It has been a while....

Hello dear reader and doll friends~

I know it has been *forever* since I did a post or did anything else with my dolls. let me explain a little bit what happened.

Last summer I was intensely working with the doll making and I became very ill. I was spending so many hours on my shop that I did not realised how much cost that was.It injured my health and part of my doll making process. I developed an allergy from the plaster. I thought it was the porcelain but the plaster was hurting me badly .

Meanwhile, I hit a wall with my doll process. I normally work with different things to *clear my mind* and instead to do that I was focusing solo on the PD . My mind stop working and I did not have the results that I really want to.

I then decided that I need to set aside and do something else, not knowing IF i would continually do this or not.

Well.... it took me a while but my mind finally cleared up. I feel very refreshed and ready to create.BUT I still have a problem\- mold making.

Such a simple answer and even that I could not see it.....

I have decided to find help. I did make the master mold for the hands and I have several heads ready too but all the new body parts needs the master mold.

i am currently looking for companies to make them for me. Once I have the master I can make more master from it because is easy and it does not take that much time but to make the master mold , it takes me many many hours because I am a little neurotic about it in been just right.
I like to take my parts out and to look almost done ... very clean ... and that takes a perfect mold.

Thank you for not giving up on me and PD. Let's see if I can find a good mold making company to make may molds so I can start making the dolls again.
Final note :
I don't plan to massive make these dolls.... Those of you that have emailed me and asked about it, you will be notified as soon as i have dolls available. I still don't know what I want to do but I can tell you that I do NOT ( at this time) want to make ONLY this dolls and spent all my time just doing that so the result will be less dolls but I will guarantee you that only my best work will be sold.

Thank you again!
Patricia
ps. I did a pour on my hands to see how it turn out.... I LOVE IT!*grin*

Click on picture to see enlarged.

Patitadolls in DollReader Magazine

Today I received a copy for the DollReader Magazine , October issue and what so honored to see that Isabella was published there. It is very exciting and I am very happy for it!

In a footnote, my new dolls are VERY different than the Isabella and Alexa that you already know. It has been taking so long because it does require time and effort to create these dolls specially new ones but also because I have re-done my prototype several times to perfect the new bodies. Soon, I will be showing you Isabella and Alexa with new bodies, face paintings and a new doll. Sophia is on my list too. I never finished her mold because I was unhappy with one of her ears and I got started on the new bodies before I had the chance to re-sculpt the ear and make her mold but I am hoping to have her ready before the holidays orders. Okay- back to work!

Patitadolls is Officially in Print!

I am so excited to announce that Patitadolls has been published in the November issue of Dolls Magazine. I feel truly honored for having such an article done over me and my "girls"!
The digital edition of the magazine is available online at http://www.dollsmagazine.com/ .
This past July, while at the Atlanta Doll Show, I had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting Carie Ferg ,editor-in-chief of Doll Magazine. She surprised me with the request of having a video interview! This video can also be viewed along with the digital magazine.
I was unable to download the pdf. file, so I printed and scanned the article and added it below. It's in an enlarged format, so hopefully it will be easy to read:) Otherwise, I will try to figure out another way to show you the article, and it will be under the "reviews" page of my website: http://www.patitadolls.com/ .

My very first dolls as a child were paper dolls. When Carie asked me if Diana E. Vining (a renowned paper doll artist) cloud design "Isabella" as a paper doll, I was thrilled:) If you are not a subscriber of this magazine, and you are truly into dolls, I would highly recommend subscribing. This magazine is wonderful!

p.s. The pictures below are the three used in the article. The baby face is the cover page.

Juliet.....WIP!

I am so anxious to finish my new molds, I can't hardly wait.*grin*
I will have a new pair of hands, 2 new torsos ( upper and lower bodies), and the new double joints.I also have a new face too and she may be one of my older looking dolls.
While I am loaded with mold making , this work in progress is a special order that I used Isabella's mold and sculpted directly on the face while the porcelain was at leather dry stage. As it was requested, I reduced Isabella's eyes and to my surprise I love her too! She is waiting for her new body . She will be dressed in gorgeous 1700's outfit and includes hat and silk shoes. Ohh yes, I will show her to you !

Steel Articulation Prototype

**Click on the picture to see the other one**

I was hoping to post my horse but I have been so busy pouring dolls, making molds, and turning pottery that I did not have a chance yet to get pictures done but I will soon,I promise!*grin*

I want to share with you my prototype for my steel articulation. I have edited the photographs since my patents are pending.This model has the holes in the body in order that I may see the precision of the movements with the compression of the springs within the body. I know there are other doll makers that like to see how other people do their work . I understand that and of course you understand that I can not share my system but I can tell you some things about it in which will encourage or discourage you.

Patita dolls has a very unique skeleton system that is held together precisely by 5 pins-That was important to me. The amount of tension is what I like to say - perfect! Why ? Because she not only holds the position but also holds it in place even when holding something with some substantial weight and the other parts do not move when one part moves.

This prototype is marked, written , broken and glued back with epoxie, and still has temporary pins because I had take it apart and put together at least 80 times( probably more) during this process. I thought to replace the parts and make a neat looking model but I changed my mind ... this one means a lot to me.... means hard work, many many sleepless nights, tears , blood but at the end much joy . I am so very proud of this because it took a lot determination and an enormous amount of dedication for me to get here. I have so many plans and ideas , it is hard to sleep sometimes but I am very privileged to have a loving family that adores me and supports my work.

If you like my dolls, please keep visiting me ... I am working many hours a day in several different projects ( including different approach to face painting ) and although they all take a long time to get done , I will get there.

I Appreciate each one of you so much and for your lovely and kind emails to me. It has been a wonderful journey.

New look to Patitadolls website!

Hello~
Patitadolls website has a new look.... You are invited in..... www.patitadolls.com

Isabella and I

For while now I have been wanted to take pictures with my dolls but I was always leaving it for later ;However I want you to see the size comparison . I am here with Isabella. My dolls are quite petite but not too small to make sewing difficult for them.*grin*
When I made Isabella I wanted her to look young and innocent . She is just like that. I am now working on 2 new set of bodies. One is a younger girl and the other is a more fuller ( Brazilian woman is on my mind, grin) body. I have double jointed for them too. I can't wait to have it ready.
It took me some time to develop all the parts to where I felt happy . I don't think I will ever settle to one thing only , because it is not in my nature, I get bored easily and I love a challenge, plus as an artist my work is never done. I love improvements and they don't necessarily means better but ... different.
It will take me some time to show you my new dolls and all the new parts , but I will get there.
I have study the possibility to reduce the dolls to a 10" size but because my steel articulation is so precise with such perfect tension, I am not sure if I can reduce it all , perhaps I can but I have many other ideas before I get to that.
I will leave you with my very natural pictures taken by my daughter -Kate.*smiles*

Double Joints

After creating my single jointed dolls , I began thinking what next. I love the look of the single joints because is more uniform ;however I have to admit that the double joints allows a little more flexibility and extension of the parts. I could have made just the new joints and adjusted the molds but I have been wanting to sculpt a new body as well. What I didn't realized when I first started making my dolls was that I would have so many ideas popping in my head.*grin*

I have learned to *select* them too. Everything that has to do with mold-making and porcelain-firing takes a lot of time - from designing to execution .

I finished the prototype and now I will be starting on mold making next week. It is a long process as I have become obsess ,*grin* , in how my molds looks. It is because it's functionality is affected if the mold is not smooth and clean.

The entire process of making molds takes about 10 days then I have to let it dry . Normally with in 2 weeks is ready for use but when I make a mold for the first time I always make a master mold because these molds wears out after so many pouring.

I have a new doll (face) ready but I will wait for the new body to show her to you.

As a foot note. I did not like how my horse flockling turned out . I removed the entire work that I did and because I didn't want to damage the sculpt ,in which I loved , it took me 3 full days of work .

He has a new coat , new flockling and it is looking really good. I still have a lot to do and I have been enjoying this challenge. I am not sure yet but I am contemplating the possibility of air brushing paint.... I guess I will have to try and see what works best.

Steel Articulation

For more than six months now, I have been working on a design that would provide for my dolls a perfect articulation. I first experimented with elastic, and although I was able to produce a very nice tension, I was unable to create an EXACT measurement for the size of the elastic, therefore creating a problem regarding all the dolls having the SAME amount of tension. There wasn’t any consistency with the tension, and that bothered me.

After a while, I designed a steel system for the dolls which allows for perfect tension and incredible mimicking of human movements. The skeleton consists of double twist, aircraft-grade tie wire connected by hardened, steel, swivel joints and applied tension with springs.

Patitadolls porcelain BJDs are able to stay in ANY position they are posed in. You will be amazed at how silent they are!

Horses for Patitadolls

I love to sculpt animals almost as much as I love to sculpt dolls. I have made several dollhouse animals in the past and now I am making in a much larger scale ( close to 1/6) to fit my dolls. I am working on two new dolls and their accessories. It will take some time for me to have them ready and available to order because the entire plaster mold process takes a long time , but I will get there.*grin*
Meanwhile, I have been working with the horses. I plan to make 3 in which one will be : Appaloosa ,Friesian and Arabian Horses.

They are quite large and a challenge due to their sizes. I had to make them from mixed mediums . I have finished my first one ( Appaloosa ) and I am now doing the furring . This is a lot of fun specially because I did a deep research over model horses and what I found out was that most artists uses only airbrushes paints without any flockling. Well, I wanted to try with flockling because I think I can make the horses more realistic looking but, I must to say that the painted ones are pretty incredible too.

The WIP head you see has two layers and still needs a lot work but I like it so far....

For the equestrian-themed dolls I will have one dressed in 1800s attire, and the other with modern riding clothing. The third one... for the Arabian Horse will be a princess.... I am not sure yet but probably from the Middle East.