Pamela Hastings, world-renowned doll maker, artist, writer, and teacher guides the reader through a Transformative Process using paper and cloth doll making, with lots of patterns and examples to create fast and simple dolls for fun and life change.

In The Healing Doll Way, Barb Kobe shares stories and images from her transformative experience becoming a healing doll artist, as well as those of many of her students and peers. The book also guides you through the process of making healing dolls for yourself. The act of making a doll can take you through a process of imagination, recovery, and growth. You do not need to be an expert at dollmaking-or artmaking, for that matter-to experience the power of this kind of work. This dollmaking process invites and encourages you to explore a range of perceptions and emotions, and in doing so, reach a deeper level of understanding and acceptance of yourself.

"If you're an artist looking to explore a versatile medium or are interested in making dolls, look to nature's bounty. Learn a variety of classic techniques as you create projects. Comes with a gallery of inspiring work by talented artists."--adapted from back cover.

To most, the word doll conjures up an image of a toy meant to be played with by little girls. But, as author and teacher Cassandra Light explains, while dolls do symbolize a sense of play, they are not necessarily toys, nor are they always meant for children. As objects of our creative imagination, dolls can bring us back to our childhood if we let them and "perhaps bestow upon us a future we hadn't imagined". It was upon this premise that she founded her successful Way of the Doll, School of Sacred Art in Berkeley, California, over fifteen years ago. Each year over seventy-five students, ranging in ages from six to eighty-five, meet weekly to create a life-sized doll of their own from porcelain and found materials. Few of the men and women have any artistic experience, and their backgrounds vary greatly. They unite for one common purpose: to discover and share their own personal story, whether it is one of joy or pain. The results, which are exhibited each year, are astounding. In this elegant and inspiring volume, Cassandra Light chronicles the history of her remarkable school, revealing the stories of many students, as well as her own. Her warm, honest voice is accompanied by nearly 100 spectacular, color photographs showcasing the best of these incredible dolls. Complete with essays by Stephen Mitchell and Jean Shinoda Bolen and the words of the students themselves, Way of the Doll is a testament to courage, hope, and the power of the human spirit.

The creative strategies in Design for Transformative Learning offer a playful and practical approach to learning from and adapting to a rapidly changing world. Seeing continuous learning as more than the periodic acquisition of new skills this book presents a design-led approach to revising the stories we tell ourselves, unlearning old habits and embracing new practices. This book maps learning opportunities across the contemporary landscape, narrating global case studies from K12, higher education, design consultancies and researchers. It offers narrative context, best practices and emergent strategies for how designers can partner in the important work of advancing a lifetime of learning. Committed to driving sustained transformation this is a playbook of practical moves for designing memory-making, perspective-shifting, hands-on learning encounters. The book braids stories from design practice with theories of change, transformative learning literature, cognitive and social psychology research, affect theory and Indigenous knowing. Positioning the COVID-19 pandemic as a moment to question what was previously normalised, the book proposes playful strategies for seeding transformational change. The relational practice at the core of Design for Transformative Learning argues that if learning is to be transformative the experience must be embodied, cognitive and social. This book is an essential read for design and social innovation researchers, facilitators of community engagement and co-design workshops, design and arts educators and professional learning designers. It is a useful primer for K12 teachers, organisational change practitioners and professional development facilitators curious to explore the intersection of design and learning. The companion website for the book is a practical resource that connects to many of the projects, activities, methods, designers and stories introduced in the book. The site includes links to downloadable colour diagrams, templates for digital learning encounters, and additional reflective narratives on transformative experiences. www.designingtransformativelearning.com

Inspired by the "Dada" notion of making art from materials that would not typically be combined or expected to go together, and driven by a similar sense of irony and humor, this exciting book by Linda and Opie O'Brien shares their unique approach to making mixed-media dolls. It is not only a "must have" volume for anyone interested in found object art and the human form, it is a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the power, symbolism, and cultural significance of dolls and representational figures. In Mixed-Media Doll Making, the authors share detailed techniques for using surface embellishments, creating faces, heads, and limbs, using molds and molding products, and building and transforming disparate objects into whimsical, inspiring dolls. Starting with a variety of substrates including a wood block, a canvas, a tin can, a book, and a box construction, readers are guided step by step through five types of doll constructions. Inside, you'll find: —Complete instructions for making a box construction doll, a wood block substrate doll, a two-sided canvas frame doll, a tin can doll, and a book doll —Numerous variations on each of the core projects for further experimentation —An inspiring gallery of mixed-media dolls from leading artists who discuss their methods and share their very personal answers to the question: "What is a doll?"

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Advocate and Tor.com A love story of two very real, unusual people, and a novel rich with wonders that shines a radically different light on society's marginal figures. Stitch by perfect stitch, Andrew Garvie makes exquisite dolls in the finest antique style. Like him, they are diminutive, but graceful, unique and with surprising depths. Perhaps that's why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector's magazine. Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped; and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her. On his journey through the old towns of England he reads the fairytales of Ewa Chaplin—potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice—to remain alone with their painful pasts or break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.