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Hey guys, do you like videos? What about behind the scenes looks at artists’s studios? If you answered yes to either of those then I have something for you.

OhMore Story recently spent some time in my studio space filming and asking me all sorts of questions, which resulted in this cool video. Check it out on Youtube, and keep an eye out for my two furry assistants.

The last of my resin EDs. I probably won’t be making these again.

I took the opportunity to pose them all together for a group shot, before packing them away in boxes. I was enjoying moving and playing with them, articulating them into different positions on my dinner table when they fell into this composition and it reminded me of dancers frozen in some sort of an enchanted-burlesque-ballet-circus performance.

At first, I couldn’t decide if they had just finished a dance, or were waiting to begin one, but then I realized that I was seeing both the End and the Beginning, at the same time:

To me, their maker, this beautiful dance was finished – the end of the last act, of the last show, a second before the curtain drops. But for their future owners, this performance was just beginning, and the dancers are poised right on the edge of movement, waiting to spring into dance and expression.

They are almost all gone, but I still have a few of these dancers left. Let me know if you wish to have one.

Happy New Year, Doll Collectors!

I’ve decided to begin mine by putting together a small new batch of blank Resin Enchanted Dolls after I discovered one last box of them in my storage just before the holidays! These ones are going to be ready to ship on first-come-first-serve basis starting next week, so if you would like to have one, let me know right away (inquiries@enchanteddoll.com). Due to the limited number of dolls available, there is a cap of 2 dolls per person.

I’m gluing in the lashes for this batch of dolls as I want to have some fun photographing them before they leave me forever.

I think I might have accidentally recreated one of my favourite Sulamith Wulfing illustrations on my shelf, with a doll, a fern, and a pickle castor.

The tableau evolved over a course of 6 weeks as my fern grew around the doll, gradually enshrining her in a cascade of delicate, green fronds. Then, one day I looked at it, and noticed something familiar about it, like I’d seen it somewhere before and only just remembered it. And then I had it. It was Der Garten, by Sulamith Wulfing, of course.

It made me wonder how many other images I observe and then subconsciously internalize, appropriate, incorporate, and recreate into my own work on daily basis? Little fragments of information gathered up from a myriad of sources, coalescing into one form…How much of it is my thought, and how much of it is a book I read when I was five, or an oil painting I saw when I was seven, or a film I watched when I was 10?… How much of our identity comes from external influences, and how much of it is intrinsic? How much of Enchanted Doll is made up of my first impressions collected over the years, and how much of it was me?

I don’t know.

I’m afraid I’ve been keeping a secret from you guys, but I can finally tell you!

There was some big news the other day, and a little Enchanted Doll played a role in a grand announcement. This was a top secret doll that I made last year and was finally unveiled (not literally, the doll’s veil remained intact).

I was asked to create an Enchanted Doll of the beautiful Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, as an engagement gift by her partner Li Chen

One of the conditions I had for taking on this commission, was that I would have a complete creative freedom to design her Enchanted wedding gown. I used vintage French lace, Victorian millinery, parts of antique Kinfisher pin, dazzling Swarowsky crystals and of course, hundreds of Pearls to create a tiny wedding dress fit for a queen!

Enchanted Fan sits on a Napoleon III era French Globe de Marriee, which was traditionally used to display wedding momentos, such as the wedding tiara, corsage and shoes.

Because Fan is an actress, I wanted the doll to channel The Golden Age of Hollywood. I fell in love with photos of Vivien Leigh and Veronica Lake and tried to create a similar atmosphere in the photographs.

Now that I am no longer bound by the vow of silence, I am free to share photos of not only the finished doll, but the work-in-progress shots we took along the way.

I hope this doll brings good luck to the happy couple! Best wishes to the two of you and I’m glad I could play a part in this grand union!

[Full Gallery]

“People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can’t rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.”
― James O’Barr, The Crow

Both of my kilns broke down last month, and to procrastinate the repairs I took up a shelved project that I’ve struggled with for a couple of years.

It’s like, when you need to study for a chemistry midterm tomorrow, but suddenly the bedroom is so messy that it needs an emergency spring cleaning. Can’t study in a messy bedroom! That’s how I feel about kiln repairs.

Anyway, this doll inspired me again. Now, after a long time away from it I finally know what it needs and how to finish it! I’ve been reworking the composition of her head dress and her veil, but now I find that I’m not satisfied with her face painting and probably need to take her apart and add a few more layers. Which means… I have to do those kiln repairs… Damn it.

She’ll be available for sale in Fall 2017.

I just got my copy of the “Boobs Art” exhibit catalogue! My piece “Surviving” was part of the show (in print form) alongside many other works of art on the topic of the female breast.

Boobs Art opened on March 23rd and runs until September 9th, in Brussels, Belgium. (http://seedfactory.be/boobs-art/)

A couple more shots from the Catalogue:

Hey doll people! You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been missing from the internet lately. It’s because I’ve been stuck in home renovations purgatory for the last year. But, with my art studio renos nearing completion, I’ve been really enjoying working in my newly improved, open, bright and green workspace. See if you can spot a difference so far.

And I’m not returning to the blog empty handed, as I have a new doll in-the-works to share. I decided to up the challenge a little by working more detail into the hands and feet than I’ve ever done before.

Up to this point I chose not to carve my dolls’ fingernails or toenails, but paint them on instead because in greenware state the porcelain is still as soft and crumbly as a shortbread cookie; It’s prone to breaking at the lightest pressure of a needle point….or a gentle breath of a pixie…or even just from looking at it a little too hard.

In fact, most hands and feet almost never survive high detailing intact, and I end up having to reattach at least 2 or more fingers with raw porcelain slip and then fuse them together during high-temp firing. Index fingers are most vulnerable for some reason. Somehow, I managed not to break a single finger on this hand, while the other one needed 3 finger reattachment surgeries.

I must have looked at it a little too hard.