(re-post)
On the weekend I got chatting with a woman at a Fair who had made some lovely dolls about where inspiration comes from and how they can take on a personality and what guides the process.
That got me thinking about dolls I have made.
Awhile ago the thought occurred to challenge myself to make a doll a day for a week. Next came the "could I do this?" time before accepting the challenge and the outline for a story around the adventure.
Suddenly the potential for dolls was everywhere! – a book in library on gourd dolls; the shape of a branch on the apple tree; the way the piece of fabric I threw onto the table twisted into a human shape; how my hand can become a face with moving mouth; a piece of driftwood…….
So I decided I could, and would, and made a rough list of seven dolls-to-be for each day of the week.
Then, as Day 1 Doll began to evolve, I began to realize that the evolution was just that – stages – but not of a single doll - toward the single doll that would be chosen to represent Day 1 Doll. This was a surprise to me and became more so as each doll was really several dolls but unfolding from the original idea for each day. Life is fascinating.
And I soonest gave up on the thought of trying to do this all in a week. It may take weeks. Months. But it is in progress.
Today I present Day 1 Doll. I decided to include the details of the process, of the 'dolls in the wings, stage right and stage left', who were the supporting cast for the one who finally appears when the curtains open.
I wanted the first doll to be impermanent, to represent the flood of ideas for dolls that drifted through me as I gave focus to capturing dolls; very real in the instant but soon moving on and leaving the memory.
A glass vase put in the freezer, taken out and a doll drawn on the frosted surface that immediately developed, put on the deck to melt away in the sun. I tried this using bottles and a mirror but could not get a good image.
The clear glass worked. I was reminded of drawing pictures on Jack Frost windows during many winters in Ontario both as a child and with my children. I suppose I have done it once or twice out here on the west coast – on a car windshield before wielding the scraper. But it wasn't the doll I wanted for Day 1.
I drew a doll on the hot bricks of the patio using the stream of water from the hole in the bottom of a kid's toy cup and grandson Orion filled in the blanks; the sun ironed it up.
It wasn't the doll I wanted for Day 1.
I thought of drawing on sand at the beach….
a doll made of bubbles…..a doll made of clouds…..a doll made of the wind…..
This is what finally came of all that and is
Day 1 Doll.
It is flax seed on a mirror. The flax seed, being the start of linen, was chosen for just that reason: I have made dolls of linen and expect I will make more; here it is – essence of linen. The mirror is to reflect the clouds that can – and do! - shape dolls. I used my fingers to outline the doll.
I put it on the railing of the deck expecting the wind to blow it away, or birds to eat it, or rain to rearrange it. Nothing. It sat for days just as is and I watched it daily. Then – I accidentally nudged it over the side as I was leaning over to see if any peaches looked ripe enough to pick. The mirror broke into pieces on the raspberry cane supports. The flax seed doll scattered every which way onto the earth amidst the canes. I am pleased and content.