Ugly Shyla’s Secrets,Lies and Gossip

I did something I haven’t done in ages.I actually went out and had fun
Mum and I went to NOLA * which is about 3 hours from us* to go to the Bustout Burlesque show and to go visit our friends Mark aka Bellanothing and Shawn and also so we could finally meet Shawn’s girlfriend Amanda.
My mother wanted to go visit our friends but actually ended up enjoying the burlesque show too.
Mark and I had kind of lost touch for a bit,because I had a falling out with some people close to him.But after he moved back to NOLA we both kind of did the peek your head out of a hole and say “ya know I’m not mad at you”,”well I’m not mad at your either” thing.LOL.I think because of the drama between me and some other people him and I just assumed neither liked the other anymore,and neither of us actually had hard feeling towards each other.I wish we would have figured that out sooner
Mark is just as tall and skinny and pretty as he was last time I saw him.That lucky ass has one of those tall skinny supermodel type bodies.
I also hadn’t seen Shawn since the Lavey wedding and he’s also living in sweaty Louisiana too now.
Mum,Mark and I all went traipsing around NOLA looking around in the antique stores and Mark has to deal with me trying to feed him ever 5 min so he’d fit in with the native Louisiana people.LOL
Then we went and pestered Shawn a bit more and met his new gal Amanda,who is sooooo nice and is even all into animal rescue ect,she’s really great and is great for Shawn.
After that we headed out to watch ladies dance around in their underpants at the Bustout Burlesque show.
It was held at this swanky bar La Chat Noir,99% of the crowd was upper class people in their 50’s and a few of these awesome really old men that you could tell were dripping with old money that were there looking at the dancers reliving their wild younger days of the first go around of Burlesque.Even though most of the crowd were totally different then all of us everybody was actually really cool and nice.
The fellow that runs the troupe Rick I met on myspace and came up and chatted with us for a bit before the show.He was really gracious and nice.
They opened the doors for everybody to get into the show and there was this one old man with a walker.The min that door opened he cocked his walker up on it’s wheels and shot into the stage area like a damn grayed haired rocket.LOL
The show was really lovely and they even had a original NOLA burlesque dancer on stage telling jokes ect.
The dancers were really professional and talented.I’m so used to most “burlesque” shows being half drunk goth girls,that don’t even know what burlesque is just copying off Dita Von Tease and calling it a “burlesque act” or worse 2 bit goth strippers basically stripping and scaring you with their badly done implants in their “burlesque act”.
Which is also why my mother was hemming and hawing because when I told her we should check out this burlesque show in NOLA.She was pleasantly surprised because it was actually a well choreographed show with professionally made costumes and classy dancers just like the old acts did.
Mark even had a good time,I caught him smiling and laughing,but don’t tell anybody because that will ruin his NOLA goth boy cred.LOL
After the show we were outside while Mark was smoking and talked to Rick a bit more,and he told me one of the dancers Kitty West wanted to meet me because she recognized me from myspace.
I went upstairs to go meet her,she’s a cute little thing and very very nice and all the other girls backstage were also.Which kind of confused me because they were actually friendly.LOL.I’m so used to talking to people when I go out and about out of state and they have totally diva attitudes.I think I forgot I was still in my home state when people actually speak to one another.
From there we went to go visit Shawn and Amanda,we all hung out for several hours and talked about everything from tattoos,to Gary Busey and cockfighting.LOL
I was so happy to see Shawn again,because he’s one of those people that is like my long lost insane brother.
Then after all that I forced Mark to eat yet again.I’m sure he gained a few pounds from me being in NOLA for just a few hours and we dropped him off and headed home.
We had soooooo much fun,I plan on heading back to NOLA next month,so hopefully we can do it all again

Unless something major comes up,I will be vending my Ugly Art Dolls and Art at

Which is on Aug 17th-19th the vending days are 17th and 18th.Located at: DoubleTree Hotel- 2085 S. Harbor Blvd, Anaheim California, 92802,Tuscany Ballroom and admission to the vending area is FREE.So come out and buy my dolls and stuff so I can pay for my damn trip

I have some more of my t-shirts and Mini Dresses back in stock.I also maybe making some one of a kind DIY dresses because I have some bits of cute scrap fabric laying around,I’ll probably be ebaying those if I make some.But the regular mini dresses I sell are in stock.The t-shirts and dresses can be purchased from My Ugly Art Site Here all the sizing info ect is also on that page.If you are from outside of the USA and wish to purchase one e-mail me and I’ll send you a bill with the correct shipping amount.Shipping is 5.00 extra for orders outside of the USA.
Thanks to Saryn Angel
for taking the photos of the Mini dresses and to Xanthia Doll for modeling them for me.

Allot of people don’t realize that there is so many varied categories in dolls and doll art.Just in the little niche that My Ugly Art Dolls fall into alone have allot of different categories alone.People don’t understand that there is a large difference in things like art dolls as opposed to toys ect.
Lets start with the types of dolls I make.I call what I do Morbid Fine Art Dolls,I just tag on the word morbid because my work is of a darker nature and this easily conveys that without sounding kitschy or like horror toys.
Art or Fine Art Dolls:
Art dolls or Artist Dolls are normally hand made,all originals sculptures that are or not mounted on a base.These dolls are not meant to be played with and are not for children,they are also normally in the higher in price range.The higher price range reflects that fact that allot of work and money went into making the doll.If the doll is a one of a kind a true one of a kinds meaning the artist will never every make something like it again,and did not make a mold from the doll or make the doll from a mold.This is just the same as with a original,one of a kind painting or sculpture and a art doll can run into the thousand’s of dollars just like a original painting by a well known painter.The normal price range for a art dolls is from about 300.00 to into the thousands.Allot of times they can be fragile and can convey some intense emotions or grown up themes.That doesn’t just go for art dolls like I make but for art dolls in general.
Some good examples of art dolls or art doll artist are some of the dolls and artist
National Institute of American Doll Artist

There are also
Horror Dolls:
Horror dolls are normally dolls that have horror movie type themes,things like spooky bunnies,nurses,brides,babies,vampires or monster looking dolls.They have a sort of tongue in cheek scariness to them.The vast majority of the time they are what is called a “repaint” a ready made traditional type doll that has been bought at a store and then revamped to look with paint,by breaking,using epoxy or such to make wounds ect.Most of the time if the a horror toy is wearing clothing it’s clothing that the doll came with that has also been spookied up with paint,gray dye or fake blood.Unlike art dolls they are not one of a kind or even hand sculpted and the clothing isn’t hand made either.Since they are normally hand made one by one,even if they are made from a ready made purchased doll they can be billed as “one of a kind” because something made or even repainted by a human hand can’t be duplicated exactly.
One thing I dislike about some horror doll makers is that they try and get a bit tricky with wording to not fully admit that they have basically bought a doll at Goodwill or some cheap porcelain doll off of Ebay and dip dyed the dolls clothes and splashed some spray paint on the doll.They will say the doll is a artist doll or designer doll,when the case is that it IS a artist or designer doll but the person spooking up the doll is NOT the artist of the original doll,doll parts and clothing.I think that is a little deceptive on their part,especially because it confuses collectors and they may be willing to pay a art doll’s price for what is a repaint.But there are Horror doll artist like Bastet2329 or Autopsy Babies that will explain that they collect broken,discarded or unwanted dolls and give them new life.
The price range of these type of dolls are a little bit lower then art dolls because of the fact they are less work and the artist allot of times has no problem if you want a doll made similar to a previous one they have made.The price range for this type of doll is between 35.00 to 150.00.
Things like Autopsy Babies are perfect examples of a horror doll.

And Horror Toys:
Horror toys are like the horror dolls and have kitschy horror themes,but they are things that are mass produced by toy companies.They can be designed off the artist original toy or off of a artist repaint of a ready made doll.They are produced in masses or in limited editions,but the limited editions can number into the thousands or even millions.They are made from plastic so you could in theory give them to a child to play with.The price rand can run from 15.00 to 35.00.Because of the materials,production values and the number they are produced in,they are basically the bastard brothers and sisters to things like Beanie Babies,GI Joe and Barbie dolls.
Living Dead Dolls and
McFarlane Toys

I hope all of this has helped to clear up some of the confusion that people have about the difference between Art Dolls vs. Toys.
Ugly Shyla
www.uglyart.net

(c) 2007

God happy April Fools to me.I was sooooo tired today.I had another stupid hurricane dream/nightmare again that woke me up at like 9am.The new ones I keep having are I’m on a train.It always seems like the end of the world happened and I’m sometime alone or sometimes with other people and we are always on these trail cars,sometimes they are all connected like a normal train and sometimes it’s just one car.I never know where I am just that I’m traveling the hell out of Louisiana because it’s right after the storm *hurricane Rita is the hurricane that hit my area,we weren’t affected at all but Katrina* and there is nothing left.Normally there are all sort of perils on the trail ride I have to avoid.This time the train car was filled with water and Electric Eels that I’d have to be careful to not let bite me or they would overcome and attack me.Then the train car dried out and I shoved all the dried out Eels out.

Then I got in another train car,I realized that it was one that the government was transporting these rubber body parts in.They all looked like soldiers or something like it was “skin” for robots or something.I knew I’d be in trouble if I got caught in there,and I heard somebody coming, so I started trying to find a way out but all the walls were layers and layers of rubber.I found a rubber window and realized if I kept trying to rip through it there was a open space in the back of it and maybe I could get out of there.I finally busted through the rubber window and I realized I was between the walls but could also get under the floor.I crawled under the floor and finally busted out of the side of the train car and fell out.

After that I had to lay really close to the ground so I wouldn’t get run over by the other train cars,I also had to avoid some wooden block things that kept falling on and hurting people.

The I got back on another train car and rode for a bit longer and finally started to see some civilization and somebody told me they thought we were in North Carolina or Memphis but there weren’t sure.

Shortly after that I woke up.

It’s so weird how things can affect you.I guess way in the back of my mind my brain remember riding out the storm in out in the country,having to worry for almost 3 days straight if you will live or die,or even after the storm if everybody will go nuts and people will be trying to break into where you are staying and you will have to fight for your life in that aspect also.

The day the storm FINALLY stopped we packed up the pets and what all we could fit in the car and had to drive all the way to Dallas before we could find a hotel to stay in till things got back to normal here.There was no gas,everything was sort of deserted and messed up and it was just strange.

I remember feeling like something from Beyond The Thunderdome when we were on that long drive just trying to get the heck away from all the destruction and get to some civilization .

I guess my mind stays so busy during the day that when I finally pass out asleep my mind lets all that surface and I start dreaming of Eels and train cars.LOL.I think I dreamt about the Eels because I saw some on TV a few days ago and it made me really hungry for Eel sushi and I guess it was the Eels revenge on me.Plus I live next to the train tracks *yes I live on the WRONG side of the tracks* and I guess I hear it when it passes and that just got all mixed in.LOL

Just what I need something to stress out my already severely crazy brain ever more.LOL.All the crazy things I have been through in the past have always later on down the road been proven to have happened for a good reason or is something that I will need to draw from in the future,so I’m sure this is the same thing.But it’s still annoying to have it wake me up at 9am!

In happier news though,I saw Mr Turtle today,that turtle I brought home that I found on the road!All you kind of get to see is his little Turtle head sticking up then he scurries underwater when he sees you looking at him.