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Zart Extra Term 4 2010

Wired Fabric Dolls

Lowther Hall

The girls at Lowther Hall in their quest to create a work of art that displayed their artistic capacity; combined learned skills, problem solving and above all their joy through the process of creating these amazing dolls. The spindly wired dolls created by Grade 3 girls, display how an artist’s technique can be adapted to suit the skills of much younger artists.

The inspiration for these dolls came from the book called “Cloth Dolls for textile artists” by Ray Slater. My Year 3 classes have worked on this project for a term. The wired doll has a simple wire armature made from the 3.0 mm soft aluminium armature wire that means it can be posed in a variety of positions. Dancers and acrobats can be used as sources of inspiration to create movement and flow.

The wrapping technique used to cover the armature is easy for the students to learn and only simple stab stitching is needed to attach the beginning and ends of each strip.

Method
See www.zartart.com.au/galleryt410/lowther.http for materials and diagram.

Make the armature following the measurements of the diagram. Give a student a piece of Paper Magiclay about the size of a ping pong ball, and shape it over and around the circle for the head.

The hands are added at the end of the project. Time to start the wrapping: on an angle, wrap up and down the armature, starting at the neck. It is important to keep the wadding taut to create a firm finish. Use a needle and doubled thread to secure the ends with a few stab stitches. It doesn’t have to look neat; it is just to secure the wadding. When the wadding is over the frame, it is time to start to use the colourful stretchy fabrics.

Combine different patterns and colours to give a good effect. Hideous fabrics can look wonderful! Wrap the fabrics and secure the ends with little stitches – large eyed needles and thin Perle Cotton #8 is perfect for young students to use.
Use metallic, fancy threads, ribbons etc. to wrap and tie around and over the fabric. Chenille Stems are great for socks and wrists.

Teach the students how to make a gathering running stitch along the top edge of a 10-15 cm wide and about 60 cm long fabric strip to create the skirt. They can be layered for effect. Lining polyesters are great, velvets etc.

Paint the heads with Poster Block paints. Add hair with Wool Tops/knitting wools, Curly Hair. Use felt scraps to make hats and shoulder bags. Embellish these with beads.

Attach the doll to the stand with thin Armature Wire in a couple of places on the trunk of the body and twist the wire at the back. Hot Glue the rod to the stand to secure firmly. Students can then pose the figure in the way they’d like it!
This is a wonderfully satisfying artwork, with the students learning a big range of skills and techniques with a fabulous result.

Pamela Wood
Lowther Hall Anglican Girls’ School
Essendon


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