There’s a piece on Enchanted Doll in the latest issue of Bizarre Magazine.

The magazine is based out of the UK but I’m told it can be found across Europe and North America in larger newstands.

For those not familiar with Bizarre, they claim that “Only Bizarre brings you monthly instalments of the weirdest and most extreme content our planet has to offer. It will make your eyes pop and your jaw drop.”

If anyone gets their hands on a copy let me know, I have receive mine yet and I’m curious to see the article.

A couple quick notes on my upcoming show in Berlin, the opening will be June 11th, from 7-11pm, and both Chad and I will be in attendance.

There will be a preview of the show for those interested in purchasing a doll, on June 10th, please contact the Strychnin gallery for more information regarding that.

While this is the third poster featuring the deep sea diver, I assure you that there will be many other new and exciting dolls on display at the show.

In response to my first post regarding these lotus shoes, there were some who questioned the authenticity of my shoe design on the grounds that the top part of the shoe is Han while the sole is Manchu-two different traditions and cultures. Although I have absolutely no problem with taking liberties with historical accuracy for the sake of achieving the highest expression of creativity possible, this particular project was actually entirely based on a real, authentic lotus shoe. And now I give you the source for my inspiration. Behold this antique beauty!

This picture is from a book written by one of my favorite authors, Beverly Jackson. It’s called “Splendid Slippers: A thousand years of an erotic tradition”, and this photograph is from page 106. Here is an excerpt from the text:

“Exceptionally rare silver couched, pink slipper, length 4 inches. Although made for a bound foot, the shoe sits on a Manchu-style mid-sole wooden pedestal painted white, height 1 1/2 inches. It probably belonged to the Han Chinese concubine of a Manchu gentleman, thus explaining the unusual fusion of styles.” -Beverly Jackson

It’s a wonderful book which is one of my prized possessions. I bought it a couple of years ago and as soon as I saw the picture of this little shoe, I knew I was going to make it. It’s just so exquisite. I’ve actually recently had the honor of becoming personally acquainted with the author, which is an interesting story for another time.

And here is more silver shoes. I had them gold plated and painted with synthetic-based enamel. I really enjoyed playing with colors, but it’s actually really difficult to lay the paint on evenly on such a small surface and then get the shades of color to come out right after thermal stabilizing aka, baking. You may think that your blue is the blue you want, but the temperature changes and distorts the tones, which makes it difficult to guess what it’s going to end up looking like in the end. Also, they are really tiny shoes and, well, let’s just say I cursed a lot while painting them.

But I’m more than pleased with the results. Which one is your favorite?

Another Russian magazine from the Russian city of Tomsk, not far from where I grew up, considering the size of Siberia. It’s a little bit weird and very flattering being in local media of my home country and even region, despite having lived on the other side of the world for the last decade. It’s surreal: even though I don’t live there and my entire professional career has been built in a different country, Mother Russia still knows who I am and what I do. The world feels really small sometimes.

Russia and Canada are the two best countries in the world and I love being a citizen of both -It’s like having two families who both love you and take care of you. Two sets of moms and dads who have your best interests in mind and provide you with a  double sense of belonging. And sometimes a double sense of abandonment on rare occasions when you have a fight, but mostly belonging. It’s quite wonderful.

Deep sea diver helmet rough sketch.

I noticed that a lot of my projects seem to be born from my own fears and apprehensions. For example: I am quite frightened by the idea of deep water diving and I experience a strong discomfort while swimming in the open water, lakes, rivers or ponds, or any natural body of water for that matter. In fact, I only enjoy swimming and diving in the safe, blue swimming pools with a pleasant, tiled bottom. It’s not so much the water itself that bothers me, as it is the depth, the darkness and the unknowns of its mysterious vastness.

I can’t even be on a blow up toy or a mattress, because I can’t relax and it seems to me that I’m floating high in the sky, but instead of air beneath me, there is only dark water that hides all the visible and exposed things from sight. Swallows them. I can’t dangle my feet in the water if I can’t see the bottom near and clear. And even then I’d rather not. It’s like a reverse fear of heights, in a way. I can’t see what’s under me, and it frightens me. Oh, and the sea weed. That stuff’s just plain terrifying.

So, I tend to avoid even getting in the water when it’s not encased in concrete and tiles. This phobia definitely interferes with my enjoyment of summer at times. But oh, well. I’ve got other things going.

This is the Diver’s helmet modeled in wax. It took  me two weeks of full time work to construct this thing. It was so difficult, I almost lost my mind in the process.

I find water is both beautiful and dangerous and tried to convey this through the Deep Sea Diver project. Somebody cleverly suggested that it was Captain Nemo’s daughter. That is a very good idea. Like I said, my inspiration for this particular head dress was very instinctive and emotional in nature, stemming from my water anxiety, and thus I did not give much thought to the character wearing this helmet. And so now, she shall be Captain Nemo’s daughter. I think it fits the theme of the project very well. Thank you for the suggestion.

My hand holding little, tattooed feet of my doll Lavanya.

My hand and feet in henna.

Me, having my feet done by Kree.

Ok, let me explain. Recently, I had a meeting with two curators of the Artful Henna group exhibition which I am taking part in this August in Seattle, USA. I will make one tattooed, porcelain doll for sale, and will provide more details later down the road. Anyway, they came down to Vancouver to meet up for lunch and discuss the details of the show, and it turned out that both of these ladies were traditional henna artists themselves, and offered to put some henna on me! Naturally, I agreed.

It was so interesting. I’ve never seen henna done in real time, and I couldn’t believe how quick the design materializes in the quick minds and fingers of the artists. I felt very pampered, like I was in a spa. And even though I had a tonne of work planned  for that afternoon, I cleared my schedule and took the rest of the day off to curl up on the couch with some fruit tea, watch a movie and take a nap while henna dried on my skin. What a pleasant day it was. For the next week wherever I went, everyone was complimenting me and asking me if I had gone to an Indian wedding. I loved the designs on my hand and arm so much, that I even briefly considered having that tattooed. But I don’t think I can go through with it. I’ll just make another tattooed doll instead.

I’m getting it done again this summer when I go up to Seattle for the show. I’ll be able to wear sandals when it’s warm and show off my feet too.

Here’s another look at the Deep Sea diver helmet, including the a peek at the diver herself.

More pictures will be posted soon.

Displayed in the poster is one of the dolls that will be at the show, with the working title of “Deep Sea Diver”.  More information regarding the show, and more pictures, will be posted in the near future.

Show details:

Fragility
Marina Bychkova
with work by Wendy Froud and Virginie Ropars
June 11th, 2010
Strychnin Gallery in Berlin.

Here are a few photos of The Bride that never made it to the site.  We played around with some different treatments to give them different feels.  These, along with a couple others, will likely find their way to The Bride‘s gallery soon.  In the first shot I was going for a typical “Bridal magazine” shot, including the soft focus and glow that they always use.

As a little girl, I was enchanted by the idea of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. I still am. They seem almost magical because they are so utterly shrouded in mystery and myth. They are considered a wonder of the world, and yet their existence has not even been proven. The legendary ancient city of Babylon has the same, entrancing effect on me and for several years I’ve been thinking of a way to translate that into an Enchanted Doll project.

This is how, around a year ago, the Mask Project was born. These are the concept sketches. The mask is just a work in progress tittle for a doll named Amytis of Media, the wife of a Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar the 2nd. The legend has it that Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens around 600 BC for his wife, who was home sick for her luscious, mountainous  homeland of Persia.

The mask head ornament worn by Amytis is a representation of God Marduk, the head deity of Babylon. Like I mentioned before, this mask was inspired partially by ancient Aztec art, as well as early Mesopotamian artifacts. Marduk was a god of judgment and magic and had a water element associated with him. His origins are somewhat unclear, and the information about his physical appearance is pretty much limited to a couple of images of him. My interpretation of Marduk was mainly driven by the sound of his name and the images it stirred in my mind. It sounded aggressive and strong, and when I found that he was a god of judgment, I had decided to give him a somewhat malevolent look, because gods generally possess  both benevolence and cruelty in their personalities and acts.

I imagined Amytis wearing this elaborate headpiece in the image of Marduk, as well as other splendid, richly ornamented clothing and jewelry as she strolls through the green, shadowed alleys of the Hanging Gardens, enjoying the relative coolness and listening to the sounds of birds in this artificially created paradise- her husband’s gift to her.