Angela Wade is a writer and artist whose fantasy writing ranges from the silly to the serious, and whose artistic talents lie in abstract doll creation and doll clothing designs. For the launch of  "Secrets of the Sands," she created several figures based on the world of the book, and was kind enough to provide a writeup of her speech about them.

Angela Wade

Dolls By Angela Wade

A few months before the book was released, Leona Wisoker asked me if I could create a series of dolls related to her novel Secrets of the Sands. I have been reading her works-in-progress for about six years, and through them have "traveled" from one end of her kingdom to another. I decided to create three dolls/doll sets representing the three principal regions of Leona's world:

Child's Dolls: the Northlands
The northern regions are harsh in both environment and culture, being politically dominated by a powerful conservative theocracy. I created this pair of figures as if it had been made by a woman in a northern city as a gift for her daughter. Since motherhood is the only acceptable occupation for a woman in this culture, they are a mother and infant pair. The figures are stark and minimalist. The mother figure suggests a woman entirely covered by a restrictive garment, as might be seen in a real-world theocracy. She has no legs, lest they be seen as somehow sexual, and no distinct facial features, to avoid any possibility of idolatry. The figures are made of fabrics culled from won out and cast-off clothing. The one bright spot in the composition is the pink cap of the sleeping infant. Inspired by a real-world photograph of an Afghan mother holding a girl in a pink hat, it suggests hope: the mother is trapped by her society, but the sleeping infant dreams of a brighter future.

Market Vendor's Doll: Bright Bay
The geographic, political, and economic center of the Kingdom is the coastal city of Bright Bay. I imagined this doll as representative of one a person might find for sale in an upscale merchant's booth. Her construction is simple-clay head and limbs attached to a rudimentary fabric body. Her clothing, however, is intentionally gaudy. Costumed in brightly-colored silk and embellished with metallic threads and glass beads, this flashy little lady screams "Buy me!" In direct contrast to the doll from the North, she has legs, a face, uncovered hair, and even makeup. A northern s'iope (church official) would call her a whore. But they think Bright Bay is the City of Whores anyway.

This doll is the only one in the series directly based on Leona's text. The design and ornamentation of the gown, as well as the loose hairstyle, are taken from the description of an outfit worn by Lady Alyea on her travels.

Votive/Teaching Figures: the Deep South
Hidden in the southern deserts are strongholds and shrines dedicated to the three ancient Gods of the Kingdom. From those secret places come the final set of figures. The outer figure represents Ishrai, River Goddess. She embodies life, joy, love, fertility, growth, and the feminine aspect-all things associated with water in a desert environment. But like the desert itself, she holds a secret. No one god is all-inclusive. One can not exist without the others.

Nested within Ishrai is the amorphous almost-figure of Comos, androgynous Deity of Wind, embodiment of cosmic balance. Comos also represents curiosity. The mirror where the figure's face should be lures the viewer closer, and reflects the understanding that Comos may be either male of female, depending on the gender of the supplicant.

Hidden within Comos is a third figure: the Sun Lord, whose name brings bad luck if spoken aloud by any but his Callen. His is the masculine principle, as well as death, violence, and all that is harsh and unforgiving, an understandable association for a desert people.

I created these deceptively simple figures using the most "complex" materials: fabrics dyed in complex patterns, mirrors, shaped beads, and even drilled pearls (which must have been carried all the way from Bright Bay). The desert strongholds of the south hold some of the finest craftspeople in the world, and each desert Family guards its craft secrets jealously. The mirrored face of Comos, for example, must be credited to Sessin Family, since no other Family has access to the the secret of making glass so clear and smooth. The choices of fabric and bead colors are based on colors associated with the southern gods and on the southern bead-language.