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Ernestine (aka Lily Tomlin)

Ernestine is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up. She is 22" tall. Ernestine will be part of an art gallery exhibit scheduled for March 1 - April 30, 2013. She can be purchased during or after the exhibit.

How Ernestine was made
Ernestine's body is made in the MakerDoll Medium Size, from 100% organic, (“natural”) cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. Her arm joints are secured with cotton embroidery thread. Her clothes are handmade in a MakerDoll original design, from repurposed fabrics. Her white pique blouse features a stand-up collar, vintage pearlescent buttons, and is cinched with a faux leather belt made from a purse strap and vintage button. Her accessories include a vintage button bracelet, vintage Bill Blass crystal buttons for earrings, and vintage faux pearl buttons on her black felt shoes. Ernestine’s facial features, which reference a popular photo, are handpainted with professional grade acrylic paints. Her hair is made of twisted yarn, fashioned into her 1940s era up-do, hand-sewn onto her head with cotton embroidery thread.

About Ernestine
Ernestine is a character developed by Lily Tomlin, an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer who originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960s when she began a career as a stand up comedian. While working in various hit TV comedy shows, she created Ernestine, a nosy, condescending telephone operator who generally treated customers with little sympathy. Ernestine often snorted when she let loose a barbed response or heard something salacious; she also wore her hair in a 1940s hairstyle, although the character was contemporary. Ernestine was almost always at her switchboard taking calls in the sketches. She occasionally called her boyfriend, Vito, a telephone repair man, or her pal Phoenicia, another operator. (Excerpts from Wikipedia.org)

Alice is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up. He is 22" tall. Alice will be part of an art gallery exhibit scheduled for March 1 - April 30, 2013. He can be purchased during or after the exhibit.

About Alice
“Alice” is a name that conjures up that innocent little blonde girl in the fairy tale, but this Alice is no Mr. Nice Guy! Alice Cooper, depicted here in his role as lead singer for his band of the same name, was born in Detroit, Michigan as Vincent Damon Furnier in 1948. He is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors, and baby dolls, he has drawn his creative inspiration from horror movies, vaudeville and garage rock to pioneer a grand, theatrical show that is oft described as “shock rock.”

Alice is known for his social and witty persona offstage. The Rolling Stone Album Guide has called him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer.” He is credited with helping to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and he is regarded as being the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre.” Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur and, since 2004, a popular radio DJ with his classic rock show Nights with Alice Cooper. In 2011 the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

(Excerpts from Wikipedia.org)

How Alice was made
Alice's body is made in the MakerDoll Medium Size, from 100% organic, (“natural”) cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. His arm joints are secured with vintage black and white buttons and cotton embroidery thread. His clothes are handmade in a MakerDoll original design, from repurposed fabrics. His red leather, striped pants feature a spider and web motif with black striping that conjures up his 2012 London performance. His black shirt features a handpainted red spider and his belts, made from snakeskin and leather, feature metal grommets and a handpainted skull on a leather covered button. He has patent leather boots and his neck and hands are accessorized with a metal chain and black leather strips. Alice’s facial features, which reference a popular photo, are handpainted with professional grade acrylic paints. His hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto his head with cotton embroidery thread.

Michael

Michael is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up. He is 22" tall. Michael will be part of an art gallery exhibit scheduled for March 1 - April 30, 2013. He can be purchased during or after the exhibit.

About Michael
If you’re going to do a series of art dolls with Michigan roots, you’ve simply got to make one of Michigan’s greatest iconoclasts. Michael Francis Moore was born in 1954 in Davison (just east of Flint), Michigan. He is an American filmmaker, author, social critic, and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time and winner of the Palme d'Or. His films Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Sicko (2007) also placed in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries, and the former won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, which documented his personal quest to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections. He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth. Moore's written and cinematic works criticize globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the Iraq War, the American health care system, and capitalism. (Excerpts from Wikipedia.org)

How Michael was made
Michael's body is made in the MakerDoll Medium Size, from 100% organic, (“natural”) cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. His arm joints are secured with cotton embroidery thread. His clothes — tshirt, baseball jacket and denims — are handmade in a MakerDoll original design, from repurposed fabrics rescued from my local thrift shop. Michael’s  facial features, which reference a popular photo, are handpainted with professional grade acrylic paints. His hat is made of felt, made in the USA. His hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto his head with cotton embroidery thread.

Iggy Pop

Iggy is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up. He is 22" tall. Iggy will be part of an art gallery exhibit scheduled for March 1 - April 30, 2013. He can be purchased during or after the exhibit.

About Iggy
Iggy Pop (aka James Newell Osterberg, Jr.) was born in 1947 in Muskegon, Michigan. He is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though widely known as an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, hard rock, jazz and blues. He became known as 'Iggy' in high school, while he was the drummer for local blues band The Iguanas. He is the vocalist of the influential protopunk band The Stooges (Pop and the other surviving members of the group reunited in 2003). Since the late 1960s, he has been known for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics. His stage persona took root when he saw The Doors perform in 1967 at the University of Michigan. Pop was amazed by the stage antics and antagonism displayed by singer Jim Morrison. Morrison's extreme behavior inspired the young Iggy to push the boundaries of stage performance. Pop was the first performer to do a stage-dive, which he started at a concert in Detroit. In March 2010 the Stooges and Iggy Pop were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

How Iggy was made
Iggy's body is made in the MakerDoll Medium Size, from 100% organic, (“natural”) cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. His arm joints are secured with metal vintage buttons embossed with a horseshoe, rider’s crop and rope and cotton embroidery thread. (I chose these buttons in reference to Iggy’s “The Horse Song.”) His clothes are handmade in a MakerDoll original design, from repurposed, stretch voile with silver threads. (Iggy is known for wearing only pants and Beatle Boots on stage.) He wears MakerDoll designed Beatle Boots fashioned from black felt. Iggy’s  facial features, which reference a popular photo of his famous tongue wagging, are handpainted with professional grade acrylic paints. His tongue is made of repurposed velvet upholstery fabric. His hair is made of twisted wool and acrylic  yarn, hand-sewn onto his head with cotton embroidery thread.

Stevie

Stevie is a character doll for collectors age 8 and up. He is 22" tall. Stevie will be part of an art gallery exhibit scheduled for March 1 - April 30, 2013. He can be purchased during or after the exhibit.

About Stevie 
Stevland Hardaway Morris was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. Known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, we all know him as singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

Stevie was a child prodigy (thus the name "Wonder"), blind since shortly after birth. He signed with Motown at the age of eleven and continues to perform and record for Motown to present day. He has recorded more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and received 22 Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five. (Excerpts from Wikipedia.)

How Stevie was made
Stevie's body is made in the MakerDoll Medium Size, from 100% organic, hand-dyed (“natural”) cotton fabric, grown and woven in the USA. His arm joints are secured with wooden buttons and cotton embroidery thread. His clothes are handmade in a MakerDoll original design, from repurposed, hand-beaded cotton fabric. He wears repurposed shades and his shoes are fashioned from black felt. Stevie's facial features are handpainted with professional grade acrylic paints. His hair is made of twisted yarn, hand-sewn onto his head with cotton embroidery thread.

Katarina

Katarina is a character doll who stands 22" tall. She is owned by her namesake, but if you'd like your own personal character doll, visit StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com.

Katarina is spunky and bright. She's also an athlete -- specifically, a practicing gymnast.

She's dressed here in her favorite electric blue shirt with a silver heart necklace and gym suit.

Her hair is twisted cotton/poly yarn, her shoes are black felt, and all her clothes are handmade, original designs with special appliques to match her personal preferences. (Which, of course, are in perfect taste!)

Her face is needle sculpted with all cotton embroidery thread, and painted with professional grade acrylic paints.

Taylor

Taylor stands 22" tall. He is owned by his namesake, but if you'd like your own personal character doll, visit StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com.

Taylor has serious interests in both music and sports -- an unusual combination.  He easily engages you in conversation and for just a moment you think, this young man is going somewhere...and wherever he wants to go.

So he should be characterized at this moment in time...in the form of an art doll. This is Taylor: Musician, athlete.

His body is made of 100% organic natural cotton, grown and woven in the USA. His hair is made of twisted cotton yarn sewn onto his head, and his face is painted with professional grade acrylic paints. His baseball cap is made from black felt and recycled cotton fabric. It has a handmade FOX racing logo. His drum sticks are fashioned from bamboo crochet needles that have been modified to scale. His grey cotton shirt and jeans are from recycled clothing, and the Aeropostale applique is from a recycled baseball cap. His special red headphones are fashioned from a modified child's roller skate, red felt, and black electrical wire.

Where will Taylor be ten years from now? Something tells me we will all know.

Zombie Zone: Maddax Muerte for Gabe

Maddax Muerte stands 15" tall and is a zombie character doll who is owned by Gabe. If you'd like your own personal Muerte doll, please visit StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com and request it.

It seems the un-dead dolls are multiplying. I think I'm channeling the zombie zone, because this morning I woke up, stumbled out to my studio, and created Maddax Muerte.

This guy is truly unique, even among soulless corpses: He's a punk zombie (notice the hair?)...and that means he ain't no ordinary drudge. Watch out Riverside! He's coming your way...and I hope he will make little Gabe's Christmas a little more deadly-joyful!

Maddax was made from 100% organic natural cotton fabric made in the USA. His eyes are fashioned from two vintage red buttons that have been sewn onto his face. His facial markings, mouth and skeleton tattoo are drawn and painted on his body with permanent markers and professional grade acrylic paint. His clothing is from recycled fabric, and his hair is made from twisted yarn, sewn onto his head. He sports a recycled chain on his left upper arm, and of course he is very proud of the deep gashes in his arms that required several stitches each.

Maddax is a wonderful mess of a doll, and lives up to true zombie standards.

Maddax has a cool skull tattoo on his chest

Esther Meets Esther

Esther is a character doll for ages 8 and up. She stands 22" tall. She is owned by her namesake, but if you'd like to order your own character doll, please visit StudioBeoGlas.Etsy.com and make your special request.

About Esther
A friend of mine recently asked me to make a doll based on a colleague in dentistry education. Her colleague, Dr. Esther M. Wilkins, is now in her mid-90s, and has an amazing history. A pioneer in the field of dentistry, Dr. Wilkins devoted her career to the practice and education of dental medicine. In various stages of her long career, she was founding director of the Dental Hygiene Program at the University of Washington, School of Dentistry in Seattle and Clinical Professor at Tufts in the Department of Periodontology. She also conducted continuing education courses for dental hygienists in every state in the United States and many countries around the world. She is known for writing the widely used textbook “Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist,” which has been translated into several languages and is used in dental hygiene schools worldwide.

To help her celebrate, I made the doll with familiar features: Her love of purple, her monogrammed lab coat, her purple framed glasses, and of course, her famous textbook. My friend recently emailed a couple of pictures of Dr. Wilkins as she opened the gift. 

How Esther was made
Esther's body is made from 100% organic, natural cotton fabric grown and made in the USA. She wears purple pants and a lavender turtleneck under her cotton, monogrammed lab coat. She has purple wire frame glasses and sturdy black shoes made from felt fabric. The little textbook is a miniature blank book, which many of her former colleagues signed for her special birthday.