Musings from the Chair

Every so often, I get this panic feeling. OMG! What if I can't pull this off? What if I am in over my flippin' head?!  But then I think, this is too important. I can't screw up. So I won't screw up.  Now--if you know me, that does not mean that any number of things won't go wrong. I do have a gift for things going haywire. But, I am nothing if not confident even in the face of the impossible. Or at least tremendously difficult.

That's how I became a doll maker.


Ivy, the third doll I made from Patti Culea's book.
She was in the library display



I work at a library. My co-worker and I were checking in materials and she had a book in her hand going on about how cool it would be to have a bunch of these dolls. I looked at the book, Patti Culea's first book in fact Creative Cloth Doll Making. I looked at the patterns, read some of the instructions and said: "I can do that."

She meanwhile was looking through another book that had pictures of fairies and a fairy wedding.  She wanted cloth fairy dolls dressed up for a wedding. I wasn't sure about that part.  But she created fairy paper dolls with the wedding clothes and I made a couple of dolls using the patterns in the book and we put together a library display.

So, it didn't take me long to realize this dollmaking stuff was more complicated than it looked. No matter how many times I read the description I couldn't figure out how the finger turning worked. So those first dolls were all about the very basics. Just so you know how VERY clueless I was. I traced the patterns painstakingly using tracing paper for fabric. 

But for some reason, the less I knew about what I was doing, the more I was determined to figure it out. I liked the complexity of the challenge, I love working with fabric and the idea of fabric as art. But a lot of the directions just seemed alien. And the supplies. I didn't understand Shiva paint sticks until I watched Patti's first video. That came out last year.


Early doll head. Looks like a Dr Seuss character.
Or something. This head came off and was
replaced with something better last year.
She's in my collection of head fails.



Fortunately for me, some 2 years, a job change, a Renaissance Faire for the library, and several attempts at dolls later, Jayne called the library looking for a meeting room space for a group called "Tulsa Dolling Dames." I am required to ask every group what their group is, what the purpose of the meeting is and if it is open to the public before I can book the room. And she told me about this group of women who make art dolls from cloth and they were having a teacher from Canada teach a workshop- Adele Sciortino and she guessed people could observe, but she didn't think anyone would be interested. And I said, well, I would be. 



And I was. There was an actually group of women in Tulsa who made the dolls I was trying to learn how to make!

Hot diggity!



Doll head I made with Barbara.
Eyes are still too high, but improving.
It will take another couple of years and class with
Diane Little for me to start making good faces.
But I keep Barbara's first lesson handy for reference.



Those ladies took me in. They've given me fabric, trim, stuff, but of more value-- friendship, time, talent, knowledge and infinite kindness. They didn't put down my poor early dolls, they just gently redirected me with patience. They showed me how to use freezer paper (OMG what a difference! Time saved!). Jean taught me how to make fingers and turn them! Barbara made me come to her house and spent an afternoon showing me step by step how to make faces. (I think she got fed up with my eyes being too high on the face and the lack of color in the face),



Doll ornament I just made.
Much better with face, huh?



I watched them work and learned everything they would teach me. Ten years later, I'm STILL learning anything and everything they will teach me and still benefiting from their abundant generocity.



So here I am, organizing a doll conference in Tulsa.  I've known for a couple of years that I wanted to find a way to give back to the doll making community that taught me how not just to be a doll maker, but an artist. There are no conferences close to Tulsa (Austin, TX and Albuquerque, NM are the closest). And I knew I had enough knowledge and experience at organizing events on a small scale I could do this. After all -- how hard could it be? 

All I can say is THANK GOD for Diane Little. She is my doll making and conference Mentor.

We have three great teachers. A good hotel. Things are coming together. Keep checking back. Web site is in progress and registration will open January 15, 2013.  I'll keep posting so you know what's going on. And more than you ever wanted to know probably.

Laurie