Please tell us about yourself. What is your name? Where do you live? What makes you tick?
Yve Hooson, as a dollmaker I go by the name Freaky Little Things. I live in Britain, North Wales, near the coast... I don't "tick" as far as I'm aware!
When did you start making dolls? Why did you start making dolls?
A few years ago because I was working for a company taken over by the toy company Hasbro... I was given a project to design soft rag doll like characters. I loved it and continued to create and sell my own on Craft Stalls, I was mainly making fashion bags at the time. I got hooked on dolls though :o)
Who or what influences you? Inspires you?
I'm inspired by old horror movies, flappers and Parisian harlots, historical novels and costume, theatre, music and anything a bit out of step... my dolls started out as traditionally "gothic" looking creatures, more Tim Burton than Marilyn Mansun, but all those other influences mean they can and do morph into anything these days. Gothic, to me, though, means Romance, candle light, frilly shirted poets, ruins by moonlight and wonderful Victorian melodrama... I'm a Mellow Drama Queen.
Tell us a little about your dolls and your process for making them. Materials, preliminary sketches, inspiration, etc.
I write stories and doodle lots of characters in my sketch books and sometimes they come to life as dolls and other times the process of making them means they become something else completely. I think I am getting closer to being able to reproduce the characters I draw than when I first started out... I always make jointed dolls out of cloth because I love the floppy nature of rag dolls, lately I am having fun adding paperclay and modeling features, this is a direction I am very keen to keep exploring. I tend to finish them off with elaborate hairdos, which sometimes get ripped off and started again from scratch!
Do you have a favorite doll? It can be handmade by you, handmade by someone else, or even (gasp) mass production.
I love all my art dolls while I'm creating them, but then I move onto the next. My favourite dolls right now have to be my resin Asian BJD's. I adore them, they are not mass produced as such, rather created by skilled artists and sculptors. It would be hard to say which doll exactly, maybe Peaks Woods "Skiya", but they do take up most of my spare time right now... before them it was Blythe... nothing wrong with plastic! I've had a lifelong love-affair with kitschy plastic dolls and used to collect Mary Quant Daisy dolls from the 70's and 80's, I had loads at one time, and all the mad retro clothes. They are a hotline straight back to my childhood!
Besides making dolls, what do you do? Job, other creative pursuits, hobbies, etc.
I am a freelance product and packaging designer and illustrator, I've been ill since Christmas but usually that takes up MOST of my time and I fit a little bit of doll making in between. Other than that I would like to go and see bands play, the cinema or just hang out with friends and catch up.
What are some of your favorite: movies, books, websites, magazines, foods, tv shows? (Any or all!)
Lost, True Blood and Dexter for the TV, rarely watch otherwise... I read a book recently called Sugarmilk Falls which was excellent, can't remember the author... I tend to prefer interaction with people to passive pursuits so I can't think of much here
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Barcelona. My late father was from the city and I fell in love with the place when I visited a few years ago, felt really connected somehow. I love cities even though I live in a comparatively rural setting at the moment.
Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years? Ten years?
I tend to live in the now, there's that saying "if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"
Where can we find you on the internet? (blog, website, Etsy shop, eBay, et al.)
http://www.freakylittlethings.com/
I am a freelance product and packaging designer and illustrator, I've been ill since Christmas but usually that takes up MOST of my time and I fit a little bit of doll making in between. Other than that I would like to go and see bands play, the cinema or just hang out with friends and catch up.
What are some of your favorite: movies, books, websites, magazines, foods, tv shows? (Any or all!)
Lost, True Blood and Dexter for the TV, rarely watch otherwise... I read a book recently called Sugarmilk Falls which was excellent, can't remember the author... I tend to prefer interaction with people to passive pursuits so I can't think of much here
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Barcelona. My late father was from the city and I fell in love with the place when I visited a few years ago, felt really connected somehow. I love cities even though I live in a comparatively rural setting at the moment.
Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years? Ten years?
I tend to live in the now, there's that saying "if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"
Where can we find you on the internet? (blog, website, Etsy shop, eBay, et al.)
http://www.freakylittlethings.com/
