Aunt Mimsy - 2006

This is the first doll of my current collection that is entirely finished. The design was inspired in part by Denise Marie Warner's Oh La La Garden Fairy, which was the cover feature in Art Doll Quarterly's Spring 2006 issue.

Aunt Mimsy is constructed from a basic wire armature... foil, tape and cotton batting... wrapped with cloth, attached to an old candle holder base. The head is cloth, with a sculpted mask made from polymer clay, detailed and accented with acrylic paint. She is clothed in wrapped strips of lush velvets and skirted with velvet, tencel and ribbon. Details include a snippet of antique lace that belonged to my grandmother, an antique button at the bodice, and a "dingle ball" for her little handbag (dingle balls have snaps on them and were once for holding mink stoles in place, circa 1930-ish). I've used various ribbons and silk flowers for her collar, bustle, underskirt and bonnet.

She was exhibited at the Columbia Gorge Art Festival in Corbett, Oregon in May of 2006.