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!
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"
I received an alert from Ebay today about this fantastic OOAK doll of Gerard Butler as King Leonidas as he appeared in the newly released film "300". This California doll artist, using the name Viktoryia, has produced a truly remarkable repaint of an original long-haired Ken doll. She states in her auction description:
"All my dolls are limited to one edition WORLDWIDE.The costume is very time consuming and detailed, as the pictures show. The doll got the full facial repaint and body shades.
You can see the picture of the original Ken. He's got full repaint, his hair was died black, braided, then he's got a haircut (Greek style). I applied black hair to create a beard and mustache. He has a braid on the back, the mouth was resculpted. He also has a braided hair band around his head. I sculpted and painted his breasts then shaded his body.
There were used combinations of materials to create the Greek warrior-king such as genuine leather, foam, aluminum, wood, plastic, stone, hair, fabric. His boots (leather), his hand bands (leather+aluminum), pants (leather), scabbard (leather) are hand sewed.
King Leonidas comes with a spear (plastic+aliminum), a shield (composition), a helmet which I carved using a combination of materials (foam, aliminum and plastic), a sword with a scabbard. The sword was cut to look as a miniature replica of the sword from the movie."
As a one-of-a-kind, however, he is bringing a hefty price. As of today the bid is $399 plus shipping. The doll artist's Ebay ID is divine-dolls-creation. I see Ignite Figures is also preparing to release two Spartan figures, Leonidas and a Spartan Hoplite. Ignite Figures retail for $79.99. I see they also have Roman Murmillo and Retiarius gladiators on their prerelease list as well.
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. 
