Deborah Colston Art Dolls

Deborah Colston uses a gifted hand and a vast imagination to fashion unusually beautiful art dolls that charm and amuse.

The doll world grabbed her attention with a visit to an antique doll show. This was back in 1980 while she was a fashion design student at Ryerson University. The week Deborah graduated, she signed up for lessons to make these porcelain beauties. These dolls were given away as gifts, won ribbons at competitions and were sold. Eventually Deborah felt something was lacking and she wanted to start sculpting her own original dolls.

Meanwhile with the birth of her son Devin and then twins, Chad and Naomi, Deborah devoted her time to the children. These were her living dolls.

By 1993 Deborah was ready to sign up for a three-day sculpting seminar. "I bubbled over with excitement at learning the technique." It would take practice and experience to develop her style. "Every afternoon when the twins napped, I would run to my workroom and sculpt for two hours."

To make a doll, Deborah starts out with an idea. A general concept is formed and proportions are worked out. The wire armature is made and details are figured out as the figure evolves. The figures are created from polymer clay, an air-drying clay or cloth. For a sculpted figure, the head and limbs are sculpted using reference pictures from magazines and enhanced with acrylic paints. Eyes are painted and angora mohair is used to create their hairstyle.

With her background in fashion, Deborah researches, designs and sews all the costumes. To add dimension fabrics are often hand-painted, beaded or embroidered. This meticulous attention to detail is her trademark. The multi-step process involved in making a sculpted figure is time consuming and challenging. These dolls are anything but child’s play.

A lifetime of creative pursuits comes together in the creation of her dolls. Funny thing is, the fashion world of people never appealed to Deborah. But the world of dolls is something else entirely. Not a collector herself, she has no qualms about selling her work. "It is the process that is so exhilarating. The creating is the fun of it."

Deborah’s treasures are all her beads, buttons, trinkets, trims, fabrics, paints and paper. The supply is vast and crowding the family basement. When she asked her husband, "What will you do with my supplies when I die?" He jokingly answered, "I will sell them at a yard sale." At this, she resolved to live a long time!

It is a bonus to know her work is loved in it’s new home. Deborah’s second attempt at a doll was a witch called, Ludella. When she put on the doll’s muslin for a fitting, she gasped, and said, "It’s alive." Upon taking Ludella to a show, she sold within five minutes of opening. The woman who owns Ludella says, "It’s the best gift I’ve ever been given." She is in tune to the doll’s personality and has instructed everyone that if there is a fire, they are to rescue Ludella first, then the pets!

Deborah seems to breath life into her dolls. They range from realistic characters that can make you laugh or weep, to the colourful, whimsical jack-in-the-boxes that sway back and forth on a spring. Her work has sold in Canada, the United States and England. In Toronto Deborah sells her work at The Guild Shop run by The Ontario Crafts Council. You can view her work online at  www.scugog-net.com/colston/  or email her at colston@sympatico.ca

Working as a judge at the Canadian Doll Artists Association’s 2004 conference, it was exciting to see the talent and diverse styles of this dynamic group. Deborah is a member of the CDAA, CDA and OCC.

Tacked up in her workroom is a saying, "Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it." Words to live by.

Deborah lives in Seagrave, Ontario with her husband and three children. This gentle country setting with a river nearby suits her just fine.

The images on this page are the exclusive property of the artist and may not be copied without her express permission. Photography by Marianne Reitsma.

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