Odillon was the first doll that I made for my son for Christmas a couple of years ago. I dyed the hair to match Huxley's golden-blond hair. Odillon was sewn entirely by hand, following an pattern provided by a parent from the Allan Howard Waldorf School. Huxley didn't immediately take to Odillon, actually, he did not much care for him at all (not even with my interest in babying the doll). I did receive a request however, to sew Odilon a "doggy costume", just like the one Huxley had worn for Halloween that year. Once Odillon had this outfit, Huxley happily trudged him about for a bit, but still, no deep connection. I even tried to whisper to the doll, and then have Huxley listen to what he repeated, but all to no avail. Odillon was placed on a shelf, in clear view and more or less remained there.
Then a few months ago, as I was busy working on the dolls for the TWS fair, Odilon captured Huxley's heart. I will likely never fully know what triggered it, but Odillon is now part of the games we play.
How fun is this, wearing a doggy outfit, sitting on a cowboy hat with a ceramic plate, a fabric sunny-side-up egg on a playmobil box, with Morley the cat trying to get in on the action.
Sometime in 2009, I decided that if I maybe make another doll for Huxley, he will take to it, maybe there was something "wrong" with Odillon. Also, I just absolutely love Waldorf Dolls and wanted to make more of them for my own self-serving needs of making more "babies"… So I started a doll, but mid-way through it, I decided that if I focus instead of on making Olive Sparrow children for sale, I can express my need for creating them, yet will not need to feel disappointed if Huxley may not take to the other doll. So instead of creating one doll for him, I now create for myself and as an end-result for others.
There was a huge learning curve involved in getting from the first two dolls (the same year as I made one for Huxley, I also made one for my niece L.) to the current Olive Sparrow Children. Many people have been so kind in helping me find supplies and figuring out instructions. This has been some time in coming, but I would like to officially thank (in no particular order):
Gudrun from Gunikat-Waldorfpuppen
Iris from Rosenrot-Blumenkinder
(Ganz Herzlichen Dank and Euch alle! Wow, so super wie Ihr mir alle geholfen habt!)
Although I know how to operate many a machine, tool or material with my hands, this typepad blog thingy remains a deep mystery. Alas, I do promise that I WILL figure out how to add all my doll-maker connections into a sidebar.