The idea of making a pair of Lotus slippers for my doll in precious metal has been on my mind for years, ever since I made the doll Lotus with bound feet and beaded Lotus shoes in 2006. Even though I am appalled by the barbaric practice of mutilating women's feet for aesthetic purposes in ancient China, I am simultaneously enchanted by the decorative aspect of the exquisitely beautiful lotus shoes that were made to be worn by those mutilated feet- or as they were called in China, Golden Lilies.
Such a pretty name to describe a pair of horrendous-looking, broken feet. Yet, even as I condemn the practice, inexplicably I seem to be drawn to the beauty of the shoes and the surreal aesthetic of tiny feet. Cinderella wore glass slippers on her allegedly natural, little feet, and that was considered sexy in Europe. I mean, the entire fairly tale seems to be about those magnificent shoes and the virtue of having small feet. So, it appears that the Chinese were not the only ones to fetishize the size of women's feet, they were just the ones to do something about it.
Anyway. I've dreamt about making these for months, if not years, and I'm so happy to see them finally finished! I had to make a pair of bound feet of course, so that my dolls could wear these pretty slippers. In this picture you can see Echo's normal feet next to her bound feet. The beauty here is that my dolls' feet can be interchanged back and forth from small to normal just like a pair of shoes, while the real women didn't have that opportunity.
This particular pair was inspired by a real shoe, which in fact is very unique. It's a lotus-style shoe for a bound foot, that sits on a Manchu-style platform. And the Manchu women did not bind their feet. I'll post a picture of it soon and tell you more about my source once I experiment some more with these. I'll post the pictures of the feet once I make another pair and work out the painting style for them.I am considering making a pair of interchangeable lotus feet and shoes available for resin dolls. In fact, Echo will be the first costumed edition to be released. I don't have a price point for this costumed doll yet, as the project is still in the early stages. She will have to undergo some changes to address the incredible complexity of her present hair style, but the costume will remain the same. This is one of the things I'm working out now. And I'm very excited about it.
ENCHANTED DOLL Marina Bychkova