If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it;
every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I have always loved dolls of the past...where did they come from, who made them, how did they learn to sew?
It came to me that I wanted to recreate an 18th Century Queen Anne doll and so my journey started to design a doll that was always carved in wood.
A bit of History of Queen Anne Dolls
A jointed body and carved face decorated with stylized
eyebrows and brightly rouged cheeks characterize the "Queen Anne"
style dolls. English woodcarvers and craftsmen began making these dolls in the
1600s which continued through the 1840s. Affordable only to affluent families,
the vast majority of Queen Anne dolls where owned by women, who dressed them in
the fashions of the time.
Not only was my personal challenge going to be to translate the wood to cloth but also to make this piece the best possible design that was in me...aim high.
I wanted to make this doll
entirely of cloth so anyone could make her as long as you could get your hands on a nice muslin.
My first stop was to a local antique store, where Sally took out of the case the delicate wooden Queen Anne/George III doll for me to hold! Looking over each carved area, the pegged joints, and the tiny hand stitches that held the dress together was such an inspiration in my soul to create my doll the best I could.
Sally told me of a book Heart of the Tree from the Rosalie Whyel Museum (now closed).
Museum at 425-455-1116. 160-page full color hardcover: $49.95 US + shipping.
This book has beautiful images and wonderful insightful information.
It has been my main resource guide. The beauty of each photo so spoke to me because of the care and attention someone made creating these dolls so long ago. It has given me the understanding of these dolls and the time period so I could make this adaptation in cloth. I love doing the research for my art and sharing it with you.
Next I went online and starting perusing the Queen Anne doll. I found someone who was selling a copy of instructions for carving a wooden doll. How perfect to start at the beginning with wood and appreciate the concept in wood first before starting it in cloth!
I thought this was a perfect way to understand these dolls in a three dimensional way.
I studied the shape of these pieces and thought about how to translate this into cloth and add a few cloth needlesculpting details- like the mitt hand with fingers and toes! These are not standard on a wooden Queen Anne. This is where I brought in uniqueness to the piece, by marrying up the wood tradition with the cloth tradition.
I loved the shape of her chest and that was fun to decipher to cloth!
The
shape of the head, I have found to be very round. This I actually had
to do three times to get it just perfect! All in all, I found this
project good for the mind~ to stretch it and as always good for the
spirit.
The challenge for me was to create the hip area joints- I love that- churning those little grey cells to figure this out!
Next came the painting. I did much research for depth of color and finishes.
All in all this was about a year of research before I even picked up a pencil to draft the pattern!
Here is my finished design Lizette-Queen Anne...
I developed a technique for glass eyes- that are actually not glass eyes and stay with the tradition of the dotted lashes, brows and rosy cheeks!
I could not let Lizette go out into the world without anything on!
From the book, I garnered information on a corset and found the pantaloons info on line.
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| Corset with fan, pockets, and daily notes |
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| pantaloons with split crotch which for my doll was closed |
Lizette with corset and pantaloons...
She has many outfits to come in the future years...I have completed the
Robe à la Française which I will show you in a blog to come!
