fri crafts liv

These dolls are the result of a project named 'the friends'. A new friend asked me to create a company of felted dolls. There was no plan, no expectations, no limitations on the theme. The only thing we discussed was the size of the dolls and the material they would be made of. After the first doll, the little student, I started imagining a group of people living in Paris, almost a hundred years ago. The tall lady with the french haircut, the old painter in Monmartre, a student of fine arts and a danser. I was very satisfied with the process. First time I had to come up with something abstract that someone I don't know very well wanted to have. I hope you also enjoy the result. Imagine them drinking wine somewhere in a small bistrot in Paris...

I had this wonderfull yarnthat I decided to use some days ago. When I first touched it, I didn't really know what to make with it. I started making a scarf, but I had already made one before. Then I started wondering what could have such a colour and....taratatan! A parrot! A green one. Coming from a green green rainforest. I just improvised and made that without any pattern. It's unique, crochet, green parrot...

"the doll is a very good tool for educators" said a professor at the university.

What??? There are so many techniques, so many apps and so much technology regarding to educational purposes and now this man mentions as serious educational tool the thing that every child plays with the first years of its life? In which way?

After four years I met a collegue at school who told me about a student of hers who had very serious problems with his family. She observed him playing with some dolls. He gave to each doll the character of a family-member and he made them talk in the same way as his parents talk.

One year after that, I decided to spend my saturday evenings attending a doll-making seminar. 'It's gonna be fun meeting other women, chatting and making something with my hands' was my first thought. In the first lesson there our instructor said: 'the doll will lead you and tell you how you will make it'. Interesting, I thought. She is trying to convence us that we do something really important! Funny!

Some months ago, my daughter (2,5 years old) started speaking clearly and using toys during her play. After a hard day for the family with some loud discussions taking place, I heard her talking to her horses-toys. The baby horse was telling to its father horse to calm down and relax. That was not fun anymore...

After all these incidents I started thinking seriously about what a doll can present for us and how we can get related to such an object. The kids, and not only the kids who faces serious problems, but also small kids who have good standards of life, used the dolls as a medium between them and the other important people in their lives. And the most amazing thing was that, not only the kids, but also the adults could do the same thing unconsiously. It was so interesting watching all these adult women participating in the doll-making seminar getting really excited, upset and passionate with their dolls and the process of making them. There were even conflicts between some of them about their dolls!!!

All these facts started working in my mind. A month ago when I suggested to a friend to make two dolls, one for her and one for her sister. I know this woman for a year now, but I have never seen her sister. The big challenge would be to make a doll looking like her sister. I asked for photos of her sister and information about her life and her character. I started by making the doll who looked like my friend and, since I also like her very much, the process of making her doll was very joyfull and flowing. The hard thing started when I made her sister's doll. First I sewed her arms in the wrong direction. Then I sketched her face at the other side of the head and, at the end, I even swed the breast on her back! It was unbelievable. The information I got was very contradictory and I couldnät really make an opinion or a picture of this lady in my mind. It was the first time that everything was so hard for me. Finally both of the sisters liked the dolls and they offered them to their father as a gift for his birthday. I felt such a relief when I heard that the whole family played with the dolls!

After all these things I can now promise you that every doll has a soul or can touch a soul! It can really be an amazing tool for parents, educators, therapists and every person who want to look inside the soul.
I will tell you more things about it when I will make the doll of myself...