Only a few dolls were shown at this venue. I’ll be showing a different variety at each event. All of them will be shown together at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live in Kansas City (May 17-19)

We’ll be spending the night in Nevada, but first thing tomorrow morning we’ll be on our way again to the next venue at Night Flight Comics in Salt Lake City from 7-9pm. I’ll have a painted resin doll available for purchase, along with silver pendants.

This morning the dolls and I and Chad, left the soggy and chilly Vancouver for the sunny and hot Los Angeles, where I’ll be joining the Baby Tattoo Books road show to promote my upcoming new book (to be released this summer)! Instead of a book, I brought my traveling Porcelain Collection with me and six resin dolls to sell; one for each city we’ll be visiting. I also brought a few doll accessories, such as shoes and helmets, as well as a selection of pieces from the Enchanted Doll jewelry line, such as hand pendants, face pendants, lantern pendants, shoe pendants and key chains. Doll posters and cards will be available for sale too.

These are the cities where we will be stopping. Come and see us!

Monday, May 13 (7:00-9:00PM)
Las Vegas
Trifecta Gallery

http://www.trifectagallery.com

(Coop will not be appearing in Las Vegas)
Free

Tuesday, May 14 (7:00-9:00PM)
Salt Lake City
Night Flight Comics

http://www.night-flight.com

Free

Wednesday, May 15 (7:00-9:00PM)
Denver
INDYINK

http://www.indyink.com

Free

Friday, May 17 through Sunday, May 19 (see website for show hours)
Kansas City
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live

http://www.spectrumfantasticartlive.com

Convention Admission Required

Monday, May 20 (7:00-9:00PM)
Albuquerque
Stranger Factory

http://www.strangerfactory.com

Free

Tuesday, May 21
Phoenix
Lulubell Toy Bodega

http://www.lulubelltoys.com

Free

Please allow me to introduce my brand new piece: The Princess and the Frog!

A spoiled princess Arabelle learns a lesson in keeping promises and finding true love after meeting and reluctantly befriending a Poison Dart frog, who challenges her self-centered world views and becomes her handsome prince. And she becomes a better person.

Based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale “The Frog Prince”.

Materials and construction:

A porcelain doll with a one of a kind engraving and a limited edition head ornament customized with one of a kind accents.
Conical headdress carved in wax, cast in bronze, plated with 24k gold, enameled and set with 15 faceted blue Topazes and 5 pearls. Pendant is a blue Topaz in 18k gold setting with a 24k gold plated chain. Tattoo of a Poison Dart frog is a combination of engraving on porcelain and china-painting. Veil is soft bridal chiffon, set with 300 Austrian crystals. Doll is ball-jointed, china-painted porcelain, lined with leather and strung with 11 steel springs. Wig is removable, magnetic mohair fiber, permanently-styled into 15 braids.

After months in construction, I’m crazy about how it had turned out!

Inquire at Strychnin Gallery for details.

No, that’s not a title of a campy horror flick, though blood does get spilled in there from time to time.

I finish my metal works in that invaluable little glass ‘room’, which contains the heavy dust and metal shavings until they get sucked up into the extractor. Before I got this baby, I would loathe the thought of doing metal finishing, as my desk and my whole studio would get very dirty and dusty, but since I got this chamber for my debris extractor, the cleanup is minimal and working conditions are safe. I love safety.

I bought the main plastic shell online, and then extensively customized it to fit my needs better, adding side walls and leather flaps. The problem is that it’s plexy glass and it’s starting to get really scratched up by all the high velocity debris flying around in there, and once it gets too cloudy to see through it, I’m going to have get a new one and customize it all over again.

Luckily my little grinding chamber still has lots of hours on it, which reminds me that I’ve gotta go back ‘in there’ and set some stones into the cone for the upcoming show doll in Berlin. Stay tuned for the pictures in a few days!

This wax model is fresh from the CNC machine. I’ve got about 18 hours to hand carve additional detail and definition, and then it has to be rushed off for molding first thing tomorrow morning. I may or may not get to sleep tonight. My intention with this design was to create a look of embroidered brocade fabric. This project caused a lot of head ache for my CNC specialist, as we’ve been fighting with it since January. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he hates me. Although, he probably wouldn’t take on this job if he did.

…And now it seems like it’s finally coming together. I’m so excited about it, that I feel giddy, almost drunk. Or maybe it’s all that caffeine I’ve been guzzling to keep going… I really do hope that it will mold ok, then inject ok, and then cast ok. Still three unknown variables remain, and there is so little time left to mess around with it, that if one of those variables doesn’t go as planned, it will seriously jeopardize the whole thing. Having now crossed the point of no return, there is really nothing else to do now, but to plow full steam ahead and hope it wasn’t all for nothing.

News number One: The 4th edition of the Enchanted Doll book is being released this summer! It’s being published by Baby Tattoo Books, in Los Angeles!

News number Two: I will be promoting the upcoming book in person and showing my traveling doll collection with the Baby Tattoo Books roadshow May 13-21st in 6 US cities; Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Kansas City, Albuquerque and Phoenix!

News number Three: In addition to showing my porcelain dolls, I will also be bringing 6 resin dolls with me to sell, one for each city, in case I have some collectors who live there!

Wow, I’m so excited! These are the dates for each city. Exact times, venues and other details will be announced soon. There will be other amazing artists too. Come and see us. On the Baby Tattoo Books roadshow!

Monday, May 13 – Las Vegas ( 7-9 pm at Trifecta Gallery)
Tuesday, May 14 – Salt Lake City (7:00 – 9:00 pm at Night Flight Comics)
Wednesday, May 15 – Denver
Friday-Sunday, May 17-19 – Kansas City (Spectrum Live)
Monday, May 20 – Albuquerque
Tuesday, May 21 – Phoenix

For those of you who don’t know who he is, Louis C.K is a brilliant writer and a stand up comedian with a distinct style of existential humor. His take on life is brutally honest and can be dark or even downright depressing at times, but it’s very funny and compelling because it’s so real.

This is a concept drawing for a new doll I’m currently working on. It’s been in the works for almost 4 months and I’m very excited about it. This piece is for an upcoming show ‘Kingdoms of Twilight and Magic’, which opens at Strychnin Gallery in Berlin on May 10th. In just about a month from now.

And this is a partial 3D model of the cone headdress. It’s still being programmed into the CNC machine for carving, and I’m a little apprehensive about how it will turn out. The reason I had decided to use a CNC carver for this, instead of hand carving it myself, was the amount of minute scrolling details, which I did not think I could carve very well.

Next week this cone will (hopefully) be ready for the moulding stage, then casting…and then I can show you the whole doll. Quickly cross your fingers for me, and will this cone to come out ok. Thank you.

I caught a lot of flak from a bunch of people for giving my Rubenesque doll smallish breasts. The argument was that they simply had to be more voluptuous on that body type. I strongly disagree with that line of thought and prefer smaller breasts for my dolls hands down, but still, I decided to make a larger chest for fun and for art. After all, I thought, why not?

And then I made it, and realized why not. I’m afraid it only reaffirmed my initial aversion to this aesthetic. They are not bad, but I can’t say I’m interested in pursuing this direction much further than this. However, I will keep this bust around as an option for those who do like it.

What about you? Now that you see them made, do you still like them?

Chad put together this short video of our trip to the Big White winter resort with a couple of our friends, earlier this year. This little reminder of the good times on the slopes, will help us get through the summer and until the next riding season. I’ll miss you, snow.

Chad and I are on boards, and our friends Nate and Theresa are on skiis.