Loopy Boopy

October 12, 2009 8:16 AM

Colleen lives in New Orleans and makes strange dolls out of polymer clay. She has a blog and an Etsy shop. Here's a short interview. See also Art Dolls Only and the Travelling Doll Project.
posted by cjorgensen (21 comments total)

I would have been a much happier little girl if I had these instead of Barbie.
posted by psylosyren at 8:20 AM on October 12

These are wonderful!
posted by katillathehun at 8:57 AM on October 12

I'm lost in the woods at night. I stumble across an abandoned farmhouse...and it's full of these things, hanging from strings or nailed to the walls. Slowly, they all begin to turn and look at me
posted by sidereal at 9:16 AM on October 12 [1 favorite]

And that's when you tip your hat to them and say, "How dee doo?" You leave a quarter in the guitar case and whisper a wish, and then you never told anyone what you saw.
posted by katillathehun at 9:21 AM on October 12 [2 favorites]

You should see the doll house that goes with these; a partially burned cardboard box stained with urine and gasoline.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:29 AM on October 12 [4 favorites]

They are very good. They, like many things in this life that are good are things I certainly do not want one of.
posted by TomMelee at 9:45 AM on October 12 [2 favorites]

KevinSkomsvold: "You should see the doll house that goes with these; a partially burned cardboard box stained with urine and gasoline."

addressed to Tim Burton.
posted by shmegegge at 9:46 AM on October 12

She's talented--in a Wednesday Aadams sort of way.
posted by stormpooper at 9:49 AM on October 12

strange strangled dolls
posted by Laotic at 10:00 AM on October 12

Well, when I first saw the imagine of this doll, I thought, "that's cool, I wonder if she made that in Illustrator or if it's an actual painting," then I realized it was a doll! Her Monster Drop Off was a great idea, and given a bunch more monsters and a longer trip would have been a project worthy of attention in its own right.

And I don't want to come off as some kind of shill here, but after checking out the Etsy store, I was pretty amazed at the price point for these dolls. I had to cut my last line about "Doubt you'll see these on regretsy.com," since...previously.

I do think it's a bit odd this is my second doll post, but damn, if these had been around during my deformative years I would have surely been playing with dolls (instead of lighting my Batman Action Figures on fire!).
posted by cjorgensen at 10:10 AM on October 12

And there's a creepy doll
That always follows you . . .
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 10:14 AM on October 12 [1 favorite]

An art project that keeps following me around wishing I would bring it to life is to create feral dolls. That is: dolls that have been lost or misplaced and are forced to live in the wilds, replacing various missing parts with cast-offs from the civilized world, and improvised objects from nature.

So obviously, I loves me some creepy dolls and these are great.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:44 AM on October 12

First May last night, now this. I am haunted by dolls stricken with albinism and Treacher-Collins.
posted by adipocere at 11:24 AM on October 12

I really love these. So creepy and cool.
posted by gemmy at 12:00 PM on October 12

An ordinary doll I found outside a cemetery in New Orleans. The context was creepy.
posted by Tube at 4:49 PM on October 12

All of her dolls look like primordial dwarfs.
posted by MegoSteve at 4:49 PM on October 12

The description reminded me of my friend's project, specimen 7. I think it's fantastic, so... there's a link. You might like it.
posted by flaterik at 5:33 PM on October 12

Tube, do you have any establishing shots of where you found that doll? I'd say there is a good probability that if you found it posed like that, it was part of a Voodoo (or if you're politically correct Vodun) ritual. If so there would be other things around -- perhaps silver coins, bits of gemstone, costume jewelry, or symbolic designs drawn in the earth or carved into a tree. People have gotten a bit savvy about stuff like that so you don't generally find the ring of silver dimes any more (way too flashy and kids are prone to scoop them up), but the point of the ritual staging is lost if the querant's intent isn't expressed somehow in a way the gods would be presumed to understand.
posted by localroger at 5:42 PM on October 12

The photo was taken in October 2005, so there was all this wind blown debris around. At the time, I assumed it had simply blown there. There was wind damage inside the cemetery.
posted by Tube at 8:02 PM on October 12

I like the dolls, they remind me of blackeyedsuzie but a bit more ... less pretty.
posted by saucysault at 7:14 AM on October 13

I have one, and one thing I love about it is how remarkably SHINY the eyes are. They glitter really beautifully. You can't tell from the pictures how shiny the eyes are. They're nicely crafted. I highly recommend them, if you like that sort of thing, or if you've favorited this thread with a mind to buy one for yourself.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:26 AM on October 18