After Fr. Sergius saw the doll the bookstore had commissioned of him he decided he wanted one of Metropolitan Tikhon. I was terribly afraid they would request a mantia for him but they didn’t. Whew. However, they decided to ask if I could make a Jack Russell Terrier like the one Met. Tikhon has. I had never made animals but figured I could try to felt one on a wire frame. This was one more on a list of interesting things made for various custom clergy dolls: accordion, vintage camera, ball cap… Insteaof crocheting a cap for

This time when making the doll’s hair and beard I used felting needles to root strands of wool directly into the scalp rather than crocheting a cap and sewing it to that. It allowed for a much more realistic look both in hair distribution and color mixing. The result is far too delicate to use for a child’s toy, but for a display doll which will be carefully handled it works just fine.

The dog was an interesting project. 75% of the way through it was still looking absolutely nothing like a dog other than being a quadruped. I took a lot of deep breaths and persevered. I had to card some different color wools together to match the colors. The bookstore staff was only able to provide one photo of the dog in which it was so tiny it looked like a sweater-wearing rat going for a walk in the snow. I relied on stock photos instead. Only when I had finished did the OCA publish a retrospective photo album of Met. Tikhon’s 10 years as metropolitan. Naturally it contained multiple photos of his dogs. I decided I was NOT starting over to match the spots of coloring.

When I finished the doll (and for some reason I had a terrible time making the klobuk this time! It never wanted to lie correctly.) I felted a tiny teacup of Matcha tea for the Fr. Sergius doll since he apparently drinks that religiously. It was pretty cute. I decided Met. Tikhon could gift it to Fr. Sergius on his arrival at the bookstore.

Here are the two dolls at the bookstore! They are displayed next to books they (the real people, not the dolls) have written.

Fr. Sergius texted photos to Metropolitan Tikhon who loved it. He loved it so much he wanted one of his own. I checked, and contrary to my original assumption this is a genuine request and not just an expression. In addition, there was a request for a full set of white vestments and a miter. I have literally no idea how I am going to figure out a miniature miter. Father is at a pastoral conference right now and Met. Tikhon is speaking this morning. I asked Father to ask if the metropolitan would like one or two dogs (in actuality he has two, not one). I’ll post updates on the doll progress as I go. I’m also making a few censers a week and just got a request for a set of play vestments so I’ll have to alternate between projects.

There is literally nowhere else to go from here! I strongly suspect no other metropolitans or patriarchs will be requesting custom dolls, lol.