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