When I visited my grandmother as a small child I remember
that she always had a doll seated on top of the console TV and one on her
bed. The dolls were dressed in beautiful
costumes with full ruffled skirts. I was
always fascinated with these dolls, and if I recall correctly, they were
boudoir dolls.
Boudoir dolls were popular during the 1920’s. When I
started creating dolls I became intrigued with Lenci dolls and fell in love
with the Lenci boudoir dolls. There were several different types made but the
ones that fascinated me the most were the ones elaborately dressed in romantic
court dresses such as those worn by Marie Antoinette. Out of my love for these dolls I created Mistique
and costumed her with all of the ruffles and frills I could imagine worn by a
beautiful boudoir doll.
Mistique is a 17” needle-sculpted ball jointed cloth doll
inspired by the romantically styled boudoir dolls of the 1920’s that I have
always loved. I will be teaching a
workshop on how to create your own Mistique on May 22nd online for A
for Artistic. This work-shop will
present a multitude of cloth doll making techniques. You will receive
instruction on needle-sculpting a cloth doll head, hands, and feet. The
workshop will present techniques on creating hidden ball joints, using
watercolors for cloth doll facial coloring, needle-felting an elaborate
hairstyle, how to create an elaborate costume, and how to create beautiful doll
shoes. All of these techniques will be presented while you are in the process
of creating a beautiful heirloom doll!
Hope to see you in class!
