Carolina.
Lo and behold I was asked to create a custom doll after a rambunctious little girl named Gracey Carolina, and it was her last name that popped in my doll making realm.
Her Mom has been a follower and supporter of my work since I can remember, but we never had the opportunity to work on creating a little doll for her, until now. I was very touched that she would request a doll made by me to resemble her daughter, even more so because I had seen previous dolls made after this precious little person, all beautiful, one of a kind and beauties to behold. Gracey Carolina's personality is very quirky and it was great to use it as the inspiration to create my Carolina, the name that kept calling every time I looked at her face.
So here she is Courtney! Still not very finished but she couldn't wait any minute longer to come out and say hi.
As you can see, little Carolina has a little detail to her lips. She was born with cleft palate and is one of those babies that everybody thought wouldn't happen…but that completely surprised their family. I have had the pleasure of hearing similar stories from other families, and how these surprising babies make everybody's lives so enriched. Aren't all children like that though? True gifts of nature. We are given the chance to get to know them, live with them, help them become human beings and see them fly. Lucky for Carolina's mom, she won't have to fly too far, she can stay with her to remind her of her Little Gracey Carolina.
This little Carolina has a very interesting expression. I always wonder what the dolls are seeing and thinking, once I give them a face and especially eyes, they are completely alive to me. When I look into Carolina's eyes I feel like she is seeing right through me, and perhaps due to the circumstances of my own life, she is bringing me a gift. I choose to interpret this gift entirely out of the experience I have had while creating her: turmoil and anxiety coated in a total abandon to my inner doll world. Letting myself get lost in the creative rivers of my inner life, pondering big questions while making sure every stitch is secure, every thread properly hidden. Why have I chosen doll making as a path? Why do little dolls come to me bearing gifts and questions? Why do they speak to others the same way they speak to me? Creating order out of chaos, dolls out of nothing, inventing stories and touching others lives through toys. Today I don't have any answers, except Carolina has become my friend and I am deeply thankful for that.
See you all soon when she decides for me to finish her clothes. We have plans.
