Cheapest Watch Wyrd, OOAK Wall Art Doll - Sage

Leather Mixed Media - approximately 10 x 2 x 2"

First the Story:
In the hill tribes of the Northern lands of a far off distant land whenever a great Hero dies for his people a Watch Wyrd appears at the edges of the tribe's land. Where they come from or how they get there, no one knows. What they do everyone knows, they guard and protect the tribe and their lands. When an enemy of the tribe crosses the borders the Watch Wyrds give alarm with and ear piercing yell. If the intruder attacks, the Watch Wyrd rises up and defend the tribe.
Small doll sized Watch Wyrds are kept in the homes and are thought to protect the household and the people within.

Now for the History:
The Ideas for my Watch Wyrds where inspired by the Stories of the Author P.C.Hodgell. In several of her books they are mentioned as mostly background color tho in one of the later books they do play a role in "protecting the tribe" and we find out more about them. From the very first time I read about them they stuck in my mind. The ideal of the hanging figure that protected the borders. So being an artist and a sculptor I started making this series of smaller hand sized Watch Wyrd Dolls. As I have made more of them they have evolved into different types and styles. Some have stylized bird skulls for heads or animal heads. Some have more human heads and faces. I have made them in different sizes ( this is a small to medium one), and I have sold them at my booth at Ren Fairs and different festivals. As I have made more of them their story/myth has evolved with them. At their heart they are protective pieces, tho many people are attracted to them just as art work cheapest. The human headed ones are more about physical protection while the animal headed and others are more about the protection of mental, spiritual space. The head on this Watch Wyrd is one of the normal human faces. In most of my human faced Watch Wyrds the face is covered with leather in this one you can see the face. Over all this piece is about 12 inches tall with the body being aprox. 10 inches of that.

The making:
Each Watch Wyrd is handmade one at a time. I first sculpt the head and attach it to a simple wire armature ( I often made many different heads at once because I use them in a lot of my work). I then sculpt the body around the armature out of ether a artist quality polymer clay or epoxy clay. Once the body is sculpted and cured, leather or fabric is chosen and cut to size. The fabric is hand dyed and distressed to get just the right look and then symbols and designs are drawn on the fabric or leather. the covering is finally attached to the body and coated with several coats of clear polyurethane before finally being antiqued and distressed more till it looks right and loop for hanging it on the wall is attached. Finally it is signed and one last protective coat is applied. From start to finish including drying times several days to a week or two is spent on each doll.