Tag Archives: doll making

6th Sense One of a Kind Art Dolls

For many months, I have been working really hard on new mixed media fiber art sculptures.

The 6th Sense is intuition/inspiration/imagination.

These one of a kind art dolls are based on dreams, memories, meditations and contemplations and are an invitation to embrace creativity, healing and wholeness.

They are a combination of tapestry weaving, narrow band weaving, lucet cords, tatting, knitting, wood work wire work and leather work.

Here’s a slide show video of my 6th Sense One of a Kind Art dolls.

Most of the 6th Sense One of a Kind Art Dolls in the video are for sale, but some of them have already sold and gone to live in their new homes.

 

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Filed under band loom, doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

6th Sense One of a Kind Art Doll- Tree Mother

Last month, when there was a spectacular Super Moon, we stepped outside to admire it.

The gigantic moon looked like it was suspended in the huge trees that line our street.

The image of the Great Tree Mother, rocking the Moon in her arms, rose up in my mind….

and I knew that I had to build one of my 6th Sense one of a kind art dolls.

Here she is:

Great Tree Mother Rocked The Moon in Her Arms:

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While I was contemplating how to build the Great Tree Mother piece, my husband and our daughter took the dogs for a walk one morning.

Chloe came home with a wonderfully gnarly branch that had been pruned from someone’s tree and tossed into the alley.

She just knew I needed it…. even though, at that point, I hadn’t told her what I was mulling about 🙂

We have a very deep connection!

It is perfect.

So’s our daughter….

Anyhow…

The faces….

Years ago, my dear friend found a moose antler that had been shed and she asked me if I could use it.

I cut 3 faces from it, and carved them and painted them.

Two of them became part of this piece:

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Tree Mother’s face.

She also has a ‘Hidden Face’ that is hidden inside the piece and will never be revealed.

Too bad I didn’t photograph it!  Oops…

Here is Moon’s face:

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I carved the hand from wood.

I wove the bands on 2 different looms and knitted the grey hand spun cloth of her robe.

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All of the 6th Sense Woven Women have 6 pennies incorporated into them, as a metaphor for coming to our senses, and embracing intuition, intelligence and inspiration.

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She is 29 inches/72.5 cm  tall and the branch spreads out to 15 inches/37.5 cm wide.

She is not for sale.

By the way, she is also a celebration of creative adaptive re-use and upcycling.  I love that.

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Wooden Doll Pauline meets a London Goose

Yesterday, Miranda,  Siobhan, Coco and Thallie were wondering about their friend Pauline, who has moved to London with her Human…..

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They were thrilled when Pauline’s  Person kindly  sent photos of Pauline’s outing in one of the parks in London.

Pauline began with a little exploring:

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and then ambled off to the pond, where she caught the eye of a Canada Goose:

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Hmmm… Small Person, do you have food?

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Are you potentially a meal?

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Neither.   You are a disappointment to me.

All Pauline photographs are copyright Kennie Wittebrood and are used with her permission.

 

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A Very Tiny Doll Celebrates Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from very snowy and cold Western Canada.

Last night, we were heading out to our son and daughter-in-law’s home to join with many family and friends in celebrating Thanksgiving.

There were sounds of protest from the Wall Doll House in my studio.

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The smallest (less than an inch tall) wooden Story Door Doll, who used to be known as ‘Itty’, until she declared her name is actually, ‘Thallie’ was sitting in her armchair.

She’s thrilled that she finally has a new dress, and declared that it was important to her to go out to dinner to show it off.

I  protested that I don’t like taking her out of the house, for fear of loosing her.

She ‘pshawed’ me, and reminded me that I am perfectly capable of loosing MUCH larger things than her INSIDE the house.

Oh. Right…

She hopped into the Thumbelina traveling tin:

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But I was planning on taking along the ~very last~ bit of weaving for the big tapestry that I am weaving, and not Thumbelina.

So, Thallie hopped into my seashell necklace, along with her friend, Inch Faery Bear, who is the same petite size as her.  This makes them the best of friends, as they enjoy hanging out with someone who understands the world in miniature.

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And, off we went.

After the toasts were ‘clink clinked’, Thallie was convinced that there were Similar Sized People as her and Inch Faery Bear hiding in the corks…. so we shall have to see.

The corks came home in my pocket, so it will be interesting to see if there are little people in them or, as my daughter suggested, little faery mushrooms…. who knows?

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After the corks were filed in my pocket, I put Thallie back into the Seashell necklace….

and…. palm to forehead….

did not take even one more photo of the whole evening.

Oh my…..

Which I wish I had, as a beloved member of the family is on her way to London, England.

She’s moving there, so it’s going to be quite some time before we are all around the same dinner table.

We wish her the greatest of joy in her big adventure!

Pauline is accompanying her in her travels, and posed for a very Canadian moment before dealing with airports etc:

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Pauline’s Human took a moment from enjoying her last ‘Timmie’ time to share a pic of this special moment.

(Only Canadians will understand this reference, I think?)

Anyhow, all the little wooden folk who live in the studio join my in wishing you a joyous Thanksgiving, even if you live somewhere else in the world.  There is so much to say thank you for….

Thank you~~ ❤

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Little wooden doll heads to London

I am so excited… One of the little wooden Story Door Dolls that I carved has been adopted and is on her way to England.

Pauline is ready for adventure in London!

Pauline is ready for adventure in London!

Before she left, she posed for a slightly ‘Alice in Wonderland’ photo under a mushroom that popped up on the lawn.

Pauline looks forward to exploring Nature in the parks of London.

Pauline looks forward to exploring Nature in the parks of London.

We wish the greatest joy to Pauline and her Human.

May they have splendid adventures and happy, happy times in London.

Hmmmm…   I think we may have to go visit them someday…..

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Vintage hankies become dresses for wooden dolls

I love vintage hankies and decided to use them to make dresses for some of the wooden dolls that I carve.

I needed to take a break last week, and my Story Door Dolls were beckoning me.

So, I used some of the vintage hankies that I have collected over the years to make them new dresses.

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Lucky Pauline ended up with the most beautifully embroidered hanky.

I can’t bear to cut the hankies, so I do some crazy folding to make the hanky work as the skirt.

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This is Tennie in her new hanky dress…. even though it’s not as glamorous as Pauline’s, she’s still very happy with it.

By folding and hand stitching the delicate old linen, cotton and silk hankies, the hankies remain intact.

This is a kind of archival use of the hankies, which preserves them, but uses them, instead of them languishing in a box.

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I hand carve the dolls, which I call my ‘Story Door Dolls’.

They are all around 6 inches tall, and I use local woods for most of them.

They were inspired by Hitty dolls.

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This little charmer was carved from Arbutus wood that was trimmed many years ago from the tree in my sisters in laws house in Victoria.  I won’t be carving anymore Arbutus dolls as that wood is like iron!  wow…. and ow….

And, yes, I do sell them…..

But not Pauline

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An adorable gift

A dear friend of mine sent me the sweetest gift- a delightful little vintage dog who is very at home with the Story Door Dolls!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Her name is, ‘Lupin’, and she arrived with magical little vintage postcards that the Story Door Dolls loved!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Itty loved the postcard of the sailing ships as it reminded her of her great adventure!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Coco loved the postcard of the castle- she thought that it looked like it was right out of a fairy tale.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Lupin offered to give Itty and Coco as many rides as they would like.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Lupin has settled into the Story Door wall doll house  happily and gets along very well with the other resident dogs. Itty was concerned about how the cat and turtle would handle having another dog in the house so, she  ambled off to have a chat with them.

Thank you so much, darlin’ Caroline for this wonderful addition to the Story Door dolls! ❤

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A Visit to the Carousel Horse carving workshop

I’ve always loved carousel horses, and have made tapestries of them, but have never been inspired to carve one.

I much prefer to carve small dolls 🙂

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to Fort Edmonton Park in Edmonton Alberta.

We made a beeline to the Carousel, which has been gloriously restored by volunteer carvers.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

I took Hitty Tennie and tiny Bessie Gnome with me.

It was quite a challenge to take the photo one handed, as we really clipped around, and the up and down motion was ~really~ up and down!

As soon as we got off, I pleaded with my family to have another ride, but they were interested in checking out other things. Sigh.  (It really was wonderful!)

We went over to the wood carving shop where the volunteer carvers create the spectacular beauties for the large carousel (that we rode on), as well as the smaller carousels:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Signs told humans that they were not allowed to climb onto these particular horses, but I figured that small wooden dolls wouldn’t cause too much havoc.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

The Hypocamp  was exquisite, and the woman who was in charge of the wood carving shop asked if the girls would like to sit on it.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Oooh, yes, please!

Tennie and Bessie enjoyed looking at all the woodworking tools and templates.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Afterwards, two sweet volunteers who were dressed in 1920’s clothing,  held them for a photo op at one of the small carousels:

 

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Sweet summer memories!

 

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Two of my hand carved Story Door Dolls for sale

I am selling two of my hand carved ‘Story Door’ dolls.

They are each 6 inches tall.

They are fully articulated and stand independently without doll stands, although they are known to play dominoes with other dolls and all fall down without giving notice.

Each of them comes with her hand woven dress and a hand woven shawl.

They are $150.00 each plus postage.

This is The Arbutus/Madrona Tree Story Door Doll:
Her head is tilted up so when she looks up at you quite winsomely.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

This is the Birch Tree Story Door Doll:

 

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

 

 

If you would like to adopt either of these Story Door Dolls, hand carved by me, with their handwoven (also by me) please drop me a note.
:o)
Noreen

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Itty Bitty Hitty’s great adventure- 2

Itty Bitty Hitty vanished through the Story Door  on a magical small Tall Ship,

leaving Coco and the other Story Door Dolls to worry and fret.  See LINK

She amazed Coco by coming home safe and sound, with a new friend, Lettie.

Lettie Bunny apparently rescued Itty on her great adventure!

Coco and Lettie sat down to listen to Itty’s story.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

As soon as the Story Door shut behind Itty and the tiny Tall Ship,  they whirled away through clouds and fog.

Itty was sure that the fog went on forever, and when she had finally given up hope,

Itty heard a rumbling roar!

The fog cleared, and there was a huge fiery Dragon!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Itty was terrified!

Luckily, a mighty Wizard strode out of the mists and sent the Dragon packing:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

The Wizard tossed a small fireball that sent the Tiny Tall Ship soaring to a peaceful

garden in front of a very appealing door:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

 

Itty knocked and knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Sadly, Itty sailed on until she came to another lovely garden,

where a beautiful Lady of the Earth was sleeping.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Itty whispered to her, hoping to wake her up just a little, without really disturbing her.

She leaned over the Lady of the Green Places and whispered again….

still, no answer…

Itty leaned sooooooooooo far out of the rigging of the Tiny Tall Ship that she tumbled

out and down,

down,

down….

until she landed

upside down, with a serious thump….

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

She thought about things for a moment and decided that a bucket might be a

better place to be than a Tiny Tall Ship that didn’t pay much attention to where

she wanted to be…..

‘Um?’, she mumbled.

There was no response.

‘Hello?’.

A bee bumbled by to investigate.

‘HALLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?’

‘Um and Hello to you, too, Little One!’, a soft, not-about- to-eat-or-sail-unexpectedly-away voice came close to the bucket.

‘And,  what, might I ask, are you doing in my bucket, Little One?’

‘Standing on my head’.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

‘Ah, yes…. well, let’s set that to rights…. my name is Lettice Bunny, but you can call me, Lettie’.

And, then, Itty burst into tears…..

‘I want to go home!’

‘Which is where?’

‘In the studio where the Story Door is!’

‘Well, that’s easily done! I was born in the studio by the Story Door!’

‘REALLY?????’

‘Yes, Little One, perhaps you were busy while all the carving was happening, come on now, just close your eyes….

The Story Door is just a small wish away…..’.

And! Then! Lettie and Itty were right there at the Story Door, and couldn’t be happier about it!

The funny thing about Itty’s great adventure was that it all seemed to happen at the Muttart Conservatory….

and Jim and I were right there!

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com

You would think we would have noticed a tiny flying ship with wee Itty Bitty Hitty on it, wouldn’t you?

🙂

 

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