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.
Doll Accessories
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.
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.
Sterling Silver collar on a doll
I did this mock up shoot earlier today to finally show the collar on Enchanted Doll. This isn't an actual costumed doll. The composition was assembled specifically for this photo shoot to show off the collar. I made this wig a while ago to use in a different photo composition, but haven't gotten around to it yet, due to the constant time deficit.I am so in love with this creation of mine. I've been playing with the collar all day and neglecting other work. I tried putting it on every doll I have at home and observing the impact it had on the costume. I even combined it with a new Chinese gown, a seemingly odd combination, but it looked like it belonged there. I'll shoot some pictures of it in the upcoming week. I'm just so blown away by the results. Almost four months of work and it was all so worth it! It's exactly how I envisioned it and more. It's huge, yet very light. It still can't stay on the shoulders by itself, but I'm working on a simple clasp that will either attach it to any low neck costume or more conveniently, a discreet harness to allow it to be worn independently of the costume and be removed with ease. Initial testing of a transparent, elastic harness were very promising. I'm leaning towards the invisible harness.
I might have this collar available to order as a limited editon within a couple of months. I don't have an exact price worked out yet since I'm still developing the formula for making each piece, but a rough estimate would be around a $1,000 CND, more or less. The cost of precious metal fluctuates all the time, which means the cost of casting does too. Once I get the average worked out, I'll announce it. Drop me a line if you're interested, as the number of people wishing to purchase it will affect the time line of release.When I get back from Europe in November, I plan to begin the costume which was meant to go with this collar. I'm going to set gems into the lace work of the collar as well as the dress I have planned for it. It's going to be wonderful. I might even try a 24 k gold or a rhodium plate for a truly brilliant surface appearance. I look forward to it. The piece is actually so versatile and can be successfully combined with various dress designs, but first things first- I'll start with one and see how far I can take it.I have several new things to show you. The new tattooed doll is assembled, as well as some new compositions and dolls which I have just gotten around to photographing. There are also some really pretty, random doll pictures from the past that I may post here. The next Sketch of the week segment is Scheherazade, coming up on Monday. Now that I have the collar up on a doll I will put together those progress sequence pictures I mentioned earlier. I just need to go to my parents place and dig up one old picture in the family album which is relevant to this project. Stay tuned. Lots of new stuff is coming up! So much, that I'm struggling to space out the posts for the next couple of weeks, without overloading you with information.Let me know wich of the two pictures you like better.
Collar cast in Sterling Silver and polished-Finally
Here it is. I took some snap shots in front of my window. The surface is soooo shiny and reflective that I found it difficult to get a good photo of it in the natural light, but wasn't in the mood for setting up a well-lit shot. I've got more important things to do today than worry about the perfect composition. I'll do that when the collar is on a doll. Then I'll go nuts.Today, I'm working on finalizing some last nude orders and developing a new tattoo design. Of course it's not just a tattoo, it's something more than that. This tattoo has a somewhat different function than an ordinary tattoo. It will be something else if it works out. It might be a huge failure though. We shall see.Right now I'm anticipating going into an intense show preparation mode and I guess my brain is gearing up for some serious creativity. Last night as I was sanding some parts, my mind was going into a thousand different directions at once, at 200 km an hour. Whatever the speed of thought is, my thoughts must have been doing double that. I was experiencing a type of neurotic inspiration that overwhelms all other senses like a tsunami of creative thought and creates a euphoric state of hyper awareness when everything is clear and every problem has a solution. I guess it's like an adrenaline rush of mental activity. The problem with it, is that it's exhilarating for only a couple of hours and then it turns into a sort of paranoia, because ideas just keep coming faster and faster until everything is spinning out of control and thinking turns into a counterproductive activity. I've come to call this type of inspiration a Creative Thought Hemorrhage, because after a while my head begins to hurt form all the ideas as if I actually burst a blood vessel in my brain.Last night I had to take two Advils and watch a couple of episodes of air crash investigation just to calm me down. Yeah, I know. Air crash investigation. About commercial airlines carshing with high fatalities. To calm me down. I don't know why I find National Geographic's shows about disasters so soothing. I often have them playing in the background while I work. Either that, or relaxing nature sounds by Solitudes. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Speaking of the collar..
Oh this thing gave me so much grief!
It turned out to be every bit as difficult to replicate as my tech had expected it to be, and more. I was a lot more optimistic about molding, injecting and casting this large, yet extremely thin filigree design than him, and boy, did I get a reality check. The collar was fighting us at every stage of the process! It didn't want to get made. After two months or so, of fiddling with the molds, altering wax injections, going back and forth, trying this and that and watching it fail again and again, I must confess-a week ago I almost gave up.It's not like me to drop an ambitious project, especially after investing hundreds of dollars and countless hours of my time to see it get to this stage. I believe there is a key to unlocking every problem, but that thing almost did me in. I was beginning to consider that my design was fundamentally flawed and un-castable and that finding a key to getting it made meant going back to square one and re-designing the structure. Yet, I was so mentally exhausted from trying to figure it all out that I knew if I abandoned this approach, it would be some time before I returned to it. So, we made a last ditch effort in trying to save it, adjusted one factor in the casting process and......it came out perfectly. The key was found.I haven't had a chance to get it cleaned and polished yet. Metals don't come out all bright and shiny after casting, and look very little like the precious things they really are. Just like unpolished gems. It often requires hours to clean and polish silver to a bright shine after it's been cast. I can't wait to see this piece finished. Meanwhile I'm going to try to cast a couple more and see if it was just blind luck they turned out this time or if the formula actually works.
Sketch of the week- Corset.
Introducing a new, weekly blog feature: sketch of the week. Every Monday I will choose a page from my sketchbook and post it here. The sketch can be a recent or an old one and will not necessarily be doll-related.This corset sketch have been shown at the Villa Terrace museum during my solo show. I made these concept sketches a couple of years ago when I took a lost wax casting, jewelry class. I've been dreaming of creating metal clothes for my dolls for several years and when I began familiarizing myself with wax carving I knew right away that this method would allow me to do it. So, after my first class I came up with this very ambitious design for a 1:6 scale, silver corset. I've yet to make it, though I have a feeling that it won't be long now. However, now that I have some experience with carving jeweler's wax, I'm not sure that this design can be replicated by hand. I will most definitely give it my best shot, but this might be better suited for a machine carving. I really want one. One day I'll get it.Anyway, my first attempt at carving a functional, silver corset for a doll turned out like this. It's not bad, but I can and will do better next time.
You can find this corset in the Cinderella gallery. I'm thinking about making it available for orders at one point, only without the breast cups. I don't know exactly yet.
Peacock tattoo on Enchanted Doll
This is something new I had made recently for a custom order. I really like this one. Next time i'm trying a full color, bigger peacock on the front of the doll. Although it was very challenging, it was still easier than I expected it would be. I must be getting better at this.Now that I think about it, I might be ready for human skin. Who wants one? I'm sure I can figure it out as I go. Can't be that hard.Another angle at this tattoo can be found in the new Tattooed Dolls gallery, by the way.
Such a pretty doll
This is an experiment with make up and tonal combinations. The goal was to create a face resembling Cinderella without facial resculping of mouth and chin. I believe the resulting expression is very sweet but not as haunting as Cinderella's.This particular snowflake crown is an example of sterling silver finished to a bright shine before the application of patina. Patina is a type of acid which brings out fine details, accentuates recesses and raised areas and gives silver an antiqued, contrasty look playing down the bright shine. I always prefer treated surface to a shiny one because of the contrast it creates. Pretty as the shiny finish is, I find it reflects so much light from all the surface planes and a lot of detail gets lost in the glare. Although, as can be seen from this fine example, sometimes the untreated, bright finish silver is just the right thing to have.
New Silver Casting project
So, this is that ambitious project I mentioned on Twitter a few of days ago.It’s a wax carving of a collar for Enchanted Doll. It’s impossible to carve something like this by hand, so I designed it and handed it over to another artist/technician, who rendered it as a 3D model and had it carved by a computerized carving machine. When my casting technician Ryan saw this, he said: “This is by far the craziest thing you’re ever done, and if I can cast this piece for you, it will be the height of my casting careerâ€, because apparently, this thing is un-castable. But then again, a lot of jewelers would consider many of my wax carvings impossible to cast because they are unconventional jewelry pieces, while Ryan was somehow able to make them work.I made some adjustments to the collar after I took this picture. I spent 8 hours, painstaikingly overlaying the carving with tiny wax granules by hand. It looks just exquisite. I love it and can’t wait to see it on a doll.
Beauty vs Function and Enchanted Dolls.
I thought I'd walk you through the things I have to consider before designing and making something. This is a glimpse of what goes on inside my head when I'm working things out. Whether I'm designing a dress or a jointing mechanism, or crown or a doll face or anything else, I think about it a lot sometimes days, sometimes weeks, turning over and over and over in my head like a 3D model on a computer, until I come up with a solution to my problem. Functionality and strenght are always a concern because I don't like making things that don't work, or can't be touched because they will break. That's why I don't like polymer clay dolls and figurines: They are fragile and have no function beyond sitting on the shelf and gathering dust, while mass produced, commercial dolls have the function, but lack beauty.BEAUTY, FUNCTION, STRENGTH.That's my slogan. I think I should have majored in Industrial Design at Emily Carr. I believe I would have been good at it. My math is too weak for engineering or architecture, but I noticed that my mind is king of geared to making things work. After all, I am an engineer's daughter. The first decade of my life was spent inventing and building things with my dad. Which was awesome.Anyway, here we go.When you're making a highly articulated, ball jointed, porcelain doll on the 1:6 scale, conventional techniques and methods of doll making frequently don't apply. You have to think outside the box and consider MANY things to produce a beautiful and functional product. Most important thing to do before you begin any project, is to clearly identify your goals to yourself. When you have your goals down, choose the primary and the secondary one which will be the key and the heart of your project, the very essence of what you want the end result to be. Then, make a plan of how to capture that essence.My primary and secondary goals when I make Enchanted Dolls are:a) Beautiful and smooth, realistically stylized body lines with a beautiful face.b) Extensive, yet aesthetically un-intrusive ball jointed articulation and superb posing abilities.There. This is the essence of Enchanted Dolls. This is what dictates the choices I need to make from here on in order to achieve the perfect balance between the two. You probably noticed that my a and b goals are at conflict with one another: Too many, too big joints and the beautiful body lines are visually disrupted, yet fewer and subtler joints significantly reduce articulation and realistic posing. Which one do I choose over the other? I don't want to abandon either in favor of one, but sacrifice of some aspects of both a and b is inevitable.I appreciate all the input and feedback I get from Enchanted Doll fans every day. I get suggestions too, on how to improve my dolls sometimes, which is great, but I want to explain to you guys who think that EDs are not living up to their full potential, that every square millimeter of the doll is carefully thought through and considered a hundred times. Every aspect of the doll is there for a very good reason and not because it just happens to be like that. Let me put it this way:Everything you can think of about ball-jointed dolls - I've already thought of it. <:)I want to address the suggestion of giving EDs closing eyes. Those of you who think that this would be a good idea- I'm sorry, but you're wrong. It's a lovely idea on its own, but please consider what it will take to do that while remembering the Beauty vs Function dilemma:Closing eyes can be effective and aesthetically pleasing only on a medium or better yet, large sized dolls, but Enchanted Doll's head is less than 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. First of all, it will be visually ugly and will interfere with the realistic quality of the face because the eye sockets are tiny (5 x 7 mm) and closing mechanism will require 1-2 millimeters of clearance of the eyeballs from the eye openings. This is not a problem for a big doll, but on a 1:6 scale doll the gap between the head and the eyeballs will be very noticeable. It will look plastic and fake. Ugly.Structural composition and stringing of the doll has to be taken into account as well. I have a large spring running through the centre of the doll's head which holds all the extremities together. With an already tiny space inside the head and a spring running right through the centre of it, where am I supposed to put the pendulum weight mechanism, required to open and close the eyes? But more importantly is, how am I going to put it in there, when unlike most bjd's, Enchanted Doll's head is solid closed? I can't cut the head in half in order to stick the eyes in even if I really wanted to do it because of my stringing technique: unless the head is a complete, whole sphere, it won't be strong enough to support the tension of industrial springs which are required to hold the doll together. It will break.I can't cut the head open, put the eyes in and glue the halves together because no glue will withstand the tension put on the head by the spring for a long period of time. It will break. I can't cut the head open, put the eyes in and then fire the halves back together because the only way porcelain halves will seal back to 100% strength is at 2300 ºF. Everything besides porcelain will be evaporated in the kiln. So, my question is: How do I put the eyes in?In order to be able to cut the head open and glue it back together safely after putting the eye socket mechanism in, I would have to reduce the tension in the head. I could do that by replacing the industrial springs inside my dolls which give them such splendid tension and therefore, articulation, with elastic. Elastic is common in bjd stringing, but it's a very poor substitute for industrial springs. Anybody who handled an Enchanted Doll and ANY OTHER bjd will know the difference. I won't be able to achieve the tension required for posing. Using thicker elastic won't solve the problem either, because most doll's parts are too small to accommodate it. Besides, why would I want to change spring to elastic when it wears out over time, while springs do not? So, which is it: springs or eyes?In conclusion, we find that giving Enchanted Dolls a pair of fake-looking, closing eyes will entail dramatic changes and sacrifices of the fundamental mechanism of the doll. And the trade is not even worth it.Scale, ladies and gentlemen, scale is the key here. Although there are many deciding factors at play because the doll is held together by a careful relationship between its components and changing one will require changing the rest, in the end, it's the small size of the doll which makes this particular change counter productive to both of my main goals: beauty and function.Any questions?
The industry of fantasy.
A little while ago I made a doll for a friend of mine, Fabrizio Viti.
Fabrizio and I talking dolls.He is a mega doll collector who resides in Paris and who has the most fantastic collection of fashion dolls and their fashions. Not only that, but he also has an abundance of custom made, couture designer outfits and accessories for them, such as a collection of tiny Prada purses, French perfumes and Louis Vuitton shoes and bags. His dolls also have designer furniture and furs and high end silks and laces for dresses. They have their own room, but the favorite ones sleep by the foot of his bed in a gorgeous custom made designer bed with Chinchilla fir lining. He has trunks and trunks of vintage fashion doll outfits too and the center piece of his immaculately furnished living room is the famous vintage ponytail Barbie in the zebra bathing suit. I touched it and it was glorious.
Some fancy doll purses. Louis Vuitton, Prada, and another Louis Vuitton.His dolls dress better and have the most expensive wardrobe of any woman I know. They look like runway models in Luxury designer labels and they must be the most spoiled dolls in the world.Did I mention that Fabrizio is the head shoe designer for a luxury fashion label Louis Vuitton?We met while I was in Paris past fall, showing my dolls and I had a little peek into the world of fashion. One of the first things Fabrizio had said to me when we went for lunch the following day, or the one after, was that both him and I worked in the same industry-the industry of fantasy. I thought it was a very interesting comparison, and was surprised that I hadn't thought of it that way before even though it was kind of obvious.Next week Chad and I were invited to his place where we had a great time. I brought my Edie with me and Fabrizio and I had an awesome play date with all his dolls and pretty things while Chad and Fabrizio's friend who was visiting him that weekend, looked on as if we were two crazy people. Fabrizio kept pulling out box after box after box of doll clothes. It was nuts. The guy is a really passionate doll collector! Anyway we had lots of fun. I modeled some paris of Louise Vuitton shoes Fabrizio brought for me but had to work very hard to look as graceful as those models on the runway and i'm only half their height. It's been a while since i wore heels and I was terrible, but i've gotten used to them since.
My Enchanted Doll shoe inside my Louis Vuitton shoe. Yes, I had a great time in Paris. It is truly a city of beauty, vibrancy and decadence. It was a very exciting trip and I met some very interesting people while there and became extremely inspired by what i saw. I have no doubt that the experience is already influencing my work in a way that didn't exist previously and will be doing so for years to come. Magical things happen in Paris.
Silver Slippers Finally Available for sale.
Aren't they beautiful?This is the first accessory in Sterling Silver to become available for my Porcelain nude line. One of my new costumed dolls is already wearing a pair and they look, oh, so pretty.I redesigned the structure of the shoe a little to accommodate for the weight of the metal and stay snugly on the foot. The slippers now have a decorative heel backing and a leather strap with a tiny, yet fully functional buckle on the side.All is cast in solid, non-tarnishing Silver and finished by hand. Decorative Patina was applied to the surface to add contrast to the design and bring out the details. The pair weighs 12.5 grams or 0.43 oz and is light enough to be worn comfortably by the doll. They are $250 CND+shippingSometime next month i'll have a pair 24k gold plated to see if i want to have it cast in solid gold. I might also cast a pair in bronze, for a darker finish. Anyway. I'll do a full shoot of them in a couple of days and upload the pictures on the site, into the accessory category.These lovely slippers are available for pre-order.
Bjd chest comparison
Finally I was able to photograph two different chest pieces side by side to show the difference between them. As you can see the difference is subtle. The new one on the left is more narrow than the old one on the right and gives the doll a more slender appearence. The new one also has rounder, slightly fuller breasts than the old one and has narrower shoulders with more 'armpit' space for the stand. So, the two main advantages of the new chest piece are: one, clothes fit it better, especially if they are beaded because on such a small scale beads add more visual thickness to the body, and two, more space for the stand underneath the arms and increased articulation of the shoulder joint. I like it better because it makes the doll look more dainty and delicate.
Silver slippers and bracelets for Schehrezade
This is how tiny the slippers are. I just adore them. It's been a dream of mine to make tiny, precious shoes for a doll since grade 6. I've been beading their shoes up to this point, but on the scale i work with, they end up looking too bulky for the doll's feet because even the tiniest of seed beads and crystals are still disproportionately large for a 1:6 scale foot. I mean, they do the job, but i'm always trying to improve on my technique and execution and so, for the last two or so years i've been wanting to make slippers from a precious metal, such as gold or silver. This is the very first pair cast in Sterling. I carved them and the bracelets in jewelers wax, which was very tricky because you have to account for the shrinkage of metal during casting. So, there was quite a bit of guesswork involved into how big i should actually make them; too big and they will not look good on the foot, too small and they will not fit the foot. And you can't exactly squeeze a porcelain foot into a metal shoe. It has to go in freely. So, I calculated the best i could and they turned out perfectly! I'll see if i can have molds of these made for a limited edition run. Let me know if any body's interested in having these for their Enchanted Doll. They are solid silver and won't be cheap.The new Scheherezade doll is wearing over 120 grams of silver on her body. She will be unveiled in the September issue of the Haute Doll Magazine along with 2 more new costumed dolls.
New things.
Banshee is modeling the new crown and the new print dress. The dress is in the test stage at the moment. This crown and this dress probably won't end up in the same composition together as i plan to make a different, medieval-looking crown for the gown. It's the new limited Edition Snow White in the works. With the the lidded coffin and apple and everything...
Gold overlay ornament
This is a sample of one of the dolls i'm working on at the moment. She has raised 24 k Gold overlay ornament all over her body. I plan to assemble her by the end of the week but will hold off photographing her until she is complete with some sort of an ethnic head dress and a veil. Pictures will probably be up mid May.I can decorate any nude doll with designs such as these ones and if this type of ornamentation is something you fancy, i can do it for your nude. However it must be done at the same time as the overall doll painting. It can no longer be done after the doll has been assembled. It is technically possible to do, but is extremely counter productive as it will require that i disassemble the doll, strip all the leather and glue, remove the hair and repaint and re-fire the entire doll a couple of times over. Like i said-counter productive. Extra charge applies to this feature and is determined based on the amount of work and gold paint it requires. You can find rates for small jewelry such as rings and bracelets in the Doll Request form.PS- this is the new, petite upper body i was talking about previously
Long Awaited Crown
Well, today is a good day, Enchanted Doll fans. There will be lots of new photos uploaded on the site tonight, including a photo of the Gold body ornament.Remember that Sterling silver head ornament line i announced several weeks ago. Well, I finally finished the first one. This piece is based somewhat on Agnetha's crown, but is quite different in design. I carved it in wax and had it cast in Sterling Silver. This is the very fist trial-cast and it didn't turn out that great. The next one will be better. At this point it's in the first stage of completion. The pieces will be sold in different stages and prices will be different for each one.Stage 1: Cleaned and polishes,'naked' silverStage 2: Enamel is applied to granules to create the illusion of stonesStage 3: Additional silver ornament is added to the piece. Eg. discs, dangles, chains, etc.Stage 4: 24k Gold platingI have yet to determine the prince for this particular piece. I will post a picture for each stage as i continue to work on it.We're shooting all day today, so keep your eyes open for more!
First Silver Head piece for Nudes.
The first piece in the Sterling Silver line of ornate head ornaments for my nude dolls will be available for sale in the Doll accessory section of my site sometime next week. It's a crown ornament, similar to the one Agnetha is wearing. I'm just waiting to pick it up from the foundry on Monday morning. I'm really excited to see it. For those of you who are interested in my headpieces i'll warn you in advance-they won't be cheap.I gotta go and put the last coat of paint on my new guy.