Meet the Peg Doll Maker – Part I

Welcome to Part I of my Meet the Peg Doll Maker series, helping you to get to know us a little more. It’s based on the prompts provided by Joanne Hawker for the month long Instagram challenge March Meet The Maker. It is designed to help small business owners and creatives to tell the story behind their brand.

 Each day of the month has a different prompt, which participants can interpret freely. Over the series of posts I am sharing the images I chose for each daily prompt, along with the caption I wrote for each one on Instagram. Hopefully you will learn a little more about myself, the peg doll families and cake toppers that I lovingly create, and about what goes on behind the scenes in our studio!

Day 1: you

peg doll artist Natalie Thomas

This is me, Natalie. I’m not usually fortunate enough to be sipping on cocktails! However this was my 35th birthday in the Lake District over the weekend. I’m not at all ready to be a grown up yet though! I live on the side of a mountain in the Welsh Valleys with my lovely hubby. His presence keeps me (an introverted, tea-drinking creative gal who wants a quiet, uncomplicated life; likes staying in and her own company) just about on the right side of the “Crazy Cat Lady” line.  We have 3 cats; Dexter, Cookie and our kitten Pearl, who really are the apples of my eye. Pearl is completely deaf and I am teaching her sign language, thus validating the almost crazy cat lady status 😹. Really looking forward to finding out more about my favourite makers and meeting lots of new inspirational and talented lovelies too.

DAY 2: Favourite to make

Peg doll family of five

I’ve really had to think long and hard about this. I really love EVERY set I’m commissioned to make. So much love, time, and effort goes into each doll I make that I become attached to each one. I almost posted some Wedding Cake toppers as it’s always such a huge honour to be asked to make something which is such a focal point of someone’s special day. It’s also an extremely nervous process – particularly between sending them from my little studio to their new recipient! Will the dolls be what the customer envisaged and hoped for? Have I got the details just right? So it’s very stressful but so rewarding when I get lovely email feedback!

However, after a bit of reflection, I realised that my favourite sets to make are in fact the ones that involve lots of colour and pattern. It’s such a satisfying and therapeutic process to translate them to my little wooden dolls. So I picked this picture as an example of my favourite sort of work to undertake- bright, colourful and patterned! 😍💕 Does colour or pattern play a big part in your work?

Day 3: Workspace

peg doll artists studio, wales, uk

Here’s my little studio. We haven’t lived here long so we haven’t decorated in here (brown carpet anyone?) but I love my room anyway. My desk is under the window so gets lots of natural light. The deep windowsill is perfect for our 3 moggies to curl up on while I’m working. It looks over our little terraced garden and up to the pine trees on the mountain we live on. I love watching them sway hypnotically in the wind. Of course this is rather fortunate because we get a lot of wet and windy weather in the Welsh valleys!

The room is home to all my special little trinkets and treasures from my dearest family and friends, and favourite makers, so it’s an ecclectic but inspirational environment for me. It’s also got a bank of built-in storage which is crammed with my years of arts and crafts materials. It’s the main reason I bagged this room as my studio when we bought the house! If I’m feeling brave enough to reveal my scratchy little Welsh accent, I might show you around on Stories later! 🙈 Do you have anything special to you in your studio? Looking forward to seeing everyone elses creative spaces today

Day 4: Tools

peg doll artists tools

Here are my essential tools for making my peg doll families and wedding cake toppers. I usually work in my studio. Of course this is a necessity when I’m burning the dolls. Sometimes though, in the evenings, I like to pop my pencils and drawling tools in to a basket and work curled on the sofa up next to Mr T. There’s usually a cat or two on my lap too!

Day 6: Raw Materials

peg doll families and couples

Here are my little wooden peg dolls before I work my pyrography and pencil magic on them. I keep an easy to grab “working stock” handy in pretty glass jars on my pretty turquoise Raskog trolly next to my desk. The rest of my raw stock is in a big box. I keep track of how many I’ve got with little chalk labels on each jar – high tec baby! 😂 💕 Do you have any clever ways to keep track of your raw materials?

 Stay tuned for Part II of my Meet the Peg Doll Maker Series for the next 6 snippets into our little business.

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

peg doll family

Peg Dolls at Christmas – Craft Fayre Season!

We kicked off our Christmas Season here at Peg Dolls HQ last night with Dwr-Y-Felin Christmas Fayre in Neath.  

Like last year, it was a superbly organised festive evening, full of stalls from some of the most talented local makers and craftspeople. With over 40 hand picked stalls, this year was even better. It certainly felt an honour to be there with our peg dolls!

peg dolls for sale

Things have been turning particularly festive here in the Welsh Valleys this week, when we woke early last Sunday to a light dusting of the white stuff! It certainly finally made creating Santa’s and elves feel “right” anyway! It’s hard to deny Christmas is on its way when it’s cold and frosty!

So it’s fitting that for this year, as well as traditional red and green, our peg dolls took on a frosty twist in their colour schemes. Inspired by retro Christmas cards and images pinned on our Christmas Mood Board Pinterest Board, I chose cool aqua tones with pops of coral.

christmas santa peg dolls couple

Lots of people commented on the attention to detail on the peg dolls and were in disbelief that they are handmade!

Yes – I REALLY do draw out, then woodburn, then colour (yes colour, NOT paint! Sometimes I wish I did paint them as I’m sure it would be quicker, but I love the unique tactile finish my dolls have which would be lost to paint) each and every single doll myself, by hand. There is absolutely no mass-production or mechanical intervention. Each one takes hours of work. They truly are labours of love. When you hold one of my peg dolls, you have a little piece of my heart in your hands.

peg dolls elves

christmas peg dolls

We also have brand New Christmas Countdown Characters too – if you haven’t spotted them on our Instagram or Facebook accounts you need to pop over and take a peep! These very special peg dolls are perfect for starting a brand new family tradition for advent. I’ll post them here soon I promise – you know I love to tease! Instagram and Facebook really are the best way to keep up to date with our newest peg doll creations.

Our 2nd Fayre is next week In the beautiful Maesteg Town Hall, and coincides with the annual Santa parade, Tree Switch on and fireworks display. It’s always a lovely, free and festive afternoon. Pop along and say hello!

peg dolls wales christmas maesteg

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

peg doll peg dolls UK handmade gifts

christmas peg dolls

Christmas Peg dolls – Elves, Angels and More!

The most wonderful time of the year is almost upon us! I’ve been very busy here in my studio making lots of lovely little Christmas peg dolls. They are the ideal gift or little treat to decorate your home this Christmas!

Christmas peg dolls

These little festive peg dolls will be for sale at the DwrYFelin Craft Fayre, Neath, South Wales on 26th November.  They will be amoungst our other dolls too of course, including tooth fairies and super mums.  I will also be taking custom orders for 2016, so if you have something in mind, pop down for a chat. It is going to be a lovely evening, with almost 30 stalls of hand-crafted loveliness, live music and seasonal refreshments! For more details see the poster below. For links to some of the stalls that will be there, have a look at the event page on Facebook here.

IMG_20151108_211257

Other vendors include Coco Bean Wales,  BabySential,  and  A Little Bit Different. . Mali Rose Designs and Olovsdotter Handmade Swedish Crafts will also be there, to name just a few.

It will be brilliant to see you local lovelies for a spot of  shopping, a natter and a mince pie!

I am Also super pleased to tell you that my 2016 order book is now open. I am taking orders for personalised peg dolls and cake toppers for the new year. so Drop me an email or use the contact form to make any enquiries!

As always,

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

Natalie-Name-divider

Made in Wales ♥

We’re not fibbing when we say that our peg dolls and handmade gifts are crafted in one of the most beautiful places in the UK you know! With our little home studio just a hop, skip and jump from the Gower in Wales, we really are spoilt with all the inspiration we can draw from the natural beauty on our doorstep.

Yesterday, to celebrate the bank holiday weekend and make the most of the glorious British sunshine (while it lasts!), Mr T and I took a cliff-top stroll from sweet Bracelet Bay in Mumbles, around to Langland Bay; famed for it’s white and green beach huts and.

I think the fact that your custom, personalised peg dolls and hoop art gifts are made in an area of the UK which is classed as being of outstanding natural beauty just makes them that extra bit special, but being a Welsh girl I may be slightly biased 😉

See for yourself…..
custom personalised peg doll gifts wales Uk

 

Wishing you a super bank holiday weekend wherever you are in the UK and whatever you are up to!

Cariad ♥ Mawr,

Natalie-Name-divider

 

Hello & Welcome to Pink Elephant Crafts – Customised peg dolls, hoop art and handmade gifts made in the UK

Customised personalised peg dolls gifts handmade in wales uk

Customised wooden peg dolls – couple and pets

A lovely warm hello from Mr T and I (and our wooden peg doll counterparts) here in the cosy little studio of Pink Elephant Crafts, where I beaver away making bespoke handmade gifts.

Welcome to the little Blog corner of our website (which Mr T has been slaving away over the past few weeks to build), where we endeavour to bring you little snatches and snippets of life behind the studio doors, and insights into how our bespoke wooden peg dolls, hoop art, and cards and illustrations are lovingly hand made.

Pink Elephant Crafts has been running in one way or another for a little over 10 years, where I drew upon my art student days to make handmade cards with paper crafting techniques. Over time, my interests have broadened, harking back to the hazy long-gone days where I spent hours as a little girl learning to sew and embroider with my Grandma and to colour and shade drawings with my Grandad.

Now, here on the Gower in Wales, UK, our greatest pleasure is using traditional techniques to create unique pieces of art for you. Our specialties lie in our hand sewn hoop art and wooden peg dolls, on which we use pyrography and hand colouring, with great attention to detail.

Have a little look around, and do pop back soon to keep up with our latest creations and news – new products will be continually added to the Gallery. Feel free to get in touch with us anytime (we do love a little chat!), or follow us on Instagram and Facebook too!

Hope to see you soon!

             Cariad ♥ mawr,

 

Natalie-Name-divider