Marisol: Gymnast, Writer and Student

Marisol is a character doll for collectors of all ages.

Marisol is a talented gymnast, a budding writer, loves the outdoors, and is a serious student. She lives in a house in the country with her mom, her dad, and her sister, Anacarolina. Marisol is energetic, full of mischief, and always curious about the world around her. Born in Guatemala, Land of Forests, she now lives in much more northern forest lands of the United States.

Marisol stands 18” tall. She’s wearing multicolored striped sun dress with a ruffle and shoulder ties. Her shorts are pink and her red shoes were made to match her dress. She also wears a removable necklace, which references the silver jewelry and art of her country of origin.

Hometown: Chelsea, MI

Favorite color: Red

Favorite drink: Ginger tea

Favorite season: Winter

Character traits: Energetic, curious, intelligent, friendly

Favorite holiday: Christmas

Favorite indoor activities: Reading, writing and playing with her sister, Anacarolina

Favorite outdoor activity: Doing backflips and cartwheels on the lawn

How Marisol was made

Marisol was made from repurposed cotton fabric. Her arm joints and leg joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. Her clothes are handmade from repurposed stretch cotton blends. Her face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. Her hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto her head. Her necklace is vintage costume jewelry, circa 1980s.

Marisol can be purchased at MakerDolls.Etsy.com

Anacarolina: Musician, Student and Outdoors Enthusiast

Anacarolina is a character doll for collectors of all ages.

Anacarolina is a talented musician (she plays the flute), loves the outdoors, and is a serious student. She lives in a house in the country with her mom, her dad, and her sister, Marisol. Anacarolina is calm, self-possessed, and curious about the world around her. Born in Guatemala, Land of Forests, she now lives in the  northern forest lands of the United States.

Anacarolina stands 18” tall. She’s wearing a pink and black dress with pleats and bows. Her shorts and shoes were made to match her dress. She also wears a removable necklace, which references the geometric shapes found in the clothing, jewelry and art of her country of origin.

Hometown: Chelsea, MI

Favorite color: Pink

Favorite drink: Herbal tea

Favorite season: Summer

Character traits: Sensitive, musical, curious, intelligent, friendly

Favorite holiday: Easter

Favorite indoor activities: Playing her flute, reading and playing with her sister, Marisol

Favorite outdoor activity: Playing with her little dog, Gingersnap

How Anacarolina was made

Anacarolina was made from repurposed cotton fabric. Her arm joints and leg joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. Her clothes are handmade from repurposed stretch cotton blends in pink and black stripes. Her face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. Her hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto her head. Her necklace is a found vintage bracelet, circa 1980s.

Anacarolina can be purchased at MakerDolls.Etsy.com

Forrest: Artist, Actor and Student

Forrest is a character doll for collectors of all ages.

Forrest is an artist, an actor, and a student. He excels at all three activities! And that’s not all – Forrest loves sports – especially baseball. He also loves the outdoors, and enjoys exploring the neighborhood frog and turtle ponds.

Forrest stands 18” tall. He’s wearing his favorite red t-shirt, sport shorts and huarache sandals.

Hometown: Chelsea, MI

Favorite color: Red

Favorite drink: Ginger ale

Favorite season: Summer

Character traits: Sensitive, creative, curious, intense, energetic

Favorite holiday: Christmas

Favorite indoor activities: Drawing, reading and exploring the Internet

Favorite outdoor activity: Riding his bike

How Forrest was made

Forrest was made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. His arm joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. His clothes are handmade from repurposed stretch rayon in black and red. His face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. His hair is made of twisted fuzzy yarn, hand-sewn onto his head.

Forrest can be purchased at makerdolls.etsy.com

Jill

Jill is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up. She is 22" tall. Jill will be part of an art gallery exhibit scheduled for March 1 - April 30, 2013. She can be purchased during or after the exhibit.

How Jill was made
Jill's body is made in the MakerDoll Medium Size, from 100% organic, (“natural”) cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her arm joints are secured with cotton embroidery thread. Her tank top, pants, scarf and swing coat are handmade in a MakerDoll original design, from repurposed fabrics. Her sparkly coat closure is an earring from her vintage costume jewelry collection. Jill’s facial features are hand painted with professional grade acrylic paints. Her hair is made of twisted yarn, fashioned into her current hairdo, hand-sewn onto her head with cotton embroidery thread.

About Jill
Jill is an artist, maker and writer. She learned how to sew at age ten, and made most of her own clothes as a teenager and young adult. Now, 50 years after first learning to sew, she still makes most of her own clothes, but from repurposed or thrifted materials (when she’s not making Maker Dolls and their accessories). Jill wears big eyeglasses so she can see what she’s doing when she’s sewing, doing art, or writing.

Edith: Fashion Designer Par Excellence

Edith is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up.

Meet Edith: Famous costume designer. She called herself a magician, but three decades after her death in 1981, she is still recognized as Hollywood’s most famous costume designer. During 58 years of movie making, she expertly dressed almost every major film actor, but with her trademark straight-cut bangs, round glasses and tailored suits, she became more famous than most of them.

Young Edith studied Romance Languages at Stanford University and then taught French while attending art school at night. Starting as a sketch artist for Paramount Studios in 1923, she later transitioned to full-fledged designer in 1933. Her goal – as with all “makers” – was to learn everything she could both on her own and from those around her. Hollywood recognized her creative work in 1974 with her own star on Hollywood Boulevard. In her six decades of costume design, she worked on 1,131 motion pictures, received 35 Academy Award nominations and won an unprecedented eight Oscars. She also designed Vogue sewing patterns, wrote magazine and newspaper columns and three books, and appeared regularly on TV as America’s favorite fashion maven. 

Edith lives on through her films, books and designs -- and now, as a Maker Doll.

Hometowns: San Bernardino, CA and Hollywood, CA

Favorite colors: Black and white

Favorite drink: Chianti

Favorite season: Autumn

Character traits: Resourceful, clever, hard-working, generous

Favorite holiday: Christmas

Favorite indoor activities: Drawing and reading

Favorite outdoor activity: Gardening

How Edith was made

Edith is made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. She wears handmade glasses frames made with repurposed insulated wire and her clothing is handmade from repurposed, 100% wool and poly satin fabric from my collection. She wears restrung pearls tied with black satin ribbon, rescued from my costume jewelry box. Her face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. Her hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn to her head in the style she wore for her entire career (short, straight-cut bangs in front, long hair pulled up into a bun in the back). She stands 26" tall and can be posed in many different ways. 

Edith can be purchased at makerdolls.etsy.com

Elliott: Engineer, Mechanic, Historian, Athlete

Elliott is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up.

Meet Elliott. He's lived a while so he has all kinds of cool life experiences making things with his hands. From his earliest memory, he loved to take all kinds of things apart, including the family car. Don't worry, he put them all back together, and they worked!

Elliott has spent his life as a maker. As a teenager, he made car models for the auto industry. When he went to college, he built and restored all manner of vehicles, and raced motorcycles. He even set a national drag racing record in the 1970s. He also ran competitive long distance, was captain of his teams at MIT and Amherst,  and won many awards. He has about 150 racing t-shirts to prove it.

After many years owning his own motorcycle business, he decided to return to academia. At Caltech, he was a highly respected administrator in the Engineering Division--but his real love was restoring classic and specialty cars and motorcycles, which he did on evenings and weekends in his garage. He won many awards for his automotive restoration work and has been featured in magazines and videos, including AutoWeek Garage. He restored British, Italian, and American cars--and won top awards at national shows for his 1971 Lamborghini Espada and his 1937 Cord Supercharged Westchester. You can find him any time in his Garaj-Mahal, making, making, making.

Hometowns: Altadena, CA and Chelsea, MI
Favorite color: Gunmetal
Favorite drink: Scarlett O’hara
Favorite season: Summer
Character traits: Kind, reliable, thrifty, honest, agreeable, intelligent, hard-working, imaginative, lovable
Favorite holiday: Christmas
Favorite indoor activity: Tinkering in the garage
Favorite outdoor activity: Gardening

How Elliott was made

Elliott was made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. His joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. He wears handmade glasses frames, made with copper wire. His clothes are handmade from a repurposed Riverside Kawasaki T-Shirt from the 1970s (thank you, Carlo!), and his dungarees are made from recycled jeans. He wears suspenders of elastic from my Grandmother’s collection, which she passed down to me. His face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. His hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto his head. He stands 28" tall and can be posed in many different ways. 

Elliott can be purchased at makerdolls.etsy.com

Tallulah: Future astronaut

Tallullah is a handmade character doll for collectors of any age. She is owned by her namesake, but you can order your own custom doll. Just visit StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com.

Meet Tallulah, once and future explorer of the universe. She is named for her hometown in Louisiana, where Delta Airlines had its beginnings as an experiment by the US Postal Service. Tallulah is still very young, but her dream is to become a planetary scientist and fly her own airplane to the South Pole. She plans to earn enough flying hours to qualify as a test pilot and then work for NASA as an astronaut. She collects rocks and recently acquired a small meteorite, which she keeps in her box of favorite things.

Tallulah loves all things repurposed and/or recycled. She likes to wear creations she makes herself, such as the dress she's wearing now. It was made from a linen tablecloth, hand stitched and embroidered with an intricate flower design.

How Tallulah was made

Tallulah was made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. Her clothes are handmade from repurposed antique linen, and her dress features a repurposed crystal bead at the neckline. Her face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. Her hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto her head. She stands 18" tall and can be posed in many different ways. 

Gillian: Educator, Media Expert, Producer, Writer, Puppet Maker

Gillian is a handmade character doll for collectors of any age. 

Meet Gillian! You might say she’s bicoastal – born in Maine, raised in California, now living (and thriving) in New York City. Gillian's professional objectives are to make media transparent to the public, and to change our understanding of education: how it works, when it happens, how to measure its successes. (We need more people in education like Gillian!)

Her creative talents and maker skills include the broad range of media technology, film photography and yes!! -- puppet-making. While working on her doctorate, she spent time on the set during a season of Sesame Street, where she met all the fuzzy characters she loved as a child (including Grover).

She channels her Internet literacy energies into the hacker radio show Off The Hook and producing The Media Show on YouTube, an irreverent, puppet-fueled stab at mass education.

How Gillian was made

Gillian was made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her joints are hand-stitched and French-knotted with embroidery floss. Her clothes are handmade from repurposed satin. She wears a handmade necklace of wood, faux pearls, and coral beads, all from repurposed jewelry. Her face is hand-drawn and painted with water color pencils. Her hair is made of furry yarn, hand-sewn onto her head. She stands 18" tall and can be posed in many different ways. 

Gillian can be purchased at makerdolls.etsy.com

Mo (Maureen): Gardener, Thrifter, Fashionista!

Mo is a handmade character doll for ages 8 and up. She is now owned by her namesake, but if you'd like a doll of your own who looks just like you, request one at StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com. 

Mo’s long-ago ancestors are from Aubyn, France, by way of Kilkenny, Ireland. Her auburn hair and fair complexion (not to mention her big blue eyes) complement her penchant for wearing the colors purple and orange. Mo lives in the tiny town of Chelsea, Michigan, where she manages a lovely little garden shop. She loves fashion, fine art, Irish pubs and Gaelic musician Bono Vox of O'Connell Street. She loves to explore thrift shops and architectural salvage warehouses, where she discovers fabulous relics that she deftly transforms into unusual garden art.

How Mo was made

Mo was made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her joints are hand-stitched and secured with embroidery floss, wooden beads, and found steel nuts. Her clothes are handmade from repurposed cotton-linen, silk, and stretch cotton. She wears a handmade necklace of wood, ceramic and coral beads, all from repurposed jewelry. Her face is hand-drawn and painted with Staedtler Karat water color pencils. Her hair is made of furry yarn, hand-sewn onto her head. She stands 24" tall and can be posed in many different ways.

Ellen: Fighter, Writer, and Biter!

Ellen is a handmade character doll for ages 8 and up. She is owned by her namesake, but if you'd like your own doll who looks just like you, order one at StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com.

Ellen grew up in a gentle Norwegian-American home in the Midwest with a loving father and a well-educated mother. But don’t be fooled by her benign appearance! She’s a completely dangerous mammal, and if someone were to threaten her or a loved one, she is prepared to kick serious ass. NO means NO!!

A trained lawyer and skilled actor, Ellen communicates in myriad formats as playwright, columnist and documentary film-maker. As both fighter and writer, Ellen is the author of “Beauty Bites Beast: Awakening the Warrior Within Women and Girls.” She actively teaches and publicly advocates for women and girls’physical self-defense training: Click here to view Ellen’s TED-X talk, “We all need to be safe before we can thrive.”

She regularly performs her one-woman show, “Now that She’s Gone: Unraveling the Mystery of my Mother,” a play that explores her often hilarious, irreverent and sometimes torturous relationship with her Norwegian-American mother.

And let’s not forget Ellen as “biter,” which reveals her penchant for spending long hours in her kitchen, baking the amazing and delicious Norwegian Kransekake.”

Check out Ellen’s website for more!!

How Ellen was made

Ellen was made from 100% organic cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her joints are hand-stitched and secured with embroidery floss, wooden beads, and found steel nuts. Her clothes are handmade from repurposed stretch cotton-spandex with hand-sewn felt lettering. She wears a handmade necklace of turquoise, silver, and ceramic beads, all from repurposed jewelry. Her face is needle-sculpted and hand-drawn and painted with Staedtler Karat water color pencils. Her hair is made of furry yarn, hand-sewn onto her head. She stands 24" tall and can be posed in many different ways.