A Little Bit Of Whimsy

I create because I have no choice in the matter. It's ingrained in my psyche, a place I have escaped into since childhood. It has been a lifelong love affair because it never stops giving me what I need to survive, and filling me with pride and wonder when I stop to look at what I've created.

I love all art practices, dabbling in a bit of everything, but nothing felt as transformative or elevating as the first time I realized I could make my art into 3D creations, art dolls and toys in particular. It's my expression of the affinity I share with animals and children, preserving the whimsical, wonderful and innocent. It helps me stay positive, lifts my mood and lets me share my joy with others.

I have a chronic illness and spend a lot of time debilitated in bed with pain, unable to plan ahead, living without any normal day to day structure. Sometimes I feel so vulnerable and helpless to my condition, not only for the pain and uncertainty but also the physical and mental fatigue it brings. The real beauty of creating these dolls is I can work on them when I’m too sick or tired to do other things. They’re small and light and portable, and can be worked on while laying in bed, when anxiously waiting for an important doctors appointment, while on long road trips, on lunch breaks in between work, or just while in the company of friends.

I'm inspired by so many things. The strongest influences that come to mind are anthropomorphic characters from 1900s to 1950s illustrations and cartoons, the nostalgia of pastel rainbow toys from the 1980s, 1970s craft magazines such as Golden Hands, and an unwavering love of natural history and the natural world. In my early days of figure making I was influenced by histories of alchemy and magic, storytelling, mythology and rituals. I was gradually led into toy making, cloth dolls and the fabulous world of puppetry. Puppets are such a perfect mix of story, character and craft, and have allowed me to travel overseas and work with lots of amazing people in Taiwan, India, Germany and Japan, as well as here at home in Australia.

I love antique and vintage fabrics from different countries and eras, starting with mohair, stiffened cloth, linen, cotton and patterned fabrics. I am always on the look out for inspiring materials & supplies, preferring used, rescued & sustainable materials as much as possible. Sometimes I dye fabrics or wools to get the required colour. There is so much that goes into a single creation and is very much a labour of love. I couldn't imagine using shortcuts to create them.

I like to make my dolls accessible to children to encourage their creativity, especially in the excessive plastic of our throwaway culture. It shows them that making things yourself is its own reward, and has a value that store bought toys simply can not give you, and hopefully inspires them by proving you can make anything you can dream.

A big part of my inspiration is making personalized gifts for people in my life. I love customizing a creation that responds to someone's interests, or making a doll version of their pets. It’s very satisfying to bring my own style to their loves and passions and personality, growing it into its own creation. It also feels good to give them away to my friends and their children. I’m not a very driven business person and am much more inspired by creativity, love and generosity, especially for the kids in my life.

My process is very organic. I prefer not to follow patterns, and if I make some they are there as a rough guide or quick sketch if anything. I always sculpt a face and paint it before deciding on the fur or fabric colour. In the case of cloth dolls I embroider the features into the fabric first before cutting the sections out, it keeps all my dolls unique and lets me follow the flow of their expression. The workspace can get chaotic pretty quickly, forming a circle of fabrics, wools and thread around me so all my aesthetic options remain visible, my curious cat always insisting on becoming involved by sitting on exactly the thing I need. Even so, it's usually a very cathartic and meditative process. Nothing beats putting on a long audio book or some instrumental music and getting lost in the flow of creating.