Crafts may have no ethnic barriers, but unfortunately craft supplies sometimes do. Until recently, if you wanted to make a doll of color, the only filling available was white fiberfill, which can be seen through any dark outer covering. One company has solved this problem by making black fiberfill that doll artists can now use for hair and stuffing. Some gifted designers make, sell and donate these crafts all year. LaVerne Hall is credited with working with the Putnam Company to make black fiberfill. Originally black fiberfill was made only for Halloween, but she persuaded the company that dollmakers could use it year-round. LaVerne also worked with a number of artists to collect 15,000 black dolls to be donated to children in South Africa. Patricia Watson created a series of dolls that were portraits in black and white, using velour fabric for the bodies. Hair varied from yarn to purchased hair. She even crafted a one-of-a-kind Oprah Winfrey doll. Tiffany Tensley found an 1882 Victorian wedding dress and copied it to create a Victorian doll with a hand-painted face. Betty Floyd Okanlawon designed Katrina the Ballerina, a doll sewn together both by machine and by hand. Another doll, Clara the Clown, is nice to have around because "when you're feeling blue, she'll take away your frown."
RESOURCES :
LaVerne Hall's Doll Contribution Program
Making Rag Dolls
Model: 0486286843
Author: Juanita Clarke
September 1995
Dover Publications Inc.
Website: www.doverpublications.com
Cloth Dolls: How to Make Them
Model: 0844226327
Author: Miriam Gourley
October 1995
Quilt Digest Press
Lincolnwood, IL 60646
Email: quiltdigestpress@tribune.com
The Rag Doll Handbook
Model: 071346657X
Author: Ana Lakeland
Out of Print
Black Fiber Fill
Putnam Company Inc.
Walworth, WI 53184
Phone: 414-275-2104
Fax: 414-275-6509
Email: putnam@genevaonline.com
Website: none available
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