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Hello, my dear friends! Now I would like to present you all my dolls I made for the past three years. I will show them to you one by one in chronological order. And of course I will start my story with the very first one!
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Here I was... Sitting in the classroom and listening to our doll making teacher... She was telling us about the wonderful world of dolly creatures. Before we came to the first class, we had been told to think over the image of our first doll we were going to create. It didn't take me a second - it looked like my cherished image was lying somewhere deep in my mind ready to pop out when called up. It is little DOROTHY from "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz".
The fairy tale translated into Russian by Alexander Volkov was one my favourite in my childhood.
I adored them all: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the trustworthy black dog Toto... And the girl - little brave Dorothy - was my hero! She was sweet and simple, sprightly and energetic. She lived in the present and didn't trouble herself with much anxiety and worry about the future. This is exactly the character I wanted to be all my life.
While preparing for the classes I made some sketches of how my Dorothy should look like.
I wanted to represent her at that very moment when a whirling cyclone took her farm house up into the sky and swept it towards the Emerald City.
I imagined how she was sitting on the doorstep hugging her small back dog Toto and pointing out at the beautiful land showing up at the horizon. "Look, Toto, look where we are flying!" - she kept saying. Of course such composition was not easy to accomplish because I had to make Toto and the house as well. But I decided to act like my beloved Dorothy - first I will make the doll and then I will take care of the others. No worry. Everything comes in its due turn.
I started sculpturing Dorothy's face at the class and then continued my work at home. I made an inevitable mistake which all beginners do - the face turned out very elderly. It looked like a granny's face, not that of a small cute girl. The face was rather interesting and vivid, but absolutely old. I must admit that I lost my heart at that point and decided to change the character I was working on. It is awful, isn't it? I told myself: "Since it looks like a granny, let it be a granny doll, but the second doll will be my Dorothy".
I came to the next class with this decision in mind and shared my cowardly plan with the teacher. The teacher was very wise. "No, my dear! You should never do that! You shouldn't betray your character just because of the poor sculpturing. Remember the doll making rule: IT IS YOU WHO MAKES THE DOLL BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ARTIST. THE DOLL SHOULD NOT DECIDE WHAT CHARACTER IT WANTS TO BE. IT'S UP TO YOU TO DECIDE AND STICK TO YOUR DECISION".
She took my work and manipulated with her stick over Dorothy's clay head. She showed me how easily I can correct my sculpturing mistakes. In five minutes the elderly face's right side changed to a girl's one. "Now please do the same with the left side of the face, my dear" - the master said. "I am sure you will make a perfect little girl". After I had worked on the face for an hour I finally saw a smiling funny baby face looking at me. Of course it wasn't perfect, but no doubt it was a girl! A small sweet girl!
Now looking back at that episode I feel so grateful to my teacher for that important lesson. I am following her advice in every doll I make. I pick up the image I want to create and work on it until the desired character begins looking at me.
My first doll was successfully finished a month later. I made Toto from the same clay and glued some black sheep's fur to it.
While making a house wall with the door I was assisted by my husband - he made the wooden frame which I covered by cardboard and then painted it.
DOROTHY doll has been exhibited at several dolls fairs. But I don't sell it since it is my talisman. It brings me luck. For me this little girl is a vivid example of how easily the obstacles can be overcome if you are brave, open-hearted, honest and simple.
