From one extreme to the other

I have understood since a while that the key to artistic fame and fortune is to keep a style until it sticks to your name.

Your artwork must be immediately recognized as your own.  Luckily I have managed this "magic formula" in my real business (art stamps) so I'm not a starving artist, but I'm definitely not good at sticking with it in doll making!!

Since dolls are my hobby, I allow myself to be as eclectic as I wish..... and I just do what I feel like doing in the moment. I haven't been able to stick to a style and type of doll for more than a month in a row!

From hard figurines to double jointed BJD's, from 12 inches dolls to 3 inches dolls...... and now from goth Morticia to........ sugary-pukey-cutey Mistydolls!!! :-D

Here they are, the 3 kitty sisters! My first porcelain dolls. The original was sculpted in Paperclay. I managed to make my first plaster molds and fire them in the kiln.

As you see I'm really taking baby steps in porcelain! These kitties are only 3 inches tall and they have movable limbs. They can sit or stand, move their arms in any way and turn their heads sideways (and a bit up and down too).

They are in 1" scale dollhouse size and as sweet as they look! ;-)

SOLD

xo Marina

Morticia Addams

I truly enjoyed making her. She is one of my fave TV characters. 

Weird and goth but not wicked and she treated the unusual as normality.

 I used to watch those black and white episodes in the 70's but I think they were already 10+ years old. 

In Italy we got color TV in the mid 70's.....! LOL

Anyway, my Morticia is 11" tall, she has dangling legs so she can sit but I made a special stand for her so she can elegantly stand up too.

She is a Paperclay sculpt. She has has painted eyes and mohair hair.

She also has black underwear :-) and grey/black striped leggings.

Her arms can be posed by the elbows and shoulders. Her head turns sideways.

sold

The Corpse Bride

Here's my new doll! A commissioned Corpse Bride (or la Novia Cadaver as she will go to live in Spain).

She is 11 inches tall and all jointed. She can stand only with the use of her own stand that I built for her.

She is obviously inspired to the Tim Burton's character but I hope I managed to make her my own and not look too much like his!

more photos can be seen on www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

Mini cat doll

A-hem.... am I posting too often?

I'll probably end up in silence land soon again...... anyway, I want to show you my first porcelain doll. I know it's a little nothing but I take baby steps in porcelain world!

I made her in Paperclay first and then I made a (bad) mold and this is the result.

I will make a new mold soon and then I plan on making more of these cat dolls that I call Mistydolls from my cat's name Misty :-)

Mistydoll is a bit over 3 inches tall and she can sit or stand on her own.

Here she even got a little kitty toy called Itsy-bitsy.
It's a wee 1-1/8" paperclay thingie

This mini world is fun..... I want to shrink down too!!!! :-D

What 8 hours of painting can do to your (doll) house

With 8 hours of painting you can probably give a pretty nice makeover to your real house too..... but here is what it did to the dollhouse I bought on craigslist

First of all I worked on the roof that looked too clean and new. I gave it a hand of black gesso and then a hand of terracotta. It looks more realistic now :-)

Then I stained all the wooden floors (inside and out) and windows. I fixed the terrace railing and painted the beams in dark umber.

Here below are some close up photos too.

This house is a a Fairfield kit by Greenleaf. 1/24th (half scale).

I love it!

Next project is to tackle the interiors....

Stay tuned!

One month and a half later.....

Seems like I'm really not cut for blogging.... I keep procrastinating and it's never the right time. Even now, I'd rather be splashing in the pool than be here putting my life on screen, but I need to keep track of it myself! :-)
What have I done this past month? Quite a lot, yes..... the Steampunk hat got a wearer,  the traveling dolls have all come and gone and I made a bazillion miniature dolls for dollhouses. Most of them commissioned after some literature character.
I also put together my old dollhouse again - after 10 years in the closet! And I bought another dollhouse on craigslist that I'm revamping a bit now.
I also changed computer and got myself an iPad for my bd :-)
(I needed it like a hole in my brain but it's a cool thing! LOL)
I also bought a kiln for merging into making porcelain dolls...... and I fired only once so far....

Guess the best way to tell my life is by showing you photos..... more detailed photos are on my Flickr gallery www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

Here are some photos of my mini dolls

This last one is Eliza from My Fair Lady

There are some other mini dolls I made but the photos are in my old computer and I've been lazy to transfer files!

*These dolls are all sold*

The dolly here below is one I made for my mom, based on a photo of her when she was 5 years old (on right)

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I also played with two Hujoo BJD's.

I heavily abused them! :-)

 Kamila

Angelika

Both sold

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Here's a photo of the Steampunk BJD

I confess I took the hat off her and gave her long hair now. That hat was too heavy on her neck so I will use it on another doll later on. 

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This is my kiln and the first firing I did :-)

The house didn't blow up like Moriah kept reassuring me...... LOL

I was a bit worried for the HIGH temp it reaches, but all was good. My AC got double work though. 

I think firing will be my fave winter hobby!

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And now I show you my Craigslist find. 

This dollhouse is in half scale. It's a kit called Fairfield. It was already put together with a lot of extras like sidings, roof tiles, some furniture, floors, walls and electrical wiring! The lighting is what totally bought me cos I never had a dollhouse with lights and I'm a sucky electrician.

 Unfortunately all the windows and doors and  fireplaces are unfinished wood and they have been glued really well. It's not going to be easy to paint them in such tiny space.

 Flooring and walls are done, but  the wood floor is unfinished and the walls are not all of my liking....

I'm pondering over it as it's not easy to remodel without tearing it apart and I definitely will not!

 The roof looks too new in plastic tiles so I'm going to distress it to give it a more realistic look.

Here below is a comparison photo with my old dollhouse (1" scale) that also needs heavy remodeling to the 3rd floor (bathroom and art studio), the roof and facade.

I guess my next post will show you some dollhouse progresses..... and probably some new mini dolls as well. I'm already working on the character of the French Lieutenant's woman.

See you next! (I promise a shorter post)

:-)

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¸. ·´ ¸. ·´¨)

(¸.·´Marina