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Ella Hass dolls are complex three-dimensional Oil Paintings. The very
time-consuming production of a doll ensures automatically for the fact that
these dolls are and remain rare pieces.
The technique Ella uses is very time consuming and quite interesting. The
head and limbs are initially sculptured in clay or "Plastilina". Forms are
made from these and an extremely resilient plaster like material,
"Keramin" is used for the final cast. The heads are then coated in a very
thin layer of wax and covered with a sewn fabric mask(trico). This is primed
like a painter's canvas prior to the whole head, including the eyes, being
painted with a very fine oil paints. The body is made out of cotton covering
a metal wire structure. A durable composite material cast is made from the
leg and arm forms.
The finished doll is about 25 to 27 inches high, with a mohair or human hair
wig. Its outfits are knitted cotton or made from cotton or silk fabric, all
natural materials, of course. Each form is used to produce one to four
limited edition dolls. Although she makes small edition of usually 1 to 4 dolls
for each mold, Ella does so much intricate work on each doll after it is cast,
making refinements in her original sculpture and spending days hand
painting its unique face, that her pieces are "essentially one of a kind."
Because these dolls each take so long to make Ella is not able to make too
many each year.
