Froggy Went A Courtin' Part III - THEY ARE FINISHED

I was/am very pleased with the way these two turned out. Miss Mousy perched so lady like upon Froggy's knee. Froggy's long legs and arms with big feet and hands add so much character to the ol' boy.

Both dolls have button joints at the shoulders and hips. Both have a light stain applied after the painting and sanding was finished to give them a beautiful aged vintage look. This painting process also gives the dolls a very leather-like feel.

Froggy and Miss Mousy sold today on e-Bay. Their new home will be in Loveland, Colorado.

I do hope their new owner enjoys having them around as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Froggy Went A Courtin' - Part II

After all the machine sewing is done and the needle sculpting completed the fun part begins.

First I give them a good coat of acrylic gesso. Then, after sanding it all down, I let my imagination take over (once again) And start painting!

I sand between each layer of paint and sometimes - depending on the look I want to achieve, there may be as many as 6 or seven coats of paint.

I wanted Froggy to have the markings of a real frog. Most frog dolls I have seen are all green or maybe 2 shades of green. I imagined Froggy was a leopard frog, there fore he would have to have spots!

Inspired By Froggy Went A Courtin'

One evening while playing the folk song Froggy Went A Courtin' on my banjo the funniest image of Froggy and Miss Mousy popped into my head.

I HAD to make those dolls based on the line "He took Miss Mousy on his knee and said Miss Mousy won't you marry me?" I could see the characters clearly in my mind and set to work to bring them into being.

The process I used to create them is unique in that it gives them a vintage look of the toys of yester year.

First it started as a sketch, I don't always sketch my character dolls first, but this time I did. Then I drew out a partial pattern and started cutting. I used osenburg fabric to make their bodies.
I sew my dolls on a old Singer Featherweight sewing machine. I have other newer machines but I really don't think my featherweight can be beat when it comes to making small tight seams.
The rest of the sewing is done by hand and there is usually some needle sculpting on my dolls too. In the case of Froggy there was a lot of needle sculpting.

The above pictures are of Miss Mousy in the making.