Doll News Spring 2019 - 142

Early hand-cast dolls include
"Annabella," was
beautiful "Matilda," Kaye's
the first BJD
first doll, marking her
manufactured by jPop
introduction to BJDs.

"Nettle," very popular
with the Asia culture.

"Layla" was named
after the daughter
of doll artist, Grace
Sczepaniec.
This group of
dolls are from
the jPop line.

"Nyssa"

142

SPRING 2019

This doll named, "Hope,"
was made to raise money
for a charity called Three
Angels Nepal.

featured Doll Reader magazine. Kaye longed for the dolls within the pages,
never dreaming that she'd be a doll artist herself one day.
Her journey continued with the birth of her own children, whom also
loved dolls. As particular as Kaye was, she couldn't find suitable dolls for
her children, so she made her own "Cabbage Patch-esque" dolls. Kaye's
daughter loved them, which led to commissions to make these dolls for
other children. This further led to her discovery of porcelain greenware,
then it was on to the next challenge. Her first bisque beauty was a Kestner
"Baby Hilda," a softly smiling visage that is familiar to many collectors. She
continued to make reproduction dolls for a while, but like many artisticallytalented people, she wanted to "do her own thing" so she decided to branch
out into original creations.
Eventually, her dolls caught the attention of Melbourne's "JR's World of
Porcelain." The proprietors asked her permission to produce her original art
dolls for commercial molds and did such a fantastic job that Kaye's career
was officially launched. She claims, "I am sure I would have just remained
doing reproduction dolls and an occasional original doll if it was not for
Renee showing my dolls to the world."
Kaye's dolls attracted the interest of the "Home Shopping Network"
and her career took off. However, back in Australia, a problem with a
new home forced the Wiggs family to promptly move, into what the artist
recalls as the first tiny house ever but very therapeutic, with many acres in
the middle of the Australian bush. Still making porcelain dolls and doing
quite well with "Home Shopping Network," when suddenly a magazine
called Dolls, changed her doll life again, with an article about Ball-Jointed
Body (BJD) dolls. These dolls appealed to her as play dolls for grownups,
"the perfect doll," says Kaye, sparking her interest mightily.
Having won a business scholarship from the Australian government,
she spent a year learning how to make molds for resin casting. Different
from the casting of porcelain, this inspired her to reinvent her whole line.
She joined two online sites dedicated to BJDs: "Den of Angels" and "Zone
of Zen." By advertising some of her creations on their sites, she gained her
first customers and the rest, as they say, "is history."
Kaye's BJDs were an overnight sensation, but of course, they had that
"Home Shopping Network," backstory to bolster them. Like no other BJDs
at that time, they were all children - gentle, wistful and dare we say it -
slightly miserable and completely irresistible! They came in assorted pastel
party colors: blue, gray, lavender and a wonderful green that seemed to
complement everything.
With the background of an avid antique doll collector, I was already
comfortably established in the realm of BJDs, understanding the concept
of these dolls. Indeed, they had ball-jointed bodies, but those same bodies
were made of resin, just like their heads. They could be customized in
dizzying ways - sanded, painted, stained, dyed - and their wigs and eyes
were removable. Kaye Wiggs' dolls could do all these things. They "spoke"
to many collectors, perhaps because these dolls were the result of Kaye's
imagination. Although they were not as realistic as her porcelain creations,
which were inspired by photographs of children, Kaye's BJDs were formed
by hand and came from the heart. Early hand-cast Kaye Wiggs dolls include
beautiful "Matilda," her first doll, who marked Kaye's introduction to BJDs.
"Maya" followed, cast in a nifty blue resin. Other dolls were "Mallory,"
"Nettle" (very popular in the Asian culture), and the immortal "Pip," made
only as a head to be attached to a suitable BJD body.
Kaye eventually developed an allergy to resin and she had to cease the
personal casting of dolls. She met Grace Sczepaniec upon joining the online
site, "Zone of Zen." Grace had been a doll collector since her teen years. Like
many collectors, she gave away her dolls at a certain age and brought them
back later in life. Grace loved dolls of all kinds - artist, antiques, composition,
etc. One of her daughters eventually introduced her to a BJD doll called,
"Volks Megu," pictured in a magazine, sparking Grace's interest in BJDs.

Doll News Spring 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Spring 2019