Lace-Beading

I do love to bead me some lace!

But I hate it when this happens!

Enchanted Doll ebay auction 2014!

It's that glorious time of year again, folks! The annual Enchanted Doll ebay auction is coming up this November! Can you guess which doll will be auctioned off this year? You get one guess. Here's a clue.I'll be posting more progress photos as we get closer to November. The exact date of the auction will be announced soon. Are you as excited as I am?

The before and after silver bead caps

 I've spent the last few days finishing off my most recent doll Theodora Rex, which is based on a historical Byzantine Empress. I've been failing to arrive at the final composition that resonates with my inner vision of her, having constructed, tried and abandoned several different accessories to compliment her jewelled head piece and her collar of gold. I believe that when the solution to an almost finished piece proves to be stubbornly evasive, then the problem is not just with details - There is something fundamentally wrong with the whole thing from the bottom up. The best course of action at that point, is to stop tweaking little details, identify the 3 main elements essential to the composition, strip away the rest and start layering supporting details from the beginning. Yes, it's pretty upsetting having to destroy several days worth of work, but sometimes it's not just the right thing to do, but the only thing to do. Destruction is a form of creation.

These sterling silver filigree bead caps might be the key to unlocking my composition problem. I embellished them with tiny seed pearls and gold-plated them to look more Byzantine. Theodora is already wearing them, but something else is still missing there...I'm gonna call it a 'soft' finish for now and see if she 'speaks' to me in the days to come about what else she needs.

It's time to move on. 

Making Empress Theodora doll

She'll be premiered at Spectrum fantasy convention this weekend in Kansas City, along with two other new dolls. I won't have anything for sale at the event this time, but we will be giving away posters and if you come, you will be the first ones to see the new dolls!

Oh my god, I've got so much to do today...

Just when I think it stopped raining...

...It starts right back up again.

What, another mystery doll?

This lady is from the Byzantine Empire. Her, I'm going to show you the moment she is finished! My completion target date is end of March. Stay tuned.

Watching the Snow

Just another day at work. There are five new and ongoing metal accessory projects visible in this picture, some completed and some nearly there. You will see them very soon. And I think you will like them. Very much.

My new home studio and kiln room!

So, on top of making new dolls for the Vogue photo shoot next week, I'm also right smack in the middle of moving to a new place. My new work studio is pretty awesome, but it's been kind of ridiculous with everything happening at once. Timing is not ideal, but that's the only way we could meet the deadline. For the last two weeks I've going back and forth between the two places since my new studio is not set up yet, and I won't even get a chance to do it until after I get home from the shoot, because our last moving day also happens to be the day we have to catch our flight to New York. We'll just throw all our stuff in the new apartment and leave for the airport. Sort it out later. Sleep later too.

I'm pretty excited about the kiln room too. Having been a spacially-challenged city-dweller my whole life, I'm thrilled to finally have a room just for my kilns. Feels so decadent. Can't wait to try it, but in the meantime I've got some wigs to finish. I'm coordinating their colours to the product being advertized. Can't tell you what it is yet, but it's gonna be awesome! 

The grinding chamber!

No, that's not a title of a campy horror flick, though blood does get spilled in there from time to time.

I finish my metal works in that invaluable little glass 'room', which contains the heavy dust and metal shavings until they get sucked up into the extractor. Before I got this baby, I would loathe the thought of doing metal finishing, as my desk and my whole studio would get very dirty and dusty, but since I got this chamber for my debris extractor, the cleanup is minimal and working conditions are safe. I love safety.

I bought the main plastic shell online, and then extensively customized it to fit my needs better, adding side walls and leather flaps. The problem is that it's plexy glass and it's starting to get really scratched up by all the high velocity debris flying around in there, and once it gets too cloudy to see through it, I'm going to have get a new one and customize it all over again.

Luckily my little grinding chamber still has lots of hours on it, which reminds me that I've gotta go back 'in there' and set some stones into the cone for the upcoming show doll in Berlin. Stay tuned for the pictures in a few days!

Resin Doll In Lace

Just playing with some lace for fun. My favorite resin doll Luchia is wearing it. I was inspired by these awesome headdresses in a photo from an inflight magazine. Not sure what culture they are from. Maybe Norwegian...? Does any one know?

Help me name this resin doll

I'm running a bit late with the photo shoot of the first resin dolls, but it should wrap up tomorrow.In the meantime, help me name this pretty doll. I'd love to hear your suggestions on what she should be called.

Enchanted resin dolls have glass eyes

And tiny eyelashes!

At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to give my resin dolls glass eyes, but once I found the right kind of eyes, I was won over. This in turn, allowed me to give these dolls real eyelashes, something I've always wanted to do, but was unable to due to the shallow surface area of porcelain eyelids. The eyes are tacked on with a sticky gum inside, which means they can be changed fairly easily. The head cap is magnetic and the head is removable from the rest of the body. The doll is strung up with elastic and it articulates and holds poses very well. I am very happy with the quality of resin and the soft, satin glow of the skin.

Tomorrow I'll shoot all my newly painted resin dolls and show you all of it!