Saturday 28 February 2009

I'm into RECYCLING!

Towards the end of last year, well around the Autumn time,I was mooching at an end of season Boot Sale and saw this little doll dressed as a clown in black and white silky stuff- she was in a box of 10p things at the front of a table, among a load of rubbish, very dirty, unloved and sitting/glued to a grotty cushion, all very small of course, she is only about 9" tall. I love making cloth dolls, and have been having a go at small ones, so thought I'd try my hand at this recyling lark!

Once home, I stripped the doll of everything, and discovered she was made from pipe cleaner type stuff. I washed all the china bits and took this pic .............
Well, she sat around like this, looking nice and clean but still very sad, until I saw this book advertised. I have the Patti Medaris Culea Cloth Doll Making Books, but Ray Slater is an English lady with a different slant of things, mainly making dolls by wrapping wire....... bingo!
I wrapped my little doll in a strip of polyester wadding, about an inch wide, all over the fabric covered wire, to make a body arms and legs, then using an old silk multi coloured scarf (from a previous Boot Sale of course) I wrapped her again, until she was covered - following very loosely the instructions in Ray's book. I then added stitches with silver thread, and wound some more with thicker thread etc. until I liked what I had done, and finished off with a piece of the silk machine stitched on the bias, and wound it around her head.

You can see she is not very big - she is sitting on the side of the bird bath.

I have made a small wire frame and wrapped it in wadding, following Ray's book. This one is only about 11" tall. I'll show you when I have finished it. In the meantime, I am hunting for more of the little dolls to recycle. I recently bought a soft mermaid doll ...........! (watch this space)