Water, flour, and newspaper

I saw an article in my favorite magazine that inspired me to put empty water bottles to a new use. As it turned out, the Cafe where I am a barista has loads of empty bottles from flavored syrups. So, armed with a dozen bottles of various sizes, I pulled flour from the freezer, gathered several days worth of the Marietta Daily journal ads and classified, donned an apron, and retreated to 1975 summer camp projects with an decidedly accidental artist flair.

The project in the magazine was about Christmas tree angels, but I quickly found that my creations would be too heavy for tree tops. Still, I was having fun, so I decided to move forward and check a few people off my Christmas list while I had fun reliving childhood craft projects.

This is my first completed doll. She is joyful.

The project consisted of multiple steps, from creating an armature of bottle, paper, and masking tape to papier mache to paper clay to paint to decoupage and finally to finishing touches. As I worked with the materials I found myself talking to the dolls (as I call them) and asking them who they wanted to be. The most surprising step for me was seeing the faces as they formed. The first one caught me so off guard that I actually said out loud, "Well, hello there." From that point on, I quit thinking and just let the faces and personalities emerge.

I now have a dozen dolls in various stages of completion. Each is unique, and I hope the recipients enjoy the results as much as I have enjoyed the process.

This is Joy. She makes me happy.

Dolls in three stages: needing final touches, paper clay'd, and gessoed

papier-mache

Sometimes it's good to play.










Inspired by Erin Butson Cloth, Paper, Scissors, November/December 2011 "Angels Among Us"