I've decided to try and take porcelain tattooing to a new level by tattooing a vintage, prosthetic limb on Enchanted Doll's leg.This is all you can see of this doll for the moment.I was going to talk a little bit about this project, my motivations and my plans, but I think I will just leave it at that for now and let you guys speculate. When't it's time, I'll show the rest of the doll.
Uncategorized
Lolita on ebay today by 3pm Pacific Time
I'm just in the process of creating the listing for Lolita on Ebay. The auction will last for 7 days and will close on Sunday, Sept 27th. The highest bidder will have until Thursday, October 1st to pay in full. I am leaving for Europe that weekend and the doll must be shipped before 4pm on Friday, October 2nd. If for some reason the payment is not received and the shipping doesn't take place on Friday, then I will be forced to void the whole transaction, go on my trip and consider the second highest bidder as a buyer after I return from Europe in a month. Or, list the doll again. So, ladies and gentlemen, please make sure you've got all your funds in order when bidding.I've thought long and hard about making a longer layaway plan, but after considering it very carefully, I decided against it- four days is all I can do this time around. Lolita's outfit will be auctioned off upon my return.I'll see you on Ebay in 2 hours.Good luck.
Sketch of the week: 12-Safia
Another clear example of my obession with Middle Eastern costume during that particular period. Safia has a lot of sketches but I didn't want to post them all because one, it would be too overwhelming and two, I have to save some surprises for my book.Speaking of which: I'm still planning to have it done in time for my solo show in Berlin. There has been some more discussion with the parties involved and it seems that a publisher is interested in the project. I don't want to disclose too many details yet because ther aren't any concrete ones at this point, but I'm anticipating to have a more definite outline after I return from Eurorope as we hope to meet with the publisher and discuss it further while in Germany.What i think I will do is start a wait list or a sign up sheet for those people who wish to purchase a copy when it comes out. Chad and I are going to discuss it and see what the best format for that would be. Maybe it would look like a doll request for or something of along those lines. But I strongly encourage every one interested in signing up as it would help me a lot.
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.
Song Of The Dolls-Enchanted Doll on poetry book cover.
This is the other book I mentioned earlier. I love how the looks photo printed on the textured paper. It definitely enhances the picture but it doesn't scan too well.Also, I've got some more news about that silver collar. I finally have one ready to show. It looks fabulous. I'll put a couple of pictures up today or tomorrow, while I complete the assembly and put together a series of pictures to show different stages of progress. Maybe I'll run it in my sketch of the week section on Monday or Thursday. So, stay tuned.
Dolls are back!
I've got my doll collection back from the museum! This means that the owners of costumed Enchanted Dolls and the lucky Enchanted Doll contest winner will finally be getting their dolls!My house is crawling with dolls again. Figuratively speaking, of course. We unpacked the boxes and took strapped dolls out, but I haven't got them all sorted out yet. The curator of Villa Terrace exhibitions who packed up my dolls did an amazingly thorough job to make sure they all got home in one piece. I'm afraid she even went a little overboard by painstakingly removing ALL of doll's costumes with the exception of a few that were just way too complex and multi-layered. All their clothes came neatly folded and wrapped in tissues down to the last little pieces such as hair pins!!!. I really appreciate her efforts in ensuring the safety of the dolls, although most of the costumes were safe to keep on during shipping with the exception of heavy, metal head dresses. I hate to think that I had to put her through hours of extra work because of a mis-communication. Oh well. What's done is done and the doll's are home. Thank you Villa Terrace for a wonderful exhibition venue for my work and for keeping it safe for me!Now....Anybody wanna play dress up?!
Down the memory lane
I can't believe how much time has passed since the first picture was taken. It makes me sad thinking about it, though I don't think I would want to go back to being 14, fun as that was. I'm pretty happy with myself, and where I am right now. When that photo was taken, I was already making dolls for 8 years.
My sister's names are Irina and Alina. Marina, Irina and Alina. I don't know what my mom was thinking. I guess she thought it was cute that all our names sounded the same. My middle sister, Irina (pink top) is studying to be a dental hygienist on the East Coast and this is the first time I got to see her this year. She flew in as a surprise for Alina's high school graduation ceremony, who is going to study medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Yup, we've changed some since the first picture was taken. The little one is now too big to sit on my parents' lap. We all still call the "The little one", though she is taller than both of her older sisters...and I think our parents too.It was good to be together again with my parents, like when we were little girls.
Enchanted Doll on the book cover.
Extreme methods of Surviving is the title of this book in English, and the result of my very first attempt at a ball jointed, porcelain doll is on its cover. I made her in 2005 and she became my guinea pig and an ancestor to most of my porcelain dolls. I learned so much from this first doll. After I assembled her, I wrote a report to myself about the mistakes I had made with sculpting the joints and molding them and what can be done to correct them. She was followed by an intense two years of improvements and re-sculpts and re-tries until I had my techniques and methods more or less established. I'm still learning and improving of course, but I will never forget those driven, insane years in my journey to articulated porcelain dolls.The book is authored by Marcia Bechara, from Sao Paulo and it's coming out in Brazil this summer. It contains a compilation of fictional stories about survival of non-traditional and subjective obstacles in life. I'm looking forward to getting my copy of it, but unfortunately I won't be able to read it unless somebody translates it for me.
Busy day at Enchanted Doll HQ
Busy day at Enchanted Doll HQ, originally uploaded by cisley.Speaking of working spaces; this is a part of mine and you couldn't pay me enough money to take it apart and move it to a gallery for a temporary show set up.There is no way I'm moving all this back and forth just for 'fun'! The concept of the work space gallery show doesn't appeal to me at all because of the huge amount of work it entails. There are hundreds of little components and tools housed in the multitude of drawers on, above and below my desks, but it's the desks themselves that are more annoying to handle than all the other stuff combined. Oh IKEA- I love you and hate you simultaneously.As for Audrey Kawasaki- I think she is a brilliant artist. I've discovered her work quite recently in an art magazine and it instantly resonated with me. I feel that even though we work in different mediums, we never the less share the same subject matter and to some extent, stylistic approach.I look at her girls and see my dolls as if we share these same sensibilities and travel different, yet parallel paths with our work. I'm very drawn to and inspired by Audrey Kawasaki's paintings. I would love to own one of her prints, but they are as hard to obtain as Enchanted Dolls: they sell out very quickly and there is probably a wait list. I guess this gives me a taste of my own medicine.In the picture above, Chad and I are working on doll parts with some entertainment playing in the background. Our Macbooks quite literally go with us everywhere. I've been so busy lately that I had to train Chad to do some basic back end tasks in order to save me some valuable time for doing all the complex stuff. And he is very good at! Now I wonder why I didn't get him to help me all along because I'm getting my orders done more quickly this way. Chad, you're amazing.
Deciding on Enchanted Doll Book cover.
As some of you know, I'm working on my first solo book. Over the last few months I've been slowly putting the content together, but because I'm so busy making dolls, I can't seem to find enough time for writing a book about them. And I keep thinking that I should wait until I finish this doll or that doll so that I can include it in the book. I should just finalise what I have alreay and stop waiting for more dolls.I'm also agonizing over the cover. There are just so many photographs I could use that I can't decide on any single one. I suppose that as I make more dolls in the near future, there would be more and better photographs to use for a cover image. And here I go again.I would welcome any suggestions from Enchanted Doll fans.
March 8th-International Women's day!
It's March 8th!I would like to take this moment to thank and congratulate all the women out there, myself included, for being women.It's so wonderful being a woman, isn't it, especially today, when the men in our lives honor us and celebrate our femininity by giving us gifts and being extra loving and attentive to us.The Enchanted Doll team wishes you all a very happy and memorable Women's day!And ladies, Chad made a special, Enchanted Doll wallpaper in your honor. You can find it in the forumCongratulations to us!
My Idol-Sulamith Wulfing
My biggest inspiration and driving force in my work is a German Artist-Illustrator, named Sulamith Wulfing. I discovered her amazing work in 2002, and it has been the biggest influence in my creative development and establishment of my stylistic expression and direction. The minute I saw her work, I knew what I had to do with that seemingly unrelenting subconscious craving to make dolls. Discovering her, gave me a visual language to say everything I always knew I wanted to say with my work, but didn’t know how to say it. Her unique vision and technique, appeals and resonates so strongly with my own sensibilities that I don’t know where Sulamith Wulfing’s influence ends and my own vision begins. Sometimes I feel as if my dolls are composites of her paintings. And i think that perhaps that's what they are ment to be.
I can feel the influence and her aesthetic in every aspect of my work and try to emulate her visual language, but in a different medium, format and methods. It is my mission objective to capture the same magical, ethereal quality with my dolls, which she was so effectively able to convey with her work.
I consider Sulamith Wulfing's work to be pure genius. She is the Mozart of visual art. Looking at her drawings one can see the ease and freedom with which she drew, pulling the most beautiful images from her seemingly infinite imagination and putting them on paper in astounding detail and intricacy. She had a brilliant and unique mind and an original aesthetic in her work. It's as if her visions exist on a completely separate plane of perception and being, apart from all the familiar art influences and iconographic imagery that fills up the Louvre and the Uffizi art galleries. Although much art in those museums is quite important, it's all the same: an endless parade of similar-looking nudes, virgin Marys, plump women, Popes and Christs. It's as if all those supposedly great masters of Renaissance went to the same art school and studied from the same teacher and painted the same model. Sulamith Wulfing on the other hand created her own, completely unique and previously unseen visual style.
Sulamith Wulfing was very prolific, but much of her work was destroyed during WWll. Her books are very rare and expensive. I've been collecting them over the years, one at a time, and they are precious to me. If my house is ever on fire and i can only save one thing, I will take those books and everything else can burn, because the profound inspiration the provide me with, is priceless.
Even though Sulamith Wulfing's imagery provides a sort of foundation for my own Enchanted Doll aesthetic, I would like to believe that I'm somehow expanding and adapting her style to create my own, original and unique work. And I can only hope that to some people, my work will mean as much as Suamith Wulfing's work means to me. However, I feel as if my abilities and imaginative capacity pale in comparison to Sulamith's divne talent.
Enchanted Doll photoshoot. Involving an indoor pond.
A few months ago i came up with this idea of photographing one of my nudes an a water setting. I love quiet, still ponds for their serene and mysterious beauty, and they also kind of creep me out. I would never swim in one as i don't know what could be hidden on the bottom, but that, somewhat rational fear unfortunately extends to all natural bodies of water deeper than my waist. But I imagined that this would be a perfect water setting for a theme shoot.
The good news was that North West coast rain forest is full of lakes and ponds and all kinds of pretty nature. The bad news was that setting up a shoot in a natural setting was going to be quite difficult. I had been mulling over the idea for some months trying to find solutions to the challenges involved.
One- Doll could not be immersed in water, therefore some adequate, yet invisible support must be found to hold her above the water for at least 3 hours. Two- expensive photo equipment along with Chad and I had to be set and work in water at least knee deep for at least 3 hours. Three-Suitable location had to be found with the right aesthetic, depth and access which would accommodate the doll being safely posed and Chad and I safely moving around in water to shoot, re-shoot, pose and re-pose the doll ten thousand times in session. But the Fourth and main challenge of shooting outside was being unable to control the constant changing of the natural light. Usually, hours are spent on getting the right shot, at the right angle and the right pose of the doll in the studio, where we have full control of the light and unlimited working time, and I kept thinking of how I was going to get that perfect shot, or a decent shot for that matter, with so many uncertain factors.
All of the above challenges seemed doable of course with enough effort invested, but without a team of professional photographers and prop designers to help us with this water shoot for a doll, seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
So, I decided that at this point it, a simpler solution was to build an artificial pond in my studio. There will always be real ponds to shoot later when i'm more capable of such an ambitious undertaking.
This is a small segment of how I went about building a small pond for a doll shoot.
First I went to China town and bought fake water lotuses and a lot of black fabric at a fabric store. Tarp was laid out and walls raised to create the depression.
Then, Chad and I went to the beach just in front of our building and collected several pounds of sand and small and pretty pebbles to make the bottom of the pond which we then filled with over 50 liters of water.
Then i went to the park and crawled around in the abundant underbrush for half an hour, finally finding the perfect log to accessorize my pond. However it was full of worms and rot and I was pretty disgusted. But art demands sacrifices, so I heroically dragged the log half a mile to my apartment and hosed it down in a parking lot. I also collected some red maple leafs on the way to echo Kia's bright red hair.
Then I spent several hours in water, arranging the pebbles and lilies and setting everything up.
Something always kept falling over or floating away.
It took me several more hours to figure out the best lighting arrangement for this set up as there was a lot of reflections coming from the white tarp and the water, and I'm not a professional photographer and so it takes me hours through trial and error to figure out what works best. Chad helps me out a lot of course, but i'm usually determined to figure it out myself first. A lot of times he rushes in to my rescue at the sound of me crying or stomping around because i'm too frustrated.
I love technology. The Camera being tethered to my Macbook Air allows me to see each shot on the big screen immediately, so that I can see what aspects of each photo need improvement: Lights adjustment, pose adjustment, props adjustment, angle change, etc.
And so, 3 days and about two hundred photographs later only 10 weren't bad and only two of those made it on the website. I was able to get something close to what i was envisioning, and although I can't say that building and shooting the pond was particularly fun because it was so difficult, more annoying actually, but it was certainly an interesting, learning experience. Like an exercise in stubborness.
Happy New Year!
Fragment of the view from my window a week ago.
It's been two weeks since my return from Europe and i'm finally going back to work. What I thought would be a vacation, was in fact a very stressful and intense experience of working abroad. I came home absolutely exhausted and in no shape to begin working full time, or working at all. So i took two more weeks off and did nothing except for watching seven seasons of Sex and the City for days and days and days.
We came back not only right in the middle of Christmas frenzy, but also in the middle of some unbelievable weather in Vancouver. It snowed for almost a week non stop and we were trapped inside the apartment, unable to go anywhere because this city is ill equipped to deal with occasional snow. In twelve years i've never seen this much snow in Vancouver and oh, it was so pretty at first, before i had to leave the house to go Christmas shopping and came back with water up to my ankles inside my boots. Then I realized why most Vancouverites hate snow so much.
Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. I am looking forward to making more dolls and achieving even more of my creative goals in 2009. I can feel that it will be a very good year.
Happy New Year!
Paris Show recap.
The show has finally come and gone. It was incredibly busy the week leading up to the show finishing up all the details, and I'm both relieved and exhilarated that's it's all done. The show rushed by in a blur, but I was able to meet many people and finally put some faces to names. Thanks to everyone that stopped by my table to see my dolls. I was flattered to hear that some people came to the show from different countries just to see my dolls. The expo also gave me a chance to show my dolls to an audience that has never seen them before.I wish I had made more dolls to sell at the show, but I was lucky enough as it was to get everything else done in time.The sleepless nights were worth it, the expo was a great experience. Big thanks to my friend Iana who helped me by being my French translator and to my dear boyfriend, Chad, for his invaluable prescence.Pictures of the show can be found on the forum here.Now it's time to turn my focus to Berlin, I'll post more details about that show soon.
Doll Show News - Doll for Sale
Finally, I can announce the nude doll which will be available for sale at the Paris Creation doll expo.This is a special piece from the limited edition of Emerald doll. I customized her especially for this event to make her different from the others. She has a small monochrome tattoo between her shoulderblades and two removable wigs: the one shown and a long, rusty red one. (Chinchilla fur shown in the pic is not included).This girl will go for $2,300 CND, or 1,440 Euros.A lottery will be held to decide who gets to buy this doll because there were two many people wanting to reserve it. I will start taking names down at 10 am and we will draw one at 2pm. You will have to be present when this happens because either the deposit or the full payment must be paid on the spot. If the sum is paid in full, then you get to take the doll home there and then, but you also have the option of putting a non-refundable deposit of 30% down in cash, with the remaining 70% to be paid withing 7 days via Paypal.I will still be in Paris and can give you the doll in person after the balance is paid or mail her to you.The show is in two days. Email me if you have any questions.
Art Exhibition in Berlin
I will have a few of my dolls showing at the Strychnin Gallery in Berlin!The show starts on December 12th and runs until feb 1st, the show can be seen for 4 weeks.The Main room will be with Daniel Van Nes, who makes illuminated etchings with antique glass domes.The Gallery is at Boxhagenerstrasse 36, D-10245 BerlinAlthough only four dolls will be shown at this exhibition, I'm still very excited about this as I've never been to Berlin before. Also, this could lead to a larger showing there in the near future. If anyone is in the Berlin area, I welcome you to visit the show to see my dolls in person.
Jogging through a fairy tale.
These are some sights from my daily jog. It's probably hard to believe looking at these pictures that i live in Downtown Vancouver. It's not that our Downtown is a forest, but it's just I live right on the very edge of its' West End, where it ends at a huge and beautiful rain forest park and then water. The entire Downtown along with Stanley Park is a peninsula that is surrounded by waters of English Bay on three sides and connected to the mainland Vancouver by 5 bridges and one narrow neck of land.It's a very pretty place to live. I have a beach on my front door, high rises on one side and a rain forest on the other. As the matter of fact, this alley right behind my apartment building where I begin my run is a boundary between residential towers and the park. It marks the end of down town and beginning of the forest.
The park is very beautiful all year round and has a very rich flora and many trails to enjoy it. Every time i run, it feels like i'm entering a fairy tale. On rainy and misty days like this one, when cloud ceiling is so low that its' edges get caught on the tips of the ancient cedars and fine mist creeps through the trees, I almost expect to catch a glimpse of the Little Red riding hood in the depth of the forest.
I keep wanting to do a photo shoot of some dolls in the park, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I guess i feel like i don't have the right doll for the project.
Anyway, just thought i'd share a little bit of my beautiful home. West Coast is truly beautiful. Most of the year it's a cold and grand type of beauty. It's where mountains, luscious rain forest and Pacific ocean meet and there is a distinct sense of space and age and solitude. Even with thousands of tourists around. When i rollerblade or bike around the park on the seawall in the morning, I sit on the bench for a few minutes looking at the mountains and imagining what this place must have looked like hundreds of thousands of years ago. Probably not that different, minus all the buildings and plus some glaciers.
Enchanted Doll Book
II've decided to write a book. About my dolls.I'm working on putting together the visual material and compiling the information i want to accompany the images. I'm also pulling up concept sketches and work in progress for every costumed doll project I've done and hope to do before the release of the book to go along with the finished piece and show evolution of the doll from idea to drawing to porcelain and jewels.Needles to say i'm really excited about this! My goal is to complete and publish the book in time for my solo show, which gives me 7 months. Not very long, but oh well. I'll do my best.This book will pretty much sum up my work up to the time of the show. I'm also tossing around the idea of either somehow doing it in two languages, or publishing a full Russian language version.And even though i haven't even completed my first book, I'm already thinking about the second and a much more challenging book to publish. I'd like to illustrate a very famous fairy tale with my dolls as well as drawn illustrations. I will need to make much more than the full "cast" of characters in this fairy tale, I'll also have to make props to set up the scenes for the dolls. I have no doubt that i can do it all, it's only a matter of time.But, first things first.I could use some input from Enchanted Doll admirers as to what they would particularly like to see in this book besides the beautiful portraits of the dolls. So feel free to suggest anything, it just might make it into the book.
My solo Show at Villa Terrace Museum
I would like to publicly announce that my first solo show is finally scheduled for April-June 2009, at the Villa Terrace Museum of Decorative Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin!It was scheduled a little bit sooner than i expected which leaves me with less time to organize it. This directly affects my custom nude order schedule because this only gives me a one-two month window in which to take orders before i have to go full speed into show preparation mode starting January 2009.I haven't figured it all out yet, but I will continue to make announcements on the status of order schedule. We'll see what happens.As for now, i'm really excited about the show and look forward to it. There is so much work to be done yet and i will have to work harder that ever. However i don't think that's possible as i already work double time. It'll be a great show!