Argentinian artist Leandra (Lean) of Vasilisa’s Dolls currently lives in Spain. Her first BJD is Lilly, now available at Jpop Dolls. New pet dolls, the Bichines, will be released soon. Lilithium will be available in 2016.
~~~~~
Q: What was your first doll and when was it made?
A: I started sculpting in 2011, I began learning with doll busts – for me the faces were a very important thing to do right in a doll, so I did some to practice, then I followed with the bodies. I was sculpting three dolls at the same time: I started with the BJD prototype in LaDoll stone clay (the first version of ADA Line body, and the first head: Lilithium), a sculpture in Polymer Clay and an OOAK Art doll kitten in Paper Clay.
The first one I finished was the Art Doll Rouge, The Burlesque Cat Doll. I’ve been improving the BJD since then, till last year (2014).
Q: What was the inspiration for your two girls, Lilithium and Lilly?
A: My brand name comes from a fairy tale, so I wanted my first doll to look like she emerged from a fairy tale. I wanted Lilithium to be sexy, mysterious, more like a fairy doll. I wanted to sculpt a neutral but atractive expression, so any artist could change her, to customize her like a full new character.
With Lilly I wanted to create a different type of head, more like a child, quite the opposite from Lilithium, rounded eye shape, thinner lips, rounded cheeks, and with a subtle expression, that mischievous smile.
Q: What clothing and shoes fit your girls?
A: They can wear Minifee and Ellowyne Wilde outfits, or any slim dolls outifits and slim YoSD shoes.
In the photos Lilithium is wearing an Angell-Studio Outfit, and Raouken Corsetry for MSD Lillycat Cerise dolls. And Lilly is wearing Minifee outfits from several doll clothing artists like Dolly Boutique.
Q: How did Lilly become a Jpop Doll release?
A: I knew about Grace through Nefer Kane. She recommended her when I was looking for a good quality factory to reproduce my BJDs. Since then, I would write to Grace to ask for some advice and she was always very generous helping me without asking anything in return. One day, talking about things in the doll profession that she was helping me with, I proposed Lilly to her, to be in exclusive at Jpopdolls.net. Since then we are working very well together, through the whole process since I decided to send the prototype to the factory till now, when the Preorder Opened.
Q: What can you tell me about the Bichines?
A: Bichines BJD are my new line of little animals in resin, with the same body called BichÌn line, and several heads.
The first ones are ìJum Jum & Pom Pomî, the fennec fox and the rabbit.
They have a very special feature: squishy paw pads!
I did several OOAK Art dolls inspired by animals in the last several years. They had strange faces; they were very particular and captured attention in social networks, especially one black cat called The CATrina. Some people started to ask for more, and one of them suggested I do some in BJD. So one day I was making several heads to be OOAK art dolls, and I said, wait! Why not? They COULD be ball jointed dolls! I had the fennec fox started, a cat (that became the bunny) and a deer. I had to modify their eyes into eye holes, as they were painted before, and I had to cut the head cap and put in magnets. But I was decided to go on. If people liked them when they were OOAKs, with a simple body, maybe they’ll like them more with a ball jointed one!
That is why I decided to do a black rabbit with a skull face up like that little CATrina that people liked so much!
And with the fennec fox: I was pretty obsessed for a long time now with these awesome little creatures, the fennec fox! I had lots of photos of them and I used them as inspiration with my OOAK Art dolls. So I did this smiling fennec fox, inspired by all of those beautiful pictures. As I prefer them to live in nature, this is a good way to have one, although it’s a doll.
Q: What sizes are they?
A: They are like a YOSD or tiny sized dolls. Their total height with head included are: 25 cm the rabbit, 21 cm the fox.
Q: What resin colors will they be released in?
A: Jum Jum, The fennec fox will be in orange resin, like a red fox, and in pure white for a Limited Kitsune.
Pom Pom, the rabbit will be in pure white resin and in Black for the Limited Calvera.
Q: Can you tell me more about the paw pads on Pom Pom and Jum Jum?
A: With the Bichines I wanted to create dolls that reminds me of my pets, something cute and adorable. And, of course, my challenge was to reproduce their PAW PADS! The resilient little things that (sometimes, not always), my cats let me touch. So with these dolls, we are all able to touch the squishy paw pads as much as we want!
My husband Luseck helped me in this adventure. He sculpted the tiny pads one by one, sanded them, sealed them, and made the silicone molds. We experimented with several types of materials and colors till we got the perfect one! A squishy resin mix, soft but firm, like real paw pads!
Q: Do you plan to introduce more animals in the future?
A: Yep. A deer and a cat that resembles that sad strange CATrina that inspired me to make anthro BJDs.
Q: Do you have any other dolls that you are working on at this time?
A: Yes, my husband and I are working (hand sculpting) a couple of SD of about 65 and 70 cm, but a slim line of large dolls. They are inspired in my former partner in Comics Books (I’m a comic book writer as well) Luciano Vecchioís art in our trilogy “Cruel Thing”. I did the doll designs, drawing the front, profile and back, considering the balance and the joint mechanisms for better poseability. He is working on the boy: Evan, and I’m working on the girl: Diana. I guess we are going to sculpt two heads for each body, as I did with my first BJD.
My husband is also learning to sculpt in 3D medium, so he is currently working on a mermaid of my design too. We would like to work full time together in the near future, including new technologies in our small artist business, to be able to offer a wider range and never ending possibilities of dolls.
Photos above from top: Lilly, CATrina art doll, Paw pads
Vasilisa’s Dolls Gallery Album
Jpop Dolls – pre- order for Lilly open through December 7th
~~~~~
Lilly:
Lilithium:
Jum Jum:
Pom Pom:
2 thoughts on “~Vasilisa’s Dolls~”