MAKING SLIPKNOT BARBIE

THE CONCEPT
I first came up with the whole concept when I was thinking about all my Barbie stuff left over in boxes from when I was younger. Originally I was interested in making an S&M Barbie with a Barbie I'd bought in a charity shop, but as I went through my boxes I came across a red Jumpsuit that belonged to Barbie. I couldn't believe it. So I put it on a Barbie doll, and thought I'd leave it at that. Simply a Barbie doll with a jumpsuit the same colour as Slipknot's. But that wasn't enough....

DESIGNING AND MAKING SK BARBIE
I started thinking 'maybe I could make all 9 masks for her', but that seemed too optimistic and hard to do. How would I mould such tiny masks? But then I decided I could do it if I tried. So, during my free lessons at school, rather then going to the library (which is what we have to do) I went wiith my friend, Alistair, who does art, to the art room. So whilst he did his artwork, I started making the Barbie masks. I brought in 3 Barbies, clingfilm and a hairdryer. At first I tried to melt the clingfilm over Barbie's face, but that took ages and was, well, shit really, so instead I just stretched it over her face, so that when the masks were dry they'd just peel off. Then I used paper mache to make the masks. Corey's mask had to be sewn out of a one of my tops. I just sat down one saturday and sewed it, with all the stitches and dreads hanging off it. That mask took ages to do, as I had to get it to fit her head properly, so you could take it off, and put it back on her, and the eyes and mouth had to be in the exact right positions.
Chris's nose was made out of a cocktail stick with paper mache moulded around it, and stuck into the mask. Craig's helmet had nails stuck through it for the spikes. Mick's mask had no paper mache covering the nose bit, just like his actual one. The painting of the masks took a while, as the detail was quite important. I used a pencil as a kind of paintbrush alot of the time, to paint of finer detail. Joey's mask was probably the hardest face to draw. I had to paint over one side of his face about 8 times to get the eye right. The other side of his face looked fine. I had to mix the correct colours for the Pig's, Jim's, Chris's, virtually all of the masks. The Pig's, Clown's and Sid's mask all had to have some kind of large mask feature moulded on to them- a snout, nose and gas mask mouth piece,respectively. These were a total f-kk to mould on, but I was made eternally happy when, at the time when none of the masks had been painted, a girl said to me 'is that supposed to be a gas mask?' as I was moulding Sid''s mask.
When I'd painted the masks, I had to sew orange wool onto the side of the Clown's mask for his hair. His mask was really difficult to paint the detail onto, as well. I didn't think it looked that good, but a few people thought it was the one that had turned out best (Shawn's my mum's favourite SK member- she loved the mini mask of his).

MAKING THE BARBIE BOX
Being the clearly 'intelligent' person I am, rather than using a cereal box for the doll, i spent ages making a box out of cardboard I bought in an art shop. I kept f-kking it up, so it took a long time to do. Only after I'd done it did someone suggest I could've used a cereal box.   good grief. oh well. I then stuck clear cellophane on the front, like on a real Barbie box, and stuck pictures I've been collecting for a while all over the box. I wrote out some info on each member and stuck that on the back, and something about the meaning behind the Barbie, and stuck that on the side of the box. I then painted the box with PVA glue, to give it a kind of varnish. Then in Kerrang! they gave free SK stickers of each member so I cut them down to size and stuck each picture next to the bit of relevant info. There....finished.
All in all, it took me about 3 months to do, which included a couple of free periods at school a week, 45 minutes before our sport lesson a week, and a little time at home.

GIVING IT TO SLIPKNOT
Out of all 9 members, Joey is my favourite. I love all of them, but Joey is just so cool and very funny. I didn't know if I'd manage to meet any of them at the show. I just wanted to give her to them. Meeting joey was just awesome. And his total appreciation of Slipknot Barbie was what meant the most.It was just something to say thankyou to them, for being who they are in the face of the shit of society, making 'Slipknot' and bringing out an artistic part of me I never knew I had (not only in the SK Barbie). They remind us that we all deserve respect, and they give that to us.

WHY SLIPKNOT BARBIE?
Barbie is something alot of little girls grow up with. She's this icon, and she stands for a face and figure which doesn't, and couldn't, exist. Giving her Slipknot's 9 masks just added a kind of twist. Now Barbie loves metal, men who wear masks&dresses and getting the shit kicked out of her in the mosh pit.

GOD BLESS THE (SIC)

SLIPKNOT BARBIE (PART 2)
This is the shit, Shawn asked me to make him a Slipknot Barbie too. So, Slipknot Barbie 2 is underway. This time i have to make the jumpsuit for her, but it's all good. Pics will be posted when she's done and ready to kill...