I took one polymer doll class, and what - now I’m an expert?! I’m a beginner at this and always full of ideas, but sometimes with more confidence than is good for me. I had made ‘Mother Earth’ a while ago, right after my very first class at my very first CDAA conference, but even then I knew she needed more somehow. I even had her up on ebay for a while, but now I'm glad that no one bought her! When the theme came up for the conference 2006 I knew! She needed her friends: earth, wind and fire. I must have sketched a million things before I figured out if I wanted to attempt it. The sketch was the easy part. I had a concept  - now I had to figure out how I was going to get it to come together.

The Solstice witches I created for the "Elements" theme were to tell the story of the four witches who came to call their natural elements; Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, calling together in a circle.  When the theme first came up I wondered... what were the elements anyways... is it air, or wind?... Chinese, or traditional? I kept having the name of the band running in my head, confusing the whole thing. As it turned out there were several interpretations. I ended up producing all four elements together, instead of showing just one.

I sculpted the figures from Super Sculpey over a wire armature. Knowing what they looked like in my head and on paper is often a whole different story from getting them to "come from your fingertips", as anyone will tell you. Their basic bodies were all the same, standing with legs slightly spread and with their eyes closed as they summoned their element. (There was one that ended up becoming something else...because she ended up being way too short... what was I thinking?! )The position of their arms and hands were determined by what they were calling. Mother Earth, was to hold a clump of soil with a sprouting seedling, and was going to wear a dress of flowered ribbons, and a wreath upon her head. Water was my next project. She was dressed in white and had to have drops of water falling from her arms and hands. Her hair was also to appear wet, with raindrops falling from it. Fire was my next element, with her gown of recycled sari silk fibre combed out to simulate tongues of fire, her hair on end, and arms and hands raised bringing forth flames. Wind was next. Her gown of ribbons to appear to be blowing about her in a flurry of leaves, her hands and arms low, calling the wind about her.

Finding the right adornment for your dolls is tricky. I’ve found ribbons to be great, you can get them already wired so you can form them into those tricky shapes. They can easily give you movement even when your doll is obviously standing still.

Creating an environment for my "elements" to be in was a whole new challenge for me. Heck, it’s all new to me, I learn as I go - what works and what doesn’t. But it is so great to play!  Of course I had to have them standing within a circle of stones, as that’s where there is the most magical power on Solstice. I cut the stones from florists foam and painted them with acrylics and then varnished them and placed them on a fabric covered cardboard circle which I was using for my base. I had seen some of the results from the conference workshops by Isobel & Vaughan Tyrer, on how to build a pond and props, and decided to try something I had heard about from one of their students. I used a resin to simulate the water, and once I saw how quickly it was drying I quickly scrambled downstairs from my apartment to the garden to search up some small twigs and stones to set in the water. The resin also helped to give my water doll a more secure fitting. I used a mossy ground cover for the places where the others were standing. My fire element had her own ground cover with her flaming gown.

I was really proud of my creation, and was excited to show it at the conference. Even though ‘Solstice’ didn’t win a ribbon, I was pleased with how much I learned during the process; about doll making and using new techniques I’ve picked up from the conference. You never know when something you hear about will be helpful, or where you will get your next inspiration! I know I keep coming up with these extraordinary ideas, they’re always very involved, but everyone needs to challenge themselves to new things. Keep on creating and experimenting!

Nancy McGall
littlebitwired.etsy.com