‘IT’S KIND OF A LIFESTYLE’
Creating cloth dolls an outlet for detail-oriented art-oholic
Nancy Wirtz loves to create things, including art dolls.
Her eye-catching cloth dolls are meticulously handcrafted. The more detail work involved, the better. Wirtz thrives on the challenge.
“It’s crazy detail work,” the Regina-based fibre/mixed media artist said with a smile. “But I enjoy that.… They are so much fun to make.”
Creating art dolls has been a perfect outlet for her many interests: sewing, painting, papier-mache, polymer clay, beading and woodworking.
“I have always been involved in art,” Wirtz said. “I’m an art-oholic.”
Even as a child, growing up on a farm about 130 kilometres south of Regina, Wirtz enjoyed drawing, painting and sewing.
“When they turn 16, lots of people get cars. I got a sewing machine for my birthday,” she said. “I really love working with fabric.”
Wirtz started making art dolls about a decade ago, after borrowing Creative Cloth Doll Faces by Patti Medaris Culea. Since then, she has created a dozen unique dolls.
“They take quite a few hours,” she said. “But I’ve never really kept track of how long I spend on one.”
Making dolls and other art projects is something Wirtz does in her spare time — when she’s not working as an administrative and library assistant at the elementary school in the rural community of Pense.
“I want to make some kind of art thing every day,” she said. “It’s kind of a lifestyle.”
Her ART-i-kel dolls aren’t designed to be toys; they’re pieces of art to be displayed and appreciated.
The dolls’ bodies are cut from cotton knit fabric, which Wirtz machine sews, then stuffs with polyester batting. The pattern she uses is a modified version of a pattern in Medaris Culea’s book. “I have made alterations in the patterns to suit my purposes.”
She started out cloth-sculpturing the dolls’ faces. But Wirtz didn’t like the seam down the centre. So now, to form the faces, in addition to cloth-sculpturing, she uses mixed medium and paper clay on them.
“You have to put layers on them and let them dry — paint and dry, and paint and dry. And then, it ends up being hard,” she said.
Then faces are hand-painted, using acrylic paints, Pigma micron pens and chalk pastels. And Wirtz carefully sews on false eyelashes.
For most dolls, the hair is cut and styled from hair extensions. But for a mermaid doll, Wirtz used sections from a artsy scarf she’d made.
The dolls’ hands have pipe cleaners in the fingers for posing.
Most of her art-doll creations have found new homes. “You can’t keep them all,” Wirtz said.
Some were made as gifts, or donated to charities. Others are sold at the Regina airport. Prices range from $80 to $189. To order her work, you can email Wirtz at wirtznancy@yahoo.com
Over the years, Wirtz has created everything from a doll to mark Barbie’s 50th anniversary and a Nigerian mother and children, to a mermaid and flower child.
For a friend’s 60th birthday, Wirtz created Gardenielle, a doll that shares her friend’s love of gardening. She sculpted the doll’s Crocs and shovel from polymer clay. She made her own patterns for the T-shirt and overalls, and formed overall buckles from wire. She sewed miniature garden gloves, adding grips on the palms using dimensional paint.
“The patio blocks are sculpted from my own egg carton papiermache recipe,” Wirtz said, adding that she formed a wooden base cut with a jigsaw and painted it, then glued on clay pots (which she purchased) filled with papier-mache soil.
Plant roots were made from threads. The doll’s straw hat was purchased, then embellished with silk flowers.
“I enjoy the process immensely,” Wirtz said. “The human form is such a great thing. … And I like making their little environments, too.”
When they turn 16, lots of people get cars. I got a sewing machine for my birthday. I really love working with fabric.