‘dolls take the stage …

I have been making my coat hanger dolls for over a year and they remain little changed since. They still represent the child’s view on the world.  The six-year-old has matured but she is easily transported to the old world and particularly since the pandemic. With enriched resources and some interesting technical advances, the ‘dolls now enjoy a play life away from weather hardship and passing of time … in a wonderful theatre of magic in a space imagination. 

While my ‘dolls are called coat hanger dolls for expediency I will use the word ‘dolls. The ‘dolls are carefully made, sculpted with wire, then felted, it is a complex and lengthy task but can be done in a pleasing and orderly fashion.  Even after an industrial episode to make a dozen or so, no two are alike, even without clothes they have their own delightful character.  They are without gender and their colour has no relation to nationality. They have heads but facial features or hair, with looplike hands with no fingers and very large feet.  As they are at the mercy of gravity, they have Velcro hook soles so they can stand on the Velcro loop stage.  While having disarming characters it was not until they were animated, with the magic of stop motion that they came alive and able to inhabit a 1:6 world on a workmate stage.