º¤ø,¸Suzie - Limited Edition 13" Wooden Artist Doll.¸,ø¤º

Or here I go finding gorgeous dolls I'll never have enough money to own again!

Last year I was busy minding my own business nosing around Ebay when I discovered the most gorgeous doll I've seen in a long time, so gorgeous in fact that I had a hard time stopping myself from drooling!

Unfortunately bidding started at US $299.00!  -  But well just look at this girl...

                                                         

Suzy is a Limited Edition ball jointed "Flapper" doll hand carved from maple wood by Canadian Artist M. Xenis. She stands at 13 inches tall and was made exclusively for the UFDC Region 1 2013 Conference and came with amongst other things, a Certificate of Authenticity stating her edition number and signed by the Artist.

UFDC stands for United Federation of Doll Collectors, if you're interested in finding out more about them you can visit their website here.

The annual Conference was held on 12th September to 14th September 2013. Each Conference has a theme and that year their theme was "Before T.V" - hence the Flapper doll.

There were only 230 "Suzy the Flapper dolls" made for the convention and according to the Ebay listing only a few of those were available at the conference itself.

If you've never heard of Xenis Wooden Dolls before, you can view their website here.

A word of warning though they are very and by that I mean VERY expensive but oh so beautiful, to give you an idea of what I mean; an Evil Queen with a resin Witch Mask  which fits over your Evil Queen's face and transforms her from beauty to old hag will set you back $1400.00 (USD) it is truly stunning though in fact I'd go as far to say that she puts Suzy to shame!

Talking of Suzy...

She came with her shipping box which has her edition number underneath and a UFDC Region 1 Conference 2013 label, inside which she was wrapped up snugly in paper.

The green label on the front of her box bears the same legend as the one written above the signature on her Certificate of Authenticity.

It reads as follows: "Through the stroke of a brush and imagination, here is a wooden doll that will capture your heart. Each doll is hand painted by the Canadian West Coast Artist and signed with the Artist's signature and Registration number."  Below this,it reads "A Limited Edition doll by XENIS makers of  Fine Wood Dolls."

The amount of detail on her face is astounding especially when you consider she is hand carved and hand painted with bright red lipstick, rosy cheeks, a beauty spot and those beautiful sideways glancing big hazel eyes of hers which give her a slightly flirtatious expression.

Her hair (wig) is made from mohair and styled into a bob cut which was very popular during the 1920's.

Suzy has several points of articulation with joints in her shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles. This makes her very poseable and with the weight provided by the density of the wood means she is also able to to sit or stand unaided.

In keeping with the "Flapper" theme she's wearing a low waisted fringed cocktail dress decorated with a peacock feather on the waist sash, this matches her head dress perfectly.

In true Flapper style she accessorised with black high heels and two long strings of white pearls which swing wildly as she dances!

The seller included in the listing a dvd which has information about the artist and shows you the production of the dolls and the history of the Xenis Company.

Man, I would love to watch that!

After a bit more snooping I discovered two more of these girls on Ebay - one was priced US $299.99 and the other was US $ 425.00 plus $38.95 Shipping cost *Sob*

I'm amazed by how "alive" she looks especially when you consider that her face has been carved from a piece of wood and then sanded and varnished; and the features painted onto it. The choice of wood (maple) seems to add a depth of colour that really helps to give realism - you can almost see this girl thinking!

Tulia Dil, Thistle & Bon Bon

On 28th December 2009 Ion Tallman submitted his design for a "Garden Mother" doll which he called "Tulia Dil" to the Patch Together Website.

http://www.patchtogether.com/designs/tula-dil-a-garden-mother-2607.html

The concept behind his design is, in his own words "For my first submission to Patch together I wanted to make a character from a story I have been working on my entire life. 
Character bio: A young mother Tula-Dil lives in a giant forest with her people the Garden. Garden are a group of primitive plant people. The Garden don`t know that the forest they live in is all that remains of their once great world. An alien queen salvaged the remains of the garden planet (along with parts of many others) and attached them to her massive ship. She hopes to bring the parts together to create a new world." 

The prototype design looked like this:

http://www.patchtogether.com/designs/tula-dil-a-garden-mother-2607.html

... And the original doll was to be: "A 5" poseable soft vinyl Garden Native mother doll with a removable grass skirt. -For adult collectors. -Flower boobies will be painted on not sculpted. -Three different color schemes representing seasonal color changes. -Will come with a 2 inch baby Garden named Thistle."

http://www.patchtogether.com/designs/tula-dil-a-garden-mother-2607.html

The idea proved very popular and received enough votes that Ion Tallman was successful in his quest for positive feedback and the doll was placed into Patch Together's "On Demand" section - where is was placed awaiting enough pre orders to be placed so that Ion Tallman could see life and made into a tangible object - again it was successful and after receiving the required amount of preorders Ion Tallman was able to bring his creation to life.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/49547642@N00/10789650236/in/pool-1608553@N21/

The above photograph shows the progression and prototype (first sculpt) of Tula-Dil and her little brother Thistle and his twin Bon Bon, from first sculpt to finished article and subsequent limited edition versions which have been available at various times.

You can follow the progression from first sculpts to completed (finished) design / doll here: Tula-blog

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/85680178/tula-dil-and-thistle-vinyl-figures-by

At present the only version which is readily available is the one in the picture above, which can be purchased directly from Ion via his Etsy Shop GrenadineSupreme , which is where I found that photograph and the two below.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/85680178/tula-dil-and-thistle-vinyl-figures-by

The above photograph shows the back of the box, with part of her story written next to a beautiful illustration of Tulia Dil and her siblings.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/85680178/tula-dil-and-thistle-vinyl-figures-by

Here's the information on Tulia - Dil and Co. from Ion's Etsy Listing: "Tula-Dil is a young girl of the garden charged with taking care of her little brother Thistle and sister Bon-Bun. Don't miss your chance at this very rare figure set only available in this shop." 

"Set Includes:
6"Tula-Dil green vinyl figure jointed at the neck arms and legs.
2"Thistle and Bon-Bun mini Vinyl figure Jointed at the neck.

Tula-Dil, Thistle, and Bon-Bun are copyright ©ion Tallman All rights Reserved."

I don't know exactly what it is about Tulia Dil, but she had me intrigued from the first time I saw her in 2011, for some reason she reminds me of those Birdseye Peas adverts from when I was small ... The one where the peas happily bounce into the packets to be frozen - Or maybe I dreamt that.

Now I remember it's The Poddington Peas cartoon from the 1980's... See what I mean?

 Anyway Tulia Dil reminds me of peas and as you can probably guess, I've taken the plunge and ordered the set, I think Mudwamp, Ponda & Wanda will really enjoy having some "Gardens" around to play with...

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