A Story of Friendship and Transformation
Let me tell you a story, I think you’re going to like it. It involves many objects that one way or another were selected by Birch to be part of her attire, and in that I feel this doll magic ✨ keeps surprising me at every corner.
About ten years ago, a dear friend who happened to fall in love with dollmaking when she discovered my dolls, sent me a few skeins of mohair silk yarn. She was so appreciative of encountering a world of imagination, story and thoughtful creative process through my work, that not only did she went all in with her dollmaking journey, she sent me this thoughtful present.
At the time, I did not know what to do with such special yarn. I felt very grateful of course, and also felt in my heart that a special doll would claim it later on. So I left the yarn untouched until a woollen being called out for it.
The skein sat in my yarn bin, surrounded by wool, alpaca, cashmere and cotton friends, bathing in sweet lavender, waiting for its moment to shine. Patience is a virtue.
Little did it know that it had to travel south of the border, not once but twice, all the way to Mexico, and then back again to Canada, only to then fly across the Atlantic ocean to the idyllic hills of Central Portugal, before it could be turned into a simple yet tender item of clothing for a very special Lady of the Woods.
Little did her Mom know when she sent it, that soon enough her dollmaking journey would be truncated for a long number of years, with utmost emotional and life upheaval, personal growth and mind-blowing experiences along the way.
Little did I know when I received it, that one day I would meet the person who sent it, in real life, in one of my favourite places on earth: Granada, Spain. A place where cultures clashed, ancient magic still exists and which brought me to meet the love of my life. A place where I lost anchors and gained a true compass to guide my life with.
Not only that, but that I would be teaching this kind human in a dollmaking workshop, when at the moment I received it I had never even published a doll pattern in my life, let alone teach!
Life takes you on mysterious journeys, if you allow yourself to go with the flow. Of that I am certain.
When I started knitting with this yarn, that was taken out many times and offered to a myriad of dolls over the years, with expectation of a yes, and always a no…and finally running it through my fingers, I could feel the emotion in my friend’s life, a transformation and one more gift coming my way.
I was overcome with these feelings, knowing they were not my own, and all I could do was imbue them in her doll.
I started remembering all our chats over the days we spent under the Andalusian sun, the letters she wrote me over the years, when she told me about her childhood and how seeing my dolls had awakened something so deep in her she could not stop dreaming and trying to create dolls.
I remembered the years that lapsed for me too, between receiving her gift and finally turning it into a piece of clothing for a special doll, just for her.
I felt the universe had conspired, had brought me exactly to this place, to this moment, to this friend, to this doll, to this yarn, to these stitches, to these memories and experiences.
I felt utterly blessed to have strength of mind and body, to be able to create this doll for her. To return to her hands the gift. The one true gift: generosity of heart. Friendship.
As Birch was being finished and I was putting every single stitch in her clothes, I cannot explain to you. Words truly fail me. It was like an ocean of emotion, of experience, I felt a transformation taking place in me. I felt a circle closing, a dream coming to an end. It was all just very strong and so emotional.
I let go of Birch as I landed in Texas, on my way back to Mexico where I had one of the most transformative weeks in my life.
I think Birch put me in this frame of mind, to accept gifts. To return gifts. To be thankful for the life I am blessed to live. To share it with others. Without fear.
She finally landed in the hands of her mother and I am sitting here, miles across the land, smiling. Feeling so happy that I get to share this journey with people who commune with it, who admire it and respect it, who love these woollen beings as much as I do, who love stories and love art, who think quietly and feel deeply.
I leave you with these words by Lewis Hyde, in his book ‘The Gift, Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World’, in the chapter about ‘The Labour of Gratitude’:
“A gift that has the power to change us awakens a part of the soul”.
May you receive all your gifts in the spirit in which they are given 🙏.
