Why this subgenre is building up steam.

By Jill Jackson

“Let’s pretend” has been an integral part of doll play since the beginning of time. It’s hard to imagine children who have not pushed the boundaries of their life experiences through the use of make believe and role playing. It enables them to create and inhabit whole new worlds with characters of their own making and use their dolls to act the parts.

It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that adults do the same thing. We are, after all, just grown-up children. More recently, as adult doll collectors have begun to openly and unselfconsciously play “let’s pretend” with their dolls, they have been more inclined to share their imaginings with other like-minded collectors. Today’s collectors are often buying not just a doll, but an entire persona already created for them in the form of a storyline, which they can accept as is or embellish if they choose. Becoming ever more popular are storylines rooted in characters from science fiction novels, movies, and animated cartoons.

The more sophisticated storylines can be very specific in their content. One example of this is “steampunk.” You won’t find steampunk in any traditional dictionary, but in a recent New York Times article, “Steampunk Moves Between 2 Worlds,” writer Ruth La Ferla defines steampunk as a “subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass diving bells and jar-shaped protosubmarines.” She goes on to say that since its first appearance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction, a type of cyberpunk that places the scene in a period where steam power is widely used, has gained momentum, “making a transition from what used to be mainly a literary taste to a Web-propagated way of life.”

Steampunk also embraces a more romantic, genteel style of manner and dress and is often set in Victorian England. The writings of Jules Vern and H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” are influential. The comic book series and film adaptation of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” are examples of this subculture, and similar endeavors can be found in anime and Japanese video games Steamboy and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Lilykoi of Lilykoi Designs tells her version of a steampunk fantasy in her written creation, Number 600, and follows with her own artistic design and face-up to make a strong visual statement.

Lilykoi began her artful interpretation with the basic Lavender Machina, a robot doll by Batchix for Enchantment Doll. To this futuristic base she put her paint brushes and imagination to work and created an illusion of creeping vines and thorny roses, in a way aging the doll to simulate her abandonment to the elements by her inventor amid a Victorian mentality that was not yet ready for a machine capable of emotion. Lilykoi then applied appropriate hardware that designated the forlorn ‘droid only as Number 600.

The Making of Machina and the Batchix Bride

Sarah McNeal is an independent artist and alter ego of Batchix, as she is best known in the ball-jointed doll community. Someone has to create the dolls that lend themselves to these unique fantasy situations, and no one does it better than she.

Sarah introduced Machina, a “robot girl doll,” to the market this year. According to the artist, “After seeing ‘The Transformers’ movie this summer, my childhood love of robots was re-awakened, and I decided to make my own. Machina was inspired by the character Arcee, who was a favorite of mine as a child. I wanted her to fulfill all the expectations I had for a doll. She had to be small, cute, and easy to play with; but she also had to pose well and look good doing it.”

Sarah attended Kansas State University, where she studied sculpting and learned the basics of mold making. She personally created 22 individual molds in the making of Machina. The doll was first produced in paper-clay formed over straws, which were then sanded and carved. Sarah is presently working with Enchantment Doll at Dollfair International to manufacture Machina in the U.S. Machina is the first of Sarah’s dolls to be produced professionally.

“The Machina Bride wedding dress is made in many parts,” explains Sarah. “It was important to me to show that she is a robot, so I incorporated her outfit into her design.”

The artist used epoxy to create the doll’s soft, half-closed eyes, achieving a demure look. The bride’s face is painted with layers of shimmering “interference powders” and gloss, then decorated with blue and pink rhinestones. Each lock of hair is individually glued to Machina’s head cap, and her armbands are made from holographic vinyl material. The bands are sewn to her to give the seamless look of liquid metal covering her arms.

The basic Machina is being produced by Enchantment Doll in the following colors: white, light blue, pink, and lilac. More information on Machina can be found on the Web site of Enchantment Doll at www.enchantmentdoll.com.