Make an art doll

Doll making has roots in ancient times. It strikes a primal chord within to replicate the human form.

Anyone can make a doll. You can use the most basic of tools and supplies, all the way up to the most expensive money can buy. You can use found objects or buy every part at a craft store. You can slavishly follow a pattern and try to match it exactly. I'd like to talk you out of that pattern part if I can.

The true joy of doll making comes when you make your own pattern and develop your own style. Perhaps the easiest to work with is felt. You can cut it any size and the edges won't ravel. Even grade school children have good luck working on felt or burlap.

Some of the things I've made art dolls out of include gourds, quilted fabric, old clothing cut apart, yarn, apples, cotton, muslin, socks, hardware, wire, beads, clay and bread dough.

An art doll is any doll designed to be enjoyed as an art object. Though it can be cute, they are usually more earthy, primal, spiritual, odd, quirky, or weird. Think voodoo doll more than Raggedy Ann (TM) and you're on the right path.

A doll can express coming of age, your first period, getting divorced, changing religions, going through menopause, or beating breast cancer. Or it can be an expression of your love for a certain color, a certain texture, or colors to accent your decor.

There is a point where the doll stops becoming a bunch of scraps and stitches, and seems to take on it's own persona. Realize that the doll is creating you as much as you are creating the doll and be willing to change paths on a whim if the doll seems to be going in another direction.

Making dolls can use every skill you already have. If you like to paint, you can paint the clothes or the face. If beadwork is your thing, you can have a blast sewing beads, sequins and jewels all over it. You can silkscreen it, print it with rubber stamps, make parts of it from clay; the sky is the limit.

Give it an occupation. You can make it a seamstress, a piano teacher, a clown, a burlesque dancer or a monk. It's entirely up to you. Some people make enough dolls to populate an imaginary town.

You can make whatever size you want. Do you want a life-sized doll your kids can dance with? Do you want a teeny tiny doll for a diorama? Do you want to make her out of dried grasses and leaves and toss her into a bon fire to represent the end of summer?

I love the freedom of deciding all those things. Some are conscious decisions and some just feel right.

I've never been bored with making a doll. Why not give it a try?