Quilled Babushkas

Licia Politis is a name you'll recognize if you're a longtime reader of this blog... I've featured several of her elaborate quilled art pieces in the past. Licia's most recent project is a set of babushka dolls that captured awards at this year's Sydney Royal Easter Show, as well as the North American and British Quilling Guild conventions.

Quilled Babouskas

Licia has been collecting Russian babushka dolls (also known as matryoshka) for years and thought it would be a challenge to make a nesting set from paper with quilled embellishments.

Quilled Babouska

To begin, she made six plasticine bodies in graduated sizes, covered each with plastic wrap, and glued on layers of newsprint paper maché.

babouskas-moulds

When dry, she used a Stanley blade to cut a line around the widest part of the bodies. The plasticine models were removed and discarded, and the outside of each hollow half was painted a bright color.

Licia quilled the marquises for the head scarves first, and progressed to the bases where she added rows and rows of bandaging. This is a technique that can be found in antique quilled pieces and is very effective when using contrasting colors. 

babouskas-nested

Licia especially enjoyed creating the hand-painted faces because the features brought "the girls" to life. Tight coiling of paper strips creates tiny ridges, but applying a few thin coats of pva glue to the surface before painting allowed for the features to go on smoothly.

 Quilled Babouska

Next, the aprons were another tricky part of the process... gluing a flat piece of paper to a curved belly; then the scarf edges, decorations on the aprons and scarves, and lastly, hair.

The checkerboard base measures 15” x 4.5” (38cms x 11cms) and is covered with more than 1400 antique gold, half inch cylinders. Can you imagine?!  

Quilled Babouskas

Licia has affectionately named the well-traveled girls... Anastasia is the tallest at 5 inches, Ludmilla is 4 inches, Svetlana is 3 inches, Kristyana is 2 1/4 inches, Lidija is 1 3/4 inches, and the baby, Katya, is less than an inch!

quilled-baboushka-baby

Each girl is stabilized by a collar glued to the base. They could all stack inside one another if they weren't fastened down, and only the tiniest doll cannot be opened.

licia-politis-royal-easter-show-2012

Here's Licia in Sydney at the Royal Easter Show where the girls took first prize and were awarded a position in the Showcase of Excellence. 

quilled-baboushkas 

Ann Martin
Ann Martin

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Comments

  1. Thank you so very much for this post Ann,Although I have seen some pictures on facebook ,it is such a treat to know how the dolls were made.I am so delighted to see all the details of her work here. Licia is such an inspiration.

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  2. Thanks God for the chairs :) otherwise I would have fallen on the floor. Thank you for showing this little wonders!!

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  3. It's easy to understand why these received awards. They're wonderful.

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  4. Thanks a lot, Ann for sharing her awesome work and the intricate details on each part with pictures.

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  5. Magnificent....Licia is a great artist.

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  6. Thank you Ann, for showing of Licia's "girls". She is such a master of the art of quilling, and is such a nice lady.

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  7. Adequate words fail me...beautiful, unique, stunning, lovely...and the list goes on!!!
    TFS
    Paper Hugs,
    Jan

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  8. Wow, How the hell did you managed to do quilling for that 1cm doll! Amazing stuff! :)

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  9. Wow whee! That's amazing and so much delicate work. Of course, she won first prize. Well deserved!

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  10. What wonderful photos of a beautiful,
    amazing body of work! Licia is an
    inspiration to us all........

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  11. Wow, that is beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing the entire process as well, I would love to try making these dolls myself.

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  12. Many thanks to Ann firstly for featuring my girls and for everyone who left comments. Charul,the smallest girl was very tricky and probably a bit ugly too...it wasn't easy to paint such a small face and to make the her tiny paper mache body either!
    I am so pleased that they had the opportunity to travel to the other side of the world.
    To The Thinker,I would love to see a pic of your girls, when you give them a go, it's fanatstic that I have inspired you!
    Licia

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  13. Is it from watching these dolls wobble around that the mamushka dance was developed?

    http://movieclips.com/dC5n7-the-addams-family-movie-the-mamushka-dance/

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  14. What a beautiful piece! What an inspiration Licia is... a true artist indeed! I would love to see more of her amazing work... I have never seen anything like this artwork!

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  15. molto carine queste bambole sono fantastiche , brava se ti va passa da me www.metalfimo2.blogspot.com

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  16. One of the favorite things from my childhood is a set of these dolls my grandparents gave me, but they weren't nearly as pretty as these!!

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