The name Sonia means ‘wisdom’ or ‘golden’ ( Wiki, here ) … and Tassie’s Sonia Singh is certainly a repository of wisdom, with a background as a CSIRO scientist and in possession of a diploma of illustration.
Sonia has been able to employ the skills developed from both in her recent foray into re-invigorating dejected dolls.
She runs an Etsy shop ( All about Etsy here ) in Hobart and a Facebook page – Tree Change Dolls™ – which is all about taking old discarded toys and giving them a new lease on life.
Sonia self-describes thus:
I am the Tasmanian artist and creator of Tree Change Dolls. I live in southern Tasmania with my partner, our young daughter, our 3-legged dog and several chooks. I love op-shopping and reusing and recycling.
Sonia gives her dolls the full ‘basic’ treatment, wiping away elaborate embellishment and taking them literally back to basics.
She wipes off their elaborate facial features and make up, brushes out the intricate web of hair, washes it in boiling water, brushes it out, cuts and restyles it in a simpler, less high-maintenance style.
Sonia revamps or more correctly de-vamps a plethora of dolls including ‘vampish’ Bratz dolls. Sonia explains these models are ideal for her work with their facial mould ‘less detailed’ and the eyes painted on rather than inset as on some dolls, providing a smooth blank canvas to work with.
Continuing the environmental approach Sonia is keen to publish a book of photos of the dolls in the great outdoors participating in healthy outdoor activities like bushwalking.
Sonia is also including on her site some DIY DVDs on how to transform dolls so they become identifiable to young girls as someone they can relate to and be an actual doll ‘they want to play with.’
Sonia’s mum crochets clothes for the dolls who are already appearing in an Etsy shop and attracting enormous interest.
Sonia has also participated in a TMAG appearance and visits to schools to talk about her project.
She hopes her project reinventing the dolls will encourage others to recycle and reuse in general and more specifically give a new life to pre- loved dolls.
Not all the dolls Sonia rejuvenates are Bratz. They are whatever dolls she finds at op shops, so one could presume that maybe, eventually we will see a change for that Princess of dolls … Barbie herself …
To find out more about Sonia and her dolls click here:
https://www.facebook.com/treechangedolls?_rdr
The Shop:
www.etsy.com/au/shop/treechangedolls
