Violetta

 

Violetta
Violetta

Violetta took shape from the feet up. I made her at the same time as Constance and Fifi and decided to give her similar long pointed feet.  Instead of stitching her toes, I embroidered red shoes, another one of my fixations, then let her character build up from there.

Violetta
Violetta

I love the story of The Red Shoes and all it’s variations (Violetta’s shoes were originally much brighter but dip dying them in red wine dulled them down to a deep blood red).

Violetta's red shoes
Violetta’s red shoes

The original version of the story is a cautionary tale of the dangers of pride and vanity but I prefer the later (or possibly earlier) interpretations of it where the shoes are a metaphor for the passions, drives and longings that will tear us apart if we don’t find a way to live with them in a balanced way.

I spent almost an entire week stitching and embroidering the red silk shoes in my Stitch gallery, and it became a full on compulsion until they were finally finished.

Silk and stitches
Silk and stitches
Violetta
Violetta

Brennesle

IMG_2197

This was my first nettle dyed doll.  The green wasn’t supposed to be so intense but it turned out to be a bit of a happy accident.  I prefer working with plant dyes, firstly because there isn’t the same toxic stench, or need for rubber gloves that you have with synthetic dye, and the colour is so much softer and it seems to reflect light differently.  These nettles were picked from my garden, dried then left to steep in boiling water for a few hours before dipping the doll into the dye bath.

 

Nettle calico sketchbook

Cloth doll partsNettle dyed cloth doll