In February of 1998 I attended the Jekyll Island Doll Seminar. Antonette Cely issued a doll challenge to all participants:

'Create a doll or a series of dolls for the theme Sweethearts Dance.'

I created three pieces, Memories; SHD I (sold 3/98), Tango; SHD II (shown here), and Daddy's Little Girl; SHD III (a wedding gift for our youngest daughter).

Tango is the second in the series and the only one remaining. It was one of the first images in my head when I heard of the challenge but one of the most difficult to construct. Which is not to say it wasn’t fun, it was, but it required the most advanced planning of any piece I have constructed to date as it had to be done in a specific order for all the components to work together.

He is wearing a white silk shirt, a red silk cummerbund and a black wool suit. His hat is made of black ultrasuede. Her dress is of red silk; she has black nylon stockings of the era with garters and black lace underwear. Her long black gloves were slipped on over her fully articulated hands. They both have painted faces, silk eyelashes and embroidered hair. Both pairs of shoes were sculpted on their feet using Paper Clay, then sanded, painted and varnished.

They are permanently mounted on a 7" x 16" hardwood base finished with an oak and walnut inlaid dance floor surrounded by lacquer-look red trim. They are dressed in monochromatic colors in the spirit of the Valentine's holiday they were inspired by. His gaucho custom and her red tango dress are styles of the 1912 era in which they reside.

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Wendy@wendys-whimseys.com