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.
They are on display at the ‘Art on the Inside’ Gallery at the Glenrose hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from July 6 to August 16 this summer.
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.
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:
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:
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:
I carved the hand from wood.
I wove the bands on 2 different looms and knitted the grey hand spun cloth of her robe.
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.
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.
In Woven Star Baby- Part 1, I showed you how to shape the body, and make the Star Baby’s face.
Here’s how to finish the Star Baby:
ARMS:
Weave the yarn ends into the cord up to the middle.
Place the arms behind the body and stitch to the back.
LEGS:
Weave the yarn ends into the cord up to the middle.
Fold the cord in half and insert into the lower edge of the body.
Stitch the body closed.
STITCH THE STAR TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD:
Using the needle and thread, stitch the head to the star.
FINISHING:
If the Starbaby is going to be a hanging ornament, leave strands of yarn at the top point of the star and tie a knot about an inch/2.5 cm from the star point. Trim.
If the Starbaby is going to be a pin, stitch a pin to the back of the star.
Weave in all ends.
I added a little heart sticker to the chest. You can cut one or punch one out of paper and glue it on if you don’t have heart stickers.
Sweet Dreams and Happy Weaving! ❤
Please note:
This is Noreen Crone-Findlay’s original design and is copyright protected. It is not to be sold or used without permission. Thank you 🙂
This is a tiny video that I made to introduce the Star Babies:
Many years ago, I had a wonderful dream about the Northern Lights.
I dreamt that thousands of shooting stars were streaming down the Northern Lights (aka Aurora Borealis), but when I looked closer, I saw that the shooting stars were actually Star Babies 🙂
They were laughing, tumbling and frolicing in delight.
It was a wonderful dream, and ever since then, I have designed and made variations on the theme of ‘Star Baby’.
Here’s my woven Star Baby:
STAR BABY TO WEAVE ON THE DEWBERRY RIDGE STAR AND THUMBELINA LOOMS
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.
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:
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.
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?
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:
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….
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.
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.
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.
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.
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….
I have been working on new handwoven one of a kind art dolls.
They are a somewhat different approach to my Woven Women Mixed Media pieces.
Earlier this summer, I read a wonderful book, called: A Monk in the Beehive.
The author spoke about humanity needing to come to our senses, and to connect with our sixth sense, which is wisdom, intuition, peacefulness and integrity towards the planet.
This moved me deeply, and I have been thinking about it a lot.
This is how I have woven these thoughts together- in the first 3 of a series of ‘6th Sense’ Woven Women.
Each one is totally one of a kind.
I wove them as contemplations on wisdom, compassion, kindness, peace and peace making, connection, and a longing to care for the planet.
As I created each one, I would hold thoughts of wellness, integrity, and all the other attributes that I mentioned previously.
Weaving is a meditation in motion, and there is love in every stitch.
There is joy and tenderness in the making of the ‘6th Sense’ art dolls.
They are all approximately 17 inches tall and they can either stand and lean on a shelf, or be hung from the woven hanging loop on the back of the head.
Each one has 6 pennies- six cents- to represent the Sixth Sense, in all it’s manifestations.
I wove each of the 6th Sense Woven Women Art Dolls on many different looms, using a wide variety of techiques.
Here’s a video of ‘6th Sense- Intuition’, ‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’ and
‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’:
Photos:
‘6th Sense- INTUITION’:
‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’
‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’
If you are interested in purchasing a ‘Woven Women- 6th Sense’ One of a Kind Art Doll,
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! ❤
