Zena has been designing her beautiful creations for over two years now, starting out sewing Christmas gifts for two of her fellow collectors and then branching out to sell her wonderful dolls on the web. An active user of eBay, Zena has been offering her dolls both at auction and from her own webpage. She’s always enthusiastically learning new techniques and passing them generously along to the new artists she comes in contact with. Her helpful attitude has made her a very popular mentor among newcomers to the field.

Having always had a love for crafts, Zena has incorporated those skills, along with her sewing skills, into a specialty design area of making fashion doll brides that reflect the actual wedding dresses worn by their new owners, which makes a very unique token of remembrance of that special day. Brides in general are a passion with Zena, and her own designs are often inspired by the ones she has seen in various fashion magazines, but done with her own special flair. She says that her mother will be making her wedding dress, but she will do the doll that reflects that image.

Zena’s range flies across type boundaries, making both her formal dolls and fantasy creations uniquely hers. Her ball gowns and bridal gowns are her first love, but the touch of whimsy in her fairies and centaurs are not to be missed!
Zena has received a number of awards for her page, and won competitions at the Barbie Doll Connection Club of Virginia meetings.  (They have a theme for each meeting, and she takes a creation related to that theme, and has won a few times.)  As for public recognition for her dolls, Zena says she has not received anything as of yet, but 2 of her dolls will appear in the BMAA. 

While being inspired by “all” of the fashion doll designers, Zena wisely points out that each work of art is unique to it’s creator, saying, “Even when we 'copy' someone’s idea, our art still turns out different to theirs.  We cannot 'copy' something, only the idea.  We do not know what pattern was used, or which techniques.  We use our own patterns and techniques, so it turns out different.  It is an honor to see someone else trying to make something that you made.  It's like trying to copy the Mona Lisa - you can copy it, but it won't be the same!”

Zena’s concept of the “perfect” doll for customizing:  “She would have a closed mouth mold, and her body would be similar to the Candy dolls, with the larger chest, as that looks much better with a bridal gown. Her arms would be bendable, ballerina style, but bendable at the elbow and the wrist, and her legs would be similar to Barbie, with soft bending knees but also be able to bend at the ankle so she could sport tennis shoes without looking dorky! She would come in a few different shades of skin tone with assorted hair colors.”
 

Angel started customizing dolls about seven months ago after looking up sites about restoration and seeing the wonderful dolls that others had done. She has been a member of CustomDolls Onelist for six months, and enjoys being around people who share the same interests as herself, and where all can learn from one another.

A self-described “dreamer” and lover of fantasy, Angel takes her inspiration from fashion magazines and from the fabrics and trims that she spies while browsing through the fabric store. Her favorite part of the customizing experience is doing the hair, and her least favorite is rooting eyelashes. Her range encompasses both formal and fantasy, done with equal flair. She especially loves working with rich fabrics like velvet.

Angel sells her creations from her website and on Ebay©, and does commission orders as well. Her goal is to improve her sewing knowledge so that she can achieve the exact look she wants, and to make faces that appear as realistic as possible. She is also in search of that perfect realistic mermaid, with a “rubbery” tail and fin.  Angel hopes to see customizing become more widely recognized as the art form that it is.

For the perfect doll to customize, Angel would choose: “Fair skinned, with an assortment of long hair choices and ballerina arms.” 

Anita’s many artistic skills include tattoo work and airbrushing, which have been helpful in her customizing efforts. Her inspiration comes from High Fashion Runway shows and “lots of imagination”. Her favorite part of customizing is doing the hair, and she says her least favorite part is naming the doll! She plans to tackle molded hair in the near future… an effect she loves the look of.

Formal dolls are a special love for Anita, and she enjoys working with earth and jewel tones. A prolific artist, Anita produces her dolls in record time, with a great attention to detail and quality. She sells her dolls on Ebay© and from her webpage.

For the perfect doll to customize, Anita likes working with the “Pretty in Plaid"™ and “Corduroy Cool"™ dolls. But for the ultimate doll she says “I would love to do a bride doll of Audrey Hepburn from "Funny Face." She was and still remains a very positive influence in my life regarding less fortunate/ill children. She is the reason why I started my volunteer work at the hospital.” 

Having been a seamstress for years, the most challenging part of customizing for Jean has been the work on the actual doll. “I’m sure that the kind people who bought my first dolls immediately ran and put the dresses on a different doll! But hopefully that isn’t the case today!” Jean has enjoyed the learning process of facial repaints and hair styling, and hopes to become more accomplished with each doll she attempts. An enthusiastic seller on eBay, Jean also sells her dolls on her webpage and does custom orders.

Jean’s style runs to the formal gowns mostly, but her Geisha dolls have been a great success for her as well. Her latest venture has been to add Gene® dolls to her gallery, but she intends to concentrate on the Barbie® dolls and friends for the most part. Her inspiration comes from the fabrics that she loves to work with, and she loves to make gowns that she would never have reason to wear herself. “It’s a great creative outlet.”

Jean’s idea of the perfect doll to customize:  “I would love to see a doll with a closed mouth, ballerina arms that were bendable at the elbows and wrists like the legs are, fair skins as opposed to suntans, more choice of hair color, and more African-American doll styles.”