Show at Dragonspace in Vancouver 2010

The Winter Olympic Games are coming to Vancouver on February 12th,2010 and I will be displaying my personal collection of Enchanted Dolls in a local gallery/shop of magical and mythological creatures, called Dragonspace. The show opens on February 6th and runs until March 6th, 2010.Dragonspace is located on Granville Island, in the heart of the beautiful Vancouver city. Historically, this place used to be an industrial area, but over the years it has transformed into an arts and crafts and a cultural heritage site. The tiny island is a home of little various galleries and local artisan studios, as well as gourmet markets, coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants, performance centres and live street performances.The whole neighbourhood has a very nostalgic and artsy feel to it with its brick paths, defunct rail tracks, wooden docks, Aquabus ferry shuttles to nearby downtown and old industrial warehouses converted into galleries and trendy shops. Not to mention million dollar views onto the glassy down town Vancouver. On warm summer days, Chad and I hop on our bikes and ride to Granville Island market for breakfast. It's also very common to have your breakfast stolen by the seagulls if you sit outside.This one of our most popular tourist attractions. Showing in this location has a sentimental significance to me because Emily Carr University of Art and Design is located here too, just down the street from Dragonspace, and that's where I spent five years of my life getting an art education.So, if you're local to the West Coast, come down and see Enchanted Doll at Dragonspace, on Ganville Island as well as experience some Olympic city. The whole world will be coming here in a couple of weeks! I will have some nudes available for sale and a couple of costumed dolls. The rest will be Not For Sale work from my personal collection. Please stand by for more purchasing details as well as which dolls will be available and the pricing.Look forward to a BIG announcement on Tuesday, February 2nd. Also, you've got to see this amazing time lapse video of Vancouver. I can't believe I live here! Seriously, all the places they show in the video are from my neighborhood and are intimately familiar to me from my daily routines. My very building is even in a few frames.Photo of Vancouver isn't related to the timelapse video, but is by Martin Kryzwinski.

Sketch of the week: 16-Doll from a dream

I had a really vivid dream the other night, about looking down at a beautiful doll clad in bronze armor in my hands.Even though my dolls are strung so tight that they never go limp, this doll just hung limp in my hands under the weight of this enourmous, intricate armor as it was sliding off her shoulders. Her long, jet black hair was spilling all across her bare shoulders and streamed like sand through my fingers as I held her, in thick, wavy locks. She was sleeping.I woke up with this image burned into the back of my eyelids like a still frame. I might make it someday. When I have time to learn how to make armor for dolls. I think I've got my hands full with learning how to make bronze coffins for the moment. I know it's possible. This amazing Canadian artist Jeff de Boer made armor suits for mice. And if it's possible to make armor for a mouse, then making one for a 13"  tall, ball-jointed, porcelain doll has got to be a piece of cake, right? How hard can it be really?(Read: sarcasm)Isn't this amazing?                                                                                                                                                                                                      I should look into chasing and other metal shaping techniques. Off I go.ATTENTION CONTEST PARTICIPANTS! The deadline for mailing in the entries has been extended to March 13th.

Progress on the wax model

So, after all that hard work trying to guess the purpose of this object, I suppose I should tell you what it is already. All the guesses, with the exception of a pony, were pretty accurate and relevant.It was kind of a trick question though, because I designed this piece with multiple functions in mind and can make it into many things that were called: it can be a fancy stool or an armchair leg, a throne pillar or a bench, a stand for a doll case, a column for a doorway arch or a frame for a Gothic window, a post for a canopy bed and a mirror frame....heck, I'm pretty sure I can even make it into a pony.  I declare everyone a winner!However, the guess about it being a "fancy grave statue/ funeral monument", was closer to the primary function of this piece than the rest.You see, I'm making a new coffin for a new Snow White doll! I'm aiming for a very Gothic aesthetic, with lots of spires and ornamental bronze framework, embellishing and encasing a glass chamber. If it works the way I envision it, it will be spectacular.  A worthy vessel for an Enchanted Doll. This one pillar is just the beginning of the project. I will try to finish the legs to have it displayed in my Vancouver show, but I don't know if everything will work out as planned. Tomorrow I will find out if molding and wax injections have worked out. If they haven't, well, that's very bad.The longing to make a much more beautiful glass coffin has been tugging at me ever since I finished the first one in 2006 and realized I could do much better. During my trips to Europe, I visited countless cathedrals and always go down to their underground treasuries and tombs for research. The things that I love to admire the most  are exquisite glass and precious metal, holy relic holders. They are truly spectacular and intricate little things that heavily inspire this coffin project. These are just some of the relic holders I've come across and by far not the craziest ones. I believe they are from Florence.Although these are incredible, my favorite relic holders are those done in a Gothic architectural style, with tiny spires and windows and aches made to  look like they are miniature cathedrals themselves. Like these:This is kind of what I dream of making.I find Gothic architecture to be crazy beautiful and ultimately want to have a glass coffin that resembles it and could belong in an ancient treasury, along with other precious relics. Except instead of some dead guy's dry bones or shriveled up internal organs or something equally gross, there will be a beautiful, porcelain doll sleeping inside.My plan is to have it completed by my Berlin solo show. I hope to succeed.

I'm Making Something Cool

This...Can you guess what it is?Since a lot of people seem to like seeing progress shots, I've documented making this wax model. Enjoy.1) A block of jeweler's wax is cut in two with a jeweler's saw. I have a loose design in mind at this point. Still working it out in my head.2) The block is carefully measured out into to different sections as the design is decided on. I am now committed to this way of action. The rudimentary design is sawed out with a jewelr's blade and then filed down to a smoother texture and more precise lines.3) Sawing and filing modeling wax creates a lot of fine dust and chips. Within moments a clean surface can be transformed into a messy one. I have to clean it every few minutes to maintain a comfortable and clean working environment.4) The model used to be the other half of the wax block. I'm terrible with straight lines, mathematical precision and symmetry. Terrible. Organic lines are a lot easier to achieve for me than something perfectly geometrical. I'm also impatient and can't stand the meticulous drawing out of models on paper. They turn out to be pretty sloppy because most of my calculations are done in freehand mode, right on the final piece. In other words-I make it up as I go along. Perhaps that's a bad practice.5) Grooves are made in each of the four sides of the piece for decorative filling. My wrist is rather tired at this point from pushing my rough carving tools. It's not time yet for my precision jeweler's gadgets, but even then a lot of pressure is required to carve this hard wax with tiny scrapers and files.6) Beginnings of a rudimentary design on the first panel. My favorite method of sculpture is a simultaneous subtraction and addition of mass. I carve some away and I add some back with my heating wax pen. My wax pen is one of my most invaluable tools. Ever. I feel intimately connected to it, as if it's an extension of my fingers.7) This is a piece in an advanced stages of modeling. At this point i've put about 40 hours of wrist-breaking labor in it. And that doesn't count the hours I spent thinking about it prior to starting. Despite all that thinking, I still don't usually know exactly what I making, until I'm making it. I love Flow.8 ) Identical design on the second panel. Not sure yet what will happen to the rest of it. I'm in a big hurry and racing through this....one tedious millimeter at a time... It's been 3 days of non stop work and I hope to have the whole thing completed in another 3.  I should be fine if my arms don't kill me first. And don't even get me started on my fingers. To be continued.....Well, have you guessed what I'm making yet?

Rules for the Birthday contest 2010

I hope you guys have been busy creating entries for the second annual contest to win a nude Enchanted Doll!I've been thinking about the details long and hard and finally came up with the format of this year's contest. Sorry it took me so long to hammer out these details, but my life is kind of crazy right now.Well, actually, it's always crazy, so it's business as usual. I might need a ghost writer for this blog soon.Here are the rules: There are no rules! No, just kidding. There are rules, but not too many.The birthday contest works like this: You make whatever you want , as beautifully and as artfully as you can, send it to me and I choose my favorite "gift". Whoever made the best entry wins the contest, and a nude doll. Because there are no restrictions on the mediums and the entries will be so diverse, runners up will receive a small prize as well.1) Submission dates:  January 30th- March 1st, 2010. No later submissions will be accepted. I must have all the entries to properly judge and pick a winner.2) Winner will be announced on my birthday, March 16th, 2010.3) Size limitations: Entry must fit within 2'h x 2'w x 2'd. Metric 60cm x 60cm x 60 cm (If your gift is bigger than the specified dimensions, email me at contests@enchanteddoll.com. Some exceptions may be possible.)4) Maximum of 2 entries per person.5) Any medium is accepted: 2d, 3d, paintings, digital, drawings, photographs, prints, tattoos, textile, embroidery, jewelry, sculpture, short films, poetry, edible art, music, mixed media etc., as long as they don't exceed the size restrictions.6) All work must be inspired by Enchanted Doll™ and accompanied by a title, materials and a written paragraph explaining it.7) Every single entry sent to me will be displayed in the special annual birthday contest section on my site. By sending a submission, contestants automatically agree to have their work displayed on Enchanted Doll site.8 ) Submission Terms. By submitting artwork to Enchanted Doll™ you agree to the following: That the artwork is original artwork that you have created. That you are submitting your artwork with no expectation of compensation (other than a chance to win a doll). That you give Enchanted Doll™ permission to alter, distort, and/or adapt your work for the purposes of displaying it digitally or otherwise. That while the artist retains the copyright to their submitted work, you forfeit ownership of submitted art to Enchanted Doll™9 ) Shipping fees are responsibility of the contestant. All entries must be marked as gifts and contest entries, otherwise they are subject to taxation and duty fees on the border. Entries that require Enchanted Doll pays duty on them, will not be accepted.10) Prior to submitting the work, entrants will contact contests@enchanteddoll.com with details of the work to be submitted to receive shipping information. This way each entry will be expected and anticipated by us to avoid anything being "lost in the mail".If you have any questions, email me at contests@enchanteddoll.com. If your gift is bigger than the specified dimensions, email me. Some exceptions may be possible.The contest is now officially open! Go and create your entry! Make sure it's here by March 13th.Good luck! I look forward to be blown away by all the talented artists out there!

A map of self.

People often ask me for the sources of my inspiration. It's a standard and seemingly straightforward question for an artist to encounter on regular basis; just list the artists you admire, right, nothing more to it?It's not as easy to answer as it seems. In fact, I've began to find it very annoying lately. I always hesitate with my response to this most predictable of questions because I find inspiration everywhere and it's very difficult to separate your entire life into neat little compartments of profoundness and non-importance. The truth is that every single second of my life, every single object I've seen, every life encounter I've had and every interaction I've experienced, are continuous constructive forces of my inspiration. Everything I see is internalized and processed into information that is expressed through my work. Yes, sure, like every other creative individual art, books, music, fashion, design and other artists inspire me a lot.  But so do kitchen forks and my hair brush. Garbage trucks can be very inspiring under the right circumstances. And don't get me started on tin foil- that stuff is awesome!Perhaps it's completely unreasonable of me to be annoyed at this question. I keep telling myself that I should be flattered that some people want to know what makes me tick. It is after all an excellent ego massage. It's just, I can't seem to help but find it very futile. Yes, on one hand I know exactly the type of art I love and can give you 50 artists I worship off the top of my head, but does a short list of a few preferred famous names, books and art movements really tell one anything significant about another person? It says almost nothing, because there are  thousands of other people with the same short list as you. It's our unique lives and deeply individual experiences which we live through every day, that make up our inspiration and our influences. But perhaps I'm wrong .....?This is why I find the question about my inspirations very unsettling and difficult to answer. How far do I go? Where do I stop? Good thing magazine interviews have a word limit.Also, this is why I'm going to create a new section on my website where I try to identify as many separate and important inspiration sources which influence and shape my world and my work. A map of self.I'll also do a weekly blog entry about the inspiration of the week. Perhaps some obvious patterns will emerge.About the picture. It was taken for fun. Prosthetic leg was attached to this doll temporarily, while I was evaluating the project goals. I'm still evaluating them.

Sketch of the week: 15-Cosmos gown

I was so busy the last two weeks that I haven't had time to do my sketch of the week post. In fact, I missed a few weeks over the last couple of months, but I will do my best to be more frequent again.These are the sketches for Cosmos Exploratum Genesis project I had mentioned in late November. They are quite old-older than the doll itself, but due to a strange indecision I'm suffering in regards with this doll, I haven't been able to take any of these costume ideas to the next level. The only thing that has ever felt somewhat right is the ink sketch in the foreground. That was the first one and it appears has remained the only one after all this time.Right now I'm sketching down the oxygen tank ideas, but I don't know how I'm going to approach it yet. There is something incredibly challenging about this doll. The solution is probably so simple....

Lily on Ebay

The auction for Lily has begun!Link to the ebay pageThe auction will run for 7 days.Sorry for being a bit late, I wanted to make sure I didn't have any spelling mistakes this time (not like we had wit h"Lotita").  Also, I took some new shots today, which had me working right up until my own deadline, but I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.  I hope Lily goes to a special home and nice owner who will treasure her forever.  I will miss Lily very much after our last week together.

Auction Start time

I have some more pictures to process tomorrow moring, but Lily will be going up on Ebay later in the afternoon of December 27th, at 5pm Pacific time. That's tomorrow.I will be putting more pictures up before that though and making the final announcement, so, watch for it.And just in case you are wondering what Lily is holding in this picture- that's my recently removed wisdom tooth.

Little Rococo slippers for my little aristocrat

Shoes are cast in Sterling Silver, while flowers are satin, decorated with fresh water perals, Ruby briolettes and micro Swarowsky crystals for sparkle.

More Lily

I'm shooting her again today, while the daylight lasts and should have more photographs to post this evening. Meanwhile, I have a close up of those lovely Rococo slippers coming in an hour or so.

The Aristocratic Bath

That's the way they do it.

Happy Holidays!

Well, I'm off to a family dinner. Please, enjoy this picture of the last wig I made for Lily.Enchanted Doll wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

How I made the Rococo wig

It took me almost 3 full days to make the tall, Rococo wig for the Little Aristocrat Lily doll. The doll, which will be auctioned off on Ebay on Dec 27th. Here is the general idea of the process.The construction begins with making a wig cap and attaching the padding and supporting infrastructure to it. Then, extra long hair is glued down and it is determined which parts will be going up first. Hair is spread into isolated sections. At this point I sit and look at the doll for a long, long time, visualizing what I want her hair to be and devising a plan of action and steps to make it happen.Because a lot of wig-making methods are designed for humans or much larger dolls, I often improvise with various materials and contraptions and find new applications for my kitchen utensils, woodworking, jewelry and porcelain tools. Sometimes the least likely thing will provided the most desired results.This wig was probably the most complicated one I've made so far. Because it was very sculptural in essence, I had to think of hair and treat it as a sculpting medium, sort of like a lump of wet clay or wax, which you then shape into a form. But now that I think about it, this is how I tend to approach most of my projects. I have a very sculptural frame of mind. After determining where certain locks will go and how many of them I want, I began to pin them up in their approximate locations, keeping in mind the desired size, direction and angle of each curl.I used traditional and not-traditional hair styling products to put this hair into shape. Luckily, I have a huge arsenal of all kinds of painting, diluting, thinning, thickening, texturing etc. substances in my possession, which were acquired for various, non-hair related practices. Some are poisonous and others you never ever want to put on your own scalp. But this is porcelain we are talking about, and porcelain to my knowledge is impervious even to acid. Water was one of the main agents in trying to control the vast mane of hair that was required for the wig this size.Pinhead. Kind of like this one.I hate gore horror. Whenever I watch it, I'm not so much    scared, as I am disturbed and at the same time fascinated by the kind of sick imagination one would need to have to write and film stuff like that. I much prefer ghost horror than blood and guts. But getting back to MY lovely Pinhead-Lily.Ah, that's better.After a few hours of construction and a night of drying and setting, the curling phase is over and now it's time to take everything apart in a carefully choreographed order and arrange it in a desirable way. The problem is getting the curls to lay on the head instead of well, curling up. For this I use an experimental method of applying a synthetic, transparent primer to the hair with a brush.My concern was the eventual coming apart of the wig. I realized that simple hair spray will simply not be enough. That's why I went with a much tougher alternative. The primer literally glues hair to itself, making it firm and tough, while maintaining the appearance of hair. By the time I was done, there was more plastic in that wig, than hair. Seriously, the thing is almost bulletproof.Warning: Do not ever use this on your own hair. Unless you want a permanent hold and the same hair style for the next few years until new hair grows out. Then go ahead.Stylin'. She has hair spray and primer all over her face. Once again, because she is porcelain and her face painting is molecularly bonded to the surface of her skin at high temperature, I can for allow all kinds of things to be stuck to her face, knowing that I will easily be able to remove it without removing her entire face. You never want to do this with a resin doll. When the wig was done, the primer was so tough that I had to scrape from her face with a surgical blade and fine sand paper to get it all off. And you would never know it.Finished. Drying. Setting. Looking lovely. But still missing something. I had to send Chad to the drug store to buy me some cosmetic powder for her hair. Apparently they don't really make loose face powder anymore since it's 2010 and not 1710. All he could find was fancy moose powder and sheer cover and stuff. So, we had to get some Johnson's baby diaper powder instead. Oh, well-if it's good for babies then it can't be bad for my doll.Cough, cough, cough! There. Cough, cough, cough. Now she is complete! Cough, cough, cough.What? I've sat at this desk for how many hours?! 48? You don't say.....felt like 48 minutes to me.Was all worth it, as far as I'm concerned.Thank you and good night.

Preview snap shots of ebay auction doll

Well, first of all-at this point I've been up for 28 consecutive hours and working like a dog for 25 of those hours, to bring you these quick preview shots of this doll today. I believe the last time I had stayed up this long was during the final week of my senior year at art school; feverishly finishing essays, presentations and studio projects all due at the same time. My body is surprisingly energetic and refreshed, but my mind is beginning to descend into an exhaustion-induced stupor and numbness. Also, I think I might be hallucinating...... Sorry if my writing is a bit jumbled. I'm not even done yet. I have to get ready for a full photo session of this doll tomorrow morning.Ok, here we go. The pictures. Meet Lily-the Little Aristocrat.As I've said before, this doll will be auctioned off with 3 wigs. Two are shown here. This is Rococo wig; made with fine, long mohair and styled into shape with synthetic primer strand by strand over the course of many hours. It's also powdered with perfumed powder for a more authentic, period look. This wig is light and very strong, reinforced with several coats of primer. You can juggle with it, and not a single lock will bend out of shape. Ideal for hard play.This second wig is the exact opposite of the first one: it's incredibly long, loose, organic and soft like silk. It is also made of very fine, high grade mohair. There is no rigidity and structure in it, only streaming white strands, which can be styled, brushed and braided into almost any hair style.Third wig is on its' way. Pictures will be ready tomorrow. I'll also show a series of pcitures, documenting the making of Rococo Wig. The auction will begin on December 27th.Time for a nap.

Important announcement-Doll on ebay!

Hello, Enchanted Doll fans. Lolita outfit was supposed to go on ebay auction today, but there's been a change of plans.I will be putting a new, nude doll up for an auction instead! The outfit will go to auction right after the doll. The reason I'm postponing the auction of the outfit is so that I could try it on this new doll and photograph her wearing it for a fresh look. I am also making 3 removable wigs to go with this doll. One long, for natural look. One short and stylish, and one, well, that one is a surprise. You will have to wait a few days to find out. This doll has a decorative, one of a kind thigh tattoo that was hand painted, as opposed to the usual engraving.Auction will begin on Sunday, December 27th and end on Sunday, January 3rd. The third day of the New Year 2010.This is a very important time for me, the time when I contemplate and catalog all my failures, accomplishments and ambitions. I sit down and write all my goals for the upcoming year and make a plan for accomplishing them. This is the time I firmly decide that this new year, will be better than the last and that I will do everything I can to make it better and happier than all the years before it. Every year I promise myself to make dolls ever more beautiful, so that my life can be filled with beauty and joy. Because beauty is ultimately what will save the world.In Russia we have a superstition about New Year. We believe that the way we spend the first days and hours of the New Year, will determine our quality and enjoyment of our life for the rest of the year and foretell how the remaining 11 months are spent. That's why it's always important for one to enjoy those first days and spend them doing something meaningful and important to you. Those first days is when you commit to being happy.And so, in accordance with this tradition I'm making this doll as a good luck charm to celebrate the beginning of the New Year at the end of the First Decade of the New Millennium. She is a symbol of all the beautiful things of the past, dreams of the present and promise of the future. She will be the last doll sold of the Old Year and the first one of the New Year.Pictures coming soon.Meanwhile stay tuned for another sketch for Cosmos Exploratum and my final decisions about which costume to give her.

Enchanted Doll Fan Art

I have recently received some wonderful new fan art and I wanted to share them:From PochysamaFrom Kim TurnerFrom Corinna JasmineThese and more can be found in the Fan Art page in the Galleries section.If you have any Enchanted Doll inspired art, email it to me at inquiries@enchanteddoll.com with "Fan Art" in the subject line and I'll add it to the gallery.

Lolita outfit to go on Ebay

Just a little announcement to say that the one of a kind Lolita ensemble will finally become available for sale on Ebay around December 10-11th. I haven't chosen the exact date yet, but it will be in that vicinity. Just in time as an exquisite Christmas gift for your beautiful Enchanted Doll.Starting Price and other details coming this weekend.

Cixi Gown Fragment

Just before I left for Europe two months ago, I was working on the doll Cixi. This is a fragment of her sleeve gown. The gown trails behind her and the sleeves are enormous. When I came back, I've decided to re-work a couple of details that I wasn't too pleased with here and there, and once I tackle those, I willl photograph her and put her on the site.Enjoy this for now. I thought that you might find some news of this doll interesting.

Sketch of the week: 15-Cosmos Exploratum

I need to finish this doll. I've  never experienced this much indecision about anything as I have with this project. It's like I can't find the perfect solution for the outfit, that will reflect the headdress. When I made this sketch, I was intending for the helmet to be made of leather and cast brass, with cabochon stones set into it. But eventually I decided that the effect would be stronger if the thing was made entirely with bead embroidery.The trouble is, that I've started making her outfit several times, and each time abandoned it after a considerable amount of effort and time. It just didn't feel right. Nothing seems to feel right. Perhaps I should just go with my original idea of giving her an embroidered, black catsuit with stilletos. That was the plan, but after considering it further, I had abandoned that because it felt a bit Star Trek-ish. Perhaps the reason I can't seem to do anything else, is because that's what I'm supposed to make to begin with. The other option that I'm seriously considering, is a heavily embroidered, black mini-dress. But that also felt a bit space-ish.The truth is- I have some sort of an artist block with this doll. Have had it for over a year, and still no solution. I should just clear my schedule for a week and work on nothing but this-start over again.