I love making figurines that are brightly colored and embellished. They are my sculptural medium. I enjoy being able to take a flat fold of material, sew and manipulate it into a form, then bead, paint, embellish it into the final form I want.
Making soft sculptures enables me to explore a variety of techniques, not all of them fabric or fiber related. I use woodworking tools to create any bases I need. I have learned basic jewelry techniques to enable me to make jewelry I need in the size I need. I also learned to
solder so I can make my own armatures and supports. I have explored felting, dying my own fabric using a variety of different types of dyes and creating my own fabric using a fabric collage method and free motion machine embroidery. I use colored pencils, water color pencils, gel pens, permanent ink pens and acrylics to create each face. A variety of fibers including yarn, llama, alpaca, wool fibers, mohair and trim are used to create the hair style for each figurine.
I begin each sculpture by creating a body of cotton. The bodies are then stuffed and sometimes may be dyed, or painted with acrylic paints. I make the costumes using a variety of fabrics – cottons, silks, satins, brocades and hand dyed. I then embellish each costume by hand sewing lace, ribbons, trims, fiber, and beads. After the body is created and costumed, I finish the head, attach the hair and sew it to the body.
I create figurines from my own patterns and offer the patterns for sale. I also use the patterns of others in order to learn new techniques and skills.
My dolls have been shown in Doll Crafter and Costuming, Soft Dolls and Animals. Fire Mountain Beads and Gems have featured my dolls in some of their full page ads. In April 2010, Doll Crafter and Costuming featured my doll Lisette on the front cover and in the magazine. I have entered the Hoffman Challenge for the last 8 years and was honored in 2011 to be awarded the first place prize for cloth dolls! My dolls have traveled the United States and Canada, with their yearly traveling exhibits. In 2009 and 2010 I won awards in the sculpture division of the Southern Oregon Art Show in Grants Pass, Oregon with fabric sculptures 'Crowning Glory' and 'The Swallowtail,.
I will happly create a custom doll just for you! For commission work, please contact me by email.
About the Artist
Nancy Hall
