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Karen Vander Logt started sculpting Santa's and Art dolls in 1999.  She is  self taught  and lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their three sons. She hand-sculpts each of her "One-of-a-kind" dolls using prosculpt polymer clay, glass eyes, angora mohair for her Santa's and high quality human hair wigs for her dolls, along with her own handmade armature inside of a cloth body.  Karen designs and sews all their clothing herself using new or vintage fabrics and all of her dolls are signed and dated. 

    Karen's goal in creating artdolls is that they not only be seen with the eye of the viewer, but also seen with the heart.

Karen's dolls, along with her sister Mary's, have been featured in the 2004 Better Homes and Gardens Santa Collections book Volume 6.  Karen's doll photos have also been in Doll Reader, Dolls magazine and Contemporary Doll Collector, and also listed in Early American Life Magazine as one of this Country's top Artisans and will be listed in the 2009 Directory of Traditional American Crafts Holiday issue. Being listed in the Directory is an honor given only to a handful of artisans. This award singles out their work as the best now produced in America today.

Karen has exhibited her dolls at the Hellman Gallery for the International Doll Art show-Chicago, Illinois and has recently added IDEX Las Vegas to her show listings.  She has shipped dolls all  over the United States  and Internationally, including Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, United Kingdom and Greece.  Dolls sell primarily from her website, shows and e-bay;  she is gaining a long list of collectors. 

 My passion for Art . . . .  has always been with me as long as I can remember, and now I have found the perfect medium. . . polymer clay, which satisfies me completely.  I love to sculpt and sew, so this combines two of the things I really love to do.  I am influenced by moments in life; the warm memories I have of Santa and the holidays. I try to capture the warmth and kindness of Santa along with the sweetness and wide-eyed innocence of children.  I hope it reflects in the faces of my Dolls. I hope  to reach people in different ways and try to help recreate memories of their own childhood. I'm so grateful for all of my family and being able to do what I love.

Karen Vander Logt

What goes into the doll

Dolls are made. . .   

   starting out with a ball of tin foil, formed in the shape of a head.  Layers of polymer clay are applied over the foil head, and a face begins to take shape as the facial features are built out with clay.  High quality glass eyes are put in, the dolls is inscribed with signature and date at the neck, then all the clay parts are cured. The doll body is then made with a wood & wire armature, covered with poly batting, and cloth bodysuit.  Sewing begins,  I do all the sewing myself using NO patterns, and each doll gets his own unique One of a kind costuming. Head and body are then assembled, and the doll becomes a lifelike little person that takes on his own personality.  At last the hands are made after the doll is posed into the final theme. hands and, or feet are made with layers of clay being applied over a handmade wire hand armatures building the fingers, toes, wrinkles, even tiny veins are added. New, vintage or hand-made accessories are added and doll is completed.  Because of the time involved in making One-of-a-kind dolls, only a limited number are available at any one time.

ART-DOLLS ARE FOR DISPLAY ONLY,  NOT FOR PLAY

Storage . . .

    Never wrap dolls in plastic of any kind, I would recommend storing in a box not crushing hair or beard.