Brunson Elementary School

Last week I went to speak to 5th graders at Brunson Elementary School. I showed many dolls and spoke about my creative process. They loved it. My dolls and me. I had a lot of fun and have been invited back.

I started with some cloth dolls I had made, went into polymer, and then needle felting. I'm working on a small project for them to do.

Loved Through the Years: Three Centuries of Black Dolls

 The opening to my show was February 12, 2012. It was wonderful. There was a nice turnout and all my work has paid off. There was also a reporter there from one of the local newspapers, so I'll be seeing my face again.

Here I am with Lee Mecum who helped put this together, and Carolyn Mills Allen who had her collection of contemporary dolls at the exhibit.

The Delta Arts Center people did a wonderful job setting up the dolls.

Here's my group of dolls. They are for sale.

Joyce Stamps had her collection of dolls mostly made by slaves. They were so beautiful.

One of my large dolls. I will tweak the pattern and make some a little smaller.

Here's Emma, the last doll made for the show. She almost didn't make it.

I even spoke about my doll making journey. My ongoing journey.

Joyce Stamps.

  Dolls from Joyce's collection.

I so love this one in this beige dress. So simple but very cool.

Carolyn and her collection.

There were some dolls based on the Hitty character.

I love this little doll with her mirror. I was able to get her reflection in it.

More of Joyce's dolls.

Carolyn's dolls.

This doll is made from a whisk broom. I don't even know if they still make those these days.

I so love this little doll. She's a puppet doll. You stick your hand underneath her dress and your fingers go into her head and arms. I've got to get a more detailed pic of her. I love puppets.

The tall doll is a door stop and the oldest in the group. Her base is a can and filled with probably sand. Her face is embroidered silk and is showing wear. She was made around 1800.

I love her little face and her blue dress.

Tilly

I so need a new camera and a new camera card. I do apologize for these pictures. She looks better in person. I tell you, I get to a certain point of making a doll and Bad Wendy starts talking mess. But Good Wendy says to keep going and when the face is on a doll, they really come to life. That's when I fall in love and it's difficult to part with them. But she's now at the Delta Arts Center, waiting for her closeup.

Tilly is a stump doll. They are great to make if you don't want to worry about legs and feet. They can be dressed simply or elaborately. I'm going with the inspiration of a doll made by a slave for her.

Stump Dolls

I like stump dolls. You don't have to worry about legs and bloomers. These two are in progress and will be completed today.

They will go on stands.

The Reader- in progress

It's hot! But I was able to continue work on The Reader. I had her armature done, so I guess I'll show that pic. This is another version of a stump doll.

Her skirt form is a floral styrofoam cone. Heavy floral wire forms her torso arms, and neck.

I marked lines to figure out how long her arms should be. I had to remember that hands are going to be attached on the ends of the wire.

I forgot to take a pic of the felt around the cone. It's now ready to be wet felted. This is my fourth time wet felting. Twice have been short of disastrous, so I was keeping my fingers crossed. This was the first time wet felting over a support. I got directions from Marie Spaulding at Living Felt. After putting and lightly needle felting wool onto the cone, I placed tulle over the cone and then a stocking. Then the felting began. Soap, hot, agitate, cold, hot, agitate some more, cold rinse, hot, cold again, and a little squeeze. I truly didn't know what to expect. If it was a massive fail, I could cover the cone with fabric. As I held my breath, I took off the stocking and was quite pleased. I wasn't ready to get excited just yet. Then I took off the tulle and just about cried like a baby. It had worked. It feels soooooo good when something works.

As you can see, it came out quite well. I'm so tickled and I will most definitely try wet felting again. Now I have to let this dry and work on her head. 

Cheers!

The Reader

I aided in a workshop with Akira Blount and created some lovely faces. One face in particular was quite lovely and I wanted to finish her and call her the Reader. I wanted to make a series of readers because I love to read and I think that everyone else should partake in the fun. Since I'm working in a new medium and need as much practice as I can get, I thought I'd do her in wool instead of cloth.

Here is the cone that will be the base of her skirt and a papier mache fake book that will be part of her stand.

My friend Katie was nice enough to pose for me holding a book.

I like the position of her free hand and the curve in her stance.

A close-up of her hand with the book. She is quite unusual in the holding of books when she reads. She apologized for it but I think I might use it. We readers are unique individuals anyway.

A different view of her hand and book.

And I like the tilt of her head. I've gotten started with the armature but haven't uploaded the pics yet. I'll probably start needle felting tonight too. Thanks for stopping by.