A Short Story

I promised Jen that I'd tell this particular story. Amongst the other things I do, I make dolls. I resisted doll making for years, it seemed like a terribly 'girly' thing to do (no offense meant to dollmakers everywhere), and that just seemed so 'not me'. But it niggled and niggled, as these things do.

And then I went on a workshop that was run by Michael Brennand-Wood, a well known UK embroiderer, whose specialism is 3D. It was fun, from start to finish. I, of course, being of a dark disposition, or at least a tendency thereto, found myself making something Deep and Meaningful, something that looked like a mummy, and which represented the cycle of birth and death. And on day three of the workshop, nearly finished with Deep and Meaningful, I looked round and realised that everyone else (and there must have been about a dozen of us), without exception, was working on something brightly coloured, that looked joyful, and I thought...what AM I doing? So...I started making a totem doll. There she is, up at the top of the blog. She turned out to be a self portrait, bless her...a glimpse of the goddess within, I suspect.

And I've been making dolls ever since, some of them totem dolls, made from sticks and cloth, others entirely cloth. And I love it. It's my treat, for when I'm between projects and I'm stuck, and don't know how to move forward. Making a doll or three does it every time. So does making altered books, but that's another story altogether...