Now, I looked all over around here for the materials, and there Chaska had written out a perfect materials list, but folks around here didn't have the correct things, and I got to thinking about all the gas money just to get to Michael's and back, NEVER MIND how dangerous it is to let me loose in a store like that, so I said to myself," Dearest Self, we must get clever here and make do with what we have got:. "Not a problem." replied me, and off we, er, I, went.
First: I rolled up a piece of cardboard and taped it:
Then I snipped a circle with tabs for the bottom
And used some shipping newsprint with gel medium as if I was putting papier mache over all:
Half way done:
I added some flowers cut from thick paper, for texture:
And colored tissue on top of that for some color:
These are not Chaska's instructions. Don't follow all this if you want to make what she did. This is just, well, my mind's eye says that this will be great, you just maybe don't know that yet.
Then I snipped a circle with tabs for the bottomAnd used some shipping newsprint with gel medium as if I was putting papier mache over all:Half way done:I added some flowers cut from thick paper, for texture:And colored tissue on top of that for some color:These are not Chaska's instructions. Don't follow all this if you want to make what she did. This is just, well, my mind's eye says that this will be great, you just maybe don't know that yet.And thennnn:
I couldn't follow Kathryn Antyr's directions either on her Soul Journaling blog. But I had a great time:
I want to be a Soul Journaler when I grow up.
And a doll maker.
And a writer,
collager,
swimmer,
traveller,
vessel-maker,
ATC-ist,
and mixed media art quilt "seamstress" (That's most of them).
Well then, I'll be on about it then, yes?
And in keeping with my obsessive urges to use every scrap of paper on my desk (Earth Day, 1970, came at a particularly formative point in my life) these next two pages are filled with the artful (I hope) placement of some very tiny and pretty oddly shaped pieces of ... snipetts. One of them happened to be folded in half and so I just glued it down like that - then I realised that it was a little book! So I wrote in it and then started folding more and more papers and squeezed all of my thoughts behind these little doors. Among other things I was extolling the virtues of my children, which are legion, let me tell you. (As are the things that they need to learn.) But motherhood continues to be a deeply spiritual process for me and I am aghast most days at my childrens' ability to walk me right up the steps to the God/dess Of My Understanding. Where I remember to breathe. Where I weep.
God Bless The Children. 
And a close up of her lovely free motion machine stitching:
Another Grieving Angel. Their arms are embroidery floss wrapped sticks, and their hands are tassels of floss. For the soft touch I wanted, I think. I adore their faces. 
This doll stands a bit taller than the angels, about 20" tall. Her body is painted muslin but her face is just the cloth. Her heavily patched robe has been burned. Think metaphor here. These dolls were all made in the early 1990's. And that party had only just begun.
This doll is angry. Her hands, her means of expression, are all tied in knots. She has a headache. She is screaming.
I delight in the look of artists journals that are thick with collage and pockets with secret notes inside them, and have ribbons, lace, beads and charms dangling from their edges.
Well, it is ready for publication - just about. I would like to have a few people test it. My friend 
Please only respond if you have time to do this within a week - time is a bit of the essence: I have a projected publication date of October 1st (presentation at an important venue) and I would like time to work in any suggestions that you all may have. 
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