The Other City

Radical Bodies

I've been so busy preparing for the upcoming Cirque Voltaire show, I've been neglecting my poor little blog.  I think I underestimated the time committment that a three and a half foot tall piece requires.  But I have one completed and one coming along very nicely and an old piece ready for the show. I am also planning on making myself a long, yarn wig. 

But what I really wanted to talk about is my plan for the next piece I will do, once everything is ready for the show.  I wish I could finish her in time for the upcoming show, but there is no way.  Not unless I took off my day job and worked flat out.  She is going to be a fat woman.  A fat woman with long, dramatic pink hair and a face inspired by Emily Autumn.  And she's not going to be just a ball with legs, she is going to be complex.  She will have folds and rolls of flesh, which will be a challenge to do in crochet.  And she will be arrayed in things we think of beautiful women wearing, because she will be beautiful. She will also probably have to be a large piece

I've planned this for a while, but it is so time for me to do it.  I've been working on making peace with my own body and my efforts are not exactly helped by every single bit of mainstream culture I run into.  So, I'll create my own culture and the rest of the world can fuck off, as usual.  Once again, I've returned to crochet as therapy. But I lack the nerve to be public with my own body, and it is much smaller than hers will be.  This way, I can make people look at a different body. At least when I'm done with crochet I have something to show for it. 

Onward and Upward

So things are proceeding in my little doll world.  I have made a couple of sales on Etsy, which was nice.  It is good to have an online store, but I do tend to do better in person.  One does tend to get lost on Etsy, but it seems to be the best way for me to have an online store.  I am not up to coding my own.  Although I may look into some of the new alternatives to Etsy.  Honestly, I've not been so impressed with them.

The next show coming up, so far as I know, is the Mad Tatters' Cirque Voltaire show on April 22.  Apparently, I'm attending a meeting on Saturday.  Here is a link to the flyer for it, just posted on Facebook. It looks like it will be a great time, and I would go even if my work were not going to be in it.  That is a huge endorsement for me.  I hardly ever get out these days. Crowds are more difficult as I get older.  Someday, I'll be one of those hermit artists and I will only ship my things to shows, rather than taking them if the situation proceeds as it has been.

Also, it looks like I'll be sending some of my smaller pieces to be sold at Tomte Craft.  This will be great exposure and will be an extremely easy way for me to sell.  Great for the antisocial. 

Really it just feels great to be getting some notice for my work.  I have been doing the amigurumis for a little over a year now and I've come a long way in terms of technique. But really I'm just pleased at how I've followed through on what I wanted.  It seems this is not a passing thing.

Of course, I should have known that the dolls were embedding themselves in my brain when I got my doll tattoo.