realms

I just started a tumblr blog account for all the stories from the stuffed animal and doll hospital. It reached the point where Peter, and many of my friends, kept telling me I needed to write down the stories about my patients. And then I read a great book, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, and there’s a fabulous scene where the main character remembers her childhood stuffed elephant. And I thought, “See, my patients’ people aren’t the only ones with treasured stuffed toys. Here it is in print!” And I wanted to be able to point people to it. So, long story short, I’ve started the blog. You can follow it here. I’ve only got an intro up so far, but I’ll add more soon. Including the envelope which gave me my blogging name, Dr. Beth. 🙂

I have two fall shows this year, this weekend, September 27-29 (yes, it starts on Friday) is the Fall Festival of the Artson Santa Cruz Ave in Menlo Park and in two weeks, October 12-13, is the San Carlos Art and Wine Festival. Last night I finished a new furry Lion and the Mouse, the first of his kind, and he’s absolutely adorable! (That’s him below). And today, I have finished a new doll inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, Glinda and Dorothy. First chance to see them in person, along with all the other new dolls and stuffed animals is this weekend, so I hope to see some of you in Menlo Park!

I’ve also been doing a fairly good job of updating the cloth doll and stuffed animal hospital blog (link at left or go to doctorbeth.tumblr.com). I’m pretty proud of some of the entries, particularly the Piggy and the Monster Under the Bed, and the one on NOT washing stuffed animals. The rhinoplasty is pretty funny to. Check it out if you get a chance!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had fabulous holidays!

After two shows in early fall, I spent the rest of the year with patients: Raggedy Anns and teddy bears and more bunnies than you can count! I’m starting to think stuffed bunnies replicate like warm blooded ones! The hospital is still full, but patients aren’t doubling up in the beds anymore, and the average length of a stay is back to a couple of weeks (3 weeks with the spa). The hospital has been so consistent, that I’ve had trouble finding time to restock my original dolls, let alone create new designs. And I have some great new design ideas, including a Sherlock Holmes doll! A court just ruled that Sherlock Holmes is officially in public domain, so he’s fair game for a doll now. So… I may be dropping a few art shows and sticking with the web for the dolls. You can always order them through the site (two Babe the Blue Ox dolls went home to start the year!) and I’m hoping to start listing individual dolls on Etsy in a few months, so stay tuned for updates here and on the hospital blog, which I update every week or so….

In the meantime, here are the Babe and Paul non-reversible dolls who went home for New Years….

Hello Everyone! If you haven’t been following my tumblr blog (doctorbeth.tumblr.com), then I’m afraid you may’ve thought I disappeared for half a year, but I promise, I haven’t! This year I did take a break from the art and wine festival circuit, so that I could focus on hospital patients and custom orders of dolls, puppets, and stuffed animals. And the good news is, that seems to be working quite well. We’ve had over 200 patients come through the hospital so far this year, and I’ve also been kept busy making custom Tatterhoods and lady rabbi puppets, among others. If you like any of the fairy tale characters on my site, keep in mind that if you have one custom made, the price is the same, but you can choose hair, eye, skin, and clothing colors. I also have a number of the more popular characters in stock — I make them for storytelling and then they find new homes and I need to make more for the next storytelling session. So, if you’re in the Bay Area and need a last minute gift, remember you are welcome to call and make an appointment to visit the studio in person.

Speaking of which, the global reach of Realms of Gold has continued. I had human visitors from France earlier this year, I’ve had stuffed animal patients from Canada, and others are currently en route from Singapore and Germany. I have a map on the About Us page if your curious as to where dolls have gone and patients have come from.

Happy holidays, everyone! I just had to share with all of you the latest blog post I just found from one of my former patient’s people. This is the story of Chumbawumba, and I’m so glad his person was so happy. Anyway, I thought I’d share her post with you. You can find it here.