Hansi's Gretel - An Alsace Doll

Whew, boy!  Fall is here!  Those sparkling mornings that turn into dry, earthy-warm days, ending in cool evenings with equally sparkling skies as the sun sets.  Did anyone see that gorgeous moon last night?  We even took an alternate route to walk the dogs last night, just to bask in the light of the near full moon.  It was full enough for me, and we climbed back up to the house with moon shadow accompanying our steps.  Love it.  My other favorite time of year next to spring.


And, it feels good to be writing again.  This little project has been in the works since July 19th, when I attended the Darlene Lane dinner for an Alsace doll at convention this summer.  I'd attended it for Betsy (she got the doll), but I got an excellent dinner, and enjoyed a fabulous presentation by Elizabeth Schmahl, on Hansi's illustrations and Alsase-Lorraine during WWI.  Great food and inspiration all in one sitting. 

And, its funny, but it wasn't the dressed dolls on display that caught my fancy, but the illustrated postcards by Uncle Hansi, the storks, and the history of the region that appealed to me.  I do recall that my mother's family history has roots in Alsace-Lorraine, and it was one the things she had great pride in.  I never really paid that much attention to dolls costumed this way, thinking "someone went a little wild with the bows", but after the presentation given at the event, I started doing my treasured research.  And, talked with Betsy, at length, about the costuming and history.  Her family history has roots there as well.  

I fell in love the storks of Alsace.  It was my intention to make a doll and needle felt a stork for her.  Upon learning that these storks, indigenous to the region, grew to the height of 5', I was in awe.  That's how tall I am!  The history of the stork delivering babies came from this region.  The tale was born out of the regrowth of a people who struggled hard during the first world war to recapture land that had gone back and forth between France and Germany since the 1600's.  The stork is an emblem of Alsace-Lorraine, and a grand bird he is.  I was also charmed by Uncle Hansi's illustrations, which reminded me so much of the original Becassine drawings.    

 

Hansi (little John), Uncle Hansi, as a non de plume, was Jean-Jacques Waltz (1873 - 1951), a staunch pro-French activist, famous for his quaint drawings, some of which contained harsh critiques of the Germans of the time.  He was also a war hero having been captured by the Germans once, as well as alluding capture much of his life.  His drawings portrayed the resilience of the French, the charm of its children, beauty of the countryside during the war (bombed out buildings among the blossoms of spring), and storks.  These precious images helped the region during great loss of life and keep their spirits up.

When I'd returned from convention, I went online and purchased several antique Hansi postcards to aid in creating a doll from this region.  I also spent hours saving off favorite Hansi images from online searches and have shared a few below.  After collecting a stack of various cloths to work from, I decided to make Gretel from two of my postcards rather than one.  The clogs in the one could not be made - well maybe, but I didn't want to try - and since she had short boots on in another, I felt it okay to blend the two images, and just play.

Its amazing to me how so much work can go into something and not look like it.  But, work on this I did.  It was the apron fabric and the skirt's trim that I began with.  I generally select the hardest or most elusive parts to work on first, because if these can't be achieved, the rest of the costume won't develop well.  I'm such a stickler to drawings.  Even if they are "just made up", I want what I see, and try.

The beige and red striped cotton of the apron is a woven fabric.  I chose an aqua blue machine thread and laboriously made tiny zig-zags on my machine alternating rows, to get the look.  Doesn't sound hard, but it took patience.  The trim was another matter.  I considered embroidering a band by hand, however I found a jacquard trim that was "close" and purchased it.  I pulled out the silver border threads and the yellow centers from the middle of the flowers to get the look.  It wasn't too difficult, but it took time.  Yes, I pulled too hard on the small work at times, threatening to mess up the whole piece of ribbon, but clipped as often as needed to not make that mess.

The skirt is a dark blue wool, which I lined with a merry blue and white stripe.  I considered what sort of lining a skirt like this would have, if lined at all, and selected something that "mother might have on hand".  Her top, or jacket, is heathered brown wool.  Two bands of black ribbon edge the sleeve.  Her little shawl is a cotton, black with red roses.  Its a triangular shawl.  The fringe is handmade knots - a little over 100 of them.  I thought it would take forever to do them.  I'd made similar fringe knots on Jolly Jane's hip scarf for her gypsy costume.  Bigger though.  And, you hardly see them due to the ends being tucked into the apron and her long hair in back.  Kind of like undergarments.  You never see them, but know they're there.  Her little knickers are edged in lace.  The original stockings I made where from black and gray socks, but I decided on blue and white stripes to break up the dark, dark, dark. 

Gretel's boots are Lawton doll boots that I cut down and re-edged on the machine.  At that stage of the costume, I was more interested in getting to the accessories, and these boots work fine.  By the way, Gretel is a 12" reborn Lawton - the same sculpt as Illustrated Alice. 

 

After a couple of months studying the bow and how it sat on the head, I noticed that there was a beige or gold "lace" cap beneath it.  Betsy and I had a long discussion, and online look, at the various ways these bows were made, and the different caps and ways they sat on the head.  The bows themselves vary in size, shape and color, but there was no real discussion (online) of why, except for the possible significance of the age of the female, religion or holiday.  Some were red.  Scarves of varying florals, solids and plaids could be worn with or in substitution, too, to the traditional Alsace costuming.  It was mind boggling - like just about anything goes.  I liked the idea of a gold lace cap and used a lace sewn and sculpted into a cap to attach a large black cotton bow to.  This was fun.

I also noticed in one of Gretel's illustrations that she wore an embroidered belt around her waist over the apron.  I had a small piece of cotton grosgrain ribbon about 3/32 wide and sat down to embroider red petals and green leaves on it.  Why not?  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and I was chomping at the bit to get to the accessories.

A stroke of luck found me purchasing on a BIN, two antique doll baskets that were similar to the ones in the Hansi illustrations.  It was needle felting time and I made a cute little bundt cake, a green pear and two red apples.  Remember the Christmas trees decorated in red apples?  The stems were something else to needle felt, but I managed with a bit of effort.  Not much can't be replicated in wool, but metal.

It was time to make that huge red umbrella she holds.  I grabbed a couple of sticks of basswood and two minutes into this, I realized I was barking up the wrong tree.  I knew I had a fresh package of Paperclay somewhere in a cabinet, and pulled that out and sculpted the stem and handle of the umbrella.  Paint and Gesso later, I made the red round, edged that then created a faux umbrella.  This is what you do if you're sticking to an illustration.  The spokes weren't necessary.  Its a prop.  I don't always get so anal about stuff - worth noting though.

But, my favorite part of all of this was the Alsace soldier doll.  In all the dolls I saw on display at convention, not one carried her soldier doll.  And, to me, he's the best part of all of this.  Did little girls really have these dolls to play with?  Was this a statement Hansi was making?  I don't know, but I loved that little guy, so I made one.  He's about 4" tall on wire armature.  Blue jacket, red pants and a matching cap.  There were two versions of him and I chose to do the one with a single breasted jacket, or one row of buttons - which are seed beads.  Gretel is coming back from market and she took her little soldier doll along with her, red umbrella under her arm in the case of inclement weather.

This was a fun project.  I wasn't so sure about it even after I began, but being able to be a bit creative here and there made it joyful.  I hope you'll enjoy the other Hansi's below, and one of mother dressing her daughters for the day.  There's so much to see and feel, experience through these images.

And, well, Halloween is coming up now!  We are taking off for a few days into the Eastern Sierras to see the change of aspen leaves, and then its Halloween costume time.  I think...

Love,

Melissa

 

  

All for a Looking Glass Cake!

Just because I said that I wouldn't make anymore "Alice" dolls, didn't mean I would make anymore "Alice" needle felts!  And of course, Alice Illustrated might just need a new "illustrated outfit" someday.  I surely hope you aren't tiring of Alice.  Nothing seems to inspire me more.


Every end of August is the beginning of a string of birthdays.  And, so I begin wondering what to buy, what to make, what that special someone might be delighted with.  And, then there's Christmas.  Its a busy time indeed.  Not all of my friends do gift exchanges, but Jean and I have been doing this for quite some time.  And, she's my Alice Soul Mate. 


One year I dressed a small porcelain doll for her as Alice, and the gift theme took off.  Last year she sent me the most amazing papered trunk with paper toys in it, all in Tenniel's Alice.  I flipped.  Turns out mine was a twin to one she kept for herself.  And since then, I've been helping her fill hers with "felties", as she calls them.

I wanted to do something birthday themed, and the only cake in the story (Through the Looking Glass), was a plum pudding called a Looking Glass cake.  Making the cake alone simply wouldn't do, so I set out to make at least the Unicorn, from which the cake came from in the chapter, The Lion and the Unicorn.  But, then he really needed the Lion or the story couldn't be told properly, so this birthday gift ran away with me a bit.  You think?

So let's recap.  I'm sure my "Cliff's Notes" here will sound about as strange as the story, but here goes.  So the King is on one of his normal rampages.  Alice is there of course, and the king is waiting for his messengers Haigha and Hatta.  For those of you familiar with the book, Haigha is the one that hands the king a "ham sandwich" from his messenger bag.  The king hears a noise and Alice asks, "Who are at it again?"  "The Lion and the Unicorn, of course."  "Fighting for the crown!"  Which happens to be the king's crown.  Then Alice remembers an old song.  

"The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown: The Lion beat the Unicorn all around town.  some gave them white bread, some gave them brown: Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town."

So the two messengers, Alice and the king, go forth to watch the fight.  The king calls for a ten minute refreshment break seeing that the Lion and the Unicorn are fairly spent.  Silly conversation commences, of course, with Alice being singled out and identified as a monster.  Yet Alice sees the unicorn as a fabulous monster, and now they can both agree that something unique has happened.  They've both seen monsters.  This means a refreshment better than brown bread must be had, so the unicorn exclaims "Come fetch out the plum-cake...".  The lion shows up and asks Alice to hand round the plum-cake.  (I'm really editing here!)

But, of course its a magical plum-cake and no matter how Alice saws away at the thing, the pieces keep joining together again.  So the lion says, "You don't know how to to manage Looking-glass cakes...Hand it round first, and cut it afterwards."  Naturally the unicorn is miffed thinking the lion got a larger slice (the lion's share??).  And, the gist of all this is, the plum-cake is a stand in for Jean's birthday cake, and I had to make everything.

The chapter ends with Alice hearing another noise.  This one is of drums.  The drums that "drum them out of town".  I've got to tell you that if you're ever in need of a little clarity in your life, read Alice.  Your head will be filled with such nonsense after a page or two that your conundrum will make perfect sense.

I think one of the reasons I love doing these needle felts, is that I want to see what the characters look like from all sides.  I naturally have to make this up, following along with what I believe the illustration would look like should it step off the page.  I also get a brief education in animal anatomy - sort of.  After beginning to create one of the anthropomorphic critters, I find myself doing research on the real animal.  When I have a bit of understanding on the animal, I go back to the illustration and work between the two.  Its one thing to say you know what a lion or horse (with a horn) looks like, but quite another to sculpt it, dress it, give it a court costume or put glasses on its nose!

Both the Lion and the Unicorn as roughly 6" tall.  The cake plate is 2" in diameter.  I'd intended them to be around 4 1/2" to 5" tall, but there you go.  I had to begin with wire armature and just making that wasn't easy.  I did figure something out though.  If you want to make good wire armature, find images of the skeleton of the thing.  Then simplify with wire.  Why don't Youtube instructors tell you this?  I guess that would be too easy.  Giving away the secret!

The Unicorn gave me a chance to explore folds in clothing.  Also, it gave me an opportunity to work with "sticking hands in one's pockets".  Neither of these things is a no-brainer.  I really have to teach myself how to do things as I go along.  Yes, I make mistakes.  I love mistakes...no I don't, not really...but, they do teach you how to look at it again and do it correctly. 

The Lion was tougher than the Unicorn, even though I had to dress the Unicorn and detail his clothing.  I love his shoes.  The Lion looked like the Pink Panther up until the very last day when I added his ruff.  This was very troubling for me since he really needed to look serious.  I also learned to mix my own felt for a correct color.  No one sold "Tenniel lion gold" wool.  Both the Unicorn and the Lion were completely sculpted with sand colored core wool, then layered with their colors.  The Lion's glasses are two punched out circles from a plastic box and wired together in the middle.  I drilled needle holes into the plastic discs to insert the wire.  

Finally we came to the birthday, or plum-cake.  I purchased a set of yellow Barbie plates to get the platter, and a miniature kitchen knife to resemble the carving knife Alice sawed away with.  Tenniel's must have been a bone-handled knife, so I painted the wood handle ivory.  You really have to study the illustration, but the cake has little "red dots" on top, so I assumed these would be currants or similar, and dotted my cake accordingly. 

This was fun.  It was a learning experience and kept the gray matter well exercised.  It took me a little over a couple of weeks to do this set, and I worked, seriously, all day-every day on it.  When I got stuck, I slept on the solution, then literally "went for it" the next day.  Sometimes you have to just trust your instincts.  Yes, go ahead and say it.  The lion looks a bit like Dorothy's Cowardly Lion.  With glasses.  Like any project, especially one you have to really work hard on, there comes a time when you need to say "done".  Today was it.  I'm actually writing this on the 9th, but won't post it until Jean opens her present, or on the 24th.  And, until I mail them, I get to enjoy them for a little while! 

Next?  The Alsace doll.  I think.  Christmas is coming...

Love,

Melissa  

 

Alice Inspired By Angel Dominguez - and a bit more...

Hello!  Boy, it sure does feel good to be writing in my journal again!  Thank you, thank you, for all the much welcome comments from the convention post.  I love taking you all on my journeys.  And, by sharing them, I get to relive them - but it sure is a lot more fun with friends along for the ride. 

The day after coming home from convention, actually a day and a half later, my husband had knee surgery (a torn meniscus), and it was hotter than you can imagine with temperatures in the triple digits, plus acridly smokey air, night and day, from the horrid wildfires throughout the west coast.  So staying indoors, taking care of David, and working on a new project was just the thing for another unpleasant California summer.  I should report that we've had a reprieve, and with blissfully cool mornings, the temps will stay in the mid 80's for a week.  Maybe that's why I feel so good this morning.  I can walk out the front door without seven buckets of sweat pouring off of me.

Alice.  I do love Alice.  This may be the last Alice doll I make, but that only means that should I find a new illustrator that I love, I'll simply add a new outfit and accessory to Illustrated Alice's wardrobe.

Earlier this year, I came upon this extraordinary book illustrated by Spain's leading illustrator, Angel Dominguez.  After spending hours in this book, I must admit that this one has to be a true favorite.  Angel Dominguez has the kind of imagination, and artistic talent that thrills me to the core.  Dominguez lives in Bilboa, Spain, and has illustrated many books around wildlife and children’s stories. He combined his love of Britain with his love of nature in his first children’s book, Diary of a Victorian Mouse. A professional artist since 1971, he is also a keen collector of rare children’s books, particularly those of Arthur Rackham.  His Alice intrigued me with both the style of her dress, which had a "curious" display of soutache,  and his characters were some of which I could never have imagined before.  He had FUN with this, and I had to bring his Alice to life in a doll.  

The dress was a beautiful shade of orchid, which would look bright and cheery on my shelf, and I found the perfect silk dupioni for this from Farmhouse Fabrics.  I'd also never done soutache in loops before, so this would be a challenge for me.  I'd asked several friends, competent seamstresses all, if they knew of any tutorials on how to sew soutache, and the only answers I was given were "Oh, its easy", or "Once you get going, it goes pretty smoothly", or my favorite "Oh, you just draw the design on and go".  There isn't one single Youtube on this, and zero tutorials.  There are descriptions in books about what soutache is (a trim), and that Victorians decorated their clothing with it (duh!), and that it was also used on French Fashion doll clothing (second duh).  So I had to start from scratch and teach myself how to do this.  At the end of this post is a little tutorial I put together just for you.  If it helps in even the slightest way, should you wish to try this yourself, I'd feel wonderful.

I began this Alice with a 14" rescue Lawton, Hanna the Milliner's Daughter.  I gave her new blue eyes, and a fabulous strawberry blonde wig with lots of curls.  The wig was restyled with my fingers, separating the larger curls into fluffy waves.  I actually did this twice.  With the first wig, I trimmed the bangs, and might have taken a bit too much off of them.  I'd also rinsed it to get some of the curl out, and that wasn't too successful, either.  Dominguez had drawn her with bangs, without bangs, and strands that flew away from her face, so I went for a compromise of all three.  

Knowing this doll would be an art doll, and never redressed, I put in the effort of creating a half slip and knickers for her, both trimmed in matching lace.  I used a fine cotton batiste for both pieces, trimmed with a French lace 1" wide.  I happened to have a lot of this lace on hand, and that was the deciding factor there.  Again, I hate doing undergarments as you never see them, but I do know they're required.  I also made her a new pair of stockings from white knit jersey.  

The bodice of her dress has a matching, notched collar, and three little matching buttons are sewn down the front.  Buttons are the odd thing sometimes, in that you often don't see them, but they're essential to the outfit.  In Angel's illustration, I could see a button now and then peeping up from the top edge of the pinafore, so I imagined they would go down the front.  I also made a tuck fold in the center of the bodice to represent a natural place for the buttons to go.  After studying the Ten Ping clothing of Ruby Red Galleria, I chose to use hooks and thread eyes to finish the dress in the back, with the inclusion of a sewn in placket.  

Her pinafore is the traditional "Alice" pinafore with the wide winged shoulders, closing with two buttons in the back.  Two generous patch pockets were sewn to the skirt with a hidden ladder stitch.  Large ties make for a pretty bow in the back.

 

Now a bit about the soutache.  First of all, its just a trim.  Its not a braid, which is flat, but a trim consisting of two cords covered in thread.  You hand stitch through the middle of these cords to attach the trim.  As I was desperately researching for tutorials, I saw many on how to use this trim to make corded jewelry.  Like some laces, you can pull one or both cords to cinch the threads up and curl them.  I fussed with this a bit to see if this was the way you'd made those loops, but it wasn't correct.

I looked on Pinterest for examples of soutache and found many on Victorian dresses, and of course, French Fashion doll clothing.  Beautiful as they were done, I could not find a photo of a close up showing "how the trim was looped".  As in "go to right, make a loop, bend over to the left, cross it in front"...rather like Boy Scout knot tying.  I finally saved off one file, cropped it, then enlarged it to see if I could find the course of action.  Its a puzzle at best and a dizzying to the mind and eyes.  My guess is that many who have done looped soutache trim, have done it in a French Fashion class where the pattern was imprinted on the fabric already.  That's where the "It goes pretty smoothly once you get the hang of it" comes from.  Terribly frustrating answer when you're starting from scratch.  It actually takes a lot of measuring and designing of the way it will loop, to get something to work with (see my tutorial at the end for tips).

What I ended up with, was my own version of Angel's design.  The way he had drawn the design was not one you could duplicate, but more of a ribbon edged in white and looped over itself.  The "idea" of soutache.  So by adding a row to the bottom of the looped soutache, I was able to create a facsimile of his design.  From start to finish, it took me a few days to complete.  And, by the way, you cannot pin the trim on then sew.  You have to manipulate the trim as you continue to loop it. 

Now to the fun part!  The characters!  The accessories.  Oh, did I have fun with these!  When I first purchased the book, I was mesmerized by the incredibly unusual characters Angel came up with to illustrate the story.  Yes, the tried and true are present, but there were so many others.  If you go back up to the book cover photo, you'll see this wonderful buzzing parade of what I'll call "hippo-bees".  Now how cute is that?!  A hippo-bee.  I had to make one.  I love bees.  But add the body of a hippo into the mix, and you have a fantasy critter to die for!  These huge, ponderous animals are at best quite adorable as babies, but highly aggressive as adults.  I wonder if this scenario was how Angel came up with them?  To what purpose are they in the story?  None, but they're a curious eye candy and flights of fancy.  The one I did not do, but may just because, is the airliner fish-bird.  Modern, not in the least bit Victorian, contemporary and just plain fun.  Maybe I'll make one for her to hold and place Bill standing on his own in front of her.  I don't know.  I just love it though, and apparently Angel did, too.   Here are some photos of the hippo-bee.  

 

 

  

 

 The second character I wanted to do was the dodo.  He was dressed in a fabulous British Navy Admiral's costume, and he made me smile.  However, as I contemplated the effort to create him in needle felt, I became obsessed with how large he should be, or how small he might be, and what would look best as an accessory for this doll.  I do not shy away from such a challenge, but to do him correctly, and with all the details, I'd have to make him rather large.  And, I just don't have the room to display such a piece.  So I looked around in the book some more, and decided on making Bill.


Poor Bill never seems to get much a mention besides shooting out of the chimney.  And, he was the right color.  He looks marvelous with the orchid pink of her dress with the silly soutache.  On an artist's color chart, its the perfect green opposite this red-purple.  And, he's a cutie.


To recap, Alice once again goes through a change of size when coming upon a bottle she shouldn't be touching.  She grows to enormous proportions in this little cottage, to the point where her arm is hanging out the window frightening all the wildlife around her.  So they send in Bill to the rescue.  He's a slim lizard who should fit down a chimney well.  He's to climb up his ladder, shuttle down the chimney to "do something", but ends up being booted back up, and out, by Alice's restless foot appropriating itself in the fireplace with a kick.


One of my favorite things about Angel's illustrations of some of these characters, is how they're dressed.  At first I thought Bill was dressed in nautical attire, like many of the Caucus Race characters, but as I began to dress him, I discovered this really wasn't the case.  I've never seen an outfit like this, so I must assume its some sort of "service" uniform.  Like the milkman, or delivery man, or electrician.  I have no idea, but if he were to provide a service, perhaps he is dressed in a uniform to provide one.


I also made his little ladder.  I tried to find a doll house one on Ebay, but they were scaled to 1:12, of course.  This little ladder is a little over 5" tall and has nine round rungs. 


 

And, last, of course, she needed shoes.  I do believe the soles are a little thick, but they're still a nice pair of button strap shoes.  I must remember to toss that piece of leather or save it for much larger dolls.


Below I've included a few of my favorite pages from Angel Dominguez's book.  One of them includes Bill in the juror's box.  Another is of the dodo that I almost did.  If you love these, you'll treasure owning a copy of this amazing book.


And, next?  The Alsace doll. She's been sitting on a pile of fabrics for a month now and would love to come out and play.


Love,
Melissa
 

And, now for a quick tutorial on how I did the loop soutache.

In this first photo, you'll see some sketches of the pattern I was trying to achieve.  Believe it or not, it actually helps drawing out the pattern so you can figure out how you wish to sew it on.  Its a little like cursive writing.  There is a basic direction the trim should be looped and crossed over to achieve a uniform look to the design.  The center sketch has arrows on it showing the direction of placement.  Even when tying a bow, there's a rhythm of movement that you must adopt. 

With this particular design, and you are welcome to use it, I started at the left, made a loop to the top-right, going under and looping this to the top curve, looping that down to the left, up and over to the right, then down over the band that began the first loop.  You'll see this in the arrows drawn in the middle sketch.  I didn't make this up.  In the next photo you'll see an up-close image of someone else's process.  I just did it a bit differently by ending the looping trim on top instead of the bottom of the left loop. (They did not use traditional soutache, but some kind of textured yarn-like trim.) 

In the third illustration, I made a pattern on tissue paper and poked holes in it to be able to mark where the design goes.  You could probably use pencil, or a marker (it will get covered up), or a colored chalk.  This didn't work for me, but you can try it.  Instead, I cut out the edges of this "shamrock" shape and lightly drew around it as a template, directly onto the silk.  Then I stitched the trim over the lines.  If you think you shouldn't draw on the fabric, I read that "Louise Hedrick" tells you to draw on the fabric ;))

Fourth photo.  This was just a sampler I did to get the hang of it.  A mock, up if you will.  Its also important to determine the size of the design, and how far you wish it to be from the hem of the dress.  Yes, you need to get out your ruler and do a little math and measuring.

Fifth photo, and this is the cool one.  Once you know how large you want the design to be, and how far from the hem, measure up from a pressed hemline, and do a large gathering stitch across the fabric.  Then measure up to the total height you want the design to be, mark it, and sew another gathering stitch across.  This gives you an accurately measured space to stitch your design between.

 

How wide would your like your design to be?  How long is the runner between the loop designs?  Say its a total of three inches.  Mark off three inch segments, then do a gathering stitch vertically every three inches.  Now you have perfect little equidistant boxes to sew your design into!  As you begin to hand stitch the trim on, you can manipulate the trim to bend and flatten it.  I kept my sampler pinned above my work to make sure I stayed on track as far as how wide the loops would be, and how far from the "stitched box" the ends of the loops were. 

If I could figure it out, you can do it.  Its not easy.  It doesn't go quickly, or smoothly, and its work.  Just a head's up on that one.  For fancier designs, I can't help you.  LOL  I think this was "it" for me, but I did do it once.  If you have a tutorial that you like, or know of a Youtube, please share a link with us!  This "tutorial" is how "I did it" only.  And, I hope this all made sense :))  missemouse