"Luanna"-a cloth and clay doll

Hi there! Meet "Luanna", the newest addition to my family of hand made dolls. She was inspired by an online class I took from Jane Desrosier on the Cloth and Clay Doll group. She is 18" tall and made from cloth and paper clay. She is meant to be primitive looking. :)

I named her Luanna after my great-grandmother, whose old bedsheet I used to make her, and whose name was Rachel Luanna.

 

Here she is in her "basic black" birthday suit after being sewn, stitched, and sculpted. The cloth I made her from is a section of an antique bed sheet that belonged to my gr-grandmother, perhaps not the best choice, since it may have been a little more sensitive to the turning process than a new fabric would have been, but it was sentimental, so I used it. Then I had to make her some clay boots to cover up the little holes in her socks from the turning. :o

 

Sitting in her underwear, after she's been painted and had her face and hair done...

 

 

Reclining in her underwear...

 

 

Reclining after she's been dressed...

 

The skirt was made from a pair of my dad's old pajamas from when he had surgery in 1986. I thought they had a vintage look and color, and I used the olive green in the print to paint her bodice, etc. The pant leg wouldn't let me put the stripes up and down without piecing 2-3 pieces together, so I just used them horizontally. So here she's sitting while showing off her new boots with the little black buttons.

 

A close-up of her face. Her eyes are a little big for my liking. She reminds me of Bettie Davis. But I think she has character, and I learned a lot from her and Jane, so I can't wait to create her a sister. :) Luanna feels like one of my children, and she may not be perfect, but I love her. She was created from my heart. :)