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Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Easy Birth of Baby Owen

Every baby I sculpt is a labor... a hard one, filled with (finger and joint) ache and pain and agony and sweet moments when I fall in love with the little face in front of me and of hard moments when I want to smash it against a wall because the clay is not obeying my commands.

But every once in a while, quite rarely there is this one baby that is brought into this world with little effort. And one of these babies, is Owen.
I wasn't supposed to be making him at all... but then he came, on his own terms, he jumped out of my bar of clay and there he was, this little face right before me... and I didn't have the heart to smoosh him back in to sculpt my ordered baby...
And as silently as he came, he crept into my heart and became my favorite little micro preemie of all time...

He was born early at 27 weeks and measures about 12" long. His head is around 10" around and he weighs 1lbs 8oz.
He has black hair and he is soooo cute!!!
He is still in the "NICU" of course, for being so early but he is doing well. He needs a little help to breathe but otherwise he is good and will be looking for a new mommy soon on eBay.

I also made him some cool outfits ;) Enjoy his NICU pics...
It was night time when I took them... nice and quiet and he was resting comfortably. Even caught one while he was doing his phototherapy!!

Enjoy!
T.

Owen in NICU 1
Owen in NICU 2
Owen in NICU 3
Owen in NICU 4
Owen in NICU 5
Owen in NICU 6
Owen in NICU 7
Owen in NICU 8
Owen in NICU 9
Owen in NICU 10

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Little Wonder... again

I am sitting here and my Little Wonder OOAK is lying next to me as I read through my mail. I can't help but bond with her even though it wasn't love at first sight while I was sculpting her to be honest.
Her wig is off so she is a little baldy and she is lying on a soft flannel pink blanket. Last night I put her wrist band on... Little Wonder it says, by Tina Kewy.
Her little arm is a little pudgy and full of wrinkles; her hand is in a loose fist with only her pinky finger not touching her palm.
I spent an hour invisibly closing little holes the resin could potentialy seep into during the moldmaking process but I am sure Barbara will find more and will seal them as well.
Now, don't freak out, I do not mean holes on the clay but little gaps where the fingers touch the palm :)

I love her little arm and hand... so detailed, so newborn wrinkly. Her legs are not here, I'd left them in my workshop and I am about to go there to work some more.
I also need to take photos of Nicole's baby. She has been waiting to patiently and I feel like an arse for taking so darn long but to my defense a lot of things have gone out of hand over here at the Kewy household so at least I can't feel guilty for NOT working.. because I haven't had a moment of peace... or sleep :)

Back to Little Wonder... I really love just how newborn she is. When I say newborn I mean just born... like... an hour ago. The term newborn actually applies to babies from birth to 30 days old but as we all know, at 30 days the baby looks less "newly born"... and like one dear friend and customer said: when I say newborn, I mean just born!

Her head is cone shaped and has a big skull. I worked that out by super imposing a photo of my sculpt onto the fetal skeleton model I have and kept working on my sculpt until it was a perfect match.
Her ears are delicate and low set, again I placed then according to the actual skull placement. She has small hands full of wrinkles and you feel she can only wrap one of your fingers in her palm, just like a real baby.
No buch in this sculpt at all. She is delicate, petite and fragile.
I am notorious for making big hands on my babies and then having to re-make them anew and save the first pair for a larger doll. But not this time. The head was hard and long to "birth" but the hands came effortlesly.
She is almost ready. Only one more arm to go and I can't decide on it. Will I do an open hand or a closed one? I am leaning towards open...

Her little legs are so cute and I especially love the feet. I love how the toes separate, my son does that even now. We call it his "fan toes" because he spreads them out like a little hand held fan.
It's going to be hard to send her away and then wait 6-8 weeks for her to come back but... it has to be done. It's the only way I can both share her with you and keep one for myself.

So cheer her on for me... this is so exciting!

Love,
Tina

Monday, January 14, 2008

Little Wonder Limited Edition Resin

This little baby took a while but finally I am done!
S/he is being reproduced in resin by the best resin studio out there, Multiplicity Studio.
I told a few people and inadvertly it seeped through the grapevine and now I have only 4 spaces left out of 20. Which is not bad I would say ;)
I am also making 5 Artist Proofs which I am taking to doll shows to be sold directly.

Here is a little info on Little Wonder:
S/he is a life size just born baby... we are taking not a day old yet. She is around 20" tall with a head circumference of almost 15".
I made her using my anatomical models for reference (meaning 3D infant skeleton repros) and my computer to check of symmetry and super-impose my model on the sculpt to check for anatomy matches.
Meaning I took photos of my sculpt and of my skeletons and super imposed on onto the other in Photoshop :)
Gotta love technology!

You can customize your baby according to your tastes by choosing the hair and skin color (light or tan) and the complexion of your baby. You can also request birthmarks or scratch marks etc. Of course you pick the name and gender as well.
The price is 800 Euros. I am quoting in Euros because I live in Europe and the dollar fluctuates too much but its around $1180 with today's exchange rate.
AS I've said I only have 4 left so if you might be interested drop me a line.

I will be posting pictures of her shortly!
Have a great day!
Tina

Long time no see!!

Hi my friends!
Ugh I haven't updated in a while, haven't I?
I had the doll show in the UK and the class to teach in November so I was in full throttle for that. Those went well :)
After that I was simply exhausted and needed a break... but I still had a ton of work to do so I couldn't take a break. I felt like a car with two of its tires punctured... I stumbled along as best I could.
Then the holiday season came and my nanny took a break. My hudband took a break... I didn't. But I SO needed one. The boys flipped a switch and entered the terrible two's full throttle and my routine was shot to H$ll :)
No napping, wild bed times, they started getting out of bed... tantrums gallore.. you name it.
Bottom line? Couldn't put in an hour of work during the holidays.

Now nanny is back and I am desperately trying to get back on track and catch up with work and I'd better soon because those dolls need finishing and fast!
So here are some photos of the dolls I have done since the last time I updated :)
All of these have been sold but enjoy their pics anyway!
This is my little Ball Jointed Girl, Padoa. I am having her reproduced in resin:


Then we have An XinXin (newborn life size):


Then we have "Ready to be Born" (8"):


Rodney (8"):


Ben (5"):


Princess Sasuki (Ball Jointed BJD 8"):




Well, apparently I have done more dolls than these but I think that's enough photos for now! I will post more later!
Hugs
Tina

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