No, not another Tim Burton flick. These freaky, starkly real resin babies that could cost you six grand to a lakh are Canadian sculptor Camille Allen's ticket to fame
No, not another Tim Burton flick. These freaky, starkly real resin babies that could cost you six grand to a lakh are Canadian sculptor Camille Allen's ticket to fame
A curious chain email has been rapidly doing the rounds on the Internet, with pictures of lifelike miniature "marzipan babies" held in the hollow of a woman's palm. The first thing the newborn dolls' Canadian creator -- baby-faced Camille Allen -- does, when we track her down for an interview, is dispel the urban legend of the
marzipan babies.
"The emails have some false information about my babies. Some say they are made of marzipan (sweet cashewnut paste and egg white) or chocolate. It's not true. The baby dolls aren't edible. They are actually sculptures in polymer clay or resin."
She sculpts these exceptional dolls at her large, cheery studio in British Columbia, Canada, with a view of the ocean and mountains as the backdrop. Set in a heritage complex built in 1916, the studio is filled with dolls, doll parts, dolls-in-progress and sculpting supplies.u00a0
The inimitableu00a0 sculptures created at this inspiring workspace, have gained recognition world over. From the Magnum Opus Art Exhibition in New York, Montel Williams' talk show in the US, and the Dubai Doll Festival to Ripley's Believe it or Not and private collections in six continents.
Doll craft
Camille didn't have to look too far for a teacher. "When I was 21, my husband's grandmother Clara Allen -- who is a doll sculptor -- asked me if I was interested in sculpting. My answer was an ecstatic 'yes'. I've always been interested in sculpting. I loved playing with plasticine and clay in school." Over the next couple of months, Camille learnt how to make life-size baby dolls. "I did that for a year. One day, I had just a handful of clay to work with. I made a tiny baby with it. It was curled in a foetal position. I even gave it an umbilical cord, as if it was still in the womb, and placed it inside an eggshell. It fit perfectly!"
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Baby Ada is 1.75 inches tall |
Why babies?Camille is inspired by the beauty of newborn babies. "Capturing the fragility of newborns and their peacefulness is a challenge. The babies are a reminder of how precious new life is," she adds. How does she get the fine details right? "I've spent years studying babies and their anatomy down to the tiny wrinkles. I've also spent
hundreds of hours practising sculpting to make the babies look real," she says.u00a0
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Babies with a tagThere are three different tiers of dolls. The 'One of a Kind' babies are original clay sculptures that take weeks to finish. These cost $1,200 to $3,000 (Rs 53,800 to Rs 1,34,690). Next come the smaller Limited Editions of two to 20. These are cast into resin, and the resin copies are then hand-finished, taking aboutu00a0 three-five days to build the layers of paint and apply the hair strand-by-strand. These babies cost $300-$600 (Rs 18,000 to Rs 36,000). Larger mass-produced resin replicas of the originals are the most affordable at $99 (approx. Rs 6,000).
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The mouldCamille prefers to sculpt in polymer clay, which is soft but can hold the tiniest detail, even fingerprints. She says, "Once I have completed a sculpture, I fire the clay with heat for hardening. Sometimes, the babies are cast into a mould and made into other materials like resin, porcelain or silicone."
Camille begins with a lump of polymer clay, and sculpts using tools like toothpicks and dentistry tools. "It takes hours of patient concentration to form a realistic baby and finish with fine details like wrinkles and fingernails.
Then, I bake the sculpture to harden it. I glue soft English mohair on the head strand-by-strand to imitate fine baby hair. The sculpture is then brushed with paints for added realism," she adds.u00a0
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Baby demandCollectors order Camille's baby dolls for various reasons. For instance, an art collector will buy a 'One of a Kind' baby for his contemporary art collection. A grandmother might pick a resin replica baby as a gift for her pregnant daughter. Parents buy the dolls for remembrance at the birth of their child. People have purchased them as retirement gifts foru00a0 obstetricians, doctors andu00a0 nurses who work with newborn babies. Camille has shipped babies to several collectors in India too.
Camille takes orders on her website https://www.camilleallen.com/ and ships worldwide, including to India
Baby steps
Camille loves crafting chubby babies as much as fragile ones. Every baby has a name; the one in the picture (left) is four-inch Baby Maureen. In future, the sculptor hopes to expand into more facial expressions and positions, skin tones and nationalities, as well as "to scale" babies for 1:12 Doll Houses. She has an ostrich egg in which she plans to house the largest egg baby. Camille is also making limited and large editions of the resin copies across price ranges "so that more collectors can afford the babies"
