time is stolen, I cannot hold you long enough

I have, ever and always, been fascinated by dolls. Small ones, large ones, wind-up ones, still ones...modern to antique, the concept itself fascinates me.

What fascinates the phouka eventually turns into the phouka. So I've been practicing the doll.



There are a lot of dolls, a lot of different styles of dolls, from innocent to disturbing, from cloth to porcelain, from papier-mache to carved wood. Some are jointed, some aren't, some have inset eyes, some have painted. I've spent the last few months studying all of them.

I've especially been concentrating on two styles: antique French fashion dolls, and more modern, ball-jointed dolls.

The thing about most ball-jointed dolls is, while there is a great deal of finesse to their construction, they seem very simple, less ornate, in a very real sense, than their European counterparts. I admire this simplicity, this basic breakdown of what is essential about doll to make it separate from toy.

Draconic Kiss recently opened a doll shop, which is pretty much, let's be honest, one-stop shopping. They have an excellent selection of doll hair, both flexi and not, and Draconic does not seem to be falling into the usual designer's trap--her hair looks good, yes, but also, carries that hint of the unreal, and her eyes follow the same pattern--gleaming, glassy, and in at least three cases, distinctly unhuman, being gleaming solid black, glassy frosted pink, or glassy frosted blue--the latter two both entirely pupilless. She has skins in a variety of makeup options for women, and miracle of miracles, doll skins for men.

My artist is looking towards a doll exhibition--SL's take on the doll phenomenon, what's done here with dolls, and how they interact with non-dolls--so she was willing to fund my transformation. I'm inordinately grateful to her for that.



I picked one with oxidized "tear" traces; it's long been understood that, on occasion, the interaction of cast clay with metal, long-term, can produce exudations from inset eyes, remarkably like tears, only dark red, dark brown, or black. It's not at all uncommon to see a doll with these traces down their face, prior to restoration.

Now, it's not uncommon to see such a doll in world. Yay for me.