Sanity saver

Lockdown was pretty stressful at the beginning, due to the elimination of yoga classes and coffeetime with friends. However, dollmaking kept things on an even keel. Now that we are a little freer, it feels great to be able to choose to do a few things away from home occasionally. Today was a good day for spending in the studio. It has been too hot to stay there for many hours, but the weather has eased up and I was able and willing to devote a whole day to creation.

Spending more time online lately, I have been struck by the work of several cloth doll makers. They have inspired me to try some rag dolls, and boy, are they fun! I really can let myself go and make mistakes or try new styles. Here is one inspired by an image I found on Pinterest, a head shot of a doll by Vika Perelman.

Here are some based on instructions for a pattern created and shared by Anwen Sutherland, who makes Humbletoys, utterly charming handmade dolls. She lives in Ontario too! I tried a little Goth styling in the two bottom ones. I think I can take that a lot further. There seem to be many Goth doll fanciers in the world.

My attention was drawn to the papier mache fairy dolls made by The Magpie and the Wardrobe's Sam McKechnie. Up for a challenge, I decided to make my own version. She is pretty shiny, and a little over the top, but I like it!

I am currently working on some smaller paperclay dolls. I started with the heads and am taking them in a new to me direction. No photos, as work is in progress.