Jack of Autumn Art Doll and Tip of the Day

Now that autumn has arrived, I wanted to post a picture of one of my previous projects, my Jack of Autumn Art Doll.  This doll is the first doll in my series called Jack.  The name Jack is an archaic term used to describe a mischievous nature spirit.  (The most well known Jack is the Jack O'Lantern of Halloween.  It literally means the Jack of the Lantern.)   Jack is 14 & 1/2 inches tall.  His base is 7 inches across.  This doll was my first attempt at a free standing doll.  Free standing means that the doll is internally supported and does not require an external doll stand.

The concept for this doll came about one fall when my husband had finished raking the yard.  The next morning the yard was covered with as many leaves as he had removed the day before.  He jokingly asked, "Who through leaves all over the yard?"  My reply was that the Jack of Autumn had done it.  That started me thinking about what the Jack of Autumn might look like.  I envisioned him as a callow youth who would throw leaves around in the way some teenagers might throw litter.  I also envisioned him as an anthropomorphic figure who had risen up from the earth to move about in human form.  His outfit is a representation of that idea.

The doll's body is a wire armature covered with strips of batting.  The batting has a layer of string wrapped around it.  That is covered with a layer of unbleached muslin.  The face and hands are sculpted from flesh colored bake in the oven clay.  His features were painted with craft paints.  His hair is individually applied pieces of embroidery thread.  To make this doll free standing I added a dowel that runs the length of the body.  The dowel was glued to the body before I added his outfit, then covered with a layer of muslin which was sewn to the existing skin of the doll.  (See more about the dowel in my tip of the day below.)  

Jacks pants are made of silk leaves cut down from full sized silk leaves from a floral arrangement.  Each leaf was individually cut in the shape of an oak leaf and is about 1/2 inch in length.  The leaves were sewn on to the doll body three leaves at a time.

The vest is brown to symbolize soil.  It is covered with small seed beads to imitate the crystals found in the earth.  The beads are sewn on with a contrasting orange thread in a spiral patterns.  The spirals create a feeling of energy and motion.  The shirt is white cotton and the hat and shoes are made of green felt.  

The leaves in Jack's hand are glued in place.  The falling leaves are on a strand of clear quilting thread.  The strand is no bigger than a hair.  If you are withing three feet of the figure you can see it.  If you view the doll from further than three feet, the leaves appear to be floating in the air.  The leaves are not anchored at the bottom.  If a breeze comes through the leaves move and swirl as if they were really falling.

The base is a wooden disk purchased from the craft store and painted brown.  It is covered with floral moss, silk leaves, acorns, and small twigs.  The base has a very organic look, but if I were to do it over again, I would not use the moss.  When it was new, it had an odor to it.  The odor disappeared after it dried, but the moss became brittle and tends to drop bits of itself here and there when the doll is moved.  If I do use moss again, I will make sure that every bit is completely glued down.  However, that will make it lose some of its natural look.

Tip of the Day:   Using a Dowel as a Support.

When I made this doll, I used a 1/4 inch dowel as the support.  I learned the hard way that this size dowel is not strong enough.  As I was putting the finishing touches on the doll I used too much pressure and the dowel broke.  I had to remove some of the clothing and insert wooden skewer supports to keep the doll upright.  Later, I was reading the submission rules for an art doll contest.  The rules specifically stated that the support dowel needed to be at least 1/2 inch in diameter.  They stated that this was necessary to prevent the support from breaking during shipping and handling.  So take a hint and use a dowel at least 1/2 inch in diameter.

Also, I had made the doll body before I decided that I would attempt a free standing doll.  The doll would have been more stable if the dowel had been built into the armature rather than attached as an afterthought.  My method of attaching the dowel with glue and covering it with a strip of muslin worked well for this project.  If the doll were to be dressed in a tight outfit, the internal dowel would be more important.