Tag: Fabric art

Young Dollmaker

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My friend Mary’s grandaughter Maggie came to visit Portland.  She is 12 and already an accomplished dollmaker.  I was very impressed by the fact that she was hand-sewing her creation.  I loaned her my two books on sock dolls — Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy and Socks Appeal by Brenna Maloney.

I decided to make her one of my Strongheart dolls.  I met her on Monday and we had dinner again on Saturday.  She’d made 6 dolls and I’d made the one.

She whip stitches the figures together.  I backstitch with the idea that  my dolls should never unravel.  Either way we had a great time  sharing our dolls.

Maggie's dolls
Maggie's Dolls
Joy & Maggie play dolls
Joy & Maggie play dolls

Then we traded — A Strongheart for Raspberry the Spotted Owl

Raspberry the Spotted Owl
Raspberry the Spotted Owl
Strongheart
Strongheart

It was a wonderful experience at play and enjoying the company of a budding fabric artist.   Next post I’ll write about the series of Strongheart dolls I’m making.

Check out the sock books, too.  Both are very whimsical but I love the way Brenna Maloney writes about her craft.  Maggie said she sounds like one of her friends — chatty, informative and very funny!

Teeny Tiny Studio

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Working in a small space
Studio in the 2 room apartment

I found out today that 15 bags of poly fiber fill fit under the bed (I stored 2 more under each dresser and two in the closet — I got a good deal on a case). I’m getting all kinds of cool storage containers and organizers but making a mess is the prerogative of any artist, even those in small spaces. If you work in a small space, give us some hints on how you organize, create and live in your teeny space.

Wish Fish

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I stepped outside my usual perimeters to make this fish.  It was a “medicine doll,” a gift commissioned by a friend for another friend who had been stricken with a devastating disease.  They shared a bond around the Finding Nemo movie, and turned the “keep swimming” motto into “keep smiling.”  This Fish was designed with her love of shiny and tactile things in mind, and also with ideas from folklore about fish who grant wishes.  She is from Laos and fish mean good luck.  She is having good luck in her fight against illness and is about ready to return to work after several months and some life changing events.  All I know is that the loving and well thought out input from her friends allowed me to be playful and thoughtful about life and disease and transformation.  And a little fish brightened her already radiant life.

Mermaid at the Art Institute of Portland

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I had an opportunity to donate one of my wheelchair mermaids to the Art Institute of Portland’s (www.artinstitutes.edu/Portland) Feast for the Eyes fundraiser for both the school and the Oregon Food Bank.  I was delighted to hear that she became a sort of talisman for the organizers of the event.  Her spirit and tenacity inspired them when things were getting frantic.  Both Eden Dawn Killen, Producer,  and Bree Perry, Auction Team Coordinator,  were glad to have her there.

If you want to see the kinds of fashions new graduates of the Art Institute of Portland are designing, check out this photography site in a few days.  Pics from both auction and the show will be posted:  Onscreen Imaging, http://www.osiphotography.com

This is part of a series of wheelchair mermaids I’ve made over the last ten years.  Years ago I saw a film on women with disabilities and one feisty woman who was born without legs told children she was a mermaid.  In Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid tale The Little Mermaid, Ariel gave up her voice to get legs and appear human.  I’ve met so many people who are rolling forward — talking, singing and laughing in their wheelchairs — that I have no doubt if Ariel had gotten better guidance, she would have come on shore anyway and developed even greater power.

She is handstitched and needlesculpted.  The cloth is all cotton and her hair is Homespun brand yarn.  She is part of an original series but is a one of a kind work of art.