Making mini Izannah Walker doll

I love Izannah Walker dolls, they have a kind of peace in their faces. This time I wanted to make a mini Izannah, she measures 3 3/4 inches, and I followed the procedure of making a stuffed cloth body, and sculpting her head, hands, and feet in paper clay.

Me gustan bastante las munecas Izannah Walker, su cara posee cierta paz que inspira. Esta vez hice una Izannah miniatura, solo alcanza 3 3/4 pulgadas, mas o menos 9 cm. Segui el procedimiento de hacerle su cuerpo de tela y esculpir su cabeza, manos y pies con paper clay.

I made 3 of them, I was so happy! One after another.
Hice 3 munecas al mismo tiempo, estaba tan contenta! Una tras otra.

I started working with the one in the middle, and she became a very pretty little lady.

Empece a trabajar con la de en medio, y se convirtio en una munequita hermosa.

I made her clothes from an original dress from 1855, following the traditional Victorian sewing, which I deeply love. The Victorian sewing is highly professional, they did not have machines, and every detail is outstanding. A dress this size was going to be impossible to make in a machine, that was out of question. The Victorians gave me all what I needed, and I got a dress with no raw edges, no double cloth layers, everything with the precision of a Swiss watch. A petticoat and drawers in vintage, sturdy cotton fabric finished her clothing nicely. I hand painted the pieces before sewing with textile paints, and gave them a wash to give them a warm worn look. I wanted Izannah to look like she has been playing during 200 years and still be alive and happy.

Hice su ropa basandome en un vestido original de 1855, siguiendo la tradicional costura Victoriana, la cual realmente adoro. La costura Victoriana es de alta calidad, aquellas mujeres no tenian maquinas, y cada detalle es preciso. Iba a ser imposible coser un vestido de este tamano en la maquina, eso estaba fuera de duda. Las costureras victorianas me dieron precisamente lo que estaba buscando, y obtuve un vestido sin orillas deshilachadas, sin tanta tela doblada, todo con la precision de un reloj suizo. Una faldilla y calzones de manga larga, ambos hechos en tela de algodon antigua terminaron su atuendo. Antes de coser pinte la tela a mano con colores textiles, y los lave para que tomaran una apariencia usada. Queria que Izannah se viera como si hubiera estado jugando por 200 anios y aun siguiera viva y contenta.

I had to sew in place each piece of her clothing, due to her small size that made impossible to use buttons, hooks, I did not want to use velcro, and this one was too thick for this size tough. Then I took a picture of each of the clothes, before sewing them forever on Izannah.

Tuve que cerrar cada pieza de su vestimenta; debido a su pequeno tamano me fue imposible usar botones, o ganchos, y no quise usar velcro, ademas de por si era muy grueso para ella. Asi que tome una foto por cada una de sus prendas, las cuales iba cosiendo de manera permanente.

Izannah was sold last week on E-Bay during a very exciting bidding, and right now she is traveling to Florida, where she will have warmer winters from now on. It was a lot of fun to make her. Regards, Jean!

Izannah fue adquirida en E-Bay la semana pasada durante una subasta bastante emocionante, y ahora viaja hasta la Florida, donde va a tener inviernos mas calidos. Me diverti mucho al hacerla. Cuidala mucho Jean!

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!