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I had a long break. It took me a while to return to my normal rhytm after the winter holidays. After I did, though, there was no stopping me ;)

This little doll just had to happen. I never worked with such inspired intensity before. I felt the urgency and energy with which Ivy insisted on her existence. She wanted to become real, like she had a mind of her own. From just a doodle on a page of my sketchbook, through a page of blue print, hours of sculpting, refining, corrections and eventually casting from previously prepared moulds, here she is. For now, only as a prototype cast in flumo, an air drying material I have nothing but praise for. Try it, especially if you don't have a kiln but want the experience of working with porcelain. Much more forgiving if not as durable, makes a perfect practicing slip and works equally well as a professional medium.

Of course, creating Ivy doesn't mean I won't be working on my other dolls any more. Far from it, I have lots of ideas in that field, too - some projects are currently in progress. Ivy provided a nice break, though. Her aesthetics are so different, it was nice to explore a different avenue of my own creativity. I wanted to try something slightly more stylised and in a smaller scale (she's 1/6, like many modern fashion dolls), which means a more pocket friendly size.

I also feel that working on the same moulds all the time makes it less spontaneous and a little monotonous. I don't want to close myself in one kind of a doll, but rather develop my style to allow occasional trips into new dolly realms. Especially now, at the start of my dollmaking adventure, I want to explore many options and see where my work will take me.

I am really curious to see what reactions Ivy will get. Please feel free to add a comment :)