Sherry's Gourd Doll

I was amazed at how calm Sherry was when she unpacked her luggage and found her gourd doll unwrapped and broken in about six places. I would have been in tears. But she said she has become inured to the indifferent way in which TSA inspectors treat her luggage. Because it was so broken Sherry didn’t feel it possible to take her home safely. So she gets to live with me. I'm absolutely thrilled .. but it's hard to be happy at such bad luck.

It took Sherry two days to fix this - the legs were broken at the knees and the ankles. She had to take the armature out and insert wires, and then she glued it back together. Once the glue had set she used an epoxy putty to make more vines, flowers, and berries to cover the cracks. Then, of course, it had to be painted. Oh - her head was broken off too - that had to be put back together. I think she’s a Humpty in disguise!

Can you tell what pieces are gourd? The skirt is a Crown of Thorns gourd, the daffodil she is looking into is a gourd, and her hat is a gourd. By the way - for those of you who use paper clay .. the legs were made of Das and the arms were Creative Paperclay. The arms - which are way more delicate than the legs - didn’t break.

She's absolutely exquisite .. the pictures don't do her justice at all.