button jointed doll

“Self portrait with hand earrings”

Autorretrato con aretes de manos, Frida Kalho,  1940 There she was, looking at us proud of herself and her accomplishments as artist, but still hurt because her personal life was not what she wanted. Frida paints both her success and pain in a single image. Ahi esta Frida, orgullosa de si misma y de su …

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Self portrait as tehuana, or Diego in my thoughts

Autorretrato como tehuana o Diego en mis pensamientos, Frida Kalho, 1943 This particular portrait is among my favorites, Frida’s work reveals maturity and mastery of the medium, we have to remember she was a self made artist, who learned from experience rather than instructors or formal education. Often she followed her husband’s technical advice, later …

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Self portrait with thorn necklace and dead hummingbird

Self portrait with thorn necklace and dead hummingbird/Autorretrato con collar  de espinas y colibri muertoFrida Kalho, 1940 This painting is very impressing, it talks about Frida facing divorce, loneliness, and physical pain; later she remarried Diego Rivera in December 1940. Also is one of very few where she paints herself in frontal position, most of …

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Autorretrato con monos

Self portait with monkeys, 1943 / Autorretrato con monos, 1943 This was one of the 5 pictures I chose for making a Frida Kalho doll -with monkey dolls-. She painted herself in the company of four monkeys, for Frida they stand for polygamy. Her husband Diego cheated on her frequently, and she paid him with …

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The Frida Series

I started thinking about the possibility of making dolls out of paintings. The first one I did was the Frida Kalho painting “The two Fridas” . The dolls were separated and are now in private collections in Mexico, they did not stay together, sometimes life is like that. I went on making the next dolls, Fridas, of course, I …

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Cloth and Clay

I had a doll living in my mind for 3 years. She came real just 5 months ago, when I started actually making her. To start with, I made her head in rock clay. This step took me nearly 2 months. Tuve una muneca en mente por 3 anios, apenas se volvio real hace 5 …

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AN ANGEL IS BACK

 I became fascinated with clay dolls, and started making them out of that feeling of amazement, serenity, and wonder that I get every time I see one. Clay dolls are something between fine sculpture and playthings, they reminded me of those clay dolls made by ancient people from Egypt, Italy, Greece, Germany, Brazil. We humans, …

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CRUSADER DOLLS, THE LAST CHAPTER

It took me months to figure out how I was going to make shields. Finally we (my quality control manager and I) got a solution, and we made very strong, sturdy shields following the traditional technique of paper-mache plus air-dry clay. Me tomo meses el encontrar una manera de hacer los escudos. Finalmente mi jefe de …

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Crusader Dolls Part IV

Yeah, they are back, and they are ALMOST done. These guys got their helmets and clothes! Si, han regresado, y CASI estan listos. Ya tienen cascos y ropa! Hospitaller Knight/Caballero Hospitalario English Knight/Caballero Ingles Templar’s helmet/Casco templario I finished the helmets in 3 steps, letting the paper clay dry between stages, it is easier. The …

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Crusader Dolls Part III

This week I was working with paper-clay, it is very interesting what one can do with it, the only thing that hits my nerves is the fact that it is necessary to wait until it is dry for certain things. Really it is a way of mastering patience. I worked on the crusaders’ helmet and …

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