Dolls | Shannon's Creative Work

Mr. Rue Mermille

The Story of Mr. Rue Mermille
by Shannon Hart Hudnell

No one likes Mr. Rue Mermille. He is green with envy, as his eyes and vision are slightly off, because only sees in black and white. The gaps in his mouth represent the gaps in his words, because he can’t seem to tell the truth. The absence of his nose is due to the fact that he hasn’t yet woken up to smell the coffee (or the roses) of life. His mossy hair symbolizes luck, but since he is apparently losing his hair, his luck is running out. That is probably because he was caught red-handed spreading gossip, and karma is catching up to him. Even so, while one of his hands is balled in a fist due to a fit of anger, the other still manages to point the finger at everyone else.

Mr. Rue Mermille’s hand-sewn shirt is made from a vintage dishrag, made especially so that he can clean up the mess he’s made of his life. His shoes are freakishly large, because he tends to trod into other people’s business for no apparent reason. His hat was added with the hopes to gather some sense to his head.

Mr. Rue Mermille reminds us to only spread good news, because no one wants to be like him. Purification oil has been added to his hands and hat, so that the holder of Mr. Rue Mermille won’t be affected by his harmful thoughts and careless finger pointing.

* Not a play toy. For display purposes only. All materials are vintage, recycled, and new. Everything is hand sewn.

For the first time ever, I used Paperclay and ended up with this little guy. At first I was trying to make a cat but soon realized that he looked more like a dog (and as someone put it “with a big head”). After waiting for him to dry, I sanded him to smooth him out and then decided I was going to paint him a Halloween theme. I started with an orange base, let it dry overnight, then one afternoon I painstakingly painted very tiny symbols over him. It took several hours, fine brushes, and a very steady hand for the fine detail.

The symbols I chose to use on this doggie were runes, but I also used other universal symbols that I will discuss in another post on my writing page. Since my little doggie was covered in these symbols and I intended him to be a Halloween theme, I decided that his costume is in fact a rune costume. For his eyes, I added tiny amethyst stones.

His name? Rune Doggie.