Commissioned Dolls
 Stacey, with her healing doll, "Eir" and a book related to her doll. The doll also has a tiny felted book in her belly containing more healing messages.
Commissioned dolls can serve as guides during difficult times or joyous reminders during times of celebration:
Change is a fact of life, but there are certain times when you might want to stop and acknowledge a particularly important transition. A transformative doll can serve to honor this time of your life. The doll can be a permanent reminder, to be placed on an altar at home or on a shelf at work, of what qualities you want to remember when you are going through a difficult time. Or if it's a celebration, such as an anniversary, a new baby or a new job, the doll can be a way of celebrating and remembering. Steps to commissioning a doll: First, I will ask you about symbols, stories and signs that have personal meaning. We will sit together (virtually or in real space) and discuss what elements you would like your transformative doll to reflect back at you. These stories and symbols will be woven into the doll. I will let my intuition, combined with your insights, guide me to create a doll that holds your chosen qualities such as courage and wisdom within. Usually the doll-making process takes from two to three months, depending on its size and complexity. Upon completion, you may like to request, along with the doll, a mini journal containing any further guidance I might have received during the doll-making process. We will sit together for a final meeting to allow yourself the time to absorb and discuss the full experience of what your doll has to say to you. Allow yourself the opportunity to, through the exploration of what your own unique doll might represent, to find access to: Joy. Truth. Authenticity. Freedom and spaciousness that comes from trust in your own intuition. And most importantly, a deep well of courage that you might not have known was there. There is a range of prices for the dolls:
small doll (5-8 inches) $500-700 medium doll (9-12 inches) $700-900 large doll (13-16 inches) $1000-1200 Prices also depend on the amount of embellishing and detail. My own healing journey. Click to read about examples of how healing and transformative dolls served my own journey.
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Testimonials:
Just completed my latest and largest commission yet for Richard. The doll comes with a book, an environment and many other tiny details, such as a tiny chandelier in a "house" that can be closed to make a box or opened to make a canopied house.
Here are a few words from Richard about his doll: "The shrine sits by my computer where I spend a least a few hours a week organizing and listening to Kundalini Kriyas and the mantras that we chant in the yoga classes I attend I look at the doll of me that you made and see both the Richard of now, the Richard of the past and the Richard of the future. I can and do ask him about where we are going and although he cannot answer in a literal way he does give his approval to the path I am currently on. The clues that I gave you about what to include in the work seem to have been prophetic. The river for Siddhartha does represent the journey. Even tho when I described what I wanted it was not really clear to me what I was about to begin for myself. I have one of the drinking vessels that Bob Roselle gave me placed inside of the shrine as a reminder of Bob and also as a reminder of how impermanent all of this is. But Bob’s spirit is there with the vessel and beside me." Richard, Alexandria, VA, March 2016 
" I'm finding the doll, Malkah, a comforting presence, an affirmation of creativity and connection. I'm glad that I went ahead with my intuition, my gut feeling, and asked you to make a doll for me. There is still much to be discovered about her, how she looks and feels."
Susan, Alexandria, VA April 2015. Below is a poem by Susan about her doll: MALKAH AND GITTEL Wise elder, grandmother, felt doll with cat, placed in the bedroom on a basket stares out of blue felt eyes; follows movements in the air; hides secrets in a pocket. Words in a drawer on the skirt, in a book she rests upon. Wonder how she’ll infuse into the flow of my life; how she’ll tweak it with her presence, and the cat, Malkah and Gittel. 5/13/2015, Arlington, Virginia 
“What a wonderful surprise to receive from my wife a surprise gift of a doll from Erika! My wife has gently teased me that I am a ‘Mr. Do-It-All’ because I’m always busy. Working with her without my knowledge, Erika created a four-armed doll with a face like mine, each hand holding an object (cell phone, frying pan, etc.) with which I could do something. I laughed out loud when I saw it, enjoying both the joke and the beautiful craftsmanship. It made my day and was the perfect present. Thank you, Erika!” -- Jon N., Bethesda, MD, April 2015
"Rhea arrived today across the Atlantic! She is lovely! I just love her face and actually she amazes me technically as I don't understand this process you used to make her."
Helena, received commissioned doll, 2013 Helena's doll is the one on the left. |