Princess Leia

In the past, whenever I get requests to paint a Star Wars set, Princess Leia was hardly ever included. I never really put up a stink since all the Star Wars characters are always a treat to paint, but every now and again, I’d have to restrain myself from adding an extra Princess Leia character into a set. Imagine my unbridled joy when I was asked to paint an entire set of dolls devoted to the Princess herself! It starts with her in her New Hope buns to her as the formidable General with several choice looks in-between. I was in seventh heaven while painting this set!

There was no question that the buns had to be sourced and made…just painting them on would not do at all. As a packed rat I had originally thought I did have the necessary fibers to make the buns, but once I discovered it was the wrong shade, I did a desperate search to find the exact color. Several alpaca farms I contacted did not respond to my emails, thinking it was a joke because I was a bit too specific about the color. Luckily for me I found Luba at http://www.handcraftedgifts.net.au whose wares have saved me from further headaches!

This set of Leia dolls features the Princess kicking ass and taking names starting with the white hooded dress look from New Hope, as well as the gown from the awards ceremony at the very end. Then it’s onto her Hoth outfit from Empire Strikes Back, followed by the Burgundy dress from Cloud City. Return of the Jedi look features her as a Bounty Hunter and of course the very famous Slave Dancer gold bikini which fueled the dreams of many a fanboy (and girl). Last but not least we have General Leia Organa because, hey, an army rank has more gravitas!

 

 

Spirited Away Revisited

Every so often I enjoy making a “shake-’em-out” nesting doll set. I am able to utilize all the loose dolls rolling around in my drawers and I am allowed a certain amount of freedom not dictated by dimensional restrictions.

My mother had introduced me to the spectacular Studio Ghibli animation when it was still only popular in Asia. My favorite had been “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” followed by “My Neighbor Totoro.” It wasn’t until I sat down and bawled my eyes out watching “Graveyard of the Fireflies” that I realized even with Kiki and Totoro, these animated movies are not meant to be lighthearted fares. “Castle in the Sky,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” so on and so fourth are all deeply significant in their own rights. I found a lot of it be rather upsetting as it talked a lot about the impact humans have on the environment with an air of hopelessness about it…that is, until I saw “Spirited Away.” To me that is the only Studio Ghibli movie which did not leave me feeling sad in the end.

Since my life has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride at the moment and I’m sitting on the cusp of yet another great change, I felt compelled to do another shake ’em up set and the subject naturally fell upon one movie that always gave me so much hope and comfort. In this version of Spirited Away I got to revisit some of the old favorite characters I’d painted previously and I included some new ones.

Among the new characters are Kamaji the spider man who works in the boiler room and Yubird who nests inside Yubaba doll. The Kashira heads are all loose and ready for some interesting configurating.

In addition to Boh, I made Boh as a mouse. I couldn’t decide whether or not to paint Haku as a dragon and ended up doing both on the same doll.

Lin is a new addition because I liked her character so much. She reminds me of some of the teachers I used to work with, hard bitten on the outside but quite kind on the inside and I always managed to win them over by challenging myself to make them laugh at least once a day.

I really enjoyed making the soot sprites and their “food” and was happy this set allows me to make more.