Skip to main content

No longer on my work table...


Tumbuna Bottles 
Here are a few pieces which are no longer on my work table - yay,  they are finished!
Tumbuna collage
Tumbuna Bottles: Tumbuna means 'ancestor' in pidgin. I have been wanting to make some dolls inspired by my experiences in Papua New Guinea , so finally finished some last month.  These art dolls are 'guardians of memories' . I have put inside the bottles little trinkets and bits and pieces I brought home from various trips to Papua New Guinea , and  created a personality for each bottle, shaped from my remembered images of respected ancestors in PNG villages.  My plan, of course is to make a series of these bottle art dolls inspired by other travels ... looking forward to creating the Chinese, English, German, Finnish, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian versions and including little souvenirs from those places in the bottles.
little Tumbuna bottle 
Tags: This year the first 26 weeks of Tag Tuesday are following the alphabet ... I decided to follow my own theme of Australian plants/trees and January's tags are Acacia, Banksia, Callistemon and Dryandra. I have used various techniques including applique, digital print on fabric, machine and hand embroidery and organza fused with a soldering iron.  ( Tag Tuesday is a blog group challenge - a tag each Tuesday)

Stamped Dolls : I purchased a new stamp set from www. impressmenow.com and here are  three of the little dolls I made using the stamp and some of my scraps of hand dyed cotton.

 It's hard to believe that it is already February, but I'm happy to have completed some work already this year. I' m hoping this momentum will last all year...


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

From my workshop page....

  Current Workshops  Offerings  Thinking of a workshop for your group in  2022?    Art Doll Workshops : -  Garden Thread Dolls  (one day workshop   -  WoW -(Woman of Wisdom)    - embellished stump doll with either cloth head or clay head.  This is an a rt doll workshop .... either offered as a series of workshops or  2 full days  days!   -  Message/Story  Stick doll  - doll made with found objects and upcycled cloth.  ( one day)    -  Elemental totems  - stick doll variation , with sculpture  ( one or two days, depending on surface decoration of fabric)  TEXTILE AND MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOPS    Temari - embroidered wrapped balls in traditional style.    - Dipping Into Tea  - tea and embroidery on canvas with photo transfer on fabric.  ( two days)  work by Judith Bee, workshop participant.  - Tea Bag sculpture : ...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

 Background Information:  Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start  with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound  silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap.  2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...
8 comments
Read more