I’ve just finished a new 6th Sense One of a kind art doll: ‘The Love of Trees’.
She’s 16 inches/42cm tall.
I sculpted the face then cast and painted it.
She’s a combination of weaving and knitting.
Above the trees is a mylar mirror.
Like all the other ‘6th Sense’ art dolls, she has 6 Canadian pennies that are a metaphor for coming to our senses, common sense, and the 6th Sense, which is actually a combination of intuition, inspiration, imagination and integrity.
Here is my latest ‘6th Sense’ Woven Woman one of a kind art doll: The Light of Courage:
The 6th Sense is actually 3 senses rolled into one: Intuition, Inspiration and Imagination.
We all need our 6th Sense to be working well these days, which is why I am making one of a kind art dolls in honor of our Sixth Sense.
The pink wire star was made using the Star loom that I designed for Dewberry Ridge looms: Link
The copper wire behind the wire star on her forehead was woven on the potholder loom.
Her face and hands are wooden.
The star over her heart is copper wire that I crocheted:
Because tatting is so contemplative, I have added some tatted elements that I tatted, using tatting shuttles that I made for myself:
I wove the Dragonfly on the Dragonfly loom that I designed for Dewberry Ridge Looms: Link
The 6 pennies = 6 cents= a metaphor for The 6th Sense
I wove the fabric for her on 3 small looms: Inkle, 4 harness Structo, and potholder loom.
I made wooden butterfly wings for her back:
The butterfly wings and dragonfly on the front are symbolic of transformation.
She is 16 inches/42 cm tall by 7 1/2 inches/19 cm wide by 3 1/2 inches/9 cm thick at the base, tapering up to 1 1/2 inches /4 cm thick at the top.
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Yesterday, Miranda, Siobhan, Coco and Thallie were wondering about their friend Pauline, who has moved to London with her Human…..
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:
and then ambled off to the pond, where she caught the eye of a Canada Goose:
Hmmm… Small Person, do you have food?
Are you potentially a meal?
Neither. You are a disappointment to me.
All Pauline photographs are copyright Kennie Wittebrood and are used with her permission.
Tiny Coco loves music:
She was so excited to go to see Jim and Michael playing last week:
She enjoyed telling Miranda, Siobhan, Thallie and Pupster all about it:
Miranda and Coco chatted about how much they love music:
While Siobhan told Thallie about her adventures at the Symphony:
They all agreed that they enjoy getting out to a good concert.
Miranda sighed, and said that she hasn’t been anywhere interesting lately.
They all gazed at the tiny vintage postcards a friend in England sent them last year:
And wondered how Great Traveler Pauline is enjoying herself in London…..
Last week, my daughter and I opened the very old small suitcase that I use to store my vintage hankie collection.
We were looking for the perfect hankie to make a dress for the little wooden doll that I had carved for her.
Miranda, the Mermaid that I carved last year, has been feeling the sudden onset of cold weather.
I overheard her complaining about the cold to Bessie Gnome, Coco, Thallie and the dogs about the cold.
As a Mermaid, Miranda doesn’t mind cold water, but the dry cold that she is experiencing feels very uncomfortable.
Luckily, there was a silk hankie with elegant lace that suits Miranda perfectly as a shawl:
She’s thrilled!
As Miranda was posing for the photo, perched on the edge of the suitcase, I noticed that there was a very sweet hankie that looked perfect for Lettie Bunny:
Lettie is now a cozy bunny, and tickled pink about it.
She feels that she can face winter in the Wall Doll House without a shiver.
Lettie spotted a tiny elegant silk hankie that she was sure would make Peggetty very happy.
She’s right!
Peggetty, Lettie and Miranda are all very content with their new wraps, and are so grateful that a friend blessed us with her mother and grandmother’s hankies!
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….
Thank you~~ ❤
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….
And, yes, I do sell them…..
But not Pauline
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,
please contact me
I’ve just finished weaving a new Woven Woman mixed media tapestry. LINK
Woven Woman (Essence) by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)
I’ve made 3 video tutorials to show how I wove various aspects of her:
How I wove the ‘Galaxy’ circle at her heart: LINK using the Peg Loom
weaving with wire on weaving sticks
How I wove the narrow copper band around her face, using Weaving Sticks: LINK
And, the third video shows how I used a Lily Speed o Weave loom to weave a hexagon, using the ‘Flower of Life’ pattern, with spool knitted cord.
I spent several days shooting a video, showing how to weave the Flower of Life with wire, but the wire just doesn’t show up in the video. Sigh.
So back to the drawing board, and several more days, but this time, using spool knitted cord, because it shows up well in the video.
Flower of Life pattern woven on the hexagon loom by Noreen Crone-Findlay
You can use all kinds of things to weave this pattern that is a celebration of geometry- Lucet cords, wire, thread, yarn, art yarn, roving (use thread or embroidery floss or yarn to tie the intersections), t shirt yarn, fabric strips…. no limits!
By the way: In my etsy shop, there’s a great eBook:
(Lily Speed o Weave patterns and designs)
Another YouTube video for a different Lily Speed o Weave tutorial :
Happy weaving!
Findlay & Flora love flowers
Findlay Bear and Flora Panda are celebrating springtime by searching for flower buds that are just coming up.
It’s so exciting to see the new leaves popping up,
Some of the flowers are absolutely tiny!
Springtime can be a chilly time of year, so Findlay and Flora are happy to wear their new sweaters and pants while they are questing for flowers.
The pattern for the sweater and pants is available in my etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/275065922/findlay-and-flora-teddy-bear-knitted?ref=shop_home_active_1
and for Findlay Bear and Flora Panda:
Happy springtime, happy flowers, happy knitting, and happy bears!
Filed under Findlay Bear and Flora Panda, knitting, teddy bear
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 