Bouque
(27 in/69 cm)
I started this doll in August 2004. My inspiration for her was a bouquet of flowers I got at our local farmer's market. I really loved unusual color combination -- burgundies and various greens from leaves mixed with floral pinks and purples. I decided to find similar yarns from my stash and start playing. The bouquet had some very delicate creamy white flowers that just didn't translate well to yarn and I substituted metallic silver. This was my first attempt to use colors inspired by nature and I can't say it's been entirely successful. It was a real struggle to work with these colors -- not my usual color mixture. I don't think I was very successful in working in the sliver -- also a unusual for me as I rarely use metallics, though I'm starting to try to use them a bit more.
I started by making a bunch of scrumbles and then I found I was kind of stuck and demotivated. I needed to know what form this doll would take. So I sketched out a shape and crocheted pieces to match it, sewed, stuffed the body part (leaving the head open so I could add stuffing later). Another thing that helped: boobs! I don't usually put boobs on my dolls, but I was playing with a spiral pattern from Bonnie Pierce and after finishing the first I thought: this would make a good boob. So I made another, sewed it onto the form, and I liked it! Having a form and boobs got me going on more scrumbles.
I hit another dry patch when I felt the colors weren't working for me, but I had invested too much to abandon it and so I put it aside for quite a while and worked on other things. I was tired of seeing my unfinished doll form sitting there and decided that it was time to start sewing on some scrumbles in hopes that seeing that come together would motivate me ... and it did! I finally finished her in May 2005. (The crocheted faces were completed in July 2005.)
Faces are so hard for me; I made a number of modifications to all the face forms I created for this doll! I enjoyed making the crocheted faces, but I'm not completely satisfied with either of them, especially the mouths, which were the biggest struggle for me. I think I'll take a face break for a while and make dolls sans faces!
The original face of this doll can be seen below. Based on feedback I received I felt that the face was drawing attention away from the crochet, where I wanted it to be, I crocheted a face instead. In fact, I crocheted two faces, because I mentioned that I liked the back better than the front and someone suggested making it a two-faced doll (like the Roman god Janus) ... so I did!
I gave this doll to my mom, who loved it and kept it on her living room couch, along with several others I had made. When my mom died I offered our lifetime family friend, Betsy Shore, a doll and she selected this one, saying she had always admired it when she visited my mom. I was honored!
