Who's your Dada Doll?

Ok - this is WAY harder than it looks. My hats are off to the artists i was inspired by shown here. I had everything we needed to create some book dolls at our monthly altered book swap group. Sadly due to circumstances beyond our control - only Carol and I were able to attend. ok - more goodies for us to play with!

We had the books, the rusty metal parts created here. And all the junk that one might want to include like doll limbs and heads, spools of thread, wooden and glass beads, and like a dozen different kinds of wire.

So maybe i should take a class with Michael deMeng or the O'Briens. There is clearly a skill involved with wrapping wire that I do not possess. Oh, yes - i am good at a great many things. Making wire look smooth and artfully coiled? Not so much. Click on photos to see how mangled my wire joinery is. Don't click and live blissfully unaware of how yucky they look up close...


I chose a book entitled Lucille to start. I wanted her to be a "girl" since i found those awesome brass pieces that i just knew would make the coolest wings EVER. Like in the history of mixed media artwork. Too bad her name is very faint and doesn't have the impact i would have liked. Because i had all the rusty metal parts, but wanted her to be feminine, i used a mixture of screws and bolts, but added pretty beads and shank buttons for hands and feet.


For my next piece i wanted to use the book titled Human Being - because how creative would it be to use an old circuit board to adorn his chest? get it? like he is human in spirit, but robotic in form? whatever....!!

I added a non-matching set of limbs, including an old hook and some washers. That's a fancy coat hook he is hanging from - not metallic hair sprouting from his faucet handle face. But wouldn't it be cool if it was?!


Carol created the coolest doll person of all, using a book entitled The Girl from Montana. When i bought this book i wished i had a mini cowboy hat. But Carol managed to capture the essence of the frontier with a decorative button and tassles turned to make pigtails for her button head! Then brass drawer pulls create "hands-on-hips" with western attitude. Because she too is a "girl" book, she gets sparkly beaded sleeves, stars for hands and swirly chains for legs. A bright red faucet handle means she is ready for you to turn her on. Doesn't get more girly-girl than that.....!