Anxiety. Art. Gratitude.

The Sun Will Rise – Nightmares, Multiple Personality Disorder, eyes and flowers. Watercolor and ink 7 x 10

I’m still screaming and fighting in my sleep about things that happened two and a half decades ago. It makes me wonder if I will ever have peaceful sleep. I feel like I have a measure of peace in my waking hours but sleep is haunted, vicious.

I See – A deformed girl in a garden of eyes and flowers. Watercolor and ink. 7 x 10

Today my anxiety took a turn for the worse. I’ve started seeing things move out of the corner of my eye, things that aren’t there when I turn to see. I recognize this as a symptom of my anxiety. It’s a warning to me that I’ve got to put my best coping skills in the front so I can calm down.

Anxiety really got bad when I received an alert over my phone saying that Indiana is now under a curfew. What perilous times we live in. I was comforted by the fact that the elders from the Kingdom Hall (my place of worship) contacted me to let me know that there’s a curfew and I should take it seriously and be inside for my safety. They offered a few practical suggestions that also helped me feel safer and less anxious.

Tomorrow starts another day, one I do not feel will be any better than today. It will be a mess, but I will meet it with my head up and my heart full of hope.

This takes me to the newest purchase. First off, I sold 4 dolls and 7 art pieces in two weeks so I decided to buy something special for myself. I purchased a leather bound journal for my gratitude entries. I’m so happy with it. I love it.

9 x 5

I’ve got a special pen, given to me by a special friend, that I’ll use for this very special gratitude journal. It’s so pretty in person that I hesitated to write in it for two days. I wrote my first entry today which gave thanks for the people I’m surrounded by that are my family of choice.

Today I took the opportunity to express my love for family and friends by making calls and sending emails. I’m not quite finished yet. I want to make a tiny little difference in their day with an encouraging call, text or email. As I said, we live in perilous times and people are probably just as anxious as I’ve been. I guess I just want to recognize that by reaching out.

That’s all for this evening.

Faith

Kamila the African American Handmade Bag Holder Doll

Kamila is about 23 inches long with shoulder length brown hair made of thin and thick yarn. The type of yarn used adds wonderful texture and depth to Kamila. The mocha color accents her beautiful brown eyes and skin.

What I love about Kamila is her dress. The maroon / rich burgundy dress, which leads down into a holder for bags, is a handmade garment accented by gold paisley embroidery. She wears the dress well.

The body of the doll is hand crafted and hand painted cotton fabric with poly fill. Your doll is a one of a kind, signed and tagged as a Sundrip doll.

NOTE : This doll is not meant to be a toy and includes small beads.

You may see Kamila in my Etsy shop along with other original dolls and original art at www.Sundrip.etsy.com.

Thank you for visiting SUNDRIP – Art for Life

Faith

Sewing with a machine as an amputee

I sat down to hand sew dolls but my hands cramped and spasmed terribly. I thought I’d try to see if I could use my sewing machine despite half a foot amputated and despite significant nerve damage. I had my CNA bring it to the table but I didn’t try anything until after she left because I didn’t want to embarrass myself if I couldn’t properly feel and safely control the pedal.

There was all kinds of anxiety because I worried I’d press the pedal at the wrong time and sew my hand or something. Anxiety was high but so was my drive to find out if I could do it and save myself some pain while making dolls.

When I turned it on I acclimated myself to how the pedal felt under my foot. I got my brain to recognize the new sensation without automatically recoiling. After a few minutes I pushed the pedal with the machine turned off. I got used to that and got brave enough to turn it on.

I’m so happy I tried. I’ve used the machine several times now and what I discovered is that the nerve damage affects sewing ability. Sometimes the stump hurts too much to add any pressure at all or I can’t feel or control the stump enough to press the pedal. Those issues prevent me from regularly using the machine, but when I can I will use it to my advantage.

It’s been a week since I’ve used the sewing machine but when I was able I sewed the hands and legs for six dolls.

My hands want to give me trouble and my feet are a mess but between the two I am able to offer up dolls I’m proud of. They’re now about 25% sewn by machine but 100% homemade. I still hand paint the flesh tone, put it all together by hand and hand stitch in the hair. I still hand draw and hand paint the faces. The only thing that has changed is using the machine to create the arms and legs. Later down the road I may use the machine to help make the doll’s dress. We’ll have to see where my confidence leads me.

As mentioned in my last entry, I’ve started making bears again. I’m not using the machine with these which means it’s taking longer to finish them. I will post my finished products as soon as possible.

Until soon….

Faith

Handmade Bag Holder Doll With Red Hair

Cordelia is about 23 inches long with beautiful long red hair, green eyes with long lashes and a green-blue dress. Her hair long bag holder dress is decorated with fringe and holds standard bags for recycling purposes. You may also hang her for decoration.

Cordelia is a work of art created with hand painted cotton fabric, hand threaded yarn hair, polyfill and upcycled materials. She is a one of a kind, signed and tagged Sundrip doll.

You may see more photos of Cordelia in my Etsy shop at www.Sundrip.etsy.com.

SOLD

Four New Dolls

This is work in progress. Four new dolls. Four new faces on the way in my Etsy shop.

Work in Progress

This is what they look like before their skin is painted, eyes given life and hair sewn in. As you’ll notice, there are no legs. Why? Because these are bag holder dolls in progress not art dolls.

Below is a small gallery of dolls currently available for adoption in my Etsy shop at www.Sundrip.etsy.com .

I’m in love with doll making and have currently thrown my energy into them. For a little while I thought I was finished creating them but the drive is quite strong right now so I will continue to sew, paint and present. I hope you like them.

Faith

Pauline Handmade Original Art Doll

Pauline doll is about 12.5 inches long with beautiful brown hair and light brown eyes. Her cotton, creme colored dress is detailed with lace as are her pantaloons. Her hair is dark brown textured yarn, hanging long.

She has soft, brown, dreamy eyes.

Pauline’s hair can be pinned up or worn long.

You may visit Pauline in my Etsy shop at www.Sundrip.etsy.com where more photos are available. SOLD

Thank you for visiting SUNDRIP – Art for Life

Faith

Delilah African American Handmade Doll

Delilah doll is about 17.5 inches long and is sweet and lovable with her bright, beautiful brown eyes. Her blue flower dress is made of cotton and her hair is dark brown textured yarn, hanging long.
Delilah is an art doll made of hand painted cotton fabric.

NOTE : This doll is not meant to be a toy. She is a shelf sitter.

What soft, expressive eyes.

You may visit her in my Etsy shop at www.Sundrip.etsy.com where more photos are available. ** SOLD **

Thank you for visiting SUNDRIP – Art for Life

Faith