And the new Mystery doll is.....Phryne!

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Some of you guys knew it right away! Boom, spot on - first try! Pretty impressive. I suppose that my work aesthetic and thought processes are familiar enough by now to anticipate the direction I'm going to take. I guess I'll have to surprise you more in the future.

And speaking of surprises, Phyrne, although competed, will stay hidden for now. She is for my eyes only for the next little while, but you can glimpse her pretty legs. And read my artist statement about this project. Thanks everyone for playing my guessing game!

Phyrne the Courtesan.

A Courtesan is a high-class Prostitute. Courtesans were well-educated, cultured and independent career women of loose morals, who traded sex and companionship to the wealthy and powerful men in exchange for money, luxuries and social status. They were often skilled conversationalists and entertainers, adept at using their wit, femininity and sexuality to achieve wealth, success and sometimes real political power. Some were gifted entrepreneurs and negotiators who became so influential, that history still remembers them.

One such woman was Mnesarete, otherwise known as Phryne. She was a famous Greek courtesan in 4th century BC, who became a model for Praxiteles’s statue of Cnidian Aphrodite, one of the most extraordinary sculptures of antiquity.

She was not only a beautiful woman, but seemingly a clever, persuasive one too, because when she was put on trial for impiety, which in 4th century Athens was a capital offense, she was able to convince the jury of her innocence and avoid the death penalty. Although it is rumored that she bared her lovely breasts in court to elicit sympathy and mercy from the judges, I believe that her wealth, status and a network of powerful lovers probably had more to do with her acquittal.

Ultimately, it was her social prowess and an ability to manipulate people and situations to her advantage that gave her personality a winning edge, while her beauty became immortalized in stone as Aphrodite – the Goddess of love.

 

Materials: Crown: 18k gold-plating, sterling silver, bronze, 21 Garnets, 18 Fresh water pearls, carved Water Buffalo bone, lost wax casting, construction. Gown: Gold applique embroidery on fine tulle, 24k gold bead embroidery, 300 Swarovski crystals, 63 Fresh water pearls, sterling silver, bronze, 10k gold-plating, Czech glass beads, 1 Garnet, 1 Rhine stone. Doll: Ball-jointed, bisque porcelain, china-paint, steel springs, magnetic mohair wig, leather lining, 24k gold fired-on applique jewelry on arms and legs.

Guessing the identity of new mystery doll

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You guys are such good guessers and history buffs! You've just come up with a fantastic list of great women and potential future dolls for me to make!

Below is a short list of Candidates named in the first round. The new mystery doll is one of them! You just have to guess who. Remember the criteria - this woman lived in 4th century BC Greece and was not a deity, neither a royalty, nor a myth. And these are her feet. Go!

The Candidates named so far are in order of vote majority:
Phryne - hetaira (courtesan), artists' muse. 4th c. BC Greece.

4 votes
Thais - hetaira, wife of king Ptolemy. 4th c. BC Greece.

3 votes
Hypatia- mathematician, academic, professor. 4th c. AD Greece.

3 votes
Cassandra - Trojan princess, oracle of Apollo. 13th c. BC Troy.

3 votes
Sappo - great lyric poetess, an intellectual. 7th c. BC Greece.

3 votes
Agnodice- 1st female physician, midwife, gynecologist. 4th c. BC

2 votes.
Aspasia - hetaira, an intellectual, socialite. 5th c. BC Greece.

2 votes
Cyniska-1st woman Olympic champion, Spartan princess. 5th, BC

2 votes
Penelope - queen, wife of Odysseus, mythological Greek character.
Oracle of Delphi - an order of Apollo priestesses. 8th c.BC-4th c.AD
Pythias - wife of Aristotle. 4th c. BC Greece
Rhodophis- ex-slave, hetaira, queen, original Cinderella 6th c. BC Greece
Archeanassa - hetaira, companion of Plato.  5th c. BC Greece
Gerpilise - I can not find anything about this name. Who is this?
Lais of Hyccara - hetaira,  socialite. 4th c. BC Greece
Lenaia - Maenads, female worshipers of Dionysos. 5th-2nd c. BC Greece
Lysistrata - peace activist, fictional character 4th c. BC Greece
Myrrhine - wife of Kinesias, peace activist, fictional character. 4th c. BC
Ariadne - Cretan princess, mistress of the Labyrinth, mythological figure.
Roxana - Iranian princess, wife of Alexander the great. Persia. 4th c. BC
Artemisia - female navy commander of king Xerxes. Persia. 5th c. BC
Pandora - mythological First human, all-giver, unleasher of all evil.

There, I hope these clues will help narrow it down a bit.

So, who do you think these pretty feet belong to?

Finished a new costumed doll!

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Here is a sneak peek of her hand before she was assembled. Her lower arms and legs feature fired-on 24k gold applique jewelry.

This doll is based on a historical woman from 4th century BC Greece. Care to guess who I made?

Let me give you a clue: It's not a goddess or royalty of any sort. Definitely NOT Helene of Troy, although I'm working on her too ;)

Birthday Contest 2014 postponed to next year

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Hi all, I know that my birthday contest has become a beloved Enchanted Doll tradition that many of you look forward to every year. Sadly, I must postpone this year's contest until next year. I'm afraid that I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed, and can not handle the responsibility of organizing and judging a contest this year.

My birthday contest is a really important event to me, and I don't want to tarnish it with anything less than a 100% commitment on my part, but I don't have it in me this year. I think I've maxed out my multitasking capacity.

This year I would like to have a quiet birthday, and maybe even take a few days off work as a special treat. I hope you all understand and I look forward to your entries next year! 

Baby it's cold outside! - Winter fashion for Enchanted Dolls

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With Polar Vortex snowstorms raging in North America, I decided that my dolls needed some luxurious warm clothes, so I had some made for them. These are one of a kind, faux fir ensembles of matching hats and coats, made in the Russian tradition of winter wear. They fit both porcelain and resin dolls, although it's a roomier fit on resin dolls and a tighter fit on porcelain.1) Winter Romance.1) Midnight Train.3) Siberian Tales.4) Bohemian Beauty.5) A Night in St. Petersburg.6) Northern lights.7) Moscow Dream.

Moments of Canadiana

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My Darlings! Happy New Year!

I'm back from my vacation and I have something personal to share with you today - a commemorative short film of the 9th annual, week-long New Year's Extravaganza with a couple dozen of my closest friends. It's a tradition of ours to rent a house some place remote, cold and snowy, preferably with a frozen lake in the back yard and riding slopes near by, and spend the last week of each year together. We skate, play pond hockey, ride and ski, play board games, dance, hold wine and scotch tastings, cook big meals and watch movies together while it's snowing outside. Also polar bear swim. Life doesn't get better than this. It's pure Canadiana!

Big thanks to the group cinematographers, our own Benjamin Taft, Lewis Bennet and Adam Bognar, for capturing these precious moments of happiness which we can revisit until it's time for us to celebrate the passing of yet another year together. I can't wait. Love you guys!

Join me briefly for 8 minutes of my life beyond dolls. Click on the Vimeo icon in the corner to view it on viemo.com in HD quality. There are two parts: Ice hockey and Polar bear swimming. Enjoy my Canadiana!

A happy Vaseux Lake new year celebration from Benjamin Taft on Vimeo.

Happy Holidays from Enchanted Doll!

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My friends, fans, collectors and fellow artists! Year 2014 is upon us! My family and I would like to wish you all wonderful winter holidays and a prolific and a happy new year!

And speaking of New Years (and by extension, resolutions), here is a funny and informative short episode from SYB: Sustain Your Body web series, made by my personal nutritionist aaaand my dear sister Alina, who is a Nutritionist-in-training at the university of Acadia. Together with her partner Skyler (who is a Kinesiologist-in-training), these two up and coming Nutrition and Fitness Specialists have founded SYB to share quick, effective and sustainable diet and exercise tips for healthier living. Their instructions help me a lot, because I spend most of my time crouched over a desk making dolls and have no time to go work out at the gym. Also, because I hate the gym.

Like Chad and I, Alina and Skyler are a very creative and proactive team, and like Chad and I, they absolutely love what they do. I guess it runs in the family. Check out the Christmas episode of SYB, learn about the turkey and Sustain Your Body! Merry Christmas!

Porcelain pendants on silver crown bails

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Happy Holidays everyone! Vancouver is a snowy/slushy winter wonderland today!

Check out these porcelain decal pendants I found in my storage two weeks ago. They are experimental pieces from 2010, which I made for fun, put away and then totally forgot about until accidentally discovering them while rummaging through my storage for kiln parts. It was like finding a little Christmas present from my past self to my future self! I brought them to the studio, attached them to my silver crown bails, and voila - I'm in love with them.

1) Ruby (edit: SOLD)

2) Mermaid Song - small (SOLD)

3) Agnetha (SOLD)

4) Aisha (SOLD)

5) Camelia (SOLD)

6) Concubine (SOLD)

7) Siren 1

8) Safia

9) Siren 2

10) Mermaid Song - large (SOLD)

Too bad there are only 11 of them altogether. That's still too many for me to wear, so I'm keeping one and making the other 10 available to you for $175 CAD each.

Each one is one-of-a-kind, of different shape and size, and artificially antiqued for a distressed look. The images are permanently fired-on porcelain decals. Back is signed and dated. Stainless steel ball chain included. My last shipping days are Monday and Tuesday, and then I'm off on holidays. Have a look and let me know if you'd like one. Or two.

Daphne in Disguise sold at the annual ebay auction today!

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The winning bid was $60,100.00 CAD. Congratulations to the winner of Daphne and my most sincere thanks to all the participants, collectors and fans of Enchanted Doll. You made this auction happen! Thank you for your love and support!

Seeing how the theme of this doll deals with stalking and violence against women, a part of the proceeds from this auction will be donated to the Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter.

Congrats again to the winner of this special doll! 

Daphne Auction Relisted

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The auction for Daphne will resume as a new listing (http://www.ebay.com/itm/331086942934). Ebay pulled the previous listing after the nude photos of Daphne were reported for being "too graphic". They couldn't just remove those photos and have the auction resume, they had to delete the listing and we had to start a new one. We tried to make the new auction as close as to where the previous auction was at the time of removal. That means the auction started at the amount of the previous highest bid, and it will be a "1-day" auction that will end tomorrow.

If you want to see the full gallery of Daphne, you can find her photos here.

The Daphne ebay page is here.

Ebay removed Enchanted Doll ebay listing, because it hates female body!!!

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My friends!

I am shocked and appalled to learn that ebay had just removed my Daphne auction listing (#331084334645) only a few hours before the end, because my doll displays accurate female anatomy.

Ebay says that my doll is a sex doll, and it can not be listed in neither the art category, nor the doll category, and not even in the art-doll category. I will either have to remove any unclothed pictures of Daphne to re-list her as art doll, or list it as a sex toy. And this is despite the fact that there are currently dozens of art dolls listings on ebay showing full frontal nudity in the doll category. I have no idea why Enchanted Doll was targeted as being inappropriate, while other nude dolls are totally acceptable. What is wrong with Enchanted Doll?

I'm disgusted and exasperated to tears by this institutionalized hatred towards female body. Why is ebay perpetuating this attitude towards women? Why are even naked dolls considered too vile and offensive for our eyes?!! Why is the world forcing me to feel so dirty and ashamed of myself? Why is it forcing our daughters to grow up feeling ashamed of themselves, instead of feeling proud? I only have questions, and no answers.

I'm trying to figure out what to do about Daphne auction as quickly as I can. In the meantime you could try calling ebay to convince them to resume the listing. Stay tuned for urgent updates.

***UPDATE:

Daphne has been relisted here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/An-Enchanted-Doll-by-Marina-Bychkova-Costumed-amp-Engraved-OOAK-Porcelain-BJD-/331086942934?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276 We tried to list Daphne in the same state as when it was deleted  by ebay. The auction is a "1-day" auction so it will end tomorrow, and the start price is what the highest bid was at the time of removal. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

eBay auction for Daphne is now live!

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daphne 10

daphne 10

daphne 11

daphne 11

daphne 8

daphne 8

daphne 3

daphne 3

UPDATE:

Auction has been relisted: http://www.ebay.com/itm/331086942934

Auction is 1 day, so it will end on Saturday, Dec 14, 2013 19:18:41 EST

*ebay removed the previous auction listing on Friday, due to some "Sexually oriented adult material" (nude doll photos).Link to the auction page: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/331084334645

Auction is 5 days, so it will end on Saturday, Dec 14, 2013 22:51:43 EST. Happy bidding!

daphne-profile 1

daphne-profile 1

Daphne in Disguise, or the Mystery of the Venetian Carnaval!

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After a long wait here she is in all her glory, and for the first time ever, this one-of-a-kind tattooed and costumed doll will be available to purchase from an ebay auction which begins on Monday, Dec 9th and ends Saturday, Dec 14th. And now read her story!

In the history of the Venetian carnival, there are three origin stories:

The most romantic version is that it’s a festive celebration in honor of liberating the women from the captivity of pirates. The most banal one, is a victory of the people over a greedy patriarch of Venice, while the most common origin story, is that of a harvest festival; a good rest after hard work.

That’s all well and good, but where then did the masks come from? Who is hiding from whom and why: slaves from owners, owners from slaves, pirates from the people or people from the patriarch? Maybe they were all hiding from the God Saturn, the patron of the people. Perhaps, but I think there is something more to it. Just beware that it's a really sad story. No, not like Romeo and Juliet, but a much sadder one, because it’s a story about a stalker and his victim, the unknown tale of Apollo and Daphne.

Let me tell you how it really went down.

Once upon a time, there lived a mighty God Saturn and his wife Cybele. In that age, there also lived a beautiful nymph Daphne and a young shepherd Attis. Of course God Apollo also lived in those distant times. There can’t well be a story without Apollo, that golden-haired playboy of the antiquity, can there?

So it happened that the beautiful Daphne fell in love with the mortal Attis, while the no less lovely Cybele, though a goddess, also fell in love with him. God Apollo, who could not miss a single skirt had began scheming as soon he laid his eyes on the exquisite Daphne. Attis in the meantime decided to kill two birds with one stone and had affairs with both Daphne and Cybele simultaneously. Only Saturn was wise enough to stay out of this love polygon.

“Do what you like” he said, while presumably shaking his head and rolling his eyes, and then went drinking with his buddy Zeus. The mighty Zeus had long wanted to hang out on Mount Olympus with a bottle of brandy.

Predictably, things got messy, as many love stories do. Apollo chased after Daphne, Daphne chased after Attis, who in turn chased Cybele. Cybele choked with jealousy; Apollo burned with desire; Daphne was dying of love, while Attis was high-fiving everyone and congratulating himself on seducing two beautiful women. All suffered here except Saturn, who was on Olympus enjoying another glass of whiskey. I mean brandy.

But who could resist Apollo? Perhaps only Zeus himself. So Daphne had to flee from him across different lands, until she got to the glorious city of Venice. Alas, it was all in vain: lovesick Apollo followed her everywhere like a bloodhound with a scent, pursuing her anywhere she ran. Doomed, Daphne appealed to all the residents of Venice, asking for their help. The good people felt sorry for her, but no one dared to openly defy the will of Apollo. That is, until someone suggested a clever solution of disguising the entire city in masks to hide them from Apollo. The people liked the idea of outwitting a God, and the next morning everyone was wearing disguises, rejoicing, dancing and celebrating from morning till night for two whole weeks, while a flabbergasted yet determined Apollo stalked the narrow streets of Venice in a relentless search for his prey. He felt entitled to possess Daphne. She belonged to him even if she didn’t accept it.

But then came Lent, and people had to stop the festivities and remove their masks. That’s when Apollo had finally discovered Daphne. Furious that she not only rejected him – a God, but actually preferred some simple mortal shepherd instead, he turned her into a Laurel tree. He broke off a branch, made it into a wreath and placed it on his golden curls as a trophy. He also gave the tree immortality, so that he could possess Daphne in any form he could, for all eternity. What a sociopath.

Cybele, in turn, drove Attis crazy, unfortunately in a very literal sense, because he opened up his veins and died. As for Saturn, he got a huge hangover. And he also fought with Zeus. Turns out that Zeus was an angry drunk. As for people of Venice, they took to the idea of hiding their faces under different masks and celebrating life and love in all their transient glory.

And that’s how began the tradition of the Venetian masquerade: with the myth of Apollo and Daphne – a stalker and his victim. And whether I’m wrong or right, is for you to decide.

The End.PS - It's not the end of Daphne's pictures though.

Whew, I'm pretty exhausted. This doll was exhausting. I need to catch my breath now. Enjoy her and goodnight. 

Daphne photoshoot - Get ready!

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Hey all, I've been getting lots of inquiries whether Daphne is still going up for ebay auction or if I'd changed my mind. I assure you that I haven't. The auction is still on. It simply took me much longer to complete her cape than I thought. Every time I stopped, I'd find that it needed something more. You know how it goes.

She is finally finished and in the middle of a photo session. I'll have pictures for you tomorrow and the auction will start a few days from today! Get Ready!

Enchanted Doll book in Chinese!

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Friends, I am thrilled to announce that in 2014 a limited edition Enchanted Doll book is coming to China!

I've partnered up with a Canadian-Chinese company TX River, to translate, publish and distribute my book, and to promote the Enchanted Doll brand in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The release is slated for spring/summer 2014. The manuscript is already being translated into Chinese and expanded with my most recent dolls! A book signing tour in China is being planned for the summer, and once the dates are set, you'll be the first to know. Pre-order dates will also be announced. It is my understanding that pre-orders will open sometime in winter/spring 2014.You will be getting regular updates as this project develops. I'm looking forward to working with TX River to bring Enchanted Doll book to China!

Daphne almost ready for ebay auction

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I've been working on completing my image of Daphne. She is almost ready. Seeing how she was a stalking victim who tried to evade her stalker Apollo, I decided to give her a disguise. A beautiful disguise!

And remember how I told you that Daphne was going to have a new metal accessory? Well, ta-da!

See where I'm going with this?These are only wax models. Just wait til you see the casts. Not long now, but in the meantime you'll have to guess which one of these masks the lovely Daphne is going to be waring in her final costume: Nose or no-nose. Who knows, it might even sway my decision.

Let the guessing game commence!

The Enchanted Process

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Hey guys, thanks so much for helping me choose a cover the next edition of Enchanted Doll book! I'll announce The One shortly

 

.In the meantime, check out a couple of snapshots from my studio during the filming of an episode for a certain TV show. Not sure if it aired yet, but in any case I'll tell you more about it later. And post 'my' episode here once the season is wrapped up.