The Divine Dynasty

Every now and then I like to shake things up so I’m always on the look out for new and unusual nesting doll-related objects. I had my eyes on this particular set for a really long time now but I never got a chance to really think about what I could do with it. But like all things, if you leave a nagging problem well enough alone long enough, you’ll eventually come up with a solution. After watching my neighbor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Divine the first drag superstar, parade in and out of her house in myriad of outfits in just one day, it hits me. I should paint Divine in some of her more memorable costumes!

This white gown IRL is prominently featured in the Divine Museum, which I’d been salivating over ever since I saw photos of it. Whilst creating it, I realized, to my horror, that the skirt I made was a blinding shade of white and didn’t go with the dress at all. I dug through my fabric chest and unearthed the leftover tulle from my wedding garb, which was a preferable shade of off-white, did some ironing and mixed it in with the bleached teeth shade of white tulle and thus all is once again well with the world.

Unlike the traditional nesting dolls, this one opens up to reveal three individual dolls, all of them are a fun sized 2.5″. It’s still large enough for me to make a little wig for the Babs doll but I fear that the ones after these ones might be a bit problematic. I decided to feature Divine from movies such as “Pink Flamingos,” “Female Trouble,” and “Polyester.”

Well, I said to myself, I have to tools, I have the technology…well, mainly just the tools really, and got to work on these guys. I had to trim off a bit more hair off my .0000 brush in order to get the eyeliner down. As for the Babs dolls, a bit of clay and a toothpick did the trick just fine.

It’s a miracle I didn’t lose these dolls I like normally do!

And there you have it. I may have to try this one again!

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The Room

When Tommy Wiseau decided to turn a script he wrote into a movie, “The Room” propelled itself to the Worst-Movie-Ever-Made Stratosphere and received the kind of cult status that can only make the viewers believe that you should never let normality stand in the way of your dreams. I loved “The Room” in all its horrific glory, the book “The Disaster Artist” about the making of the movie by one of its co-stars, and I’m sure I would really enjoy the new James Franco movie based on the book when it hits the theaters!

There are far too many random characters in this movie to make it into this set, but here are the five definitive characters to start with: Johnny, Oh Hi Mark, Johnny’s Future Wife Lisa, Denny, and of course, Lisa’s Mom Claudette, whose cancer was only mentioned once in the film but quickly forgotten as the drama and melee ensues.

Who knows? One day I’ll get around to adding Chris R and Michelle and Michelle’s boyfriend and Peter and that other guy who replaced Peter halfway into the film…

Super Mega Big Lebowski Dolls

Growing up, I was obsessed with Broadway shows and would draw every character, down to members of the chorus, from the performances I loved. How I never managed to do the same with nesting dolls is beyond me, since I do have a drawer filled with loose dolls that can easily be cobbled together to reflect an entire cast from “Hair” or “Assassins” or “Sweeney Todd” or “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I did have in mind to paint every little critter from “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” but it would be one of those projects that will take forever and a day to knock out.

And then I got a request to paint the entire cast of “The Big Lebowski.” We’re talking the core cast, the secondary cast, the extras, and even a couple of inanimate objects featured prominently in the film. How can I pass this up? I am beyond thrilled to bring this to life!

Set Number One:

This one features The Dude, Jackie Treehorn, Woo the Thug, Francis Donnelly the funeral home director, Younger Cop, Lebowski’s Chauffeur, and Bunny Lebowski’s severed toe with the green nail polish.

Set Number Two:

Here we’ve got Walter, Bunny, Liam (Jesus’ lackey), Dafino, Nihilist’s girlfriend, and porn actress Asia Carrera who appeared in the film as herself playing “Sherry” in “Logjammin’.”

Set Number Three:

Donny with his In-N-Out Burger, Nihilist #1 with the marmot, Marty the Landlord, Malibu Sheriff, Tony the Chauffeur, and the cashier girl in the opening scene.

Set Number Four:

Maude in her “painting harness,” Nihilist #2, Knox Harrington, Maude’s thugs, Saddam Hussein, and the doctor tending to The Dude.

Set Number Five

This is one of my favorite sets because of the wheelchair on Jeffery Lebowski. It also featured Brandt, Little Larry Sellers, Impound Lot Cop, the cabbie who hauled The Dude out of his taxi, and the Older Cop we came out to interview him.

Set Number Six:

The Stranger, Nihilist #3, Smokey, one of the showgirls in the dream sequence, coffee shop waitress, and Gary the Bartender.

Set Number Seven:

This one features Jesus Quintana, The Autobahn Group, Blonde Treehorn Thug upon discovering that The Dude wasn’t, in fact, the Jeffery Lebowski they were after, the Corvette owner who came out to beat up The Dude and Walt after they destroyed his Corvette, Pilar, Larry Sellers’ housekeeper, and the Stacks Pancake House waitress.

Set Number Eight:

This one was a lot of fun to make because it features Arthur Sellers in an iron lung, Dream Sequence Dude, the bowling pro who played an extra in the movie, the REAL Jeffery “The Dude” Lebowski, and the coffee can filled with Donny’s ashes.

Last but not least…

  

It’s a bit daunting seeing all these dolls out on display like this, but I’ve had about four months to work on it. Thank you, Mitch! This was a blast!

Batman: Heroes Vs. Villains

Talk about a blast from the past! When I was given a choice between painting all the different actors who’d played Batman or just the characters from the old Batman TV show, I immediately went for the latter. Are you kidding me? I was obsessed with the old Batman reruns when I was a kid. I remember rushing home each day from school just so I could watch a show which I hadn’t, during my formative years, regarded as campy at all. It was all kinds of illicit too because, as a latchkey kid, I was entrusted with the responsibility of doing my homework and practicing the piano in my parents’ absence. Instead, my afternoons were filled with a mixture of cartoons such as “He-Man” and “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers” (yes, I realize they’re all very male-centric. I had an older brother and one TV set. Choices were limited in such circumstances), followed by some great live action shows such as “Batman” and later “Wonder Woman.” This might explain why my grades were poor and that my piano playing didn’t amount to much, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d choose TV over good grades any day!

The “Heroes” set features: Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and of course, Alfred.

Let’s not forget the Villains, which is: Penguin, Joker, The Riddler, and of course, Catwoman. Meowr!

Rosemary’s Baby

This is one of my all-time favorite horror movies: Rosemary’s Baby. It was filmed so that it’s basically a moving picture version of the novel by Ira Levin.

This set features Rosemary, Guy Woodhouse, and their creepy witchy neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet. I pop this movie on whenever I feel a little homesick because I used to work across the street from The Dakota.

The Goonies

How’s this for a 80’s nostalgia? The Goonies!

This set features Sloth, Chunk, Data, Mouth, and Mikey. Boy, painting this set brought me back. My childhood was all about biking all around town and getting into all sorts of trouble. Even though I grew up in Flushing Queens, there’s the Fresh Meadows Park nearby that kind of gives the illusion of being in the wild if you ignore the traffic noise and the diesel fumes while you’re pretending to hunt of prehistoric animals or treasures in there. It was as good a childhood as one could get growing up in New York City. Years later, when I was teaching kindergarten in Manhattan, I was shocked and sadden to find that one of my favorite kids didn’t know what a forest was. Luckily in second grade they’re taken on field trips to Alley Pond Park, which was also near where I grew up so I was mollified.

Manos: The Hands of Fate (Revisited)

I have so many projects sitting on the back burner that it’s threatening to topple over. Fortunately, there are always people out there somehow psychically linked to what I have in mind giving me a little push.

That said, one of those projects is to create a larger version of Manos: Hands of Fate, one of the most horrifically awful movies ever made. I’ve made the first one in a smaller size as a joke because I’d enjoyed watching the MST3K version so much. It was also a movie I showed to someone on a first date, which explains why I didn’t usually get a second date. In any case, the Manos sets were not something I can whip up in a day because of all the components that goes into it, namely the creation of the Master’s robe, so I never really gave the larger size a go.

Then I got a lovely email from one of the actresses from the movie: Jackey Neyman Jones, daughter of Tom Neyman, who played the Master. I knew from other Manos fans that she is making a sequel to Manos and also that her father had only recently passed away, which had upset me to a degree only a true Manos fan can understand. In short, I found her so delightful that I thought this was a sign, that I need to finally buckle down and create a large Manos set and she would be the first to receive it. Just to give me another kick in the pants, Jackey had sent me a copy of her book: “Growing Up with Manos” all the way to Australia!

Thanks, Jackey! I can’t wait to see the sequel!

Fifth of May

A Whole New (Doctor Who) World

I love doing Doctor Who sets largely because my version consists of 3D printed Tardis as the first doll. A while back I did a massive set with all the Doctors so I was glad to switch it up this time to include other key players in the series:

Once again, this is a double set. #1 features David Tennant with Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, and River Song. #2 consists of Matt Smith, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, and the War Doctor.

Outlander In the Wild

I always knew there’s a reason why I love Thanksgiving so much. In the beginning it’s all about the gluttonous aspect of this holiday. But lately, I am starting to appreciate the main reason why there’s a day set aside for being thankful. It’s becoming so that I want every day to be Thanksgiving, but not only because I do like a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I am so thankful for so many things in my life and just acknowledging that once a year is not enough.

The greatest thing I’m thankful for is the people who have the faith in having me paint their favorite obsession in doll form. I love communicating with them and brainstorming ideas and coming up with something I hope they will cherish for a very long time. And, this is something I never expected, sometimes they take their dolls out into the wild and have the person(s) I painted autograph it!

These are the two mega Outlander sets I made for Lindsey of SoCal Outlander group, who had the foresight to bring it to the Seattle Comic Con to show to the two leads, Sam Heughan and Caitriona Belfe. She even got them to look as though their side hustle is hawking BoBo Babushka dolls in this pic!

This is just as exciting as another customer had brought her set to a tea with Diana Gabaldon, creator of the Outlander books and have her pose with it!

No matter how tedious my day is, or dealing with all sorts of tomfoolery perpetrated by my completely insane neighbors, I am still thankful and grateful that I get to live the kind of life I’ve always wanted and that it’s exceeded beyond my expectations.