I have been working along on an art doll, which is to have a theme of moths. I have had this idea in my mind for a long time, of the "Moth fancier." The person who likes moths, and they come to her, by virtue of her liking for books, and clothing, both of which moths like to eat. I have had a few favorite sweaters succumb to moths before I wised up and got cedar blocks.
Ok, so I started the doll by sculpting a head, and breastplate, which fit over the neck of a long bottle...
And I cut out some geranium leaves. I might have to darken those leaves somehow.
The idea with the geranium is that it provides shade, inside the bottle. I have noticed that moths really like geraniums in summer, and often fly out of them when I water. That is, even if they haven't been able to eat the leaves, they like the shade in them later, when they are moths.
Ok that's a lot of backstory, I guess, on my observations about moths; but there's more. Virginia Woolf wanted to write a novel called "The Moths" and refers to it often in her later diaries, but she later changed it to "The Pargiters" (The stone-masons). She never finished the novel.
Also, moths were studied in the 1800s by entymologists ("Moth-fanciers"), because in their change from one form to an entirely different one, moths and butterflies were thought to contain possibly a secret key, to life.....
Although I have interesting whatnot to
refer to about moths, and like them, the doll is going to be about my personal
stuff..... transposed (metamorphozed?) into a piece of art. I hope.
I continued by festooning her with moths, but now I can't figure out whether the moths should be paper, or cloth.
I made the moths using fake fur with trim wrapped around it, and fabric. Their antennae are made of silk fringe from a very old piano shawl. The fabric moths are only about an inch wide. The paper moths (directly above) are from vintage collage sheets. They are more realistic, but also more cartoony, in their way. They don't have the softness and texture of fabric.
So much to consider, with an art doll. Having decided what the idea behind the doll is, I have to find a somehow pleasing way to represent it.... I think if I can decide which moth to use, fabric or paper, that will help me "moth along" on this doll....
