here’s been a lot of talk about artist Marie Osmond sculpting herself as baby over the years, and this fall Baby Olive Marie is finally here.
“It’s hard enough to sculpt a doll that you hope will appeal to your fellow doll collectors,” says doll artist (and singer, actress, author, businesswoman, and mother) Marie Osmond, “but when you have to sculpt yourself, the pressure is really on!”
Marie is speaking, of course, about her newest doll, Baby Olive Marie. In the past artist Jo Ann Pohlman sculpted Baby Jo Ann, artist Ping Lau sculpted Baby Ping, and others have created portrait dolls for Marie Osmond Dolls, so it’s only fitting that August welcomes the brown-eyed cutie that bares the likeness of Marie as a baby. This is the only self-portrait doll Marie has sculpted of herself, and the doll’s rosebud-printed taffeta dress is particularly meaningful.
“This costume is so exciting to me and truly one of the key factors in my decision to finally sculpt myself,” says Marie. In 1991—the same year that Marie launched her own doll line on QVC and at Disney theme parks—Marie’s mother, Olive May, had given her a small white plastic binder filled with doll dress designs and fabric samples. On the inside of the binder Marie found note that read: “I love you, Marie! Mother O. 10/16/91.”
“What a treasure it was for me to receive this gift from my life-long doll-collecting partner and my best friend, my sweet mother,” says Marie. “I had been holding onto the binder in my home office for a very special line of dolls featuring my mother’s designs when my house caught fire, burning almost everything in my office. Later on as I was digging through the boxes of recovered items, I found the binder. It was a miracle!” And so collectors should be delighted to learn that the dress this doll wears was actually designed by Marie’s mother.
Somewhere between dates for ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” multi-city tour and commercial tapings for NutriSystem®, Marie found time to “power-sculpt” while in New York City during Toy Fair. “I looked at my crazy schedule and decided to call for reinforcements,” says Marie. “I convinced my dear friend Karen Scott to join me in New York to help co-sculpt Baby Olive Marie … Karen has a great eye—especially for portrait sculpting—so she was able to give me some excellent suggestions.”
Karen says she felt honored to be asked to help Marie on this project. “All I wanted to know was, where and when?” she says.
“Portrait sculpting is challenging in and of itself, but the most challenging part of sculpting Marie as a baby is that there are so few photographs of her at that age,” says Karen. “The best part was having her there sculpting with me. She knew right where to add a little more clay here or take away a little there … after all, who knows the subject better than the subject herself?”
The two artists may have sequestered themselves in the top floor of a hotel suite near Times Square and set up a sculpting area, but they were visited in their suite by Marie’s “Dancing with the Stars” partner and now dear friend Cameron Mathison (from ABC’s “All My Children”). “He didn’t hesitate giving sculpting a try,” says Marie. “He dug right in—and when I say he ‘dug’ right in, I mean it in every way: He accidentally dug out one of the doll’s eyes!”
“I’m crazy about Marie, and I loved the opportunity to see how her dolls are created,” says Cameron. “I enjoyed her sculpting lessons…. She is such a generous and talented person.”
Although Marie admits that sculpting may not be in Cameron’s future, she adds that there is at least a doll in his future, as she has plans to sculpt the actor’s baby daughter.
From the initial planning period to the closing stages where Marie admits she finally had to tell herself, “Marie, walk away from the sculpt,” the development of Baby Olive Marie has been both a challenging and thrilling experience for Marie, Karen, and all others involved in the project.
“Baby Olive Marie holds so much sentimental meaning for me,” says Marie. “I am over-the-top excited about her.”
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