Bush Lily : Felt Art Doll

I often use interesting plants as my inspiration and Bush Lily is no exception. This is a wet felted art doll with a polymer clay face. The face has been moulded from one of my own original sculptures and yes, it does have a rather sad and glum look. No wonder, Nature currently has been taking a battering from extreme climate events.

It is no secret that one of my favourite plants is the Gymea Lily . Botanically known as Doryanthes excelsa, the gymea lily is a flowering plant found in the coastal areas of New South Wales . They grow very well around Sydney and surrounding areas like the Newcastle region where I live. It has sword-like leaves more than 1 metre long and it grows a flower spike up to 6 metres high.

The body of the doll was wet felted first as a hollow tube, with a plastic resist so there are no seams in the shape. Different coloured slivers of wool were introduced into the last layer of wool to blend colours for the doll body.

A separate "flower" was felted , also using a small wax resist to create multiple layers of petals . The flower was then needle felted to the fibre filled body shape.

The body was then stitched - the base stitched together and decorative hand embroidery with a wooden leaf charm. After the polymer face was cured and coloured with a basic wash, it was attached /stitched to the body .... Bush Lily!

Bush Lily is available now in my Etsy shop

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