Sooooo ... Give Me the Details ....

Now that you have completed your beautiful original piece of art in the form of a doll, you notice that it needs something more than perfect stitching, firm stuffing, quality fabrics ... something just leaves your creation a bit flat.  What is missing?  Details .... that little tweak that gives the careful, delicate and heartfelt sewing that one last element ... personality in the details.

The details and accessories that are carefully added to an artpiece ... say, a doll, (my medium) are just as important as the decorator frosting on a wedding cake ... not too much, but definitely not too little.

As you are creating a piece, especially a one-of-a-kind (OOAK) piece, a story comes to mind.  This art work has a story to tell ... a raison d'etre.  The story itself then becomes a beautiful detail.

As both the creation and the story develop, you discover that you are actually breathing life into your art.  You are giving your passion a history, a present and a future.  Now to add the beautiful final touches, "the jewelry," so to speak.  It is ever so easy to complete the basics of say a doll with a wonderful simple dress, an apron and some pantaloons (many dolls don't even have underwear [blush!]).  Sometimes a doll's statement is to be gracefully simple (take the primitive style doll).  However, even in the most prim of the details, there is a story ... simplicity.   Many artists tea or coffee-dye the fabrics for an enrichment of "vintage".  A prim doll may have patches or ragged hemlines or "aging" processes applied to add to the richness of a past that the artist has created.

If you look your creation over, does it tell its story or does it draw the observer into its history with interesting detail that helps it make a connection with an admirer?  In creating spirit and healing dolls, I have not only done research into shamanism but have added details that are actual miniaturized pieces that a human shaman might carry or use in daily routine.  The Celtic shaman would surely have carried a healing bag packed with healing stones, crystals and herbs.  She would also carry her own pouch of rune stones to help keep her in "spiritual" touch through  guidance and meditation.

Dressing a character in costume is fun and, unless you are adhering strictly to historical detail, should be enriched with textures, colors and even layering to add interest and dimension to the character.  However, be warned ... overwhelming your work with too much "stuff" (unless it is a peddlar doll) can be confusing and attract attention to just the "things" and distract from the essence of the beauty of the whole.  Just enough detail will invite intrigue, pique curiosity and arouse the imagination of the beholder ... hopefully, like a moth to a flame.  Your artistic "statement" has hit its mark.  Mission accomplished!

Below are examples of before and after facial details of Maeve and some accessories designed for her.  At this time, she is not quite complete, but her transformation is becoming very apparent.

             

Rune Pouch which holds 25 miniaturized runes

Sample of miniaturized rune stones beside actual sized rune stones

      

Les or Herb and Crystal Healing bag

Embroidered rune Oracle on hemline of tunic

WIP ... Maeve the Merrie ... a Spirit & Healing Doll

During the cold bluster of an unsettled winter, my creative focus has returned to one of my first loves ... the spirit and healing doll.  This series of OOAK pieces is called Celtic Comfort Crones and they are meant to bring peace, serenity and direction to anyone who needs some comfort and focus in their life.


Briefly, a spirit and healing doll is a type of totem that channels positive energies in a strong spiritual way to the recipient of that doll.  I have enjoyed creating these dolls and have looked forward in completing many commissions for my work in the recent past.  It was time to return to my past love and begin creating these wonderful dolls again.


So, I will give you a sneak peek at my present WIP ...  Maeve the Merrie.  She is of Celtic origin, a crone of great wisdom and bright spirit.  These pictures show you my work in progress as she sports pins to hold on her hair, her tunic is still basted in place during these humble beginnings of this little creature.  Her facial features are not finished and she has a lot of detailing to go before she is complete. 

Hope you like her so far!


Here's Maeve the Merrie ...

That's the Spirit ...

About ten years ago just before my life was disrupted by major relocations and other changes, I created spirit and healing dolls.  Briefly, these dolls channeled the protective prayers and wishes of a loved one to the recipient of the doll.  The doll was also infused with special incense, prayers and meditations, wore special crystals and dressed with special clothing which usually portrayed the powerful character of the doll to remind one of the prayers and wishes that had been sent to them.  Often I would be commissioned to make dolls for protection or to channel the energies of love back and forth between  a loved one and one that had passed into the afterlife.  I was also asked to create a spirit doll that would help a terminal cancer patient focus positively on the new life she would soon be crossing over into and to help her prepare for the journey.

In this post today,  I just wanted to share a little doll companion of my own that I created for myself to reconfirm for me that I was strong and could succeed in whatever venture I was facing at the time.  Her name is Edwynna, named for my dad whose name was Edward.    She has accompanied me and ridden on long trips on lonely, late evenings back and forth from graduate classes in Cleveland, returning through snow and ice to Erie, PA, long after midnight.  Her companionship reassured me that there was always someone "out there" looking out for me and who really cared about me and that loving protection would surround me in a little spiritual cocoon as I zipped back and forth along the dark north coast winter roadway.

So here is Edwynna who now sits next to me in my sewing room along with Hermione Goodwitch to keep me encouraged to stay focused on all the projects that are unfolding for me now.

Edwynna

Edwynna seated