Saturday, August 16, 2008

Tassel Dolls with Secrets

I adore all the doll parts that are being rescued from the grounds of old doll factories in Germany, the idea of recycling and repurposing parts which have been under ground and long forgotten gives me pleasure.
These tassels feature heads which I bought direct from Germany. None of them are perfect, they would not pass the quality inspections of 2008, and yet they are beautiful. Their skirts are made of fibre, ribbon, fabric and trim from my collection and hidden within each are secrets. Secrets stamped on sterling silver charms or wrapped around hand rolled paper beads. Little jewels, glass beads and charms are stitched so as to be hidden from the casual viewer and yet visible to those who get to know the lady well.
The four above have all gone off to dear friends, and there are two more for sale on my Etsy. I have five more heads and another theme in mind, so perhaps I will play with them tomorrow.
I am off to my second birthday party for the day - male again, so no chance for pretties, but nice to relax with friends.

16 comments:

Dot said...

These are all beautiful Julie. I love how you make something old new again ; and give it life. And I love the idea of each one of these tassel beauties having a ' secret'. Intriguing and lovely idea.

Your friends will love them!

And I love the gorgeous doll Dawnie left for you last trip (she is such a sweetheart).

Much love to you and the furries.

Dotee xoxo

P.S Hope you enjoyed both birthday parties too!

Dot said...

P.P.S I love the necklaces on some of the dolls - they add the perfect touch.

gunnelsvensson said...

These dolls are beautiful!

Jane P said...

what beautiful colours, Julie. How fantastic they look

Melissa said...

One extra left... :)

Janet said...

You've done it again!! You just keep surprising me with some new treasure you've created. These tassel dolls are just wonderful. I agree with Dot that you take something old and likely to end in the trash and turn it into something beautiful. That's really recycling!!

When was your birthday?? Happy Birthday even if I'm late!!

Dawnie said...

Sepia Dreams is settling in nicely my LL.Love her to pieces and great pic of all hanging together. They are so beautiful you clever artistic gal.How special that all have secrets under the skirts.
Brilliant my friend ,I feel so lucky

Hugs and squeezes

Dawnie T
XXX

kelsey said...

Gorgeous recycling Julie, what a fitting end for these beautiful pieces. Happy belated birthday to you too!

Cat said...

These are charming! Neat idea to give these heads new life!

Ev said...

as always beautiful art to share, those dollies are just wonderful and so full of character - elegant is the word that comes to mind. Hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Melissa said...

An answer to your question and then some.

The bookmarks (especially the big ones) were very time consuming but satisfying.

I grow sunflowers because I like to see them (Kansas' state flower is the sunflower) and because the birds and bees and squirrels love me for it. The finch think they own the sunflowers and often let you get very close to them (unless you have a camera glued to your face then they fly away).

I think I am going to reinstate my etsy shop and start putting stuff in it again and the muffin tin will be going up.

Beth said...

these are amazing dolls !! thanks so much for stopping by my blog and your sweet comments !
xo,
beth

Dot said...

How lucky am I? I was blessed to receive the beautiful green and blue (and yellow) tassell doll on the far right! You know how much I LOVE her Julie (and you) xoxo

Susie Campbell (Sue Smith) said...

Absolutely stunning!!! I just love them!

Genevieve said...

These are 'wicked' in the most excellent of senses..so tactile, the colours are so visually pleasing and make you want to stroke them! You really are an amazing artist, Julie.
Thanks so much for sharing and isn't it wonderful that via the internet we all get to share.

Cheers!

Catharina Maria said...

Your dolls are lovely