Let's Face It

While working on something else I found this linen shirt buried in one of my boxes.  It was an excellent 'find' at a local thrift store.   Oh, I just had to use this.  Its got texture, a beautiful earthy shade of beige/grey and soft, soft, soft.

For me the 'face' is the pivot for any doll -- it sets the scene for the story.  Does it make me laugh, does it make me smile, does it make me wonder?  And it can be the most difficult of part of the whole design.  In making a prototype I decided to draw the face on a finished head.  I practiced on muslin, I drew faces until I almost wanted to have a 'faceless' doll.  Time to draw the face on a linen stuffed head.  Tragedy!  That idea did not work with the linen.  Okay -- I'll just embroider over the drawing -- worse tragedy. Pawing through some older doll stuff, I found a few stitched faces which I'd once meant to attach to a stuffed head.  Voila!!  Could that work?

After making several faces and attaching one to a finished doll I thought I had the answer, but each day I grew to dislike it more and more. This doll design is supposed to be somewhat serene and quiet and even a bit sophisticated, if you will.   What is a non-artist supposed to do?

Coming to my aid was a collection of circa 1500 women's portraits.  Several to choose from, but this beauty came to my rescue.  I cannot seem to find out who the artist was but the title is "1500 Eleonara Gonzage Italian Renaissance".  

Much more to do, but the secret seems to be patience and perseverance. Thanks to Eleonara I now have a face that helps tell this story. 

"Sometimes things aren't clear right away.  That's where you need to be patient and persevere and see where things lead." - Mary Pierce 

Izannah Walker Dolls

Izannah Frankford Walker lived in the nineteenth century, operating a cottage industry making pressed cloth dolls.  She first patented her dollmaking process in 1873.  Her dolls have the look of primitive folk portraits from the mid 1800's.  Previously, most dolls had cloth bodies with china heads, arms and legs.  They were beautiful but pretty impractical for everyday play.  I can imagine how difficult it would be to give a child a doll and then tell her that it must be kept on the shelf.

There are still original Izannah Walker dolls to be found, but they are becoming rarer and rarer.  These days there are classes taught to make the Izannah Walker dolls and quite a few contemporary doll makers make these dolls as replicas.

I fell in love with this simple face when I saw it and with the story of Izannah Walker herself.  So, I will be paying joyful tribute with a few upcoming dolls using the image of the Izannah Walker face.  My 'pretties' will be nothing like the original but it will be fun to put my own 'spin' on this doll of old.

"Even though you're growing up, you should never stop having fun." - Nina Dobrev

Collecting Faces

I'm collecting faces these days.  Looking at expressions and thinking about what each face tells me.  Someday soon I shall make up a story for each of them and present it in cloth and stitch.

"After a certain numer of years, our faces become our biographies." - Cynthia Ozick

"Taking Flight"

Here I am, taking flight!!!  It seems that this year is turning into 'the year of flight' for me!  First my punchneedle bird series (still ongoing) and now an art doll with wings.  I love the idea that I can 'fly' anytime I want to - I just have to grab my needle and thread and take off.  I love the ideas that keep flitting into (and out of) my brain.  What if I do this or what if I do that?

To get technical, "Taking Flight" has a fabric base which I overstitched.  She is covered in a variety of embroidery stitches.  I hemmed and hawed over what I would do with her wings when I realized that the feather stitch would be oh so apropos!  However they seemed to be grounding me because it took so very long to stitch and overstitch all of these feather stitches.  And no, I didn't count them *smile*.

I'm excited about the possibilities for more 'abstract' body patterns and I'm sure you'll see more of them flying out of my studio as the months pass by - although not all of them will have wings.

"Flying dreams mean that you're doing the right thing with your life". - Doug Coupland