Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

"The start," she explains, "was by accident. The papier-mache figures I first made were an expansion of my doll collecting, begun in 1939, while I was teaching at Mildred, Montana, a small town near Miles City, and of the marionettes and wall masks undertaken with my pupils in the Mildred school. We staged rather ambitious marionette shows. These stirred my ambition to put a doll of my own on the market.

"When I approached Kimport Dolls, a firm in Independence, Missouri, specializing in state dolls, with a suggestion of a cowboy or Sacajawea as the Montana doll, they replied that they had Indians from other dollmakers, and cowboys from Texas. Why not try a sheepherder? So I made Old Eli, a copy of a character that interested me.

"In order to be a state doll for this firm, by the way, a doll must be made by a resident of the state, and feature a characteristic or event of the state.

"Although I made Old Eli to their order, I did not abandon my idea for the cowboy and Sacajawea, but made them also, plus a sheriff and a hobo.

"A firm in California sold me scrap leather, sometimes in good-sized pieces of a beautiful brown that was just right for these dolls. I bought two shipments of the fine suede, then I got one that was, I thought, an awful lemon. It was the same texture, but in small scraps and all colors of the rainbow. I was downcast; such gaudy hues were unsuited to my dolls. And the return postage would nearly equal the cost of the leather.

"Then I had an inkling of an idea. It was wartime, with magazines replete with articles on Gremlins and the attitude of the British Royal Air Force to them. I made six Gremlins of papier-mache and painted them with brilliant tempera paints to harmonize with the bright suede. I sent these to Kimport, asking them if they were interested. They wired back: 'Yes!'

"So I got busy and drew upon many magazines for the history and habits of 'them Gremlins.' Cosmopolitan had run a ten-page spread; Life also gave them good coverage; Walt Disney and other cartoonists featured them. In movies Gremlins gave the lighter touch to war incidents. I like imaginary things, and these sprites from the Never-Never Land appealed to me.

"EVERYBODY MAKES Gremlins differently. They are little people originating in the forested regions of England, where they hobnobbed with elves, brownies, fairies, and pixies. When the war came, the air force took over their home as sites for bases. This disturbance of their forests made the Gremlins indignant, and they set about getting even with the aviators. This explains why the Royal Air Force thought of them as their particular bane, handy to take blame for anything that went wrong.

"The sprites kept them company, both on the plane and in the hangar. When instruments went haywire or gasoline supply ran low, it was always 'them Gremlins,' as they invariably called them. They come in pairs; Fifinella is the lady Gremlin. The youngsters are Widget the boy, and Flipperty-Gibbet the girl. I believe I am the only one making families.

"There are two types of airplane Gremlins, I found. The air ones have helmets and horns—Fifinella's horns curl—and rubber-suction soles enabling them to walk upside down on the wings and cling to the speeding plane. Ground Gremlins have big ears that by flapping help them travel fast along the runways."

MRS. POWERS was unprepared for the immediate popularity of her little figures. Kimport bombarded her, with wires for more. She became known as the "Gremlin lady" by many who ordered her dolls for friends and relatives in the air force. From Missouri came a letter saying: "A Gremlin I must have to send my soldier husband. He is a major stationed in the North, and he writes me those ice-shoveling Gremlins there are something." Other letters in similar vein came from California, Iowa and Minnesota. In 1942 she made a family of Gremlins for a nurse in Italy who ordered them as a morale booster. By that time Mrs. Powers had made several hundred of the dolls.

To date, she estimates that she must have turned out at least 900. Since going to Portland from Montana in 1947, she has had too heavy a teaching schedule to make them in the quantity required to sell through Kimport Dolls, and so must handle her own sales. She belongs to the National Doll and Toy Collectors Club, her membership dating back to the days when she first began making her Gremlins. Through its circles her creations have become known. The Portland unit gave its first show in February, 1951, during which she exhibited her doll collection and her papier-mache figures.

Mrs. Powers, in speaking of her present sales, says they are accomplished chiefly by the "grapevine method."

"A friend who has one of my Gremlins or the other dolls will show it to her friends, who will order," she explains. "These unknown friends pass the news, to their acquaintances. In this way my dolls came to the attention of a gift shop owner in California, who ordered a dozen. Another dozen went to a gift shop in Maine. So they spread pretty well over the country by grapevine, so to speak.

"Doll collectors are gregarious people, and their hobby has brought together, by correspondence and shop talk, fellow enthusiasts from all over. My own affiliation with the National Doll and Toy Collectors has helped me in my sales. I ran a small advertisement in the official publication, Doll News, which brought satisfactory results. And the club president, whose home is in Brooklyn, New York, became interested in them, and placed a number for me with club members in her state. Also, through the club, I sold a number of lapel ornaments I made, to people in New Jersey.

"I would not, of course, recommend that a craftsman join a club of fellow hobbyists merely for such benefits in placing his output. But it is a nice bonus that comes with membership sought for a meeting of mutual interests.

"FOR THOSE who are situated as I am at present, unable to devote any regular hours to work on the hobby, I believe that the best way to care for the sales end is to place the finished product on consignment in a reputable and successful gift shop. When I was in Montana, and after I ceased selling through Kimport Dolls, I followed this plan. The place handling my output was the Martha Bolles Shop, in the Bozeman Hotel, in Bozeman, Montana. It specialized in Western clothes, original designs in fabrics, and handicrafts. Since it was a Western specialty shop located in 'cattle country,' my cowboys, sheriffs, and Old Eli were more popular than the Gremlins, although they also sold some of the latter. The proprietor has written in particular for more cowboys, which have been in the most demand. Of course, to make it profitable for a shop to handle the correspondence and other details involved, it must receive at least a dozen of a kind in a shipment.

"In the little magazine, Toy Trader, I find advertisements from shops selling giftwares and toys, asking for items they will sell on consignment. And there are, of course, local shops that do so; some combine outright purchase with consignment deals. Before entering into such an arrangement with a shop, however, it is advisable to make certain that its stock has a good turnover, and that the prices do not have such a large mark-up as to discourage sales. A poor choice of market may mean that a quantity of one's output is out of circulation, getting shopworn.

"The owner of an antique shop near my home, from whom I purchased a valuable doll, was interested in my Gremlins, and has offered me the privilege of displaying a lot of them in her shop, not to be sold there but to call her customers' attention to them. Then she will give my address to any interested in buying.

"Another good way to become known by the buying public is a display of a representative lot in the window of the shop or department from which you buy your supplies, such as clay and wire. The display department is usually on the lookout for craft work to show in this way."

MRS. POWERS must reserve her quantity output for the less busy winter months and vacation periods. But even during the teacher's rush season, the spring, she squeezes in a Gremlin here, a Gremlin there, as spare moments bob up. It is surprising how many she turns out in this way, almost unbeknownst to herself. This coming year, she plans, will see her with more free time to devote to their making, and to creating new Gremlins.

"I could, of course, make many more, and realize much greater profit if I used molds and limited my work to a few types of Gremlins," Mrs. Powers acknowledges. "That would be the businesslike way to go about it, although molded figures would not perhaps have an equal demand. "But I would find it harder to fashion them alike than to make each an individual. I like to model, and have fun with my dolls. My brother Hugh often sees me looking preoccupied and comments: 'Thelma has a Gremlin a-borning.'"

Dressing the dolls is not an easy task, since the garments are so tiny, and leather is difficult to sew. It is done by Mrs. Powers' mother, Mrs. Zella Edwards, whose clever fingers play an important part in the "Gremlin factory," although she does not turn out the completed doll.

"Except once," she corrects with a chuckle. "Thelma had a rush order for a dozen Gremlins. I was dressing them when I found I was short one. Thelma was not home to make it, and there was nothing for it but to try my own hand at the clay. It wasn't as good as hers, but it would do. When she came home and inspected them, she knit her brows over that one, saying, 'Funny—I don't remember making him.' I didn't say a word."

COMPARED WITH many methods of making dolls, working with papier-mache is relatively simple, and tools and materials needed are few. "One thing," Mrs. Powers points out, "is that you mustn't mind getting dirty. Some give up modeling because they can't stand the messiness."

Of the many formulas for making papier-mache, Mrs. Powers prefers this one: To make a medium-sized bowl of the mache, mix one cup tan kalsomine, one cup modeling clay powder, and two cups water. To this add about one-half roll of toilet tissue, a single sheet at a time, working it in well to avoid lumps. The tissue will seem to melt away as it is added to the paste. It will keep the clay from drying to a too-hard mixture. The mache should form a very thick mass that seems to pull away from the sides of the bowl. In the last stages it can be kneaded like bread. Cover with waxed paper and let it stand a day or two before using. It is not cooked in any way. Nor are the finished Gremlins baked or glazed.

Mrs. Edwards mixes the papier-mache, and keeps a supply on hand ready for her daughter's need. A batch will make several figures, since only the heads and feet are made from it.

Tools, with the exception of the paper punch Mrs. Powers bought for the purpose, are those they had on hand. Her standby in mixing and modeling is an old penknife she brought from Montana. She uses both the blade and the blunt end of the handle. An old pair of garden shears cuts the wire and also the metal used to make the tools the Gremlins carry. Pliers in two sizes are invaluable "third hands" when fingers can't get a grip on the little pieces that form the dolls and their garments.

The foundation is a somewhat heavy and fairly rigid wire, with a paper or cloth covering to which the papier-mache will cling. Mrs. Powers uses the paper-covered wire most, because it is cheaper; cloth-wound florist's wire is better but more costly.

THE FIRST step is shaping the wire with pliers, to form the knob over which to build the head, the slight angle that will be filled in with mache to shape shoulders and to which arms will be fastened, and the curved projections that will become feet.

As a base for the head and feet, Mrs. Powers forms a small core from a mixture of papier-mache and glue, making enough of this for several Gremlins. This core gives the mache something to which it can cling.

"I do not use glue in the main mix," Mrs. Powers hastens to explain, "because it will not take paint. For the same reason, I let the core dry considerably before daubing on the mache to form head, shoulders, and feet. This drying takes time, since the core mixture is thin.

"Now I am ready to model. I work with a small square tile, using it as an artist uses his palette. It has enough space to hold the figure on which I am working, and little mounds of the papier-mache. With the point of my knife I separate chunks to build up face and feet.

"I make the feet first, so the Gremlin can stand. The tile flattens the soles of the feet and makes them shiny. It also helps them balance, which all will do; no stands are necessary. Making them balance is not difficult, since most of them have sturdy underpinnings. I purposely chose a blocky shoe in preference to the pointed, upturned toes usually attributed to Gremlins. Fifinellas, with their buttoned and high-heeled white shoes, and cowboys with their high-heeled boots, are more difficult.

"I wrap fine wire on the foundation wire to build up the heel, looping it rather than filling it in solid. It must not be a large form, since it is to be covered with the clay. Such jobs make me wish for an extra pair of hands sized to the Gremlins.

"When making the feet, I decide first what Gremlin he is to be: If a track Gremlin, he must have pegs imbedded into the clay, so he can dash along the runway, with face upturned to watch the landing plane. For these I use No. 2 tacks, whose heads I press into the soles before the mache hardens, then smooth it over them to hold them securely in place. Mother doesn't like to dress these; the pegs get in the way.

"Some Gremlins we gave suction soles, which enable them to walk along the under side of the wings. We cut these suction patches from an old hot water bottle.

"NEXT COMES the face. Again the type of Gremlin decides some features. If a Ground Gremlin, I must use big ears; if an Air Gremlin, horns instead of ears, and if a Fifinella, the horns must be curled.

"The first daubing on of the face looks characterless; I develop the personality when the molding hardens a little. At the beginning of my Gremlin venture, I made some with long noses, such as were often pictured, but I don't bother with that any more. I vary mouths a great deal: Some are closed; many are grinning from ear to ear, showing lots of teeth; others show the tongue, adding to my paint job later.

"Each head is free-modeled, and different from any other. I like to study people. Sometimes I see a queer nose or an unusual expression. I copy these in my figures. So each one, although not an exact reproduction, has its inspiration with an actual person; they are not pure figments of the imagination.

"Old Eli alone is as near a copy as I could make of the original, a sheepherder who interested me, and whom I saw occasionally in Miles City, Montana, although I did not know him. That I succeeded was shown by an amusing incident. I put the doll in the window of the Miles City Gift Shop, where I clerked at the time. One day we saw my sheepherder model pointing first to Old Eli, then tapping himself on the chest, chuckling the while. He recognized my copy of him. We were mutually pleased.

"I work on about six at a time, so while one is drying I can do another. And I prepare several before I paint any. The paint job comes after the shoulders are built up, but before arms and body are added. Tempera dries fast, so is a good choice.

"Feet are painted first. Suppose the shoes are red; they must dry before I add buttons of green with an outer circle of orange. There may be a line of white between the two, or not. Each color must dry before the next is applied. I put my trademark on the soles of the painted feet, using white paint: 'Greml lin' on one foot, and 'By T. Powers' on the other. Over all I use a finishing coat of shellac."

FACES DRAW from many paint pots to bring out their character. First, the underlying flesh tone, whether it be green, gamboge, gold, lilac, or other strange color natural to Gremlins. Features, in order to show above such high shades, are heavily accented.

Eyebrows may turn out to be green, with lines of red so fine they can only be seen by close inspection. Eyes have several touches of paint which must dry separately: Black of the pupil, green of the iris, then the whites, and a pinpoint of red at the inner corners. Then eyelashes suggested by four or five strokes of black. Some have bushy eyelashes and brows, others not more than a hint of them. One has heavy brush strokes for lashes, and his brows repeat the bright circle design used on the rims of his big ears. Very striking, it gives him a bold and dashing appearance. Teeth are painted in solid white; when that dries, a black dot at intervals indicates spaces between teeth.

Big ears are given added prominence by an outline of a color contrasting with the flesh tone, and this rim dotted with double rings. For example, an orange face has ears with a green band studded with five red circles within yellow circles.

After the final touch of tempera and the protective coat of shellac are dry, arms are made of a finer wire than that used for the foundation, in order that they have pliancy, enabling them to take a variety of positions. Mrs. Powers sometimes uses picture wire, separating it into two or three strands for extra fineness. Around this wire cotton batting is securely wound, and mitts of suede tied to the wrists with several windings of sewing cotton. Ends are not finished, as they will be covered by the jacket. A wadding of the batting shapes the sturdy body and binds the arms more securely to the foundation. This wadding is not a loose stuffing, but so compact that when you feel the dressed Gremlin, you cannot guess the nature of the body.

MRS. EDWARDS does the arms and body. She is good at dressing the Gremlins, having done more of them than they can count offhand, but does not quite get the feel of the sheepherder and the cowboy, which are left to Mrs. Powers to outfit.

Advantages of the suede are that the edges need not be bound, and it is pliant, easily taking the desired shape. The colors are richer, yet softer, than can be found in felt, which is also suitable for the purpose. Each shipment brings its own colors. There are forty or fifty shades, enough to satisfy the most exacting of the Little People.

A difficulty is that the pieces are so small that it is hard for fingers to handle them. "Our hands get in the way." So it is pliers to the rescue. They use the punch to cut the leather for such small jobs as buttons and a hole in a hat through which to thread a band. It is better than a knife, which can slip.

Mrs. Powers tried to find the tiny size of guns for her sheriffs, but finally fashioned them of papier-mache, silvering them with paint.

She always keeps one of a kind to check its dress. This is not always easy, as often that is the one her customers demand.

Again using the orange-hued one as an example of Gremlin's garments: His brown coveralls have three red diamond-shaped pieces of suede down the front, with inner circles of white suede. These are simulated buttons, as his clothes are not removable. The dark tan jacket is cut in three pieces, with sleeves cut as part of the sides and back. Seams from wrist to neck of outer arm, and from inner arm to bottom of sides are all that are needed to make a snugly fitted garment. The dark green conical hat is glued to fit. Its side joining is covered by simulated feathers made of two fine slivers of yellow suede, between which is an upright strip of red. In some, the hats are joined in front with a single feather resembling a feeler.

These hats are authentic. For Ground Gremlins wear "conical hats trimmed with Oow feathers, of the queer bird that flies backward to see where he has been." Air Gremlins do not have hats.

Fifinella, however, always wears a hat whether she be the eared or the horned type. She is a trim, alert lady Gremlin. Flipperty-Gibbet wears a jacket of the same length as her lighter-colored dress with its white frilled collar. She has strapped slippers painted on. Widget wears coveralls with drop seat. Mrs. Powers has made fifteen families, some eared and some horned Gremlin and Fifinella, when in these groups, are the same height.

"I made a lot of Gremlins with parachutes strapped to their backs, although I haven't any on hand at the moment," Mrs. Powers relates. "I also made one wearing a mustache, by way of experiment. He was a queer creature."

SOME OF Mrs. Powers' latest output are Kitchen Gremlins, jolly, plump sprites responsible for tracking mud on freshly scrubbed floors, making cakes fall, and similar mishaps.

"I always make several sketches of my ideas for a new Gremlin", Mrs Powers explains, "and choose the one that, catches the spirit of my idea. I first sketched the Kitchen Gremlin with a cupcake as a headpiece, as he was shown in some stories of Gremlins. But it didn't seem right, and I finally decided on the Chef's cap. Along with the apron and knife, in place of the monkey wrench the others use to put planes out of commission, it is change enough. I give them different ears, too, and paint hair on their heads."

While the wrench is securely wound around the wrist under the jacket sleeve, the knife, also a thin shaping of tin cut with the shears, is tacked to the mitt with several stitches of yarn.

"There is always a Gremlin coming up." Mrs. Powers adds. "Gremlin Joe, suggested by Hugh, is to be the next. He is the little person who throws gimmicks into golfing.

"Sometime I plan to make an Ambit to go with them. Ambits are Gremlin haters, unfamiliar to the general public. Their mission is to be on hand and whack Gremlins with their bamboo canes, and tell pilots the right thing to do, after Gremlins have drummed misleading advice in their ears. They also squelch rumor mongers."

Mrs. Powers' Gremlins vary from 3 to 5½ inches in height. Their price is $1.50 each, and $5 for a family. Sheriffs, small cowboys, and the hobo are $3. Old Eli is $5, and the tall cowboy $7 or $8—she has not definitely set her present price on him. The others require more time to dress than the Gremlin, so should bring higher prices.