I've Been Published!

The day has finally come!! (ok, 5 days ago, but whatevs!)

The Summer issue of Art Doll Quarterly, in which my lovely circus girls are published, has hit newsstands everywhere!

When I first opened up this beauty, I saw that I was in the Table of Contents! Holy moley, are you freaking kidding me?! So, eager to see my simple little photo and brief story in amongst other crazy talented folks, I flipped to page 117, the page the table of contents told me to flip to, because yea, I was in the table of contents!! Remember? Remember how I mentioned that like 2 seconds ago? Still true!!

Ok, before you run off, terrified of my ridiculous ramblings, here's the rest of the story... I flipped to page 117 and BAM! A full, and I mean FULL page photo of my beautiful girls just exploded in my face! A whole page? For reals? I was fully expecting to be a little half-page spot, but no, they wanted to showcase these girls in all of their glory and I was so incredibly excited! I was home alone at the time that I opened up my issue, so I just grabbed the cat (poor thing, she should think twice before hanging out with me!) and gave her a squeeze and screeched incoherently for a few minutes. I am sure my neighbors thought really weird things were happening next door, but oh well!!

So there they are..... I am really still so crazy jazzed every time I look at this thing! I am going to buy a back up copy of the magazine, just in case. :D

And if you would like to purchase a copy but don't want to brave the crazy public, you can clicky on the badge on the right side of the screen.

Until next time! Oh yea, and happy Cinco de Mayo!!

The Runaway's Circus :: The Conjoined Twinsies

 

This was the first time that anyone had seen conjoined twins. Everyone thought they must be some sort of demon or monster. They were dropped off at a nunnery two towns over, where they were at least given food and shelter. When they were old enough to venture out on their own, they packed up a suitcase and hit the road. They came across The Runaway’s Circus and knew that this is where they were destined to be. The wowed the Ring Mistress with their hilarious comedy routine, and were immediately welcomed into the family!

These adorable girls were made from a wooden egg, two wooden doll heads, and a tiny wooden heart to act as feet. Their headpieces were created from plastic, glass, and aluminum flowers, and are exact replicas of each other.  

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little about my circus girls, and look for them in the Summer Issue of Art Doll Quarterly, on stands May 1st!

The Runaway's Circus :: The Melancholy Clown

In her little French town, spreading joy was the only way of life. No one ever expressed any other emotion but overwhelming happiness and over-the-top humor. She just couldn’t handle it anymore. Slowly, cracks started spreading out over her body, exposing the darkness she hid from the world. It terrified everyone, and she was sent away. You can’t be a clown if you’re not happy! At least, that is what they told her as they shut the gate behind her. She decided to prove them wrong, and now in The Runaway’s Circus, she cheers people up with her honest emotions. She may be less than happy all the time, but people relate to and admire her for her true spirit.

I have assembled her from wooden pieces, painted in mostly black and white. I decided to try a crackle technique on her body, which turned out perfectly. And then I used a little red and yellow paint, splattered on with the bristles of a toothbrush, to add a little color. She wears a little red glass fascinator in her hair, and has a dainty red heart painted on her face. She never wants to hide her true heart again. 

The Runaway's Circus :: The Kitten Tamer

 

To be honest, she had always lacked a little courage and ambition. She loved watching the big cats, but from very far away. No one had any patience for a girl too afraid to live up to the destiny of being a lion tamer. So, they banished her from the town, telling her she didn’t belong with a group of such strong, brave people. She took her tabby cat with her and hit the road. She realized she was fine with not wanting to live with and train lions. No one had tried to tame kittens before! And wouldn’t that be more useful anyway? When she joined The Runaway’s Circus, nobody could get enough of her cute, fun kitten acrobatics!

Painted in yellows, oranges, and a hint of copper, this sweet girl keeps a reminder of what she really loves, her tabby cat, in her headpiece. She also gets dressed up in a lacy ruff, to mimic the mane of the cats she admires.

The Runaway's Circus :: The Fire Breather

When you live in a sweltering desert, the only thing you should want to do is sink into a tub of deliciously cool ice cubes. Well, not this little hot tamale. She couldn’t get enough heat. In fact, she would light fires in the middle of the day and just watch them dance.  Unfortunately, she had a little too much fun with her fire one day and burned down her family’s barn. She ran out into the desert, with no intention of ever returning. She happened to run right into the Ring Mistress of The Runaway’s Circus, who at the time, was trying to build a hot air balloon in order to travel from town to town in search of other “oddities” like her. Being such a master of flame, she agreed to help get the balloon off the ground, and finally felt like she was where she belonged.

Her body is made from a wooden candleholder, and she has been painted in the colors of a flame. Her feather mohawk and chains give her an edgy vibe. She has also had flowers placed on her because at heart, she is still a sweet little girl.

The Runaway's Circus :: The RingMistress

Before I get into the individual girls, here is how they all came to be:

This band of misfits has all come together to form The Runaway’s Circus. At one time, each of them were cast out, deemed too “abnormal” for polite society. They have come from all corners of the world, searching for a place where they can belong.

It was fate that brought them together, and they no longer feel alone in the cold world they came from. They travel from town to town, embracing the very “oddities” that left them lonely in the first place. They serve as a reminder to all that separately we may be very different, but we all have the same basic desire. To be loved for everything we are, and know that we are perfect in our imperfections.

This circus troupe consists of the RingMistress, the Fire Breather, the Kitten Tamer, an (ever-so-slightly) Melancholy Clown, and a lovely pair of conjoined Twinsies. I will start with introducing you all to the RingMistress.

When she was a little girl, she was always fascinated by death. Not in the “I-want-to-die” sort of way, but she was certainly not as afraid as everyone else in her village was. When she started asking the other children if they would like her to clean and preserve the skeletons of their beloved family pets (after they passed, of course), all of the adults started screeching about what a freak she was, and how she didn’t belong here. She decided that if they could not accept her for who she was, she would create a place that would. Now, she is the Ring Mistress of The Runaway’s Circus, and proudly sports a couple of skulls on her fancy top hat. (Just don’t ask whom they belonged to!)

She stands at just about 5.25” tall, from her base to the tip of her feathers. She has been built from various wooden pieces, and painted in an array of beautiful, bright colors. She has been decked out in a variety of flowers and her largest skully friend sports a bejeweled crown. She also wears a set of metal wings on her back, for some added pizzazz.

KaeleighBee in the media

That's right folks.... I am being published! The managing editor of Art Doll Quarterly emailed me out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, and asked if I would like to published in their Summer issue in the Show & Tell Gallery. Ummmm, yea I would!!

A quick background on how this came to be:

Back in August, I had snagged an issue of Art Doll Quarterly off the newsstand because the doll on the cover was amazing and caught my eye. I happened to flip quickly through, all the way to the back, where they had upcoming challenges. One of them happened to be a Circus Doll challenge, and I had just been planning a group of circus performer keshis so naturally, I immediately got to work in order to submit my girls to this challenge.

In September, I sent off my submissions and waited to get the call.... and waited.... and waited... and waited some more. Needless to say, I never received it. I just shrugged it off, proud of the fact that I actually put myself out there at all.

Fast forward to two weeks ago... I received an email from the Managing Editor, saying that they were unable to include all of the submissions to the circus doll challenge, but they wanted to still publish my submission in the gallery of the Summer Issue!

In anticipation of this HUGE milestone in the life of KaeleighBee, I would like to introduce the members of The Runaway's Circus! Every day this week I will be sharing the stories of each girl so that you can get to know them a little bit better.

 

Come back tomorrow to meet our illustrious leader, The RingMistress!