Art Doll ~ Victoria the Fantastic Wire Walker

She steps into the spotlight and waves. The crowd oooohs. The crowd aaaahs. Graceful, elegant and poised she carefully places one foot in front of the other onto the highwire. Her full skirt lightly bounces and her glitter slippers shine in the light. With meticulous skill, she balances her umbrella in hand, and slowly makes her way to the other side. The crowds cheer, clap and shout. Victoria bows...

Victoria was inspired by the Fantastic Wire Walker, Princess Victoria who performed in the Sells-Floto Circus c. 1919. She wears a white undergarment top with a pleated dark-orange and blue/aqua corset. Her full pale yellow skirt has a pointed overlay with pom-pom touches. Her black stockings have tiny silver dot details running down the outsides which meet at her gold glittered black slippers. Her brown tissue paper hair is tied up with a coordinating dark-orange paper ribbon. Blue paper rosettes adorn her bodice and hair.

Victoria comes with a balancing umbrella and a display stand/box. Victoria stands 13" tall.

Detailed Construction of Doll:
Victoria is made using paper with a paper clay overlay with a wire armature running throughout her body, hands and feet. The arms, legs and head are movable as they are connected to the body with nut/screw joints. She is painted with professional quality acrylic paints and sealed with a matte sealer. Her clothes, hair and umbrella are made entirely of paper. The clothing is not removable. She does not stand on her own. She can sit halfway. She is signed and dated on the back of her left leg under her skirt.

I had alot of fun making this doll. The idea of her was floating in my mind for several months but I wanted to make sure I executed the final project perfectly. I tried different hairstyles, papers and makeup applications before settling on what you see here. As always, I had a great time shopping for different papers to use. The great German crepe paper used for her skirt was purchased from Castle in the Air and the pretty blue paper roses were purchased from Tinsel Trading Company.

The box, which was intended to be just a plain ol' display case, ended up being an art project in itself. So much so that I love it even on its own. The background circus images were purchased from Gallery Cat on ETSY. The box measures 16"h x 9 1/4" w x 5" and was made using cardboard and various scrapbook papers then painted with acrylic paints of red & white stripes. There are two tabs that are used to support the standing Victoria when placed under her arms.

If you would like to dress in a costume similar to Victoria's, almost everything can be purchased on ETSY through the following links to different shops: Full Skirt, Corset, Chemise and Stockings. I support handmade!