Olga Arkhipova's crocheted dolls are more like exhibition models than toys. What makes her works unique is the presence of many small artistic fragments and painstaking elaboration of the smallest details.
- A few words about Olga Arkhipova
- Features of designer dolls
- Master classes by Olga Arkhipova
- Reviews from needlewomen
- How much can you earn?
- What difficulties do craftswomen who have completed paid training face?
- How to get a master class from Olga Arkhipova
- How much does the master class cost?
- Joint workshop with the author
A few words about Olga Arkhipova
All social network users who are interested in handicrafts, in particular crocheting and embroidery, are familiar with the works of this craftswoman. Arkhipova's crocheted dolls are of interest to both collectors and ordinary people. This is probably the secret of the popularity of Olga Arkhipova's crocheted dolls and master classes that Olga conducts online.
Olga Arkhipova's unique calling card has become her variations on the theme of "Teddy Bear", many of which have repeatedly brought the craftswoman the highest award at the Golden George competitions held in Germany.
Features of designer dolls
Each master, creating any product, gives preference to certain parameters and sizes. One prefers to create with large strokes, and another pays attention to details.
Olga Arkhipova belongs to the category of creative people for whom sewing a tiny doll is the same as meditating or going on vacation to a fabulously beautiful place. Olga cannot do without small accessories and details.
Attention! The dolls made by Arkhipova are easy to distinguish from the works of her colleagues. The main difference between the bright clothes, made according to the same pattern and knitted with regular knitting, is the masterful design and exclusive accessories.
Sequins, paillettes, embroidered and knitted landscapes decorating the outfit, bouquets, hairstyles, hats and decorations are unique to each doll. The height of the dolls is slightly (by several centimeters) higher than the size of the vertically positioned skein of yarn from which they are made.
Perhaps it is precisely because of the careful attention to detail that the works of modern masters such as Olga Arkhipova are of interest to collectors today no less than ancient examples of folk art.
Additional information. Author's products are those created by hand in a single copy or in a limited edition. Dolls made according to the sketch of the person who owns the copyright, even if they were made in large quantities at a manufacturing plant, are still considered author's.
Master classes by Olga Arkhipova
Olga Arkhipova knits her dolls mainly from cotton yarn of the following type:
- Charm Vita Cotton;
- Charm Le Ra Rouse;
- specialized yarn for children's clothes "Pekhorka".
Reviews from needlewomen
Olga's followers who bought one of her master classes on creating knitted dolls say that it is not always possible to get the yarn of the right color. However, the desire to join the craft is always stronger.
Having set a goal to knit a product that is not inferior to the author's, the needlewomen run around the shops, order yarn via the Internet and, in the end, find what they need. If they fail to get imported yarn of the required color and density, the craftswomen replace it with domestic analogues, for example, Troitsk "Orchid" or "Lotus".
In principle, any cotton yarn of the desired color and thickness can be used. If the obtained yarn is too thin, it can be folded into 2 or 3 threads. The main thing is that the result is believable: the face and arms are knitted from flesh-colored yarn, and the dress corresponds as much as possible to the original sample.
How much can you earn?
Many needlewomen who have not yet purchased a master class are concerned about the financial side of the issue:
- How many items do you need to make and sell to recoup the money spent on purchasing the master class, yarn and accessories (beads, beads, threads for stringing beads, wire for the frame, etc.)?
- How much can you get by selling one doll?
Olga Arkhipova sells her dolls for 13 thousand rubles. It takes about 3 thousand rubles to buy the materials and fittings needed to create one doll. Consequently, the craftswoman's net profit will be about 10 thousand*.
The buyers of such products are usually foreigners, for whom the purchase of a Moscow souvenir is part of a kind of ritual. Visiting Russia and not acquiring memorable items is considered bad form for them. After all, you can’t put photos taken during excursions on display at home. An exclusive doll is a completely different matter.
Many craftswomen who have completed the training note that a trip to places where foreign tourists congregate (Moscow or St. Petersburg) was not initially part of their plans. The money spent on learning Olga Arkhipova's craft returned to them in other ways. For example, dolls can be given as gifts to friends and relatives, and not necessarily to women.
Attention! An interior doll serves as a decoration for a home and can be given to anyone who is drawn to art.
Most needlewomen buy a master class not for business, but for their own pleasure. In this case, the costs of materials and accessories can be significantly reduced, because every woman who knows how to hold a crochet hook has leftover yarn and forgotten knitted items at home that can be unraveled and put to use again.
What difficulties do craftswomen who have completed paid training face?
It would seem that buying a master class is something like a guarantee of achieving a 100% result. You just need to repeat the teacher's actions without adding anything of your own. However, creating the first interior doll in life is not equally easy for everyone.
The main difficulty is in forming the correct frame on which the body is held. The craftswoman will need wire - a regular cable, freed from the sheath, which can always be bought in specialized stores. As it turned out, buying wire is half the battle. The difficulty is in giving the structure the desired shape and making the "body" of the doll stable.
Another difficult stage of creating a doll is working on the embroidered patterns that decorate the dolls' skirts.
Often, a needlewoman, carried away by the creation of her very first masterpiece, realizes that she is forced to make purchases that were not planned due to her own carelessness. Having abandoned her work, she goes in search of a comfortable needle with a wide eye, felt (the butterflies decorating the skirt of one of the dolls, Violet, are made of it), tulle (for petticoats), floss (for embroidery) and special hair for handmade dolls.
Of course, you can do without these elements, but then the work will lose its uniqueness.
Among Olga Arkhipova's students, there are those who are not afraid to deviate from the instructions in order to save money. For example, they do not use store-bought hair, but cut it from floss of a suitable color. The homemade hair is attached to the doll's head as follows:
- insert the hook into the place where the hair should be secured, and then remove it, catching the “hair” folded exactly in half;
- pull the “hair” through the resulting loop.
Craftswomen who bought the master class on creating the Violet doll admit that, despite the step-by-step instructions they received, they would not have been able to cope with the task if they had not done handicrafts at school. The skills they acquired in handicraft classes came in handy now.
How to get a master class from Olga Arkhipova
Most women are accustomed to handicrafts since childhood. They can do a lot of things. But when faced with the need to make a doll or a teddy bear with their own hands, they get lost - they don't know where to start, what materials to stock up on, how much of what will be needed.
Olga Arkhipova, sharing her skills, provides information that is not included in the school curriculum or in standard handicraft manuals.
You can get step-by-step instructions for "Master-class kryuchkom from Olga" in *.pdf format with detailed descriptions and photos through social networks and intermediary sites, such as, for example, "skladchina".
How much does the master class cost?
The cost of the master class is from 1500 to 2000 rubles. According to the women who made this purchase, the knowledge gained is definitely worth the money.
Recently, Olga has been practicing so-called joint projects. Work on one project lasts about two weeks and is a series of practical classes that Olga Arkhipova conducts with participants of a closed group on the social network Vkontakte.
Joint workshop with the author
Participants of the joint project receive a detailed manual in *.pdf format and can contact Olga for clarification at any time. The sooner the participants of the closed group pay for participation, the sooner the learning process and subsequent joint work on creating dolls will begin.
Olga, who founded the closed group, has a number of simple but mandatory conditions for potential participants in the joint workshop:
- A member of a closed group must be a friend of Olga Arkhipova on the social network Vkontakte. Otherwise, Olga will not be able to invite her to her workshop.
- All users invited to collaborate must repost the invitation post on their VKontakte page.
- After completing the joint project, each participant will receive a package of materials created during the work process, including original diagrams and step-by-step instructions.
- Distribution of the MK is not provided and is not included in the cost of the joint project.
- All participants must provide the author of the joint project with step-by-step reports on the work done. This is necessary for the author to see the return on his work and the actions of the invited participants.
- Participants of the closed group who did not join the work (did not knit anything) will not be provided with a package of materials. They will not get their money back.
Before becoming a participant in a joint workshop, Vkontakte users should think about whether they will be able to follow all of Olga's instructions.
Olga Arkhipova's experience attracts knitting and embroidery craftswomen of all ages. Arkhipova's work is well known to users of the social networks Vkontakte and Instagram. You can see her works on the pages of all search engines.
*Prices are valid as of March 2020.
