Azul Book

Azul is one of my original one-of-a-kind hand sculpted ball joined dolls. By their very nature, one-of-a-kind dolls are rare. Difficult and time consuming to create, Azul was a labor of love. She is apparently Oriental in persuasion, very distinctive with her long peacock blue hair, and is approximately two feet tall. Deemed to be the very essence of a modern high fashion model, Azul was the focus of her own interactive photographic installation by Richard Gardner.

Ball jointed doll aficionado and Washington D.C. fine arts photographer Miss Ally has just completed a book on Azul. This is actually her 'second' book on Azul. The first book was actually deemed so valuable by rare book dealers, that no more were printed. Thus, ensuring the value of the few original copies. Consequently, this is the first time, you can add 'one of my dolls' or 'one of our books' to your collection. The book is available for on-line purchase here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/805045 "Click the pages" to peruse and buy this tiny gem of a publication.

Poof!

The Frog has turned into the Prince.
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The second part of the exhibition has begun today; see Alabaster in his several hundred dollar Dollheart charcoal grey silk tuxedo. He's wearing it 'New York style' with a black t-shirt.
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A quick reminder for those who are late comers to what we do: you are looking at completely hand sculpted figures. Orchid and Alabaster are both UFDC Doll Fanciers 'Triple' award winners. Nine, our witchy little ghost girl, who is making her debut in this exhibit and who will be available, was first hand sculpted and then hand cast. All of the large figures can be attributed to the skill of graphic illustrator A.D. Puchalski. You can find A.D. here: http://www.angeldevilland.com/.
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The Frog Prince exhibition will run until the end of October 2008 in Greenlawn on Long Island. For times and directions, visit: http://www.harborfieldslibrary.org/ .
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This swirling black ink print is by the illustrious late Harry Clarke whom I, of course, adore.

Portraits

"Portraits" is the title of one of the Helmut Newton books on my filled-to-overflowing bookshelves, "White Women" is another. I had to acquire "White Women" while in Italy visiting relatives, it was so hard to get.
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As a long-time Newton enthusiast, I spotted this photo instantly while waiting for string beans and tofu at the Chinese restaurant at the top of the hill. Published in "GQ", April 2007, probably even the page in this magazine is collectible; no, I didn't rip it out.
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It did remind me, however, that an over-size portfolio of Newton photographs is currently available from rare book dealer friends. Large and lovely, I was grateful to view the photos but could neither afford them nor fit them in our house. Priced at approximately onehundredfifty US dollars, they were an unusual find. If you are interested in the portfolio, use info@cathycara.com ; your mail will be forwarded.
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As a final comment about Helmut Newton, he vies for first place on list of 'Favorite Photographers Who are No Longer Amongst the Living'. It is also easy to see that Newton's influence lives on; Richard, who is living, has immortalized the non-living in a way that I am sure Helmut would appreciate. Richard's postcard portrait of Orchid got framed instantly, all over town. Visit 'Bebe', Richard's portraits of the dolls, at www.richardgardnerphotography.com .
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A quick reminder for those who have not seen 'Bebe' before: Richard named the show 'Bebe', and the collection of photographs was displayed by FotoFoto gallery in April 2007. The public, typically refers to the exhibit as "Cathy's Dolls". All of the dolls in the photographs are used for exhibition purposes. Most of the dolls in the photographs were, indeed, sculpted by me. Some were sculpted specifically for the photography work. The three largest, most magnificent sculpts, were done by A.D. .
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The dolls and the photographs are available and will be used for future exhibition work.