Anthropomorphic Figures for Halloween

Faux Tesla Halloween Project

Faux Tesla Halloween Project

As I said last blog, I am at the start of a new project.  I make at least one Halloween project each year.  To get inspiration for a Halloween project I look at catalogs of Halloween collectibles.  At some point, something strikes my eye and challenges me to make something of a similar theme.  For example, a picture of an old Halloween post card showing an electrified cat inspired me to create my Halloween diorama called the Faux Tesla Coil Halloween Project.  It was not a real Tesla Coil, just a representation of one.  It did have a cat and a lightening bolt in it which is the part that was inspired by the old Halloween card.  It only takes one little trigger to set me to thinking about how I can create something new for Halloween.

This year my imagination was fired by some more old Halloween cards.  These cards featured anthropomorphic vegetables.  That means vegetables that have human characteristics, such as a pumpkin with a face, arms and legs.  Sometimes the vegetables are dressed and sometimes not.  A couple of the post cards caught my eye and I thought that they were interesting and would make nice dolls for Halloween.

The start of the new project.

After I had decided on a subject, then it became a matter of deciding how I wanted to make the doll.  I had recently purchased a hanging stand at my local thrift store.  When I purchased it I was thinking of making a hanging toy whose arms and legs moved when a string was pulled.  I used to have one when I was a kid.  You pulled the string and the figure's arms and legs flew up in the air as if it was frightened.  I guess we were easily amused as children.  Anyway, making an anthropomorphic vegetable would fit right in with with that type of toy.  To keep the weight down, I thought that the body for the figure should be made from papier mache'.  I had just blogged that I planned to do something from papier mache' next, so things were starting to come together.

Next I started flipping though some crafting books for inspiration on making the body.  There are a lot of ways to make dolls.  Some dolls need a stand or hanger, others are constructed so that they sit or have flexible joints.  Some dolls are freestanding and have an internal support armature.  Some dolls are completely made of cloth and other types are made from porcelain, plastic, or papier mache'.  Some are combinations of some or all of these materials.  There are different body types and construction methods as well.   There is a lot to think about when constructing a doll. 

In one book I hit upon the perfect doll.  It contained a pattern for an anthropomorphic tomato.  The pattern was called Tom Mato by a doll maker named Susan Little.  The book was Crafting Cloth Dolls by Miriam Christensen Gourley.  2002.  The Quilt Digest Press, a division of McGraw Hill.  I purchased this book when it first came out when I was just beginning to make dolls.  I can remember thinking that one of these days I was going to make that particular doll.  But I never got around to it as I was always busy with my own work.  I was inspired by the thin, vine-like body of the doll.  It had a cloth body and a head of papier mache' over a Styrofoam ball.  I decided to make that doll and to make a doll from papier mache' that was a pumpkin figure with a vine-like body that was
inspired by that pattern.  It won't be quite the same.  I want my figure to be a little beefier and more muscular.  Anyway, it will be interesting to see how one creation is inspired by another.  And while I am at it and have the sewing machine out, I might make a cloth version of my papier mache' pumpkin doll as well.  So now my project has morphed into three separate project in the same theme.  Sounds
like it will be fun and I will be busy for a while.

I plan to go through my fabric stash today to see what fabrics I have that might work for the Tom Mato project.  I have made a plan for my papier mache' hanging project and I have started crafting that doll.  I have drawn out a pattern for the other cloth doll.  This doll will have arms and legs similar to the Tom Mato doll, however, the arms and legs will be shaped with more musculature.  The cloth doll will have a pumpkin body instead of a vine body.

Yesterday I started crafting the legs for the papier mache' doll.  I started by shaping the leg armature from crumpled aluminum foil.  The foil was covered by masking tape.  I kept adding bits of foil and tape until things came out right.  I cut some paper clips to make hanging loops for attaching the legs to the body.  It was difficult to get the legs to come out the same length.  I will have more on this for the next blog post.