Fantastic Fantasy Friends

The OOAK Doll Wizard, Oz.

Welcome back FairyFindr Fam,

As you know, in this family we celebrate all identities, genders, sexualities, and minorities and June is Pride Month, so I have be featuring several artists and businesses that are Queer/Trans owned! Today we will be meeting my friend Oz, @Jupiter_City_Limits on Instagram. He’s the only other trans man I know of in the doll and miniatures community, and his friendship is precious and sacred to me! His art is incredible and inspires me in ways I never thought possible. In this blog post we will learn about Oz, his art and inspirations, and showcase some of his fantasy art and dolls! Come along, FairyFindrs, and you’ll learn about how imagination and fantasy inspires folks of all kinds, including our friend Oz.

Hello friend, thank you for joining the FairyFindr Fam! Please start off with your chosen and/or Art name, pronouns, how you identify on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, country or state where you’re from-( or about to live if you want), and a bit about yourself as an artist. Also include any contact info, social links, and websites you want to include here (if any other than your instagram that I’ve already tagged you in).

• Answer: Thanks for the invitation to be on your blog! My name is Oz, my pronouns are he/they and I'm a 39 year old nonbinary trans man.

On Instagram I'm jupiter_city_limits and on YouTube, I'm the Strange Toy box. I live in the USA and will soon be moving to Brooklyn, New York. I'm a self taught doll and toy artist and I've been making custom dolls of various types for 18 years.

What drew you to the world of fantasy and folklore as a source of inspiration for your artwork and doll creations?

• Answer: It started when I was three years old and we rented the movie Labyrinth from the local video store. I was instantly obsessed! All the beautiful and frightening creatures set my imagination on fire in the best possible way. There was a behind the scenes doc after the movie where they showed all the artists and puppeteers creating those creatures and bringing them to life. I thought, If they knew how to do it, maybe someday I could learn to create visual magic like that as well.

How do you incorporate elements of fantasy, magic, and folklore into your dolls and other artwork?

• Answer: I enjoy creating creatures that feel extremely human, but possess some type of in-human or supernatural features. Sometimes those features are subtle and sometimes they're just right out there in your face. I also try to give all my art a cartoony vibe, even when I create something that's ultra realistic.

(This is Jinx. He's an elf I made from a vinyl reborn doll kit that I painted,

rooted the hair/dreadlocks and installed the eyes. He's around

40" tall and I used realism techniques to paint him)

As a trans man, how does your identity influence your perspective on being a man in the fantasy world? Have you faced any unique challenges or experiences as a trans man in the fantasy art community? How have you navigated them?

• Answer: To answer this I'll bring it back to Labyrinth. While the human girl Sarah was the main character, the goblin king, played by David Bowie was the centerpiece of that entire fantastical universe. So for me, men and masculinity in general were always an integral part of the presentation of a fantasy world. I started going to Renaissance Faires at the age of 14 and saw an equal number of both women and men in fantasy costumes selling beautiful handmade dragon puppets, which were incidentally sculpted by a man who worked for Jim Henson (creator of The Muppets and Fraggle Rock). In regards to challenges I've faced in communities, well, I'm not in many of those. I'm a bit of a recluse and a solitary person, even online, so I can't really speak on that at the moment.

(An experimental mixed-media puppet. His head is needle

felted acrylic fiber from yarn and his limbs are flexible clay over wire)

How do you approach representing gender diversity in your dolls and artwork?

• Answer: Even when I was little, I always wanted male dolls. It was easy to find a Barbie or one of many other female dolls. There weren't many options back in the 90's but when I returned to doll collecting and began my customizing journey in 2005, there was more than just Ken dolls on the market. Now in 2023, I am able to customize dolls of any gender, shape, or size.

(Zod, an Ant-Human hybrid, is one of the top five Assassins in Jupiter City, 3 years running.)

Can you share some examples of how you've incorporated your personal experiences or journey as a trans man into your artwork or doll creations?

• Answer: I've only made one transmasc doll at this point. I put a lot of love and effort into sculpting his top surgery scars and I'm proud of how they turned out. That's really the only time so far I've made a very clearly trans doll. Many of my cis presenting male dolls still possess elements of queerness that reflect my journey through masculinity.

(Vaille (they/he), an interdimensional Transmasc Non-Binary character with custom

top surgery scars sculpted with epoxy)

What kind of messages or emotions do you aim to convey through your fantasy dolls and artwork?

• Answer: Joy and happiness. Seeing people smile when they see my work is my greatest goal in life. Even if the piece conveys an emotion like sadness, people still smile because they didn't realize dolls could be art, and that delights them. I love that.

(My newest custom doll creation, a creepy clown boy,

Guts the Clown - a character by @grunkleguts on Twitter)

How do you choose the materials, colors, and details for your dolls to bring them to life in a fantastical way?

• Answer: It all depends on the doll and what kind of story I'm trying to convey. I always start with a good base doll. And I'll research that for hours. It has to be the perfect body type for the character. Frequently I buy heads separately so I get exactly what I need. When painting, I like to use as many colors as possible, both to give the illusion of depth and because it just makes everything feel more chaotic and alive. I try to add shimmer powder anywhere I can. I'm also a huge fan of sculpting horns onto things.

(Fantasy reborn baby dolls are a specialty of mine. I root the hair

with three hairs at a time using a sharp needle.)

Have you found any particular folklore or mythological stories that resonate strongly with you, and if so, how have they influenced your creations?

• Answer: I've always loved North American cryptids. I found learning United States history to be so boring as a kid, but the only thing that made it bearable was being able to write reports or give presentations on whatever cryptid was from the region. The Sasquatch was always my favorite. In the 80's and 90's there was an abundance of documentaries dissecting shaky camcorder footage and bigfoot hunting shows. I was obsessed.

(The pink bellied Sasquatch is native to the Northern regions. Here we see a

male of the species, as exemplified with his stunning rainbow furs)

Are there any specific techniques or processes you use when creating your custom dolls and artwork that you'd like to share?

• Answer: I use a lot of epoxy for sculpting any additions like horns. I tend to use more pan pastel than paint, and if I do use paint I add highlight and shadow with pastels. I set color with Mr. Super Clear or sometimes I'll use air dry reborn doll vinyl sealer.

(If I can tie dye a doll body, I will. And of course paint the rest of the doll to match)

How do you balance the line between traditional fantasy themes and creating inclusive representations in your art?

• Answer: That's something I've, at times, had to put conscious effort into. I've spent the better part of 3 decades existing in mostly hetero-normative spaces and I hadn't realized that my doll art/collection was reflecting that. It's only since I've gotten back into ⅙ scale (like Barbie and Ken) dolls that there's obvious diversity.

(Mosquito, the ball jointed fairy)

Can you talk about any memorable or meaningful reactions you've received from people who have interacted with your dolls or seen your artwork?

• Answer: I tend to get more reaction to pictures of my doll than the actual dolls themselves, since I can't take them everywhere with me. This gets some great reactions. I recently took some pictures of an extremely realistic clown doll (pictured below) I had made in a sideshow dollhouse room. I showed them to a friend of mine who works at an actual sideshow and she thought it was one of the performers wearing a new wig and makeup!

(A transformed child's dollhouse room can become anything.

Even a late night smokey sideshow)

Do you have any upcoming projects or ideas that you're excited to explore within the realm of fantasy art and doll making?

• Answer: I have been working on a custom Blythe Doll/ Furby hybrid. Blythe is a very unique doll with a large following all over the world and I've made more custom Blythes than any other type of doll I've ever worked with. I think I truly found my artistic voice through her. She's like a blank canvas. I wanted to make a new doll for Blythecon this year and decided to get real weird with it. I epoxied a scaled down 3d printed furby beak onto a Blythe face and I'm going to cover it in fur and add big ears. I'm also going to put the head onto an LOL OMG Fierce doll body. The tall voluptuous body with super long legs is really going to elevate the whole thing to a level of camp that I hope will amuse the hell out of everybody.

(Jax the troll enjoys a stroll along the shoreline)

Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring artists, particularly those who may be part of underrepresented communities, looking to express themselves through fantasy art and miniature creations?

• Answer: Don't judge your art. Of course you're going to have your opinions, feelings, thoughts, revisions, edits etc about your work, but don't sit in judgment of it.

(Headless reanimated corpses often find pumpkins to be ideal replacement craniums)

Well damn, FairyFindr Fam, I dunno about you, but I'm absolutely BLOWN AWAY by Oz and the characters of Jupiter City. His art and story telling is top-notch and I'm so glad I found him among the sea of craziness on the internet. His art inspires me just as much as his friendship does! Go drop by on Instagram or YouTube and say Hi! Tell him Alex the FairyFindr sent you and he'll grant you a wish, he is the Wizard, Oz, after all!

May the Fairies + Fantasy Friends Bless You,

Alex the FairyFindr // Marvelous Magical Miniatures