Dolls and Diplomats

Hello All!

This is not directly related to my recent projects, but does have everything to do with dolls. Rather, with my dream of the day when a doll is no longer thought of as just a toy, but a separate art form.

Last week I've had a the pleasure of meeting the Honorary Consul of the Russian Embassy in Canada, Mr.Bardin, had paid a visit to my studio. He can be seen in the picture holding my new rubenesque doll. And since such serious people have begun to pay attention to dolls, it may be that my dream will soon come true!

I am doubly pleased that the Russian diplomats in Canada are interested in the life of Russian citizens abroad.

and the Winner is....

..................AMAL!

From the moment I saw this entry in the email inbox, I knew it was a contender. It encompassed everything that I hoped this contest would be, from the early brainstorming stages to the final presentation. I can see the process involved, yet it isn't overwhelming and excessive in it's information. She stuck to the contest outlines, and came up with a great entry. I look at them as a triptych, but really, it's the Doppelganger idea that is the true winning entry. It has this mysterious "how would that look in 3d" feel to it that keeps drawing me back to it, as if my mind is trying to solve the puzzle of how to make it. I love working out projects, and I sense that with this piece.

The 7 runners up will receive special gifts from me, while the 2nd and 3rd entries will receive even more special gifts, but the grand prize of the nude doll goes to Amal for her beautiful, thoughtful, and challenging submission. The grand prize doll will be a variation of a Lily doll.

THANK YOU to everyone who entered, I loved all the entries. I've been going back and forth through them all day and I am still amazed at all the great ideas. Congratulations are in order for everyone, as you all came up with very creative ideas. I'm already looking forward to the 4th annual contest next year!

Once again, Congrats to Amal!

The top Three candidates to win a doll

Valentine by KarolinFelix

I liked this one when I looked at it, but became really intrigued by the idea of a transparent filigree torso, once I read the proposal. This hadn't occurred to me before. I like how the artist addressed the practical issue of the fragility of porcelain given such a narrow waist, but proposing that it's made entirely of metal. I want to make this doll!

by AmalI love this project not as three separate entries, but as a triptych. They are most effective not separately, but together. The most intriguing is the idea of capturing the idea of time travel and non-linear perspective within one doll. I think It's a very challenging concept to address, and a very ambitions one to propose. I would love to see more cards in this series!

amal

by MauraI adore this entry for the beautiful rendering of Anne Boleyn and the rendering of the idea of her being the mother to Queen Elizabeth the Great through a gorgeous tattoo. I particularly like the creative solution to the clothing vs tattoo conflict:

  one usually has to exist at the expense of the other, but in this piece both function together as a whole. The top ten candidates all displayed a completeness that I look for in the entries: An interesting, coherent idea, effectively articulated and combined with a beautiful presentation, originality and emotion. It was very hard to choose, and I wish I could  make twenty winners instead of just one, because there are many good proposals.

These are the top three that really speak to me, but who will be the winner?

I'll decide by midnight. That's all I've been doing all day. :)

Top Ten Candidates

It was a very difficult ordeal to try and pick a winner from all the fabulous entries. A big thank you to everyone who entered, such great and diverse talent out there. I'm honored to have such fans.I have narrowed it down to my ten favourite entries. One amongst them will be named the winner.They are listed in no particular order:A Jui Gui by Ran

"Through endless night she walks alone, never stopping, never resting, weeping for her daughter. She is lost in the shadows, swallowed by her inner universe, shattered to a million pieces reflecting bits and pieces. She stumbles in her dress, once dark gray, now pale and faded, but doesn't stop. Her black hair loose, blending into the eternal darkness. Once lavishly decorated, no jewels adorn her now, her neck bare and defenseless. Once the most happy, she now forever mourns her heart, left in the hands of that the most beloved, the one who took it all. In this dark void, the nowhere place, she weeps for her lost child, life and love.

She is the shadow of Anne Boleyn."

Anne Boleyn by IrisRozalba by MadalineValentine by KarolinFelixThe Soprano by Miss LKby AmalBy Emilyby Mauraby AdriatzinLaila: The Spider Woman by J. DavidThe grand prize winner will be announced before midnight Pacific time.Here comes the hardest part.

Enchanted Doll 2011 Contest

My birthday is here, which means the annual birthday contest is also here.

All the entries have been posted online, here.

There are so many great entries that I'm still narrowing it down. A final announcement will be made later today.

Thank you to everyone who entered and to everyone who wished me a happy birthday.

So check out the entries and choose your favourites while I choose mine.

Contest submission period has ended

As my 29th birth day creeps closer and closer, Chad and I are sorting through hundreds of submissions for the 3rd annual Enchanted Doll birthday contest, where I give away a porcelain nude for the winning entry.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated this year. There are lots of fantastic ideas, some of which even corresponding with my own. In fact, one participant has guessed my current project, submitting an idea for a doll I'm already working on! This goes on to show, that there is no such a thing as completely original thought, only its interpretation, and that there are great many people of like minds, who think along similar lines.

I really enjoyed these year's entries. In a few days, all of them could be seen online. And now I will choose the winner!

The illustration in the banner is from an entry by Nigel.

ED 2010 Birthday contes winner

Well, I am happy to announce that the 2010 Enchanted Doll birthday contest has finally come to a close!Thank you so much to all the participants for your hard work. I've received many thoughtful and artful gifts-entries and many touching birthday wishes. Thank you all.Choosing a winner has proven to be much more challenging that I ever thought it would be, especially since my decision was complicated by the fact the the entries were not limited by any specific theme or medium, but rather an assortment of all kinds of creativity. They could not be judged by a clear cut, unified criteria or a grading scale, because they were all beautiful and unique each in its own way.The reason I specifically did not impose a general theme to follow for the participants, was because I wanted to keep this competition open to all kinds of talent. I wanted to give everybody an opportunity to win by doing what they are good at. This, however, severely complicated my task of choosing a winner, to the point where I began to panic that I could not make a decision.I judged the entries based not only on technical ability, originality, composition, complexity and beauty, but also on the wholeness of artistic presentation and the concept behind the work and most of all- the intensity of my emotional response to each piece. After all, provoking an emotional response is the essence of art. In the end, I thought my head would explode. I first chose 10 of the best entries based on the quality and execution, then narrowed those down to 3 favorites and then let my senses decide which one  spoke to my heart the most. Still, it was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.And this is what it chose:Ladies and gentlemen, presenting 3rd place entry by Paula F. from PolandI chose this entry for the 3rd place because the work and the concepts of this very young artist deeply resonated with my own, and even though they are inspired by Enchanted Dolls, they are not directly borrowing from them. Despite of appealing to my language of expression through her use of textile and embroidery art, her own voice is very present in this work. Congratulations Paula, you've won a pair of sterling silver shoes. Thank you for participating.The 2nd place goes to Monika V, from Australia. For her entry she painted me a series of 9 stunning paintings of Enchanted Dolls. The sheer volume and intricacy of work blew me away and one can see what a commitment of time and energy this was. The technique and skill are very advanced, while  the decorative aspect is very well articulated. These paintings must have have been a joy to paint and they are certainly a joy to look at. Congratulations Monika, you've won a bronze crown. Thank you for taking  part in this contest.And now, finally, the 1st place entry and the winner of porcelain nude doll Pearl......goes to Amarilli A, from Italy!I love the stylistic reference to the religious art of the late middle ages in this oil painting. The combination of slight inconsistencies in linear perspective in the composition, the color palette, gold leafing and even the greenish undertones of the skin are very characteristic of the painting methods of that time period, and yet there is a contemporary air to it. The presentation of the painting on the piece of ornate brocade fabric to resemble a tapestry is the final touch that ties it all together. This artist has painted her daughter as an Enchanted Doll and included many elements that I am fond of, such as historical references, bejeweled metal head dress, Gothic architecture, rich textiles and lampwork beads, all without directly borrowing from any Enchanted Dolls. Congratulations Amarilli, you've won an Enchanted Doll.Thank you all for taking  part in this year's birthday contest. I encourage everyone to try again next year. Once you see the rest of the gifts displayed on my website tomorrow, it will give you a good idea of your competition and hopefully inspire you to practice and create all year round in your 'training' runs for the next year's contest.Finally, I would like to thank my dad for managing the incoming gift packages and putting up with being constantly woken up by early morning delivery couriers, and of course my dear Chadasaurus for taking care of the logistical aspect of the contest like handling, organizing, documenting and displaying the entries and recycling loads and loads of cardboard. This wouldn't be possibly without you.The winning participants should receive their prizes in the mail in the second half of April. The rest of the entries will be announced tomorrow. Seven more runners up will be announced and will also receive a small gift from me for entering.This concludes the 2010 Enchanted Doll birthday contest. I look forward to next year.

Important Contest Announcement

The deadline for the Enchanted Doll Contest has been pushed back to March 16th, to allow for the entries that got delayed by the Olympics (Canada Post put all packages coming to Vancouver under extra scrutiny the past few weeks) and other shipping problems.  With the cut-off deadline being pushed back to the 16th, the announcing of the winner won't be until the 19th.I have started going through some of the entries and you guys aren't making it easy on me to pick a winner.  So much incredible work already, I'm having Chad document everything so that it can all be seen on the site (if anyone had anything that they didn't want posted on the site, entry/description/name, let me know in an email at contests@enchanteddoll.com)

Enchanted Doll Birthday contest-gift opening

This is the best Christmas ever!Uhm, I mean Birthday- it's the best Birthday ever! Feels like Christmas though, since I've never gotten so many birthday gifts.I wasn't going to open the entries until the contest deadline of March 13th, but then I thought about it and realized that we would never be able to process, document, judge and display all the gifts on the website in only three days! Therefore, I had decided to begin opening them now, 2-3 gifts a day so as to not get totally overwhelmed when it comes time to choose the winner. Yeah, sure it would have been awesome to open them all on my birthday, but I don't think it would be fair to contestants because I wouldn't have time to do it properly all in one day. So, my birthday came early this year and will last for two weeks as I open new surprises every day.The gifts are beautiful. I'm loving them all, but I'm already wondering what I've gotten myself into, because I will somehow have to choose the best one......it will be a very, very tough call. I almost wish I hadn't started the contest just so that I wouldn't be in this position of having to choose only one winner out of so many fantastic entries.My 28th birthday continues....best birthday ever!

Scheherezade - More Photos

This fabulous doll, amongst others, was sold at the Dragonspace show opening, and I thought that I should post more pictures of her in farewell.Despite being inanimate objects, some dolls are more photogenic and easy to shoot than others. Scheherezade here, is a very challenging doll to photograph, which totally puzzles me, because she is so beautiful. Yet, I can never seem to be able to capture her true beauty on film. Well, not film anymore, but pixel. Whatever. I always quit my photo sessions with her, disgusted with myself. Her dress comes alive with a hundred sparkling stars under the electric light, yet her skin looks more balanced in daylight. I can't seem to find the best solution. Perhaps this speaks louder about my lack of photographic skill or proper lighting kit than the modeling abilities of the doll.Scheherezade features my first attempt at creating a fully metal, sterling silver head dress and shoes. Her ornate 'helmet', so to speak, is the first of its kind. I was able to reproduce the slippers later on, but the head ornament is one of a kind. It was the  first ever wax carving of a metal costume for a doll and the second wax carving I ever attempted. I'm extremely proud of it. The bracelets are one of a kind too.Making Scheherezade symbolized a very significant accomplishment, which ushered in a new vision of doll-making for me: The era of Enchanted Doll arrived.Farewell, beautiful Scheherezade. I will  miss you. I promise to make an even more beautiful doll than you.

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!

Enchatned Doll 2010 Birthday contest

This preliminary announcement is to signal the beginning of the Second Annual Enchanted Doll Birthday Contest!That's right, as a part of celebrating my birthday, I am giving away one nude doll as a present to one lucky winner of the contest. My last year's birthday contest was so rewarding that I decided to not only to give away another doll, but do it every year from this day forth.The Enchanted Doll Birthday Contest is now an annual event. And a talent competition.The general rule for entering the contest is simple: Make something in the theme of Enchanted Doll and send it to me as a birthday gift. The entry that blows me away, will take the winning prize of Nude Enchanted Doll.The competition is open to any media: drawing, painting, photography, digital art, sculpture, jewelry, doll art, writing, poetry, illustration, animation or film. Any form of creative figurative expression whatsoever. If you think you can come up with a math or physics equation for Enchanted Doll-go ahead and enter it, if you believe you should write a ballad about Enchanted Doll-do it, if you know you can bake a delicious Enchanted Doll cake and deliver it to me for my birthday- then go for it. Mmmm!Bottom line is that you can use whatever talents you have to create something beautiful and my favorite one will take the prize.This is the general information you need to know to get started on your entries. I will make a more formal announcement with info and deadlines later this week.Now, let's make beautiful things.

Enchanted Doll Announcements

I finally have some concrete news about my order schedule for the rest of 2009 and most of 2010. Some of it is good and some of it is bad, and some of it can be either one, depending on how you look at it. Let's start with the bad.1)My Enchanted Doll resin line has suffered a huge setback and has now been postponed indefinitely. I need to find a new and capable developer and manufacturer who will not only want to produce a beautiful line of resin Enchanted Dolls, but will also know what they are doing. Those of you who want to expedite this process can feel free to look around for doll producers and manufacturers and recommend me the ones you might think appropriate. I don't know how long it will take me to find the right one and right now I am back at square one.2)I'm leaving for Europe again on October 3rd until November 3rd. I'll be attending Art Fair 21 in Cologne, Germany where a few of my pieces will be shown. I'll be there on 29th, 30th and possibly 31st. I am really looking forward to meeting some of you there. Paris is another place where Chad and I will definitely be for a week or so before the show, but aside from that I don't really know yet where we will end up. We're going to travel around European Union, see places, visit friends. I would be more than happy to meet and hang out with Enchanted Doll fans while were are in Europe. Our plans are rather loose and if anybody wants to get together with Chad and I, email me and perhaps we can work out a meeting time and country. We will see.3) Strychnin Gallery will be representing me in Art Fair 21. They are publishing an exhibition catalog and an art book that will feature some of my pieces. I believe both will be available for sale during the show and if you catch me there on the 29th, 30th or 31st, I can sign it for you.4) Nude porcelain doll slots will be harder to come by after I get back from Europe in November. As you know I have a second solo exhibition in Berlin in the summer 2010. I am making a brand new collection of one of a kind and ultra limited edition work for the show and that means that I have to drastically reduce my custom nude work load in order to commit most of my time to producing the most amazing costumed dolls I possibly can. I can not do this and carry on making nude orders as before- it's becoming too much for me. For the next year I will be taking 1-2 nude orders a month. All the slots up until February are already taken. If I'm ever ahead of schedule i may be able to make some more time for orders here and there, but don't take me up on that. After my show in 2010 lots of things will have changed and who knows what will happen. Maybe more order slots, maybe a resin line, maybe both. I apologize to those who waited for a long time already and I hope that you understand. Eventually I hope to work my way through my wait list.5) I saved the best news for last. I'll be putting a nude doll on Ebay sometime next week. I made this doll for a show in St.Petersburg, Russia, but was unable to attend it at the last minute. Suddenly, this doll no longer had a show to go to. You probably read all about it in a post earlier this summer. I've been putting off making the decision on what to do with this little orphan all this time because I was tempted to keep her for myself, but I finally decided to sell her. By Friday I should have pictures of her here and then she will go on ebay a few days later.I think that's all the news for now. More work coming up. Let me know if you have any questions.(The doll shown in this blog post is not the doll that will be made available on eBay, it is a custom nude that was made for a client. I just like that picture a lot.)

And the Winner Is...

The winner of the nude Enchanted Doll is...........

Melissa from Illinois (Tealmermaid)

Congratulations!Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest.  The positive energy in the forums has been great to see.  Everyone has been so nice, I'm glad that the contest went so smoothly.  Yes, today is my birthday, but I'm giving this present to one of my fans in return for all the support you all have given me.  I hope that the forums don't become a ghost town now that the contest is over, I feel that we have a great community here.Once again, Congrats to Melissa!As per the contest notes, the doll will be part of my Solo show from April 8th to June 7th, and will be sent out afterwards.And for all those of you who didn't win this year; Cheer up. You will have more opportunities in the years to come as i'm considering making this contest an annual Birthday event.Good luck next year, every one. Thank you for participating.Sincerely,Marina and Chad.

The Contest Is Over

The contest has come to a close, and the winner will be announced shortly.Thank you to everyone who entered.

The winning prize

As many of you know the 2009 contest to win a free Enchanted Doll is drawing to a close and on my birthday, March 16th, I will give away this doll to one lucky person. Her name is Miina.Expectation.I have been waiting for you when I was still a thought in Marina's head.I've been waiting for you when the porcelain was pouring into the mold and hardening against its walls.I've been waiting for you when she was carefully removing my tiny, newly-formed body from the mold and laying it out to dry.I've been waitng for you in the kiln, while the unbareable and seemingly endless heat was burning me and only the hope of being with you had sustained me through the pain.Finally, as a reward for the agouny of birth, I was given an eternal body and ageless beauty and I await our first meeting with great trepidation.Do you know that while I was being assembled, every spring in my body trembled and hummed with the anticipation of seeing you?And now I am. My long wait is over!I am ready to meet you, the one who will have me.Until then,Your Enchanted Doll.Another shot of her can be found on my forum here

Contest Reminder

Just a reminder, the contest to win a free Nude Enchanted Doll is drawing near.  If you have already entered please don't submit another entry, only one per person!Click here to enter.

Twitter Feed

There is now an Enchanted Doll twitter feed, where I will be posting short blurbs about my dolls.  This will be used for quick updates on work while I prepare for my solo show.  The blog will still be used for larger updates and photos, but for those curious about my process feel free to follow my twitter feed. [EDIT - I made it so the 3 most recent tweets will show up on this blog, in the sidebar - Chad]The above photo is of the doll I'm currently working on.  This is just after the hair has been glued on, she looks much more elegant now. And she's got armpit hair!