New Home New Attitude!

I haven’t gone into it much on this blog, but for several years I’ve been extremely stressed out by my surrounding neighbors’ shenanigans. It became such a toxic environment to be in that I was actually thrilled when my landlady informed us that she’d sold the house we were living in to a developer. That in itself was a bit of a nightmare due to the fact our rental agency hadn’t bothered to inform us a complete and thorough demolition was scheduled when we were still living on the property but luckily my husband was savvy enough to suss things out before a wrecking ball came swinging into our living room!

But the Great Organizer of the Universe was truly looking after us because we found the perfect house in a perfect little neighborhood that was reminiscent of the one I grew up in 10,000 miles away and a perfect suburb that I’m loving more and more each day. Let’s face it, all that waterfront view was wasted on someone who prefer a bit more mountain and forest than sea and surf.

Granted, my new studio is so much smaller than the old one, but the view from my new window was almost identical to the one I left behind at my parents’ old home in Queens, NY. It means nothing to no one else, but it feels like I have a little piece of home back and I absolutely love it.

But the most remarkable thing of all, posted right outside the entryway into my street is this:

I suppose I’ll have to schedule some early morning walks now so I can run into one of these critters!

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Ladies, Hold onto Your Meng!

Every now and again I get emails from boyfriends who are clearly gunning for “Beau of the Year” award. I give them props for treating their ladies right by asking me to paint  highly customized sets of dolls as gifts. My own husband would shake his head in wonder when I mention these requests and state that he would never, in a million years, think to ask someone to make me something from the depths of their souls. Too much work and thought goes into these things, you see. He’s happy to order me an extra cable for my iphone off ebay for $2.50. I take what I can. At least he doesn’t think to give me a sack of snail pallets like my friend got from her husband for Christmas one year…and not ironically either.

These are some sets that I’ve been asked to paint. My hat off to any man who took the time out to write thoughtful emails describing their girlfriends, find just the right photo references for me to use, and answer any subsequent questions I have (of which there are many) and being all around nice and enthusiastic throughout the whole process.

This one was all kinds of fun to paint largely because of that awesome Enid Coleslaw hair and the Metallica tee.

This mini Life Aquatic set was for a young lady whose beau saw her as part of the Belafonte crew. She might not be able to become one in real life, but in doll form, why not?

Of course her hat would be customized just like the rest of the crew!

This guy was a real sweet heart. Painting this set was a breeze as I got tons of descriptions for each doll. At the end of the session I felt as though I knew all of them personally.

Great job, guys! Hope your ladies appreciate you as much as I do!

Nightmare Before Christmas

When I was asked to paint this set, I thought about saying no, but only for about a second. “Nightmare Before Christmas” was one of my favorite movies and I wasn’t sure if I could do it justice. The characters all have very distinctive shapes to them that I didn’t think it would translate very well on nesting dolls. But I liked a good challenge now and again and here it is:

Left to right: Oogie Boogie, The Mayor of Hallowee Town, Sally, Dr. Finkelstein, Jack Skellington, and Zero.

Some details:

Sally’s vision of the Christmas tree before it was burned to smithereens.

Jack’s snowflake.

Oogie Boogie’s snake-filled dice.

The two faces of the Mayor.

Zero with a little jack-o-lantern for a nose.

Megahex

A few weeks ago I received a really nice email from a really nice young man inquiring about my work. Since my interaction with people outside my sweatshop is exceptionally limited, I enjoy these occasional emails. One thing led to another, and I found myself firing up the newest addition to Casa BoBo Babushka and 3D printed a witch’s hat. Why? Because I was asked to make the awesome characters from the most excellent stoner webcomic collection “Megahex” by the excellent Simon Hanselmann.

I always feel some misgivings about emulating other people’s art work in doll form, but as this was to be gifted to Mr. Hanselmann himself, I figured it’s all right.

As this was a bit of a rush job, I didn’t get a chance to take a proper photo. There were edits made on this one, but the idea is more or less there.

This set features Megg, a drug addicted witch, her cat Mogg, and their friends Werewolf Jones and Owl. I also kicked in a tiny dime bag of (pretend) weed for good measure. Definitely not a set for children!

(Close up of Megg and her magnificent nose)

“What’s Your Damage, Heather?”

As I currently have a little time on my hands, I’m devoting part of a work week and most weekends to painting some items on my wish list. It’s actually a mile long, but I’m determined to slowly and systematically tick each and every single one off!

The first one is a teenage angst fave, dark comedy “Heathers.” I remember my best friend (also coincidentally named Irene) would come round to my house and we’d insert the VHS tape into the machine and watch some mean girls in action. That whole high school hierarchy thing was lost on us since she went to an enormous Catholic high school where I pictured massive hallways with kids sort of milling about, looking lost and not really knowing anyone else due to its size. I myself attended the much smaller High School of Art and Design where everyone basically knew each other but were too focused on the latest release of a new Marvel comic (or, for weeks at one point, mourning the death of Superman) to appoint anyone as Queen Bee or allowed themselves to be ordered about. Either that, or we were just really nice kids. Despite it all, we loved “Heathers.” It might be because someone in the film tried to blow the school up in the end.

The core cast of “Heathers,” featuring (from left to right) JD, Heather Duke, Heather Chandler, Heather McNamara, and of course, Veronica Sawyer.

Here’s Heather Duke with her copy of “Moby Dick.” I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe a high school girl’s favorite book is that particular Herman Melville classic. Then again, my favorite tome in high school had been “A Confederacy of Dunces” so…

And here is also Heather Chandler’s Scrunchie of Power.

Here’s JD with his murder weapons of choice. I thought about throwing a bundle of dynamites too, but that’s overkill, don’t you think?

Since things are a bit of a zoo here at the ol’ Babushka sweatshop, I have a kid helping me out with the prep work. I don’t know whether or not he’s keeping this part time gig a secret because it’s really not cool to mention that you paint dolls to your buddies and potential paramour. But I realized, much to my chagrin, that the majority of the dolls I have painted are quite violently accessorized. That should add about an ounce of “cool” factor into this type of work for a teenage boy.

This “Heathers” set will be winding its way to the Pygmy Hippo Shoppe in a few days and will also be available as a made-to-order item in my etsy shop.

World’s Smallest Commercial

As some of you might know, Emi of the World’s Smallest Whacky Gift Shoppe in LA has graciously allowed Bobo Babushka dolls to be on display there for the past 2 years or so. It’s on one of my top 10 places to visit if I should ever get a chance to leave the confines of LAX during my layovers.

If I ever set foot in there, Emi’s going to have to forcibly push me out. No doubt.

The Pygmy Hippo Shoppe has made a commercial, which is hysterical. I’m beyond thrilled to see that one of the BoBo sets was featured in a scene!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf7KYUtm1MM

If you’re in the LA area, pay Emi and the Pygmy Hippo Shoppe a visit!

Workaholics

Although I’ve never had a job which required me to sit all day in a cubicle, I can definitely identify with these guys. One of my first jobs was making signs at Kate’s Paperie in the sub-basement level of the now defunct flagship store and it’s actually a lot worse than working in a cubicle. For one thing, my office mates included a family of rats that would make off with my sandwiches before I could say “scat!”

This outrageous comedy show features (clockwise from bottom) Adam, Der, and Blake, who is my favorite due to the fact that we have basically the same sort of hair and that he owns a bear coat.

Seriously, will you mess with someone who shows up to work in that get up?

Speaking of workaholics, I’ve been putting in some insane hours at the ol’ sweatshop for the past few months. I suppose giving people unique gifts this year for the holidays is all the rage. I’m glad to be a part of their Christmas surprise, but I do like a little time off to catch up on some sleep or eat a proper cooked meal. I watched my neighbor tasking her son with errands while she sat with a refreshing beverage in her hand and rued the fact that I don’t have children/minions of my own to relieve some of my workload. She very nicely volunteered her son to work for me—which is turning out to be the best idea ever to arise during an alcohol-fueled afternoon!

Look at this kid go prepping my dolls for painting. My own workspace is nowhere as tidy or innovative.

Kelli and Kyle

No, I don’t know them personally, but I did enjoy painting this double set for Kelli and Kyle’s impending nuptials.

Cara, their wonderful friend who’s asked me to paint this set, told me about the Korean wedding ducks, which I had the bride and groom holding.

I think my favorite part of this set is incorporating Cara’s face into Kelli’s bouquet and Kyle’s boutineer.

On a happy note, we’re all moved in into our brand new home. Same address, but slightly different neighbors and a totally different view! The Hubs and I are sprucing up the place slowly but surely, but he made an effort to set up my sweatshop first, as I am usually not as grumpy when I have a paintbrush in my hand.

Here’s a tiny peek of the top of my new work table. But of course I had to have my little mascot up there cheering me on!

Fashion Icons

I was asked to paint some fashionable ladies who inspired a fashion line based in Seattle. Why not? I might have to change my outfit several times before going out to the Hubs’ adamant requests, but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate good fashion.

Here’s Tilda Swinton, Patti Smith, and Gwen Stefani.

Here’s some detail on Gwen’s jacket.

After clipping a few more hairs from my .0000 brush, I’m able to ruin my eyesight even further.

As You Wish

I don’t know about anyone else, but every time I watch “The Princess Bride,” I always half expect a couple of Muppets to come out and do a little song and head bob number. Yes, it’s THAT kind of movie.

Fezzik, played by the awesome Andre the Giant.

Princess Buttercup

Unfortunately I owned no silver floral doodads in my Hoarder’s pile, so I ended up painting in her crown instead of making a little one as it should’ve been…

Westley

Inigo Montoya, played by Mandy Patinkin. I couldn’t take his role on “Homeland” seriously because of this movie.

…and of course, Vizzini and his cup o’ poison.