Heartfelt Dolls
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    • Heartfelt doll-making: a healing experience
    • Heartfelt Dolls: the memory keepers
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    • Heartfelt Dolls: companions for the journey
    • The Quotidian Doll: an introduction >
      • The Quotidian Doll Blog: introducing a Heartfelt-doll-a-day
    • Diaspora: the 101 dolls project
    • Heartfelt Dolls willing to leave home (for sale) >
      • Matariki
      • Through A Glass Darkly
      • Stitch Yourself a Boyfriend
      • Pink Walkers
      • Steampunk Dolls
      • Selfies
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • An English Country Garden
      • Hobo Chic
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      • Cosy up with a bit of skirt
      • Ice Palace
      • Troupe de verde
      • Animal Antics
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        • Shades of Gray Duets
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      • Calendar Girls
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      • Selfies
    • Heartfelt Companions: sharing my journey with you >
      • One-of-a-kind heartfelt dolls >
        • Julie Has Flown North For The Summer
        • Hot Flash!
        • Whoops!
        • Medusa
        • The Bag Lady
        • Purple people eater
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        • Place
        • Fertility Fairy
        • Smile
        • Blue Baths Belle
        • An Artist's Book
        • Pink Lady
        • Beloved
      • Heartfelt dolls in a series >
        • The Rainbow Connection
        • What's in a cup?
        • The Apple
        • Hi-Cut Internet Dolls
        • Godde Dolls
        • Shrines
        • The Rites of Autumn
        • Bibliophile
        • Seeing the world through different eyes
        • Akuba: encouraging change
        • It takes a village
        • Umbrella and Umbrage
        • A cautionary tale ...
    • Heartfelt Process, Heartfelt Transformation >
      • Matron Saints
      • Creative Guardians
      • The Nest
      • Freeing the caged heart: the poets and the dollmaker
      • The Unemployment Blues
      • The Bare Necessities
      • The Heroine's Journey
      • The Alchemy of Change
      • Sticks and stones
      • Stitch yourself a boyfriend
      • Inner Child
      • Salute to the Sun
      • Bindings
      • Euphrosyne: reclaiming joy >
        • Freeing the caged heart: poetry to lift your spirits
        • The Smiles Project
        • Dancing Feet
        • Irrepressible
        • Greening: a lenten journey
        • Wild Women Like to Dance
        • I Am Woman
        • Harakeke flowers
        • Circle of friends, vessel of hope
        • Dance
        • Spirit seekers, spirit guides
      • The Great Divide: one woman's experience of divorce >
        • Numb
        • Bound
        • Burlap and lace
        • Naked
        • Reclaim
        • Bitch
        • The Devil on my back
        • Burdened
        • God alone is enough
        • Simple heart
        • Broken dreams
        • Will the real me please stand up?
        • The Classifieds
        • Sing-a-song
        • Dark nights >
          • You are dying ...
          • Beast of burden
          • Wounded healer, broken heart
          • A moment of conversion
          • Unbuilding
          • Peace
          • Transform me
          • A clean heart
          • Unwrapped
          • Doormat
          • The weight of expectation
          • Promise
          • A new me
          • The fabric of my life
          • Struggle
          • Hanging
        • Dance me To The End of Love
      • Black Dog: one woman's experience with depression >
        • The Anti-depressants
        • Some days
        • What I wish you knew about depression
    • Heartfeltfelt Emotion >
      • Gold Angels: coping with tragedy
      • Emotions: a challenge
      • Lamentation
      • Heartfelt Anger >
        • Anger Management with Dammit Dolls
        • Dammit!
    • Heartfelt Celebration! >
      • I Shall Wear Purple!
      • Birthday dolls
      • Birthday cards
      • Julie's 21st
      • Celebrate my femininity!
      • Troupe de verde
    • Heartfelt Graffiti
    • Heartfelt Care >
      • Ageing >
        • I Shall Wear Purple
        • The Seven Ages Of Woman
      • For the children
      • Living with dementia
      • Say 'NO' to family violence >
        • You don't have to take it like I did
        • Are you the one?
      • Heartfelt Conservation >
        • Seduced By The Wild
        • Feathers Over Hamurana
        • Birds
      • Living with cancer
      • Breast Cancer Awareness >
        • Hello Dollies: an article
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        • Primal scream
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        • Paradox
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        • I Love you, Mum
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        • Dancing Woman Labyrinth
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    • Time Capsule series
  • Heartfelt Creativity
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      • Girl Reclining on a Sofa
      • Cotton-soft boas
      • Wild Women Like to Hang About
    • Heartfelt Stitch >
      • Mother's Little Helper
      • Needlewomen
      • Old Woman in a Shoe
      • Delight in a cup
      • Heartfelt Companion
    • Heartfelt Wrapping >
      • Colour Blind
      • Spirit dolls
      • Bound
      • Aspects of Self
      • Wrapping as an art form
      • Wild Women Like To Dance
    • Heartfelt vestis >
      • What a wonderful world!
      • A thanksgiving vest
      • Dalmatics
      • In Praise
    • Labyrinth >
      • Shell labyrinth
      • Breast Labyrinth
      • Labyrinth scroll
      • Stitched labyrinth
      • Dancing Woman Labyrinth
      • Hopi labyrinth
      • Bead labyrinth
      • Journey
    • ANZAC: a tribute >
      • ANZAC Quilt
      • Rawene Boys
      • ANZAC jacket
  • Heartfelt prayer
    • Heartfelt crocheted rosaries
    • Heartfelt Retreat >
      • An Advent Retreat in Daily Life
      • Our daily medicine: a 28 day reflection on living and dying
      • Hidden in Plain View: a retreat in daily life
      • 24 hours: a retreat reflecting on the passion of Jesus
      • Stations of the light
    • Heartfelt waiting: reflections on the season of Advent >
      • Matron Saints of Un-named Women
      • Advent is a vessel
      • Advent is a pilgrimage
      • Advent remembers we are all related.
      • Advent is creative
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      • Advent is a door
      • Advent: a sacred space
    • Stations of the Cross >
      • Christchurch Stations of the Cross
      • 24 Hours
      • Stations with haiku
      • John Badcock "Stations of the Cross"
    • Heartfelt Season: reflecting on the season of Lent >
      • A Lenten Walk
      • Lenten Prayer Flags
    • Heartfelt Hallelujah: reflections on the season of Easter >
      • Voices on the Via Lucis
    • Prayers from the Ark >
      • The Mouse
      • The Spider
      • The Dog
      • The Elephant
      • The Lizard
      • The Lamb
      • The Peacock
      • The Giraffe
      • The Toad
      • The Parrot
      • The Mother Hen
      • The Goldfish
      • The Cat
      • The Lion
    • Heartfelt Belief
    • Heartfelt Reflection >
      • These Parables Blow Me Apart!
      • A Single Thread
      • Every moment is gift
      • Harvest Wheat
      • Stepping out in faith
      • Harvest Heart
      • Dream catcher
      • The Sewing Basket
    • Sacred Story >
      • The Road to Emmaus
      • The Loaves and the Fishes
    • Listening To Winter
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      • Joy on a String
      • Changing Landscapes
      • Rites of Passage
      • Sowing and Reaping
      • Hidden In Plain View
      • An Emmaus Journey
      • God and Dog
      • Dear Julie
      • An Intentional Walk
      • The Widow's Might
      • Does God Exist?
      • The Sewing Basket
      • Advent: A Sacred Space
      • A Secular Liturgy
      • Your Call
      • Dance me To The End Of Love
  • "100 day" projects
  • Prayer flag project
    • Blessings on the wind: a year of blessings >
      • April blessings
      • March blessings
      • February blessings
      • January blessings
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      • November blessings
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    • Prayer flag blog
  • Gratitude Flowers

IGNITING CREATIVITY WITH HEARTFELT DOLLS

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THE RAINBOW CONNECTION

WE ARE ALL CREATIVE

Maya Angelou said,
"You can't use up creativity:
the more you use,
the more you have."

We make creative choices every day -
what we eat, what we wear, how we decorate.
The list is endless and filled with infinite variety.

What we need to do to ignite our creativity is to harness these choices-
make them conscious, mindful, deliberate, attentive, meaningful.

We need to make these choices a rich foundation for the creative projects we undertake.

And just as we eat and dress every day,
we need to nourish our creative souls, our creative practices.

COMMITMENT TO CREATIVITY

The secret to success in any creative field
is a dedicated work ethic.
Commitment to our practice is more important
than any 'natural ability' or 'God-given talent'.

The art and craft of doll making is no different:
it requires the doll-maker's love of the process,
and a willingness to do it every day,
even if it is doodling or designing or day-dreaming.

CHALLENGE YOUR CREATIVITY

The challenge to ignite our creativity comes from within
but there are many books, mentors and projects
which can support and encourage us on the way.

Some that I have used are:
Make Something 365 and Get Unstuck
The Prayer Flag Project
The Artist's Rule
The Artist's Way
The 100 Day Project
Drawing As A Sacred Activity
The Open Studios Project Art Residency
Solo and group exhibitions

PATTERN INTERPRETATION

Take a commercial pattern.
Interpret it in as many ways as possible.
Set a theme or a number or a time limit.
Doll-maker extraordinaire  elinor paece bailey suggests that every time
"...we improvise or interpret the doll form,
it takes on a new life.
As long as the doll-maker is excited,
it is evident in the doll."

Let your excitement show :-)

PATTERN FUN
TO LET CREATIVITY FLOW

Have fun interpreting doll patterns.
Change skin colour, size or hair style.
Mix and match body parts.
Shrink or enlarge the pattern.
Alter the sex, the face, the age, the clothing.
Again from elinor peace bailey,
"...let's make room for those whose muse
leads them to interpret the work of another."


USE A TIME CONSTRAINT
TO FREE YOUR CREATIVITY

Set yourself a time constraint -
thirty minutes, an hour, a day, you choose.
Set aside perfectionism, preconceived ideas, fear,
self-criticism, excuses.
Simply allow your intuition to come to the fore.

USE A TEMPLATE
TO IGNITE YOUR CREATIVITY

I love to use a template as a parameter.
This is both an asset as it reduces the number of decisions I have to make,
but it is also offers a challenge.
Sometimes I use a pattern or template I have designed myself.
Other times I will use a commercial pattern.
Keep within the boundaries of the template
or push and poke them until something magic appears.

CHOOSE A THEME
TO NURTURE YOUR CREATIVITY

I love to create dolls to express my thoughts around a theme.
Sometimes just a word
or a season
or a place
or a feeling.
Sometimes I like to explore issues that are important to me,
such as domestic violence,
or depression,
or fertility,
or conservation.
Find something that impassions you or annoys you or fascinates you
and explore, examine, explain.

USE EVERYDAY LIFE
TO EXPRESS YOUR CREATIVITY

We don't have to explore obscure or abstract ideas.
Try using the elements of everyday life:
food,
celebrations,
work and play.

CHOOSE A MATERIAL
TO CHALLENGE YOUR CREATIVITY

There is merit in using only 'tried and true' materials -
the product of your creativity will be assured.
But there is so much fun and so many 'Aha!' moments
when you play with non-traditional materials.
I have played with tea-towels and tray cloths;
non-returnable packets of ill-fitting underwear;
woolen nappies and swandris;
polar fleece and torn umbrellas.
Non-traditional materials can produce unexpected and beautiful results.
TRY IT!

LIMIT YOUR PALETTE
TO EXPAND YOUR CREATIVITY

Try limiting your palette and see what happens.
I found when doing The Rainbow Connection
and making 15 dolls for each of the colours of the rainbow,
that I came to new and wonderful understandings of colour.
I used black polar fleece to explore depression in
Somedays.
I used pastels to increase awareness about dementia in Rachel's Gift.
Sometimes I randomly choose a colour or two and challenge myself to create a series of dolls.
Ice Palace was the result of one such challenge.
Sometimes I use one colour as a springboard and coordinate the dolls around this colour.
Troupe de Verde  grew from a remnant of green fur fabric.

LOOK TO THE PAST
TO IGNITE YOUR CREATIVITY

Look to the past to kick start your creativity.
Peruse art books and history books.
Wander through museums and art galleries.
Watch films and documentaries.
And then .... play!

THINK LATERALLY
AND BE CREATIVE

We can't all be good at everything.
My camera skills are very limited but I am intrigued by the latest craze of taking 'Selfies'.
So I challenged myself to make small doll self-portraits,
which I attached to a vest with a brooch pin.
How could you take one medium and adapt it to your passion?

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO PLAY

Give yourself permission to play
especially when ideas or materials dry up.
I took postcards from The Open Studios Project
and embellished them with a collage doll.
I used old magazines and calendars
and a limited range of body shapes.
I really enjoyed myself :-)
(and I felt re-energized and ready to create dolls again.)

Picture

ALLOW TIME FOR CREATIVE RENEWAL

Don't assume that you will always be at peak creative practice.
We all need time to renew; to refresh; to re-energize.

When creative block hovers like a dark cloud,
or you feel frustrated and dried up,
there are many things to choose.
Take a break.
Read a book.
Visit a gallery or a favourite thrift shop.
Attend a workshop or class.
Try a different art or craft.
Challenge yourself.
Treat yourself.
Give yourself permission to day dream or play.

Give your creative self time to stretch and grow.

visit "heartfelt doll-making: a healing experience"
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