Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Beauty of an Original #13

I'm very happy to introduce the latest member to my art-doll collection!

She was the first art-doll I've purchased pretty much the same day that I discovered her existence. All the others have come with weeks to months of deliberating. But there was something about her that I knew was perfect, and I didn't want to um-and-ah and miss out on her, no no, I had to have her! She reminds me a little of the white haired girls of Mark Ryden...

The artist is a lovely South-Korean girl named Seo. Unfortunately, I cannot pass pass on too much information about her, as our language barriers collided. We communicated mainly via lots of smileys to punctuate expressions: ^_^

"Swan Girl" or Leda, as I have nicknamed her, is entirely made of porcelain (bisque). Her limbs, tiny delicate fingers and toes are gently blushed with China paint, giving a glowing warmth to her skin. She came with the most incredible hand-made costume, but my favourite detail has to be the feather glued to her scalp as her "hair" peeking out beneath her bonnet.

After purchasing her over Etsy, there was a long delay, because Seo wanted to re-make her costume. I didn't mind, so patiently waited. The end result is incredible. Tiny leather booties, with miniature eyelets to lace them up, a ruffled and exquisite tutu, sweet little bloomers, beautiful lace-up corset.... the attention to detail, care, and extensive work that went into it is just phenomenal.

Both Victoria and I are now avid doll-collectors, and scour Etsy for fresh muses, but I would comfortably say that Seo's dolls are truly something unique and very special. She was the sort of purchase I had to go into denial over (did I really just do that, oh my god I must be crazy) but seeing her in person, and the sheer amount of work that Seo put into this incredible doll, she is precious.

Swan Girl by Marie's Garden Dolls (Seo)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Doll Portrait: Esme

Something I wanted to share :-) As you all know, I am a huge fan of Sarah Faber's Dolls (aka: Black-Eyed Suzie)

When her last shop update happened I was beaten to the draw by a very nimble-fingered friend. There is a reason we call her a comment ninja... she has uncanny powers of posting comments on drawings and photographs before you've even clicked the submission button.. it's truly amazing.

Not realizing she'd adopted the doll I had my eyes on, I sent her a very childish message full of moaning and wailing. Oops. Wasn't I embarrassed?! To show her I harboured no hard feelings, and was infact, overjoyed for her, I drew this little portrait of the doll, Esme.



And Annina's photograph of her:

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Down the Rabbit Hole....


Hello my darlings! I wanted to share a quick overview of my recent activity:

~ I went a little crazy when Meluseena announced her special print offer, and took full advantage of her generosity! *edit* I received them today, oh my... they are so beautiful!! Can't wait to share them here once I've framed them all - which will be a horrific experience!!!

~ I've purchased a new doll from a new artist, I'll introduce her when she arrives :-)

~ Secret project is going along well. I've almost become accustomed to the cramped feeling in my drawing hand! All will be unveiled mid-march...


I remembered something I made a while back, but had forgotten to share, and would love to do so now!
I opened up a "redbubble" account to sell my designs on T-Shirts, but haven't really done much with it. It's a great little site, the shirts are all printed on American Apparel, so I'm a big fan of knowing where the shirts are being made, and that they're excellent quality.
Once the project I'm working on is over, I'll be investing some more time into creating a range of lovely and quirky t-shirt designs.

Here's my "Falling Alice" shirt:

And after I received it (be forwarned, it's all wrinkly in the photo, my un-housewife-ishness shines through! I'll have to take a better photo soon!)