and now the tattooed men

Back to regularly scheduled programming here. But really, I just had to get those lumberjacks out of my head.

This fellow is made from a very interesting piece of linen. I don’t usually use 100% linen. Turns out it is very hard to stuff well- it seems to have a mind of it’s own. Anyway- I liked this fabric and the wonderfully strange Asian images on it. I made him a long-waisted body so I could show the maximum of the images.

I love working with interesting toile and finding it is the main challenge of making my tattooed dolls. I am always on the look-out.

9 thoughts on “and now the tattooed men

  1. Interesting fabric! Looks like an old piece. I’m intrigued by your comment. Does it have a lot of bias movement or move in some other way? And did you overdye it first?

  2. It is not actually old- designed to look that way. It was one of those designer sample pieces. It came that nut brown color. First I thought it was too dark but then changed my mind the more I looked at it.
    The stuffing problems are hard to describe- the doll seems to get bulgy and out of shape unless I am very careful- more than any other fabric I’ve used.

  3. I imagine the lumber guys could be tatooed too, maybe? under all that beard and hair… awesome dolls, awesome style!

  4. Ah, now I know what you mean, Mimi! It looks like a fairly loose weave so I’m not surprised.

    Your placement of pattern and design/redesign of shapes is always so wonderful: as if the doll and the textile are in conversation. Love the position of the parasol there.

    Can I ask another question? At what point to you find your dolls begin to come alive for you? – does it happen at different times for different dolls, or is there a common moment? – the embroidering of a certain feature, say. If you’ve told about this somewhere else, apologies. And if I’m being too nosy, ditto. Pls ignore…

  5. If the eyes aren’t right, the doll will never work for me. It can be a real struggle sometimes!

  6. that fabric is really great! i tend to go for more of the textural look of that kind of linen, but the printing on it is so special!…beautiful mimi

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