Pirates for May

Here is "Pirate Crew" which I painted/created in 1997. The blanks were made in China and they are a smaller set than last month's Gypsy Family.... both in size (the Captain is only 6 inches tall to the top of his feather) and in number. The Captain's hat and feather are paper mache' and he has some additional modelling on his lustrous locks. I used metallic gold acrylic for any coins and for the shoe buckles.  The Captain. of course, has a parrot and also the chest of gold and a nice sword. All the crew have swords or daggers and different head scarves. Again, they were gessoed, painted in acrylics and finished with acrylic gloss varnish. This set fits nicely and comes apart nicely - with beeswax on the joints. I'm working on another set that was Russian made but has flaws - I had to use plastic wood filler on a couple of bad spots on the outside one. Currently, it is slow going - but I won't put any nesting dolls in the window over the warmer weather anyway. They are of a more recent vintage than the pirates- but a bit back in time. The pirates were just a fun fantasy. A bit of fun to see the full crew out - usually they are nested in a cabinet.

Sisters and Cats

These are my "featured" (in the kitchen window) nesting dolls for March - "Sisters and Cats".  I painted them in 1999. They were planned to be quite traditional - all with matching kerchiefs and the only "protrusion" being a slight bump out for the nose of the largest one. They wear matching clothes and all have blond hair with one braid showing and all have a curl in the middle of their foreheads - like the little girl who was "very  very good except when she was horrid". These look to be of a  very sweet nature but possibly at least with minds of their own. All of them have extra cats going around the backs. These are on Russian blanks and I think the quality is better than the ones from China. All were sanded and gessoed before being painted in acrylics and varnished with acrylic varnish. As usual, I rubbed beeswax along the joins to keep them easy to separate. I have two other Russian blank sets and a couple of the smaller sets from China. The largest one of this set is almost 8 inches in height.  I'm thinking of possible new sets to make using the last two Russian blanks to start with- one might be a farm family - with grandparents as the first ones. Another idea is a small shopping centre and the stores- butcher, greengrocer, pharmacist, pet store- not sure of the rest (ideas welcomed!) but probably a nail salon for the last one. They are a fun way to just let creative ideas flow- and end up as part of my matreshka collection.  I see where blanks are available on Etsy and E-Bay but I think prices are up since I got these from Lee Valley.