Haunting Taxidermy Doll Sculptures by Stefanie Vega Make The Perfect Halloween Post.

Dolls, in general, freak me out. As they do many people. So do clowns, birds, bones and taxidermy. Now, combine all of those and you have the haunting mixed media sculptures of Brooklyn born, now Venice, California-based artist Stefanie Vega.



Dark, detailed and finely crafted, the sculptures are perfectly suited for a Halloween post. Combining bird skulls, bones, talons and animal legs with porcelain doll heads, doll parts and glass eyes, the gothic, macabre sculptures are often in cages or bondage. Victorian wardrobe elements like leather corsets. petticoats, pocket watches, metal grommets and tophats add a little Steampunk edge to them as well.

Here's a look at some of her sculptures which range in price from $150 for the smallest to $2500+

The Task:




King Krow:




The Prisoner of Folly:


The Brat:



Murder Your Darlings:




The Manipulator:



The Dolly Beast:


La Santa De Las Aves:




Dorian Gray:



The Handless Maiden:


The Pin Slave:

"From the tales that left profound impressions in my earliest childhood memories, I began working not only with unwanted doll parts, but with skull & bones & birds. They spoke to me of wanting to tell the bigger story. The dolls we played with as children were the totems of our dreams. Upon them we laid our hopes & fears...upon them we projected our greatest selves.

I was serenaded by haunting lullabies from long ago. So, drawing on an enormous pool of archetypes & folklore & developing characters based on children's literature & faerie tales, a new hybrid was born. I began to write verse in order to share the tales that influenced the work. This rogue taxidermy with discarded porcelain doll parts and accompanying limerick became a cross-breeding of the unexpected & a departure from the familiar.

Like the resurrection of the forgotten they tell the tales from the soul of the world because they jar the collective memory we have of imagery & symbolism. This collection gives voice to an age old doll tradition that insists on singing its own song." -- Stefanie Vega

The Artist, Stefanie Vega:

images courtesy of Bash Contemporary and others from the artist.

Purchase or see more of her work at Bash Contemporary Gallery
You can also purchase directly from the artist here at her online shop.

Stefanie Vega

Adorable Hand Carved Wooden Puppets By Australian Wez Champion.

With initial training and a mentorship in Prague under Puppet master Michaela Bartonova, Wez Champion is establishing himself as a “one of a kind” puppet carver in the Australia. Combining the traditional Czech carving techniques with the unique Australian experience and “heart”, Wez is constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible in wooden puppet building and loves the challenge of custom puppets.

Artists, Fashion Designers and Jewelers Create Custom Dolls For Charity: Frimousses Designers for Darfur.

For the tenth year, UNICEF France's Frimousses Creators bring together the greatest designers, artists and jewelers who put their talent toward helping UNICEF and children worldwide by creating one of a kind dolls that are auctioned with the proceeds going toward vaccinating children in Darfur.

The Most Beautifully Eerie Dolls You've Ever Seen. Mooqla Dolls Get A Makeover.

I first introduced you to the hand made silicone-encased plastic articulated Mooqla dolls by Russian artist Polina Voloshina four years ago. At that time, she had just begun to make the exotically featured featured, fashion forward, macabre, elfin-looking dolls. Featured in that post were her creations from 2006 and 2007, like those shown below.

EARLY MOOQLA DOLLS:



above: the dolls and packaging as they first appeared.

LATER MOOQLA DOLLS:
Beginning in 2008, the dolls' features softened, their cheeks are less gaunt and their eyes are closer together, making them less unique, but more lifelike. They have become less 'creepy' with the addition of faces that have slight and subtle smiles, eye make-up, lipstick and in some cases, freckles.




Gone is the albino skintone and although some still have the turned down mouth -it's more of a pout than a frown. The dolls are now one of a kind with hand crafted heads in a variety of styles topped with all types of hair colors and styles. (To see how she makes them check my first post here). The make-up is painstakingly applied to each original doll and the result are a variety of some of the most eerily beautiful and in some cases, realistic, dolls I've ever seen.

















With their full lips and exotic eyes, some of the dark haired dolls have a striking similarity to Angelina Jolie and NCIS's Pauley Perette:





Some even have freckles like those shown below:


And some have epicanthic folds, making them appear Asian:

Others are uniquely made up as Goths or Robots:



Mooqla doll designer and art director Polina Voloshina:



Sadly, the dolls are no longer sold at an online store, their English website is gone and Art Lebedev Studio, who designed the dolls logo and original identity, does not carry them anymore.

But you can find a few of them at the Dolls Boutique and some of the amazing clothing for them can still be purchased here.
Mooqla.ru