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 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 |
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
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