Doll Experiment Completed

I started this project to experiment with a technique I saw in Art Doll Magazine.  An article showed that a doll artist had used an existing doll as a mold to make other dolls using the strip papier mache' method.  I decided to give the technique a try, but added further challenges of my own to up the ante a little bit.  Aside from using an inexpensive doll as a mold, I also challenged myself to change the pose of the doll so that it was not an exact replica of the original doll.  The original doll did not stand on its own.  It used a doll stand.  I wanted to see if I could change the doll enough to make it stand on its own. 

I am happy to say that I was successful in all three challenges.  I was able to create a papier mache' doll using another doll as the mold.  The original doll had stiff arms and legs that stuck straight out.  I changed the pose of both arms.  The doll was weighted to help her stand upright.  Even with the change of arms and some very heavy hair, the doll is able to stand upright unaided.  (I did have her braced while I was taking one of the pictures because I kept bumping the doll and knocking her over.)  Anyway, I feel that all the challenges were met.

Because this doll was more about being an experiment on a technique than a planned doll, I had only given partial thought as to how the doll would be finished.  I began with one idea, but decided that the doll was so rigid that it would not express the idea as nicely as I would have liked.  I decided that I would hold that idea for another doll and just come up with something as the project moved along.  What I came up with is a doll named Barbara. 

Sometimes doll makers say that a doll talks to them and informs them of what it needs.  It is projection of course, but at the same time, there is a feeling of communication between doll maker and doll.  Barbara reminded me of my teenage years.  I lived in a beach community.  I spent many hours at the beach soaking up the sun and playing in the waves.  Everyone had a deep tan and sun bleached, tangled  hair was the general appearance of people coming off the beach.  Even the sarong style dress was a beach ware staple of the era.  The hair reminded me of one of my friends, Barbara, and I am guessing that is where the name came from.  The name actually popped into my head before I remembered the friend from decades ago.
I guess those memories are still in there somewhere, waiting for me to access them.

The dress and tangled hair may not tell much of a story to someone that has not spent a good bit of their time on sun and sand.  To tell a further story for others, I added a mirror.  Barbara gazes into the mirror.  I had a dickens of a time trying to get a decent photo of that.  I practically turned myself upside down trying to shoot in between the head and the mirror to get a good reflection in the mirror.  I finally settled for a photo of her gazing into her eye.  I will let others project their own stories as to what that might mean in the context of the doll.

At one point, I considered changing the doll into some other accessories to tell a different story.  But the more I looked at the doll, the more I liked that she actually reminded me of point in my life.  So I guess she will remain forever Barbara.

Readers can scroll back through the posts about the process of making the doll by going to my blog page folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com  and scrolling through posts for the last couple of months.

My next blog post will be on Sunday.  I will be blogging about my new project.