More doll happenings!

Last week I was lucky enough to get tuition from a friend who is also a very talented doll maker.  She showed me how to needle sculpture a doll's face and this is how mine looked at the end of the lesson.  So now I have more doll pieces hanging round the house - it's starting to look a little like Frankenstein's laboratory here!

Lots of doll stories to share for the future ...

My Creative Space: More macabre happenings in an art doll's life ...

Here it gets creepier - some more body parts of my lovely doll Ima-jin are slowly being made.  This time I've been working on her legs.  They are quite amazing really, jointed by using a big wooden bead.  The arms will be made in the same way.  It's interesting journalling the progress of my doll in this way, watching her come together piece by piece.  If not a little weird ... ;)

Check out some more creative happenings here ...

My Creative Space - My doll in bits and pieces ...

Face in detail

It might look somewhat macabre seeing pics of my doll in pieces, but this is how she's progressing!  You can see the drawing that's my inspiration here.  I'm really pleased with the face, it's the first time I've sculpted a face using a needle - can you see her tiny nose?  The pattern features a really long neck, but I'm going to shorten mine - it just doesn't look right for my doll.

I've used the book I've mentioned before 'Creative Cloth Doll Collection' by Patti Medaris Culea and mixed up a couple of patterns.  One tip Patti gives is to cut out the larger pieces with pinking shears - that way yo don't have to clip the curves before sewing.  My doll's going to have jointed legs, using big wooden beads.  Another first, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Will post more pics as she progresses - I'm trying to finish her before Christmas.  As well as making several Christmas presents - it'll be interesting to see how it all goes!

See what other people are up to on the creative front ....

Mother Earth Doll

15 days until my 40th birthday!!!! (Trying to make this look like a Bridget Jones diary!)

As my hand is still hurting from too much crafting I'm taking a break, I've been looking back through older project photos (I must say it's very frustrating not to be able to make art) and I found pics of my Earth doll I made for the Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine competition. The 'make a Mother Earth doll' theme particularly interested me because I feel a great affinity with this lovely planet we call home, though I know I take it for granted too much sometimes. This doll was my little ode to Mother Earth, to show I love her as much as she loves us, despite us doing our best to destroy her slowly. She's a simple calico cloth doll made from my own pattern, painted with acrylic paints and embellished with beads and copper wire. The roots of the tree are basically quilted just to add a bit of interest. In the true spirit of recycling and sustainability I used a garland I'd made from yarn and beads a couple of years ago for her hair - I think the hair looks very theatrical and rather in the fashion of Marie Antoinette (which come to think of it, probably isn't that appropriate for recycling and re-using materials!). I had great fun making her, and hopefully my thoughts for our present and future relationship with our planet are clear. I'm really coming to love making dolls to express a story or message, they're a very powerful medium, and so much fun to make!

PS thanks dad for the proof-reading of yesterday's post - I've edited it! How cool is that to have my own proofreader all the way back in the UK! xxx ;)

Work and play on a Saturday

Doll number 13 of 100-art-dolls-challenge

Well, I thought I was going to be talking about something deep and meaningful today, but I'm tired after a hard day's work (and play!) so I won't. You'll just have to wait for that treat! Instead I'll share piccies with you of a spirit doll I made for the expo - it's my Sun, Moon and Stars doll. A break away from the colour wash effect, painting in flat colour instead and embellishing with twinkly sequins - ooh, I love them! You may be able to see the clear crystal on the front of the doll - I wrapped that in thin jewellery wire, so that I could sew it to the doll using beading thread.

My mum is coming to visit next week and we've been moving furniture around as we're also having a new floor fitted in the front room before she arrives - it's exhausting work. Luckily for me I had a break when I went to my Chakra workshop at the Creative Seeds studio. Today we learnt about the colours indigo and gold and how they respectively represent the mysteries and magic of life and our inner wisdom. I got to play by painting a canvas and drawing a picture of a wonderful golden warrior in soft pastels. Seems like I can still produce original art despite my doubts I've been having recently.

Spirit Dolls with a story

Today I held my Spirit Doll workshop - there were 5 of us altogether, and you can see from the photos above what an awesome time we all had! Spirit dolls are a really calming activity, we were all quiet for ages just enjoying the painting and each other's company. This time I had the participants write their story of their dolls on a luggage label, to remind them of their creative process and any message they may have for themselves. For example, I called my doll 'loving kindness' and on the reverse of the label I wrote "stop beating yourself up", as I am often being told this by my support groups of family and friends! A good instance of that would be when I wrote 'that' blogpost just over a week ago questioning why I was writing at all. Thankfully I got over it and am still enjoying journalling my creative thoughts and anything else that happens in my life!

Meet my guardian, Rhiannon

Well, here is Rhiannon at last. I finished her yesterday. My son's words on seeing her were "is she magic-ful?", which is lovely! She does represent for me a model of love and compassion, caring and spirituality. I'm especially proud of the cloak which I made myself by felting blue wool fibres - the blue colour is significant as it's the colour of truth and the intention for my medicine doll course is to find my voice. Inside the doll I've placed a piece of quartz, a piece of the red rock which our suburb is built on and a piece of pottery which looks like a heart to me. They were all found at the back of our house in the bush, and they symbolize the element earth and are very grounding.

It was an unusual creative process for me as with dolls I usually follow a pattern, and Rhiannon was made as I went along, more how I work when I'm creating my paintings. I did intend to make a little baby doll to be held in her arms as it's important that Rhiannon is seen as a mother figure, but when I put her cloak on I just had the thought, "She's finished", and she was perfect. I added the final touch of the blue glass heart she's holding in her right hand and knew my work was done. If you're a regular reader you'll remember that I posted a photo of the heart a few months ago, as I did a picture made up of the earthy elements I'd found behind our house.

It's lovely to have a guardian to watch over me whilst I make the other dolls from the course facilitated by Barb Kobe. I felt very calm and serene when I'd finished her, it's such a powerful experience to create a doll based on your feelings. You get to a point where the doll seems to tell you what to do. I really recommend the healing doll course if you are looking for a way to express your inner feelings and emotions, and to explore your inner resources.

Transformation

Today I haven't been feeling too great, we've all had a cold in the family and it's my turn now. So after an afternoon of feeling sorry for myself I sat and created the hairpiece for my guardian doll. Not much writing tonight, but a couple of pictures of a doll transforming. The face was painted using Jo Sonja acrylics, then covered with Jo Sonja iridescent medium. The hair is made from some wool fibre in my stash, but the perfect colour for my Rhiannon! The creation of my guardian doll has been a slow process, but one that I'm enjoying watching unfold.

A little bit creepy ...

My headless guardian doll ...


and my fearful snake from my dreams ...

Oooh! I haven't written for a few days, so I've got loads to talk about - where do I start? Well, it would be good to mention something I am thankful for, and that would be the quality time I had at Spotlight with my daughter yesterday. After visiting the orthodontist I was musing aloud whether we could fit in a quick visit to Spotlight before it closed, and she was all for it. I am easily persuaded so we walked around marvelling at glitter and sparkly fabrics and wools. We eventually bought some beading materials and some pirate fabric to make some pyjamas. I'd only gone in for some felting needles and gel medium, didn't end up with either but had a great time 'window' shopping as well as buying more for my ever increasing stash! And I cannot say how lovely it was to look round a craft shop with someone of a like mind, rather than dragging unwilling dad/sons around who'd rather be looking round a DIY store. It's a good job it was nearly closing time or else we'd have been in there for hours!

My guardian doll is gradually being completed. I'm fitting in small tasks between normal every day chores, and this week's task was to make some arms for my doll - all I've done at present is felt some vague hand shapes over a piece of copper wire, I will sew parts of the hand to make fingers, cover the wire with wadding then sew calico around it to make arms, then sew them to the doll. For now it is sitting on my desk just as above, a bit freakily without head and flesh on the arms, but I like to share the process as it happens rather than wait until I can post photos of the 'pretty' completed stage. Creation is a messy process!

I did some more art therapy with Linda this week. We had a look at my fears, trying to find why my reaction to most things is to be fearful. I painted some images from my dreams (see above) and wanted to know why in particular I dreamt about a snake, because I am so very frightened of them. After some discussion I came to the conclusion that the snake probably stands for fear itself as far as I am concerned and that is what it signifies in my dreams. So Linda asked me to turn it all around and look at the positive aspects of the snake, and we found out that the snake is a symbol of Mother Earth, wisdom and healing. A much better way to look at the snake - especially as I would love to become an art therapist myself one day and out of all the elements I identify with earth the most. It is almost as if by pushing away the snake all the time through fear, I am actually pushing away a part of myself. It was really very insightful, and I do have a few artworks in my head bursting to emerge all on the theme of snakes. Don't get me wrong, if I saw a snake in the bush (or on my doorstep as we did last year) I would still experience fear, but I have a lot more respect for them. It is also a lesson in how to turn a negative into a positive and that can only be good!

Transformational Tuesday!

Today has been the opposite of my art deprived Monday! It has been very productive; I had some quiet time to work in my healing doll journal, and above you can see a (very) quick sketch of my guardian doll, some notes I've made and some felt sheets. I started to create my doll by making a couple of felt sheets for her cloak. I just love making felt! I realized today it's because it is such a transformative process, from soft, fluffy fibres to a beautiful soft fabric in minutes, just by using hot water, soap and your hands! Because the process is so hands on and the wool so tactile, you become really lost in the moment, it's really very meditative.

I received a lovely comment on my post from Sunday evening, and Jacquie (who left the comment) added to the same quote I used from Nelson Mandela. Just in case you don't get time to read it, I will repeat the quote here, because it is definitely worth sharing:

"Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you".

Thank you Jacquie for the quote, it is much appreciated!

Also, I had to laugh this morning when I thought about how sad I felt the day before, as I was wondering if anybody apart from my mum and dad read this blog. As you can see, I was feeling very sorry for myself! Then I had the comment on my blog, and it was like a little knock on my head telling me to stop being silly and carry on writing, because the people are out there and reading!

Healing Doll - part 2

Doll number 10

I am pleased to announce that I've finished my healing dolls! (Well, the practise ones from my healing definition - still lots of work to do for the course!) This is part 2, that is when healing is complete, the bringing of balance and freedom. It's based on the grass tree I saw on one of my bush meditation walks with Linda from Creative Seeds. It has a very womanly shape, which I have tried to replicate on my little cardboard cutout, and then highlighted with gold paint just to make sure! I realized also that my before healing doll was flat, very one dimensional, whereas this healing doll is a 3-D model - coming into fullness. This was totally unintentional, but I think it's great visually to describe the process of healing, so I was very pleased with my 'accident'. I made the grass out of felt cut into a fringe then rolled up tightly, before being stuck to the top of the branches/arms with craft glue. The kids would each bring the doll into me, with me crying "it's only just been glued", but they were so impressed with it, they wanted to talk to me about it. It's great having a ready made fan club at home. Love them all!! xx

Healing Doll - part 1

Doll number 9

This doll arose as part of a challenge set by Barb Kobe from my healing medicine doll course. It's not one of the healing dolls proper, it's a visualization of part of my definition of healing. This is part 1, i.e. before healing. The doll is wounded, hence the knife in her side, and the flames around her head symbolize both the pain of her wounds, and also the light that she is shining on her wounds which will ultimately bring her to healing. I made a mistake by getting the back of the doll stuck to a piece of scrapbooking paper I had on the table, but then I thought it would be good to incorporate the back of the doll into my design, so I wrote my healing definition on the back. The hand is covering the face in a gesture of despair, of wanting to be hidden from the world.

The materials I used were handmade paper, the beautiful purple colour of spirituality, with its texture and dried flowers and leaves added an extra dimension; for the flames I used some collage papers that my creative class produced last year - these were also used for the heart. Other items used were a gold gel pen for the spirals and my favourite fine liners for the face details and writing.

It took quite a while to make the doll from a doodle I'd made in my journal (about 3 hours), but I feel the process was therapeutic - I was really looking at myself as a wounded person, but one that is on the journey to healing and it felt good. There's a lot of power in looking at the shadow side of oneself, but it takes courage to do it. The benefits are enormous though.

Tomorrow I'll be posting the second part of the healing process - towards completion! It's quite a different doll. Until then ...

Nearing completion ...

If you remember a while ago I posted a 'doll' body made entirely of cardboard cutouts! Here's the head for the doll, so I am nearing completion of my project. I made the head out of an amazing modelling material called 'efa plast light' by a German company called Eberhard Faber. It's light as a feather, so I think it would be possible to make big heads and they wouldn't weigh the doll down. It's fairly easy to work with, you can mix it with water to smooth it out and it hardens in the air. It's painted with acrylic paints - I've purposefully painted the mouth with iridescent gold highlights because I want the words to come out of my mouth to be good ones! This doll is about the intended result of my healing journey with the medicine dolls, i.e. for me to find my voice, speak it with conviction and believe in it. I'll write a fuller explanation of the whole process when I've finished the doll.

I had another great day with my art therapist friend Linda - we have been planning the creativity course that I will be running from her studio. Neither of us were inspired with a name for one of the introductory activities, so I've asked for a week to think it over and hopefully I'll be able to come up with something. All I've come up with so far is "Hatch a new hobby this Easter ..." I did say we were both lacking in inspiration! Maybe I should sit down with my art journal and do some doodles, you never know what might come up ...

Amongst the undergrowth

Last night before I went to bed I finished cutting out my 50 pieces of corrugated cardboard, and glued them together to make my Australian grass tree, which is going to be the body of an art doll. My husband thought it rather strange behaviour, and also could not believe my patience with all the cutting and gluing. I, however, see it as necessary activity in the pursuit of my art! The doll is supposed to resemble a woman with her arms thrown in the air, celebrating becoming whole - healed at last! It will all become clear when it's finished I promise you. As usual I like to give you a sneak peek into my creative process.

I am forever amazed at the art of film-making. Particularly the fantasy ones which need both a good storyline and fantastic costumes. Tonight we watched Hellboy 2, which is actually very good on both counts - full of weird and wonderful creatures, and very fairy tale like in its unfolding. I particularly like the God of the Forest, which when it is destroyed covers the streets of Manhatten in grass and ferns. From destruction also comes creation. You will have to watch it to see the other special effects - we were all spellbound!

Overwhelmed!

Doll Number 8

Here is the latest doll for my 100 art doll challenge! My youngest wanted to call it Mr Rosie, so may be it should be called 'Confused!'; but I have decided to name my doll 'Overwhelmed' (aka Rosie). She is the doll form of how I feel some days, small and seemingly powerless, like a tiny person being carried in a giant's hand - life itself?

I made the doll by felting some wool fibres - I didn't really have much of a clue what to do, but knew what I wanted to produce and that hot water and soap and a bit of rubbing produces felt, so in celebration of having our solar water heating fixed yesterday, decided I would give it a go today! I used natural coloured Corriedale wool, and gave it colour by adding some silk sari fibres to the final layer. They mix quite nicely with the wool fibre when felting. Both the wool fibres and silk fibres were found on ebay. I used 2 big beads for shoes, and then I had to add a heart to the front of my doll, because although she's a symbol of overwhelming feelings, I also want her to be a symbol of hope. The hair is made from more silk sari fibres, knotted onto the head, and then gathered up and twisted, and held in place with some gold jewellery wire - I twisted one of the ends up into the hair so the ponytail could be placed at a jaunty angle! Unfortunately as I finished her so late, the only place I could take the photo that had decent light was our walk-in pantry. I decided to sit her in my charm bracelet to signify the circle of friends and loved ones, whom we don't always see but who provide support on our journey.

It's been quite a productive day then, I'm thrilled with my doll, made from beginning to end by me! As I began to make her, a friend arrived and we sat talking about craft over a cup of tea, absolute heaven! My son was watching me for a while trying to make the hair do what I wanted it to do, and he remarked that when I do art I seem to exude happiness. What a lovely thing to say. So, go make art ... and soothe your soul ...

I am woman ...

Doll number 7
Here it is - the torso I started painting a couple of days ago. I painted it a lovely lilac colour, purple appears everywhere in my art, it's my favourite colour so I can't help myself, but it's also a spiritual colour - is that why is resonates with me so much? I pasted on some pink tissue paper with pva glue to give a little texture to the heart and red 'ribbon' - it also gave me a path to follow to paint the red on! I just couldn't resist drawing on some spirals in gold pen, they symbolize for me life expanding and changing, but never going in a straight line ... The pens I used for this were Giotto Decor in metal - they are lovely to use. Then I had fun using some iridescent gold acrylic to give the whole body a sexy shine! The lilac on its own seemed a bit flat. I also added some phrases that have meaning for me, on the front is "gentleness is strength" and on the back is "I am woman, hear me roar!" When I showed this to my husband he looked at me a bit strangely as if I was making it up, so I did have a moment of self-doubt although I knew I'd heard the words somewhere. Thank goodness for the net! It's the lyric from a song by Helen Reddy, not something from my imagination at all, phew... Anyway, I think the phrase is really relevant to my ongoing quest to speak my truth, which sometimes I find very hard to do because I don't want to upset anyone!

I've made plans and sketches for 5 art dolls (this is one of them) in my art journal, and the words I associated with this were: "red heart = love, enveloping the body - the red also symbolizes life blood/creative flow/menses/womanhood." It probably is more relevant to women, but I'm glad I've made it. I felt a bit doubtful after my husband's reaction to be honest, almost as if I was being a 'feminist' which for some people has bad connotations. But I'm proud to be a woman, and I want to speak my truth as a woman who knows her own mind - I think this art doll says it all!

New Year's Eve

Here is a sneak peek into my inner sanctum!! Aha! It's my wee tiny studio space, tucked away in a corner of the kids' games room, my trusty, very old sewing machine in the background. This corner must exude sacred vibes or something because my children don't go near it, bless them.

Anyway, here is the torso blank canvas I was telling you about yesterday, it's being painted with gesso to give me a lovely white surface to paint on. I received a lovely comment on yesterday's post which has encouraged me to get this project finished in double quick time. It's dedicated to all my sisters in creativity!

I think I've mentioned I'm doing a healing medicine doll on-line course, and I'm also part of the 100 art dolls challenge. Today I've been thinking of 4 dolls to create, my mind seems to be running overtime, and must be finding the dolls very inspiring! I will give you the links to the doll course and the 100 dolls challenge in tomorrow's post, it's just that I've got to be fairly quick tonight because the family are waiting for me to celebrate New Year's Eve with them, but they know if I don't write my blog today I'll be a bad mood, so they are being lovely and giving me space to write.

All that's left for me to say is a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, let 2009 be a year where you follow your dreams, and even if you feel the fear, simply feel the fear and do it anyway! Will be back in 2009, with the links as promised - if I forget someone has to leave a comment and remind me! Best wishes ...

Happy Christmas!!

Festive greetings! My friend Violette has posted photos on her blog of the snow they are having - we couldn't be more extreme! It was nearly 30 degrees today, and I'm sitting there cooling off my feet in the pool!

It's been a lovely quiet day today. I was given a DVD set of 'Black Books' which I just adore - Dylan Moran is so funny, it was good to have a giggle. Laughter, like art is good for the soul.

We also sat and watched 'Ratatouille'. There is a very condescending food critic towards the end who is determined to write a damning report on the restaurant, but instead he is transported back to his youth by the simple fare he is offered, and his heart softens. It brought it back to me that what is important in life is that which touches the heart - and it's like that with art and creativity. You may feel that technically you are not the best, whether or not it's true - but if you feel that what you are creating is from the heart it has much more impact and importance than something which is perfectly executed but has no 'soul'. So, my advice is, follow your heart and you can't go wrong.

Now I did say I would make another angel before Christmas was over, and pictured above is a peg doll angel I made today. I felt like doing something crafty, and this only took about 20 minutes! I took the idea from a decorating magazine, but it's really a prototype for me as I'm interested in making dolls of all sorts. I've even been asked if I could make a peg doll in a kimono - I'm willing to give it a try! The most difficult part was sourcing the wooden pegs, but I eventually found them in Spotlight, which is a larger craft shop. Very easy - you just cut out some clothes in felt, sew around them in running stitch with embroidery thread. Embellish the clothes however you feel inspired, put some glue around the body and insert into dress - then you twist a pipe cleaner into a halo if you're making an angel and stick on the back of the dress. Sew around the wings and stick over the top of the halo ends to hide them. There you have one cute little angel - doll number 6 in my 100 art doll challenge!

To finish I'd like to thank the lovely people who read my blog. It's been a learning experience, but a journey of great fun. Thank you to those who've left comments, it's been very encouraging for me as I'm starting out, and I hope it's given you a little inspiration too! Keep reading ...

Have a lovely Christmas.

Changing Seasons

Dolls 4 and 5

We were going to have a relaxing day today, but instead spent the day in the garden. I was busy in the 'wild' garden at the back of our house clearing away piles of dried leaves and twigs to make our house and land fire safe. It's one of the perils of living in the Perth Hills but a small price to pay for living in such a beautiful area. It also gave me lots of time to think; this time of year often makes me think of our family and friends we've left behind in New Zealand and the UK - I really miss them, but know that they love me and I them, we'll always have each other in our hearts and heads ...

As I was putting the twigs into bags, I was saving some that would be suitable for making spirit dolls such as the ones in the picture above. Together they are the four seasons, and I got the idea from my daughter who had made 'spring' at school. You simply bind 2 twigs together with ribbon or thread and wrap some toy stuffing around them. Then you embellish the 'body' with fabrics, wool, beads, you name it. The face is made from air-hardening clay, which is painted with acrylics after it has dried, and stuck onto the twigs with hot glue. My daughter made 'summer' and I made 'autumn' and 'winter' (the two dolls on the right of the picture). I am including these in the 100 dolls challenge, and will be making spring and summer dolls to complete the set. They are great fun to make, and you can use up your stash of materials to finish them as you don't need large amounts of fabric.

It really does seem strange to be in the middle of summer at Christmas, when my family is shivering back home, nights beginning at 4pm! One Christmas I am going back to the UK just to soak up the atmosphere of walking through the shops in the dark winter air, my breath turning to mist in the cold, the mesmerizing fairy lights twinkling in the windows and around trees. I am just a big kid at heart - we have our own fairy lights around our verandah, and it's not by the children's request!

Christmas dolls and smiley faces!

Here's my Christmas doll for the 100-dolls-challenge. I didn't actually make it this Christmas, but when I found it in our decorations' box I decided I want to include it because I like it. And the rules for my doll challenge are that there are no rules really, so I figured as I made it, it doesn't matter that it's a year or two old. I do remember making a point of creating it as I felt I was wasn't making enough things, life really was taking over and I believed Christmas was a jolly good reason for taking some creative time out. The children really like it because you can fill the apron with sweets. Yum!

Not much writing tonight, we've just come back from a function at the school and are very tired, it's been so hot today it's just too exhausting!

Did anyone see the smiley face in the sky last night? I think it was a southern hemisphere happening - there was a crescent moon for a smiley mouth, and Jupiter and Venus made the eyes. It was spectacular. I thought they were stars last night, and found out they were actually planets when I saw the yahoo home page today. Wish I could turn back time just so I could have another look, and really appreciate the beauty of the planets. Oh well, only have to wait another 5 years to see it again!