What an amazing weekend at the small business market. We sold out of our pin ponies and plague masks on Friday and Saturday, it was lucky I had some plague masks finished off at home or our stall would have looked very bare on Sunday. Honestly blown away with the amount of people showing their support to all the small businesses, we were all run off our feet and it was great.
We have had to cancel The Yard this month so we can catch up with our list of dolls we want to make and with the school holidays fast approaching, we don't really have much of a choice. So the next 3 weeks are packed with a huge list of sewing that will be done so we can catch up at nights during the holidays, doesn't help that I have a new concept for a doll that involves learning a new technique but hey ho. The aim is to have at least 4 new dolls for the next market, we are trying to keep in mind that the next 2 are heavily detailed and this might affect our aim but it never hurts to try. 
If you popped by on Friday you will have probably seen that I was a bit frustrated that I forgot the doll I was meant to paint and had bought a canvas to paint on instead. Honestly could have kicked myself for forgetting, I remembered all the paints, the water jar etc but not the thing that needed painted. However I did get a very nice painting based on Sol and Mani, I may even decide to sell it as a one off sometime. So our next market will be in June with the small business market and I hope to have a lot of new curios to show off very soon.

Stay Quirky
​Gemma 

This is something I never thought I would have to prove or voice but here goes. There has never been and never will be a porcelain doll branch of Pretty Darn Perfect. The last 3 weeks have been hell. It was brought to my attention that there is someone out there claiming to be this in order to sell, now I only know of two sales that had been complained about due to paint peeling/being easily wiped off and one that had been broken, repaired and sold. These were the two that I was being accused of allowing to be sold. I have since the first phone call proven that none of my sales or curios were porcelain dolls, obviously due to the complaints I had to prove my innocence. My name has been cleared. I want to avoid anyone pointing fingers and saying I am accusing whoever. From what I was told over the phone is that they could not contact the original seller as they no longer exist on Facebook which is why they went higher, I wasn't given any names of who it was and refuse to add any speculation as to who it may be. 
The reason I am writing about it is mainly due to the fact that there will be people talking about this and I want to put my side out there, whatever happens now has nothing to do with me. I didn't point fingers, accuse or throw anyone under the bus; my main concern was clearing my name and I have done this.
If you have ever been told, heard or seen someone acting as part of Pretty Darn Perfect it is not true. Unless I have stated that I am working with another artist on here, Facebook or Instagram then it is not the case. 
As always I am grateful for the support and custom you all provide but please be vigilant when buying online and don't be afraid to ask questions about what you are purchasing, I know I am happy to answer any questions regarding my work and I am sure all other artists are as well. Always use paypal and never send through friends and family as this stops you being able to request a refund. 
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will hopefully see some familiar faces at the next few markets.

Stay quirky,
​Gemma 

It has been a while since I checked in here to update you all on what is going on. 
Since the last time we have created new kitchen witches, dyed new scarves, completed custom orders and introduced the first sin of the collection!
All while juggling the kids during the Easter break, a very much awaited gig with our favourite band Ghost and we spent last night watching Scribble Showdown. I haven't laughed so much in ages and now have a nervous twitch when stationary is mentioned.
If you have visited our stall recently you will have seen that we are now displaying what we are currently working on, mainly because we have been questioned a lot of where we import the dolls from. We have also started painting them at the stall so you can see us in action and let people see first hand the amount of work and detail we put into everyone of our curios. Our latest custom order made it off to her new home safely and we have another amazing custom order come in which, will surely turn a few heads when she is complete. 
The stunning Mani and Sol went off to pastures new as well! It was sad to pack them up and send them off on their journey. While we are talking about moving off to new homes, one of our new kitchen witches has jetted off to America! Little Circe, the cupboard raider has left us. We still have her sister Elphalba, the last biscuit eater...so if anyone wants to re-home her let me know. It would be nice to get a biscuit once and a while, you don't stand a chance between the house and the workroom. 
Our next few dolls are going to have a few new techniques used, a few extremely talented friends have been giving us tips and lessons to help us really push past the boundaries. One requires soldering and there is a mini fire extinguisher prepped and ready to go for when we attempt that one, there are days I come with my own warning label.
The first Sin has been finished and we even have a video showing you all what we did! Have a peek below.
Pride will be added to the shop soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Our next market is coming up on the 27th February!! 
Thought I would give it a shout out before I start rambling on about what we have been up to. So far we have 6 dolls, sculpted and ready to be painted, kitchen witch poppets needing limbs, pin ponies, plague masks and of course our exclusive cats and kittens. It his all hands on deck as we try to get lots more stock made and the shop coding is being worked on by a very good friend to help us get it up and running. We also have an amazing commission plus our new theme of the next dolls have been announced!!
We are working on the Seven Deadly Sins! They will be based on the Sins featured in the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. I had originally done costume designs for them back in college and found them when I was in the attic which sparked the idea to do them as dolls. So the Sins will be made in the order they appeared to Dr. Faustus, keep an eye on our Facebook page for hints, peaks and the big reveal when the Sin is complete. 
Have a look at our doll artist at work stitching together the bodies and tagging them in this time lapse. It took 38 minutes to get this footage, 6 bodies in 38 minutes. It shows just how much time goes into making our dolls from scratch. We will do a full time lapse of a doll being made in the near future so keep your eyes peeled.
​

If you follow us on Facebook you will have seen our newest creations. Morla, Sol and Mani. If not, check them out below. Morla sold instantly at the Small business market while, Sol and Mani drew everyone in. They were such a talking point and it made me so proud to hear so many people recognise them as the sun and the moon. The amount of enquiries I had about them, had my phone constantly pinging but they have stayed with me so far as they are being sold as a pair. Amazingly I have run out of designs to use in my sketch book, which caught me completely off guard. So over the weekend I remedied that and have an abundance of ideas to keep us all busy for the rest of the year. There is a theme for the next ones, which will be announced over the 12th - 13th February. There will also be more mermaids, fairies, witches etc among the themed dolls to stop us getting stagnant in our work. You know yourself things can get a bit stale if you don't keep things a bit different. Speaking of different, there will be a new look logo coming!! So watch this space!
We have also confirmed our regular haunts this year for the markets, as always you will find us at the Kingsgate shopping centre in Dunfermline, but we have also confirmed for the Yard in Perth as well!! 
2022 is shaping up to be a big year for Pretty Darn Perfect and we are working on a huge project in the background as well!! Cannot wait until this one can be announced, it has been a work in progress for a while.

Hello!! Hope you all had a lovely festive season!!
We have been meaning to update here a lot sooner than now but it has been so busy! We have had so many 3am finishes we have lost count of them all. The Christmas market at the Kingsgate was a total success and has had the sewing machine going full tilt between Christmas and New Year as we only had 2 curios, a cat and 3 scarves left. We did have some time off and have worked out schedules to try and keep up with admin and creating. (I keep saying we but really it is just me) To add to the madness we are currently at the Small business market again just now ( 7th-9th Jan 22) luckily the late nights meant we could rustle up some of our Kitchen Witch Poppets, Pin ponies and 2 dolls. There is also our first pair of dolls waiting on their hair and outfits!!
Also going forward we are sorting out storage for dolls that will be for sale exclusively on the website as having them sale on the stall as well is becoming difficult, mainly because we don't always have access to an internet connection and it is a panic if we can't update the website. So there will be website exclusives coming as soon as we get them finished!!
Check out the next dates for our markets and hopefully we will see you there!!
Before we sign off...have a look at our gorgeous 2 new ladies.
​Meet Mara the Harpie and Buttons the (not haunted) clown. 

,We are all in love in love with our new look website and while there are minor hiccups in updating bits and pieces, we think it looks amazing. The shop is currently being updated behind the scenes and we are hoping to have it live tomorrow. 
We have been offered a space in Dundee through the organisers of 'The Yard' in Perth and of course we jumped at the chance so look out for those dates in 2022!! 
If you follow us on Facebook you will see it is all hands on deck preparing for the next few markets including the 4 week Christmas market at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre. So far we have 50 pin ponies and 15 kitchen witches being prepared and the next on the list is cats and kittens; it is becoming a rare moment as to when we are not working just now and it will all be worth it in the long run, our machines are beginning to sob when we walk into the workshop just now. We have taken our scarves down off of the stall and website, they sold well during lockdown but sadly haven't been doing well since. We already have ideas for what to do with them so watch this space for some unique and limited editions. 
We will be offering a collection service while we are at each market on the run up to Christmas so you can save pennies on postage and not have the worry of a gift turning up in time. We are also offering gift vouchers too!! I know that we don't always have a doll available to suit all tastes so this is to help get the perfect gift for someone.

Lastly and I have been putting off posting this for a while but while we offer after care on our curios; we DO NOT fix or mend other peoples. I personally have been approached by people asking to fix or touch up someone's work. Please, please take it back to the person you bought it from as it is their duty to fix or replace it. I hate the negativity that this brings to the artists that follow all procedures and standards set so here is some advice, do not be afraid to ask questions about what you are buying. 

It has been an amazing new weeks with commissions being completed and our phones ringing off the hook with enquiries and potential new venues! Have you seen our new events which have been added to our page? We are so excited about them as it means our reputation a is speaking volumes for us, of course we are still going to be regulars at the Kingsgate. We have signed up for their entire Christmas Market as well, we are working our socks off to try and make enough stock to survive the 4 weeks plus the 2 fairs in between, difficulty setting is being changed to 'utter chaos' for December so get shares in Red Bull and Pro Plus on the go because that is what we will be surviving on for that month. No dates set for 2022 and we might spend the 40 weeks of January recovering from December haha. You will also have seen dates for The Scottish Deer Centre and we have an interview set up with them so they can have a look at our curios and show us their vision for the market, the dates will be confirmed then but how exciting is that!? Ocean Terminal is in the mix as well!! 
But more on that later.

If you follow us on Facebook you will have seen our latest two commissions to leave the workroom. Our gorgeous Highland Cow was named Redrum by her owner, she is 100% our own pattern and the gorgeous Sally, obviously, is not our design. The doll pattern is ours but that is it.
For our next out the box creation we are diving into Scottish Folklore to really flex our creativity and we started painting the curio last night, the fabric I said I wouldn't buy for it will arrive next week because I am weak and have no restraint. Cannot wait to show this one off, we say that a lot but in every case it is always a show stopper. Keep your eyes on the Facebook page for 2 new makes being revealed this weekend!!

Hello all! I am back after a very refreshing holiday away with the family and the machines are on and I am working away on a few orders, after the fabric went for a wee tour of Scotland I hasten to add. So the well travelled fabric has been cut and is ready to go onto the doll as soon as she is dry. I have also signed up for a few more markets on the run up to Christmas so updates may be few and far between on here and Facebook. However I will upload an album of all the new curios onto here and Facebook to let you all have a look before the markets to allow you to collect to avoid postage costs and the risk of presents not arriving in time. Can you tell I am fretting about Christmas already, the thought of Christmas shopping stresses me out haha. 
I have a gentleman waiting on his accessories drying before I can reveal him, very excited about him as he is my first male doll in a while and he already has a few admirers. If you stopped by the stall in September you would have seen me attaching limbs and hair to a very strange looking doll. Mind you the large needle I was working with drew more attention than the doll, it looks like a kebab skewer but shiny.
I have had a few messages asking where the contact form went on here and sadly due to a few individuals plus a handful of spammers, I had to remove it. You can contact me via Facebook or Instagram. 
For commissions I have a very limited amount of space left for Christmas so if you were wanting one please get in touch and remember a deposit secures your spot. No deposit. No doll. As harsh as it sounds I have to be strict so I don't waste time on a doll that won't be collected at the end.

So on that note I am away to prep more dolls and turn the ones on the rack. More pin ponies are on the way too seeing as they are leaving the stall as fast as I can make them just now.