Monday, December 20, 2010

Las dos Fridas


They are my more recent dolls, based on the original painting by Frida Kalho "The two Fridas". Join me in the journey...

Ellas son mis munecas mas recientes, basadas en la pintura original de Frida Kalho "Las dos Fridas". Acompanenme en la jornada que me llevo a realizarlas...




This painting was the root of my inspiration, I started wondering what if I can actually interact with the elements of a painting, to bring two-dimensional objects to the real world and have a lot of fun with them.

Esta pintura fue el origen de mi inspiracion, comence a preguntarme si era posible interactuar con los elementos de una pintura, poder manifestar en tercera dimension lo que antes solo existia en dos planos.

Also it was very inspiring to see a special part in the "Frida" movie by Salma Hayek, it was the closest thing I have seen about the idea I had. It is the scene where she is drinking and finds Chavela Vargas sitting at a table, Chavela starts singing "La Llorona" (The Weeping Woman), which is a song very important and transcendental in the Mexican culture. I will talk about the song later on.
Then Frida (Salma), starts walking around and finds the other Frida dressed in white, heartbroken and lonely.

 Tambien fue inspirador para mi el ver una escena particular de la pelicula "Frida" actuada por Salma Hayek, esta escena ha sido lo mas cercano respecto a la idea que tenia en mente. Es cuando Frida esta tomando en una cantina y encuentra a Chavela Vargas en una mesa, esta ultima comienza a cantar "La Lorona", cancion que es muy popular e importante dentro de la Cultura Mexicana, y de la cual hablare despues.


The first process was drafting the dress patterns, cutting the fabric, and starting the slow process of sewing, many of the pieces had to be hand sewn, due to the intricacy of the clothing (One thing is PAINTING dresses and another one is SEWING the dresses!) If just Frida knew...

El primer paso fue trazar los patrones de los vestidos, cortar la tela y comenzar el lento proceso de coserlos. Muchas de las piezas tuvieron que ser cosidas a mano debido a lo intrincado de la vestimenta (Una cosa es PINTAR los vestidos y otra es COSERLOS!) Si solo Frida supiera... 















All right, we have the clothing in there, now lets talk about the dolls

Muy bien, he ahi la ropa, ahora vamos con las munecas.





They have a needle sculpted noose, and the body has been painted with a water resistant primer, then acrylic paint, then a coat of water resistant varnish. They are washable! It is enough to clean them with a little bit of soap, and dry them with a soft towel without rubbing them.

La nariz ha sido realzada con aguja (escultura en tela) y el cuerpo lo pinte con un sellador a prueba de agua, despues con acrilicos y por ultimo con un varniz mate resistente al agua. Es posible lavarlas! Suficiente con  limpiarlas con un poco de jabon suave y secarlas con una toalla suave sin frotarlas.



Then I sewn the ears, and painted their underwear. In the original painting they have their hearts depicted on the clothing, but after too much work with the dresses I just did not want to disturb them anymore. So I painted those hearts in the brassieres.  More discreet, I think.
In their underwear I wrote the phrases "La Zandunga" for the Frida dressed in Mexican costume, she has a whole heart and holds Diego's portrait in the painting; and "La Llorona" for the one in white dress, she has a broken heart and is bleeding. They are names of popular Mexican songs, "La Zandunga" talks about a girl that plays with a boy and breaks his heart, "La Llorona" is more complicated, just think that the English translation is Weeping woman, then there you go.

Despues les cosi las orejas y pinte su ropa interior, en la pintura original se pueden ver los corazones sobre la ropa, pero despues de tanto trabajo con esos vestidos simplemente ya no quise tocarlos y pinte los corazones en los brassieres. Mas intimo, digo.
En las pantaletas escribi las frases "La Zandunga" en la Frida que esta vestida en traje de Tehuana, tiene el corazon completo y sostiene el retrato de Diego en la pintura, y "La Llorona" en la que tiene el vestido blanco, cuyo corazon esta partido y sangra. Estas frases son nombres de canciones populares mexicanas, "La Zandunga" habla de una mujer que juega con un hombre y le rompe el corazon. La Llorona es mas complicada, simplemente es la llorona.


   


Time to root the hair. I used black yarn, 80% wool, 20% polyester, and needle felted each one on the head. They don't have bald spots, and their hair can be stylized again. 
Tiempo para ponerles cabello. Use estambre negro 80% lana, 20% poliester, y los inserte usando una aguja para afelpar. Sus cabezas estan completamente cubiertas de cabello, sin huecos, y pueden ser repeinadas.


At this point I wanted to base one of Frida's corset in another of her paintings "The broken column". I adapted the image so it can be used by children, my dolls don't have age restrictions.
En este momento quise basar uno de los corset de Frida en otra de sus pinturas "La columna rota". Adapte la imagen para que pudiera ser usada por ninos, mis munecas no tienen restricciones basadas en edad.
At the end of the journey they look like this:
Al final de la jornada se ven asi:



More pictures of their clothing:

Mas fotos de su ropa:










They can be hung too. Both have a string and black buttons in the back of their heads.
Ambas pueden ser colgadas en la pared. Tienen botones negros y un cordon atras de la cabeza.


Finally I can say that actually it is possible to play with art! Thanks for joining me in the journey.

Finalmente puedo decir que es posible jugar con el arte! Gracias por haberme acompanado en la jornada!



8 comments:

  1. Beautiful blog, beautiful dolls! Have a wonderful New Year!
    Take Care,
    Robin

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  2. Thanks for your visit Robin, have a wonderful New Year too, and many many hours of doll making!

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  3. What a great blog! You make beautiful dolls, Margarita.

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  4. I'm glad I found your blog (via MAIDA)
    Great work! Great tutorial on the making of these lovely dolls........and thanks for posting in English as well as Spanish!

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  5. Thanks McNally family for your comments.I like your blog too!

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  6. I am so impressed with these dolls. I had an opportunity to see the painting on which they are based in the early 1980s. There was a large exhibit of Latin American art at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.

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  7. increibles tus muñecas de Frida!!!! te envié un mensaje por Etsy... te encontré hoy por casualidad ya que yo también hago muñecas de Frida y me han parecido hermosisimas!!!!! muchas felicidades!!! un abrazo fuerte...

    me permití poner la foto de tus muñecas en el area de inspiración en mi blog con el link a tu tienda... :)

    un abrazo!

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  8. Muchas gracias por tu visita y comentarios Cara!
    Que padre que hagas munecas inspiradas en Frida, hay mucha tela de donde cortar.

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