Bemasked

I have had a fascination with masks for quite awhile. I like masquerade masks, leather masks, painted masks, all sorts of masks. I don't really ever wear them. I just like them. Lately I have been painting dolls with masked faces. It is fun for me. It unleashes my doodlebug. I have always liked to draw squiggly lines and hearts and flowers and that sort of thing.

I spent most of the 4th and 5th grade in elementary school doing just that. Oh, and making paperdolls. Another form of doodling for me. The past couple of weeks I have been working on a skull mask (calavera) Blythe. I didn't want her to be depressing or scary exactly. I wanted her to be colorful. What better way to emphasize color than on a white mask background? So, her face got painted white. I then set to doodling.

My good friend Jean Yates agreed to do the jewelry for me. What's a doll without jewelry, I ask you? This one has some really fabulous things. Earrings (3, for her 3 ear piercings), 3 necklaces, 2 I strung together as a waist decoration, a butterfly pullcharm, and even some little beads at the tops of her shoes. Her name is Esmeralda. Esmeralda will be up for sale on Ebay on Sunday, December 10 at 7 PM PST. Please stop by and have a look if you are interested. The other photos are other masked girls I have been having fun creating. Hope I don't scare you. It's all in color and fun :)

Aye Calypso

This is Calypso, Sea Goddess, captor and lover of Odysseus. This is a OOAK Blythe collaboration doll between me and Amy Taylor



She was a really fun doll to do. She was originally a Simply Lilac. I gave her a mohair reroot in about 5 different shades of blue, green and black. She has a velvet gown that is halter styled and drops down over the hips in a frond-like pattern, bellowing out in voluminous blue and green tulle.



Her jewels are by Amy. She has a sterling silver trident, a fish armband, and a crown with 2 shades of fresh water pearls. Her pull charms are sea glass and silver with pearl. She has a silver-plate caviar dish throne with lime green velvet beaded cushions.



She left today to be her new owner. Aye, aye, Calypso. Gentle seas.

A Passion for Pastry

A Passion for Pastry

The Queen of Hearts
Devoted to tarts,
She eats them every day.
She dreams of sweets
And delicate treats
They make her heart sashay.
She spends her days
On her velveteen chaise
Cake after cake she'll devour
A pie to her lips
As her heartbeat skips
When passion overrules willpower.



Introducing Charlotte Russe, the Queen of Hearts. She's a sweet little royal with a rather impressive weakness for sweets and other tasty treats. Puddings, pies, tarts and truffles. She can't get enough. She keeps her servants hopping. Her discerning taste allows only the sweetest, most sublime of morsels to pass her lips. Spending her days lolling about on her heart-shaped pink velvet loveseat, silver tongs in one hand for daintily selecting pastries from her silver tray, she rules over her kingdom with her stunning bejeweled scepter in the other hand.



Besides being royal, beautiful, and possessing impeccable tastebuds, she possesses a genetic flaw passed on from her mother, the former Queen of Hearts, Charlotte Royale. The more sweets she eats, the plumper her lips seem to get. It's true! Her figure is flawless. She won't gain a pound. But her lips, pudding filled and sumptuous as they are, just get plumper and plumper as she snacks. We think it's the dollops of whipped cream she attaches to every bite. Whatever the case, she's a lovely girl; the perfect package really.



Her jewels are divine, her dress simply dazzling. She is a perfect work of art idling her days on her pillow-topped lounger. She's a queen, indeed. We hope you will love her as much as we do.



The Queen of Hearts is the flagship doll for a collaboration project between my good friend and silversmith extraordinaire, Amy Taylor and me. We are calling our project Sweet Temptations. Charlotte is the first doll in our collaboration, with the hope that this is just the beginning. We both love Blythe. We both love fine things. We are so excited to be showing off our first collaborative OOAK piece. She's up on Ebay until December 13, 2011.