2) When did you start?
I’ve always made my little things… I wasn’t even walking properly yet and I was already building things with my little hands. I think those things are already inside us. If we’re talking professionally, earning my living, I’ve been working in the artistic field for about 8 years. Making dolls, much less time. Today I’ll talk to you about them ;-)
3) How did you get into it?
I started making dolls as gifts for my friends… and I realized that while I was making them, time passed surprisingly faster… and I felt very, very comfortable making them. Every time I made one, I posted photos on my blog, until one day an acquaintance commissioned a personalized doll as a gift—and paid me for it!—so I made it. My client loved it and suggested that maybe I could make more and sell them, but the truth is that I didn’t see it clearly at all. I didn’t think it could go very far, or even that it would make up for the enormous amount of work involved in making them. But I kept making dolls, and then someone commissioned another one, and another, and another… Over time, that very abstract idea began to take shape, and I saw that I was increasingly happier with the result… and I found “my way of working” :-D
4) What do you enjoy most about what you do? (choosing materials, the project, cutting…)
What I like most about making personalized dolls is meeting new people, new faces, all of them unique and special, who give me a different and beautiful perspective on what we humans are like. Making a doll for someone I don’t know means immersing myself in that person, their habits, their hobbies, getting to know them. When I finish, I feel like I’m taking a friend with me! I really grow attached to them; I take away a little piece of their lives. I also enormously enjoy it when the person who commissioned the doll tells me how the person who received it reacted—it’s as if they were giving the gift to me! This work makes me very happy, yes.
5) What project would you like to do that you still haven’t had time for?
I have a project called “Garañecos” that’s only half-finished. It’s about turning children’s drawings into stuffed animals, accompanied by their own stories. With them, we want to make a wonderful book that already exists inside my head, but I have to get it out of there so the rest of you can see it :-p. With all the work I’ve had lately, this project has been pretty dormant, but I hope to get started in a few days—there’s nothing I’d rather do!
I also want to find some time to pick up my paintbrushes, which are gathering dust, try out some new materials I bought, and experiment a little!
And I want to make myself a very beautiful, organized website to show my work (it’s been a long-overdue item on my list)!
6) Is there anyone you follow whom you’d like to collaborate with?
I’m a very, very big fan of an English woman who goes by Felt Mistress (http://www.feltmistress.com)
She’s my great doll-making inspiration. In my opinion, she’s so good that it hasn’t even crossed my humble mind that we might collaborate on something… In any case, I’d get down on my knees and ask her to be my teacher. On the other hand, I want to add that I adore the personalized dolls made by the guys at Lalala Toys ( http://www.lalalatoys.com/). Their dolls are made with crochet, and it’s very common to see them accompanied by their pets—there’s nothing more adorable!! I recommend visiting their portrait website.
7) How can people contact you?
On my blog
http://wenyuri.blogspot.com you can see examples of my work. You’ll find the dolls under the MUSELINA tab (that’s what I call my fabric creations).
I also have a fan page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/wenyuri.art
You can become a fan to follow the latest news! ;-)
And if anyone wants to write to me, you can do so at my email address wenyuri@gmail.com. I’ll be delighted to hear from you, and I’ll answer anything you’d like to know that I haven’t written here.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
And if you’d like to take a personalized doll workshop with her next May 19 in the afternoon, you have the opportunity!
More info at:
https://luluferris.com/tienda/cursos-y-talleres/taller-munecas-personalizadas/