The death of our beloved 15 year old small dog has been really hard on both my husband and me.
I wrote in my previous post about the Comfort Doll that I carved from a fallen branch- LINK
When I was carving her, I was inspired to carve a Teddy Bear that would have an open space in it’s heart…..
I used amber color shellac to paint the Teddy Bear to look like our little dog, and then…
My husband and I each placed a tiny scoop of our little dog’s ashes in the open circle.
Then I glued a gold heart over it to seal it….
The glue seals it completely.
It took a while to dry and turn clear.
We both held the little teddy bear and found it to be very comforting….
We sat Teddy Bear and Pollydolly in front of the box of our little guy’s ashes, but when I finished weaving her outfit and knitting a red sweater and blue jeans for him, we sat them on top of the box:
My husband loves working with metal, so he made a little steel doggie: Edward Alloy in tribute to our wee fellow, and it has joined them on the box…..
We have found this tender making of small things in celebration of our wee dog to be very comforting!
Last week, our darling little dog died. He was 15 years old and we miss him terribly.
The day before he died, a branch fell from the huge Elm tree in front of our house. I love the tree and so I picked up the branch and moved it onto our lawn, thinking that I should probably carve something from it.
A couple of days after we came home from the Vet, without our dear boy in our arms, the impulse to pick up the branch and start carving grew stronger and stronger.
I had been feeling called to carve another 6 inch doll like one that had carved last fall, so I used her as a companion and guide:
I used the same branch for her arms:
And for her legs, but I got the first pair all wrong, so I made another pair from another scrap of wood.
Of course, it took me a few days to carve her and to allow the still wet wood to dry before I could paint her.
This allowed me to follow my inner prompts that were a gift from this little healing dolly and start work on carving a teddy bear. I have posted about him here: LINK
I was surprised that she wanted a very round head, but when I went to carve it down, she firmly told me to just sand it smooth and live with it. Okay…. it’s important to not try to push the doll where she does not want to go!
She let me know exactly what she wanted for her hair, leotard, leggings and boots:
I knitted her a dress that was totally wrong for her, but works beautifully on a different doll.
Then I tried a different dress that I had knitted for another little doll. Nope.
She wanted me to weave her a white skirt and shrug from yarn that my daughter in law spun.
So, I did….
Her name is Pollydolly and I have found the process of carving her (and the teddy bear that I will post about next) to be very soothing and healing.
Dollmaking is very much a healing art and no matter what form it takes, it’s good for the soul.
Grieving is a journey that is unique to each person who has to follow the path, and it’s important to do the things that help the grief be nurtured in a transformative way that becomes the root of compassion.
Carving dolls and bears and knitting and weaving are an important part of my way of healing.
In the next post about the Teddy Bear that Pollydolly told me to carve, I’ll show you where she is sitting now. LINK
If you are grieving, please know that you are not alone. There is so much to grieve right now, and we all have to find our way through it. Blessings on your journey!
In my previous post, I showed photos of the Vasilisa Comfort Dolls that are Lucets and also some Vasilisa Comfort Dolls that were inspired by and an homage to the Orkney Venus. LINK
If you would like to buy one of the Vasilisa Comfort dolls please post a comment and I will get back to you asap. (your comment won’t be public)
THE GREAT MOTHER Vasilisa Comfort Dolls can be seen at LINK
To see the larger Vasilisa Comfort Dolls, please click onLINK
‘CHOICES’ Vasilisa Comfort Dolls:NO LONGER AVAILABLE
Making decisions can be so challenging right now…. The Choices Vasilisa Comfort Doll is great at helping to make choices. ‘Yes’ on one side…. for a Wholly ‘Yes’And, ‘No’ on the other…. for the Holy ‘No’……
HOME:
Listening for Wisdom, The Owl as Guide: NO LONGER AVAILABLE
TOUCH THE EARTH:
Peace…. NO LONGER AVAILABLE
I carved these Vasilisa Comfort Dolls from Walnut to give them darker skin tones:
Vasilisa Comfort Doll (walnut) Singing a New Song NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll (walnut) Mother and Child NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll (walnut) Dream Guide NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll (walnut) Storyteller/Storykeeper/Guardian of the Books NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll (walnut) The Heart of Lovingkindness NO LONGER AVAILABLEThis Vasilisa Comfort Doll is a necklace made with a beaded lucet cord. She has a tatted necklace around her neck, made with a tatting shuttle that I carved myself.
This group of Vasilisa Comfort Dolls is influenced by Goddess imagery:
Vasilisa Comfort Doll SerenityVasilisa Comfort Doll She Guides the Journey NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll Dreaming Rabbit
This last group of Vasilisa Comfort Dolls is all about my love of flowers:
Vasilisa Comfort Doll Rosebud Inner Child NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll Healing Laughter in the Blossom NO LONGER AVAILABLEVasilisa Comfort Doll Protected by the Flowers NO LONGER AVAILABLE
To see the larger Vasilisa Comfort Dolls, please click onLINK
I have been carving wooden dolls non-stop for the past year.
I’ve been working on several series of dolls.
One of the series that has brought me great joy is my ‘Vasilisa Comfort Dolls’ group.
I call them this because of the Russian folktale, Vasilisa the Brave. Vasilisa’s mother knows that she is dying, so she makes her darling daughter a doll that embodies all the mother love in her heart.
The little doll acts as a guide and comfort for Vasilisa throughout the story.
My Vasilisa dolls are also an embodiment of love, and even though they look very simple, they are deeply heartfelt, contemplative, meditative and powerfully healing.
I have used all kinds of wood- some it is from old pianos that died and the wood was given to me, some of it is from trees that were pruned or felled because of old age, some is from old furniture or planks of upcycled wood in other forms. There is a very small amount of new bought wood, as I prefer to plant trees, rather than use them up. Upcycling soothes me.
I have separated the Vasilisa Dolls into different categories.
Many of them are meant to be held in the palm of your hand or carried in a pouch (carrying them in a pocket with coins, keys, pebbles etc is not recommended, but on their own in a pocket is fine).
The Vasilisa dolls are all about 2 1/2 inches tall. Just perfect to be embraced in your hand…. and held to your heart!
Here are the ‘Square Body’ Vasilisa’s dolls
Some of them have cords, because they are necklaces.
Some have dear little wooden legs that turn them into lucets, so they can make cords.
Some of them have brass nail antennae that also allow them to be used as lucets.
Some of them have lucet cord arms that allow them to hug your finger, thumb or house plant.
Here are the ‘Heart Shape’ body Vasilisa dolls:
Here are the Round Shape Body Vasilisa Dolls:
The group of Vasilisa dolls in the photo below all have pins on their backs so they can be worn as brooches.
The group in the next photo are necklaces and I realize that some of these should have been in the Goddess photo, too, but, you know… keeping everything straight…..
The group in the photo below are all Lucets (and I’ll send a pdf on how to use them as well as links to 8 video tutorials on lucet cord making with these Vasilisa dolls)
These are the Finger Hugging Vasilisa Dolls:
These Vasilisa dolls are based on Goddess energy and inspired by Goddess imagery:
The Vasilisa dolls are great for storytelling…..
I couldn’t resist making one little Vasilisa Snowlady 🙂
They are for sale and range in price from $25 to $95 +shipping, just send me a message or note.
Not all of them are still available.
I am quite emotional about posting them, as they have been such a source of healing for me through the pandemic…. I hope that you can feel all the love in them, too. ❤
Tatting is one of my most favorite things- I never leave the house without a little tin or pouch that has tatting shuttles, thread, a tiny hook and tiny scissors in it.
I have been busy in the woodworking room again… carving more Goddess and Hedgehog tatting shuttles.
Until the end of the year, I will be reducing the price of the Goddess shuttles to $39 + shipping and the Hedgehogs to $25 + shipping.
Please message me if you are interested.
Here are some helpful videos about my Goddess Tatting shuttles:
After I carved and wove 3 dolls that didn’t fit the doll furniture that I already had, (see Brown Paper Yarn Dolls) ,
I decided that I had to build them each a chair.
And so I built them each their own little chair with a seat woven on the Mirrix Saffron Loom, using instructions from my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom.
The Chairs are not in the book, but the weaving patterns are. See pages: 68, 50 and 45.
Here are the dimensions for the wooden parts of the chair:
The wooden pieces are all 1 cm thick and 2 cm wide.
Pieces A are 24 cm long (cut 2)
Pieces B are 20 cm long (cut 2)
Pieces C are 11 cm long (cut 2)
The Dowels are 1/4 inch in diameter:
A: Cut 2 that are 11 cm long
B: Cut 2 that are 9 cm long
C: Cut 1 that is 13 cm long
The Seat: Weave a piece of fabric that is 20 cm long by 7 cm wide and stitch through the end of the warp loops, over the top dowel of A and the front dowel of B.
The finished size of the chair is:
Height: 20 cm (8 inches)
From front to back: 18 cm (almost 7 inches)
Width: 13 cm at widest point (about 5 inches)
The dolls are very happy in their new chairs!
I have made a video, showing how to build the chairs- but please note that I forgot to show how I sew the weaving to the chair.
Oops.
I simply lifted the weaving off the loom and stitched through the warp loops with 2 strands of yarn, going over the dowel.
I hope that you will have fun making doll chairs for your dolls and teddy bears, too. ❤
Last month, I posted about Bedelia Mermaid, whom I carved from a very hard old piece of wood that was upcycled from a very old and fallen apart bed. LINK
Her sister, poor thing, languished in the freezer for several weeks, because I needed to force some moisture into the rock hard wood.
Bedelia thought that I was being rather harsh with her poor sister!
I named her ‘Frozen Charlotte’, which is actually a kind of doll that doesn’t have moveable arms and legs, but in this case, it was because she spent so much time in sub-zero temperatures.
Freezing the moistened wood made a world of difference!
When I tried carving Charlotte’s arm, I was delighted- carving the wood was now possible without my knife going instantly dull.
So, I moved on to carving the rest of her:
Bedelia kept her sister company:
And, when Charlotte was finally done, they sat and enjoyed finally being together after poor Charlotte’s dreadful time in the freezer.
Bedelia told Charlotte about some more sweet mermaids that have joined the flutter of memaids in the studio and wanted to introduce her to them.
Charlotte is rather shy, perhaps because of the time in the freezer – it takes her time to warm up to new people.
But when she met the sweet Bunnymaids, she wasn’t shy at all, and she whispered to Bedelia that she likes them very much.
Baby Bunnymaid held Charlotte’s hand, and they all sang a small song and decided that they were happy to be in such fine company.
Unfortunately, Charlotte is still feeling very cold, so I think that I will have to do something about that!
SCRAP HAPPY- Once a month, a group of bloggers who are into upcycling all post on the 15th of the month, sharing what they have created with upcycled bits of this and that in the past month. Charlotte’s introduction is my contribution to Scrap Happy for this month.
Here are the other Scrap Happy bloggers- I always love seeing what they have been up to!
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 