Thursday, May 1, 2008

Something Old is New Again

My previous post about cleaning up my mom's house reminded me of something I can share with you since I still haven't been able to sew because of my hands and arms (someone please tell the person who has the voodoo doll of me to find another hobby).  These guys are German Doctor Figurines.  They belonged to my grandparents.  My grandpa was a doctor and ran a Leukemia hospital in South Bend, IN and he was German, so the collection is appropriate.  I never knew my grandfather, but when I would visit my Nana, I would stare at these things--they are really fascinating.  Look at the big, tough surgeon!  He has blood splattered on his clothes!


These belong to my brother Aaron now, who is a doctor and who I frequently call with my wrist theories that I get from obsessively Googling my symptoms (by the way, I see a doctor in Indy tomorrow who will give me a real-life diagnosis).  He asked me to hold onto them for awhile. This collection of German doctors remind me of my mom and Nana.  I wanted to put a little bit of me into them, too, though--what if collections were like that?  What if each generation that inherited them, added something new to them, to keep them "alive".  So, I started making little masks for them out of paper clay.  I thought they could be part of some strange parade.  I only finished 3, but looking at them now, I would really like to finish all of them.



8 comments:

tower creations said...

what did you make the masks out of? sculpey?fabric? It's hard to tell. I miss my grandparents(my dad's parents) my grandpa was born in 1912. there generation is so different from others. they really know what hard times were like. simple and hard working. I miss being over at there house. I was there more when I was little and of course when i got older didn't want to have anything to do with them. I still kick myself for that. I remember the smell of the house, the look. it seemed magical. my grandpa built it in the 50's so it still had that look. it had a huge attic which my grandma kept everything stored. I think there were artifacts from every era. she was not a waster. I miss them.

Erin said...

oooh I love these masks! You are very awesome. What is paper clay?? I hope your dr. appointment goes well and you can figure things out! Good luck with your art opening! See ya Saturday!
ps- thanks for the shout out! :o)

Eva said...

i love your additions to the german doctors. what cool masks!!!!!!!! i love their colors, i think when you get better you should definitely make more :)

suze said...

Very interesting dolls.....and masks! Glad to see that you are still being creative.
Hope all goes well with the doctor. I am going to one on Monday because my feet and hands are numb and tingling.
Have a great weekend.

Archie and Melissa said...

hi nichol!
oh my goodness. your post is something else we have in common. my grandma and grandpa who meant the world to me had these neat porcelain bottle stoppers in their house that were all different characters, a pirate, a doctor etc... well, one day i decided i must have them for my twin sister and i and found two sets over many months on ebay. they remind of of grandma and grandpa everytime i look at them. what a joy.
:) m

Hello, I'm Sally. said...

I'm so hoping the doctor can tell you something!!

The bunny ears really made me smile. I'm going to picture my doctor in a mask the next time I go.

Queen of Light and Joy said...

THESE are totally HAWT!! Seriously, what a sexy idea AND I LURVE the idea of each generation adding to an inherited collection, to keep them "alive."

Good post. good ideas.

Susan said...

I love the masks. I'm proud of you for working thru the pain. Hang in there. Hugs.