Please check back later, I am still working on this page. Pardon the mess! – Jzin

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• A Special Order for Brazil
• Handmade Love and Excerpts from the Story
• Cast of Characters:
  • The Old Woman who wanted more than anything to eat an apple cake.
  • The Goose Girl.
  • The Couple in the Garden.
  • The Handsome Young Man whose face was so gloomy, he appeared as if he had not a friend in the world.
  • The Poor Woman, Her Babe and A Little White Dog
  • The Lonely Old Man.
  • Props.

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A Special Order for Brazil.

My children and I love the story of “Apple Cake” by Nienke van Hichtum!

Amazon.com

We made a homemade puppet show for Apple Cake by Nienke van Hichtum for my child’s 6 year old birthday. Click on the image below to view that homemade puppet show.

November 2010. Apple Cake homemade puppet show for Nunu’s 6th birthday.

December 2012. I received a request to make this table top puppet doll set for some children in Brazil. Between chopping wood and carrying water, I managed to finish making this set by April 2013! Thank you Eli for your supreme patience!

I decided to make these figures as lovely as can be to delight little children who will be experiencing the magical story. I thoughtfully made the dolls not only for this story, but also to be flexible enough for many other uses. I wanted them to be archetypal enough to fit in many other stories besides this one. (yet I do get carried away adding details coz that is just too much fun to do!)  I also hope that by simple modification, the can also be used for the season table.

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Handmade Love and Excerpts from The Story

There was an old woman who took a fancy one day to eat an apple cake. She had plenty of flour, sugar and butter, and enough spices. But the one thing she did not have was an apple. She did have plums: a whole tree full of plums, the roundest and reddest that you ever saw. Well, you cannot make an apple cake from plums, even if you try your very hardest! – Nienke van Hichtum.

The Old Woman’s plums: the roundest and reddest that you ever saw.

… she took a basket, filled it with plums and covered them with a gingham napkin. “Well,” she thought, “it may happen that I come to a place where there are apples and no plums.”

The Goose Girl with feathers.

… said the Old Woman, “better one person happy than two disappointed. Just hold out your apron.” And right away she emptied her basket of plums into the young woman’s apron.

They laughed and smiled like happy children, and then they went round the garden gathering the loveliest flowers for the old woman: roses, lilies, lilac, violets – what a beautiful bouquet!

At once his face lit up, the frown vanished from his forehead, and now he was the handsomest and finest young man that ever the sun shone down upon.

“Fair exchange is no robbery,” said he, laughing, and taking a gold chain from his neck and dropped it into the old woman’s basket.

Here is the young man sans cape, gold chain and frown:

“Yes, yes,” said the Old Man, “but red apples are poor company when you are lonely. I would not miss them if I had a cheery little dog barking on my doorstep.”

… And the Old Woman was on her way home with her basket full of lovely red apples.

Saturday, April 20, 2013. Reef Point, Crystal Cove state beach, below. My handmade cast of Apple Cake by Nienke van Hichtum set made for Brazil order. Monday, April 22, 2013. Hurray! This set sold on my Etsy store CastleofCostaMesa. They will be leaving Costa Mesa and making their way to the hearts and childhood memories of Brazilian children. What a  wonderful thought! Obrigado, Eli!

Cast of Characters: My Crafting Journeys

The Old Woman who wanted more than anything to eat an apple cake.

November 28, 2012. Wednesday. Last night, Eli from faraway exotic Brazil wanted a set of Apple Cake dolls for her 5 year old children. I enjoy making the dolls, so I started crafting the head of the Old Woman the very next day during our weekly local  Wednesday morning craft group get together. My first version of handmade “Old Woman” looked on in the back as I needle-felted the head of the new doll.

Rolling roving into a ball for the head. Here is the first picture of the crafting process.

December 2, 2012. Sunday. Crafting the Old Woman in the car in the soft autumn rain while waiting for my child in Chinese class. Here, I just finished needle-felting some Cotswold wool roving for the Old Woman’s hair. Such joy to work with this beautiful material.

Lovely Cotswold wool locks used for the Old Woman’s hair. About $5 or so a small bag from The Company of Angels store or Piecemakers in Costa Mesa. Otherwise Etsy.com has them too.

I am savoring my quiet little piece of crafting heaven in the microcosm of this car in the rain. Now, the Old Woman’s  hair and bonnet are done.

Her glistening eyes were hand stitched on with blue glass beads from Piecemakers Country Store. The rest of her facial features were needle-felted on.

Blue is a color of benign kindness. White polka dotted periwinkle 100% cotton fabric from Piecemakers. Robert Kaufman. www.robertKaufman.com. The old woman’s removable apron is 100% cotton made in Japan. Piecemakers store in Costa Mesa has nice fabrics!

Vintage crochet doily from one of my favorite craft stores in Costa Mesa, The Piecemakers Country Store.

Monday, December 3, 2012. At a leisurely pace of working, finally I finished making this doll. What a joy to make! She put on her crochet shawl, carried her basket of (beeswax) plums and off she went, in search of apples for her apple cake.   Her apron and shawl are removable. Her bonnet is stitched on, so it is not removable. Materials Base: yellow wool felt, hand-dyed by Christine Newell. Apron:

December 8, 2012. Wednesday. Voila! Done!

Another view of The Old Woman in my daughter’s homemade Cinderella’s doll house kitchen.

Compare my current version of Old Woman above with the original doll below. Here she was used as Snow White and Rose Red’s widowed mother in our homemade fairy tale, “Snow White and Rose Red by the Brothers Grimm”.