monkey hands

More Dolls and Mongolia

             

Mongolian dolls made by quilting group members--great Ghenghis Khan inspired faces!

Selenge, her daughter and mother in the quilt shop; they were great hosts and fine company. I'm eager to return.

A new doll gets hair

                                Partially restored Summer Palace in Ulaanbaatar, "Big Sky" country!

Selenge picked me up from the airport in her Prius (just like the one I drive at home except for the language).  I'm working with her to set up a website for the project.  www.mongolianquilts.org 

Mongolian Quilt Center

This is the facade of the small shop and workshop where I spent some lovely days teaching skilled quilters how to make two types of small dolls from mostly upcycled materials (photos of inside the shop coming soon).

Doll-makers in action! Clothes will be made from silk scraps donated by a supportive local tailor. The quilts and quilted items--pillow-covers, bags, wall-hangings--are also made from donated materials.

Delight as dolls gain personality and "come to life"  with hair, eyes, nose, mouth! 

view from room in Ulaanbaatar

another view from room

Itinerant Doll-Maker

I've made dolls with people in the U.S., in India, in China, and now, in Mongolia. It seems to me that people are drawn to dolls and doll-making because dolls are made in our own human image. Creating a doll in a mixed-language group helps create a common language -- two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two arms, and so on.  We are so much more alike than we are different. 

                            These are just a few of the talented quilters I worked with in Ulaanbaatar. 

I brought this doll, upcycled from a sock and scraps of fabric, as a model for one of the dolls I'd be teaching the group to make. It was met with sighs of, "Oh, how Chinese!" and "That is a Chinese doll."  Yes, that makes sense, as she was made by me in China with Chinese materials.

                                                                       Newly made Mongolian dolls! 

 

More and Less

 

Taking a break on a hot day in Beijing

I'm reading and traveling more just now, and writing and sewing less; such is the rhythm of (my) life. More of one means less of the other and vice versa.  Like a seesaw, up and then down. Sometimes balanced, oft times not. 

Now that I'm off the crutches and able-bodied once again, I'm working, teaching, seeing and doing more outward, physical activities these days and I'm sewing less, but just for now!  The two year China gig is finished at the end of this calendar year, so I'm trying to squeeze in all that I can. 

I'll post more pics from Bangkok (great beast statues!), my teaching in Kunming, and doll-making with the women's sewing collective in Mongolia (this week) in the near future.

I'm still reading your blogs as often as possible--I need a daily or at least several times weekly dose of your creativity, insights, musings, and inspirations.

 

Doll prototype, Boro patching

I'm using rough unbleached muslin to make some dolls for an upcoming summer teaching project in Mongolia (provided I'm crutch-free and walking well by August). I was going  to make a Mongolian doll in traditional dress last night, but somehow I ended up with home-on-the-prairie or little miss shetl here.  The thing that matters most now is getting the doll pattern down so I can make a papper patten and PDF instructions. So I'm just having fun. The traditional Mongolian costumes will be fun to create, too. I'll take another trip to the Beijing Women's and Children's Museum to look at their great displays of traditional dress as part of the process. 

 
 Tie shoes and wacky socks under that prim dress:  

What kind of face?  I often stumble here.  I should probably make the face before I stitch the doll so I could mess-up and re-do, but it seems the doll's personality doesn't appear to me until s/he's stitched and stuffed. So...simple stitched lines for eyes and mouth?  Embroidered eyes and mouth? Drawn (this is scariest for me) face? No face?  Old dolls often had no eyes/mouth, but it seems to me that's saying something about seeing, smelling, and speaking--as in being heard or something, yes? 

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I'm still working on my boro-inspired apron, but I took a break to patch my pjs. Before taking the boro class, I might have found a black scrap and made an unobtrusive fix with black thread,* but this time I decided I want my work to be visible. It makes me smile.

* or I might well have tossed them--my favorite pj pants--into the giveaway bag.  I'm changing my ways.

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Today marks 16 weeks post-break, and 12 weeks post-op (bone graft/plate/screws) for my poor old left foot.  I'm off to see the surgeon this afternoon.  The last x-ray was six weeks ago and showed "no sign of healing" (i.e. bone graft filling in gap). I'm hoping today brings better news!

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Our air quality continues to be quite bad. The days are gray and hazy--it's like looking through a steam/dirt filled sky. The sun is not visible, and the light stays dim, as if in a heavy rain, all day.

Wool Matryoshka Doll Meets Red Silk Bird

I've been building my tour guide skills hosting family and friends here in Beijing during the past couple weeks, so sustained large fiber projects have been temporarily moved to the wings. Meanwhile, I've been making small things, working with more Chinese silk, and hand-felting some gorgeous wool/cashmere blends I found at the tailor's. The bird is about 7"long by 4.5" tall, and the doll is 4" tall. Next on the design table: A wool quilt made from a rainbow of colors.