Two weeks to ebay auction!

Madame de Pompadour is probably my most photogenic creation. This lovely creature doesn't seem to have a bad angle or a pose. The camera loves her! It was a joy to photograph her. Here is what her back looks like.

The weird thing is that I didn't find the wasp nest until just a couple of weeks ago, while the queen-bee tattoo was conceived and engraved months ago. It was a very fortunate chance find, that suits the theme of the doll perfectly. Opportunities present themselves when we are open to them!

A film about the making of this doll is coming up next. The auction starts on November 30th.

New Costumed Resin Doll Available

Where does the time go? One minute you're excitedly digging out your bathing suit and sun-dresses, and the next moment summer is almost over! I'm sorry I haven't been blogging more, too much time spent outside, and then when I am inside I'm furiously working on whatever has currently captured my attention. I hope everyone is enjoying the warm months and getting plenty of chances to explore the great outdoors.

On to dolls. I present, another little Echo sister in French Resin as a part of a promotion for the Chinese Enchanted Doll book, release by my publishers TXRiver! This Oriental beauty is another variation in my ongoing limited edition 'Echo' series, featuring a brand new hair ornament - a set of five tiny silver hair combs! I've been dreaming about making a lovely comb set for my future Enchanted dolls every since I read 'The Gift of the Magi' in my junior-high literature class. And now this Echo Sister is the first doll to be wearing them in her luscious hair. Woo! Another dream realized!

How do you buy this doll you ask?

The doll will be sold through my Chinese publishers TXRiver, and they are having a draw. Only those that order a book directly from them (http://world.taobao.com/item/43715713846.htm?fromSite=main)  can enter the draw,  and the randomly selected participant will have the opportunity to buy. The doll is being sold for $5700 USD. The draw will occur when this edition of the book has been sold out, which I'm being told is almost upon us! (Still some left, but going fast!).

Take a look! You can order the book here: http://world.taobao.com/item/43715713846.htm?fromSite=main

Birthday Contest Prize Resin Doll

On Friday this doll was shipped out to the winner of the 2015 annual Enchanted Doll Birthday Contest Kristen V, for her tattoo idea inspired by gender equality issues! The contest took place back in March, at the time of my birthday, but it took me a little bit longer to finish the grand prize. Kristen, I hope you like your doll. I really enjoyed making her for you, and I look forward to making one for next year's Birthday Contest!

The prize resin doll for Birthday Contest winner!

Last week I took a few days off engraving my new porcelain doll codenamed: 'Madman P', to finally finish making a resin doll prize for this year's winner of my annual Birthday Contest. It was a welcome change for my engraving hand and my routine after a few months of doing basically the same thing. Even art can get boring without variety.

I had spent oh, maybe 2-3 solid days fighting with all of my mohair to make a wig for this girl. With the drought going on right now, it was so static-y and frizzy....and with the glue drying so wonky, I basically just wanted to set everything on fire in my bathtub and watch it burn. But, as usual, it all worked out in the end. Can't make a good doll without a good struggle, and this doll turned out extra-good! Stay tuned for more pictures next week.

New Enchanted doll!

So for over a year now, I've been steadily working on a project under the code name of Madman P.

I'm not going to tell you much more about her just yet, as she is at the stage where she will begin to reveal herself pretty quickly from now on. The thought makes me giddy. I've never thrown my doll a wrap-party before, but I think she may warrant one, as she had nearly taken my sanity to the kiln with her. Although, at two-thirds of the way through, there's still time to lose my mind.

Before I can begin painting Madman P., I've got to test some brand new china-paints, so now I'm going to get on my skates, or possibly a Razor scooter and roll on over to the local tile shop for some porcelain tiles to paint. This brand is geared more towards painting dishes than dolls, so I'm not sure if the flow and consistency will work, but I'm hoping to be able to adapt them to my application. Time to go and finish Madman P. before I go mad-my-self. 

Cinderella of the North

Hey folks, I finished a new costumed doll! Presenting - Cinderella Of The North, inspired by Johan Vermeer's 1665 masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring, nicknamed Mona Lisa of the North! This doll actually started out in 2011 as a Chrisitian Andersen's Matchstick Girl, but in the 3 years it took to make her, she had subverted my original intent and evolved almost of her own volition, into a Flemish Cinderella with Dutch, Belgian and Norwegian costuming influences. I photographed her in chiaroscuro, or Rembrandt Lighting, to allude to Flemish portraiture of the Golden Age and Baroque periods, which featured dark atmospheric tones, deep shadows and dramatic contrast lighting. My goal was to capture a look of a 16th century Dutch oil painting.

In allusion to the Cinderella's formerly affluent childhood, her once opulent - now 'peasant' dress was stitched up with 170 richly colourful patches and embroidered with hundreds of Swarovski crystals, seed beads and Freshwater Pearls. I imagined that all those patches are fragments of her outgrown childhood gowns - now rags, which she's been using for years to keep her one remaining tattered dress intact, while her pristine lace bonnet and precious silver slippers are the only legacy and inheritance from her dear late mother. Cindrella Of The North is a an exploration of the darker side of the fairy tale - before the ball and the happy ever after.

The other three key influences that informed this work were a 1919 Cinderella illustration by Arthur Rackham, a novel Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire, and fairy tale illustrations by Sulamith Wulfing.

To see more pictures of this doll, please visit her gallery here.  

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from Enchanted Doll!

For Christmas this year, allow me to present my secret doll Phryne, who is one of the costumed projects I completed in 2014!Phryne as you may remember from my sneak peeks of her, and that awesome guessing game we played together, was a famous Greek courtesan in 4th century BC, who became a model for Praxiteles’s statue of Cnidian Aphrodite, one of the most extraordinary sculptures of antiquity. To read her full story and description see my original blog post.

For certain reasons I've been holding her back, fully completed for the last 10 months, which took herculean effort at times. There hasn't been a day when I didn't want to tell you about her, but now the time has come. Please enjoy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, my friends! And a happy New Year! 

Cinderella ebay auction dates finalized!

And the dates of the auction are: January 24th-January 31st, 2015!

I apologize for delaying setting the auction dates of my new doll Cinderella #2. It is because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to cast her last minute add-on accessory - the fabulous ball mask - before my metal casting foundry closed for the holidays. It turns out, I wasn't able to beat the holiday rush queue, so this forced me to move the auction to January. I really want Cinderella to wear that mask!

In the meantime, I've made a luxurious padded custom box for my little Cinderella #2 auction. This weekend I'm doing to attach baby-blue leather cord belts with sterling silver buckles to the padding, to secure her limbs in place while she's resting in her special tin.

I'm so happy about the way her face turned out. I believe she is one of my finest, most subtle-blushed faces ever. I almost don't want to let her go, but I know I have to. Stand by for a picture of her with her lovely wig!

So, don't forget: Cinderella #2 is going up for ebay auction on January 24th - 31st 2015! Stay tuned!