WITCH CRAFTS

WITCH CRAFTS

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

OLD GYPSY FORTUNE TELLER

Hi All,
Here's another "Gypsy Fortune Teller" for Halloween.



She is 18 inches tall, all cloth, and a "stump" doll (no legs).
I used "deer suede" fabric for the head and hands.



When making the costume for these Gypsy dolls, finding the right fabrics (in scale) can be a challenge. I find my local "Goodwill" thrift store has a lot of possibilities for unusual fabrics. There is only one fabric store (JoAnns), and a handful of quilt shops in my town, which is fine for the basics, but not great for finding everything I need. On this doll, the orange print skirt was a woman's jacket, and the magenta & black print chiffon turban was a lady's shirt -- both found at the thrift store.


The face is needle-sculpted, then colored with pastel chalks, colored pencils, acrylic paint, and marking pens.


The fingernails are made of drinking straws. I cut them down to size, paint them, and glue them on the fingers. After they are glued on, I give them a few coats of clear gel medium (both on top and underneath) to seal the paint and get all the edges glued down.

The "crystal ball" is an iridescent plastic Christmas ornament I sprayed with some silver glitter.



She might get a shawl to wear around her shoulders. I have an old red crochet sweater with fringe on the ends (thrift store!) that might work.

Here are some works-in-progress photos, showing how I put the doll together. (Sorry, not a lot of photos.)





Whenever I am working on one of these "old-lady gypsy" dolls, I always think of Maria Ouspenskaya. 



Maria Ouspenskaya (what a great name!) was a Russian character actress in the 1940's. She played the "old gypsy woman" in all the "Wolfman" movies. She was always saying to Lon Chaney, "beware the sign of the were wolf". --She always had lots of jewelry, but she never wore as much make-up as my gypsy dolls do!


Have Fun! -AB

6 comments:

Kathy said...

love, love, love her! yes, Maria Ospenskya, a perfect model!

Zia Joey said...

What a character, love her and I have the same top fabric!

Arley said...

Thanks for you positive comments, ladies! I'm glad you appreciate my work!

Cindy E said...

All your dolls are a real treat for the eyes and your gypsy is no exception. Incredible work!

Mary Ann Tate said...

Her face is awesome...the chin and nose....the eyes.

Arley said...

Thank you Cindy & Mary Ann!