Hand Made Mona and Lili on the sofa Artist Dolls.

 I'm still going through my draft folder and trying to publish all those saved draft posts I have hidden in there, so I guess you could call this "One from The Vaults"!

Anyhoo...

Another gorgeous doll I discovered either last year or the year before while again innocently nosing around on Ebay was this stunning creation  by an Artist named Nina it was listed for sale by nina_ilchenko  - possibly the Artist herself ?

The starting bid for this beauty was US $1,000.00 - I had the listing address copied here but it's dead now so alas, you'll just have to put up with me telling you about her instead!

The page had been translated and sadly like a lost of translations it doesn't read quite right but I'll do my best..

The doll on offer was a 34 inch decorative doll called Mona who came with her own "mini" doll called Lili, who is 12 inches tall!

They came with their own sofa too, on which they can be displayed.

The sofa's dimensions are 17 x 7 x 6 inches so all in all this Art Doll is a pretty big piece.

The description describes Mona as "It is fancy-dressed doll, made in complex technique. Sewing and sculpturing skills, dress history and a fantasy of the professional artist Nina make the doll a unique in the whole world."

And goes on to describe the creative technique as being a mixture of wire, paper clay, paint and fabrics.

The listing states that her eyes are covered with glaze, so I suspect they are also painted even though they look like they are made of glass...

Her face and hands are made from paper clay and painted and her hair is made from mohair. 

Her dress is made from vintage silk and velvet, and decorated with beads, brooches and vintage lace. 

The body is made from a wire armature which is coated with several layers of fabric and leaves her arms and feet flexible and enables her to sit on her sofa.

Mona wears stockings made from vintage lace and a pair of  shoes which are beautifully made using vintage fabric and lace. 

The listing states: "The doll is made in a single copy and marked with an author stripe." I'm guessing this means she is an edition of 1/1 and signed...  It also mentions that she comes in "the special decorative box" but unfortunately the listing didn't show this item.

Another interesting point the listing makes is "Due to such different mixture technique it takes 1 -2 months to assemble one doll." So she definitely is a labour of love..

 "All these details breath a life into a doll figure, impressed her with king, musician, romantic and mysterious character." 

I think this statement really sums up her look very well, there are hints of Venetian Carnivals, Medieval Jesters, The Court of Versailles, Baroque Fashion, Harlequins and so much more!