Self Portrait Challenge Doll

"Interior View" (c) Penney Hughes 2014

This doll is my entry into the Dollstreet Dreamers self portrait challenge.  I have called it Interior View.  She not meant to look like me but instead represent a concept.  The first photo of the doll is closer to how I imagined she would look like.  She is intended to be a sort of inner self guardian angel contemplating layers that have been stripped away.  The exterior layers layers that have been stripped away are composed of fabrics I have designed.
The doll was a challenge to make.  She has a wire skeleton lightly wrapped with stuffing.  I have then wrapped Christmas tree lights around this base.  The cord exits the body in the lower back.  Next I added stuffing which I needle sculpted into shape.  She was then 'skinned' with lightweight knit jersey.  Her hair is wool roving and wings made of layered tissue paper.  I would love to make another doll that lights up but with LED lighting and a battery pack.
She was also a challenge to photograph since she is so dark and also requires darkness to see her lights properly.  I have included several versions to highlight features.

"Interior View" fully lit

"Interior View" lit up with outside lighting as well





"Interior View" in a well lit room with flash

Close up of "Interior View"

Strength

I have been working on two art dolls with polymer clay faces.  The first of these dolls that I have completed is titled, ‘ Strength.’  I tried to approach the theme on many levels.  Her torso is hand printed Kona cotton, from my gelatin printing session.  I have embroidered the rune, strength, on her abdomen and have sewn garnet and agate beads, historically aligned with physical strength along the base of the torso.  I speculate that garnet and agate were symbolic for physical strength based on their likeness to blood and bone.  Her limbs are created from a stick pruned from one of the trees here.  I used the tree to represent the rooted quality and flexibility of a tree despite strong winds and rains.  The stick also doubles for her backbone.  A strong backbone is crucial for any character of strength.  I used a beaded fringe around her lower leg with green hearts for growth, love and compassion; all additional ingredients for strength. 

The figure’s face and feet are sculpted of rose colored clay and painted with opaque and translucent acrylic paints.  Her eyes and lips were then painted with high gloss varnish.  I felt the feet were a very important feature, not only to serve as a base for the doll to stand by but also as an expression of strength.  Feet are muscular, they connect directly to the earth and move us through life.  Feet do a lot of work and so are very representational of strength to me.  Strength’s hair is handspun wool that I picked up in Virginia at a fiber shop that is sadly now out of business. 

I really enjoyed creating this figure.  She is much more abstract than most of my art dolls.