My Hester Prynne Art Doll Published in Somerset Studio Art Doll Quarterly!!

http://www.artdollquarterly.com/http://www.artdollquarterly.com/ Hester Prynne art doll by m.diaz

That Doll Has Been Named and the winner is....

Congrats to the following Amarettogirl Blog Readers: Alexis and Blue Demon- Your suggestions have become a part of the naming of this doll!

meet Alma Destripada named by Amarettogirl Blog readers Alexis & Blue Demon and me!

I used your contributions as diving boards for her final name selection. Alma does indeed mean "Soul" is Spanish, Alexis and Blue Demon suggested pairing it with 'Partida' which means broken in Spanish, so after considering a pairing like that, I decided DESTRIPADA was more accurate to my intention (since it means to gut the internal organs of an animal in Spanish). And well that was just much more what I was after. And now you get to see what is in place of her heart!

Time is the culprit here, repetitive, man-made, industrial TIME. It has ripped her heart out and left her to wait in ruins for what feels like an eternity....

Also thank you to all who contributed so many amazing options! It made choosing so so so so hard, runner ups were Clotilde and Melan Chloe. I even had some blog-comments-gone-awry-turned-texts reach me via my cell suggesting awesome names like 'Orla'! SO WINNERS! You don't just get your username in blog lights here, you get a photo of Alma!! (signed if you like). So if you want to claim it contact me via the contact button! and runner ups you get my constant love and devotion!!

Help Me Name that Doll!

Empty locket soon to have clockworks

Ok so I'm a little late with this post, but I just designed, and produced a whole artistically-altered clothing line called LITTLE RED WOLF (be sure to return this week to learn more about that!) and I am just finishing up filling a major west coast order for some bunny pencil cases! So I think I'm entitled.
NEVERTHELESS here is my soul-gutted girl without a name!
I'm currently working on her chest locket where her heart used to be and it will be getting a clockworks (the inside of an old watch) and her ripped out heart will now reside in a little birdcage that she will soon begin to carry around...her only saving grace is the bird that used to live in the cage where her heart now lives is finally free (perched high outside the cage.)

So now that you know all there is to know I'm taking suggestions and ideas for a clever name that invoke her soul-gutted state....Please leave a comment and help me name her!

my soul gutted doll with unfinished boot her heart is now an empty locket but it will soon have a clockworks inside...because its all about time face detail she has set in tears and tracks...

Meeting and Working with Doll Artist & and Teacher Lillian Alberti

Doll Artist Lillian Alberti

Thanks to my good friend Manon,whose birthday gift to herself was a doll-making class this past October- I got to meet doll artist and teacher Lillian Alberti. Knowing my long-time interest in doll-making, Manon told me about the class at Boces and invited me to tag along with her and share in the experience. I am very grateful to Manon or I would have never met Lillian and learned about her accessibility via workshops.

Unfortunately, the class at Boces was only three Saturday mornings long and I had to travel out of the country (to Oaxaca, Mexico) during the very last session, so I was left to complete my doll on my own. As you will see I only got up to stage two with my class and teacher.

Nevertheless, meeting Lillian Alberti was SUPER inspiring and the two short classes I had were enough to ignite and unleash a pretty palpable creative firestorm inside me.

One of LIllian Alberti's work in progress dolls that I got to meet during my second class.

About Lillian, she graduated from Parsons School of Design with a BFA in Fashion Design, and worked extensively in the fashion industry as both a designer and illustrator, before beginning her venture into Art Dolls. She has a wonderful story of being so affected and lured into art doll-making by a moment in time when she passed by Van Craig sculptural dolls and his art in a Tiffany window display while walking around NYC. Now if you have never seen Van Craig work - you are in for a super treat and should click here: VAN CRAIG. Furthermore, like me, Lillian is a LATINA! So on so many levels she was her Van Craig to me!!

my first clay doll teacher Lillian Alberti in class with her work in progress doll

My mind was set from the beginning that my doll would be a sad, sullen girl - this I knew.

So check out my early stages and as my students told me all along the way the images can be freaky...

Stage one photo and doll by m.diazStage two of my doll Stage three - Beginning the Painting photo and doll by M.Diaz

So having made dolls before and truly enjoying the spirit of allowing a narrative to develop between me, the process and the matter (which in this case of art-making is the doll), I allowed much to be developed intuitively as I went. I also based much of my artistic design choices on where my heart was at that moment.

So right around stage three (painting the doll) I decided (or she decided) that the surface treatment of an antique wooden puppet doll would suit her best and that she perhaps made her living in a Cirque du Soleil kind of way- performing for others and wearing a daily covering of clown make-up...and that maybe there had been a build up.
As a former clown, she at one time or another had done a lot of smiling before everything went sour. The way I imagined that her life had come undone and gone black of course was in matters of the heart. And so I used some glazing and inks,stains, and shellac instead of paint to get the effect I wanted. I also couldn't help noticing that the tears were doing a real number on her makeup and that her current outward face was a fusion between that old life and this new one.

paint jobpaint job and beginning of soul gutted process detail shot SO COME BACK here this week to see the finished doll..she has been soul-gutted has had her heart ripped out (and is living somewhere else in another vessel of sorts) with only a clock works of time existing in her chest now...AND HELP ME NAME HER!!!!! I will be asking in the next blog post for help as you get to know and see her - I would love your ideas, comments and when I finally have it narrowed down to top five we will take a vote!! So I hope to see you back here!