2015 #5 Deconstructed Dolly {by Darcy Wilkinson, PA Signature Designer}

2015 Theme 5: Deconstruction

Hi everyone, Darcy here with what can only be described as a 'weird creation' having said that I totally love her. When I first saw the theme, my mind was racing.. ooo creation out of destruction, now what could I destroy? 

Meet Lupica!

I started out with a cheap (50p) doll from a charity shop. I removed the head and part of one arm. Then I drilled a space into the bit of arm that was left. 

I wound strong wire around the neck, creating a ball shape. I stuffed this with waste paper and then added more wire for the beak. This is known as a wire armature. 

I wrapped masking tape tightly around the head and beak. This gives a good solid base for the clay. I use an air drying clay, you could buy some or you could make your own. I use this recipe. While the clay was still wet I inserted beads for the eyes and some cardboard for the teeth. This was left to dry for a couple of days. 

Now to give her some hair/feathers.. I rolled out the clay and used the triangle leaf from EDY14, pressing it lightly into the clay and cutting out with a knife. 

EDY14

As the clay does start to dry quickly I added each leaf/feather as it was made. I attached them with a little white glue, leaving some flat and others with a little dimension. 

I painted some tissue paper with Bougainvillea and flicked on a little Caribbean Sea. 

Onto the tissue I stamped the grasses from EDY11

 EDY11

The tissue was then glued to the throat area. the insides of the tiny leaves had more Caribbean Sea added, and the surrounding area was blending into the face using Blueberry. More Bougainvillea was added to the beak, and some rings of Caribbean Sea were added around the eyes. 

The hair/feathers were painted in a selection of bright colours, each one edged with a darker shade of that colour. 

I sanded the remaining 'skin' on the doll and then painted her with French roast, before adding a little Treasure gold. I then took a toy bicycle and deconstructed that.. saving just the wheels. I cut off Dolly's feet, and added the wheels. I rubbed a little Treasure gold over the rims. 

At this point it was getting difficult to hold her up and work on her, so I bought a doll stand. When it arrived it was stark white, so I coloured it with alcohol inks. 

Now for some more destruction.. I found a cheap corkscrew. Don't be fooled by the word cheap, whilst only 50p this thing was so well made it took me almost 2hrs to take it apart! A saw and a drill were involved, this was deconstruction on an epic scale!

I popped the metal parts of the corkscrew, some jewellery and some strips of ripped cotton fabric(painted with Frescos) into a tray. I dabbed everything with Versamark and then added Rusting powder. I left this for a little while and then sprayed everything with diluted white vinegar. I kept spraying everything every 30mins or so until it all rusted beautifully. 

I wired part of the corkscrew into the drilled out arm, then I covered the join with a little more clay, and left it to dry. 

I thought it was about time she got some clothes on. I took a large piece of Tyvek, and blended Fresco paints over it, using the same colours as the hair. Onto this I stamped images from EDY13 and the border from EDY12. 

EDY13

I turned over the top and stitched in some gathers.. quite a lot, she is super skinny! I also did some free machine embroidery around the stamped images. Then I put the skirt on her and tightened it at the waist. 

Tyvek is flammable, and as such it melts and bubbles and warps in a really cool way. I used a heatgun holding it over one area at a time. The longer you heat the more it will melt, hold too long and you will get holes... which of course you might want. The emboidery makes the melting tyvek pucker up around the stitches. 

I wrapped some of the rusted fabric strips around her bodice, and then hand stitched some strips of music paper to the waistline. 

This is how she looks now.. I love all the loose threads. 

I felt she needed more feathers, but they in turn needed to be attached to something.. looking for a new substrate to work on I came across an old leather coat.. which I then deconstructed..

and reconstructed into a much,much smaller coat. 

EDY12

I painted more leather, first with Snowflake and then with Caribbean Sea, Tangerine Twist, Bougainvillea, Buff ,Prawn and Blueberry. Then I stamped the leaf from EDY12, I also stamped the smaller leaf from EDY13.

Using a hot glue gun I attached them to the coat, smaller ones at the top. I felt they were a little bright so flicked some more Blueberry over them all. 

I felt she was sort of mystical, and so needed a staff. I painted some fabric with Bougainvillea, then crackle glaze then Nougat. over this I stamped the large flower from EDY12. 

I then painted a second piece the same and used a mirror stamping method to achieve a reverse image. I then layered one piece of fabric, music paper some crunchy wax paper, some tissue paper, more waxy, more music paper and the reverse image fabric piece. 

These were all stitched together leaving a small gap at the bottom, I pushed in some polyester wadding, and also a length of wooden dowel. I then ripped back all the layers, closer to the stitching. 

I found some old beads, more deconstructed tyvek, it makes great beads. I also used the hand that was cut off at the start. I threaded more homemade beads onto wire and then added rusting powder to make a rusty tiara. 

Here is the staff all finished. The dowel was painted with Blueberry and Bougainvillea, I wrapped some more of the rusty fabric strips around the stick. I then added the tyvek beads and the hand. 

The top seemed too clean, I wiped it over with French Roast, and then flicked some Blueberry so it matches the flicks on the coat. 

Here is the back all finished.. 

The rusty tiara in place.. 

Watching you with her beady,birdie eye..

and if you were wondering what happened to the original head...

I had a blast making this, does it show? I was really pleased how the clay stuck to the doll body so well, I love how the clay leaves turned out. painting on leather was new for me, but that turned out great too and I will be doing that again. This was also the first time I had used the rusting powder.. seriously you  have to give that stuff a try. 

Darcy 

Blog - Art and sole

Twitter - Darcy_uk_

I will be on the PaperArtsy stand at Ally Pally 11th and 12th April. come and say hello. 

We would love you to join in with challenge #5: Deconstruction If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Deconstruction link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, March 22nd, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.