Cool-Aberration 2009 - Sani

When Sani came to me, she had a full polymer clay head. I wanted to make an elaborate headdress for her, but first I had to figure out how to attach it. I needed a layer of fabric and stuffing on her skull so I could sew all the headdress embellishments on. So, I got my dremel drill out, took a deep breath, and drilled 5 holes into her clay skull. Now, that was nerve wracking. Thankfully, all worked out well and I was able to attach a lightly stuffed fabric "patch" to her skull with glue-reinforced carpet tacks. Then I sewed on a kindof standy-uppy collar around the perimeter so the embellishments would frame her face. Next I sewed on tufts of multi-colored silk fibers unravelled from some cool woven upholstery fabric I had. And also some beige/tan silk fibers from another woven home decor fabric. Then on to the doodads - buttons, beads, bones, shells, a shark tooth, a peace sign, a spiral from an old earring, gourd seeds, brass rings, paper beads, etc. Oh, and a long braid of horse hair that I looped on each side of her face so that the tassel ends stick up at the top.

And here she is all decked out in her shamanic ceremonial headdress.

I wanted to include feathers in the headdress, but they're so easily damaged with handling, and Sani will be visiting 7 more artists before she's done. So I prepared some feathers (from my chickens) that can be added later (to her headdress or wherever), which I'll send along in the fragments envelope Yvonne included in Sani's journal.


I just love working on these collaborative dolls. Now to get busy on my pages for Sani's journal.