Marina's Art Dolls

Many little dolls

2012-01-24T00:47:00.003-05:00

I'm not very chatty lately and I'm a busy bee at my (real) work.
I still play most nights and I made a whopping 10 mini dolls in the first 20 days of 2012!

They're cast in porcelain, high fired, painted and dressed. They are in dollhouse size, a little over 3 inches for the little girls and over 4" for the grown ups.

They're fun to make and I think they're cute too :-) They like to play with my teddies and to run around my dollhouse until they find a new home....

See them on etsy

(marinart)

2011-12-31T15:07:00.004-05:00

May you have your best year ever!

13th December, Sankta Lucia

2011-12-13T01:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since July......
I have been super busy with my real biz but I also made many dolls that you can see on my Flickr gallery. I never fail to post there. The most are miniature dolls for dollhouses but also a jointed custom doll and several custom Blythe.

Today I want to show here my newest creation. One that evokes my passion for the Northern countries of Europe: Sankta Lucia (Saint Lucia).
As you may know, this is a tradition of Scandinavia where on this day they perform a ceremony where a girl is elected to portray Lucia (who was a native of Italy!). Wearing a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles on her head, she walks at the head of a procession of women, each holding a candle.
I won't go in details about the meaning and symbolism of all this, such information can easily be found by googling around.

Here I'm showing you my doll that is a ball jointed doll I sculpted with Paperclay and LaDoll. She has 18 joints and she is 11 inches tall.
Her gown is made with pure and fine silk from a very expensive blouse (LOL). Isn't it fun to give new life to unused garments?
The crown is metal with beads and paint and the candles are clay and a tiny bit of fabric for fire.

Since she is a ball jointed doll, you will allow me to post a picture of the naked doll too! You appreciate the beauty and work that goes into these dolls mostly when they're in the nude!

Nina on Art Doll Quarterly!

2011-07-18T22:11:00.001-04:00

Sorry if I toot my own horn but it's always fun to be published! :-)
This time Nina and Nerina-the-cat made it on the pages of ADQ. I just received the issue and I scanned the page.

Both girls are on etsy

www.marinart.etsy.com

The Ice Princess in Florida....

2011-07-11T20:36:00.001-04:00

It's the usual stinking hot summer in Florida. Humidity at the highest peak, scorching sun, the occasional storm passing by.
I always loved summer but I have learned to look forward to the other seasons that allow for more outdoor activities without sweating or burning.
On a 92˚F day, the Ice Princess was born.
I had to work fast on her or she would melt through my hands.
Since I painted her mouth she's been complaining all day that it's too hot here so I hope I will relocate her sometime soon but for the moment she has to content with my AC on 80˚F and the ceiling fan on low. That's how I like it :-)

The ice princess is a sitter doll made with Paperclay. She is 13" tall and her arms can be posed in any way.
She has a pretty elaborate hairdo and a light tulle dress.
If she didn't complain that much, she'd be my favorite doll! ;-)

The long neglected Princess: new doll

2011-07-02T16:52:00.000-04:00

Do you also have doll pieces lying around your craft room? I bet you do...... well, I do have quite a few! Some are not weeks old.... and not even months old..... they are years old! I have been making dolls since nearly 3 years now and this "new" doll I show you today is one I started making over a year ago. For some reasons I didn't "click" with it and I left it around here for this long. So many other dolls took birth in between and the poor Princess was looking at me from the shelf, with her nice hairdo and no legs or hands. A bare trunk with a pretty face.
Finally her time came too...... first she went to the eye doctor who removed her old eyes and painted new ones and then the beautician fixed her make up.
She got hands and legs with a nice pair of shoes and the seamstress created this lovely pink dress for her, very Princess-like. :-)
The neglected Princess is finally a Happy Princess!

From one extreme to the other

2011-06-28T22:30:00.001-04:00

I have understood since a while that the key to artist 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 it in doll making!!

Since dolls are my hobby, I allow myself to be as discontinued 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 2 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! ;-)

In my etsy store

xo Marina

Here she is: Morticia Addams!

2011-06-27T14:15:00.002-04:00

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.

She is for sale in my etsy store (Marinart)

Who is she? New doll - third WIP photo

2011-06-25T11:41:00.000-04:00

Who is she? New doll - second WIP photo

2011-06-24T17:59:00.000-04:00

Another rough sculpt shot......

Anybody guessing?

She's a famous character and she doesn't really look like the actress so it's more difficult to figure it out......

:-)

The Corpse Bride

2011-06-23T13:27:00.000-04:00

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 build 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

I had so much fun making her that I already started another doll..... and here's a little puzzle for you.

I show you photos of the head in a very rough stage..... guess who she is going to be?

I will show WIP photos until one of you guesses right :-)

Mini cat doll

2011-06-16T12:34:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

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.....

2011-06-05T15:33:00.002-04:00

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!

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)

I also played with two Hujoo BJD's.

I heavily abused them! :-)

Kamila

Angelika

Both for sale on etsy

(marinart)

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.

Here below you can see my traveling doll Elin who returned back home looking awesome!

Waxela (Spirit Mama) and Cindy Sowers gave her such a special touch! I totally love her!

Isn't she hip?

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!

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)

:-)

*´¨)

¸. ·´ ¸. ·´¨)

(¸.·´Marina

One month later........

2011-03-17T23:15:00.000-04:00

I'm such a lazy blogger......... it's been exactly a month since my last post so what have I done in one month?
Actually a lot, but not much in dolly-land. Business takes my life over sometime.
Anyway, I started a new BJD but I've been working really slow on it.
Before making the doll, I made a Steampunk hat and now I have this vision of a super hero woman with movable joints...... like those action figures but possibly, more beautiful......
Here's the hat so you get the idea

I like it a lot :-)

And here are some doll parts to go with it.......

Meanwhile I am also in the traveling doll project with ADO. I made and sent my dolly + traveling journal to Waxela Spiritmama and I got one to work on from Cindy Sowers.

Here's my doll, Elin who is currently in Iowa

She will come back in a couple of months and she'll be transformed by Waxela and Cindy.

Meanwhile I played with Cindy's doll who is now a different gal....... but I haven't taken a pic of her yet.

Then......... last but not least, I made two dolls. I was actually making only one to gift to my friend Moriah for her birthday, but I got caught in the fun of the process and I ended up with the Punk sisters!

Blodwen and Absinthe

Blodwen (left) is now living with Moriah.

Both girls are sculpted with paperclay. They have arms than can bend and be posed in every way.

The legs are jointed and they're actually shelf sitters but they can stand up with the help of a special stand I made for them.

Well..... after writing this post I actually realize I did more in dolly-land than I had thought!
:-)

OWOH Winners announced!

2011-02-17T15:10:00.002-05:00

234 great comments..... I wish I had a gift for each one! However there is only one winner..... and the random.com picked #160 which corresponds to Wanda Eash

Congrats Wanda! Little Charlotte will fly to Arkansas soon. Hope the snow has melted by now cos she's wearing a light outfit! ;-)

Dressing dolls!

2011-02-14T18:06:00.000-05:00

You may know my aversion toward sewing.... and the consequent procrastination to dressing my dolls.
I so love sculpting as I loathe dressing them. Besides, these BJD's are so pretty in the nudes and those joints are so hard to make that I want to show them off!
Anyway... there is a day for everything and I spent the past weekend dressing Saskia and Kiara, my two OOAK BJD's.

The little punk girl and the Princess of rags.

You can see lots more pictures of them on www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

OWOH 2011 - One World One Heart Giveway

2011-01-30T22:38:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone on OWOH!

My name is Marina and I love to sculpt one of a kind dolls. I have been sculpting for 2 years and I made a variety of dolls in many styles. Some are as complicated as ball jointed dolls and others are a lot simpler.
They're all sculpted out of Paperclay and painted with acrylics.
I have been lucky to be the featured doll-maker on Art Doll Quarterly in Autumn 2010.

For this giveaway I have made a little doll inspired to the vintage Charlottes that I'm collecting.

She is 4.5" tall, her arms move up and down and she can stand on her own.

Please leave a message for me to be entered in the giveaway and don't forget to leave your email address for contacting you in case you win. If you're reading this from the Hive, you will have to come to my actual website to be entered for the giveaway.

On Feb 17th I will use a random number generator to pick the winner.

Good luck!

click on the photos for a larger view

Visit my dolls gallery on

flickr.com/photos/marilenz

My first doll of 2011 - Saskia, BJD #4

2011-01-28T00:29:00.005-05:00

It's been a rough start of the new year for me and, between this and that, I decided to even challenge myself with another BJD! -(was it an attempt to self-destruction???)-
I expected the usual problems, but it went so much smoother this time!! Maybe I start "getting it"......
Saskia was born after only two weeks! Now I'm itchy to start a second one!

Saskia is all sculpted out of Paperclay and her eyes are my handmade ones (see tutorial in one of the older posts). She is only 8 inches tall and I really love this size! It wasn't intentional, but now I think she won't be alone in the future.
She has the finest mohair hair.
I'm quite pleased with her!! :-)

Saskia waiting to be properly dressed.....

My Alice is on ADQ! :-)

2011-01-25T00:03:00.000-05:00

It's always exciting to be published and especially when it took me SO long to make the doll. These BJD's are no piece of cake...
Alice is on page 93 of Art Doll Quarterly (Feb/Mar/Apr 2011) and I'm very happy :-)))
Besides, it's a FAB issue! The featured artist is Ankie Daanen (amaaaazing doll maker, probably my all-time fave) and there are many other fantastic doll makers here that I'm proud to call "my friends".
This doll world is such an enchanted place and next weekend I will be in doll heaven at IDEX in Orlando (as a visitor)! My first time there..... I can't wait!!!

Happy New year!

2010-12-31T16:45:00.000-05:00

My warmest wishes to everyone and a heartfelt thank you for following my blog here and on the Hive

May you get all you wish for!

*´¨)
¸. ·´ ¸. ·´¨)
(¸.·´Marina
GALLERY: www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz
etsy store: www.etsy.com/shop/Marinart

Sprite with Misty's hair

2010-12-27T19:54:00.006-05:00

This is my cat Misty who was not so willing to be abused with the Xmas outfit this year! :-D
She is a Golden Persian cat who needs constant grooming. I often wonder what could I do with her beautiful hair and finally I found a use for it!
Here's my last doll, a little sprite with Misty's hair! :-)

Merry Christmas! Buon Natale!

2010-12-24T23:10:00.000-05:00

To all my friends, far and near....... I wish you a magickal Christmas and a new year filled with creativity and only good things!

This is a picture of my tree, just taken a few minutes ago of this Christmas night 2010. My cat Gino is sitting in front of the packets and posing for me! You can't see him well because he is in the dark. I think he is curious to see us open the gifts but it won't happen until tomorrow morning........ :-)

Starlight, new Ooak doll

2010-12-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

Star Light Star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

Starlight has a mannequin base body (no legs), paperclay turning head and articulated arms. She is adorned in Swarovski star and beads. The lace used for the train (or over skirt?) is from my mother's wedding dress (1959).

14" tall, painted eyes, mohair hair.

My mom is currently here on vacation so she has seen me working on her and it's her fave of my dolls so I'm going to wrap the doll up and put it under the tree for her.

It will be a surprise and they'll go back to Italy together in Febraury.

FREE TUTORIAL: Making OOAK glass-like doll eyes

2010-12-08T21:25:00.002-05:00

I decided to give away "my secret" for making glass-like doll eyes. A sort of Christmas gift to those who follow my blog and like to know and the many who asked me.
You will be able to make your own special OOAK eyes and save quite a bit of money too!

What you need:

White (polymer) clay, acrylic paints, small brush(es), Gel du Soleil (for sale in my etsy store or by emailing me), sunshine or UVA lamp.

Make two flat balls or ovals with white polymer clay and make a round dent in the clay where your pupil will go. I use the eraser of a pencil for this or anything else that's perfectly round and in the size I need.

BAKE the clay (or air dry it).
Paint inside the round dent with acrylic paints. Help yourself with some photos of eyes if you're not so familiar with painting. It's easy. Try to stay inside the circle as much as possible.
Last you will paint the black dot in the middle. Don't make it too big. It will appear bigger after you add the resin.

Let the paint dry.
Now you can add the Gel du Soleil resin. Fill the dent with a big drop. Remember the pupil is curved.
If necessary, you can add a second drop after the first is cured.
Gel du Soleil will cure if exposed to full sun. If you have it, you can use a UVA lamp.

Ten/fifteen minutes of exposure will cure the resin.
These eyes may be baked in the oven with polymer clay dolls and will not yellow with time.

Enjoy!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you all!

Rowena - OOAK doll on iron finding

2010-12-03T21:32:00.000-05:00

I was at a thrift store with my friend Zed some weeks ago and I spotted these two iron pieces. I couldn't figure out what their real purpose was but I envisioned an odd doll base. Zed and I bought one each and challenged each other to do something with it....... here's my result. Now I'm waiting for Zed's....... ;-)

I called her Rowena and she was supposed to be a Japanese woman but she ended up being a goth beauty!

12 inches tall, all Paperclay, jointed arms, turning head, Tibetan mohair wig and painted eyes.

www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

Roselinn - the pink-haired little Princess

2010-12-02T15:09:00.001-05:00

I had this little doll face around here forever. She kept looking at me and begging for a body but I just couldn't "see" who or what she wanted to be. Until now...... and here's Roselinn, the pink haired little princess.

She is about 9 inches tall from head to toe but she mainly is a shelf sitter with articulated legs and bendable arms. Her eyes are glass like handmade by me.

www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

Ghostie girl and ghostie doll

2010-11-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

These girls have been around unfinished for a while...... like a number of other dolls that will follow later on.... This is a ghostie girl from another century together with her ghostie doll.
Sweet ghostie girl is a paperclay doll with movable arms and legs that can be posed. She can free stand, sit, move her arms and turn her head. Her eyes are OOAK handmade by me.
She is 8 inches tall.
Her doll is 3 inches and also made with air dry clay with glass eyes. She can be posed as well (sit and bend arms). For sale in my etsy store!

Selene - the Fairy godmother of my future dolls

2010-11-06T15:59:00.001-04:00

As weird as it may sound, I've been asking the Universe to help me find my "style" in doll-making. For the last two years I have been dabbing into making any sort of dolls. I started with hideous Gothic dolls, turned to sweet child-like dolls, BJD's, cloth and clay, assemblage...... I enjoyed the process of each one and I loved each one. They were a great school in developing the many skills needed to make art dolls, but they were never "me". They were for the moment and I kept asking myself what shall I do next? And struggling at the costuming and always not feeling sure it was what I wanted to do.

The past month of October I set myself the goal of finding my way and to remember what is my style and what dolls I like to do and feel like "me". I made my request and let it go.
Then I started working on three dolls at the same time. One is a commission with very precise description. One is a ghostie child and another was supposed to be a sitting witch.
When I started costuming the witch I had a flash back...... 1982, Italy. I discovered Cernit (polymer clay) and started making "puppets" (pupazzi). I had never heard of "art dolls" (not until the 2000's!). Those puppets were primitive but they were "me". No external influences, no other puppet makers around me, no internet...... (how did we live back then???) and I made lots! They were clowns, jesters, fantasy beings in easy/fancy costumes and strange hats. Sitter dolls. My sculpting was simple ((just a nose on an oval shape and everything else was painted). My sewing skills were even more limited than now!! I remember gluing a lot........ (LOL) but people liked them....... they were original for the time and they sold!
They were "me" dolls, coming from within myself and I had a great time making them without too much struggle for costuming or being original at all costs. They were original! More original than most dolls I have done lately.

All this came back to my mind while making this witch that now turned into Selene, the fairy godmother........ the godmother of my future dolls! She is a lot more sophisticated than my old puppets but the essence is the same. She is a magical being, like a fairy princess but without wings. She wears fancy clothing, a bit Renaissance, a bit Medieval........ she could be a jester or a princess....... she is whatever you want her to be. It might not even be a "she"..... and it probably is the witch I meant to make........ I even had a witch hat made for her but I made this new cuter one, dark fairy princess style.......

The Universe has given me the answer...... I will make other (different) dolls too because I like to change and I tend to get bored doing the same thing too often, but these are Marina's dolls......... the true 'me", those that reside in my fantasy. The magical beings that used to visit my dreams when I was a child.
So stay tuned for more........ :-)

Selene is 10 inches tall plus 2 for the hat. She is made of Paperclay. Her neck turns and her arms can be posed in any way. Her legs are dangling so they can take any sitting position.
Her hair is Tibetan mohair and she is mainly dressed in velvets. Her stockings are cotton fabric and her hat is felt and trims. Acrylic eyes.

Wednesday on Wednesday.....

2010-10-27T21:44:00.004-04:00

Today, Wednesday, I went to see my friend Moriah of MLB Studios and I had a great day!
I brought her the Wednesday Addams I made for her (my #3!). Thus the title of this post "Wednesday on Wednesday".

Visiting Moriah is better than going to JoAnn's! She has stacks and stacks of fabrics, trims and laces and any sort of crazy (and non crazy) doll supply (thousands of eyes! LOL) and paints and....... awwww! It's heaven in one tiny and super organized room!
The best part of it is that I was supplied with a pair of scissors and authorized (obliged?) to cut anything I wanted! How cool is that??
So I got back home with a bag of new fabrics and trims and inspired no end.....
On top of that I also received two amazing gifts: a OOAK doll in the style of Moriah's workshop (you gotta check it out!) and a doll ornament that's absolutely adorable!
See photos and tell me you don't envy me ;-)

With all the fun (doll) talk, 4 cute cats, 3 nice kids and hubby and fantastic dolls display, Moriah's home is like a creative fridge.... AC at 73˚C..... I had a beginning of hypothermia when I left, but it was all worth it! LOL

(next time I'll dress for Ohio, not Florida!! LOL).

Introducing Katy and kitty

2010-10-20T20:44:00.002-04:00

Here's the last doll I finished about a week ago. A girl in kitty costume with a cat toy.
Her name is Katy and she is 7 inches on top of her cat ears.
She can free stand and her arms can be positioned in any way.
She has handmade eyes. Kitty toy is a wee 1-1/4" with jointed arms.

I have a bunch of photos on flickr........ www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz
I like flickr more than anything else. I can't wait to photograph my dolls and show them on flickr! If some of you following my blog want to see my creations first hand, please follow me on flickr. I'm a lot more reliable there!

Hive Creative Challenge - Cathy, Wuthering Heights

2010-09-30T18:52:00.001-04:00

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

[....} ~Robert Burns

If you've been in Scotland in Autumn, you will sympathize with this ballad. The moors are covered in heather and the colors change every few minutes, with the weather. One minute sunny, then sudden rain and amazing rainbows.

My new doll is my interpretation of Cathy from Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë, 1847) when she was happy and alive, running around the moors picking heather to adorn her home in Autumn.

7-3/8" inches tall, paperclay with handmade eyes.
She is all articulated and she can freely sit or stand and assume any arm and legs movement.
She carries a bunch of heather as well as a basket of it. Her dress is non removable but she also has a velvet hooded cloak for the cold days.

More pictures can be seen on my gallery at www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

Wednesday on Sunday

2010-09-20T19:55:00.000-04:00

I know I made a Wednesday Addams doll before but this one is a different version with a fancier outfit (thus the Sunday reference) than the usual "week days" black one with a white collar. She also carries a doll instead of a spider like my previous one.
She is 6.5 inches tall, hard sculpt (Paperclay), handmade eyes, real stockings (fabric), sculpted shoes. Her dolly is jointed (can sit and move arms up and down) and it's a bit over 2 inches tall.
More photos on my flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/marilenz

New doll: the Bride of Frankenstein

2010-09-11T14:46:00.001-04:00

I think this is my favourite of all my dolls! It's not even a "doll" in the strict sense because I consider "doll" the one that has all movable parts and this one only has jointed arms/neck but she can only sit and her legs are stiff. So she is a half figurine, but I really love her!

I so suck as a photographer :-( I don't know what's the matter. I also got a pretty good camera. Maybe I should real the manual!
Anyway, the B of F is made of Paperclay and painted with acrylics. Her dress is not removable, her arms are jointed by the shoulders and elbows. Her head turns sideways, her hair is mohair.
She is 10 inches in her sitting position. Full pictures can be see on my Flickr gallery.
Now Halloween can come..........

Add caption

And here is the inspiration although I was thinking more of the most recent version by Helena Bonham Carter
(Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh, 1994)

Most my dolls

2010-09-09T22:36:00.001-04:00

I spent a while making this collage of doll faces for posting on my page in the Hive but for unknown reasons the photo is showing as a broken icon. I can see the preview OK but then it won't load on my page :-(
So I decided to post it here just for the sake of it! After spending all this time working on it, I have to show it off! :-)

Another Streghina to get in the Halloween mood...

2010-09-01T15:00:00.001-04:00

Halloween is really far away, isn't it? And Autumn is not even at the horizon here in Florida....... but who cares! Let's pretend...... and here's yet another witchling for my content :-)
I like her a lot. I should call myself a doll-mom instead of a doll-maker because I really don't want to part from my dolls....... it's so hard to let them go to their new homes......

This streghina can turn her head sideways and she is jointed at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees.
She is made of Paperclay and her corset dress is pretty neat. I still can't figure my camera out and I have a hard time showing off details. Her hat is pretty cool too and all hand-stitched like her non-removable dress.

I should take photography lessons next.......

Nina Streghina - Nina Littlewitch, partially ball-jointed

2010-08-14T12:31:00.001-04:00

I have had this doll head around here for months. She was supposed to be Susie Salmon from The Lovely Bones (book or movie). I even had the yellow pants and a sweater to go on her and I bought fabric for the famous striped hat. Somehow it wasn't convincing me though.... so she kept laying here eyeing at me....
The other day I decided it was time to work on her and to turn her into a shelf sitter.
After I got her a body I realized she wasn't Susie..... she was Nina, dressed up for Halloween!
So there you go.... I think she's a cute little witch! :-)
Her arms are ball jointed. The rest of her is a hard sculpt (all Paperclay).

Another doll make over

2010-08-03T15:22:00.000-04:00

As I said before, if my dolls stay with me too long, they will probably go through the scalpel again..... now it's the time of Sakura, my first BJD.
The more I looked at her and the less I liked her! So here she got a new face now........ (and all new joints, but I'm still working on those)

Tooting my own horn: I was published on ADQ!

2010-07-28T01:40:00.000-04:00

Not sure I deserved the honor of being the "featured artist" on Art Doll Quarterly...... but I didn't ask for it....... :-) I'm probably just really lucky. When the mag editor told me I didn't really figure out it actually was a lot more important than just having a couple of doll pics published. I tend to look at the pics more than reading the magazine so I never realized that there is only one featured doll artist per issue....... unfortunately they didn't use the photos I sent them and they wanted the actual dolls. I sent them the 5 I still had here at the time. Now I could have probably sent something better. But anyway, here are the SIX pages (click to enlarge them)...... if you prefer to get the actual magazine, it's Art Doll Quarterly Autumn 2010 (Aug/Sep/Oct). Should be out in the newsstands soon.

Beauty surgery for dolls

2010-07-24T23:57:00.001-04:00

I started sculpting dolls two years ago with a lot of long breaks in between. This year I only sculpted two dolls so I can't say I exercised my skills that much. Despite of it, I know my sculpting skills have improved quite a bit since those first dolls! I wish I could get them back from the buyers to make them prettier.

One of my ugliest dolls was a cat girl who ended in the hands of my friend Zed who, inexplicably, loved her!
I have been begging her to hide that hideous doll and not tell anyone I made her but she kept displaying her in her living room in good view for everyone to "admire".
Finally, some days ago, Zed accepted my offer of beautifying her....... "just a little" she said. LOL She knows I often "kill" my dolls if they stay with me for a while and they can become something else!

Having my hands on Cat girl was such a pleasure....... I transformed myself in a doll surgeon. A cut here, some clay there........ and cat girl is still a cat girl but she looks much prettier now and I'm not ashamed of saying I made her. She is still "different" but what can you expect from a cat girl? :-D

Alice In My Land - 8.5" Paperclay BJD

2010-07-08T01:07:00.004-04:00

If you've seen my old posts, you might have recognized Amber, my second BJD...... who turned into Alice!
Amber never had much personality and wasn't telling me who she was until one day she finally spoke to me and said she was Alice! I never doubted for a minute and I rushed to get her blue dress and sew her white apron and socks. Now she truly is herself!
Sometimes it takes a while to make them speak up!
Now I rushed to finish her shoes for this ADO challenge and she's complete! She also got her bunny.... :-)

click on the Ado badge to see everybody's Alices!

Kiara, OOAK BJD (2 months later... finally DONE!)

2010-06-04T16:28:00.003-04:00

KIARA (pron: Kee-aar-aa). This doll nearly took the fun of sculpting dolls away from me....... it's been harder than I thought. I guess I'm not that good yet to get myself into these difficult projects but I enjoy the challenge....
I really don't know if I want to make another though....... I like the way she turned out although she's a tad too skinny in her legs and her knee joints could still be improved. Obviously there's always room for improvement.... these jointed dolls are probably an ongoing project.
I don't even want to think of improving her though....... she is DONE forever now....... :-D

You can click on the photos to enlarge them

Kiara's progress - BJD painted

2010-06-03T10:56:00.000-04:00

BJD - SWIP (=SLOW Work in progress)

2010-05-28T11:58:00.007-04:00

Still temporarily strung

Still working on BJD #3 - Kiara

2010-05-26T22:44:00.000-04:00

I strung and unstrung her at least 20 times! She looks pretty good but I'm not satisfied with the knees so I decided to re-do them! She is back in pieces as I write this.
This is the never ending doll........ but I decided I won't content with an OK result. I want her to be as good as I want her to be. Luckily making dolls is not my business or I'd be starved by now! Two months after a doll? Tch!

Kiara sitting in the FL sunshine.... trying to tan her white Paperclay skin?

Ball Jointed Doll #3 - progress made!

2010-05-22T13:32:00.000-04:00

Slowly but thoroughly getting there......... a new Paperclay body and head are done! Just a little more sanding-smoothing required.

Note the various doll corpses lying around....... :-D

Ball Jointed Doll #3

2010-05-18T22:09:00.001-04:00

The first BJD was a fun experiment, the second one I thought I knew more or less what I was doing and the third one.... piece of cake... right? And NOT...!!! It was (still is) hell!
I decided to "upgrade" to using polymer clay. I bought a large packet of Sculpey in skin color. Too reddish skin for me so I mixed it with translucent Fimo. I sculpted a pretty nice body. I was pleased with it until I baked it and I burned the upper back and the neck! I mean, BLACK-BURNT!! Argh!
I scraped, sanded, added, re-baked... still not perfect but better.
I made a head and took more care in baking.
Up to here it was OK, some veining and slight crackling, not easy to sand like Paperclay but I could live with it.

The problems came when I started sculpting the arms. This doll is about 12" (more or less like a Barbie) and the arms are thin and hollow. I had to sand and file for fitting the joints in and I kept breaking the joint. I added and re-baked and it looked awful. I made new arms. Cracked again and again... I lost my patience!!!
I dumped Sculpey in a drawer and went on working with Paperclay. I made a bi-color BJD doll! LOL

Over here you see just the upper body and some posing experiments. This doll has double elbow joints so her movements are very natural. This is still in prototype version and to be refined.

Here below you see the temporarily strung doll with all the extra pieces I made for her. What a headache! LOL

I don't know who gives me the patience for this. I really have NO TIME for playing.....
Anyway, now it's not done yet........ she is in pieces again and I'm sculpting her body and new head in Paperclay. I really couldn't match Sculpey and Paperclay and the difference would have always been evident.
I will test Sculpey again after I'm done with the Paperclay version so I can use her body and head that are not so bad to throw away.

(Click on photos to see a larger version if you wish)

Stay tuned for the final version..... I started making this doll on March 28th...... this gives you an idea of how little play time I have in my life!!!!

Ball Jointed Doll #2

2010-05-16T10:05:00.001-04:00

This time I wanted a smaller and better articulated doll. Instead of sculpting over an aluminum form like I did the first time, I sculpted the legs over drinking straws so I could work in smaller scale.
She ended up being 8.5" tall. Here you see a couple WIP photos, before the many hours of sanding I did....

Here below you see Amber comfortably sitting after a first face-up session, waiting for me to finish making that mohair wig....

.... and here she is all happy with her long light blond hair.

A few more shots around the yard....

Here she is wearing a vintage doll dress I bought at a doll show. It fits her perfectly and it gives her the "little Match girl" look.....

BJD obsession..........

2010-05-15T09:35:00.000-04:00

After briefly introducing most of my dolls, here we come to my current obsession: Ball Jointed Dolls!
I have kinda liked them for a while. Three years ago I bought one from Korea that cost me a little fortune. She was really pretty (Luts Delf Kid - Ani) but I soon got tired of her because she was soul-less........ a resin duplicate of million others. There is nothing like a OOAK (one of a kind) creation! I sold her when I started sculpting my own (normal) dollies.
Only later on I caught the BJD sculpting bug and I wished I still had her so I could understand the mechanism without breaking my little blond head!

The idea of making my own OOAK BJD came one day that I was surfing the net looking at other doll artists. I came across a website from England that showed a fabulous BJD and it said it was hand made!!! I couldn't quite believe my eyes..... I had no idea such thing was possible! LOL (obviously someone sculpts these BJD's before turning them into resin, right?)
I read the article and admired the photos, but not for a minute I thought I would ever try doing something remotely similar.
How far was I from reality.... the little bug started creeping on me and it invaded my mind and soon I found myself thinking on HOW could I do a doll with joints that I could pose to my liking.... after a lot of pondering and debating with myself (to do or not to do?) I decided I would make a doll with a simple structure and knee joints so she could sit or stand. I found a Japanese website with step photos and I got to work.
It was pretty hard.... and I did those joints a bazillion times! I'm surprised of my perseverance! I was never much of a patient soul.... and, in the end, I jointed her wrists and ankles too! Those were not in the initial idea at all but I got carried away when I started putting the pieces together.

So here she is and her name is

SAKURA

She has a simple body and simple sculpting but she works fine and she can even stand up on her own (with shoes). There is a photo of her dressed up in the frame of my blog. She is about 14 inches tall and all Paperclay with elastic inside.

While making her I kept cursing myself for having such a crazy idea and I kept saying it would be my first and last......... but the virus kept spreading and I was planning my second BJD as soon as this one was over!

Stay tuned and the next post will show you my #2!

Zany cloth and clay dolls

2010-05-13T19:07:00.000-04:00

Here's another brief phase of my life as a doll maker........ the cloth and clay experiment. I don't like sewing so I'm not sure I will do more of these but they were great fun to do and a lot easier than my other dolls.

VIOLET and MARGARET

Violet and Margaret are two English sisters. They live together in a thatched roof cottage in Norfolk where the green is greener but winters are long and windy.
One day of December Margaret (the eldest) told Violet "why don't we go spending the winter months in Florida?".
And off they went. Both had never been out of the UK and Violet (the less practical sister) didn't quite know what to pack in her suitcase but she made sure not to forget her straw hat and a sun block tucked into her tiny handbag.
So here they are, being photographed enjoying Florida's winter flowers and tepid sun.
Margaret likes to jokingly sport a daisy by her ear, forgetting that she is not in Hawaii!
*

These dolls are made with a variety of techniques. They both started with a cloth form, stuffed with polyfil and sculpted over with Paperclay.
Both have fabric legs loosely stuffed and sculpted arms with jointed elbows and wrists.
Margaret has a simple puppet style jointing while Violet has a ball jointed elbow.
Painted with acrylics.
Violet's hat is hand crocheted and coffee stained.
Margaret wears a pair of fuchsia leather shoes and hand died skirt.

How sweet to be on holiday!

December creations

2010-05-12T09:11:00.001-04:00

December is always a creatively busy month for me. My business slows down a bit and I welcome this time when I create little personalized gifts for my friends.

In 2009 I also decided to make something for myself. A Christmas tree topper.
My Xmas tree gets all decorated with handmade ornaments. Some were not even meant to be Xmas decorations, but they look cool up on the tree. I got them from a lot of people around the world and others were made by myself. I never had a tree topper though so here's what I made (all photos are clickable for enlargement)

In this picture she is on top of an empty jar. I never took a picture on the tree although she stayed up there for at least 20 days. She is made of Paperclay and she's all hollow inside. The wings and star are collaged with vintage music paper and the skirt is a piece of old curtain :-)
Some fun recycling!
She is painted with acrylics and distressed with antiquing medium.

Introduction to my first dolls

2010-05-11T16:29:00.006-04:00

I opened this blog months ago but I never worked on it. I have had some very busy months. 2010 started on a really fast pace and it's still running. I can't believe it's already May. It hasn't been a very productive year doll-wise...... Making dolls is only one of my many interests and a night pastime. Ball Jointed Dolls take so long to make (especially when you don't know what you are doing!) that I'm down to making less than a doll a month!

Anyway, in the first posts here I want to showcase my dolls more or less in the order I made them, until I reach our present days and I will show some Work in Progress photos of my BJD's.

THEA

The first doll I want to show you is my favourite. Her name is Thea and she is the first doll I made in this size (about 9 inches). After her, most my dolls have been between 8 and 9 inches.

She is a Paperclay hard sculpt with acrylic eyes. She was born in December 2008 and she is holding a Christmas decoration.

I like to pair her with a bigger doll that I called The Winter spirit (18 inches, Paperclay and soft body with posing arms). She is holding a dove. I sculpted her before Thea.

THE CHERRY PIE LADY

In between making these two, I made a 12 inches doll that I called the Cherry Pie lady. Those who know me outside the doll world. know that I run a rubber stamps company called Cherry Pie so it was almost a self portrait :-) She is holding a Paperclay Cherry Pie.

This doll is sold.

CANDY and ARLETTE

2009 was a very productive year for me. Unlike 2010, I was stretching time to the impossible and I made a bazillion paintings and quite a few dolls too!

The first two that came to me are CANDY COTTON and ARLETTE from Bruges.

Candy lives in Alaska and Arlette in Oklahoma

These two girls were born only a couple days apart. I was sculpting both at the same time (waiting for the pieces to dry).
Candy was born first, my first doll of 2009. She wears a night gown, funny pink slippers and she carries her jointed dolly (2.5 inches -removable).
Looks like she woke up after a nightmare.
Arlette is a Dutch girl, a little orphan whose only friend is her teddy bear. She wear pink clogs and raggedy dress.

SHANNA

Shanna has a strange look in her eyes because she has vintage glass eyes. A flea market find. She also wears a vintage doll dress from the early 60's that I stripped off a plastic doll. The cage is a dollhouse item and there's a little birdie inside. 8 inches doll.

MELANIE

Shelf sitter. Melanie was sculpted for holding my vintage teddy bear.
I got this teddy from my grandfather when I was 3 or 4, but I believe the teddy is a lot older than me and probably from the 20's or 30's. It's only 2.5" long and all jointed.
I wanted to give a special place to this teddy and what's best than little arms to hug him?

YUKI (Boy)

Yuki means happy or snow in Japanese. He doesn't look so happy but his hair is snow white!
I gave him a Japanese name because he reminds me of those manga characters.......
He is the only boy doll I sculpted and he wears a super cool leather jacket that I stripped off a Bratz boy.

WEDNESDAY ADDAMS

Sold to CA

When I make a doll I normally start with sculpting a face. I rarely know what I want to do and the doll will reveal herself to me while I sculpt her.
When I made Wednesday I had no idea who I was sculpting but I heard her loud and clear as soon as I finished sculpting her face! She was W Addams..... no doubts about it!

She is holding a spider on a her left hand.

POPPY girl

Poppy is a little happy girl. I made her for my friend Zed. She collects poppies and dolls so I wanted to combine the two things together.

My cat Misty was particularly interested in this doll and her flower......

LYDIA

This was my first sitting doll. I made her for my friend MJ who had the original idea of a school girl reading a book. The tiny book has real turning pages with colored images.

STREGHETTA (=cute little witch)

This doll was sold. She is holding a vintage glass marble - sold

ANNIE with birdie

Sold to Germany

KIMBERLY

Another shelf-sitter - sold

ULLA

A Lappi girl - gifted to MJ

MANDY

Victorian girl - Sold to Australia

TARA

Rebel girl..... gifted to Cristina

LUCKY KEYLA

Sold to Germany. She holds a lady bug on her hand.

A little history...

2010-02-27T22:44:00.009-05:00

As a child I never liked dolls. I actually thought they were really creepy. Once I've been given a doll that was as tall as me...... my mom put it in my bedroom and I remember being petrified by her stare at night. It didn't last long in our home........
I was more of a Lego girl. Luckily I had a younger brother who was often gifted with Lego boxes that he couldn't care less about! I built all those castles, houses, cars and even a helicopter for him.
I remember myself drawing, coloring, crocheting and embroidering all through my childhood. In my teens I took up painting and knitting.
The human form was a constant in my paintings and drawings. I always had a fascination for faces and the fantasy world.
In the early 80's I was gifted with a sculpted gnome. I was so enchanted by it that I wanted to make these magical beings too. I bought my first packets of Cernit polymer clay and I started sculpting gnomes and fantasy dolls. Sort of wingless fairies. I might still have some photos around......
They were supposed to be Christmas presents for all my friends but my room-mate took one to her office and orders started pouring in! I spent all nights making these dolls for filling orders and my friends got store bought gifts instead...
I worked on these dollies for some months then I moved on to something else as usual. When I master doing something....... I move on to something else! I'm the typical jack of many trades......

Anyway, the years that followed my first adventure in doll making were really busy. Arts and crafts have been always present in my life but always in between my many travels for pleasure and for work (I even worked as a travel guide for sometime), some jobs (including a boring one in a corporation office), a marriage and the evolution of technology as well!
In 1988 I had my first computer (Mac). I started playing with computer graphics, very basic stuff....... with a dot printer...... so noisy I couldn't print at night because I was disturbing my neighbors!! In 1991 I started my own artistic rubber stamp company that I still run today, 19 years later, a son later and an international move later!
I have achieved a good of success with it both on business and personal basis. In the course of the years I have been published on all major stamping magazines and published articles and how-to's. I appeared in some books and my stamps are used and sold worldwide.
In between all this, I always kept painting and toward the end of the millennium I also built a dollhouse and took some pottery classes (the only art classes of my life).
My interest for art-dolls appeared in me again 20 years later...... while surfing on eBay I came across some spirit dolls by Griselda and then by Gina who is today my great friend.
I got interested in art dolls again but I quit after making my 3rd spirit doll because I couldn't find the time and the real inspiration.
I even bought Art Dolls Quarterly since #1 for years, loving every page and doing nothing.
I bought a couple expensive dolls that I resold after sometime. I just wanted to see what they looked like in person. I bought a BJD from Korea. Gorgeous doll but soul-less because she's factory made. I played with her a bit, dressed her up and re-sold her a year later.

In August 2008 I bought yet another ADQ, but this time I got hit really hard by the doll bug! I saw the dolls by Beth Robinson........ those creepy, odd dolls that can scare the faint of heart. Well, they didn't scare me! I HAD TO make them too!!! I searched around for Paperclay, got myself a packet from Michaels and started sculpting my first creepy doll. A ghost....... LOL
So ugly I don't even want to show the photos. It sold on eBay........ and I got thrilled! I made more creepy dolls......... 3-4-5 or so. Thankfully they all got out of here fast! I really don't know, maybe there was an angel out there who didn't want to discourage me and bought my dolls to push me to keep going...... they were ugly!
Luckily I soon changed direction....... I reduced the size of my dolls (the first were 20 inches or so) and I started making prettier little girls. I am still in an evolution zone so I don't know if this is what I will keep doing....... probably not. I like to try new styles and ideas so I don't know where my dollmaking journey will take me to.
This is only a hobby for me and I do it at night, after I'm done with work, fed cats and humans, cleaned kitchen. I come to my studio, switch the TV on and create something.
This blog will start with a gallery of (about) all my dolls and their personal story. It's a way for me to preserve the memory of the idea and the process that went into each one.
Now I'm over a year into my doll making venture and still enjoying it, still evolving....... still experimenting........