A Primitive Place
www.aprimitiveplace.org
Email: info@aprimitiveplace.org
Primitive & Colonial Inspired Homes
Sewing has been my hobby for many years.
I inherited my sewing skills from my Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother.
They were all accomplished seamstresses but I’m a “misfit”,
you see, I don’t sew “ people clothes”, I’m just a doll maker.
I started making dolls, bunnies, and bears as gifts for friends after discovering them in a Country Sampler Magazine.
February Featured Shoppe ~ Kotton Kountry Kreations
www.kottonkountrycreations.com
Soon friends started asking me why I didn’t enter crafts shows and that led to my being accepted to a juried show in a large city nearby. I continued doing craft shows while living in Michigan.
After moving back to Missouri I considered my craft-show days ended and for the most part they have been.
Kotton Kountry Kreations 2010
I won’t bore you with all the ups and downs of learning, (ever learning) how to own and operate a website... To those of you who have been there, you know what I am talking about.
Well that brings me to starting my online business and becoming a business woman.
I needed more room for sewing and displaying my product. I then remodeled one section of my home and that is now my workplace, office and storage for all the " stuff" that a dollmaker needs.
If I were going to have a business, it had to have a name. Right?
WHAT TO CALL IT ????
Numerous names ran through my mind and after much deliberating, I decided on a name.
Since I lived in Southeast Missouri (being cotton country) that seemed the logical name for my business.
O.K. So now I have a business... It has a name.... Get busy, then!!
At that time I bought my first computer. Now I had used a word processor but they are in no way compared to a computer... ( found that out the hard way ).
My next venture was to buy every “self-help” computer book I could find. With the help of a good friend, I soon began to at least learn some basics.
That introduced me to the world of craft websites.
Oh my, I was hooked !!
Thinking I could build a website for myself (optimist that I was) I soon discovered just how computer illiterate I was. I contacted a web host and had my first website made.
I wanted to be as involved as possible so I decided on what was called “your craft site”, which means “ you are on your own”.. as far as adding content, pricing, description of items, etc. Through “trial and error” and many grey hairs to my web host, I eventually began the slow process of becoming a website owner.
Oh JOY! I was in my element.
Photo Above: This is one of my display shelfs with some of my favorite dolls. I have added just a few small candles, an old spool and one milk painted cheese box to this display.
Being a “doll maker” I bought tons of patterns, muslin by the bolts, and restocked my fabric supply.
I would wake up in the middle of the night with an idea for a new doll, jump out of bed, grab a scratch pad and start to doodle my next doll.
(my head is always full of new ideas )
I was soon introduced to a new “ breed” of doll, called the primitive... Shock was my first reaction... Oh dear...let me “help:” you, poor child!!
Coming from a line of accomplished seamstresses, I wanted to hem that ragged dress, “Fix” her tangled mass of hair and just do a “makeover” on her...but as i began to see more and more of the same, my dolls
(right before my eyes) began to take on a more frazzled look and ya’ know what? I love them.
You’d be surprised at how my “ doll-making” has immerged into grubby looking little darlings.
Here’s my advice to anyone who is starting a new business. First, and foremost, LOVE, absolutely LOVE what you do... If you don’t love it, you won’t be a success.. My experience with making dolls is.
If I wouldn’t buy it for my home, I don’t sell it.. I remake it into one that I would take a second look and wind up buying it for my home.
So blessings to all new business owners. May your ventures give you much pleasure.
Maurine
Kotton Kountry Kreations
Photo Above: Mammy Miranda is a 21” black doll who has been painted black, sanded, rubbed with a light coat of briwax.; Her nose, mouth and eyebrows are sculptured and her eyes are stitched with linen thread. She has a plaited row of hair barely showing under her muslin bonnet which is tied with a string of jute. Her dress is brown calico with tiny rose colored flowers and she has a darkly dyed muslin waistband. Her loons are dyed muslin. She is carrying her little sheep with her.
My name is Maurine and I live in the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri.
This is where I was born but moved to Michigan after being married and lived there forty years. After retiring we moved back to our “ roots” in Missouri.
Photo Left: Meet Raeann. Raeann is made from dyed muslin. Her face is stitched and eyes are patches of osnaburg and crudely stitched with black thread. Her dress is made from “Honey & Me” fabrics and she has an apron of Black/tan check fabric with a pocket of osnaburg trimmed with black/white ric-rac. Her loons are of same checked fabric. Her shoes are painted black.
Kotton Kountry Kreations 2010
Kotton Kountry Kreations 2010
Kotton Kountry Kreations 2010
Photo Right: Next is Hannah and her Peahen.
Her body is made of muslin which has been painted black, sanded and rubbed with light coat of briwax.
Her nose is a rectangle piece of osnaburg thas has been primitively stitched with linen thread. Her eyes are stitched with lines thread in an almond shape. Her mouth is stitched with linen thread around red straight stitching. Her dress bodice is made from tan background with darker brown stems and tiny flowers.
Her skirt is darkly dyed muslin with a waistband of dyed tiny light brown checks. Her bonnet is of the same fabric as waistband. She has her favorite peahen with her. “ Pea”, as she is called is made from dyed muslin and has a neckband of same fabric as blouse bodice. Pea has a long tail of torn strips of dress bodice fabric. Oh, she struts around so proud !!
Photo Left: This is Corinda and she’s a sister to Hannah. Her body is painted muslin. Her nose is a rectangle of osnaburg that is stitched in prim stitching. Her eyes are stitched with linen thread and her mouth is sculpted stitching with linen thread. .Her bonnet is brown fabric with black outline sheep on it. It is tied with a jute string.
Her dress is black/tan checked homespun fabric.
Her apron is dyed ragged muslin.
She is a favorite!
Kotton Kountry Kreations 2010
More Kotton Kountry Kreations:
To see more of Maurine's wonderful dolls or to purchase one, please visit www.kottonkountrykreations.com
Photo Left: Along with my dolls, I love making bonnets and aprons. The ones at left hang proudly on pegs in my kitchen.
They are made from black/tan checked homespun. I have other bonnets of different fabrics too.
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Kotton Kountry Kreations 2010
