#6 - A Doll For Emma Roberts
~Emma Robert’s unboxing video linked HERE ~
About ten months ago I made and posted my very first Blythe doll. Beth, from Queen’s Gambit (for those of you who have been around since I first posted her — thank you endlessly for sticking around). Despite what my friends say, I look back at her now and cringe — my eye easily singles out the sloppy scratches, the clumsy lines, the uneven haircut. Even the editing of the video makes me shake my head. Ten years of digital and physical painting didn’t quite prepare me for the new medium, and it shows. But really, I’m grateful for that doll, rudimentary as she is. I’m grateful for taking the plunge, for letting it lead me to this community and these opportunities. So, before I get into it — thank you, reader, for being here.
Needless to say, a lot has changed in ten months. A lot. As I’m sure most of you have seen by now, I sent a doll to Emma Roberts, and I wanted to take this time to reflect on the experience, even if just for myself to remember it later. So here’s my overly detailed and absolutely unnecessary account of the experience.
Like a lot of people, I’m sure, I grew up watching Emma on the screen. Many of her projects are special to me, particularly Scream Queens (“MS. BEAN, I SAID LETS HIT IT!”). This past March, during a rewatch of the show, I made my first Chanel Oberlin doll. Knowing Emma loves dolls, I thought I’d try my luck at tagging her on my post, which I did a few different times on both platforms. It soon dawned on me that her inbox would forever be too full and too fast to squeeze me in, so I got creative. I did some research and reached out to someone I thought might help connect me with Emma — whom I will leave anonymous — and I offered to gift Emma the doll if she was interested. I sent that DM off into the void, and then I forgot about it.
Like, completely. After about a week I put that initial Chanel doll up for sale and sent her off to her new home, thinking that was it. I’d done my best, took a shot in the dark, and I was content to leave it there.
And then in June, the unpredictable occurred! The person I had contacted in March had replied, saying that if I still had the doll, Emma would be thrilled to receive her (and that my work was “stunning,” gasp). Now, of course, I did not still have the doll, but I told her I’d whip another one up and have her sent to Emma within the month.
That’s when I started working like a madwoman. I ordered the materials immediately, and within the week I had begun the doll-making process. I don’t think I’ve ever had a faster turnaround on a project, but can you blame me? I was worried, nonsensically, that she’d change her mind if I took too long.
I’ve linked both my process and boxing videos here, in case you didn’t see them on my socials. I’m glad I filmed, because truly it was a blur. I was too excited, too nervous, too stunned to focus. I’m surprised the doll even came out looking semi-human (a joke, of course, I’m actually extremely proud of the finished product). Let me tell you, every single step took me twice as long as usual because I was so scared of messing something up. I was there with a microscope lamp studying every line. I think in total I clocked in about fifteen hours of work on that doll alone, which is hilariously misrepresented in my 59 second process video.
I even ordered brand new all-pink packaging for her, which was particularly fun for me, and is now my standard method of packaging orders (another thing I can thank this experience for). I felt like a real influencer (yuck). And then I mailed her off. Which, by the way, was the most nerve wracking part of the entire process. Visions of it getting lost in the mail or delivered to the wrong address plagued me the entire three days it took for the doll to arrive. Particularly because I had posted the announcement right after I dropped her off, and the internet, being what it is, was already full of people accusing me of making it up for views or just being downright nasty. Well, what do you say now, folks!
(Quick note to my fellow content creators and artists out there, of all mediums—the internet is always, without fail, going to try and turn your blue skies cloudy. It’s too easy to tell you to brush it off or not let it affect you, so what I’ll say instead is this: my DMs are always open. Reach out. I’m a great listener.)
And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Until the night of September 10th. I was working at my desk, packaging up my online sticker orders, when I opened my phone to a flurry of messages. My first instinct was that something horrible had happened. I scanned quickly through the messages, and the first few comments I read telling me Emma has posted my doll didn’t quite compute for a minute. I was so stunned.
I clicked on the video everyone was tagging me in and my jaw dropped. Of all the imagined outcomes, I truly had not expected a full unboxing and review from her. I think the exact comment I left on her video was “OH MY GOD.” Smooth. The craziest part was watching her hold in her hand something that had, until recently, been in mine. A piece of me had traveled through space and time and landed in the hands of someone who had never truly felt real. That’s what happens when you watch someone on a screen, I suppose — they feel more like a concept than a person. But here was irrefutable proof; There she was, holding up something that had been created on my messy table, in my messy room, as a part of my messy life. I don’t think that will ever fully sink in for me.
I’ve watched the video countless times. I even printed out that picture of her with the doll and framed it (it sits beside Ella and Kennedy’s framed photos). And even since she posted, I’ve gotten to connect with a few other actors I deeply admire about making them dolls, one of which I posted (Emma Myers) and the other is in production. But this particular experience will always be special to me.
Thank you to Emma for wanting my art, and for being so excited and gracious about receiving it. Thank you to the person who connected us, without whom none of this would have happened. And, of course, thanks to all of you. Your support and kindness is what makes me keep going.
Many more exciting things on the way. As always, much love.
xo, Clarity♡