Making dolls is usually thought of as a "high-touch" activity, so it may seem surprising that many dollmakers are active on the World Wide Web, the epitome of "high-tech." Indeed, some sociologists have stated that high-touch activities have become more popular as a reaction to the high-tech activities that are an increasing part of our lives. It seems that high-tech is also becoming popular among the high-touch crowd.

Those of us who make dolls, make them not just for ourselves, but for our children, our grandchildren, or any other appreciative audience we can find. We enjoy the experience of creation and we wish to pass this joy on to others. We constantly try to improve our work and we try to pass the things that we have learned on to other dollmakers so that they too may benefit from our experience, and so that they too may experience the joy of creation. One of the ways that we both learn and share is through dollmakers clubs.

The advantage of on-line or computer doll clubs is the immediacy of sharing. Most local doll clubs meet for a few hours once a month. A computer doll club meets for hours at a time every day. In a computer doll club you can always find someone to talk to. While you can always telephone the friends you meet in a local doll club, you can only carry on a conversation with one of them at a time, and only when it is convenient for both of you. In a computer doll club, you meet new friends in the club. You can carry on conversations with many of them simultaneously in two ways: you can carry on a many-part conversation through the club's e-mail list or chat room, or you can carry on many separate e-mail conversations with different members. A chat room, like a telephone call, must be convenient for all parties at the same time. The chat may be either by talking, or by typing, and is something like listening to all the conversations at a large cocktail party at once. E-mail conversations are the equivalent of sending letters to others that they can answer at their own convenience, but with the immediacy of getting an answer within a few hours instead of taking days. An e-mail list simply copies and sends your letter to all members of the discussion, and sends all of their letters to you.

Here are two on-line doll clubs, each of which has a different flavor that may appeal to you. I am currently a member of both of these clubs, and I suggest that initially you may also want to join more than one doll club. That will let you see which (if any) of them suit your personal needs and preferences the best.

For a more complete list of cloth dollmaking clubs, please visit: http://www.clothdollconnection.com and click on the "Cloth Doll Clubs" link. There are also lists of events, online classes, discussion groups (forums), and challenges.

For a large selection of dollmaking forums, visit http://groups.yahoo.com and http://groups.google.com.

Friends of Cloth Dolls

This is the largest on-line doll club with over 2000 members, and the tone is light and fun. Friends of Cloth Dolls is a "moderated" list. This means that all messages must be approved by one of the moderators before being posted. The moderator's touch is light, and is generally non-intrusive. It discourages advertising, flame wars, and other disruptions so that the list runs smoothly.

Subject matter covers exclusively cloth doll making, sources for patterns and dollmaking materials, and almost anything else that dollmakers might be interested in such as recipes, family Christmas traditions, etc. There are many activities among members such as fabric swaps, secret pals, traveling dolls, and more. There are also a number of on-line dollmaking classes with well-known designers and artists.

I am a member of Friends of Cloth Dolls.

To subscribe to Friends of Cloth Dolls, go to: http://www.thedollnet.com/friends/subscribe.html

DOLLMAKERS Mailing List 

The DOLLMAKERS Mailing List is an on-line (computer) doll club that meets continuously by electronic mail. It is several years old and has over 800 members, mostly in the United States and Canada, but with some from Europe. You can join the DOLLMAKERS Mailing List in two ways: you can get every e-mail as it happens, or you can get a digest once a day. If you choose the digest, you will get about 4 to 24 pages (printed) of e-mail once a day. Subject matter covers all aspects of doll making, but the emphasis is on professionalism and technique in cloth, polymer clay, paper clay, and original & reproduction porcelain dolls. The tone is more for the doll artist than for the casual dollmaker. There are only a few organized activities among members.

Dollmakers will find the DOLLMAKERS Mailing List considerably different from the other doll clubs because of the different emphasis (professionalism and technique), and relative lack of chatter.

I am a member of DOLLMAKERS. The membership includes several NIADA fine artists, many original porcelain (with WOW web sites), polymer clay, paper clay, and cloth artists, and even some dollmakers who are beginners but want to learn from the professionals. Subjects include all aspects of dollmaking techniques, materials, and the business aspects of dollmaking. Recently, there have been a few activities (such as doll swaps) organized by members, but there are far more activities on other lists. There are several associated web sites maintained by members. One site contains a list of suppliers. A second has biographies and (doll) pictures for many of the members.

To join DOLLMAKERS, please visit http://dollmaking.org/.