Dear Yogis,

MY EMAIL CHANGEOVER to yogafirst2@bigpond.com

First thing update my email address in your contact list please.  Chariot which has been my provider from the first days I was on email (about 30 years ago I think), has been taken over by IINET and they have decided to close the “chariot business” down.  I watched them grow, and now they are GOING.  IInet gave us no options, they just said “goodbye”.  Luckily I had Bigpond on standby.

So – I will swap to yogafirst2@bigpond.com .   This changeover is such a time consuming nuisance, but it has to be done.  It may be easier than I imagine, but I know it will be time consuming.  It would help if you would change over to this email address right now.  Thank you.

 

MORE DOLLS

“If you always do what interests you, at least one person is happy” – Kate Hepburn.

I am getting such joy and peace from making dolls.  It is the very first thing I have done in my life with out expectation, just love and open heart directs me.  I make them as they appear in my head, and trust that the reason will be made known in good time – not necessarily my time, and that is OK.  All I know is I am in a very satisfactory and peaceful place.  Even the Chariot dump didn’t “ruffle the waters”.  You can come see “the dolls that have changed me” next Saturday 16th July or Sunday 17th July between 2 and 4pm.  It is not like NAGORO in Japan, where the number of life-sized dolls outnumbers the population, although I am tempted to start.

This changeover into almost full time (at the moment) doll-making has been an exercise in understanding manifesting.  Along the way so many wonderful things are happening.  At Church I was asked if I would like a collection of fabrics and old doilies, and in a bag of odds and ends given a few days prior, when I went through it to see what I had,  there was a charm bracelet with a weeny sewing machine, scissors, a spool of thread and heaps of little sewing charms.  The universe giving me a nudge?

Of course I am going to be making dolls for the Ukraine and Refugees (I will need your help in this), and I think the more I do the more the path will make itself known to me.  In honour of this process I will be speaking tonite in Teacher Training about “Manifesting Meditations”.  You can’t easily manifest if you don’t understand the process.  If you are interested, Please contact me on yogafirst2@bigpond.com and I will send you an ID.

I actually remember making my first cloth doll for adults years ago, very different than what I make now.  More like a cloth sculpture than a doll to love and cuddle.  I don’t think I even considered that aspect of doll-making in my early doll-making career, although when I made for my children I certainly did.

The dolls I made in the 1980’s and onwards after the bushfires were what I called “Boudoir” dolls, fabric sculptures,  and certainly not for children.  I made a very large (80+cm tall) Russian Ballerina, stunning in black and red for the top of a grand piano, a “Mikado” doll for pride of place in a clients bedroom/sitting room.  I also made smaller unusual gilded and bejewelled “Flacko” dolls for hanging in studios, or  regal dolls sitting in chairs like real persons.  There were also tiny paper mâché doll sculptures.  I had exhibitions, but not one doll remains in my possession from this period.  People loved them, and bought them.

What I make now are “dolls to love and cuddle” no matter your age.  Dolls you can talk to.  They won’t always answer back, but then, neither do your furry friends.

Maybe one will speak to you, although I am prepared to be surrounded by them as the late Mirka Mora was.  Her studio was bedecked with dolls – they were on every shelf, in every nook and cranny.  Perhaps like mine, they were her cloth children.  She also travelled across Victorian country towns with her doll making workshops.  I am not keen to travel, but I will do workshops here in the studio, using her dolls as a guide to what we do now.  I even have a doll made in her workshop.  She didn’t pay much attention to faces, but they can be a feature of some of my dolls, although younger children are more interested in the feel of the doll.  The “sock doll” to the right I purchased in a bag of odds and ends.  It was horrible, ugly and badly made, but I liked the sock.  I took it to bits, re-stuffed and remade it, and called it MELVYN.

When children are denied dolls as sometimes the more orthodox Amish children are, they will find ways to make dolls for themselves.  Something to love and talk to.  Company, even inanimate.  These dolls are sometimes just a small log covered in cloth.  I am sure if you or I saw our children resorting to such an uncomfortable solution to their needs, it would send alarm bells off, it may even propel you into making a doll for them.  In the meantime, until you come to my workshops, try mine.  My bed has been overtaken by them, and the cat and I always say good nite to them one by one – and yes, she has her favourite!

CURRENT STUDIO/ZOOM SCHEDULE: (Studio Yoga – Mondays at 1pm are Full)  (PLEASE BOOK AHEAD – NO YOGA STUDIO DROP-INS, sorry)

ZOOM: Mon. 6.30 FREE OF CHARGE Teacher Training, Tues. Herb workshop 7.30 ($50 per month – part of the Bach Therapist Course only).
STUDIO YOGA:  Mon. 1pm (full) 2.15pm, Wed. 1pm Restorative(vacancy for July only), 2.15pm  Friday  2.15 Restorative. No Saturday classes the 16th July.
Fridays only – If you book you can join us at 3pm for a short meditation session on Fridays only.  Because it is the end of the class and I need to plan, you will need to book.

CONSULTATIONS: Zoom Tarot/Bach/QHHT HYPNOTHERAPY (a very powerful form of hypnotherapy), Bowen or a combo – by appointment only.  $85 To discuss or book,  email  yogafirst2@bigpond.com

MONTHLY LUNCHEON:   Thursday 28th July at 12noon at “The Vic” in Woodend (If you are running a bit late, relax, it’s OK – drop in for dessert.  We have the meeting room, so it is separate and quieter).  Please let me know if you can join us.  We will post an invite closer to the day.   RSVP PLEASE

WEEKLY MEETINGS:  We have free Teacher Training zoomed on Mondays 6.30pm, and we began our yoga teacher asana class/meeting in the studio WHICH WE HAVE ORGANISED FOR EVERY SECOND SUNDAY BETWEEN 2 and 3pm.  NEXT STUDIO TEACHER TRAINING CLASS Sunday 31st July at 2pm.

DOLL MAKING CLASS – TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED.

OPEN STUDIO. Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July,  2pm to 4pm BOTH DAYS.   I have been looking forward to this right through Covid zooms.  

Please pop in between 2 and 4pm on Saturday or Sunday and see (purchase) paintings,  my dolls and other goodies – herbs, smoking herbs, vintage items and fabulous pendulums.  You can even have a PENDULUM lesson in using the one you purchase.  Of course there will be champers and Christmas nibbles.    It is after all July and we can have a CHRISTMAS IN JULY. .  You can even come and discuss a tarot booking,  But especially look at my dolls.

 

I WILL SEE YOU ON THE MAT (or zoom).

NAMASTE – JAHNE

Dear Yogis,

The school holidays will soon be finished and life can get back to the usual routine.  It doesn’t make any difference to me, except in school holidays I have more time to do my own thing – which at the moment is making dolls, and soon (of course) I will hold classes.  Remember the long lost wisdom of making things with our hands – a skill that our ancestors innately knew.  You will be able to join us for an evening of doll making – as I take you take  you through the steps of making your own magic doll.   Come andd see the dolls I make at our open day, and decide what kind of doll you will make.  You can discuss times and dates with me then.

Magics Dolls have also been known throughout history as Medicine, Spirit or Healing Dolls.  Our sculptural works are created with natural and recycled materials. 

I stopped making dolls when I lost everything in the Ash Wednesdays fires.  I stopped a lot of artistic things then because it was as if all the creativity just left me, and I haven’t really been able to get it back.  Somehow, now I am just full to bursting with doll making ideas, just like before the fires.  It has long been believed that creator of the doll is able to weave a wish for oneself or the recipient, into the creation.

I have always loved rag dolls.  When I was a child I had a china doll.  She lived on top of the wardrobe, but I never felt it was really mine because I had to ask to play with her.  She was too precious to play with.  Maybe she was passed to my sister, who knows.  My favourite doll was a simple rag doll. There were a number of them.  They were not expensive, made out of fabric scraps.  When I was growing up there was always patchwork and doll making happening because there were always scrap fabrics to be used.

With my children I kept up the tradition although I was not a patchwork person, but I did make block squares blankets and quilts, and i particularly remember a black doll my son had.  He used to take it to school with the anticipated result.  It was always being taken and buried or hidden by the other boys, so I was always on rescue missions both to find the doll and clean/repair it.

I still love working with well worn textiles that tell a story. Antique fabrics, even old fabrics from friends, doilies, simple linen scraps, threadbare wool.  I love them all.  This week I repatriated a pair of large 100% cream linen “safari” shorts the size of a small tent,  from the op shop.  These are perfect for doll clothes and rescues them from landfill perhaps.

My first sewing machine practice happened on a Singer hand operated machine, and then to the sophistication of a treadle (I am looking for one if you have one in the garage) which I learned to use at the Singer Children’s Sewing classes at their shop downstairs on the corner of Swanston and Latrobe Street in Melbourne, and when I first started making dolls on my own I was given wool sweaters and socks that had been badly laundered, and fabric scraps not suitable for my mothers patchwork.  I even made clothes for them.

I have a deep commitment to wherever these dolls will take me.  It is not only me who is craving this kind of connection with a doll, but I am creating a modern heirloom that everyone, not only children can hold, love and pass on.  You can do this too at our up-coming doll making classes.  It is not about complications, it is about simplicity and heart.  The Spirit of the doll you will be working with.  The “dolls for children” (some are for adults) have the look and feel of a toy that is not the usual mass manufactured item.  A doll that is a bit more sophisticated and has personality – a GENTLE SOUL  that is not trying to teach or tell, just there to give the child comfort.

 

CURRENT STUDIO/ZOOM SCHEDULE: (Studio Yoga – Mondays at 1pm are Full)  (PLEASE BOOK AHEAD – NO YOGA STUDIO DROP-INS, sorry)

ZOOM: Mon. 6.30 FREE OF CHARGE Teacher Training, Tues. Herb workshop 7.30 ($50 per month – part of the Bach Therapist Course only).
STUDIO YOGA:Mon. 1pm (full) 2.15pm, Wed. 1pm Restorative(vacancy for July only), 2.15pm  Friday  2.15 Restorative.
Fridays only – If you book you can join us at 3pm for a short meditation session on Fridays only.  Because it is the end of the class and I need to plan, you will need to book.

CONSULTATIONS: Zoom Tarot/Bach/QHHT HYPNOTHERAPY (a very powerful form of hypnotherapy), Bowen or a combo – by appointment only.  $85 To discuss or book,  email  yogafirst2@bigpond.com

MONTHLY LUNCHEON:   Thursday 28th July at 12noon at “The Vic” in Woodend (If you are running a bit late, relax, it’s OK – drop in for dessert.  We have the meeting room, so it is separate and quieter).  Please let me know if you can join us.  We will post an invite closer to the day.   RSVP PLEASE

WEEKLY MEETINGS:  We have free Teacher Training zoomed on Mondays 6.30pm, and we began our yoga teacher asana class/meeting in the studio WHICH WE HAVE ORGANISED FOR EVERY SECOND SUNDAY BETWEEN 2 and 3pm.  NEXT STUDIO TEACHER TRAINING CLASS Sunday 31st July at 2pm.

DOLL MAKING CLASS – TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED.

OPEN STUDIO. Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July,  2pm to 4pm BOTH DAYS.   I have been looking forward to this right through Covid zooms.  

Please pop in between 2 and 4pm on Saturday or Sunday and see (purchase) paintings,  my dolls and other goodies – herbs, smoking herbs, vintage items and fabulous pendulums.  You can even have a PENDULUM lesson in using the one you purchase.  Of course there will be champers and Christmas nibbles.    It is after all July and we can have a CHRISTMAS IN JULY. .  You can even come and discuss a tarot booking,  But especially look at my dolls.

 

I WILL SEE YOU ON THE MAT (or zoom).

NAMASTE – JAHNE

 

Dear Yogis,

I am hoping your absences at class are just the result of school holidays and covid, however, the break has given me a great time to catch up with doll making and “midnite darning” for various clients (and the web).  I have had some most interesting items to mend – it will be some years before they are consigned to the Salvos. Regarding the studio – I will seriously consider closing during the school holidays in future – apart from art of course.  Art and my own yoga practise does not turn off.

DOLLS
I am busy thinking about and making more dolls.  The one on my mind at the moment is a variation on an Amishdoll.  They had a particular dress, but the main difference is that they did not have faces drawn in.

The Amish believe only God can make a being in His own image..

One easy explanation would be that the Amish strive to live a simpler life, and so their dolls mimic the plain aesthetic the Amish display through their own humble, handmade clothes and possessions. The truth, however, is that Amish dolls rarely have distinguishing features like eyes, noses, mouths, fingers, or toes, and the reasons are rooted in some of the community’s most deeply-held beliefs.

The Amish look down on activities and possessions that would bring on feelings of vanity, superiority, or pride. This goes beyond dolls and other toys, as the Amish also shun printed or synthetic fabrics, musical instruments, and even electricity. Amish dolls, therefore, are plain rag dolls, sometimes stuffed with cotton or straw, made with the same natural, monochromatic fabrics with which the Amish clothe themselves: cotton, linen, muslin, and wool. The dolls are typically unadorned save for their minimalist outfits that mirror the clothes worn by Amish boys and girls.

The doll on the right, is NOT an Amish doll, but it is a rag/cloth doll of the kind I make.  They are not small, being 40 to 50cms and taller.  The sketch in the photo on the left above is of an Amish style doll that will be featured in my OPEN STUDIO EXHIBITION on the 16th and 17th of July between 2 and 4pm each day.

Amish dolls can be best described as plain rag dolls. They are used by both boys and girls, as Amish children don’t have many toys.  Amish children are also seen wrapping wooden logs in blankets and pretending they are dolls. In the past, the dolls were stuffed with rags even straw, but nowadays cotton and polyester are often used as stuffings. In the past, the dolls were not washed, and when they got dirty, a new layer of cloth would be wrapped around them.

The “Orthodox” Amish follow the teachings of a 16th century Swiss Anabaptist named Jakob Ammann, who broke with the Mennonite church to promote the idea of following the Bible more literally while forsaking the secular and scientific advancements of the time. As is often noted,  the Amish apply this line of thinking to a passage in the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy that forbids man from creating “graven images” or other likenesses of man.

The Amish believe that all are equal in the eyes of God, that only God can create men and women, and so they tend to make sure that their dolls are featureless from top to bottom.  I must say that mine are not, although in the case of my Amish dolls I try to make them different and creative whilst staying within the Church guidelines.  They are faceless, and dressed in plain fabrics.

 

CURRENT STUDIO/ZOOM SCHEDULE: (Studio Yoga – Mondays at 1pm are Full)  (PLEASE BOOK AHEAD – NO YOGA STUDIO DROP-INS, sorry)

ZOOM: Mon. 6.30 FREE OF CHARGE Teacher Training, Tues. Herb workshop 7.30 ($50 per month – part of the Bach Therapist Course only).
STUDIO YOGA:Mon. 1pm (full) 2.15pm, Wed. 1pm Restorative(vacancy for July only), 2.15pm  Friday  2.15 Restorative.
Fridays only – If you book you can join us at 3pm for a short meditation session on Fridays only.  Because it is the end of the class and I need to plan, you will need to book.

CONSULTATIONS: Zoom Tarot/Bach/QHHT HYPNOTHERAPY (a very powerful form of hypnotherapy), Bowen or a combo – by appointment only.  $85 To discuss or book,  email  yogafirst2@bigpond.com

MONTHLY LUNCHEON:   Thursday 28th July at 12noon at “The Vic” in Woodend (If you are running a bit late, relax, it’s OK – drop in for dessert.  We have the meeting room, so it is separate and quieter).  Please let me know if you can join us.  We will post an invite closer to the day.   RSVP PLEASE

WEEKLY MEETINGS:  We have free Teacher Training zoomed on Mondays 6.30pm, and we began our yoga teacher asana class/meeting in the studio WHICH WE HAVE ORGANISED FOR EVERY SECOND SUNDAY BETWEEN 2 and 3pm.  NEXT STUDIO TEACHER TRAINING CLASS Sunday 31st July at 2pm.

OPEN STUDIO. Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July,  2pm to 4pm BOTH DAYS.   I have been looking forward to this right through Covid.  Please pop in between 2 and 4pm on the day and see (purchase) paintings,  my dolls and other goodies – herbs, smoking herbs, vintage items and fabulous pendulums.  You can even have a PENDULUM lesson in using the one you purchase.  Of course there will be champers and Christmas nibbles.    It is after all July and we can have a CHRISTMAS IN JULY. .  You can even come and discuss a tarot booking, 

I WILL SEE YOU ON THE MAT (or zoom).

NAMASTE – JAHNE