I thought I’d make an announcement. I’m guest blogging at Dollhouse Minis. I was invited by Smehreen or Sumaiya Mehreen, a talented artist, to guest blog along with some of her friends like Linda Cummings. I claim no expertise on the subject other than having created one dollhouse, but Sumaiya assures me the blog is meant for dollhouse lovers…so I’ve started posting 🙂
Sumaiya lives in Texas US. I’ll let her website do the telling for me:
“Sumaiya Mehreen made her debut as an international artist at age eleven, when she represented Bangladesh at the Mitsubishi Impression-Gallery Festival of Asian Children’s Art. Sumaiya is mostly known for her mixed media illustrations. She is also a prominent artist of Henna: a form of traditional body art. The artist currently resides in USA, working on her Graduate Studies in Art & Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas. She teaches Exploration of the Arts at her university, and has conducted several workshops and art exhibitions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, USA. The art of Sumaiya Mehreen reflects the influence of her Asian heritage and the high spirits of her tropical homeland: Bangladesh.”
She draws illustrations, paintings, applies henna, traditional body-art and translates fairy tales; some of those can be viewed at sliced.
To view more of her work, visit her flickr account
She started making dollhouses in 2006 and some of her earliest works can be viewed at smehreen-dollhouse.
She says, “I was on eBay looking for a dollhouse when I was blown away by the variety and intricacies of dollhouse miniatures. I couldn’t believe eBay had a section dedicated to dollhouse miniatures! The assembled dollhouses were too expensive for me, so I made my first dollhouse from a kit. I made my first doll in 2007 :)”
On her dolls, she says, “I actually started making dolls by following the patricia rose tutorials. I have been thinking of starting a blog about
my dolls for a while, but somehow I never got around to it. I use the same method as the tutorials: create wire armature, sculpt using
polymer clay, bake in the oven, paint faces, dress them and finally add the hair.”
She also has another blog, in which she tells us the nuts and bolts of building a Garfield dollhouse; more specifically her dollhouses with lots and lots of pictures to add to the fun. Do visit The Garfield blog.
On her Mini Food blog, she showcases the works of other artists like Stephanie Kilgast and Donna.
Sumaiya can be contacted at Phone: (214) 597 – 1173 E-mail: smehreen@gmail.com
Sumaiya makes wonderful dolls – that look so ethnic and chic!
Her doll Parvati was inspired by Aishwarya Rai’s potryal of Parvati in Devdas.
I love reading the accounts of how she makes her dolls. Her chandra is also another beautiful doll inspired by Chandramuki in Devdas.
Do visit Flickr to check out more of her dolls.
Her dollhouses are also marvellous! At smehreen-dollhouse, you can check out more such lovely dollhouses!
And since we are talking so much about Sumaiya. I can’t resist posting this pictute of hers, in which she has tweaked it to look like as if she is standing inside her dollhouse 🙂
The site also has a dress Bunny-up game and decorate Bunny’s room activity. You can move around the furniture and play virtual dollhouse. Actually my nephew is just an excuse, I love this site so much myself and can’t resist decking out the gingerbread house with candies and sweets. Feels so much like I have wandered into the world of Hansel & Gretel.
I have always been disappointed when I check out kids stores and see the scarcity of Indian dolls. The Indian barbie dolls I feel are just Indianized American dolls. The local dolls that you can get at the exhibitions and fairs are nice but not glamorous.
Spinnin' a yarn 