Black-Eyed Suzie Art Dolls and Oddities

Stuffed Cat, Silly Cat

Last weekend, some friends came over for lunch and brought baby M. the most charming little stuffed cat: his name is Serge and he comes from Raplapa, a boutique in Montreal that sells lovely handmade dolls and animals.
They sell their toys at various boutiques throughout North America, Europe and Australia, but you can also buy from them online. Serge is beautifully made (he came with a little story), and these little fellows below are also available: 

Speaking of funny-looking cats, our little black friend got his annual summer haircut, which never gets old.  We do it because his fur is so absurdly thick, it spares him much heat-related misery, but it also happens to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen.     

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might have seen variations on these photos in the past, but I can't resist any more than he can resist climbing into any ridiculously small space.

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Anastacia

I'm the very proud (and lucky!) new owner of a doll by Christine Alvarado, aka. Dubuhdu Designs. I've been following Christine's work for a few years now and it has been fascinating to watch it evolve. As you can see, her dolls are exquisite and her attention to detail makes me quite envious...I've never had the patience for things like beading or handmade flowers, but I'm inspired enough by Anastacia to try.

If you're familiar with Christine's work, you probably know that her dolls fly off the cyber-shelves.  So I feel sooo lucky to have won this lovely girl as part of the recent One World, One Heart event. Christine's was the only draw I entered and I was one of 760 entrants - whoot!! The last time I won something was about ten years ago when I won $400 at bingo in Cape Breton and got lots of dirty looks from the regulars (my stepmom and I were mere dilletantes, giggling away while the numbers were called out and scooping up a pot we hadn't paid into and generally not taking things nearly seriously enough...) 

 
Photo credit (all images): Christine Alvarado

Thank you so much, Christine!

Bisous!

Cara Carmina

I'm stealing a moment while Mr. L has a sleeping M. in the sling to share a favourite dollmaker.  I wanted to get my sweet boy something special, even though he's still a bit young to play with dolls (but not to young to be indoctrinated). And while I've long admired the work of Norma Andreu, aka. Cara Carmina, I finally had an excuse to buy one of her lovely, colourful dolls. (Not that one needs an excuse for dolls!)

This was a custom order, and Norma was such a sweetheart to work with.  You can choose a name you'd like embroidered inside the heart on the doll's shirt (which can also be a star or a cloud).  She also makes adorable girl dolls - I'll be getting one of those next.  And, coincidentally, she lives right here in Montreal - in the neighbourhood right next to mine, in fact.  We agreed that some day when the city isn't buried in snow, we'll get together and talk dolls and fabric...

photo credit: Norma Andreu

Have You Seen My Mojo?

So I've been pretty crap about posting lately, and I won't make a bunch of excuses...I think I just needed a bit of a break.  I've almost almost finished my thesis.  Finally.  My adviser approved it and now I just have to correct typos and a few mechanical problems (apparently, my use of the semi-colon borders on egregious).  I've also been feeling a bit stuck, doll-wise.  A bit uninspired, like I'm treading the same ground over and over while itching to try something new.  The challenge is this: anything new and different takes time, time to experiment and make mistakes and try again.  That means time away from making dolls that are more quickly finished, posted and put in the shop.  So I fear people might start to think, 'Oh, that slovenly Black-eyed Suzie - she never finishes anything!'  and lose interest.  But fear doesn't produce anything interesting or beautiful - one must be brave.  So I'm going to try to be brave, and make something new and thrilling to me and trust that it's the right thing to do even if it might seem impractical.

(photo credit: Ryo Yoshida)

I've blogged before about my interest in ball-jointed dolls, but until now I've always felt like I've had too much going on to commit to the daunting task of actually making one.  Now that school is winding down, I've decided to actually start one and I can't wait!  I've been pouring over Yoshida Style and some other bjd books sent to me from some lovely readers in Australia (Monika & Jayne - you're the best!!)

(photo credit: Julien Martinez)
While I'm fascinated by the structure of traditional bjds, I do sometimes find their faces to be a little too child-like and saccharine for my liking.  Until I came across the work of Ryo Yoshida and Julien Martinez, I hadn't seen faces that really appealed to my aesthetic.  My hope is to use  the bjd form but impart a darker sensibility to the face and clothing.  My ultimate goal is to get a kiln and cast dolls in porcelain. But for now, I must simply begin.  From humble paperclay beginnings she will grow...

I think she's already saying she wants to be named Octavia...

 

(photo credit: Julien Martinez)

Flu Boo Hoo

I've been sick sick sick for a week now and still don't quite have the energy to come transfer my pictures, format, but I don't want to let this baby languish too long so here is a little video by a super-talented artist named Marina Bychkova.  She makes exquisite ball jointed dolls from porcelain, and apparently her dolls get up to some monkey business...

To All the Dolls I've Loved Before

I started doll-making about three years ago when my husband and I moved to rural Maine to live in a trailer in the woods.  I couldn't work because I'm Canadian (we weren't married then) and I couldn't drive 'our'  car because it was a standard and I was a city girl and as far as I was concerned it was a miracle I could drive at all.  So.  I was  stuck in  the (very beautiful) woods for a very looong winter. (This is not where we actually lived, but the zendo nearby.)

Very beautiful indeed, but a girl cannot live on pastoral delight alone.  I had always loved Dame Darcy's comic books, and that same year my husband gave me one of her dolls as a birthday present.  I loved her so much - rather obsessively in fact - that I carried her around from room to room with me for days because so that I could  look at her whenever I wanted.  So began my love affair with handmade dolls.  I had always loved dolls, but this was the first one had I owned as an adult  that was hand-made and I was determined to try it. 

My first attempts were pretty wretched, but  with the help of Susanna Oroyan's lovely books, I slowly got the hang of it.  At first I gave them as gifts, but then I discovered Etsy and opened my little shop, and to my surprise, people started buying them.  This is Phoebe, the first doll I ever sold:

But this post isn't only about me!  I wanted to feature some of the artists who inspire me, and so here is some of their beautiful work. 

This is by Jenny Bird Alcantara, who does incredible things by painting on fabric.  I love the huge, crazy hair (mohair, I suspect) and one of these days I'm definitely going to try some bunny ears...

Because I can never get enough pink, here is a lovely, spooky albino girl by Beth Robinson, whose work is frightening and beautiful and unique.

And now an artist who is so lovely I have to include a picture of her as well as one of her dolls - she looks like a visitor from another era, and as I often feel like I'm from another era myself (although I don't quite  have the nerve to wear bonnets) that always appeals to me.  The divine Ms. Lateefah Wright (and how brilliant is that name?)

Lateefah has a kiln and makes actual porcelain dolls!!  Oh, how I dream of the magic of kilns... This piece is so ethereal and haunting, I had to show it three times:

And finally, to that mad fairy who  started it all, Dame Darcy.  It's hard to find pictures of her dolls  on the web, but I did find

Golden Shoes, a lovely little animated short she did which stars one of her scary-sweet creations  (and some great music.)

Well, I'm off to work one of my own little ladies.  I should be doing school-work, but my brain is still recovering from reading/ thinking about/ writing about/ talking about Ulysses for eight hours yesterday.  I don't think I could muster a single coherent thought if I tried!