VERA FOX-BOND from LaVergne, Tennessee Third Bi-Annual 2007 ALL DOLLED UP: BEADED ART DOLL COMPETITION Theme: Celestial Reflections Return to the web-page displaying all 6 semi-finalists and overall results

Doll named Cleocatra [Please be patient - These pages are graphics intensive and will load slowly] After reviewing the Beaded Art Doll Images on this page, and reading the artist's stories, materials list, and summary of techniques, VOTE & EVALUATE See the overall Results When voting closes 1/15/08, 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.

Title

Blues, whites, fiery reds and yellows --
overtaking the sky from dusk 'til dawn --
fascinate me, whether in my dreams,
or longings for that something more,
whirling nebulas, mysterious planets and stars I barely see
... my Beaded Art Doll, my celestial reflection, I name you ....

CLEOCATRA, The Queen of the Milky Way.

Cats are travelers. Some tribes roam on Earth and some roam in the solar system.

First, a little background on this story.

Cats come from a long line of Gypsies. They leave their claw marks or a whisker, maybe a small tuft of fur to mark a safe haven. Sort of a road map for fellow Travelers, of where to eat and sleep safely. My yard has many such marks because it is a safe place for cats to rest, recuperate or give birth. There are always large pans of food, several clean water dishes and sometimes a special treat ... Pap. Pap is a mixture of small bread pieces with fresh milk poured overtop. Pap is brought out of the house in a large shallow dish, making it accessible to many at once. No hissing, spitting or growling at the Pap dish. Regular cat food is contained in low slung oblong dishes which sit in the middle of platters containing water. That keeps the ants out of the food. Cats hate ants in their whiskers.

Boxes lined with clean old sheets or towels are available for giving birth and keeping the babies close to mum and safe until eyes are open. When kittens' eyes open they feel the urge to wander and explore. True Gypsy behavior. Sometimes this leads to mischief and finally to the food dish.

In the heat of summer there is cool shaded concrete under the deck. Good for napping comfortably on, during those hot days. In winter there's an electric blanket in the cat shelter, by the back door on the deck. The shelter is close to the house so north wind does not reach the floppy door. All cats piled in a warm safe haven. Free from danger and cold winter winds. When it's raining or cold, food dishes are moved under the waterproof tarp covered picnic table. This allows for comfy, leisurely dining. Occasionally a baby possum or two will visit to share the food. The cats don't seem to mind and the kittens like to play with the possums strange ugly pink hairless tails. Large possums visit the apple tree next door where the dangerous Big Dog lives. They can't enter through the small hole in our fence that small fur people go in and out of.

Some felines arrive for a meal, some to have their babies and some to stay forever. Strange dogs and animal control officers are not welcome in this back yard.

As humans sometimes do I sit out the back steps every evening and watch the kittens play. There are games of wrestling, tag, and bug chase. It gives me much pleasure to see how the kittens learn and grow and the adults get sleek and shiny coats from regular meals.

The last couple of days I thought I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye -- sort of a fast moving shadow. It seemed to vanish behind the dining tent. I've looked all around and in the food tent. Nothing there!

On my way outdoors to enjoy the kittens this evening I scooped up a bunch of snapshots off the top of the microwave oven and took them out with me. While sitting on the steps Pretty Face came over and rubbed on my leg to signal it was OK to give her a pat or two. Pretty Face is black, white and oh so beautiful! She raises her own kittens with great care and when they are independent she goes out in the neighborhood and steals kittens to bring here and raise as her own. Pretty Face works very hard at motherhood. There's eating solid food, bathing, climbing and hunting lessons to be given. Pretty Face has a never ending supply of babies to care for.

Whistle Britches is the male head of the clan. He's a brother to Pretty Face. Like her, he's black, white and very good looking....and he knows it. He's very proud of himself and sometimes acts foolish to get my attention. He likes to have his belly rubbed. He sits on the peak of the roof and watches working people come home and keeps an eye on neighborhood happenings in general. After dinner he lays on his back in the rain gutter at the edge of the roof. There he is on his back with all four paws up in the air, taking a "full tummy" nap. Whistle Britches guards the females and babies so he's the head of security and mischief around here. Sometimes he gives tree climbing lessons to babies and always teaches the teenagers how to climb up on the roof. First jump up on the porch rail, balance carefully, judge distance well, gather courage and spring to the rain gutter. Step onto the roof and join in on a rousing game of tag. For extra fun sometimes there is an acorn or twig to play soccer with in the rain gutter. I'm not crazy about that game over my bedroom window at four o'clock in the morning.

There goes that shadow again! I'm too lazy to get up for another useless search. Time to look at these pictures. Here's a picture of a statue inside the entrance of a building. The sunlight blanketing the patterned brick floor is beautiful. What a fabulous visual image --- Wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing if I could create a design like this? BAP!! Suddenly there was a white paw with golden claws smacked down on the snapshot.

White Paw With Heart

The thought, "You can create this with beads," floated into my head. "You can do this, with my assistance and your hands, it can be done. My paw can show you what the final results will be, but your hands must do the work. I will guide you mentally and together we will make beautiful beaded images. I will be your muse so to speak." With that the golden clawed paw slid over the brick floor image in the snapshot and I saw that floor design done in beads. Glorious sunlight reflecting beads. I couldn't believe my eyes. I blinked several times and the patterned floor still consisted of glowing beads. "How did you do this," I thought. The paw lifted off the picture and it immediately returned to a flat glossy snapshot. "That is not for you to know," answered the cat. "You have cared for all my sister and brother felines, and now I would trade beaded visions for you to create, if only you would do me a kindness." "And what would that be?" I questioned. "Create my image in beads for my fellow fur people to remember me by, for I am the Queen of queens."

"What does that mean?" I asked. "Well," thought cat, "at the last world gathering of all the gypsy tribes with much study of my ancestry by the elders, it was proclaimed that I was the true Queen of queens. You see my familiy on the male side came from Egypt, the female side came from Ireland and the lot of them were Gypsy royalty. Thus I am the Queen of queens." "How can you be two queens?" I thought. "It's very simple," thought cat. "I am the Queen, as I am of royal bloodlines on both sides. I am female, and the female cat is known as a queen spelled with lower case 'q'." "You must have a name," I thought. "You are so regal, you are royal, your fur so beautiful, you must be Queen Cleocatra, the Queen of the Milky Way." Cleocatra gave a little purr and a knowing smile and proclaimed, "That is how I shall be known from this day forward. I am Queen Cleocatra, the Queen of queens and the Queen of the Milky Way."

So, now you know how this beaded cat doll came about. Cleocatra would transfer her thoughts and very strong opinions to my mind and my hands would do the work. Long hours of labor, I might add! Cleocatra enlisted the help of other friends in the creation of this art doll. She also insisted on final approval every step of the way.

The doll is the image of Cleocatra. She has earrings of 7 gold coins in each ear and a jeweled pendant in the center of her forehead. Eyelids in Peyote stitch and size 15 beads. Lashes are woven with a touch of ginger to match the top of her head. Her hair is done with loops of silver lined gold size 11/0 beads. Each loop consisting of 7 gold beads, one ginger bead and the second half of the loop is 7 gold beads again. That's just the top front of her hair. Her luxurious long locks are done in loops of three black size 11/0 beads, 8 gold beads, 1 black bugle bead, 8 gold beads and repeated in the reverse for no telling how many gazillion strands of hair. As you can see, Queen Cleocatra was quite a taskmaster. Her forehead in white/silver bead smaller loops and her eye shadow in lavender/silver beads, each and every bead counted and sewn on. No gluing on royalty. The bridge of her nose is done in gold backstitch and the nose in raspberry matte beads. Cheeks are done in red/orange mixed beads, chin in light orange with gold accents. This part of her face was done in what I like to call cobble stitch for it is nubby and very textured like a cobble stone walk. Whiskers are extra fine silver knitting needles. Neck and chest are white/silver mix with a necklace of gold wire and Egyptian human Queen charm. Left arm is the Irish side of the family with two, four leaf shamrock charms on her bracelet and a Celtic design ring. Gold dagger beads make her claws. Paws in Cobble stitch again. Right arm is Egyptian side, with a red cartouche charm hanging from a golden asp bracelet.

Eyelids

Hair

Face

While I spend months toiling away with needle, thread and beads, the Queen spent her time with the sisters and brothers out on the deck, communing or napping. Little did I know this would end up taking six months to finish. Cleocatra named the latest arrival Jack. "Why 'Jack'," I asked. "Can't you see," thought Cleocatra. "He's blind in one eye ... one eyed Jack. Don't you get it?" Jack is gray with a white bib. Shy but seems like a nice sort of fellow. Twitch shows him the food and water dishes. Twitch was born with some sort of spinal nerve disorder so her hind parts don't always cooperate with her front parts. When something scares her, and she tries to take off in a hurry, her front end goes in one direction and sometimes the back legs try to go in another. Oh yes, her tail twitches involuntarily most of the time.

Enough of what's going on outside, it's time to get on with this job. Triangle shaped beads sewn in a circle with gold center beads and leaves on the sides make flowers for modest female attire on the belly. You might notice her body is done in a series of triangle designs, some pointing up and some down, some white, some black and some mixed colors. I guess that was a mention of the pyramids for her highness. She insisted on an orange and yellow tutu ruffle as Cleocatra is fond of the ballet as well as Iris step dancing. "Who would have guessed...a cat that likes dancing?" Her tail was another counting exercise as it was first crocheted in a rope and then beaded fringe again with all those beads to count. The garters that hold up the stockings are a mix of beads to represent sprinkles on birthday cake. Speaking of which, Cleocatra joined in on the cat birthday party last night. That took place after midnight and a good time was had by all. Here's how this bunch of felines celebrate birthdays. First I give them a large pan of Pap. Then late at night when no humans are about spying, a game of chase that turns into the best game of all, "Jump and Slide." All the cats jump on the trunk of the old Saturn automobile, as it's the right height and the windows are slanted perfectly for the game. Shinny up the slippery dew coated back window, skate across the roof and slide down the windshield. What fun.

Pyramids

Now, back to the doll again. The Queen enlisted the help of spiders to weave the most delicate threads for her stockings. The spiders insisted in being represented, so one spider charm is on front of hind leg and one's on back of the other hind leg, spinning away. The aqua stripe represents turquoise, a stone Cleocatra loves. The light purple beads are dyed with the juice of soft fox grapes. The green was donated by the Leprechauns. They collected the juice from many shamrocks to make the dye. Yellow from the lemon drops. Light orange stripe the color of Halloween pumpkins and fall leaves. A tiny gold ruffle to remind us to skip every now and then. The red/orange stripes of sunsets. The golden red from the juice of holly berries. You might notice the lavender heart shaped heart beads on the bottoms of the paws. That's because cats leave their paw prints on your heart.

Spider Knit Stockings

When I inquired about the wisdom of the stars on her stockings, the Queen sent me the thought in short order. "The stars represent wishes. You see I'm a star traveler. I'm not tethered to earth, I travel through the solar system on my Star cycle. I sometimes call it my Star Hopper. Humans admire the stars and make wishes on them. Little do they know that each star is a wish already made and sooner or later if you're very fervent in your wishing, it comes true....but only good wishes.

Now the doll is finished and the Queen is very pleased. She has promised to send me creative thoughts in the future and leave her doll here with me so that all who pass through this safe haven might not forget that wishes really do come true, if you wish fervently and with good intentions.

What's this? All the cats are gone and here's a lavender paw print on the back door glass. When I touch it with my hand, I see a vision of all the cats piled in the basket on the back of the star Hopper purring happily as Queen Cleocatra takes them for a ride through the stars.

"By the way, did you know that when a cat purrs, that is how cats sing with happiness."

Frontal Image

Side Image

Back Image

Detailed Image

Leap of Faith
on her Star Hopper
(rotation)

List of Materials
and Techniques Employed

Dimensions:
18 1/2" tall including ears
Chest 12 1/2 inches
Waist 12 1/2 inches
Hips 13 1/4 inches

Construction Techniques:
Doll is beaded with needle and thread on cotton fabric poly filled body.

Six months in the making and major input from Cleocatra herself, for you see, her story is really true.

Materials List:
Various beads and jewelry findings

Techniques:
Stitches used are Peyote, Herringbone, Back Stitch, Cobble Stitch, Loops and Square Stitch

VERA FOX-BOND
from LaVergne, Tennessee

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

After reviewing the Beaded Art Doll Images on this page, and reading the artist's stories, materials list, and summary of techniques,

VOTE & EVALUATE

See the overall Results


When voting closes 1/15/08, 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.