back from Arcadia

mountain villages. Storytelling at dawn, watching the mountains float with the new light, the world being born again. my workshop this year was about the mythic image, metaphor, abstraction. Illustrated by the koutsouna ladies.

"what is in your hand?"

"a boat without sails"

it was half an empty walnut shell.

storytelling, no?

a memory of last year's workshop overwintering in the forest.

and stitching dots, making a cloth out of bundled scraps.

food for the soul.

how to make a traditional ragdoll from greece, a koutsouna

all you need

first the head, with the ridge in front
then the body, a cylinder, wind tightly
tie the body with the strip of cloth, tightly so that it stays attached to the neck. this is what makes me think that the lack of arms is intentional. It is easy to make this strip longer and give her arms
this is the "elegant" stage, like a cycladic sculpture
the shirt
the apron
the headscarf, longest side over the forehead. thesedays children call it a bandanna. until they notice the older ladies in the village, and say "look, a koutsouna~"
you can tie it in front,
or around the front and tied in the back. take care to cut the scarf wide enough, it is fiddly to tie when it is too short, and it gives character to the koutsouna.
from behind
this is to see the face, made by the walnut inside. the photo is dark, i'm sorry, but the shadows wouldn't show up with the flash.look at the walnut carefully, and at peoples heads. if you put it upside down, it doesn't work.

all the knots are simple- do you call them overhand knots? the first stage in shoelace tying. you want to be able to undo them easily, to give your koutsouna a change of dress, or body, or why not- face!

this is an article on traditional clothing

girls used to make baby koutsounes as well, and their first weavings were baby blankets, woven on a tile, for koutsouna babies.

Naomi, happy dollmaking and lots of hugs

ragladies and a saint

One day, at the folklore museum in the village of Varnavas I found this
he is a saint, an icon with a cheap print face, lovingly embellished in piety by a nun.
I thought you would like to see him.he stands in the kitchen of the museum, not deemed interesting enough to be exhibited.

a few rag ladies. they are called "koutsounes" in greek, children used to make them with scraps of cloth, clothes that had been worn to rags, in the time when all clothes, every fabric in the house was handmade.they have a walnut for a head, if you place it well you get a proper head with facial characteristics. All scraps are tied, there is no sewing involved, small children can make them if you help with the cutting and tying, and they can be undressed and dressed again indefinitely.they look like real people,. they don't have arms or hands, but village ladies would never wave theirs around in public, they would keep them folded across their breasts or in their pockets. if you are careful how you tie the body to the head, with cloth, of course, string or yarn would be too precious, you can create a suggestion of breasts...
children love it when I tell them that :-)) and when teachers look at me I go into teaching mode and talk about how wisely tradition found a way of portraying the real human body ;-)the very little ones like to draw eyes and mouths on their faces, older ones are satisfied with the suggested scuptural features of the walnut. Every time I make them I am amazed at the economy and art that is involved in such a simple work of representation. the ladies always turn out elegant, as a work of art, and powerful in their abstraction. If you give them enough cloth for their bodies they can even sit..

many children go to the piles of rags and surrepititiously take some to make another one at home. I never stop them.