Top dolls around town
Porcelain doll enthusiasts? converged on Johnsonville last weekend and put their carefully crafted works up for judgement.
Petone resident Angela Corrigan has been making dolls since 1990 and says she still hasn?t made the ?perfect doll?.
?You?re always aiming for more perfection.
?The dressing takes more thought to make it unique, but it?s in the face painting that you lose more points in the competition,? she says.
Ms Corrigan scored a first prise success at this year?s Wairarapa Doll and Bear Fair by entering a Pinocchio figure with painted eyes. Creating dolls with the replica uniforms of Chilton Saint James School in Lower Hutt is keeping her busy and she has nearly finished off 35 replica dolls that span the school?s history since 1918.
There were 26 stalls at the Johnsonville show displaying different styles of dolls and other associated items. There was also a teddy bear display.
Johnsonville resident Joslyn Tjeerd has been refining her skills at porcelain doll creation for the past five years. Some of the dolls they create are replicas of ?antique road show dolls, reproduced with the details? of the era?.
?Getting the pattern and colour combinations just right can be very difficult,? she says.
The show moved to Johnsonville last year as members are aplenty in the Northern Suburbs. Ms Tjeerd?s interest in doll making came from a love of husbandry that has been expanded with the elements? of doll making.
?I?ve learnt to make shoes, wigs, and paint faces.
?They are not something you want to sell, after all the work you don?t want to part with it,? she says.
The show attracted members from all over the region who competed in the ?Open Two? grade, a level bellow professional doll maker competition.
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