Skip to main content

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 
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 Anonymous comments will not be published.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

Giveaway - Gifts for You on My Birthday

Giveaway Gifts T his week is blog giveaway time! Last week I celebrated my birthday.  I’ve had far too many to count the candles, but I had a wonderful party on the weekend with my family - with an indulgent birthday cake, favourite foods cooked by my husband and great company. ( In case you were wondering about the writing on the cake , Por Por = Chinese grandmother)     I also got great gifts from  my family and friends. There seemed to be a bit of a theme this year – with many of my gifts and cards depicting matryshoka ( babushka) dolls and tea drinking.   As it is also winter here in Australia ,   it was easy for me to  decide what I could offer as gifts  in this birthday giveaway. All the gifts are handmade by me. Gift 1 - two little fabric matryshoka dolls  Gift 2- a little bag made from colourful teapot and teacup fabric . The design is called a jester bag, but it is suitable for carrying s...
24 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