Preview of the Fragility Dolls

The dolls that will be shown at the "Fragility" show in Berlin at the Strychnin gallery have been unveiled.You can see them on the gallery's website at www.strychnin.com, clicking "for sale" and then "Fragility", or you can click right here.If you need to see more, which I anticipate many of you will, additional shots have been uploaded to flickr, with a few more going up later.Now back to setting up the show, need to get these girls ready for their big live debut.

Cathedral

Inspired by bits and pieces of all kinds of things and experiences and without my full awareness, this project gestated in my thoughts for years, formulating and materializing into a coherent image, until one day the right piece of the puzzle fell just into the right place, crystallizing the idea into a strikingly clear form that quite literally, took my breath away. Startled and exhilarated by the suddenness of its coming, I studied the image burned into the backs of my eyelids with wonder, smiling at the beauty and completeness of it and thinking to my self that ah, yes, of course it had to look like this-it couldn't possibly have been anything else. It was always this,  even if I couldn't see it before: it was just a matter of circumstances and time until I did.Although i think about art and my future projects nearly every waking minute, it's not often that my inspiration takes a form of an intense, almost religious experience like this one. This was unique. It felt like, driven to the point of exhaustion from endless brainstorming and research my mind just snapped and transcended the boundaries of consciousness, crossing over into a creative abyss where everything is possible.For a few seconds absolutely everything is clear, all the knowledge is laid bare, every vision is there and even the meaning of life is obvious, but then the mental curtain to the abyss closes again, pulling you back from the precipice of madness and leaving only a vague memory of the profoundness of the experience, allowing to carry away only one thing with you intact- that perfect vision of what you sought. Like a gift. Everything else is swiftly forgotten.Cathedral was my gift. I hope it opens the flood gates for more beautiful pieces in this series.This piece was primarily inspired by my obsession with European Gothic architecture. But I'm sure there are a couple dozen other sources of inspiration mixed in here. I've yet to identify them all.

New doll-Cathedral

I've been working on this doll for a while and I'm absolutely infatuated with it. I think she is the best doll I ever made. But then again, I think that about every doll I just completed. But I do feel that she is very unique and different from everything I've ever made before. To me, she seems to signal some sort of a renewal, a new direction,  new inspiration and fresh blood, like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.She is one of a kind. Her name is Cathedral and she is the first doll from the new, Architectural series, which presently exists only in the concept/research stage and it will be at least a year until I expect to complete the collection. Cathedral will take part in the Berlin show as a special preview for the next series, but she is the only doll that won't be for sale just yet.Fragility show at Strychnin will consist mostly of 15 one a kind-tattooed and nudes in new, metal head dresses. There will be an online preview for everyone on the Strychnin website.I haven't figured out how to photograph this doll yet. The cathedral head dress is very tricky to capture effectively an I'm still figuring out the best lighting that will show the piece best. More pictures to come.You may recognize the cape from a while ago. It has a lot of Sterling Silver and Amethysts attached to it. The Cathedral itself is a one of a kind wax carving, also cast in Sterling. It's quite heavy. In fact, this is the most silver I've ever used in a single doll. She is literally precious. I'll tell you  more about it in the next post and show the wax carving. I think you might be a bit surprised to find how I made it.

New shots of The Bride

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.

The Mask!

So guys, I think that I finally finished that mask I had in my drawer for almost a year. It was modeled by a doll in my solo show at Villa Terrace museum last year, but it was acutally an unfinished project and that's why I hadn't put it up in the galleries yet. In this shot Sapphire is modeling the mask because I am still making the doll. She will be officially unveiled sometime next month.The mask ornament is heavily inspired by the Bronze Age death masks in which people of status and wealth were buried. It was also inspired by the art of ancient Aztecs. It's carved in wax, cast in bronze and gold plated with 24 k gold. The mask is decorated with Rubies, Pink Tourmaline, Opals, dyed shell and glass beads.More pictures of this doll is coming soon.

And the big news is.....THE RESIN LINE!

That's right. It's official. Enchanted Dolls will soon be also available in fine resin.Let me introduce to you the very first Resin ED prototype. Her name is Kay. Her face was painted after my porcelain Cinderella for practice. I wanted to see how close I can get to porcelain Enchanted Dolls in terms of painting style and technique. I think fairly close.Oh what a journey it has been! The minute I came back from a show in Germany in the fall, I began following on leads for resin manufactures until I found the manufacturer of my dreams who GETS ME. Really, really gets me; My minute perfectionism, my high demands for my dolls, the vision of what I want to create. Together we have big plans for this resin ED line. Sorry I've been keeping a tight lid on this secret. I've been wanting to announce this amazing news for weeks, but having been burned by manufacturers before, I didn't want to jinx it. And now finally I have physical evidence and results to show how amazing this line is turning out!Resin doll Kay, painted with watercolor pencils, liquitex acrylic paints, synthetic glazes and a UV resistant varnish sealant.The resin EDs are copies of my porcelain dolls with some improvements. They are the same size of 13.5"( 36cm), but they have 3 different pairs of hands with various levels of finger expressiveness. Also, all the joints have been altered for a tight fit to improve the body lines and recalibrated for a non-leather-lined traction. So far, 5 different head molds are available, but I plan to make more soon. I am also planning to create a raised foot, self -customizing option for a heeled shoe. But that's in the future.These are my first impressions of my very first experience with resin.The resin parts themselves by far exceeded my expectations. They are incredible quality. They are very tough and a little flexible, so that even their tiny fingers can take a tremendous amount of abuse! My porcelain dolls are very strong but a bit brittle, while resin dolls are strong and also durable and don't require gentle handling at all. The resin has a UV retardant mixed in. They are silky smooth and pick up every nuance of my porcelain dolls' skin surface. There are some dramatic differences in how resin and porcelain each 'take' and retain the surface paint, both aesthetically and technically: China paint on porcelain being hard, permanent and absolutely non-removable through human means, while Acrylic and whatercolor on resin being soft and removable with solvents and abrasive materials.That's the main contradiction I'm facing with porcelain and resin dolls: while porcelain requires gentle handling and full awareness of the doll because though very strong, it is brittle and vulnerable to medium velocity impact, its surface is completely impervious to scratches, UV, dirt or paint damage. Resin dolls on the other hand are a lot more durable and can easily survive a medium velocity impact and all kinds of very rough play and probably even small children, but their acrylic-based surface paint is not molecularly bonded to resin the way China paint is to Porcelain, and so one has to be aware of not accidentally removing paint through careless abrasive surface contact. Although touching it and gently wiping/washing it with wet cloth is quite safe because it's sealed with varnish. I've tested it.So, gentle handling is still advised, but not because of the doll itself, but for the sake of the paint.Even though I'm not very pleased about this impermanence, I understand that this is the primary characteristic of resin which is common to all resin dolls, ball-jointed or not, and despite this, it still makes up for this minor shortcoming with its other amazing characteristics, such as incredible strength and customizing versatility.This is Clymenestra. She is partially painted. Her face, hands and feet are painted, while her body is left blank. She has downcast eyes and an option for real eyelashes. Testing out different looks. I think this one is a Greek goodess.The articulation of my resin Enchanted Dolls is the same as my porcelain dolls.  All the joints were altered to improve a movement range and after testing all kinds of stinging up methods and playing with elastics, I realized why I developed a steel spring articulation to begin with: it's because elastics absolutely SUCK compared to carbon springs. They suck. Sucky-sucky-suck-suck.That's why I had decided to keep my complex, signature steel articulation style in my resin dolls too. It's takes a long time to do, but it's so worth it. The registration of the joints is very good due to the spring tension, even though most joints are not lined with leather and are very smooth inside. I lined only two parts with fine leather: the chest joint and the neck joint. The rest is resin on resin contact and due to isolated-joint stringing system, the registration is still remarkable. I love springs.My first painting attempt 3 days ago was a spectacular failure. I naturally assumed I can do anything, :) and when I couldn't create my beloved misty blushing effect with acrylic paints on resin, I was so upset I almost lost it. I kept trying to do it and resin just kept "grabbing" the paint half a second after I applied it and I couldn't do any blending to it. Acrylic dries really fast, but not this fast. I was shocked and frustrated at seeing this new characteristic of acrylic on resin, nearly to tears. I kept failing and wiping it off and starting again and failing again and thinking: "This can't be! How can this be?! I know acrylic like the palm of my hand. How can I be failing at something I know? I went to art school for five years, damn it!!" Well,  Acrylic is impossible to mist without an airbrush, it turns out. It's something I didn't know because I've always painted a wet on wet acrylic, which blends just fine. While wet on dry is pretty impossible. I plan to buy an air brush for large area blushing, but meanwhile I used whatercolor to create the misty blush on her face and body. The look it creates on the skin is similar to that of china paint, but that's as far as similarities go.Chad said this was because I got a bit too arrogant since I haven't failed for a while. I should say without false modesty that most of my attempts end up in success. This was a huge reality check to my ego.In most ways painting a resin doll is way easier than painting a porcelain doll because it doesn't require specialty tools, specialty paint, an extremely steady hand or a highfire kiln to bond the color to porcelain and that means anyone can do it with readily available art supplies. Like anything else, it does require practice and I, unaccustomed to the new technique characteristics, was struggling for control of my tones, lines and blushing. I was a novice. About 36 hours into my attempts I began to figure it out though. I couldn't sleep until I did.I still think that China paint allows for a far more control, especially on a miniature scale like my dolls' faces and hands, not to mention the whole permanence thing. In fact, getting to know the beauty of resin gave me a whole new appreciation for how amazing porcelain really is. I think I just missed it after not working with it for a few days! It remains my first, high maintenance love, while resin is my new mistress. :)Resin dolls can balance a lot better without a stand than my porcelain dolls. I don't have stands made for these yet, but I'm working on it. Wigs, custom boxes and stands is my next project for my resin line. I am so excited about the new boxes! I think you guys will be too when you see the sample. It's something very special.These are my first four resin prototypes. I haven't had time to paint the other two yet, but perhaps next week I might. I'm still working on developing this line and can't say exactly when I will begin taking orders for these. Hopefully this spring I will be able to take the first batch of 20 orders or so. I will honor my wait list and give the people who've waited the longest the opportunity to order first. I'm still working out the prices, but because they are quite expensive to manufacture, high quality dolls they will retail for around $1500 CND -$2,000 CND. I'm still working it out.I'm also considering offering the option of a limited number of blank dolls to artsy people who like customizing their own dolls. I frequently get requests for blank dolls and with porcelain it is absolutely out of question, but with resin it's possible but I am undecided. On one hand I am really eager to see how others would interpret painting of my dolls, on the other hand, I am a bit protective of them. Perhaps you guys  could offer some insight on that. Is this something you would like?Well, I hope this was worth the wait. Whoever is interested in purchasing one of these dolls, please email me as I'm making a resin nude doll wait list.Eventually I plan to create limited resin costumed lines too, as well as accessories, but that's in the future. One step at a time.It looks like my announcement coincides with the premiere of the last season of Lost. Got to go watch it. Hopefully it won't be a huge disappointment like the last two seasons.New Season of Lost and Resin Enchaned Dolls!? Wooo!

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.

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.

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.

Lolita Auction is Live

The auction is now live and will run for the next 7 days (until Sep 28, 200918:26:02 EDT).listing # 330361964245 on ebayMore pictures of lolita can be found in her gallery

Lolita is going to ebay auction on Monday.

These are Lolotia's one of a kind undergarments. I wanted to photgraph them on her even though she will be sold nude. I'm very thrilled with how they had turned out. She is wearing a 24k gold plated corset and bra with 24k plated bronze stilletoes. Her stockings and a French fan are hand made and embroidered with applique designs, pearls, Ruby and 24gold plated beads. Corset stocking laces can be easily unclipped so that the corset can function as an outer garment and be worn with any skirt or pants. A hair ornament of Zirconium, Austian crystals and swan feather completes the period look and can be work with different wigs.I've just shot these earlier today and Chad just finished editing them. All day I've been playing with different looks, combinations and compositions and definitely want to have another couple of photo sessions to capture them, but I don't want to make you guys wait any longer so I will list the doll on ebay on Monday and shoot later. I think these are pretty descirptive already.I'm very pleased with how gold plating looks on this corset. It doesn't always work for everything, and I had my doubts about this one. It was quite expensive to have a piece of this size plated with a heavy plate and I had spent a lot of time considering whether the result will be worth the effort and the money. But like with everything else, considering only gets you so far and then you just have to do it, to really know. Sometimes you regret it and sometimes you don't, and this was definitely a very successful experiment. I find that once I get some project or experiment into my head, there is really no choice for me after that point than to try it. I may spend days or weeks or months thinking and agonizing and weighing my options but at the end of the day I know that I'm just delaying the inevitable. I'm going to do it- no matter what it costs or how much time it takes. If it persistently captivates my imagination then it's worth doing it. What else am I supposed to do: Not do it and wonder about how it would have worked out for the rest of my life? Anyway. More photos.The corset laces up at the back.Love these shoes.And finally in this photo I'm just being silly. I think. Maybe I'm serious. The ship ornament is so out of proportion to the body that it's almost like a parody of the flashy, over-the-top fashion of Rococo period. This wig is not meant to go with this doll, but I just wanted to try this composition and see what it looks like. And to be quite honest I love the result.Funny story with the ship ornament. It's a found object. Remember when I mentioned that sometimes I have magic thoughts that can materialize into actual objects and occurrences? Well, I think that I dreamt it into existence. After I had made this wig months ago, I thought I need to put something crazy-beautiful in there in the high style of Rococo. It sat in a box all summer until last week I took it out and decided to do something with it. A ship ornament was such an obvious  cliche that I amost dismissed it as tacky.Yet, it stuck with me and I found myself mentally returning to it. So, a few days ago I was walking home from a dentist I decided to stop by and look for my ship ornament in this antique shop on the way. Why not? Incorporating found objects can be very effective. I didn't actually expect to find one though. I mean, come on: what are the chances of me finding something so obscure right away? I stepped in and walked straight to a shelf filled with old, useless rubbish and the first thing my eyes happen to rest on was a tiny, filigree tall ship figurine, sitting amongst a pile of disappointing clutter like a diamond.I couldn't believe it. It took me 3 days of thinking about it and less than a minute of semi-actively looking for it to have it in my hands. It's like the universe just dropped it into my lap. Pretty cool. I took it home, removed unwanted parts and the base stand and embellished it with Rubies, Emeralds and Pearls. Not sure how this experiment will end yet. But that's the fun part.And that's all for now. Thank you and good night.

Lolita portraits

More photos coming tomorrow. A sketch of the week post is coming later today.

Another photo of little Lolita

Click the image for a larger view (the auto-resize is distorting it) More coming soon.To answer Noxy's question:Chad doesn't seem particularly concerned about his slightly disfigured right thumb, so much so that I'm beginning to think he likes it this way. I don't really mind it either. It's quite beautiful in a way.I don't mind it if it shows up in photographs with dolls either-it adds character and highlights contrast between eternally perfect porcelain and the vulnerable imperfection of human skin. Although we spent almost an hour setting up and shooting the hand pose, we settled on this particular composition not because of the thumb, but because this angle looked best.I love photographing dolls in Chad's hands, but to be quite honest he is not the most co-operative model at times. Because I'm so meticulous at arranging the shot to perfection, changing angles, adjusting light and taking a million test exposures, it usually takes a while and he starts complaining within 20 minutes about cramping up and discomfort from being unable to move a muscle. (Sorry honey, it's true)We also start fighting and arguing over creative differences during the shoot. Things can get intense. So, some of the best photographs of my dolls were actually taken under duress. I still enjoy working with Chadasaurus. ( my nickname for him, I call him that almost exclusively. He calls me Marinamal. Chadasaurus and Marinamal. I love it.) I enjoy working with him because despite the character differences and occasional work-related tension, most of the time when we work together we create something beautiful.

Sneak peek at Lolita-a nude doll for ebay

Well, today i did something I swore I would never ever do-I photographed one of my dolls holding another doll......and liked the result. And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes me a big, fat hypocrite. But in my defense- it was very fitting in this context because you know, she is Lolita. She is my take on Nabokov's Lolita. She is the one to be auctioned off on ebay.I know I've sort of gone missing since I announced that a doll will be auctioned off on ebay; sorry about that-i had some urgent matters to attend to. I'm wrapping up Lolita's shoot tomorrow and will post some more pictures of her. I'm really tired right now, so l'll be brief: she will be sold as a nude with two removable , un-accessorized wigs and a stand. She has bit of a costume, which I will photograph tomorrow, but i don't know if I will include it in the auction yet. Perhaps a separate one.The two wigs are the ones shown in these pictures: long ringlets (without bows) and a short crop. The two drastically different wigs are meant to give her very different expressions and foreshadow the fact that this innocent-looking child is not what she seems.Well, that's all for today. It's four in the morning and I desperately need to crash. More info about the auction and more pictures coming tomorrow. Enjoy.

State Property Gallery

State Propery now has a gallery in the Costumed Dolls section of the site.  There are various shots of her, with close-ups of the tattoo, and there's even a guest appearance by another new doll...As previously stated, the doll is still a work in progress, so there will be more images added once she's completed.So head on over to her gallery to see the pics.

The Zodiac Enchanted Doll series.

So, I was shooting two tattooed nudes the other day, playing around with their poses, camera angles and lighting when i arrived at this pretty composition. Inspired by their similarity in hair color, tattoos and hair ornaments, I was brainstorming with words while trying to come up with a title: "girls...sisters...lovers....twins....sisters...twins ..twinsisters...  .....gemini...gemini?.....Gemini!!!", which led to a realization that I had to make a full zodiac of Enchanted dolls.I was so excited that instead of working on an order which was due the next day, I sat at my desk for 2.7 hours and stared unseeing into the wall imagining what my zodiac dolls would look like, while the endless possibilities for their appearances spun in front of my eyes like an invisible circus.When I calmed down the next morning, It had occurred to me that perhaps this topic was way too cliche for me to bother with, but then again the execution may make a difference with this old and tired idea.And don't expect to see my zodiac dolls holding Libra scales, Saggitarius bows and Aquarius water jugs either, as I believe in a minimal use of doll props and only for photoshoots. I'll have to find a different way to convey that they are zodiac signs.So, what I'm trying to say is that I really hate doll dioramas. Or dressed up doll-figurines that don't move. But you know that.This is Edie with a cage tattoo and Noire with a Dragon fly tattoo on their backs. Yup, my little Noire has had a tattoo on her back this whole time and you had no idea. Here it is.And the open bird cage tattoo.Go to tattooed dolls gallery to see close ups of these.