Pencils Down!

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Times up!

The contest submission period is now closed! Thanks to everyone who entered, I'm seeing some amazing entries and it's going to be another tough decision. I will spend the next couple days going through each one in detail. It's such a treat to be able to see all the different approaches people took. I'm blown away by the creativity.

I will announce the winner on March 16th, but it will likely be later in the day (might even be the 17th in some parts of the world). 

Cinderella of the North

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Hey folks, I finished a new costumed doll! Presenting - Cinderella Of The North, inspired by Johan Vermeer's 1665 masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring, nicknamed Mona Lisa of the North! This doll actually started out in 2011 as a Chrisitian Andersen's Matchstick Girl, but in the 3 years it took to make her, she had subverted my original intent and evolved almost of her own volition, into a Flemish Cinderella with Dutch, Belgian and Norwegian costuming influences. I photographed her in chiaroscuro, or Rembrandt Lighting, to allude to Flemish portraiture of the Golden Age and Baroque periods, which featured dark atmospheric tones, deep shadows and dramatic contrast lighting. My goal was to capture a look of a 16th century Dutch oil painting.

In allusion to the Cinderella's formerly affluent childhood, her once opulent - now 'peasant' dress was stitched up with 170 richly colourful patches and embroidered with hundreds of Swarovski crystals, seed beads and Freshwater Pearls. I imagined that all those patches are fragments of her outgrown childhood gowns - now rags, which she's been using for years to keep her one remaining tattered dress intact, while her pristine lace bonnet and precious silver slippers are the only legacy and inheritance from her dear late mother. Cindrella Of The North is a an exploration of the darker side of the fairy tale - before the ball and the happy ever after.

The other three key influences that informed this work were a 1919 Cinderella illustration by Arthur Rackham, a novel Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire, and fairy tale illustrations by Sulamith Wulfing.

To see more pictures of this doll, please visit her gallery here.  

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from Enchanted Doll!

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For Christmas this year, allow me to present my secret doll Phryne, who is one of the costumed projects I completed in 2014!Phryne as you may remember from my sneak peeks of her, and that awesome guessing game we played together, 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. To read her full story and description see my original blog post.

For certain reasons I've been holding her back, fully completed for the last 10 months, which took herculean effort at times. There hasn't been a day when I didn't want to tell you about her, but now the time has come. Please enjoy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, my friends! And a happy New Year! 

Cinderella ebay auction dates finalized!

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And the dates of the auction are: January 24th-January 31st, 2015!

I apologize for delaying setting the auction dates of my new doll Cinderella #2. It is because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to cast her last minute add-on accessory - the fabulous ball mask - before my metal casting foundry closed for the holidays. It turns out, I wasn't able to beat the holiday rush queue, so this forced me to move the auction to January. I really want Cinderella to wear that mask!

In the meantime, I've made a luxurious padded custom box for my little Cinderella #2 auction. This weekend I'm doing to attach baby-blue leather cord belts with sterling silver buckles to the padding, to secure her limbs in place while she's resting in her special tin.

I'm so happy about the way her face turned out. I believe she is one of my finest, most subtle-blushed faces ever. I almost don't want to let her go, but I know I have to. Stand by for a picture of her with her lovely wig!

So, don't forget: Cinderella #2 is going up for ebay auction on January 24th - 31st 2015! Stay tuned!