2019 Warrior Woman

I cannot believe that a new year has dawned and the first month is coming to a close!  Time does pass swiftly.

The first doll of 2019 was inspired by some remnants of kimono fabric donated to me by a fellow member of the Coast Collective Art Centre.  I made another warrior woman with asian aspirations.  I am including the reference photos that inspired me for this creation.  I used Arley's Candlestick Diva pattern as the starting point ( I just love his patterns),

 The doll came together quite easily as I decided on the bones for her and had them in my stash from Halloween.  You can see some of the fabrics I piled up to use for her costume above.

 Notice that the candlestick I used in in shades of brown, just like her costume.  This was done by sanding and repainting the black candlestick and then adding a glossy sealant.

 The back of the Kimono is pieced with an accent silk piece of Kimono that was included in the package I received from my fellow artist.  I just love to work with silk as it drapes so nicely.

 The hair is done with a mix of yarns and I added fine braids for that messy, warrior effect.

 Her feather head dress was in my stash from an item I purchased in the summer at a local decorating store.  It worked perfectly in her hair.

I hope you enjoyed seeing her in photos.  Yes she does have real fur from remnants of an old fur coat I was given (the majority of the fur coat was repulsed into fur teddies in memory of a grandmother).

This warrior will be in a show at Tullista Park in Sidney BC the first week in May.

Santos Cage Dolls and Such

Our doll club, the Cloth-a-Dollics had a "cage doll" challenge that was due this month, October.  I have already shown my steampunk cage doll and now I wanted to share the three other cage dolls that I made:  the first two are Frida cage dolls (I love everything about Frida, her passion, her love of Mexican culture and folk art, her love of animals and nature, her art, her spirit...)

Frida as a young vibrant Mexican young woman

A needle felted fawn at the bottom of the cage and a parrot.

This represents Frida's life as an artist with love, passion, pain, and  art

The blue cage represents the "Blue House" that she loved and lived in in Mexico City

One of her many self portraits

The final cage doll is the traditional Santos using a pattern by Arley Berryhill.  I used many items that were in my mom's possession such as her rosaries, her drawer top doily, and her spiritual icons, the blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus.  This doll was a joy to make and is going to a great and loving home:

May love rule your heart.  Be the light and not the shadow wherever you go.  Until next time...

Warrior Women

I was inspired by Arley Berryhill's blog showing his Warrior Women.  I loved the image of the strong female character displayed outwardly using fur, leather and chains to represent the inner strength, character and knowledge that women possess.

I decided to make three Warrior Women to represent the three stages of women:

• The young maiden, with her vitality, beauty and strength.
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• The mature mother figure Warrior with her confidence, fierceness and protective qualities.
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• Finally, the third Warrior Woman, the older sage, full of wisdom, knowledge and integrity.

For the Warrior Women series, I used Arley's "Candlestick Diva" pattern and then went to town with her exterior "armour", using fur, leather, chains, feathers, horns etc.

Here are the results:

The Maiden Warrior:

Next is the Mother Figure Warrior:

Finally, the Mature Warrior, the Sage:

The three Warrior Women together:

Until next time, bring out the inner Warrior in you for unity and strength for all!