Team Docka: Introducing "Simone"

"I am a traveling lady, it's true.
I was born in Texas, and I've been to Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa!"

"I began as just a bust, then SpiritMama took me on a car trip from Austin, TX all the way to Northern Iowa. We had a great time in the car. She brought along wire and dowels to construct my body, but guess what? She ran out of dowels before my bottom half was finished! Fortunately her hubby likes Starbucks, so we grabbed some extra stir sticks and we were back in business (yes, I have Starbucks stir sticks built into my armature)!"




"We were less that half way to Iowa when my body was done. SpiritMama didn't bring clay, but not to worry, she grabbed her hubby's iPhone and found a craft store in Witchita with some clay. My hands and feet were sculpted between Kansas and Nebraska. SpiritMama used the ends of a straw from Whataburger to add detail to my hands and feet."

"Next I'll be visiting Mealy Monster Land in New York! I can hardly wait. Some women may be intimidated by the idea of shacking up with a crowd of little monsters, but I'm an adventurous soul and I think I can win them over. At least I'm up for the challenge! "

xxxooo,

Simone

Team Docka: Payten journey

Payten is my doll for team Docka, the second team I am participating on for this years traveling doll project. Since I am on two teams I really wanted to make a connection with my dolls. I started by making them look similar, sisters.
I know they are both going to come back completely different but was really interested to see how much. Payten will be making her
first stop with Allegro Melody.

The first journal entry for both teams journals are the same.
A little poem about the dolls.

SISTERS
Two sisters that have never met.
To become the characters that they will be, maybe a blond or a brunette.
Traveling the globe and throughout the land
and meet back home with stories in hand.
My dear friends I wish you the best,
these sisters can be quire a pest
Demanding that they be this way or that,
"I want pink hair and I wand a hat."
I hope you all can put them in their place,
and on top of that paint them a nice face.
I am looking forward to their return
and to see what they have learned.

Team Docka: Peregrina begins her journey

Peregrina is preparing for her great journey to the lands of Mealy Monster Land (Nicole) and SpiritMama (Waxela) !

She's about 14 inches tall and is made of cloth with paperclay, painted with acrylics, and is jointed with beads and buttons.

She's ready for her adventures, and ready for two extremely creative doll artists to work their magic on her!

Here she is in progress - a lump of clay, some body parts, and a styrofoam egg.

I debated whether to paint her at all, but decided that she needed a face and some undies. Now I can't wait to see what the two other artists will do with her!

Here she is with her book to chronicle her journey.

In the meantime, Payten has arrived from the land of Nicole, ready for her second artist's touch.

A little more about Peregrina. It's a name that means "pilgrim" and is the subject of a beautiful song composed in Mexico in the early 1920s by Yucatecan poet Luis Rosada de la Vega with music by Ricardo Palmerin. It was commissioned by Felipe Carrillo Puerto, progressive governor of the Yucatán in 1922, for his love, the San Francisco journalist (and later art patron) Alma Reed. You can read more about their tragic love story here, and you can read the lyrics to the song. I haven't found an English translation yet, but you see it run through Google's web page translation here.

Here's a video of the famous Jorge Negrete singing Peregrina with scenes from the movie El Rebelde (Romance de antaño) in 1943.

Of course, I realize that adventures can change in mid-stream and Peregrina may take on a completely different personality, but it's always fun to start with a story!

Team Boneca.....Ginny is ready to go!!!

Hi.....My name is Virginia, but you call just call me Ginny, I like that better:)

Jacqui tells me I am going on an adventure??? I am not really sure what to expect and to be quite honest, I am a bit scared!
She assured me that the ladies I am seeing are really nice and are going to give me some more clothes:) I think that would be nice, I am a bit chilly. They are also going to give me some hair which I am hoping will make me look more like a girl:)



I started this journal so that I don't forget anything that happen to me and I can share this with Jacqui when I get back.


I am first going to see a nice lady name Bari http://www.fineartstudioonline.com/ in Arizona.....I sure hope it is warmer there then it is here in Canada!! Then I will be off to see Deena http://www.fabbydolls.blogspot.com/ in Michigan. Jacqui is very happy to be taking part in this project with these two wonderful doll artist so I am going along with it in trust I will be in good hands. Jacqui says not to worry that it will be a wonderful experience and I will come back a changed girl!!



Well I am going to get into my box now (she says she will make it as comfortable as possible) along with my journal and I will be off to see the wizards!!

Tata for now my friend and I will keep you up dated on my journey:)

Team Boneca - Ready to Roll!

Unlike my other TDP doll, I have no name yet for this doll that will be traveling across the water to Canada. My partners (Odddollz by Jacqui and Bari's Fairies) both work with clay, I just plant in clay pots. SO....I wanted them to be able to add to the doll so I wired the head and arms (for head and hands) and I am hoping that is how it can be done. If not, my entire doll can be disassembled so each artist can work on her and she can be "set in place" at the end of her journey. The only clue as to what may have inspired her is that Adam Lambert's version of "Mad World" written by Tears for Fears had been running through my mind for days as well as Janis Ian's "At Seventeen". Both songs are about trying to "fit in" to society's version of "normal". Odddollz + Fairies - sounds normal to me!

Leather skirt that will NEVER fit again....

Cage that has been hanging around FOREVER!

Feathers, trim and a cool clasp that was WAITING for a project to be used on...

Exposed wire for that head and some hands that I talked about...perhaps there will be a LITTLE SOMETHING for the inside of the cage? Hey, I want to make the most of this experience!

Bon Voyage!

Team Boneca- New World

Well, this is certainly awkward...I’m naked and apparently quite bald. For that matter I’m not entirely certain of my gender. When I expressed my concerns to the woman I’ve been staying with, she said ‘all things come with time’, and left me in her guest room to entertain myself. My failing memory concerns me, and I’ve started a journal to help me better comprehend my situation.
My understanding is this is just my first stop, and that I’ll be traveling for some time then returning here at my journey’s end. She said that I’d get all the answers to my questions later - I should just be patient for a bit, and enjoy the ride.
She showed me my travel compartment today. It’s very little better than a cardboard box. Honestly, the accommodations could stand some improvement.
My name is Wynn."

Team Poupee: Delta Dawn Begins her Journey

My beginning doll for this year's Traveling Doll Project is starting off with a name, a body, some fancy white cotton undergarments, a set of Ultraleather rain boots, and no head. She is a 12" all-cloth doll with a wire/brass rod armature and, at the moment, a plain unpainted wooden base.



My inspiration for this doll was the popular 70s song "Delta Dawn," written by Alex Harvey and Larry Collins and performed by Helen Reddy, Tanya Tucker and Bette Midler.



The song, if you aren't familiar with it, goes like this:

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky

She's forty-one and her daddy still calls her "baby"
All the folks 'round Brownsville say she's crazy
'Cause she walks downtown with her suitcase in her hand
Lookin' for a mysterious dark-haired man

In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn
Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on
Then a man of low degree stood by her side
Promised her he'd take her for his bride



For this doll, I am imagining a woman who has made some unfortunate choices in her life and has pretty much lost everything, including her mind. She is wandering around town with just a suitcase, basically waiting for her afterlife to sort of swoop her up and give her some relief.



According to the song, she was once a beautiful woman. Probably with a bright future. That is all behind her now, and she's just left with faded dreams and a faded rose.



That's my idea. But you know how these things go. Anything could happen between now and 6 months from now. Let's just wait and see.

Team Poupee Hester Bates

Meet Hester Bates. Creating is a strange and wonderful process. My intent this year was to start a doll that was basically a blank canvas, no name, no age even no sex. Of course once I got going this all changed. Chalk it up to creative process or perhaps the desire to retain some control over my own creation, not sure.

Hester Bates was inspired by a 1920's baby journal I acquired at a local estate sale. The book, though horribly tattered is stuffed full of pictures, poems, baby's firsts of everything, vintage cards etc.. I often find myself sifting through the journal and taken back to this womans life as a young mother, wife, a woman living in my home town many years ago with hopes, dreams and aspiration for her budding family that I'm quite sure are similar to mine as a wife and mother living in New Orleans. 100 years may pass but the truth is those feelings of motherhood are eternal.

I thought how wonderful to use Hester Bates words and efforts at documenting her life as an inspiration for future mothers to draw from. I like to think Hester would enjoy the fact that 4 mothers who are also artists will use her story to draw from and relay in a new journal and in the creation of an art doll thier own feelings and experiences of a being mother in 2010.

My plan is for our creations to become an appendix to the original journal. My hope is that in 100 years from now another group of mothers will pick these items up and again be inspired by the words, creations and dreams of mothers past.

Hester and her journal have been sent to Susie McMahon in Tasmania Australia. Sending my work to Susie is a tad unnerving as she is an amazinly accomplished artist, though I can't deny I'm thrilled that she (as well as each of my other team mates) will be working on my doll. Farewell for now my dear Hester.

Team Poupee Intrepid Isabella Sets Out

Isabella (from Team Poupee) probably has the furthest journey to make in this TDP - all the way from Tasmania to the USA and back. But Isabella is fearless and intrepid and sets out on her journey (dressed only in her stripy socks) with only a little anxiety..........she's ready for adventure and new experiences and she has a new journal to record everything!

Team Poupee: Harper's journey

Last year was such a adventure for me with the traveling Doll Project.
I loved seeing how my vision of what I thought my doll was change and transform.
How my original idea of a circus fat lady turned into a scantly clad, woman of leisure.
This project is such a amazing opportunity and pleasure, to work with all these incredible artists and have them add a little of themselves on your doll! WOW
So this year I signed up to participate on two mini teams!

my first doll, Harper, on Team Poupee, is getting ready to make her way to Cindy Sowers, her first stop on a team of four. I am so excited to see what Cindy does with her!
Harper and her sister Payten, Payten is my doll for the second team I am on, are getting ready to begin their adventure, off to different parts of the world and meet back here at
mealy monster land.