Away Teaching

Hello All,

Away teaching at one of my favorite spots

John C Campbell Folk School

 

when I return I will post about the Four Season Chinese dolls...

Autumn: Beautiful Haven

 

Chloe's Doll- The Doll

You have been so patient waiting for the full shot of the doll.

BUT first, I would like to share with you the symbolism of this doll. For the Charm Girls, I usually let the charm come to me as I am working on the doll...what you ask? 

When in the midst of the process of creating the costume for the doll and I have the basic idea of what the costume will be, I find that if I just let it flow in faith that it is happening in the right direction.

I let each step be completed and just let the next one happen...some of my best ideas will emerge...which includes who will this doll be...what Charm depicts the spirit of this doll? Are you with me on this concept??

AND that is what happened with this doll...she was just about complete and Turtle Charm came to me!

 

The Turtle’s shell is a symbol of heaven, and the square underside is a symbol of earth. The Turtle is an animal whose magic unites heaven and earth. The Turtle is a creation of nature that carries its round shell over the ground, like heaven, and has a flat bottom, like earth. With a profile resembling a mountain and the turning motion of its toes, it seemed to be a depiction of heaven and earth changing constantly through the seasons.

Turtles seem to possess an enviable and "god-like" resistance to aging, and so they came to symbolize longevity. Turtles are also symbols of immortality and are considered temporary dwelling places for souls making their way through a series of lives on the path to Nirvana or Heaven.

As I stated in last week's post, I love to mix the some earthiness in with the silks. One way I balance the enamel of the Charm is to place it within a gourd (earth).

These above are the unfinished gourds that I purchase from various people. They are small just about Roma Tomato sized.  I cut open the top with a Dremel using a dry wall bit and smooth the edges with a round stone bit. The seeds are removed (and saved for someone-someday) and the gourd is washed. I am careful with the washing not to remove any of the patina.

 photos Mark Mortensen

I paint the inside with a gold metallic and lacquer the enitire piece inside and out- several times.  I love how it brings out the beautiful patina that the gourd picked up while growing.

The small enameled charm is secured inside and final touch is adding banded of linen floss around the edge.

 Since the hand is armatured it can be formed to hold the gourd.

So now the doll! ...I can hear you...finally...

 

Close ups:

I hope you enjoyed this series of Chloe's Doll ~ Turtle Charm Girl!

 Next week - The Doll Series Four Seasons!

Chloe's Charm Girl: The Costume

I do LOVE this part- I think that pretty much all dollmakers love this part...

I try to stay as true to the ethnic culture I am working within, but I will say as I am inspired by these cultures as an artist. So, it is my interpretation not replication from which I gather my ideas for my designs and I will add other fabrics that will help enhance the specific cultural fabrics.

Chloe's doll is of an African culture and I was lucky enough to have several of these pieces of fabric in my stash! I had some stunning silk pieces from India that I used for the lining. This was my palette that I worked from and did change things every so slightly as I went along.

The Charm Girl costume fabric of silk, linen, and cotton are from around the world to give each doll a unique and well- studied look. Each Charm Girl hold a small gourd with a delicate enameled charm to represent the lore of that piece.

In this post I am going to give you a detailed look of what I created the next posting will show you the entire finished piece...

They costume pattern was designed and now it was time to start sewing.

I usually start with the pants or under garment...In this case I had this wonderful cotton batik that added just enough earthiness to the piece. These pants where edged with the same cobalt blue as the jacket lining. I laid out my fabric to fussy cut so the color way that ran through the fabric from blue to green to purple would cosmetically match up on the pants.

I sewed the skirt/dress once...twice. The initial one was just ok but did not have the punch that was needed, so I resewed it with deeper seams and ended up with much happier results!

The jacket was next...here I would like to point out the not only the outside fabric but the wonderful lining fabric. I also carefully "fussy" cut the jacket's exterior pieces- note how the main circle motif  is on both sleeves.

 Motif to center back...

detail photos Mark Mortensen

Pieces are all individually sewn from a template techniques and then hand-sewn or  machine sewn together where I can use a decorative stitch as below sleeve/shoulder side seams.

Final pieces to be sewn were the shoes and the hat...Shoes were made from a woven silk and dupioni silk and the hat from African cottons and Indian silk.

 

SOOoo, I placed the hat on the doll and felt it was not quite right...all her fabulous hair was lost in the hat...I then redesigned a multi fabric head wrap which I liked so much better...I believe when creating an art piece you must follow your own personal aesthetic gut, even though the fabric I am using is precious and expensive- if it doesn't work, it just doesn't- do it over until you are happy with it!

Final details...the necklace. I wanted to bring in the blue but want the beads to be a matte finish to continue carrying the theme of earthy accents.

I like to take into consideration the doll from all angles including from the bottom!  Note the sole of the shoes coordinate with the exquisite silk lining!

 Next week- the Turtle Gourd with its symbolism 

and the full shot of the Charm Girl!