Part 1.

How and where does the idea of a particular doll come from? If you know, please tell me. Because I don't have my own answer to this question yet. But there is a history of an already embodied idea.

Cloud Maidens.

   Yes, it so happened that this is not one, but three dolls at once. You can say I broke through after a long silence in the business of making dolls. 

And in general, it happens that everything somehow converges in the right place and at the right time. It happened this time too.

The competition from the TSH DPI, a complex and therefore even more interesting topic - dance, a certain period by which it was necessary to have time to do the work - these are very important and necessary factors for me. Then I hardly thought about the prize. I just really wanted to do something of my own.

How does the idea come about

And here the question arises again - how does the idea come about? As if she had always been.

It's not that simple, though. The idea that it would be something from my favorite Slavic theme really appeared immediately and without options. With all these girlish wreaths, light brown braids, fairy tales and legends. Of course, this love of mine could be embodied in a harmonious round dance, and in a dashing dance.

Only I wanted to show the dance the way I feel it. Fascinating, somehow ethereal ... Where every movement is almost surreal, but filled with an important meaning.

This is how my dancers became NON-EARTHLESS. Well, certain details of the initially formed images arose, thought out and explained already in the process.

Who are you, Cloud Maidens?

But, if everything is in order, then the Cloud Maidens are one of the female spirits of Slavic mythology. According to legend, they live in heaven and spin golden lightning for thunderstorms.

There are forests in the clouds, there are arable lands and crops,
Slender, grow, tower ascend,
At the amber windows, the Cloud Maidens
Weave, spin ...

So Konstantin Balmont wrote in the poem of the same name.

And this is one of the few mentions of these spirits in someone's work. Surprisingly. After all, the very name - Cloud Maidens - sounds like music. But it was all the more interesting and freer to come up with images of my maidens.

Light-faced, gray-eyed, of course, fair-haired, as in the best Russian fairy tales, in light clothes and semi-precious crowns, thin, fragile, sonorous not in Slavic, but that is why they are cloudy. And mine, as expected, also spin, and their hands are in gold.

Maybe someone will wonder why there are three?

There were also three reasons for this:

1. I just could not choose any one pose.

2. Alone, they just dance. The three of them are dancing something fascinating (of course, this is my personal opinion).

3. It was a challenge to myself - it is not easy to do what will be in time. And in full force try to embody and convey your idea to yourself personally and to the audience.

Even in the process of work, my mother and, as usual, the strictest critic of my work, asked: Why do virgins have such serious faces? After all, they are dancing! Dance is pleasant and joyful! So why aren't they smiling?

Cloud Maidens.

I had the answer inside!

But I thought that if one viewer asks, it would be necessary to explain my idea to everyone. I figured I could do it in a few words. Unfortunately, brevity is not my talent. Therefore, the history of these three images has grown into a whole fairy tale.

And if you are interested in hearing a tale about the Cloud Maidens, then write about it in the comments. And she will not keep herself waiting!

Stay tuned for new publications in the magazine!

Ps My Cloud Maidens nevertheless became prize-winners of the competition, where as a prize I had the honor to become a member of the Creative Union of Artists of Decorative and Applied Arts. And then my new story began. 

Yours, Julia Gapunik.