Doll Makers Know when their Cloth Dolls Come to Life

Every doll maker has a magical moment when she knows that her doll has come to life. I always feel like my cloth dolls are born once I attach their earrings to their ears. I think the reason my dolls feel like they have come to life for me is that unlike the doll’s ears--earrings are not a necessity—to the doll’s physical structure. Earrings are accessories that speak to the doll’s style and personality. She doesn’t need them she wants them.

As a doll maker, I love big ears that are prominent on my dolls faces because if I am going to go through the trouble to make them, I want to see them. I want them to be dominant and prominent so that people know that the doll’s ear size is not a mistake. She is not a mistake and that we all don't need to look alike or think alike to validate and respect each other's truth.

 

Toy companies that manufacture dolls, go out of their way to make small features on the doll’s head, with the exception of the doll’s eyes. In fact, they exaggerate the size of the doll’s eyes in proportion to the rest of her face. The plastic fashion doll’s eyes are the biggest feature on her face because they hypnotize the little girl into believing all of the sweet little lies the world wants her to believe about womanhood, femininity, and beauty.

This standard of unobtainable beauty that is perpetuated by plastic doll makers contributes to the beauty industries 445 billion dollar industry. When a little girl is given a doll, she has not yet developed a self-identity imbued with her own dreams, values, and sense of beauty. The doll plays with the little girl inside of her imagination where she is most vulnerable, susceptible, and impressionable of who she is supposed be; how she is supposed to act; and how she is supposed to see the world through the doll’s eyes.

One day the little girl looks at herself in the mirror and asks her doll, “ Do you think I am beautiful like you?”  The fashion doll gives the little a girl a blank stare that reaches to the core of her being and says, “Of course not. Your lips are not like mine. Your nose is too big. Your eyes are too small. You are too fat. Your hair is not shiny. You are too short. And one day you are going to want to get plastic surgery to increase the size of your breasts.”

The little girl spends the majority of her youth trying to live up to her doll’s ideal of beauty—never feeling quite good enough…beautiful enough…or even alive enough…just like her doll.

To be alive to me means to be beautifully imperfect, like nature. Freckles, wrinkles, cellulite, potbellies, and gaps in our teeth are the characteristics that make us uniquely human. I think the reason, I love making cloth dolls, in the second half-a-century of my life, is because I spent the first have of my live, trying to fit into society’s expectations and standards of beauty—and now I want to experience what it is like to feel perfectly flawed and, imperfectly beautiful with big ears and all.

By, Cassandra George Sturges

How to Make a Doll – Black Handmade Doll Nose Tutorial

When I say, “I am a doll maker” it feels empty, half-hearted, and superficial. I am not just a doll maker; I am an African American Doll Maker. I am a Black Doll Maker. I need to tell you why this label is so important to me. I grew up in the mid -1960s and early 1970’s primarily playing with White dolls envying their tiny noses, blue eyes, and long straight hair. Even though James Brown sang, “I am Black and I am Proud,” most African Americans knew that this was an affirmation that every Black American wanted to be true. We sang and we chanted, “I am Black and I am proud say it out loud,”-- although we didn’t believe it—but my God-- we wanted to believe it. We wanted this to be true, while we permed our heads bald.

 Michael Jackson had supernatural talent as a singer, dancer, and performer—yet he did everything he could to downsize his broad, African featured Black nose. As a kid, we made fun of other Black kids who had what we called big noses—myself included. Growing up in a culture where I have been socialized to hate my African heritage, and severed psychologically from my ancestor’s roots has altered my consciousness as a human being. Learning how to make dolls is my way of healing my psyche and putting back the pieces of my broken soul.

 When I first started making cloth dolls, I combed the Internet and bought every cloth doll making book, I could find to help me create a cloth doll pattern that reflected my culture. As a child, I did not have the cognitive ability to understand race, culture, and ethnicity. I simply played with White dolls that did not resemble me or the people in my family or community. As a fifty-something-old Black Woman—my soul will not allow me to dismiss, ignore, and minimize the spiritual, psychological, and physical experience of being a Black woman in a world dominated by White people.

It was very, very, very important to me—to figure out how to sculpt a broad, African, featured nose for my black handmade cloth dolls to honor my ancestors, and to heal the little girl inside of me—who wanted to be anything but Black. I begged my daddy to paint me White when I was a little girl—and he cried and asked me why. And I said, “Daddy, can’t you see that everybody hate Black people.” I was  5 or 6 years old at the time.

I hope no one is offended by this—but I think one of the biggest lessons that I have learned in this Dark Brown Earth Suit is that it is not White people’s responsibility to make Black dolls that reflect the African American experience. It would be like asking an elephant to help squirrels cross the street.  A doll is always more than a plaything—it is a representation of a version of reality that conditions the imagination to accept and ultimately act out—it’s creator’s truth.

This YouTube video on How to sculpt a cloth doll’s nose is 35 minutes long—because it took years for me to figure out how to make my doll’s nose look Afrocentric, broad, and beautiful like Oprah Winfrey’s Serena William’s, and the comedienne Monique. I wanted to do my best and take my time sharing this doll making technique on how to make African American handmade cloth doll noses for other people like me. This is also my apology and atonement for making fun of all of the Black people whom I criticized for having Afrocentric features.

For the complete doll pattern visit my Authentik Beauty Magazine Website

Beauty Secrets LifeHacks – Life Lesson – Celebrate What Makes You Unique

My name is Cassandra, I am a cloth doll maker, and my dolls talk to me—Yeah!!!  While I am sewing my dolls, they tell me their stories.  Dorothy shares her beauty secrets and Life hacks. Her core message is -- Celebrate what makes you unique.

Accentuate what is unique about you. Don’t try to look like or copy the styles of others. The richest and most vibrant expression of you is your original personality and physical pattern.

 

Your true personal power lies in what makes you unique. The more you run away from your true self—the weaker you become as a human being. Your soul power is connected to your authentic beauty and your authentic beauty is your unique expression of your divine truth.

Other people’s opinions, praises, and compliments can become emotional, spiritual, and psychological prison walls that keep you within the confinements of their expectations for you on how you should dress, act, think, and look.

For example, you may wear your hair in a certain hair style that receives many compliments.  Many people would be more inclined to keep this hairstyle because others have approved it.  When the person is ready to try a new hairstyle, they may be reluctant to do so because they will worry about what others may think.

 

Public approval can be a trap that tethers the human soul to the status quo and prevent the human soul from growing and evolving into the full unique expression of their gifts, talents, and abilities.

 You give people instructions on how to treat you—by the way you treat yourself. Sometimes when people say that you are “mean,” “difficult,”  “picky,” and “hard to get along with,”—this is not always an insult. 

Sometimes people don’t like the fact that you insist on being treated fairly and with respect. People typically like it when a person sacrifices their own time, needs, opinions, and resources to make others feel more comfortable.  

Many humans don’t like the fact that you feel entitled to order your food just the way you like it. Fast food restaurants prepare the hamburger before you arrive. 

Fast food restaurants have decided how the average person likes their burger—and if you deviate from this plan—you have become a nuisance to society. You have interrupted the status quo, prolonged the wait for everyone else, slowed down productivity and profit--- because you don’t want ketchup on your hamburger.

 

The fast food workers and the people waiting in line are all thinking the exact same thing—“Who do you think you are – holding up the line—somebody special? Somebody unique? Somebody authentic? Someone that matters? 

Yes, you are special, unique, authentic-- and you matter. You have a right to enjoy your stay on planet earth by accepting and celebrating what makes you unique physically, mentally, and spiritually.

DIY Doll Shoes Tutorial How to Make Doll Thong Sandals

 DIY Doll Shoes Tutorial How to Make Doll Thong Sandals

By Cassandra George Sturges

One of the things that I have to remember when making doll shoes is that—the dolls are not going to be actually walking with the shoes on.

I know that sounds crazy—but sometimes I stress myself out with minor details as if the doll sandal needs a stronger glue or strap. 

So, when you are making these cute doll sandals, take a deep breath and remind yourself that your doll will not be walking with these shoes—at least not in this realm of reality.

Yes, she may have a role in the Movie Toy Story 4—but that is a completely different conversation.

 

 

I chose to use felt as the sandal trap, covered with lace.  People tell me that these two fabrics do not go together. However, I don’t believe in rules. I don’t believe that any other person on this planet have a right to tell other people how to be creative.

If you would like to make these shoes for your doll watch my YouTube Tutorial videos Part 1 and Part 2:

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzKhOU9Zzn8

I think one of the primary reasons that people lose their ability to be creative is because they listen to other people tell them what to make; what colors are acceptable for various projects;  and what mediums go together.

We are all creative beings. We came to planet earth to express our own unique individuality. Don’t let other people’s views, perspectives, and ideas about beauty prevent you from letting your creativity shine through.

If your doll does not have a split between her big toe and her other toes, use a strap to go across her foot. I like to use the E-6000 because it has a forgiving spirit. It will give you an opportunity to re-position your doll shoe parts-- until it is just the way you like it.