Creating my 1st ART DOLL! - A Primitive Danish Bog Man

 

This is my interpretation of a Danish man before he became mummified in one of Denmark's bogs. He  is the first cloth doll I ever made. I wanted to create a primitive-type doll using both cloth and wood. His arms and legs were carved from tree branches and sewn onto his cloth body. His knees and elbows bend. 

I really had no idea what I was doing, but this is what emerged from my efforts to create a primitive doll ... and also I was curious to see if I could make a doll. He's not perfect, but I enjoyed making him.

From the moment I stitched on his closed eyes, I knew he was going to be a "dead" doll, and as I worked on him, he reminded me of some photos I had seen of the mummified dead European bog bodies. So, my first doll became "The Bog Man", similar to a bog man discovered in a Danish bog over 2,300 years ago.

Since the human bog men lived in the cold northern areas of Europe, I made my bog man doll a warm coat and leather boots. I added a matching leather hat, a satchel bag with a long strap, and a medicine bag that hangs around his neck. He carries his food, his favorite berries, and some healing herbs in his leather satchel, and inside his medicine bag are protection amulets and other items that are sacred to him.

My primitive Danish bog man doll now lives with my daughter in one of our cold northern states, the awesome state of Michigan, since the bog man prefers the colder climate..., and she asked if he could live with her. :-)

I made my bog man doll's leather hat similar to the hat on this Danish bog man in this next photo. While my bog man doll looks nothing like this mummified bog body, he still reminds me of him. This photo is from the National Geographic's article entitled "Tales from the Bog".

Meet my 3rd ART DOLL! ... She's my first cloth WITCH! ...

I've loved witches since I first saw the "Wizard of Oz" movie on TV, probably back in about 1959 or 1960.

Watching that movie at a very young age made me terrified of the Wicked Witch of the West and afraid of her flying monkeys too. I think she was probably the scariest thing I had ever seen on TV up until that time, but I didn't know the wicked witch was green then, since I saw the movie in black and white.

I remember crying myself to sleep that night after watching the wicked witch torment Dorothy. I was sure that the mean witch would appear in my bedroom, coming to get me too, but there was something about witches that appealed to me, and I was hooked.  I wanted to be like the beautiful Glinda, the "good witch". ... Now, I much prefer green wicked witches, or any evil, wicked witch, ... they seem to have more personality.

Creating a green witch for my first cloth witch doll was a fun experience.  She was the third cloth doll that I ever tried to make. I didn't use a pattern ... just made her up as I went along. I prefer not to use patterns, that way I never know how my dolls or their clothes will turn out. 

This is actually the doll's second face; her first face was too flat, so I covered it with a fuller face that I liked better with a pointed chin and a longer nose. 

... I guess that means she's sort of a "two-faced" witch.  :-)

My green witch doll was created for my friend, Susan. They both live in beautiful HOT Phoenix. Susan named her new cloth friend, "Samantha," which was 'pretty neat' for me since my grandmother's name was Samantha, so I've always loved that name. ... And, I'm old enough to have watched all of the original "Bewitched" TV episodes as they first aired, so it seems fitting that my first cloth witch doll would be named Samantha. :-)

She carries a black leather purse with a colorful fabric lining that matches the lining of her cape. Her cape was made from a vintage black velvet evening dress I found in a local thrift shop. The old velvet dress had never been worn so I hated cutting it, but finding quality black velvet fabric at such a great price was had to pass up.

This witch likes to "glam" it up, so I added a feather boa collar on her cape and made her a pair of lace-trimmed black gloves to match her stylish black dress and her shiny black witchy boots.

Her black floppy-brimmed hat is made of 100% pure wool. I think she is about 20 inches tall with her hat on, but she doesn't always wear her hat.

This next picture is a photo of my grandmother, Samantha Vore, taken on a cold winter day in Michigan a very long time ago. It looks like someone had spread hay around the base of her house to help keep it warm inside. On top of the loose hay, behind my grandmother is a strange white symbol that I've been trying to identify. 

Samantha's youngest daughter turned 94 this year so it kind of gives you an idea of when this photo might have been taken. The symbol on the ground doesn't look like a Pennsylvania Dutch symbol to me, but the symbol on the window curtain is a hex sign for a blessing. 

Maybe someone reading this blog could help me with identifying the symbol on the ground?