A friend brought me a fairy godmother wand this morning, made of paper with golden and wooden celtic designs, fuzzy yarn and beads. I love it. She asked me if I had been to http://www.thetoymaker.com , so I went there immediately.
Marilyn Scott-Waters’ site has dozens of toys, gift boxes and dolls that a person can print out and assemble. She is both an artist and a writer, so she has books for sale as well as her free designs. She has the idea of giving some of her wares to build value for her books. The site too reflects her art–it is all congruent with her persona. Her blog is at http://thetoymaker.livejournal.com/ and the most recent entry is about an art project by William Hessian: http://www.williamhessian.com/arttour.h
The designs are downloadable PDFs with beautiful colors for printing on cardstock. One I particularly liked was a fairy gazebo, a place for tooth or other fairies to hang out when they are off duty. Her work reminds me of the punch-out-and-put-together toys I had as a child…castles, paper dolls and other build it yourself cardboard toys. I loved making the models, even though I wasn’t much interested in them once they were finished. It was the joy of assembling them that was fun.
Marilyn the Toymaker has very practical ideas, such as special boxes for a small gift or a card for a friend. Her artwork makes each piece special, and the downloads give a pattern for making a project one’s own. Her blog too features her artwork, making it personal, whimsical and a lovely break from hard edges and shouting headlines.
I have to go now and see what else she has…including a time-out system for happy home life, and to see about her books. She’s given me some ideas about how to market some things I do know how to do.
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