Repurposing An old Corroded Shell, A Doll And A Shark To Make An Ornament For My Daughter.

 When I was a little boy, my mother used to sit in the old Morris Minor, in the backyard, and make shell dolls. This was her creator's studio. She bought small plastic dolls and used Shelley's Putty to stick abalone shells around them to make dresses with a smaller shell for the head. The dresses and low arms of the dolls were painted various colors with enamels. Sparkles were also added.

   I used to sit there with her, on the car seat and watch, fascinated. The smell of the putty and paint I found very pleasant. When my mother died last year, I inherited some of her shells that sat in a corner of the backyard. It had been many decades since she made dolls, and none had survived in the family as they had all been sold or given away. I resolved to make a few of the same dolls but using a glue gun. 

  Anyway, a couple of days ago I tried. I soon realized the doll I had was too big and they were the wrong shells - scallop shells, used for some other ornaments. Then I had a brainstorm. I had to make something in the same spirit. There was an old characterful, broken shell on the bathroom window ledge. I had, most likely, picked it up, several decades ago, on a Phillip Island back beach. It had a hole added form a broken off bit. I once sketched it in a still life. I also had a plastic doll and a decapitated plastic shark (left over from another project).

   So the tail was cut off the shark and fins removed. The doll was cut in half; one body part was glued in one hole and the other in the entrance. A piece of orange, plastic, fish tank seaweed completed things and covered some visible glue from the hot glue gun.

   Now it sits on my daughter's dresser.

 This is a departure from the subjects of my usual posts, but I like what I created, and it was a pleasant diversion. I just might go beach combing, again.