MARYJANE G. RHETT from Monte Vista, Colorado 2005 Second Annual ALL DOLLED UP: BEADED ART DOLL COMPETITION Theme: Over The Rainbow Return to the web-page displaying all 3 semi-finalists and overall results

Doll named La Lluvia [Please be patient - These pages are graphics intensive and will load slowly]   See the overall Results When voting closes 1/15/06, voting logs will be reviewed for any duplicate or otherwise illegitimate votes (for example, those from the same IP or email address), and these will be deleted. The on-line votes will be tallied and used to adjust the original votes of the Panel of Judges at CBJA, in the selection of a winner. The public's votes will weigh towards 25% of the final tally in selecting the Winner and Runner-Up.

Frontal Image

La Lluvia

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there, Over The Rainbow, I discovered you, embellished with a kind of light and charm, mystery and magic, that one finds only in this special place. Whether it was Fate or Luck, we met again, my Beaded Art Doll, and I renamed you appropriately enough, La Lluvia. You were the answer to a prayer, a moment of divine inspiration, the perfect companion to accompany me in the search of fulfillment and creative happiness.

My search began because of my move to the Valley, a new home which left me with a sense of loss for friends, my former sweet home and gardens of beloved plants. There lushness was the norm and flowers and fruit sprang from the earth with abundance, health and beauty. Now I live in an arid valley at 7000 feet where the surrounding mountains are snow topped most of the year. Where winter lasts until May and comes again in early September. Temperatures get quite warm during the day but can drop to freezing at night even during the summer some years. The wind blows strongly all seasons. It ships the soil off the western foothills to collect and create a sandy floor in the Valley bottom and dunes at the foot of the eastern mountains. The surrounding mountains accumulate snow, in good years, for the water that comes to the Valley in rivers and streams and the underlying aquifer. Dark clouds swirl around the Valley from time to time with the promise of rain but more times than enough create spirals of swirling dirt or spectacular lightening shows and let fall little or no water. Rain in the whole Valley is unpredictable and rare.

Water, this precious element is the source of prosperity or failure in the Valley. It is closely guarded by laws and ditch riders. The Valley is crossed by major irrigation ditches which feeds smaller ones for those who own rights to water. Every drop of water is measured and accounted for. In dry years, when the snow pack is low and Spring rains few, necessity rules. Flower gardens do without and water poor lands turn brown. Green is limited to the crop circles and rivers' edges. In fat years the rivers swell their banks, ditches run full and everyone has a garden that is a gift to the eye. Fat years are not the norm.

How, I wondered, would I grow the gardens I needed in such a place? How would I find the source of inspiration in such a harsh environment? What element would provide the answers? Rain, the sweet promise of growth and life, the free blessing from above was the only answer. In the distant past prayers, charms, chants and gifts to the weather gods were employed. The promise of rain was sought in natural events and sometimes in dreams. I would have to search for my own way to fulfillment and this is how you came to me, in a dream and in an inspiring unusual event.

The event was the first sign of Spring, the arrival of the Mountain bluebirds. These small bright blue birds come in the early spring to establish nests in boxes set up on fence posts all over the Valley. They stay only a short time to raise their young and then fly to the mountains where they spend the summer. The third week in March we had a spring storm which blew icy wind off the mountains. The snow started as a few flakes, then flurries and by late afternoon had increased to a driving white-out storm. Five bluebirds took shelter in my cat's outside raised house near my back door as the storm intensified. I could see them huddled together in a brilliant clump of blue from my bathroom window. The cat, Pumpkin, a great bird hunter, I knew would quickly dispatch them so I brought her inside. Pumpkin gladly gave up her outside freedom to a warm night on the sofa. Off and on all night I checked on the birds, a soft glow of blue hunkered safely in a corner. The next morning the sun shown brilliantly, melted away the snow, warmed the air and the bluebirds flew off. The cat went back outside and I was left with a warm glow and a profound feeling of hope and promise.

A month or so later I had a dream. It was an idea of a totem or fetish for female rain, the Native Americans' idea of rain that falls gently and nourishes the land. "She" appeared to me dressed in a mist of rain drops falling from a cloud drifting about her shoulders.

1. Bead Knitted Doll

In her hands was a crystal sphere which radiated a rainbow of lights that encircled her. I woke from the dream with the idea of her complete in my mind and quickly sketched out her form. I knew that she was the promise of help for me in my creative search. I called her La Lluvia, the Spanish word for rain in honor of the early Spanish settlers who established the irrigation systems and started farming in the Valley.

2. Crystal with Radiating Rainbow

I began my work to create a physical object from an inspiration. I sought out the right beads, the perfect form, to bring my dream to life. The knitted beaded bag I have made for years as gifts to friends and family became her body, blue beads on blue thread. The bag could hold all the tokens of rain from around the world, prayers, amulets, symbols and signs that I might collect over time. Her head was made of a circle of panty hose and stuffing covered and formed with seed beads. Blue crystals that would reflect sky and water were chosen for her eyes. Brown beads, the color of good earth became her hair. Copper wire wrapped cord covered with beads created strong arms and legs. Ruby red boots were added in memory of another girl who had a connection with rainbows and who also had trials before she found her "home". With arms and legs sewn on the basic form was complete, the magical aspects were still to come.

3. Closeup of face and hair

4. Ruby Slippers

To the bag I began to add the aspects of falling rain, many lines of clear and shades of blue, seed and bugle beads ending in a droplet hanging down to form a skirt and fringe off her arms. The floating cloud across her shoulders was sown in layers of beads, the bottom layer of silver and the ones over it white. Silver lined clouds are another symbol of promise. In her hands I attached a crystal sphere which woudl radiate rainbows in the sunlight the way I saw La Lluvia in my dream. Hanging from the crystal were added glass shells. Shells being another aspect of water.

5. Skirt and Fringe

Because I wanted to be able to wear La Lluvia, I incorporated the rainbow in the dream into a necklace. This was accomplished with a peyote stitch of glass beads to form the rainbow affect that not only encircled La Lluvia but the wearer as well. This rainbow is broken here and there with clouds which also disguises the necklace clasp. Lastly I added bluebirds from the spring snow storm, on her shoulder and flying over the rainbow.

6. Clouds and Blue Birds

This at last is how I saw La Lluvia in my dream, a radiant figure of blues and whites surrounded by a rainbow of ultimate promise. And so we two begin our quest together in this special place. Our adventures and accomplishments are ahead of us. We will now watch the skies for clouds that will swell over the Valley with hope that the rain will fall, water the earth and make our plants grow. We are looking forward to the beauty and fragrance of a flower garden we can share with newly met friends. La Lluvia and I will watch for the glorious rainbows that we can see from end to end arching over our flat Valley at the end of these rain storms and be content and fulfilled.

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Back Image

Detailed Image

La Lluvia
(rotation)

List of Materials
and Techniques Employed

Body:
Materials: Knitted bag: blue and white 11/0 seed beads strung onto Soldier Blue Coats & Clark Upholstery thread. Knitted with 0000 knitting needles.
The bag is knitted using a pattern where there are 1 to five beads between two knit stitches (4 rows of 1, 4 rows of 2, 4 rows of 4, 5 rows of 5, five sets of turns and repeat upwards). The flap is a continuation of the bag of one bead two stitches for three rows then with additions of a single bead between each knit stitch starting in the center and adding two beads each row until only the outer stitches are two knits. Then decreasing one bead and stitch on each end of row working into the center until the three center beads create a point. Knit without beads two rows, cast off and tie off. When the bag and a aflap are completed, the bag's sides are sewn together, the bag is turned rightside out and a snap is sewn onto the flap and bag.

Head:
Materials: 1" square of panty hose, batting, thread, two 4mm Austrian cut crystal beads, 13 off-white seed beads, 11 pink and brown seed beads, white and brown Nymo thread and beading needles.
1" square panty hose filled with batting is sewn into a half inch ball to form the head. The nose is a pinch of the panty hose ball on the opposite side of the tie off. Two Austrian cut crystal aqua beads for the eyes are added to either side of the pinch. The whole ball is covered and formed with 13 off-white seed beads using white Nymo thread and square stitch, 11 pink seed beads for mouth and cheeks. When the head is completed it is sewn onto the flap of the bag. 11 brown seed beads in groups of 7 or 9 beads are then sewn on in loops for the hair.

Arms & Legs:
Materials: 1/4" cording, 28 gauge copper wire, thread, 13 off-white seed beads, 11 ruby red seed beads, red and white Nymo thread and beading needles.
Arms and legs are made the same way. The only difference being that the cording for the legs is slightly longer than the arms. Using 1/4" cording, cut two 4 3/4" pieces for legs and two 4 1/2" pieces for arms. Secure each end by melting slightly with a match. Cut two pieces of copper wire about 18" long and fold together until 3" long and twist until tight for the legs. Cut two pieces of copper wire about 15" long and fold together until 2 1/2" long and twist until tight for the arms. Stitch the copper wire to the cord and fold over the excess cord and stitch it down. Wrap the thread around the cording and the wire and knot off at the opposite end. The wrapping should be snug to hold the wire and the cord in place. Knees and elbows are created where the decrease from two to one cord happens. 13 off-white seed beads are sewn with white Nymo thread ina square stitch to cover the arms and legs.
Hands are created by adding fingers, five rows of 3 to 5 beads, to the end of the arms. Boots were added to the legs using the square stitch and ruby red 11 seed beads and red Nymo thread. Arms are sewn on the seams of the bag at the opening and the legs are sewn on at the base of the bag.

Embellishments:
Dress:
Materials: 11 seed beads (3 shades of blue and white), bugle beads (3 shades of blue), drop beads (3 shades of blue, clear and AB), and blue Nymo thread.
Starting at the base of the bag and working up every third row on the bag, lines of blues and clear seed band bugle beads are added with a drop bead at the end of each line. These lines go all the way across the front of the bag and around the back of the legs. The lines are worked into the knit stitches and the beads of the bag. From the center third row up, lines of beads are reduced one row each level on the bag until the lines end under the arms. This leaves a triangle of the bag showing down the front and the back empty of any lines.
Peyote stitch with the same blue seed beads as the bag creates the sleeves with open work on the end. Lines of beads as on the bag are added to the bottom on the sleeves for fringe.

Cloud Around Shoulders:
Materials: 11 seed beads (white, clear, silver and pearl), 1 ceramic blue bird bead, 1 short bugle, 1 small crystal bead and white Nymo thread.
Using a modified peyote stitch white, pearl and silver lined seed beads are added to the flap of the bag, extended out from the flap and around the head and down the back. Another layer of white and pearl beads are stitched at the neck lay on the previous layer on the front. This top layer has added clumps of pearl beads here and there and a porcelain blue bird attached with a short bugle and crystal bead. The bugle bead keeps the thread from cutting on the porcelain.

Necklace:
Materials: Rainbow-10 seed beads (garnet, medium orange, yellow, light green, light sapphire and dark purple) and white Nymo thread. Clouds -- 11 seed beads (white, clear, silver and pearl), 2 ceramic blue bird beads, 2 short bugle, 2 small crystal beads, and white Nymo thread. Hook and eye.
Using 10 seed beads (garnet, medium orange, yellow, light green, light sapphire, and dark purple) on white Nymo thread with the peyote stitch a rainbow effect is created. Half way up the rainbow on both sides, clouds intersect using the same beads and stitch as on the collar and a blue bird is also added in the same way. The rainbow continues from the top of the cloud and angles around the back of the neck to two cloud clumps that cover a hook and eye clasp. The clouds are created with the same method and beads as the other clouds. The ends of the rainbow are sewn on to the bag at
the seams.

Crystal:
Materials: one Swarovski teardrop crystal, 11 seed beads (silver, blue and clear), 3 pressed glass shell beads and blue Nymo thread.
Silver, blue and clear 11 seed beads are sewn around the base of the Swarovski teardrop crystal to cover the base and give an attachment for the hands. Three lines of blue beads are attached to the base of the cyrstal ending in pressed glass shells shaped beads, dark and light blue and clear. The fingers of the hands are sewn to the beads at the base of the crystal.

Dimensions:
Doll: 7 1/2" long, 3" wide, 1 1/2" deep
Doll with Necklace: 16"
Widest point on necklace: 8 1/2"

MARYJANE G. RHETT
from Monte Vista, Colorado

Doll named La Lluvia
[Please be patient - These pages are graphics intensive and will load slowly]

See the overall Results


When voting closes 1/15/06, voting logs will be reviewed for any duplicate or otherwise illegitimate votes (for example, those from the same IP or email address), and these will be deleted. The on-line votes will be tallied and used to adjust the original votes of the Panel of Judges at CBJA, in the selection of a winner. The public's votes will weigh towards 25% of the final tally in selecting the Winner and Runner-Up.