Anatomically Correct Fine Art Porcelain Dolls by me heeh (Valentino Zubiri)

This is my second group of dolls. The difference between this group / batch and the previous is that I am making this group "anatomically highlighted" or anatomically correct. It's really just a matter of using the china paint and making a stand, deciding to just go ahead and do it. It kinda feels weird calling my doll work "batches," because the work takes too much time from start to finish, it isn't like baking a batch of cookies for the day. The first group of dolls that I finished in July 2013, with 6 dolls, is theoretically not finished, because I have yet to decide on the backdrop. 

I sculpt a good number of doll heads to train myself in sculpting, mold making, all the way to the process of painting the faces and painting on the makeup, or "faceup." I actually like to find out how well I can make a seemingly ugly-looking face beautiful in the end. I also get the feeling that my "uglier" ones will be noticed more by the collectors in the future.

I took these pictures using my Blackberry with the sole purpose of sharing with a few friends. I set it at low resolution. In my mind, as far as this blog was concerned, I wanted to just post 8 finished nude dolls and lessen the posting of unfinished stages like this entry. Unfortunately, I ran out of time. I was going out of town for a job, and I had to prepare for it, and clean up my mess from all the doll work. 

This is all a long, time-consuming process. The heads went into the kiln at least 7 times. The kiln takes about 9 hours or more to heat up and then another 6-8 hours to cool down. While inside the kiln, I used my "free" time writing my next book. I finished the draft and the first edit by the time I had to go out of town.

I've decided to put serial numbers on my dolls. That way, each work is traceable and recorded. I feel that it will help in the future, when people begin wondering if I made too many or too little dolls. I myself want to keep track of my own work. All the doll heads are signed, dated and numbered on the back of the head, just behind the left ear.

In the future, I will post a picture of how I signed and dated them, and how the serial numbers look. I will need my digital camera to take a macro shot of the back of the dolls' heads.

Thanks for viewing! Please follow me on Twitter. I will soon work on my Facebook Page and my websites.

Porcelain Black Specks / Coring / Carbon - problem and troubleshooting

When working with porcelain, I have encountered those black specks in the past... last year. I have solved them. If you are working with porcelain, email me at valzubiri@gmail.com, I will be happy to guide you, but I will need to know what type of kiln you have, etc. I don't want to use this blog for porcelain tips, because I've decided to use this as my vehicle for promoting my art dolls.

In exchange, do you mind if you follow this blog, twitter https://twitter.com/valzubiri and I also want to include you in my possible future mailing list to update people about my art and current offers. You will be included in future raffles of my work, unless you opt out.

I also have a facebook page. I just launched The Worldwide Sshhh. SSHHH means Same Sex Hold Hands Holiday. Here in Chicago / Illinois, marriage equality for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community did not pass. It suddenly occurred to me that if people see same sex couples hold hands, maybe toleration will come from the public's heart and mind, and eventually the laws would be affected. The simple gesture of holding hands between people who love each other, who happen to be the same sex, even just the thought of it, makes people uneasy. Yet straight people can kiss and cavort, much to the disapproval of some parents with their kids. Can you see and feel the disparity?

I'm male, if you were my dad, grandpa or brother, or lover, would you hold my hand in public? Would you support my cause?

Please like the page http://www.facebook.com/TheWorldwideSshhh if you agree with me. Please spread the word if you can.

I'm working on these future Porcelain Ceramic Ball-Jointed Dolls BJD - Val Zubiri

I am experimenting with the heading. I think Google places a lot of importance on the heading and key words, including my name, should appear once in a while.

Here are some heads I had been working on. I took these pictures after I was happy with the number of faces / heads I finished. When I sculpt the head, the face is first. Then I put it in the oven to harden it. The back of the face is added, and the head is baked again.

I do this because I'm not selling the polymer clay as a final product. Some artists sculpt and finish their work in polymer clay. Basically, by finalizing in porcelain, I have many more stages to go.

I encourage a group buy, or a single collector to have a set with the same theme, because doing this involves a lot of stages, and it is better to make these as a group. Whatever works, it's not like I don't have too much time right now, but as I have always said, this art takes time.

Oh, I saw Kinky Boots, the Musical, when it was in Chicago, before it was taken to New York. I decided to buy a mug, because I'm into coffee a lot. As I walked out of the theater, I saw a friend holding a mug as well. I thought it was funny. I don't know if you noticed, but the design is on the other side - it's a left-handed mug. I'm left-handed.

Speaking of hands, I must let you know that my hands aren't equal. I don't hide the fact that one of my hands presses more than the other. This results in an unbalanced face, usually the left side of my doll's faces are have deeper recesses, because my right thumb presses harder than the left thumb, while sculpting a face.

Speaking of other defects. I have eye problems and I'm not getting any younger. Last year I was diagnosed with retinal scarring. I used to always see something like a ball of light floating around the periphery of my vision, on both the left and right eyes. My neighbor told me it might be too much diet soda, so I stopped drinking diet soda, and the ball of light has become less frequent. You can get blind from retinal scarring, so go to an optician and get your eyes dilated and examined once in a while, if you're seeing balls of light floating about. Those are not alien beings and you're not psychic, you might have retinal scarring, like me. But think twice before getting laser treatment.

I hope you like my work. Feel free to use my pictures as long as it's noncommercial.

Group Photos of the Valentino Zubiri Dolls

Sorry, it just occurred to me that the headlines are indexed by Google. So I'm including my name as if I were a third person. lol. "Valentino Zubiri Dolls." I might change the headings to add at least my last name.

Here are group pics. of my work.

I prefer to make the dolls as part of a set, but you can get one or two for yourself. Or, you can get a group going and you can do a group buy. I will discount it that way.

The problem with making this is time. For example, use of the kiln. Each doll uses the kiln several times and at different temperatures. Once the porcelain dries, it goes to the kiln for the first time at what is called a "bisque firing." It's that stage where the mud solidifies and forms permanently, but the ceramic is still porous, much like a flower pot, where you see that water can be absorbed by the pot, but the pot would not lose its shape and revert back to mud. The ceramic is brittle, and this is the ideal stage to sand the pieces.

Then there is the higher temperature, "glaze fired stage," which I call the "glass-forming" stage. The ceramic melts and this is when it shrinks and becomes glass-like.

I call the kiln "The Little Volcano," because of the temperature they reach. Anyway, after "finalizing" at the glaze fired stage, painting the makeup or the "faceup" comes into the picture, and although the temperature is brought back down to that where the pigments stick to the porcelain, this stage requires a few firings, especially the face. This is also when I paint on the fingernails and toenails. The face needs several firings to get the look of the eyes and makeup right.

Each firing needs about 13 hours or up to a full day, for the kiln to rise and then climb back down. You cannot rush the cooling. You cannot speed up the cooling stage by opening the kiln. The pieces can shatter.

So it would be better for a group buy. Like I said, I don't want people to receive the same face, so I either have to have them already available or not. It's all dependent on what we will agree upon. Just email me and we'll work something out.

 

Dolls on the Guitars

I put two dolls on my guitar.

I'm happy with the results.

The Six Finished Zubiri Dolls - Doll # 6

Once again, since BlogSpot posts in reverse, I just want to remind everyone that I am posting so you can use the pictures online, in a non-commercial manner. The green screen background, if you know how, can be keyed out, and replaced with your choice of backgrounds, and you might want to use these as avatars in the forums go you to, or you can add poetry or use the images for your invitations to your parties.

One bad thing about getting into this, is that I tend to buy more supplies than needed. I have a lot of fabric at home. These dolls don't need a lot.

This set comes with the stained glass panels in the back. I did not stop at making the dolls. I have always felt the need to add more elements, in this case, some stained glass panels, which themselves takes time to make. It added to the delay of the work, but I'm happy I did it.

The solder is lead-free solder. I read somewhere that whatever lead is in a regular solder really is not cause for worry. Leaded solder makes smoother work. Lead-free solder is clumpy. Some say it's difficult to "tame" but I was targeting having a clumpy solder look. It takes the monotony of a smooth solder. People in general don't know much about soldering but they know a regular type of solder when they see one. Hence, clumpy solder looks unfamiliar and is a way to throw off the viewer.