Co-creating with Kimberly Crick

Kimberly Crick's pendants from http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/handmade.html

Glissanda

 I’ve been thinking about copyright and proper accreditation all morning long, and then I read this post by Jean Power about those very issues. It’s not the exact same thing, but it’s a very interesting article and interesting that it "popped up" when I was thinking about the whole issue.

 I put a picture of my current doll, Glissanda, up on Facebook, and got a number of “likes.”

I like her, too, but I’m feeling like I should give due credit to Kimberly Crick for the original design. She created it for a pendant that she sells on her website, The Enchanted Gallery.

I found the image during a Google image search for “mermaid.” Out of the millions of images returned, this was the one I liked the best.

I liked it so much I ordered some of the pendants.

I created Glissanda from this design, and even though enlarged, reversed, in a completely different medium and some elements changed, she is still very much the same mermaid. She is the only doll I have ever made from a design like this. Is she for sale? Not exactly.

I was offered a barter by an artist friend of mine when I went to her studio to do a workshop with her. She offered me the workshop in exchange for a healing doll for a friend of hers. So, technically, as a barter, I got paid to make a doll. I agreed to the barter, and this doll has been made with a healing focus, a prayer in every stitch, a blessing in every bead. I also let Kimberly know I was making her.

When I read more about Kimberly, I realized that she, too, had serious health issues and have been regularly including her in those prayers. I look at the pendant and think about her often. The other pendant will travel with the doll to her new owner.

So, big thank yous, and original design credit to Kimberly Crick – thanks for creating the little mermaid who would become Glissanda and tie us together in a circle of healing.

Tatanui - A Manifestation Dolly

Tatanui's inception - beadbacking cut to shape and peyote petals ready to attach.
Plenty of my favorite colors and 24K beads and pearls to play with.

I've written here and here about the Improvisational Bead Embroidery workshop with Robin Atkins that I'm organizing for March. It's filling up and there are only a few spaces left, which is really exciting. I've been focused on attracting students who will learn and enjoy and have as much fun as I'm going to.

At the end of the first night - her tatas look as big
as her head and she gets her name.

 As often happens, I made an intention and start working on it, energized it fully in the beginning, and began to see results. Then life and grief intervened, and my energy and attention took a dip for a while. I couldn't feel enthusiastic about much of anything except crawling into a hole and pulling the edges in after me. I wove prayer nets on the needle, and tried to focus on beauty.

Tatanui's 3rd day - she sits next to a replica "Doll of the Vespi," Russian fertility doll.
She has a 24K ruffle and heavy 24K border.

 So, the question is: How do we persist and keep the vision and intention energized when entropy and daily life start to wear it down? Well, how do we persist in anything? Step by step, meal by meal, 10 minutes at a time on a work project if that's all we can manage, thought by thought, bead by bead.

I persist by making art that consciously symbolizes and energizes my intentions. As I stitch each bead, I say a prayer. I see my intention coming to pass and I feel the emotions that I would feel in that moment. I see it, I savor it, and I save it in memory.

Bodice has been filled in with vintage sequins and pearls,
more gold. Peyote stitch sleeves begun.

I don't have hours every day to do this, so she developed over a period of 10 days. There were a couple of nights I didn't do much except look at her and focus. I created a graphic of the checks I wanted to receive, and kept her on it, near my computer. I also did a number of practical marketing steps, like follow up on email leads, post to Facebook, follow up with a venue. This is important - simply thinking and dreaming does not produce a comfortable, well-organized workshop with great food. And how would any other sort of workshop attract students?

Up in Kokee - the head enlarged and a lovely face by Dottie Hoeschen
added and temporarily bound with string until bezel is complete.

 I like to take my dolls out into nature, to strengthen them. Doc Matt and I went up to the mountains on our Sunday date. He played guitar and I beaded happily and we went home refreshed and energized.

 Tata's front is done. Her tatas no longer look as nui as they did in proportion to the rest of her body. It's the giant head, which could symbolize the power of the imagination. The hot pink vintage sequins have consistently morphed into ovals, possibly from being under a warm lamp, or leaning up against a warm battery back-up. So do the components of our intentions change and modify as we go along.

I can hear you thinking: "Is EVERYTHING symbolic to this woman?" And the short answer is... (wait for it) ... YES. Everything is symbolic when you operate on a symbolic level.

The next night, the 8th night, I finished the back. I kept thinking it needed a tassel or something, but in the end I liked the simplicity and the power of the words. Words are strong, they have power. The words we use to describe our emotions and situations influence our reactions and eventual outcomes. This is easy to demonstrate: Say to yourself "I feel like a huge pile of crap." See how you feel. Say to yourself "I feel lucky! I always have been lucky and I always will be. I get what I want. I win!" See how you feel. Which is more effective?

Tatanui is done! Sitting on her checks and energizing my intentions.

Every day after I played with Tatanui and focused on my intention, I got some return, either new registrants, or checks in the mail. Focused intention brings results! The work doesn't stop when the doll is made - it doesn't stop until you reach your goal.

We are very near that goal - only 4 spots left. This doll was created using 5 basic stitches, all of which you can learn in this workshop. Now is your moment of power to sign up!

Blocks to Manifestation: Shooting Yourself in the Foot

E Aloha Pau Ole - Wedding Blessings

Having some hidden reservations about your own success may keep you from manifesting your desires. How does that show up in your practical life?

Sometimes it's by not doing small things that would help you reach your goals. Like letting people know that you want to manifest a commission and then not letting them know how to contact you, for instance.

I can be reached by email: pegnard7777 (at) yahoo.net.

Intentional Symbolic Dolls

I was very excited to receive a commission to make an intentional doll last week. It seemed to just come out of the blue... and yet this is something I truly love to do, and would like to do more.

Intentional dolls are very personal, and the details of the person and their intention are always kept confidential, but I can share the picture and the prayer that went with it. Every doll is different. This was a very zippy and sunny doll ~ had the energy of a Mexican Jumping Bean! And so much fun to make. I probably didn't charge enough for the length of time it took.

That's always a question for me... I do healing work by donation only. This is my choice, and it doesn't reflect a judgment on those healers who do charge a set price for their work. I accept the donation gladly and give at least 10% of it away to someone in need.

 

So is an intentional doll healing work? Well, yes. And no. Depends on what your intention is. I charge for these commissioned dolls, but I have also made many of them for free, for healing purposes. I put a lot of my own energy and intention into these dolls, and I am open to receiving energy (compensation) in exchange.

My own intention is to do more of them, and be well-enough compensated that I can do it at least half-time. That is my yellow-brick path with heart, and this is my own doll in process.

She still has strings covering her face! That's not particularly symbolic - they hold the cabochon on while the bezel is beaded, and I don't take them off until the doll is completely done. The original body pattern I modified here was from Spirit Dolls by Robin Atkins, and I probably got that tip about tying the face down from her, too. I've learned so much from her, I can usually attribute any cool thing I know how to do to her. I've made dolls shaped like this since I was a small kid, but this particular shape was from that pattern.

As I'm making this doll, I am holding the firm intention that I will get more commissions and truly grow and leaf out in my ability to focus, create, and manifest for myself and others.

I love the other work I do - social media management and marketing - and will continue to do that half-time. I'm seeing myself sewing on a doll for some happy client every day and joining my loving intentional energy with theirs. My entire life will be 24K. And I will be able to play with 24K Delicas every day! Now that is my ideal life. Social media mornings and intentional afternoons.

IMUA!

Bless Our Happy Big Island Home

Intentional Healing Dolls

Throughout this time of great change, I've still been making intentional healing dolls. Doing healing work and making dolls combines the best of all of my worlds and keeps me grounded and present.

Gracie

 

What makes a doll (or anything) intentional? There are 2 layers of intention involved.

Holding a healing intention while making the doll - really focusing on the recipient and what they want to manifest - puts an energetic wave into the universal energy pool that starts or amplifies that manifestation. A thought, or a prayer, is only as strong as the focus you put on it. One thought in passing won't influence your world that much. That thought or desire, focused on many times with enthusiasm, and acted upon as well, is much more likely to make a difference.

Each stitch, each action in making an intentional doll, is taken while holding the focus on the intention for it as a symbolic object. Each stitch is like a little drum beat, "heal, heal, heal" or "love, love, love." A certain amount of that energy is transferred to the doll itself and continues to radiate out to the field around it.

The second layer of intention comes from the recipient, who uses the doll as a symbol of the intention they expressed in the beginning. They have homework to do with the doll when it arrives. The first assignment is to find out the name of the doll, by going into focused meditation and asking the name. In this way they establish a relationship and connection with the symbol, and often gain a life-long spirit friend in the process. These dolls are alive!

The new friend serves as a symbol constantly bringing the intention to focus, but no symbol is enough by itself. The next step is to take action toward the goal. No manifestation happens without movement!

Take Gracie the Love Fairy as an example. You can sit on the sofa eating bonbons and reading trashy novels, with your hair up in curlers and goo all over your face, staring at your love fairy - and the perfect lover will probably not show up at the door with the pizza you ordered. Or if he does, the sight of you is not likely to be magnetic.

In addition to holding your focus, you must think carefully about the qualities you want in a mate. What is really important? Why do you want it now? What do you have to give? You must make a space in your heart, and a big space in your calendar, and tell all your friends you're ready, and go out where the men (or women) are.

And then expect the best!