got milk?

it wasn't even halloween, they ran from the end of the street looking for milk to bake cookies, i said trembling "aisle 3 don't eat me", they replied "merci madame!"
                                                            *
i love cardboard boxes... we create all kind of props with them in the studio. megan thinks that we have developed a disease because we can't stop picking up good looking ones from the side of the streets, even when we don't need them...

delicious time....

leaf monsters and nutty squirrels

this year has been all about developing the dolls world and characters with books and short movies. maybe some of you have started to notice our mini photo stories.We still have a little way to go before i can show you what we have been working on, but here, in our fall store window is a preview of what's to come..


(mcnuttie, the squirrel is one of my favorite characters...he is little and orange, like the one in france. He is eccentric and ridiculously proper, he has a great british sense of humor. he would really like to keep track of his stock of nuts and berries but the slightest moving thing distracts him...he reminds me of my grand father)

bonjour lucy & hopkins!

lucy and hopkins came by the studio today...2 little characters straight out of an old french picture book, 
cloud needed a few stitches...lucy was so happy with her ballerina key chain..la vie est belle around here.
*//lucy's dress...

paper projects in the school hallway

love that paper house full of papers flying out by the chimney ..

smart and beautiful

just thinking....

asheville

henry and the peas

working on stories.....

The Other Things

You know us from our dolls, but we actually do other things well too.

We breed miniature knit cats and dogs.  (Details coming soon.)

We do what it takes for the perfect photograph.  

(But no horses were hurt in the making of this blog post.)

We (and by "we" I mean Megan) moonlight as cobblers.  

(We'll post pictures of Balthazar's finished spats soon.)

If you could compare what we do in a day with that of a busy kitchen, we've got at least 3 incredible meals bubbling on the burner and in the oven.  We know it's going to be good, but we're getting hungry. 

(I'm literally hungry.  I wouldn't be using food as a metaphor if I wasn't.)

We'll post more as things develop...

xoxo/Dera

hi...

well as you might have discovered by now, i am horrible at this... it seemed like a good idea at first because sooooo many things are happening around here, it would be fun to share...
but time is not on my side, it passes through my hands like sand and i am now standing on a dune.
Dera and Megan my sweet and brilliant new assistants promised to help so here we are again...
...working with larry and leslie on the fall sweaters, megan creating the set for our next little movie,
dera papier-maché-ing the car for our first book, balthazar getting a wire frame, our circus store window,
a few mock-ups of our next doll costumes, the blabla bus and of course, my crazy monsters.

light on the postcard

i like pretty pictures but i always wonder what surrounds them, what's not shown...like george our faithful driver in lima holding the dolls for that shot..

around the table in lima

we all work so hard on the new samples, every detail always matters because it means something to me,

i think that i drive everybody crazy with that....

a hairy ear for a "tough" wolf but a higher smile to show his sweetness, more threads on the sides because he does not shave, but not all black, he is a dandy not a gangster.

the bow on the sheep... no no not straight, he just woke up...

and the gloves of mirabelle, the magician's assistant, up...no...down...a trim..no, no trim, yes a trim, but not that trim...blue like the pom pom, sorry no that does not work, let's try white, now it looks like a sock...

what do i do?....let's call susan she'll have an idea...

anyway, you get the picture....after a week they are happy to see me go home...:)

land of its own of colors

i love those antique tiles that you can still find in the old neighborhoods of lima.
they remind me of the colors of peru, the rich and vibrant reds and purples, and greens and blues, standing proud in front of the browns and greys of the desert dust. 
i often have that contrast in mind...

i am back

to all of you petits et grands, i just wanted to say 

happy new year! I think of you every day....

it makes me happy that i can make you happy...