Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Healing Art Dolls and Other Swaps

I have been working on a healing art doll swap. It has been both exciting and fun and rather intimidating. Any time I have to come up with an idea, then try to make it a reality is exciting and fun for me. Seeing it come together, to see it make sense, to have something I can be proud of is the enticement to swapping. I was not sure about making a doll. When I was a child, I did not play with my dolls. I made clothes for them. I made furniture for them. I made houses for them. I created their enviorments. After I grew up, and when my kids were young, I made stuffed creations. I made funny stuffed creatures and other stuff. I sewed many many different things from clothes to quilts. The problem with sewing is I could not stand to make anything as directed by patterns and directions. I always had to add my own twists to each construction. So, they always turned out as a one of a kind thing. An example of this would be a coat I made out of a huge box of silk neckties I bought at a garage sale. I sewed the neck ties together, then cut out a coat and put them together. I wore it for several years. It was my "coat of many colors." Very warm by the way! I don't really sew much anymore. Now I just like art. Which takes me back to the healing art doll. I just did not want to "sew" a cloth doll. So, I used what I use best. Paper. I really think of my self as a paper artist at this time. So, I used a piece of my hand made pulp paper, added a face inside a coin sleeve, stitched some hair with bronze wire, used twigs for arms and legs, and I think she is just great! i decided to write about her from her voice:
"I, Sunny, ...." which turned out to be several pages long. I laughingly said I was writing a book. This led me to make my doll a doll house in the form of a book. So, my doll can sit on someones book shelves with the other books, and come out to play when the owner wants her. It is a combination of two things I love! Reading and Art. What a great experience.

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