Wisdom Keeper Art Dolls: Art Doll Wall Hanger

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Della Wheatfield and her Hippy Chick Folk Art Doll

Della Wheatfield and Hippy Chick, her companion chicken, are found at the farmer's market every Saturday morning in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. This is her favorite day of the week, when she brings the beautiful bounty from her farm to market to sell to her neighbors.

Della Wheatfield and her Hippy Chick Folk Art Doll

Her tables are filled with fresh vegetables and herbs that she tends in her gardens on a daily basis with love and care. Baskets are filled with lavender bundles and soaps that she creates on Tuesday evenings. Hippy Chick, her companion chicken, is always at her side to keep her company and who advises her on the needs of the farm animals. When you meet Della, she always has a smile on her face and a hug for her friends as she fills their baskets with healthy foods. Never a Saturday goes by when she hasn't brightened the day of those she meets.

Folk Art Doll Della Wheatfield at Farmers Market

Hippy Chick Folk Art Doll

This shabby chic style folk art doll is a girl from the farmer's market with her chicken, created by Jeanne Fry. Her name is Della Wheatfield, and she brings a sweet feminine touch wherever she resides. Della is a completely hand stitched cloth art doll. Her body is sewn from a soft brushed tan colored fabric. She wears a white cotton tunic dress with small folk stars, with a jumper over top that is a deep red with cream colored stars. Small wooden star buttons embellish the jumper straps and at the bodice. A cotton beaded lace necklace is draped around her shoulders. Attached to the hop of her jumper is a burlap type of flower. Cream colored flower lace embellishes the trim of the jumper.
Her face is created from clay, painted, and sealed. Her blonde hair is made of spun silk and done in two pigtails, and she wears a head wrap that matched her jumper.A flower is attached to her ankle.
In her arms she holds her companion, "Hippy Chick" chicken, who is hand stitched from a folk art farm fabric. Hippy Chick has a clay face that is painted and sealed, and her tail feathers and front are beaded with seed beads.
Della Wheatfield measures 18 inches tall and is designed to display as a wall hanger, with a loop sewn on her back for hanging display purposes. She could also be displayed in a sitting position.

SOLD

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Folk Art Doll Miniatures carry Bundles of Inspiration

For the past seven years I have created Folk Art Dolls that were created in a variety of themes from whimsical to cultural to spiritual. They have allowed me to explore endless possibilities in mediums, sometimes evolving from Gourd and Paper clay, all Clay sculpts, or Beaded Cloth and Clay. But one of my greatest joys in the creating, is expressing myself through my Art Doll Miniatures.

Beads, Cloth, and Clay to create an Art Doll Miniature

Folk Art Doll Miniatures are known as Art Doll Ornaments, Ornies, Mini's, and Poppets. I call mine Wisdom Keeper Poppets, because they carry bundles of inspiration in each little Art Doll.

Mermaid Folk Art Dolls by Jeanne Fry

Each of these Art Dolls are based from cloth and clay. I hand stitch each of them from batik, cotton, one of the many fabrics I have collected over time. Their faces are crafted from Art Doll Clay, and then hand painted with layers of acrylics and sealed with a satin or gloss finish.

Once I have stitched the body and attached the face, the possibilities are endless in how they evolve. I add hair using fleece, fibers, and silk mohair from alpaca or sheep that has been hand dyed, or knitting yarns. Sometimes I even just bead their hair using seed beads.

Folk Art Doll Miniatures with hand dyed fleece locks for hair

Once she has formed, I begin embellishing with lots of different seed beads, glass beads, clay beads, and beaded trim. I attached small metal charms, ribbon, organza, paper flowers, dried botanical.....the list is endless. (This would account for the countless boxes, bins, and jars of embellishments that fill my studio)

For those that will be Ornaments, I sew a small leather loop on their back. Some have pin-backs so that they can be worn on a coat lapel, attached to a tote bag, or even to a curtain. Some of my Art Doll miniatures are designed to be Wall Hangers, with a loop on their back to hang on a picture hanger on a wall. This alleviates the need for shelf space that many of us have a shortage of.

Many of my collectors carry them in or attached to their purse of tote bag, others hand them in their car or on their office wall.

I tend to create my Art Dolls in themes...Inspirational, Empowering, and Whimsical. I make separate lines of Gnomes Dolls, Mermaid Dolls , and even Rabbit Art Dolls for Easter.