June 26, 2009

I Love Making Dolls

Making dolls gives me a lot of pleasure. I makes these little girls from scrap fabrics. I started a tradition about 10 years ago making a doll for my granddaughters to celebrate their birthdays and Christmas. Now, my friends have namesake dolls which can be seen on my website.
"Ariel," a mermaid is holding a shell I found on the beach containing other beach finds. Her bodice is made up of my screen dyed fabric. (I am a self-taught doll artist. Learning how to needle sculpt the face, hands and feet has been a challenge.)
I built an armature out of tin foil and masking tape to construct "Barefoot and Pregnant." The clothing is made of dumptser finds. The vintage measuring tape and sewing machine bobbins are the perfect accessories. The heads, hands (boy) and feet are made of painted paper clay. Mama's hands are made of shaped wire covered with ribbon.
"Breaking Free" is my latest doll. The legs are made of vintage thread spools which I painted and aged. Her feet are from my collection of wooden shoe forms. The wings are made of copper sheeting; hands are Shinky Dink, shoulders a vintage Japanese ruler and arms are chopsticks. Her face is needle sculpted and, of course, she's wearing a tiara! She hangs on the wall in my studio.

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