trois pommes

got milk?

2011-11-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-11-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

leaf monsters and nutty squirrels

2011-11-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-09-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

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

smart and beautiful

2011-09-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

just thinking....

asheville

2011-09-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

henry and the peas

2011-09-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

working on stories.....

The Other Things

2011-06-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-05-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-16T04:39:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

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...

just a regular day at blabla

2010-11-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

working with erika on bunnies last week, she stole the mustaches..

i just had to share before she moves to Detroit next month...

Play! every day..

2010-11-15T05:35:00.000-08:00

play! is a lovely calendar designed by a "small group of full-grown kids in Hamburg with loads of love and passion"

they selected "53 inspiring current designers" from around the world whose work "combine concepts and design with a playful sense of joy" and have created equally inspiring fonts to match their designs

i am so excited that blala be in this project; i know how much children adore our dolls and what they mean to them, it

makes my day, every day, but it is also very nice to be recognized by other designers....

"play is the best form of research" albert einstein

instant costumes

2010-11-13T21:08:00.000-08:00

since the kids were little, they've always loved for me to draw images on their feet and hands....

wolf feet

elephant hands

hipity-hop

2010-11-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

so....the week is over and did i mentioned earlier that i was finished with the bunnies?
well that wasn't true.....after a month of going around in circles with the idea, now they keep popping in my head, one after another, multiplying like bunnies do...
and I have no idea which ones i will pick for spring...maybe all of them!...

this morning...

2010-11-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

i am not really sure where i am going with this but it doesn't matter, what's important is that it's there, out of the box, now...

at some point it will make sense, everything does..if i listen...

gentle not simple

2010-11-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a few new spring dolls for a while now ...

after the lively socks and suzette, woody bears and lucky cats, I was in a mood for softness and gentleness, in the colors and in the expressions.
..but it's not easy to design something gentle and exciting at the same time, especially for a child..

everything is in the nuances; a smile, a few whiskers, an unexpected color transforms a character in a second, just like on a human face...

finally today, quietly, in my kitchen, between a tea and a french song, i think that i found the harmony that i had been looking for...

i see, you see, what do we see?

2010-11-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

the first prototypes of a new series of finger puppets just arrived, very cute and very funny...
(there are still a few tweaks but we are almost there)
it's always interesting to see the way the artisans interpret my drawings...a reminder of how different we all are and see...

even the simplest things...

bread cloud

2010-10-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

it's raining today in atlanta..

isabella left this little cloud of bread on the table, before going to school

...so sweet...

i wished it rained every day.

this morning...

2010-10-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

i love the beauty of everyday objects and the unexpected encounters,
i often play with that idea...

the original boogaloos, isabella and tom

2010-10-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

I used to call them like that when they were little and round ...

hipstamatic halloween

2010-10-24T08:20:00.001-07:00

the party was a success! it was a beautiful fall day and the children had a great time...

here are a few pictures taken with the hipstamatic app,I just can't stop playing with it, everything looks so pretty, do you get tired of it eventually ?...

you can see all the pictures @ blablakids.blogspot.com

an eggcellent actor

2010-10-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

How disappointing.... I just read that the story of an egg standing on itself on an equinox day, was urban legend..that any egg would do that on any day of the year(if you hold it long enough for its liquid content to settle)

I don't believe it...look at my proud little egg, you mean it was faking it this whole time ?!!..

concrete poetry

2010-10-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

that was last weekend, on a sidewalk, in front of a locksmith in charleston, south carolina

...those little things really make me happy for some reason..

this morning...

2010-10-18T05:24:00.001-07:00