Dancing on the Edge--Making Dolls with Found Objects--A lesson in Looking and Inventing
Friday 10-5pm
Dolls are not always curly-haired cuties with pretty dresses. As Pamela will show you, inspiration can come from objects new and old, prized and discarded: Found Objects. All that is needed is to rid yourself of preconceptions and look at the world around you in new ways: Trash becomes Treasure! Turn it upside down, inside out, play as fearlessly and without self-censure as a child plays, search for transformative goodies in junk shops, hardware stores, and on the street.
The one thing that you would like to incorporate into a sculpture could be a treasured antique knob, a children’s toy ripe for deconstruction, an old cigar box, a drawer, a handful of pearl buttons, a battered tool from a garage sale, rubber washers, wheels from a doll carriage, skulls and bones, assorted hardware, metal screen, old silverware, a small metal box, twigs, rusty, run-over metal from the street, paper ephemera, eyeglasses…Does it have an interesting shape or texture. Could it tell a story? Bring several things to use, one to pass on.
What is one of the most challenging aspects of doll making—Inspiration! Starting with a Found Object we’ll brainstorm about solving the problems of form, shape, structure, balance, color, texture. Theme will evolve as we work. There are no wrong answers in this experience. One person’s experience can be the next person’s solution.
Structure can arise from a discarded bottle, a bunch of twigs, a cigar box, a spring, a kitchen gadget, a ball of yarn, a roll of copper foil, a piece of PVC pipe. Light-weight rebar wire can be molded into a structure wrapped with rags. If you are a glue gun user, a collection of shells can be adhered to the outside of a metal box to make a home for a mermaid doll made out of a spoon with a tin-snipped tail. Create big-bodied paper dolls with a cardboard box body and collaged head, using acrylic gel medium to adhere a collection of favorite or incongruous images.
Take your Found Object, turn it all around and up side down. Hold yourself open and let it speak to you—what is it asking to become? Take inspiration from the person next to you and go off in a whole different direction.
FABULOUS TOOLS for found object sculpture: a roll of rebar wire, steel or iron, not galvanized, around $5 from a hardware store. Floriani Stitch N Shape double-side fusible—stiff interfacing to which fabric can be adhered with an iron then cut and sewn. Best of all: Apoxie Sculpt to stick anything to anything and provide structure.
A guaranteed success experience for all, yet the most experienced artist will find challenges: letting go of expectations, group problem-solving to help unravel the problems of structure, balance, and breaking through the barriers of our accustomed definitions of dolls.
It is NOT necessary to know how to sew.
Kit Fee: $10.00—Information sheet plus use of
Apoxie Sculpt
Rebar wire
Fusible web, muslin, and other fabrics, batting
Tulle
Weld bond
Aluminum foil
Paint and other inspirational materials
Supply list: bring one to several smallish found objects that you would like to incorporate. Bring one extra to pass along. If you are at a loss as to what to bring, visit your local hardware store or Junque shop with an open mind/eye
Needle-nose pliers, awl
Wire cutters
Clothespins or small clamps to hold drying glue
Basic Sewing kit: needles, pins, thread, fabric scissors
Glue: Your favorites for mixed materials—as breather-friendly as possible
Paper scissors, ruler, paper for a pattern, notebook or sketchbook for ideas
Fine wire, mesh, metal or wood odds and ends, as desired
Acrylic/water-base paint, brush, water container
Collage images, game pieces, rubber stamps, clock parts, broken dolls, tinker toys, words….
A small box to use as a stage, fabric bits, Model Magic
Use your imagination, but don’t bring too much. Wear clothes that can get dirty in the excitement of the moment…or bring an apron.
