Spirit Doll

Google describes spirit dolls as: Spirit dolls carry special meaning and significance. They are a personal talisman that can be used on your life's journey to guide, inspire and heal.

Spirit dolls have a long standing history and have enjoyed a resurgence of interest over the past few years. Many of the dolls are made to represent special occasions or times of the year. The spirit doll featured above is from my project on Parallels of Maori and Celtic customs and art. This doll is an oak tree spirit representing the oak king who ascends the throne at the winter solstice (Matariki) and controls the lengthening days and move to planting and harvesting. With the approach to the Winter solstice only a month away this seemed a pertinent blog to include..

This doll has a head made from air dry clay. I moulded it around an egg to get the shape it I did have to break the egg to get out the contents out at the end so the back of the head is filled with stuffing. The Oak leaf at the top of the head symbolises the oak king ascendance. The bottom leaves are magnolia leaves. They have a crocheted border and chain stitch down the central vein. Over these I have placed some leaf skeletons and a cloak of rooster feathers. Under the stuffing in the head I have placed mixed dried healing herbs. These can’t be seen but they are there although I am not sure how long the perfume of them will last.

To enhance its Celtic origins it wears a Celtic symbol neck piece. The hair is animal fibre that has been dyed to match the colour palette I was working with.

Enhancing Colour When Stitching on Leaves

This photo is a forest tulip leaf which was a lovely red colour in the Autumn but I have further enhanced the colour by using a burgundy organza in the sandwich I have stitched over

As you can see, this is from the same series as some earlier photos. It has been moounted on black felt with a pine needle outline

Focus On Negative Space

Gingko Leaves with crossed stems

We have a large gingko tree in our garden - the gingko is said to be one of the oldest trees in existence. At this time of the year its leaves become a glorious golden glow and, as they fall, the leaves carpet the ground below in golden opulence.

I am always looking at what sort of things I might be able to do with all that beauty. I was quite adventurous here. The leaves are painted with gel medium to preserve them. They are positioned on the black felt and then the golden tips are needle felted with green wool rovings. This helped to create a band of more solid media that I could blanket stitch into.

The crosses stems are couched in place and where they cross is needle woven to support the cross.

In the negative space I have couched golden embroidery floss in a diagonal grid with cross stitches at the intersects.

This piece is much more fragile than some of the other stitching on leaves.

Gingko leaves cover the front lawn in Autumn

Fine Crochet Edge and Bead Embellishment

Like the earlier leaf with the thicker crotchet edge, this leaf has had blanket stitch applied around the edge and then double crotch and a picot finish in fine crotchet cotton. Small beads have been stitched through the spine and the whole mounted on black felt which has then been placed as a porthole. to finish the edge around the porthole I have used pine needles woven onto the edge with a waxed thread.

The leaf is a magnolia grandiflora leaf and the background fabric is ethnic inspired cotton

Old Leaf, New Leaf

But Can you tell which is which?

In 2019 I did Jane Dunnewold’s Creative Strength Training. This ten month long course works with archetypes and artist blocks as well as process. It was this course that encouraged me to begin a daily blog so that I would keep regular art time. Unfortunately last year the web host sold out to another company that did not support the blog process I was following and it took me several months to find, learn and pick up from my blog posts. At that time between 3000 and 7000 people a week were visiting my blog. I have a long way to go to get back to that sort of exposure but I have a lot more control over what I can create on this website.

Archetypes as described by Caroline Myss are inner voices that we acquire as we go through life and can effect everything we do. Each archetypes has a positive and negative side but most of us relate more to the negative sides. You know that inner voice (the committee) that keeps telling you that your art will never be good enough? This piece was made during that time.

I particularly connected with the negative part of the Saboteur in my life. I realised that when I didn’t complete a project it was often through fear of criticism. If it isn’t finished you can’t criticise it. During that year I completed what I call the 30 year quilt - a hand quilted NZ Baltimore that, according to the embroidered date in one square, I began 30 years previously - but more about that another day.

Taro leaves are very large, quite fleshy leaves that have a large starchy root, much enjoyed by Pasifika people as a vegetable. I wanted to try and stitch on something larger in the leaf collection so I started off with a taro. I pressed the first leaf and when I took it out from under the rug where it had been drying, the leaf was quite thin and fragile. I decided to sandwich it between layers of gold organza and trap some bits and pieces inside. These pieces were representative of emotions and ideas that were trapped inside me. I began to stitch. As I stitched some of the leaf began to tear. The Saboteur inside my head said you are wasting your time Carol. I just kept stitching. The Saboteur said it will never amount to anything Carol. I just kept stitching and so it went until the leaf was finished. I felt the tears were like parts of me damaged inside the organza and added to the emotional impact of the leaf.

Then I decided to do a second leaf and experiment with using gel medium to seal the leaf - rather than organza. This time I wove a section in the middle. A piece of silver birch bark fell from one of our trees and I felt it was an omen so I included that also. The leaf looked young and vibrant in its glossy coat so I made some flower buds from silk cocoons to add as embellishment. This was my young leaf.

I mounted the leaves on black felt and put them away for a time. Imagine my surprise when I unrolled the package to find the young leaf had aged and now looked older than the young leaf. I am sure there is a lesson in life in there.

The small pictures above show the old leaf in process, the young leaf painted with gel and with its woven centre. The final two photos show the young leaf embellishments close up.

So this piece of art became not only a finished art work but a special talisman. It is five years old now and still has a power to move me when I take it out

More Stitching On Leaves

A Large Plane leaf with Hydrangea flowers and embroidery embellishment

In the park next to my house there are lots of Plane trees which have large leaves and I often use these as inspiration for art work. In the Autumn they litter the ground in great masses and are fun to crunch through when I take my dog of a walk.

The plane leaves are quite brittle when dry so I would have stitched this when it was green ( or maybe I soaked it in some water to increase flexibility before I started). If you do this make sure you pat the leaf dry with paper towel before you start. as I have not use organza or net as a supporting basis. I have stitched directly onto black felt using blanket stitch in an appropriate colour.

I have added two hydrangea flowers which were pre-made using the organza sandwich method and then applied to the base of the leaf using very small blanket stitches. In the middle I have embroidered the word Resilience. In hind sight maybe I should have used a more contrasting thread but I did not want the text to overpower the leaf.

Amanda Bauer is an artist who does some amazing work with stitched natural materials. If you are interested you might like to look up her work.

A Light Box with Stitched Leaves

This example of using scraps and stitched leaves has been created by sandwiching textured scraps of yarn and stitched maple leaves in a circle of silk organza. Polyester organza could also be used but silk organza has a more mat finish which I prefer when mounted in a window for the light to shine through. Once the basic pieces had been assembled, I used a metal hoop, cut the organza in a circle slightly larger than the hoop and then folded the edges over the hoop and stitched it in place. I have finished around the edges by binding on pine needles and embellishing with some beads

Stitching on Leaves

Circular Stitched Leaf construct

Leaves are more robust than you may think, especially those that are of thicker construction. If you sandwich them between two layers of net/organza and stitch through the three layers you can create some magical results. The colours stay pretty much to the original colours - much like pressed leaves.

You can see in the example above the softer (Japanese anemone) leaves have shattered slightly in stitching but the organza still holds the shape of them together. I think the leaves may have dried out a bit before I stitched them. Using fresh leaves or hydrating them in water and patting dry with a paper towel before starting helps to prevent this. This round has been made for several years now and is still quite vibrant.

Leaves used in this construct are from the outside: Japanese anemone (green) flowering cherry (Autumn with burgundy organza - red) Autumn gingko (yellow) small leafed maple (red) and a blue/grey hydrangea flower in the centre. Once the leaves had been made and I had decided on the arrangement I just hot glue gunned them to a round form.

I often stitch leaves in the sandwich form during the Autumn months and store them in an airtight container for later art work. I have incorporated them quite a bit in various places - eg. Going Green Denpasar in the teabag section. Stitching the leaves is a very relaxing and in the moment activity. I usually stich along the vein lines by hand with a simple running stitch and then outline stitch the leaves on the sewing machine. To avoid having to stop and start I often stitch along the perimeter of the leaf to the next vein. You could hand stitch the outside edges as well. I have done this and it worked OK. The machine edge is more regular and closer together which is why that is my preference. I have tried burning off the organza around the edges of the leaves with a soldering iron (rather than cutting them out) but I didn’t like the effect of the burnt edges but. That is also a possibility for a different effect.