I took Miss Havisham on her first outing last week;
“You have been sitting around too long in this room” I informed her, “its about time you went out somewhere exciting”
I am sure she was pleased although she didn’t look that happy.
‘Aldershot …… great’
Yes – the West End Centre in Aldershot are holding their annual Open Exhibition from 19th November to the 19th December 2012 and it is open to all artists working in any medium who are allowed to submit up to 2 pieces of work. I am hoping that people will see Miss H and leave comments in the book – it would be useful to get feedback.
Miss Havisham is my prototype – I plan to do more busts early next year but need to improve upon this first attempt. She is constructed from calico – liberally doused in tea – and a mixture of fabrics so old that they didn’t need to be. She is decorated with crocheted flowers on her veil plus cobwebs that I made using dissolving fabric. On the front and sides are panels of illustrations worked in freehand (freestyle) machine embroidery; initially I drew the images freehand with a very thin rotring pen and copied the images onto silk to finish with embroidery. There are close up examples of the embroidered panels on the Mixed-Media and Textiles Page of this blog.
To mould her face I used a flesh coloured stockinette material and used a needle sculpting technique. I decided that I did not want to have a seam going down the middle of her face – as most needle sculptured dolls have – and I battled for a very very long time.
‘I want to be alone …’
The face needs improvement as it is not as thin as I would have liked – I over-stuffed her head but realised too late and couldn’t go back. I was aiming for a look more like the below:
Pencil sketch
I can’t believe that Miss Havisham would have been very attractive even when young. To have been pretty as well as rich and still be jilted by her bridegroom smacks of very bad luck.
My Miss Havisham, however, looks rather like my old headmistress – very, very scary.
Here endeth this bloglet.
I think I will take a walk tomorrow and go and meet Miss Havisham
Sent from my iPad
Lovely – would be interested in your thoughts. She is a bit difficult to spot as she is against a white wall. Looks a bit like me when I am sunbathing on a white sandy beach! I also have one of my Ugly Men on display.
Love the idea of a sculpted bust in texile and stitch – this has turned out very well. I hope she enjoys her travels more than she seems to be! =D
Thanks for that. Unfortunately it is a bit far for you to pop over and have a look at her ‘in the flesh’ but she is in the exhibition against a white wall and is quite difficult to see. I will have to devise some sort of stand for her with a dark backdrop. She used to sit perched on the back of our sofa and could be seen from the front window – gave our postman a nasty turn one day!
Poor postman! Still, it could have been worse … at least she didn’t bark at him and nip at his heels! =D
Miss Havisham is Soooo good!!! I am glad she got an airing!
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:45:12 +0000 To: jill_hawthorne@hotmail.com
Hi thanks Jill. I did some more work and tweaking since the last time you saw her and thought that although I was not completely happy with her it was time that I presented her to the public. It would be huge fun to add arms and ‘dress’ her but as she is almost lifesized it might be a bit of a challenge. Mmmm a full sculpture could be interesting though – Norman Bates’ mother springs to mind – I could sit her at the front bedroom window – perhaps enlist her on the Neighbourhood Watch scheme – and she could scare the locals witless. Yep.
Oh she is scary – i must see her in the flesh.
Oh wonderful – I am so pleased that you think she looks scary. When you read the book you get the impression of someone rather ugly and particularly intimidating – not as she is portrayed in films. I think (hope) I caught that slightly nasty look!
Pingback: Miss Havisham is on the razz again | KnitNell