Stitched Heads

fig 4

fig 3

During the time that I was making the orange doll I had accumulated scraps of material which I had been keeping in a grey canvas bag, I had been considering how to make a head using the scraps of orange material. I decided that wrapping the material around a ball of stuffing would work however I didn't have enough orange scraps, so I cut open the grey bag and began trying to wrap it over the stuffing, which is the same technique I have used for making the limbs for the orange doll. I quickly found the limitations of this, there were folds of wasted material and it didn't wrap around the form, I decided to use patchwork instead. This was a much more time consuming process as I had to sew each individual patch, however it was more effective and gave the heads more of a secure form. When making the first head I had the intention of sewing a face into it however when I had finished sewing the patches I felt as though the piece was complete. I still wanted to create a head with a face so I made a second sculpture, this piece was smaller than the first but made using the same technique and materials. I made the nose by adding an extra patch and stuffing it into the shape I wanted, I then sewed detail into it using black thread to make the eyes and mouth. I made the third head using the scraps of orange material I had originally intended to use, I used the same technique as the first head and didn't include a face. I feel that the orange material makes the head much less unnerving than the grey heads, I think this is because of the bright, tactile material and the way the stitching almost buries itself into the fur. These sculptures have made me venture from solely making full scale dolls, although they originally were just experiments they have become a new area of work and have inspired many ideas.