Voodoo Primitives

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here, but I have still been cranking out the Voodoo dolls. I started putting a little more effort into my Etsy shop, Voodoo Primitives, where I am selling my Bayou Swamp babies, pocket poppets, Swamp Ju Jus, and anything else I feel belongs there.

So Bayou Swamp babies are sort of like big poppet baby dolls who were born in the swamps. You can click on the links below to see each of the newer styles of dolls.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade voodoomama.etsy.com

Oshun, Voodoo Goddess of Love

In Yoruban mythology, Oshun is an Orisha (spirit goddess) of love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy. She represents the cosmological forces of water, moisture, and attraction. Her power is represented as the force of harmony - harmony seen as beauty, felt as love, and experienced as ecstasy.

Oshun is known as the mother of things outside the home, due to her business acumen. She is also known as she who has ears, because of how quickly and effectively she answers prayers. When she possesses her followers she dances, flirts and then weeps- because no one can love her enough and the world is not as beautiful as she knows it could be.



I created this Oshun Voodoo doll in my signature conjure art style out of two sticks and Spanish moss and wrapped her in gold fabric, gave her a gold crown and draped her with gold chains. Yes, she loves bling - gold bling in particular. She is holding a gold prayer ball that contains some of her favorite things; stones, fetish, and a suprise or two. You can put a prayer in her prayer ball and be assured she will answer it.

Her face is made of polymer clay and painted, and her hair is some black curly doll hair I found in a thrift store somewhere combined with some black fancy yarn. She is standing on a piece of tile trimmed in gold ribbon.

Voodoo Rope Doll

This Voodoo doll is based on an old style of Voodoo doll that used to be common in New Orleans. Made primarily out of rope, this doll is designed to hang on the wall. His face is made out of polymer clay, and he is wearing the characteristic strand of Mardi Gras beads.

Voodoo Virility Doll

One of my latest creations is this Voodoo virility doll. I created him for a customer who was seeking improvement in the area of love and sex. This guy is very proud of his manhood, and he has good reason to be.



I realized after making this guy that he is actually a Legba, who often sports the largest penis known to humankind and proudly displays the same. Here is an image of a traditional African Legba that illustrates this well:



Sometimes these traditional Legbas are called healing Legbas, or apologetic Legbas...and not because they have anything to be sorry for. Rather, they are approached with offerings and asked for forgiveness for transgressions. My Legba is a pure out and out sex God, yes he is. He is a favorite among my male customers who long for certain attributes. :)

A New Take on an Old Form of Voodoo Poppet

This is my sacred clown doll, which was inspired by the sacred ceremonial clowns, called koshare, of the Native American Hopi Indians. This doll is created like the traditional Voodoo poppet, consisting of (in this instance) a cloth body stuffed with polyester batting and hand sewn. Some clowns have special relationships with the sun, as does my sacred clown doll. He is wearing a sun face shield, which I crafted out of polymer clay and painted, and attached numerous pheasant feathers around it. His face is hand-sculpted out of polymer clay and painted in a fashion reminiscent of the koshare.



Sacred clowns are a common archetype across many cultures, though they take on a variety of physical appearances. Typically they hold dual roles as trickster and teacher. Pueblo Clowns, also called sacred clowns, is a general term for jester or trickster in the Kachina religion practiced by the Pueblo Indians of southwestern America. Each sacred clown has its own particular role and belongs to separate secret societies or kivas, and each has a name that differs from one mesa or pueblo to another. There are five different types of clowns in the Hopi culture, and each (except the koshare) embodies a particular spirit. They perform during the spring and summer fertility rites. It is believed that when a member of a kiva wears the mask of a kachinam, he abandons his personality and becomes possessed by the spirit. The behavior of the sacred clown is typically comic, lewd, scatological, eccentric and alarming.



This art doll was a gift for a friend of mine who has a special understanding of the sacred clown. The photos leave a bit to be desired as I took them as an afterthought right before he left for his new home.

Voodoo-Doll-A-Day.com

It's been awhile since I have posted anything here, though it has not been a while since I have created any Voodoo dolls. Recently I have been inspired by my friend Gretchen Little who has been on a quest to create 1001 hearts, one heart per day at a time. She was inspired by other artists who have taken the one a day concept and created paintings and what not. I recently found a guy who was creating a skull a day. I wish I could remember his name. In any event, it's not like I need anything more to do; rather, this is probably just sympomatic of my ADD and Aquarian nature. But, Gretchen just created a doodle lens at Squidoo and right before I checked it out I had been doodling a couple of Voodoo dolls with Paint Shop Pro. It hit me that I should do something with all of this Voodoo dolling that I do and what better way to channel it than through a Voodoo doll a day? So, I bought the domain name and here is my first Voodoo doodle doll.

New Voodoo Dolls You Tube Video

Make Your Own Studio Voodoo Head

Now these are very cool. No, they are not Voodoo dolls, but they are green Voodoo art and crafted by my favorite contemporary composer Koz Mraz of Studio Voodoo. Do you recognize the Studio Voodoo doll in the background? :)

The following is from the tutorial provided at Make Your Own Alien Studio Voodoo Head on Squidoo. You should go there to see the step by step photos that go with the tutorial.

Studio Voodoo Alien Heads
I created these 20 years ago and now they've become Green. Made from the recycled materials of 1 Gallon Milk Containers and metal coat hangers. Any plastic container with a handle works, Clorox bottles, Quart milk containers but the milk ones are translucent and backlight up nicely.

Find a large workspace, lay down some newspaper for the mess and gather the necessary materials.

1.Your clean gallon milk containers, the labels peel off easily
2. A variety of colored tissue paper, purchased anywhere inexpensively
3. A 2-3 inch paintbrush
4. Permanent marker
5. Box Cutter, razor knife for cutting the milk bottles (disclaimer: recommended for adults over the age of 18 Studio Voodoo clains no liability for any injury incurred while making Kozmos Alien Voodoo heads)
6. Elmer's Glue
7. Large Bowl
8. Metal coat hangers and pliers for bending them

First I turn the container upside down and on each side of the handle I draw the eye shapes with the marker then using the box cutter. Cut out the eye shapes and a large section behind the front for access for lighting effects later.

Next, I take a medium container of Elmer's glue and pour it into a bowl and add about a cup of warm water and mix thoroughly; basically we are making paper machete. At this point, I use the paintbrush and coat the front of the milk jug, lay over a sheet of tissue paper and paint over that again with the water/glue mixture. I repeat this with four to six sheets depending on the color I am looking for. Sometimes I even mix colors for effect. This gets pretty messy. When I am done, the excess tissue paper easily peels away from the plastic container and around the eye cutouts. Set it aside and repeat the process with a different colored tissue paper. They will be dry the next day. Making the coat hanger stands is tricky but the curved part of the coat hanger almost fits perfectly around the bottleneck so with some experimenting the stands can be easily made. I have detailed photos at my site. This could be a fun school project. If you pre cut all the bottles, students could make the heads and then even paint them to look like an African mask. I do this every Christmas and hang them on the Christmas tree. We celebrate Quanza here at the VoodooMansion.

Now, go check out more details and photos at Make Your Own Alien Studio Voodoo Head. Have fun!

Zombies, Voodoo dolls, and Valentines

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The One Minute How-To Item #208: How to Make a Voodoo Doll

I was recently asked to be on the One Minute How-To podcast. Each episode features someone who explains how to do something, but you only have 60 seconds to do so. This means that you have to get to the point quick sans embellishments and side comments. I have to admit it was quite the challenge to condense my rather lengthy tutorial down to one minute, but with the help of One Minute How-To's brainchild George Smythe, I was able to do so. This is a brilliant concept and a very well executed podcast that features a wide selection of how-tos, from how to be on time to how to avoid death by Powerpoint. So if you have a minute check out the One Minute How-To Item #208: How to Make a Voodoo Doll offered by yours truly.