but I have been working on a few styles the last couple of weeks and got the feel back!Stay posted because I will be taking some pictures of the new dolls and designs and will post them to share with you this week.Speaking of photos,as you can see I actually got my blog working again!I thought I would spruce it up a bit and even added a couple of widgets to subscribe or follow my blog if you would like to.It seems it was a cookie and sign in/ out problem to get the blog working again.Well it was so nice to be able to chat with you again and will post the new photos soon!Bye for now~~~~Sharie