A Doll Festival

In Japan, on March 3^rd, the Hina Matsuri, Doll’s Festival, is celebrated.  This is a day to pray for a young girl’s growth and happiness.  On this day girls host a party of tea and poetry for their friends and they serve little pink and green diamond shaped mochi (rice) cakes.

At the party is a display of dolls.  These aren’t dolls that the girls play with everyday but instead heirlooms that have been passed down for generations.  The display is a tier of shelves with dolls representing the members of the imperial court in ancient court costumes as well as pieces of furniture, small meal dishes and other things.

This used to be one occasion when little girls had their own parties.  The set was brought out for the day and quickly put away after March 3^rd.  (It was thought that if it was not put away immediately the girl would have trouble marrying.)

No one really knows where the origin of this holiday came from but it is thought that it actually started with the Shinto religion.  On March 3^rd a folded paper doll resembling a kimono known as a Kata Shiro would be cast into water and with it the user’s sins, illness and bad luck.

 I like the idea of a day to pray for young girls (there is a similar day for boys in May) but what really intrigues me is the doll display.  I have one baby doll of my mother’s and much of her miniature doll furniture.  I actually have some of the pieces displayed on furniture in my living room.  The furniture while made of plastic is very well made.  My favorite piece is a sewing machine which folds down into a cabinet just like the old Singer sewing machines did.  And when you turn the knob on the side of the machine, the little “needle” goes up and down.

Maybe if there is a special little girl in your life, you could tell her about the Doll Festival and find a way to display her dolls or toys on March 3rd.  The dolls and toys might not have the significance of a imperial court but it might show her that her possessions are just as important as she is.

 

©2018- Cheryl E. Fillion

 

 

Rainy Day Reading

It’s been raining a lot over the past couple of weeks.  We always need rain here in Texas.  But rain in the winter months tends to be cold and dreary.  On days like that I just want to curl up under a quilt and read.  

Usually it is a mystery I read but today I pulled out an old book I bought at a used book store: The Story of Old Dolls and How to Make New Ones by Winifred H. Mills.  I always chuckle at the title, particularly the “How to Make New Ones” because the book is out of print being copyrighted in 1940.

But it is really a great book despite its publishing date.  The author talks about how dolls have been viewed through the years starting in Ancient Rome, Egypt and Greece but also the different type of dolls from cloth dolls to carved dolls to even the figures in Nativity scenes and their history.  The ‘How to’ part of the book is also wonderful.  It also looks at cloth dolls and carved dolls and includes corn husk dolls, spool dolls, paper mache dolls even dolls with a wire frame and covered in cloth so they could be posed.

Books like this give me a glimpse into how certain crafts or art work are done with limited supplies and by people who seem to live simpler lives.  I feel the same way about quilt books that include the history of quilts.  Learning about quilting bees actually is what started my quilting.  I was doing a program on women’s friendships  at a conference held by the university I attended.  To look at friendship in years past, I looked at quilting bees and from there my eyes wandered to the patterns of quilts and I was hooked.

These old books inspire me to do try new (or maybe old) techniques.  To see how designs were done in the past, how color, patterns and texture was used.  It is like going to a museum without leaving my home. And just like going to a museum, reading these type of books get my creativity juices flowing.   

So snuggled under a quilt during this rainy weather, I am thinking about some dolls I might try to make using the techniques in this book.  See if you can find a book that describes the history of your art or craft or maybe just look at an old “How to Make New Ones” book or magazine and see if you learn a new technique – new to you that is- from one.  It might help inspire your creativity in new ways.

© 2018 Cheryl Fillion

I Make Dolls

I make dolls.  I have made dolls for over 30 years.  But I never really considered myself a doll maker until recently.  I usually made dolls to do other crafts. 


Since I am a fiber artist, most of the dolls I make are cloth dolls.  Cloth or rag dolls (often called that because they were made and stuffed with rags) have been around for thousands of years.  The earliest one know is about 1700 years old.  It was found in a grave from Ancient Rome and was made of linen.  There are not many cloth dolls around because they were literally loved to pieces,

My doll making actually started with teddy bears.  I found a wonderful pattern and began making bears for gifts and for charity.  I've given dozens to homeless and abused women shelters for the children staying there

A flowered bear


I then found a pattern for little felt bears.  Felt was wonderful to use because it doesn’t fray.  The fun part of these bears was you could dress them in various outfits.  I made a lot of these as gifts creating outfits to fit the recipients’ personality.


I think my first doll was from a fabric panel.  Panels often have all the parts of a doll or animal printed on the fabric including the instructions. You just cut them out and sew them up.  What I liked about this doll was more the embroidery than the doll.  At the time the doll was just to show off the embroidery I did.

Embroidered Fabric Panel Doll

Closeup of embroidery

Even though I had made a doll, I still didn’t consider myself a doll maker.  Then one Christmas break while visiting my mother in Wisconsin, she found a class at a local quilt shop that we could take.  Taking a class together was something we always wanted to do but usually by the time I would get to her house for the holidays, there weren’t any classes available. The class was to make an Angel doll.  Mom collected angels so this was perfect for her.

Angel Dolls - Mom's is on the right

Then around 2000 I was reading a book on creativity and there was an exercise called the Creativity doll.  The idea was to create a doll that represented something you wanted in your life: love, marriage, increased income, etc.  Think of it as putting a wish into a 3 dimensional form.  I wanted to be more of a free spirit so I made the doll following a pattern but her outfit was designed as I went along.

My Creativity Doll

 

I then began reading up on dolls: creativity dolls, healing dolls, dolls children could make and began to make more and more dolls  I finally called myself a doll maker  But still my dolls represent different types of fiber techniques.

I have made a doll using colored pencil on fabric.

Colored Pencil on Fabric Doll

I have made woven dolls.  This was actually a challenge from my Fiber Artist group.  We had to create something using the bead and the fiber I used as the hair.  The sequins were actually part of the yarn.

Woven Doll

 I have done dolls in punchneedle embroidery.

 

Punchneedle Embroidery Doll

And my latest was the embellished doll I did during my birthday creativity retreat last year.

Embellished Doll

Dolls remind me of my childhood and all the play involved with dolls.  I still feel I am playing when I make dolls.  But doll making also inspires my creativity and imagination. It’s a challenge to see what type of artistic technique I can use with a doll and that then leads me to use that technique elsewhere.

You don’t have to consider yourself a doll maker to create a doll.  I didn’t for a long time. But some time when you are stuff for what to create or you just want to play try making a doll.  And, hey guys, no one says you can’t make dolls.

 

©2018- Cheryl E. Fillion

 

Festival of Broken Needles

There is a Buddhist festival that takes place in Japan on February 8 called the Needle Festival or the Festival of Broken Needles (Harikuyo).  There is an old Buddhist belief that even inanimate objects have a soul and to discard an object that has been used for so long is disrespectful.  So throughout the year broken pins and needles are saved and on February 8^th they are taken to a temple to be blessed before they are properly ‘rested’. It is thought that if you blessed the needles, the energy of the needle will make the owner a better stitcher.

I like this idea.  Have you ever thought of the work our pins and needles do for us?  Yes we are the one who guides them into the fabric but they are the ones who actually do the stitching.  And when you have trouble threading a needle – do you blame the needle, the thread, or the Stitcher?  Yeah, I thought so; you blame the needle.

So on this day of the Needle Festival, take a look at your needles and pins.  Do they need to be cleaned?  Do you have a nice pin cushion to store the needles you use?  Maybe one with wool or sand which will help clean and keep sharp the needles. Maybe today is the day to buy a gift for your needles and pins.  And maybe refrain from stitching for the day and give them a day of rest.

Happy Needle Festival.