I am a Waldorf handwork and crafts teacher, doll artist and art therapist. I teach sewing, knitting, needle felting, weaving, wet felting and wool painting, using soft, natural materials in my creations. I recently discovered a love for buttons and started to use them in my work as well as selling them. (See my second Etsy shop.)
I used to teach at Waldorf schools and at the seminar for training Waldorf teachers in Jerusalem. I recently opened a private school where I work with young teachers, children, mothers and grandmothers.
As a teacher, I believe I have to be the example of how to create so I practice with making every single item I teach. In this way, teaching and creating handwork and crafts in the Waldorf tradition are both my inner development and my occupation too. I have taught for over 30 years now and needed a change. So, I started my first e-shop as a hobby, as a way to study new skills [computer and English]. I was amazed to see that people liked what I created! It encouraged me to go on with it- and here we are... Now I am a seller, too. You never know what tomorrow will bring or where your destiny will lead you.
Artist's statement: I believe Waldorf dolls provide healing forces for the child. The love and warmth which is involved in the creation of these kinds of dolls streams to the doll in the process of creating and the child can feel it. I can tell you from my experience that hyperactive children who did not sleep well began to sleep all night when their mothers created a waldorf doll for them. Also, the process of creating these dolls is therapeutic for the adults, as it is a process that requires forces from the soul which are different from any other creation i know... It calls the creator to be in touch more deeply with their own inner powers.
Location: Israel
Online shops: oritdotandolls, oritdotan
Memberships:
Naturalkids team on Etsy
Needlefelters team at Etsy
Languages spoken: Hebrew, English
Needlefelters team at Etsy
Languages spoken: Hebrew, English
Waldorf Natural Dolls by Israeli Artist, Orit Dotan
Tags: Waldorf, dolls, felting, needle felt, sewing, painting, wool, buttons, vintage, hand painted
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“Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction,- a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse”
-Henry David Thoreau
In our case, it would be the needle or other fiber tool. Drive it home! And, we all thank you for your words, left here to these good folks. Invoke your Muse!