Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Gran Bois

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The Gran Bois is one of my favorite Voodoo loas to create as an art doll. The Gran Bois (Big Wood) is the Master of the Sacred Forest of the Island Below the Waters, which is the place where the loa call home. This is the land to where the newly dead travel. He is the protector of all wild animals, knows the secrets of herbal medicine, and the secrets of magic hidden in the herbs. He is likened to Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher in the Catholic tradition.

I made this Voodoo doll out of sticks and Spanish moss and adorned him with beads, yarn, and feathers. His face is hand sculpted out of translucent polymer clay that I mixed with blue foil to get the look that is decidedly his. His lips and eyebrows are painted and his eyes are made of beads. He has an authentic Swarovski crystal on his forehead, and an evil eye bead on his head to ward off negativity. These two latter touches are my trademarks.

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