Spotted!!
Who?
Lisa Davis, creator of the Pea Doll
The backstory… A graduate of Northern Caribbean University, she considers herself to be a Jill of all trades and the master of several, but her true loves are singing, crafting, reading, trying new creative media and being a mother. She has spent much of her life honing her many skills and imparting a few to others.
Over the past 20 years, Lisa has designed several dolls, books, artworks, voiced many songs and tried many new things.
The buzz.. The Pea Doll
Having designed many different types of dolls of varied shapes and sizes, I needed to create something cute, easy and quick to make, and of course something anyone could cuddle and enjoy.
The doll is called Little Pea because of the shape. Taking inspiration from Popeye the sailor man and Olive Oyl’s baby — Swee’Pea — I thought it was ideal to create a baby doll wearing a type of “sack”. I have made other swaddled styled dolls before but never anything like this. I also imagined that my Little Pea could wear a hoodie as a type of pod, which I did create and sell over the last Christmas holiday. Truth be told, as a doll maker, you never know which doll will take the market. To date I have designed and created my own patterns for perhaps well over 20 dolls, both crocheted and sewn.
It takes three to four hours to make one of the Little Pea dolls. Other dolls take much longer.
The Little Pea doll is made from… acrylic or cotton yarn while the Big Little Pea is made from polyester yarn. All stuffed with locally sourced fibre fill.
On bringing the doll to market…There is always apprehension when deciding to design and create a new doll. Will it be appreciated? Will anyone else think it’s cute? They all hold a piece of me as I make every single one of them by hand. They are like my babies and I generally hug them all before sending them out into the world.
Success! My sister gave me the stamp of approval when… she simply said “awww” after seeing them for the first time. I don’t know if my fears are ever really allayed. It’s like a dance. You take a few great steps and sometimes you get stepped on but it’s all good fun in the end.
Rave reviews… The Pea dolls sell out as soon as they arrive at Locale (a concept store located on Holborn Road). Davis plans to keep Locale stocked throughout the year as best as possible.
The more… I recently started learning how to quilt so I have a few ideas to bring to fruition. I do not have anything planned specifically for the Easter period but I do hope to have some new things to share by summer.