Future Freaks, fresh from my local thrift store
Backstage at the Freak Show
This mannequin will detail the same process used in Hollywood special effects.
Yes. It takes time, patience and effort. But the results can blow your mind.
The making of a Freak Show doll is not a quick process. A detailed zombie can take 4 to 5 days
So.... Why a freak show?
After all, I'm the same Kimberly Allison that you know from Lume di Luna Designs. The same artist who makes the cute stuffed monsters that you have come to know and love. But while I appreciate all the wit and humor that these things bring me, my own tastes are... quite frankly.... a bit darker.
I started painting and altering dolls and mannequins, but I followed my own inclinations for gothic horror. My friends and family were puzzled since it was so far removed from what I have always done. I told them the truth. In order to keep my own creative process flowing, sometimes I needed to do things simply for myself, in an effort to keep myself entertained. I had no pretensions that I was doing this to please others. I just felt like making some scary things.
At my family's prompting, I put out a few of these dolls at a show. And I was amazed at the reactions. Never before had anything that I had done been so polarizing. People either loved them passionately or absolutely hated them with the same intensity. I have had people run in horror out of my booth and I have had people complain to management that I was intentionally scaring (or is that scarring?) small children. But I have also had just as many people tell me that they found these dolls to appeal to them in a way that they have never experienced. And they wanted MORE.
So my Freak Show was born.
I wanted to recreate the mood and ambience of a Victorian Side Show. I wanted the dark and gritty feeling of a bit of sparkle on top of a whole lot of decay. Knowing that something was not proper, but you just can't look away. It's a place that I can indulge my darkest dreams and sweetest nightmares.
And you have been invited to step inside.