Miriam (irrimiri on flickr) of Sweetly Twisted
Website: http://www.sweetlytwisted.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetlytwisted/
Blog: http://faceups-sweetlytwisted.blogspot.com/
BJDmagazine: We have been admiring the tattoos and body art you did on some dolls. How do you design a tattoo? Tell us more about the leopard body art.
Miriam: Thank you very much. Well, I often make a design first by producing a couple of sketches. It’s the second time I’ve done the leopard tattoo and face-up on that same doll. My friend had a little accident with the first face-up and it was slightly damaged. She asked me to do the face-up with the leopard tattoo again. This second time, she also wanted a tattoo of a leopard on the back of the doll. I suggested having the tattoo continue from the face to her neck and down part of her back. She liked that idea very much. I made some sketches before actually working on the tattoo. The same is true for the ‘hot girl in red’ tattoo on the arm of the same doll. The girl in red represents another friend’s doll. I knew what the doll looked like, and sketched the hot girl in red before finally drawing and painting it on the arm. It was extremely tiny and detailed.
BJDmagazine: What was your biggest face-up challenge ever?
Miriam: I had to think about this question for a second, but then I remembered the black resin dolls I worked on a little while ago. They were Ophelia Licorice anthro dolls (pigs) from Charles Creatures Cabinet. For my coatings, I use Mr. Super Clear. People who work with this material know that a coating of the matte version makes a surface look a little bit lighter. This effect is clearly visible on tanned resins, especially on licorice black resin. The Ophelia heads I worked on, even though I tried to coat them very carefully, were slightly lighter than their bodies. I couldn’t really prevent it from happening. It’s a challenge to make the heads look good without the body looking much darker. Of course it’s possible to coat the bodies as well to reduce the difference.
BJDmagazine: What care would you recommend to preserve a face-up?
Miriam: When traveling, always put a little bit of bubble wrap around the doll’s face and then add a face mask. Of course, you can also just put a face mask on their head, but those masks have plastic edges that can leave little marks on the face of your doll. Another tip: When you put a wig on your doll, avoid touching the cheeks, nose, or chin because, after a while, the face-up rubs off. I have seen a lot of dolls with shiny noses caused by this. 
BJDmagazine: Yellowing is often a problem with resin dolls. What would you recommend, and can it be fixed?
Miriam: I think you should just settle with the idea that resin will yellow anyway. I once heard from a company that works with resin, that the discoloring of the resin is a slow chemical process within the material that just keeps processing until it’s done. You can say that a new doll is not done with processing/coloring yet. The process is too slow to be observed. The yellowing will happen even if you keep your doll in a box. Sunlight will speed the process. Keeping it out of direct sunlight will slow the process. In the end the doll will change colors slightly anyway. I have a CP Miyu in white skin that is now quite creamy. Last year, I sanded her body with a very soft sanding pad, to make her a bit lighter again. It worked for a while, but a year later she has the same kind of creamy color again. In the end it doesn’t really matter. I just like her the way she is. All my dolls have yellowed a bit. I don’t keep them in boxes. I have them displayed in a special made up corner of our living room. They never get direct sunlight there, but they aren’t kept in a dark room either. My fiancé and I love watching them, so a bit of yellowing is a small price to pay. I’d rather enjoy watching my dolls than keep them in their boxes or in a dark closet.
BJDmagazine: Sometimes a doll falls during a photo shoot and gets chipped. Can chips be fixed and what does that involve?
Miriam: Hmm… It really depends on the kind of damage. In some cases, I would probably use glue and sanding. In other cases, I would just use sandpaper to remove minor damage. I prefer not to use glue, because it can show up after a while. Or at least it did when I glued a broken finger back onto one of my dolls. I sanded the finger a little so it would look smooth. In the beginning, it wasn’t showing. After some time, a tiny line appeared where the finger was broken. The scope of the repairs always depends on the kind of damage.
BJDmagazine: What is your work process? How long does a face-up take?
Miriam: It usually takes two days, sometimes more, depending on how much time I have. My freelance illustration job is my main income. The face-ups are something I do on the side. I squeeze a few hours for face-ups in between my work on illustration commissions. And then, of course, sometimes I re-do work because I don’t like the way it looks. And then it takes longer.
BJDmagazine: You have a waiting list. How often do you open slots for commissions?
Miriam: It’s totally random depending on how busy I am. At the moment I am closed again. Too many commissions to work on . I will probably open again in January, depending on circumstances. I never know exactly when I will be able to take commissions again or not.
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~BJDmagazine
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I Iove Miriam's work, and I loved the interview!!
Thanks, Meike! We love it, too. Both of you provided great interviews and beautiful images! We have really appreciated your contributions. ~ Rolfe and Caroline