Last Saturday we were at The Great Fête at Alexandra Palace in north London.
I loved the spot that the festival put Dreams and a Heart in – we were under a beautiful tree, looking at a beautiful view, and an amazing totem pole looking at us. I felt like a queen sitting in my chair looking at other activities going on around us, there was something royal in the air, something dignified, holy.
The first thing that came into my mind when I saw that amazing totem was ‘wow who made this?’ The first person who came to make a doll knew the artist, he is her friend, and she told us all about the love and care he put into his work.
I discovered Sarah’s secret talent, she knows how to do pretty letters, she wrote our little flags.
I ran out of red fabric, so I was afraid we wouldn’t have enough hearts in the pot for the workshop. It ended up that the number of hearts were exactly the number of people who came to make dolls; once more the project was working out its magic.
One person asked “Why are they all boys?” “Are they?!!!” I assured her there were all sexes and genders amongst all the other dolls. So interesting how people project their own feelings over the dolls.
First time ever someone, a child, decided to make some sweets for the dolls, he made them with the string we brought to hold the little flags.
Our makers were Tracey, Romina, Sarah, Rupa, Stuart, Luca, Ivett, Beth, Pasquoale, Maddi, Sofia, David, Talia, Purdey, Lauren, Neha, Joe, Aashi, Ngaio, Aston, Bibi, Joanne, Karrie, Raph, Olivia and Sofie. Some of them were families with their children. It was non-stop from 12 to 6pm. Most people went through the whole process including the meditation. There are some dolls to fix, as always, and a few to finish off. We made 26 dolls with the 26 hearts there were in the pot.
I didn’t remember to ask everybody to write down their comments, but here are some:
‘Such a deep, reflective, moving and simple idea. Synchronicity and Trust. Thank you.’
‘It was such a great experience, gave me lots of peace and reflection. Thanks a lot!’
‘Thank you for the workshop. A lovely calm time to spend with my daughter.’
Thank you so much to Marine who invited us to the Ally Pally Great Fete, to lovely Sarah for all her help including bringing her cozy blankets where most people sat down comfortably during the work, and of course for all the people who came over to make dolls, such a blessed day, thank you!
