Textiel Plus 210 (Winter 2009)
The Sock Dolls and Sock Animals of Neta Amir
Article by Afke Zwierzina
translated by Paul Tieman and edited by Irit Caspi
Neta Amir switched professions from fashion designer to doll maker. She makes her dolls using used socks. With the creation of a face, haircut, clothing, jewelry etc., their character and identity develop. After the dolls are created, Neta lets them take part in installation art and stories.
The word "sock" in Dutch (sok) almost automatically conjures images of foolish or feeble-minded individuals, a sack of marbles, or an unsafe place to keep your money. It can also be associated with the use of knitted socks to make puppets or sock monkeys. The pattern for a sock monkey for babies comes free of charge with brown socks from the American brand Rockford. The mystery of why socks disappear in the washing machine has inspired artist Stef Kreymborg to create a sock monument. And a sock factory sells socks not in pairs, but rather in threes. Yet none of these options for using socks is similar to the way Neta Amir from Tel Aviv uses them.
Bobilina Studio
Neta Amir studied fashion design at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. While working as a designer in the fashion industry, she missed the feel of handmade items. She decided to choose another creative path in life. Since Neta was a child, she has been busy with pieces of fabric, dolls, and handicraft. During the years in which she attended Shenkar College, her love for dolls did not diminish. One of her first dolls, a red-haired crocheted figure, was named Bobilina, and Neta named the studio she started up in 2005 after this first doll.
Dolls, Objects, and Sock Dolls
Since Neta opened her studio, numerous handmade creations were born, ranging from crocheted and fabric dolls to dogs with warm coats, baby-sized dolls, “hairy” creatures with pensive expressions in their eyes, and touching birds, but also slippers, tea cups, and bowls made of fabric. During the last two years, sock dolls have also been a part of her repertoire, but don't think her work has anything to do with the traditional sock doll or sock monkey, which is unmistakably made from striped or checkered socks, or socks made from goat's wool. In one of her first sock dolls, which is better described as a sock dog, the heel of the sock is recognizable, but Neta has developed such a characteristic method and style, that only avery careful study of the dolls reveals the use of socks.
Inspiration
For her characters and type of dolls, Neta finds many ideas as well as inspiration in her immediate environment. Neta lives in a neighborhood that houses many different kinds of people: factory workers, artists, students, rockers, and immigrants from various countries. The walk to the supermarket offers a lot of inspiration, but, ultimately, her choices are intuitive. “Like when you meet someone whom you'd like to know better and you can become friends with. There has to be a certain atmosphere, a mix of humor and sadness, some humanity. I look for this kind of feeling while making my dolls. It is necessary to love them; they are temporarily living in my home, so I'm careful to which characters I open the front door,” explains Neta.
New Friends
Making the dolls is a process of pure handwork, and is not hasty. When working on the first outline, Neta has only a rough idea. While working, she develops a typical character. With small pieces of fabric, she forms lips, nose, eyes, and eyebrows into a face. Hair is made of wool or fabric. Details are added with acrylic paint or embroidery. Often, these details are added several times before the doll's facial expression is satisfactory. Then come clothing and other accessories, including shoes with laces. This all takes time, and requires concentration, patience, and a perfectionist attitude towards the work. Neta adds or changes details until she is completely satisfied with the outcome, chooses a character and name for the doll, and can now welcome a new friend to Bobilina Studio.
Materials
Neta Amir uses diverse materials for her dolls. In her neighborhood, where many textile companies have been traditionally established, all kinds of fabric scraps can be obtained. There are also shops that offer fabrics, yarns, and notions, sometimes with old stocks of finds and bargains. Friends and family members provide a supply of used fabrics, clothing, and socks. "I don't need to buy what I can reuse," says Neta. "And I love the creases, wear and tear, and faded colors of used fabrics. Those traces of an earlier life are part of my dolls' characters."
Stories in Pictures
Neta Amir does more than create dolls that demonstrate her craftsmanship and originality. During and after the process of creation, she makes up many situations where her people dolls and animal dolls play a role, which she then photographs. This creates a story in pictures, with its own setting – another artistic discipline. “I am curious to know the stories of the characters I create and tell with fabric, socks, needles, and threads. Stories picked up from daily life, and about the moment your imagination takes part in it; the crossover between fiction, illusion, and real life, where you cannot recognize exactly what is real and what is surreal.”
Blog
With her Bobilina Studio, Neta Amir is following her heart. She sells her creations on her online Etsy shop, organizes (sock) doll making workshops for adults, and conducts artistic classes for young children. From all these three directions, she receives enthusiastic and inspiring comments. The developments (in her work) from the last few years, her creative items, and her unique stories can be seen and read on her blog. It is worthwhile to take a closer look at it. Take your time; so many photos and so many stories cannot be summed up in a single article.
Hand/Eye
Doll Stories
BY Rebeca Schiller February 6, 2010
Neta Amir flirts with the dark side of doll-making
Dollmakers are as complex as the dolls they've designed and--like their fabric alter-egos--each designer has an interesting story of how they came into being. Israeli-born Neta Amir grew up in a small kibbutz, a socialistic agricultural collective. Early on, she knew she wanted to escape this lifestyle for a more creative one.
During her teenage years, Amir left for Tel-Aviv and went on to attend an art high school. Although the art classes left an impression, Amir felt that she should pursue a profession that was more practical and decided to study fashion design at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, which she admits, "Was an awful experience."
After graduation, Amir went on to do fashion design, but was still at loose ends at what she wanted to do with her life. After she quit her fashion job, she started to play around with doll-making, while she looked for another job in the fashion industry. However, as she made more and more dolls, she realized that she was hooked and doll-making became her full-time job.
The transition from fashion designer to doll-maker was fun since she never really liked fashion design, and doll-making was a craft that always intrigued her. Amir says, "I like the process of creating things from scratch with my own hands, and I love the craftsmanship. When I worked as a fashion designer, I really missed this part of the creative process. I didn't like having someone else producing my designs, and I didn't like to spend all day drawing clothes on the computer."
In creating her dolls, Amir doesn't have a set routine. Sometimes she has an image in her mind, but this is rare. For the most part, as she plays with fabrics and other materials, shapes and raw characters emerge. At that point, she'll start determining the doll's facial features, clothes, and accessories.
During the design process, the selection of materials used in each character is a top priority. Amir enjoys working with fabrics that are recycled such as old bedding, clothing, and socks. Amir notes that it's the wear-and-tear of these fabrics that add another dimension to her work – and some vestigial essence of previous owners. "In some way they, too, tell another chapter in the stories I interweave."
These stories are part of installations where the dolls are a part of a space that Amir forms. In other words, during and after the process of creating the dolls, she makes up situations and installations where the dolls play a role. "I am curious about creating an environment where my dolls live or where they came from. For some of my dolls, I create a background with furniture and other items that tell more about them." Examples of these installations can be seen her all white miniature living room made from white cotton socks and her sitting and knitting crocheted lady.
part from the installations, Amir is known for her quirky and colorful characters such as Mr. Big Creature. Crocheted from the fabric scraps, yarn and the remains of a sewing workshop, Mr. Big Creature is one tall dude, standing at 11.2" tall; including his tail, he is 14" long and approximately 10" wide.
Lady Creature, The female counterpart to Mr. Big Creature, is made from a unique combination of materials and techniques; her body, hands, and tail are made out of recycled old socks. Her removable sweater, also made out of old socks, sports tiny studded pockets. The crocheted collar is embellished with small piece of a vintage lace ribbon – which is also used for her headband. This ribbon is at least 70 years old, and once belonged to Amir's grandmother.
A fan of using any found fabric, Amir created a series of critters by wrapping strips of fabric on top of each other, apart from the facial features, no sewing is required. There is no stuffing at all, since the shapes were created by the wrapping, resulting in funny round animals resembling a mutant kitty-dogs.
It comes as no surprise that Amir's surroundings provide the materials and the influence in her work. She lives in a diverse neighborhood in the south of Tel-Aviv, bordering an industrial and residential area. And like other artists, everything she sees provides a story that she can include within her stories.
While oddball characters seem to be the norm in Amir's collection, she also has a dark and gothic side as seen in her new project, The Girl and the Raven. She took inspiration from the back of her apartment complex, where there is an empty lot between three old buildings that are falling apart. Amir notes that in spite of its dilapidated state several activities occur: ravens fly overhead, stray cats wander, members of rock band hang out. For her, this site exudes some sort of mystery and she explains that The Girl and the Raven is the most serious of her work in which she's both taking a departure from earlier techniques and experimenting with new ones. She is trying, as she puts it, "to walk on a different path than the one I used to walk on."
To view Amir's quirky and dark creatures, visit http://bobilina.blogspot.com/
