Historical characters to join the lineup of Xenis jointed wooden dolls

I received an email from Xenis, a family-owned company in Aldergrove, British Columbia, Canada that creates stunning jointed maple wood dolls.  The company was founded by artist Marlene Xenis in 1994 who was later joined by her daughters Tania and Jesse.  In 1996, sculptor and painter Ross Adams joined the team.  Since then, most of the wonderfully detailed faces of the dolls have been applied by Ross.

Tania trained talented carver Young Ho who now does some of the original sculpts directly from wood.  Two more ladies round out the team.  Seamstress Marjorie creates the doll costumes and, along with Sarah, handles the logistics of doll assembly.

Each doll begins as a beautiful pencil, charcoal and watercolor sketch by Ross Adams.  Then a sculpt is made of the head, hands and feet.  When all adjustments have been made, a resin cast is made for each piece and the carving process begins.  Each doll is carved from maple that is harvested from West Coast forests then dried for up to 12 months to ensure proper moisture content for optimum carving.

The actual carving is done by a carving machine that follows the resin cast of each part like a key cutter, producing a duplicate from a mounted maple block. The rough cut maple duplicates are then smoothed with dremel tools, files and hand sanding.  Artists then seal, stain and paint the pieces to add the final details before assembly and costuming.  To allow the beauty of the wood to show through, faces are applied using very thin coats of acrylic paint.

Some of the dolls are equipped with music boxes while others may sport accessories imported from Europe.  All are wonderfully endearing.  I particularly like their "Anne of Green Gables" with her trusting eyes and liberal sprinkle of freckles.  When my sister and I visited Victoria, British Columbia several years ago, I noticed that "Anne of Green Gables" dolls and books were particular tourist favorites.


Xenis is now branching out into historical dolls as well.  Their 26" Abe Lincoln is scheduled to be available in Spring 2010 along with this Mark Twain to be followed by some of Mark Twain's literary characters like Huckleberry Finn.

Xenis dolls are priced for serious collectors.  Some of their more intricate dolls are priced well over $1,000.  [Images courtesy of Xenis Fine Wooden Dolls]

  

Kimport Dolls a legacy of award winning artist Ruby Short McKim

Queen Marie Antoinette is a popular personality for doll artists and I have an Ebay alert that checks the latest auctions for dolls that depict her.  Today, I received a notice of a nice example of a Kimport Doll designed to represent the famous French queen.

Kimport Dolls were produced by McKim Studios, founded in Independence, Missouri by artist Ruby Short McKim, 1891-1976.

"Ruby Short McKim, 1891-1976, was the prototype for today's modern woman. Artist, author, businesswoman, wife and mother - she excelled in all areas. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York City, Ruby returned to Independence to become the Art Supervisor for the Kansas City Public Schools. After her marriage to Arthur McKim, she began her work as an advisor to Child Life Magazine and created a continuity strip that was one of the first in syndication. This feature in the Chicago Daily News ran for many years. As a couple, the McKims opened a mail-order outlet, McKim Studios, which specialized in needlecraft items and in antique and foreign dolls. At this same time, Ruby was Art Needlework Editor for Better Homes and Gardens." - McKim Studios Revival: Ruby Short McKim 


[Image (right) courtesy of McKim Studios]


Her artistry was also expressed in water colors and oils as well as quilt designs that she syndicated to newspapers and eventually incorporated into the book One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns.  Her talent was formally recognized after her death when she was posthumously named to the Quilters Hall of Fame in 2002.

McKim Studios still offers many of her award-winning patterns for sale on their website.

             

Cleopatra OOAK by Joe Bourland victim of recession

Sadly, another collector is forced to part with some of her more treasured dolls because of the recession.  I saw this nicely done OOAK Cleopatra repaint by Joe Bourland in my Ebay alerts today.

 Joe's MSN website is closed and I could not find any replacement. But, I found a brief bio for Joe (a woman) on another collector's website.

Joe was born and lives in west Texas. She started designing dolls in March of 2001 after being encouraged by her sister who is also a doll designer. She says her first attempt with a used Barbie and a few scraps of material from a nearby Wal-Mart was a nightmare but after several months and many scrapped designs later she really began to enjoy it. She is purely self taught and has no degrees or formal training but has garnered some impressive awards including the BMAA Reader's Choice and the Custom Dolls convention Best of Show. 


In addition to the Cleopatra offered for sale on Ebay, I also found images of several more of Joe's designs with a historical flair:

[Image: "Empire's Queen" OOAK by Doll Artist Joe Bourland]

   ["Emperor's Treasure" OOAK by doll artist Joe Bourland]

  ["Promise" OOAK by doll artist Joe Bourland]

If you're still out there, Joe, I hope you haven't stopped having fun with your doll designs.  You are obviously very gifted! 

 
    

Rare Klumpe Napoleon Character Doll Surfaces on Ebay

A rare Klumpe Napoleon character doll showed up in my Ebay alerts this morning.  Klumpe dolls, made of molded felt and averaging 11" tall, were produced in Barcelona, Spain beginning in 1952 until the early 1970s.  
This particular doll appears to be in excellent condition (the vendor reports only two tiny holes in the clothing) and strikes a dynamic pose.  Most importantly, he sports the original tags on both front and back.  The tag on the back indicates Napoleon was numbered 16-BB.  It will be interesting to see how much he sells for as Klumpe dolls have gained quite a following in recent years and the character dolls in excellent condition have brought as much as $200.

Collectors of these dolls often collect similar dolls produced by Roldan, also manufactured in Barcelona. Roldan dolls are usually a little smaller, averaging 9" tall, but Roldan accessories are often more intricate than those produced for Klumpe dolls.  More V-shaped eyebrows distinguish the Klumpe dolls from those made by Roldan although collectors should also be aware that these two flagship manufacturers were imitated by a dozen other Spanish toy producers including Layna and Nistis so positively identifying a genuine Klumpe or Roldan without labels could be challenging.

     

Louis XIV Ken repaint showcases talent of Viktoriya Hawthorne

When the movie "300" came out last year, I posted an article about a OOAK doll dressed as Leonidas as depicted in the film that came up for sale on Ebay. This week I noticed a very detailed Ken doll repaint dressed as King Louis XIV that appeared in the current batch of auctions. When I checked out the site of the vendor I discovered that this doll is another OOAK produced by the same artist as the Leonidas doll I featured last year. A further exploration of her website, http://www.divine-dolls-creation.com/, revealed that the artist, Viktoriya Hawthorne, has actually produced a number of very detailed Ken and Barbie repaints - many costumed as historical personalities.

Viktoriya uses various versions of Ken or Barbie as palettes for her artistic expression. She totally removes all original factory paint then repaints the figures with artist acrylics and sealers. If a complex historical hairstyle cannot be achieved with the existing coiffure, she also reroots the hair, trims, perms, and applies finishing touches that may include hand-applied beads or braided fibers.

Originally a science teacher employed by various schools and colleges in Camarillo, California, Viktoriya now enjoys creating OOAK dolls full time.

As I browsed her gallery I was particularly struck by the detail and design elements exhibited by her Egyptian-themed dolls. They spanned thousands of years of pharaonic history from the first recognized pharaoh, Menes to the the most famous warrior pharaoh, Thutmose III, to the ill-fated Macedonian temptress, Cleopatra with various other monarchs like Khufu, the pyrmaid builder, Tut, the boy king, and Nefertiti, wife of one of the world's first monotheists, Akhenaten, sprinkled in between.

Of course I was thrilled to see her interpretation of my favorite conqueror, Alexander the Great, decked out in finery as depicted in Oliver Stone's film, Alexander. I have an Alexander the Great 12" "action" figure released by Dragon in Dreams a few years ago but his costume is not nearly as elaborate as the one created by Viktoriya. Whoever ended up with this imaginative portrait is a very fortunate collector!

Viktoriya and I seem to have the same taste in films and the actors who have portrayed historical heroes including Gerard Butler. I see she has designed an Attila costumed in royal Hunnic wedding attire similar to the garment worn by Gerard Butler in the miniseries Attila. This miniseries, although not warmly received by the critics is still one of my all time favorites along with "Helen of Troy", "Rome", and "The Tudors". It was my first encounter with Gerard Butler and he quickly rose to the top of my epic film heroes list! Although he gained star status with his portrayal of the Phantom of the Opera, I have not yet seen that performance. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed his work in "Timeline", "Beowulf and Grendel", and "300".

She also has Gerard Butler-inspired versions of Andre Marek from the film "Timeline", Beowulf, and the Phantom of the Opera. Again, I have a 12" figure of Gerard Butler as Andre Marek from "Timeline" that I was able to obtain from Dragon in Dreams a couple of years ago, but her version of Marek is also very detailed.

If you are not familiar with Gerard Butler, watch the following well done YouTube video tribute to his performance in "Timeline"

Did Mattel Rerelease "Great Eras" Historical Barbies?

I was surprised this morning to see that Amazon is now offering the "Great Eras" Barbies for sale (again). They listed the Great Eras Elizabethan Barbie for $24.95. I did a quick check and saw that most of the original "Great Eras" Barbies are available. They must have been rereleased by Mattel because I bought mine years ago and they were offered on Ebay at the time as "vintage" items even then. They are really quite nice. The only one whose costume is not terribly realistic is the Great Eras Egyptian Queen although it is quite pretty. My favorites are the Elizabethan Queen, the French Queen and the Medieval Queen. As you can see by the photo above left, the French Queen's costume is historically pretty accurate if you compare it to the costumes of the ladies of Napoleon's court shown in the painting by G. Rouget. Of course they're not as elaborate as the recent collector's edition Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette and Josephine Bonaparte but they are nicely detailed (and don't cost over $200 each! - although I managed to get my collectors edition historical queens on sale for quite a bit less).

I received my Barbie collector's edition catalog last night and see that they have a new line of DC Comic book hero Barbies that, although not technically historical (except culturally!), are really fun with detailed costumes. I think I'm going to have to make an exception to my historical rule and add these to my collection as well. I wasn't familiar with the "Black Canary" but really liked the Wonder Woman, Bat Girl, and Super Girl. When I went up to see if I could get a better deal up on Amazon I see that there is also a Cat Woman that looks interesting as well!

London Design Centre produced beautifully detailed wood and cloth dolls in mid 1970s

I receive notices of particular historical figure dolls that are coming up for bid on Ebay and today I saw an English seller was offering some wonderfully detailed 12" dolls of King Charles II and one of his mistresses that were made in 1975 by the London Design Centre. I had never seen their dolls before and found them beautifully costumed with delicately painted wooden faces that I couldn't resist.

I searched for other dolls made by this firm and the only other search result I came up with was a clothespin doll of Jane Grey also made in the mid 1970s. I also noticed the company made things like coasters and little wooden double-decker London buses for the tourist market. As I was unable to find anything produced after the 70s, I assume the company is no longer in business but I will keep my eye out for any more of their dolls when I visit London in July.

I have a couple of Charles II dolls in my current collection - a Nisbet prototype and a 16" OOAK handmade doll by Chicago artist Mary Branca. Charles wore such flamboyant costumes that dolls of him are always so colorful and elaborate. This historical figure by artist George Stuart demonstrates the extent Charles would go to dazzle the ladies. Charles was also notorious for his bevy of mistresses.

" Monarchs and mistresses were an expected combination when royal wives were chosen for dynastic or political rather than for personal reasons. However, even by the permissive standards this implied, King Charles II (1630-1685) was an extraordinarily active monarch, who ran more than one mistress in harness at a time and made no secret of his fourteen illegitimate children. Charles started young, at eighteen, when he was in exile in France following Parliament's victory in the Civil War against his father, Charles I. There, in his idleness, Charles had little to do but womanise. The first pretty girl to catch his eye and the first of at least fifteen mistresses, was a Welshwoman, Lucy Walter whom he met in The Hague in the summer of 1648. Lucy took up with Charles shortly after his arrival , and in 1649 gave birth to his first child, James, later Duke of Monmouth. Lucy was her lover's constant companion, but he made the mistake of leaving her behind when he left The Hague in 1650. He returned to find she had been intriguing with a certain Colonel Henry Bennet. Charles ended the affaire there and then, leaving Lucy to a life of prostitution. She died, probably of venereal disease, in 1658.

Charles, meanwhile, moved on to other mistresses and enjoyed at least four more before his exile ended and he was recalled to England to become king in 1660. The list of illicit royal affaires burgeoned after that, and came to typify the unbuttoned society which grew up around the restored monarch. Joyless puritans did not berate Charles as 'that great enemy of chastity and marriage' for nothing, One of the spectacles at his court was Charles ' toying with his mistresses,' and surrounded by his favourite spaniels. For a scene of decadence, that took some beating.

Charles was not fussy about the status of his women. A pretty face and a comely figure were enough for a mistress to be taken on the strength, and he was particularly prone to actresses. . The stage provided a handy hunting- ground for the regular royal theatregoer, and it was here that Charles encountered Moll Davis in about 1667. Moll was a popular singer-dancer- comedienne, but she had her dark side. Mrs. Pepys, wife of Samuel Pepys the diarist, called her 'the most impertinent slut in the world' and she was grasping and vulgar with it. Moll flaunted her success as a royal mistress, showing off her 'mighty pretty fine coach' and a ring worth the then vast sum of £600.

Moll , who gave up the stage in 1668, had a daughter by Charles the following year but soon fell foul of Nell Gwynne, one of the King's concurrent mistresses, who had a wicked sense of humour. Hearing that Moll was due to sleep with the king on a night early in 1668, Nell invited her to eat some sweetmeats she had prepared. Unknown to Moll, her rival had mixed in a hefty dose of the laxative jalap. After that, the night in the royal bed did not exactly go as planned. Charles, too, had a sharp sense of humour, but this time, he was not amused and Moll was summarily dismissed. Being a generous man, though, Charles sent Moll packing with a pension of £1,000 a year...More" - Britannia.com

Charles was even a flashy dresser as a child as seen in this portrait of him with his siblings painted after Van Dyck in 1639: