What Inspires You? Wednesday -Amy's Pipsqueaks

Few of you probably know that my beginnings into the sewing and selling world included doing some sewing for doll collectors. I really sort of stumbled upon it by accident. I had always had a love for dolls, but this sort of took that love to a whole new level. When I first began sewing to sell, I experimented with a few christening gowns. I love all the detail that goes into them. I wanted a pretty baby doll to model my gowns for photographs since I had no children of my own and none of my friends really had any kids at that point either. I went looking on the internet and stumbled upon a very realistic doll. So realistic that I was really intrigued. It was called a "reborn". What was meant by that at that point in time was that it was a child's play doll from the Berenguer company that someone had taken apart, stripped off the factory paint, repainted it in a more realistic fashion, and put it back together with a nicer body and weighted it to make it feel more like a real baby. In the years since then the art of "reborning" has evolved into a highly skilled art form. There are people who sculpt baby dolls and have them produced into kits specifically for this purpose and the painting techniques have only become better and better. At this point the very well done dolls are extremely realistic and sometimes sell for thousands of dollars. (Just search ebay for "reborn dolls" and you will see what I mean.  

It was while I was a member of a doll collectors forum several years ago, where I became acquainted with Amy Ferreira. I remember when Amy first began sculpting and being amazed at her talent and her determination to learn the art and to do it well. Amy has had several of her sculpts released as doll kits. She enjoys sculpting baby chimps as well and they have a wonderful whimsical quality to them. Her sculpts always bring a smile to my face and I'm sure you will find them endearing as well.

Tell us your name and what it is that you do.

My name is Amy Ferreira and I'm a sculptor and reborn artist .

Did you collect dolls as a child?

As a child I had a few dolls but my favorites were my Madame Alexander baby doll and my Zippy the Chimp by the Rushton Company

What was your inspiration and how did you get started?

I am mom to 5 boys, and with the birth of my first grand daughter in 2005, I started searching ebay for her first doll and came across some reborns. I bought a little reborn Berenguer and I was in awe . I was so excited about the realism that I started experimenting with reborning and never looked back . At Idex (The International Doll Exhibition) in 2007 I took a sculpting class with Laura Tuzio Ross and fell in love with clay at that point and have been sculpting ever since .

What is your favorite thing to sculpt?

I tried my hand at sculpting Chimps in 2013 and found that I enjoy it even more than baby dolls .

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in reborn artistry or sculpting? 

My advice to anyone interested in sculpting or reborning is to do a bit of research and visit some online forums and tutorials , and then jump right in and enjoy yourself !

Do you have a website, a blog or Facebook page where we can see more of your work?

To see more of my work and upcoming exhibits you may visit my website AmysPipsqueaks.com

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

I also have 4 new silicone chimps coming this summer and am very excited to be working with Ashton Drake this year!

Thanks for sharing, Amy!

If you would like to be featured on What Inspires You Wednesday, contact me and I'll find a spot for you!