Why do artists charge "so much"?

I found this on a Facebook post, found the words to be meaningful, changed them up a bit and thought I would share:

Have you ever asked why ARTISTS (Reborn Artists, Makeup Artists, Designers, Tattooists, Painters, Actors, Singers, Dancers,Musicians or anyone who falls under the artist category) charge "SO MUCH" for their work or performances?

Consider that, we don't get paid vacation, we don't get paid sick days, we don't get bonuses for outstanding performances nor for Christmas. We don't have insurance plans. We don't have a business that we work for that pays for all the supplies needed to do our "job".

We sacrifice our family on special days trying to meet deadlines so that we can bring happiness to others.

Illness or personal affairs are not excuses for bad work or a bad performance.

Next time you ask, remember that ARTISTS are ARTISTS because we love our art and the people that we serve. The "so much" that we get does not even begin to compensate for all that is in the realm of that which we produce. I've said it before~we would all be financially well off if we just went to work for someone else. :)

Loving my art......

Huggy Bear Prototype 1 on eBay!

I am simply delighted with the little man!

How exciting to finally have Dianna Effner's first ever vinyl kit reborned and up on eBay!

~Huggy Bears Auction~

Dianna tells me that she has her Huggy Bear assembled and will be taking pictures next week. She will be keeping her prototype and said that he was a huge hit at the family Thanksgiving dinner.

I will post pictures of her boy here on the blog when she send me some.

XXOO

Great article about reborns!

I met a lady several years ago by the name of Rebecca Martinez. She is a photographer, no, an artist in photography.

Rebecca has followed the reborn crowd around for many years taking photos and engaging her subjects, being very intrigued with the reborns, the artists, the collectors and the public in general.

Rebecca happened to be at the right place at the right time when a reporter (Zoe Williams) for the Guardian, a UK based paper, saw her doll. A very interesting article came of this meeting.

~Reborns: Dolls so life-like you could mistake them for real infants~

It's a great read!

Rebecca has a small gallery of photos on her website. Within some of those photos are two very dear friends of mine~we have been at many of those events that were taking place where Rebecca shot the photos.

Great stuff to share!

Hugs for Monday!

Holiday check in

The last few days have been fun and lazy. I am not used to having this much time on my hands and sometimes feel lost as to what to do!

With the family out on a trail run this morning and just the grandgirl and I at home, I think she and I will change some babies into Christmas outfits. We love doing that together!

Some packages came in the mail today~another thing I love~and in them were some matte artist medium that I am going to try instead of Genesis Matte Varnish. That is pretty exciting to me.

The other package was the outfit I ordered for the custom order Dimples. Oh my goodness it is so cute and perfect for her. I did hear from her mommy and she agrees with me, a bit more blush would be wonderful.

Tonight we are going to a live play. That will be fun!

Hugs for Saturday!
XXOO

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from my fall home and babies to yours!

May you have a lot of loved ones around to roll in the leaves with!

Bless each and every one of you...

See you on Monday.

Dimples #3 paint complete

I just don't think I could get tired of this sculpt! I have loved all three that I have done.

This little gal is a custom order that's been on the books for almost a year now. Her "mommy" wanted her to have peaches and cream skin tone and very dark hair. This hair is just popped under the head band but it is the hair that I might use. It is Suri Alpaca.

I am thinking that she might need a bit more cheek blush but I will let her mommy decide that.

Hugs for Tuesday!

Kids say the darndest things!

Even adult kids!

My oldest daughter called the other morning at 7:45. She said, "Hi Mom. I hope I am not calling too early, did I get you out of bed?" to which I exclaimed "Oh Heaven's no! I've been up since 4:45!" She blurted out "WHY?!??! It's not like you have a job to go to or anything!"

ROFL ROFL ROFL!!!

Oh my goodness did I giggle at her! I told her that she simply has no idea and that if I don't get up then, I don't get my walk in, I get started late in my day and I just get further behind than I already am.

Too funny~I don't have a job to go to!

Toodles...I am off to my job!

Huggy Bear kit available for pre-order

The Huggy Bear vinyl reborn kit is now available for pre-orders on the

EXPRESSIONS website

This kit is made of German vinyl and is lovely to paint!

I can't wait to see all the Huggy Bears out there!

(Prototype auction will begin Monday November 28, 2011)

My grandson is here!

My work thoughts have been a bit distracted by the fact that our sweet grandson entered into the world yesterday, November 16th, just shortly after 2 pm.

This precious family lives 5 hours from us and they like their privacy these first few weeks so I won't be officially meeting our little man (who weighed in at 9 lbs 2 ounces!) for a time.

My kids are very private and protective people so I won't be posting pictures or names~I just wanted to share the exciting news!

XXOO

Genesis Heat Set mediums

I thought it was just me that was struggling with Genesis Matte Varnish lately. The last two jars I have purchased were super thick, not even able to stir it into a soft gel as in the past. It is unusable unless thinned with Genesis Thinning Gel as I have had to do. I am not happy about this as I am not sure how matte the thinning gel will stay. I KNOW that when Genesis products are mixed with odorless thinners, the finish becomes shiny over time. I don't use odorless thinners.

Come to find out that many artist are having problems with all of the Genesis medium, from thinning gel down to glazing gel. And the mediums are not mixing up properly with odorless thinners as they have in the past.

The Genesis company is telling retailers that their products were never intended to use on vinyl anything, let alone dolls. Of course I know that but I have enjoyed the use of their matte varnish until now.

I used a product called Delta All Purpose air dry Sealer on three dolls in the past year. I had a love/hate relationship with the sealer and finally threw a big ole bottle of it away! I might have to purchase it again and refine my technique of it's use. I have seen all three dolls since they were adopted and all three still looked wonderful. It's a pain to use as it does dry very fast but it is easy to touch up.

I did get the Dimples sculpt coated with matte varnish yesterday. I'll see how she looks this morning before I begin painting. Wish me luck!

XXOO

Nursery news

Now that I have covered my trip to Dianna Effners, it's time to update on the happenings in the nursery.

Not fully happy with Huggy Bear due to having to get him done on camera, I added some hair along his bang line. It's just right! Today I will do some minor tweaking~adding gloss here and there and adding a bit more blush. Then the little man will be ready for his auction on eBay. His outfits are so simple and cute. He looks so adorable in layette type clothing~I can't wait to take his pictures!

On the painting table is a custom order Dimples that has been on order for quite a long time.

In the rooting station is the custom order Kitten. She is the one that I tore the hair out before I went to Missouri. I began rooting her again last night with much better results. This hair is perfect for her.

In the shipping department is a big box of clothes to send to my son and daughter-in-law. Some of the things are for my sweet 2 yr old granddaughter and the rest is for our soon-to-be-born FIRST grandson. (I went shopping!) That has nothing to do with the nursery but I wanted to share my anticipation and excitement! His due date is November 21. They have two names selected but my son tells me "Well, I have to SEE him first before I fully decide!" LOL He is a wise man.
They are a very private family so I won't be there for the delivery but I'll be traveling up soon after he is born to offer a helping hand and arms to cuddle both babies.

Hugs for the day!

How will that reborning DVD turn out?

I really don't know!

I fully planned out the introduction and practiced it. (Don't laugh! Strange things happen to a person~even a confident person~when in front of a camera!) I got to see a quick edit of the intro to which I was very happy. In my planning, I just figured that once I started the actual reborning of the doll, I would not need any helps.

There were several factors that I didn't consider in my planning. One was that even though I had all of my supplies, I was not in my normal "space" where it is comfortable and things are just there in front of me in their place and order, flowing as I reborn.

I did not consider in the equation sever fatigue where a term or a tool that is so common and ordinary to me could quickly slip from my mind leaving me stumped as I tried to explain what I was doing or using. And of course there again was the camera taunting me, teasing me, making me feel inadequate! I will master that camera!

Dianna and her son kept reassuring me that everything I was feeling was completely normal. Dianna told me that I did a great job on the teaching and explaining and not to worry.

One thing is for sure, I won't offer it up if I am not positive that it will be a real help to the reborner~new and skilled alike. So if it does come up for offer~rest assured it will be good.

The tapes have been left in Missouri where Dianna's son will edit them onto a DVD for my review. I will be anxiously awaiting the proof!

XXOO

"Expressions" Doll Molds by Dianna Effner

Welcome to Expressions in Jamestown Missouri!

This is the company that produces Dianna Effner's doll molds for purchase as well as provide many doll making supplies.

Expressions was closed on the day that I took a self-guided tour so other than the little bit of information that I understand about mold processing from the questions that I asked Dianna Effner, I really cannot tell you too much about this process.

I can tell you that this building is HUGE! This section, the area where they do some of the mold processing is just a small section of the building.

I never did ask what the big troughs of water are for but I assume they are for washing/cooling the molds during part of the process.

Back in the storage area of the warehouse are shelves and shelves of molds waiting to be purchased and shipped. I saw many sheets of instructions that go along with the molds.

All parts are labeled:

Some of the molds from the first stages of production:

This was the first time I've ever seen doll molds up close. It was really exciting for me to see! This is where beautiful dolls begin :)

Dianna Effner's "The Doll Studio"

Welcome to Jamestown, Missouri, home of The Doll Studio.

Dianna Effner and I had hardly any time to spend much of it in the Doll Gallery, but any spare moment I had, I would wander into the doll-filled room finding myself delighted with the precious faces staring back at me. Not only are the dolls sweet, innocent and beautiful, the outfits are simply stunning and fit each personality so well.

Here are some quick pictures I took upon one of those short visits. I don't know their names, or even their stories. I just know that they are amazing!

This is a shot looking down from the stairwell that goes upstairs to the studios, classroom and guest housing units.

The door on the left at the top of the stairs leads to the guest room, the bunk rooms and women and mens restrooms. Many people can be housed in that side of the building.

The door straight on leads to studios where dolls are sculpted, clothes are sewn and photo's are taken. The door on the right leads to the large class room.

The filming set in the class room:

Around the upstairs studios, several dolls are found. These dolls are somewhere in the process of being created.

I am totally in love with this beautiful girl!

And this made me giggle!

This face is just so sweet and mystical:

There are many shelves that store supplies in every room.

I hope you enjoyed the quick little tour of The Doll Studio. It is a fantastic and very hospitable place. I was completely at home during my stay there. It is my wish for every doll artist to have such an accommodating place such as this. :)

Hey it's good to be back home again~PHOTOS!

Hello again! I am home! As much as I enjoyed Missouri and my time there, I am delighted to be back in Oregon...I really missed it! We have snow in places left over from a good snow storm on Nov. 5th. The mountains have much snow. Ahhhh...winter!

I decided to show the photos that I took in sections and thought that you would be most anxious to see the Huggy Bear reborns first.

Here is the progression of both boys:

The babies are now painted in these pictures. Mine is on the left (with the wrong eyes in so they don't fit~that gets changed later) and Dianna's in on the right. The painting of the eyes needs to be done last, after hair is rooted. And we never did have time for her to do that :( She will be making a video of reborn eye painting as she finishes Huggy Bear. I can't wait to see!

Dianna's Huggy Bear:

She really did a beautiful job. She gave him some lightly painted hair to use as her guide. She was following a photo of her grandson whom this sculpt was sculpted after:

Both boys:

My Huggy Bear's right hand holding Dianna's Huggy Bear left hand:

Dianna rooting in the middle of the night~it was after 1 am in this picture, day three of rooting. She fell asleep right there where she sat about 15 min after I took this picture. This is the only picture I have of either of us. We were so busy and didn't have anyone around who had time to take pics plus we worked late into the nights too. In the 6 days that we spend reborning, we worked 84 hours each!

Dianna finished rooting her Huggy Bear the morning I was leaving. Here he is!

He is so sweet!

Dianna did a fantastic job on her first ever rooting! She had been studying rooting and hair lines for quite some time in anticipation of this class. Self study is always an added bonus to reborning.

And here is my Huggy Bear with his proper eyes. He is "finished" in these photos but I have some tweaking to do on him. Things that are not as excellent as I like due to trying to get him reborn in just 6 days. Dianna and I decided that Master reborning is not for sissies! LOL It takes a lot of dedication, time and attention to details. I will never attempt to reborn a Master Artist doll in such a short amount of days again!

Both boys with hair. Dianna's Huggy Bear is not on his body. Mine is but the company sent the wrong body so I need to order a new one for him as this one is a little long:

I am sure that Dianna will share pictures of her Huggy Bear when she finishes the eyes. I will then share here :)

Awe, even though much of our time together was kindof drudgery due to the LONG hours (about 14 hours per day of actual reborning) we had a really good time together. Some day I will go back again so that we can play dollies (something we were both so tempted to do!) And see more of Missouri.

Dianna has a lot of natural ability in reborning (duh!) and has some great ideas to experiment with. She LOVES using the Matte Varnish as a primer/first coat before painting. Of course she taught me a thing or two, which is normal whenever I teach anybody as this art is ever changing with new ideas evolving all of the time.

Tomorrow~if I have time (massive laundry day in prep for yet another running event for my family on Saturday~we have to leave at 4 in the morning on Sat. to get there in time!) I will post photo's of The Doll Studio which is the business you find Dianna's porcelain dolls at.

Then I will share the rest of the studio building and then the mold making business called "Expressions" where Dianna's molds can be purchased. The Huggy Bear vinyl kit will soon be added to Expressions for purchase.

Until then, have a great day!

XXOO