________________________________________________________________________________________________ About me: This baby would not exist with out Aspergers. Completing even one doll is a trial. I must be patient and wait for paint to dry. I end up making several dolls at once to fill in the space. As I continue, I need to not obsess. Especially in detailing. When I see even one flaw, I am compelled to stop what I am doing and take care of that flaw right there and then, instead of finishing what I am doing and addressing the flaw when I am finished. Even though it means mixing or pouring a new color, getting proper brushes etc. Which also means having to store the color I am using, clean and store the brushes I am using etc. Many times I will strip a doll and start over because of that one flaw. I take my pictures and I view them on a 40" TV. Which is ridiculous because no one will ever see that tiny little fairy with a head 5x bigger than their own. Asperger's is a double edged sword and an excessively decadent dessert. When I decide to do something, nothing will stop my resolve. I build things in my head hundreds of times before I actually physically create. That is the reason so many children and adults on the Autism Spectrum Scale can do something astonishing. Just like someone who is schooled and then exposed through experience, we have done the task so many times in our heads, it is actually no different than another person physically doing it. No great magic. We are what we think. I am a visual thinker, I think in video. Every word I say or type has pictures running through my mind. I am self taught in everything. I taught myself AutoCAD, then programming and eventually I became the most sought after CAD Teacher, teaching at University of Houston and at many Fortune 500 companies. I eventually became a highly desired AutoCAD Manager and learned Electrical Design having my names on many well known projects like the Cockrell Butterfly House and The George Bush Library. But it was a trial for my employers who also utilized my marketing skills because I would work sometimes 48 hours straight to create the 30 x 42 boards used for the sales pitches. Many times they would be happy with what I have done only to come back and see I have erased it from the graphics program and started over. They won almost every single project I designed for their pitches. But sometimes it was just too much, too unpredictable. And ironically, Aspergers is about needing predictability. After a horrible undoing of my life by a partner of 14 years, I lost everything. But the many friends I have here in Houston, lifted me out of a deadly fog and revived my art. When I discovered reborns, I first simply wanted to own one. Now I sit here in my little studio, with 50+ kits, limbs, wings, a PLETHORA of supplies and so much joy my heart explodes. I also make the boxes for the 'box openings'. These boxes ALONE have sold for anywhere from $50 to $375. But they evolved from a neurosis of adult coloring books 7 years ago. I had replicated many of the pages by buying 4 of each book. I had some hair brained idea that Dover would buy these amazing collages from me, but after a year, I took the over 300 gel penned and inked pages and stashed them under my bed. Then I tried my hand at jewelry. Though I don't like to wear it, I love to make it. So I threw away over $3k on jewelry components which ...you guessed it ... ended up under my bed for another 5 years. Now with reborning, these things are being repurposed. All my Avatars are adorned with rather expensive baubles, but they are so OMG adorable. And the paper mache boxes are now covered with beautiful art that is decoupaged onto the boxes, varnished and the insides and bottom painted with chroma paints. I have kept my prices to the bare minimum, mostly because I am not known and it takes time to develop trust and because I need to move product to be able to afford more. Hopefully the day will come where I will actually see a profit. But for now, I just want to make dolls that make people happy. And that they can afford., If you, a relative or even your child received this diagnosis, watch Temple Grande and rejoice, because along the way, you have a gold mine. They just need to be encouraged to find it. “If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave.” Grandin, Temple. Dig DEEP! Thank you so much. |