Skip to main content

Unapologetic Alterations

Recently I have been working on quite a few dolls for various swaps and blog challenges, but especially the samples for the Creative Retreat 2011  where I will be offering a workshop "It's A Wrap" - wrapped armatures made from discarded and found objects. Candy Flossie ( pictured above) is the result of wrapping a polystyrene ball and timber armature with a sample piece of wet felting , some fabric, recycled paper ribbon from a present, adding a polymer clay face, and swirly beads, toothpicks and some bright pink paint. This doll started from a bargain box reject snowman like this one below. I didn't like them at all and had no intention of "fixing" them , but somehow gave into the temptation and bought two.  Honestly, who could resist this for $1? I am unapologetic about the alterations to the first one -  off went the hat, scarf, buttons and shoes and voila- snowman to fairy floss girl!
 Candy Flossie is now ready for the Blog Party at Papillon Bleu's birthday party - amazingly early!
 Most of you probably know that I also like to 'collect' quotations and wise sayings, and I write them down in a book whenever I hear or read something a bit poetic or inspiring. I have for a while included them mostly as inspiration in my doll making, but here are a few of my "discard" message stick dolls - made from sticks and wrapped with discarded bits of fabric, yarn, knitting, felting - whatever finds its way to my 'throw away" bag.  These sticks are also altered without apology. On each message stick doll I have written a quotation which  I felt was appropriate... Can you match the three quotations to these doll message sticks?
1. " Nature does not hurry, but everything is accomplished" - Lao Tzu
2. "Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. "Autumn is a second spring where every lead is a flower" - Albert Camus



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stitched Gardens and Magpies

  Magpies are always around  in our garden , strutting, poking about for insects and having a splash in the birdbath.  They often call if the water is at a low level in the birdbath until one of us replenishes the water supply. It is no coincidence then that they have figured prominently as part of  recent little works in the stitched garden series.  I also like to include human figures in my gardens, especially taken from old photos of family members. This "impressionist ' stitched garden features  my husband's great aunt,  Sarah Ann Bath.  I like to think of her in this abundant garden , when in reality,  she grew up  in the early 1900s in rather cramped living conditions in Birmingham UK  See more and read more about my stitched gardens - other posts:  How does your garden grow with stitch?  How does your garden grow with crayons? 

Dotee Divertissement

Dotee by Wendy Anderson  What is a "dotee' doll? ...  A dotee is a mini art doll, meant to be traded or swapped. The dolls 6 inches /15 cm tall or smaller, but the hanger or tail can exceed that measurement. They have a face, but do not require arms or legs. Dotees have a loop for hanging, and come with tails (tails are fibres, ribbon, charms or other string-y things that add to the theme of the doll). Dotees can be made from a variety of materials - fabric, felt, paperclay, yarn, beads, gourds or any other material/media that you can make a doll from. Most dotee makers add buttons, beads, sequins, embroidery, or charms to embellish the doll. Dotee dolls by Wilma Simmons At the February meeting of Gumnut Dollies Newcastle, the group activity was to revisit these little dolls, which were very popular for doll swaps around the world about 10 years ago. As our theme for 2020 is The Twenties, the little flapper girl face buttons were a good start....  Dot...

How does your garden grow with crayons?

How does your garden grow with crayons? With a little bit of imagination and lots of stitches!  Why does your garden grow with crayons? Because that was the challenge of the monthly assignment of my creative embroidery course.  It was a surprise to open my package and discover a packet of twelve coloured crayons, some white cotton fabric and lots of coloured stranded embroidery cotton. The task was to create a stitched garden, after colouring the fabric with crayons. I have always loved the impressionist Monet gardens, so I approached this task happily.... until I realised how long it takes to fill a space with stitches! Crayon applied to cotton fabric with texture ( rubber stamp under the fabric) - Empress Wu Designs 2015  Stitching the "distant" spaces first - French knots, Lazy Daisy stitch, fly stitch, straight stitch. Empress Wu  Designs 2015  Detail  1 - Crayon Garden - Empress Wu Designs 2015 (French knots, fly stitch, straight ...