I got to give my friend Joanne her commissioned doll yesterday. In the post holiday meal blur, I was unable to get a good picture of the two of them together but I hope to sometime in the next month. Here is the doll from start to finish — you’ll recognize the start from the Potential post earlier this week.
This is an original hand-stitched doll is made from cotton cloth and mixed fiber hair. It’s about 20″ tall with custom made clothes. You can commission one through this website or through my Etsy shop for $75. http://www.etsy.com/shop/JoyCorcoran
I love when I get my cloth dolls to this point and they are a form of potential. I like to sit with them for a while and try to make see what is unique in their gesture. Each doll comes out slightly different because they are hand stitched — the heads have a different angle and shaping, the limbs hang differently. I can’t wait to see what happens when I start to paint features and add hair.
When I left my day job, I promised my friend Paula I’d make her a doll. She has patiently waited these three months while I experimented with forms and got distracted to my heart’s content. This week-end, I was able to finally deliver. I made a 20″ button jointed doll that has a wry smile, an elegant dress and big heart. Paula is one of kindest people I know and full of life. This doll with the crooked little smile I think suits her well.
She let me know yesterday that she named her doll Jazzy JJ. The JJ is for Joy, me, and Jenn, our mutual friend, who joined us for coffee for the unveiling. Jenn has been a big inspiration for us both. Earlier this year, Jenn got a medicine doll commissioned by Paula — a magic wish fish to help her swim through a life-threatening bout of lupus.
It was a wonderful thing to get together and have decadent Autumn coffee drinks and talk about life and play with dolls.
This is a prototype for a doll I want to make for my Etsy shop. If you’re interested in one, let me know. They’ll retail for $75. I’ll be posting them as I make them, although it’s a slow process and you can commission one from this website. Each doll is hand-stitched with unique features, hair and personality. They feature button joints, flexible joints and bendable fingers. They are made from cotton fabric, poly fiberfill, You can choose coloring and collaborate on the creation, if you’d like.
I finished The Survivor. She is 14″ tall on a 10″ x 7″ bass wood base. The fabric is hand-stitched pearlized cotton. Her hair is 100% wool. Glass beads, wire armatures and acrylic paint. Scroll down past the slide show if you want to look at the details. She’s a little hard to photograph, but I think you can see most of the detail.
joy murray art~stories~life 