Invisible Stitches

For all my dollmaking friends out there, you'll most likely smile at me when I say I was amazed by the results of soft sculpting...



When I set out to make the older face of Mrs. Rose, I decided to combine the techniques in both Jan Messent's Embroidered Portraits and Barbara Willis' Cloth Doll Artistry.  The embroidered portraits were a little too flat for older features...

And when I did find an older face, it was painted and not embroidered...



I have never had a painting class or been to art school so I had zero confidence in my ability to paint a face.

I did use Messent's technique of cutting out the profile in Vilene (I used Timtex) and placing a hole through which I would later add stuffing.  I've also made multiples thanks to Allie, assuming that there will be many learning-curve mistakes.

When I used the kona cotton, I had a very difficult time getting the cotton to sculpt nicely around the rounded features from my pattern (bottom middle).  It may have worked better if Mrs. Rose's features were more angular or if her head were larger.  As it stands, her little head is only 1" from forehead to chin.

Next, I tried the Doe Suede recommended by Adele Sciortino (bottom right). In contrast to my struggles with the cotton, the doe suede behaved like a dream.  I was also going to try using panty hose but I liked the doe suede so much that I have decided to go with that.

Once the Timtex was covered in the doe suede, I was ready to begin sculpting the face.  I modified the full-face sculpting instructions from Willis' book and was surprised to learn that most of the sculpting stitches took place underneath the surface fabric!

I know.  This is where all you dollmakers smile at me.

So, using that little hole in the back of the Timtex, I added stuffing and made stitches across the batting and through the Timtex, never once breaking the surface of the material.



And it started to work!  It took waaaayyyyyyy longer than I expected and I had to snip threads when I had incorrectly placed them...you know they're misplaced when they block the stuffing!

But this method allowed me to sculpt a rounded nose and mouth...and to give the pronounced cheekbones and sunken cheeks of an older person.  I only took two stitches through the facial fabric.  One tack stitch to locate the eye and another longer stitch to define the nose.

I really am just amazed that all that definition can come from all those invisible stitches.  Too cool...

For now, I'm in a bit of a quandary as to how to proceed next.

In Messent's book, she often used watercolor paint to define her facial features.  I think that would work  fine on cotton but not very well on the polyester doe suede.  She also used colored pencils...I tried those on a scrap cloth but think I might try a pure pigment pastel and a stiff brush.  Shiva paint sticks might work but I've never tried those and I don't own any.  I wonder if any of you who have worked with doe suede have a suggestion?

I also can't decide how I'm going to do the eye.  Tomorrow I go to stitch at a friend's house who is a master embroiderer, designer and artist.  I have a feeling that I'll come away from that with a few suggestions.

We had spring snow today and Jack had a bonus day off from school.  It's a beautiful, heavy snow that coats all the branches making for a frosted wood.

Happy Monday everyone.

Older Faces

Older faces have so much to say.



This Indonesian woman, Paini Vert, was forced to be a "comfort woman" for the Japanese during WWII.  She is 82 now.

The aging of our faces is largely affected by genetics but they are also a road map for how we've chosen to cope with our lives.

Some cope better than others.  Look at the pictures of some of the other women who were forced to be "comfort women" and you'll see what I mean.

The face of Mrs. Rose is pretty important.  Up until now, I've only stitched faces of the young such as Your Majesty or Audrey.  But Mrs. Rose's face was full of crinkles, laugh lines and character.  How to translate that into a face profile that is only 1" tall?

Since I am unsure, I do some research and turn to artists who have mastered the art of capturing the older face.

The dolls below are by artist Annie Wahl and I have always loved their charm and her ability to express joy within the exaggerated features of an older face...



Yet her medium is wax (these are resin replicas) not fabric, so I move on...

I turned to another artist whose work I have always admired, Deidre Scherer.



Deidre is a master of textile portraiture, often exploring the fragility of life.   With fabric and thread, she has the gift of translating the miracle of all life, even life that is waning.  I have had the good fortune of seeing her exhibition, The Last Year, where she chronicled the last year of a woman's life.  It's soulful and moving...and for anyone who has traveled with a loved one through this last phase of life on earth, you will recognize the stages.  Surrounded by Family is another one of her series that is so beautiful that it hurts.  (If you do go visit, remember to click to enlarge to see the detail of her work.)

I leave my study of Deidre's work understanding the importance of shadow, contrast, and value changes in the older face and move to another master whose work is three-dimensional rather than two.

Lisa Lichtenfels is a soft-sculpture artist whose ability to capture the human form using needle and thread is beyond compare.



Her work is so good that her images are often mistaken for photographs of real people.  She uses nylon and batting to sculpt her faces, having first built an armature of wire for bones covered by "muscles" made from batting.

Have a look through the photo galleries of her work...here, here and here.  Amazing.

Though her work is life-size, I am still inspired by her to re-create some realism in my little 1" face and think that layered nylons is likely to allow for more detail in such a small space rather than fabric.

In translating to a smaller scale, I have already learned that fewer stitches are better.  Our minds recognize facial features so well that we will often fill in feature details when they are suggested rather than stitched.

Lastly, I turned to this book hoping to find a few ideas:  Embroidered Portraits: Ideas, Inspiration and Techniques.  I had seen on it Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread blog, you can read her review of the book here.



Though Mary had expected more strictly embroidered portraits like the title and cover suggests, I was actually delighted that there were so many ideas for softly sculpted and appliqued faces.



And a whole two pages on heads in profile!  Just what I needed.

Now I'm off to buy some Mrs. Rose-colored nylons and start stitching, keeping in mind the advice given to me by Allie Aller when I feared the stitching of the queen's face on Your Majesty...

She recommended that I plan to make many faces.  So I did.  I prepped for four or five faces and chose the best of the lot...What a brilliant idea.  It completely takes the pressure off of making just one and then you get a number of different "expressions" to choose from.  It is kind of funny though, when I open up a drawer and see the rejected faces of the wanna-be queens...I mean, I can't just throw them away...that seems kind of cruel.  And so they remain, ladies in waiting.

Bottom line...plan on making multiples...this has been some of the best advice I've ever had.  Thank you Allie.

I'm off to put my best face forward sans botox.  Happy day to you.

Fear of Faces

I have long had a fear of embroidering faces. Remember, I cannot draw.


And stitching a face on a piece of embroidery automatically draws the eye. It's the first place your eye goes...right to the face.

I think, as humans, we're programmed that way. And, when I look at the faces on some of my homemade dolls I've collected...they're very endearing. And I'd much rather see a doll with a face than without one.


Believe me, I am anxious every time I sit down to stitch a face, bu I still plow forward and do it. But stitching Alice and the Mad Hatter almost put me over the edge! So, one of my personal goals is to get more comfortable stitching faces.

Up until now, my technique has been to find an actual picture of a face I'd like to copy...enlarge or shrink on my copier...and then trace it. It works a lot of the time. But I'd like to become a little bit more educated about how to draw/embroider faces.


So I was delighted when I saw that this online course was being offered by Joggles...Hey Doll Face by Judy Skeel. Even though it's about sculpting a doll's head, face and hair...I imagine I will learn many new techniques I might be able to use.

I did find lots of interesting links when exploring my challenge of stitching the human face and all the emotions that go along with it. Most simply, I liked this freebie from kylanicole on Flickr but I think they're a little too simplistic for what I need....


And these freebies from davis.jacque which she uses in making her silly little dolls. But I think these guys might be a little too crazy...(albeit I like crazy...)


Without a doubt, the advice I found most helpful was from master embroiderer Gay Ann Rogers. Gay Ann has just recently completed stitching this piece, Elizabeth I.

Copyright by Gay Ann Rogers and photo used with her permission

And she has this to say about embroidering faces...

Many times people have said to me that needlework faces are so ugly. I agree that most are, but I think it is because people put too much detail into too small a face. Most of a needleworked face is best left unsaid.

One of the first things I learned about drawing is this: it is OK to suggest something and let the viewer bring her own experiences to the painting.

Go here to read more about how she stitched the Queen's face, ruff and hands -- I'm soaking it in as she posts another installment of how she designed and stitched this queen.

You can also learn more about where Gay Ann will be teaching Elizabeth I on her website. I hope to stitch her one day.

And guess what? In my search for ideas for embroidering faces, I found this post from my friend Mary Corbet...seems like I'm in good company with my fear of stitching faces...

For now, I'm heading to Joggles to learn how to draw/stitch better faces. Maybe I'll see one of you there.