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Jean MaDan of Jean’s Creations Indiana Jones Meets Michelangelo By Lisa A. Lawrence
Born and raised in southern Arizona, Jean MaDan has spent her entire life in small towns and isolated communities. But, that’s where the “small” ends in her life. Jean has managed to live a “big life” even if most of it has been spent in small towns. Jean is an enigma. She is at once open and caring while still being very private and shy. While she laughs often, she feels pain constantly. She has the curiosity and adventuresome spirit of Indiana Jones, while excelling at several of the arts, from construction to painting, just like Michelangelo. In typical Jean fashion, she downplays her varied talents and activities by claiming to have a “short attention span.” “I think I must have a very short attention span, because I have worked in so many different fields.” Jean confesses, “It seemed that as soon as I really mastered something, I was ready to move on to something else. I’ve been a hairdresser, a rural mail carrier, an office manager, a bank clerk, a hotel desk manager, the owner and operator of a bed and breakfast, and I had my own jeep tour company! I’ve worked in casinos and garden centers, and for lumber companies! What I finally discovered I had a real love for, though, was construction work. I loved to take old houses and just gut them out and start over. I can lay brick, do the framing, electrical wiring, plumbing, roofing, tile work and drywall… anything to do with residential construction. Unfortunately health issues made it impossible for me to keep doing that kind of physical labor, so I started looking for something new to do.” Jean’s health issues come with a very interesting backstory. Jean tells it best. “On a hot August day, I had driven my Blazer out some back roads on the Navajo Indian Reservation, up near Kayenta. (That's around Monument Valley.)” Jean recalls, “Anyhow, I got myself STUCK in deep sand, and couldn't budge the vehicle. I was 35 miles from the nearest civilization. We were about half a mile from the lake, but up there, even right on the lake, you can go for a week without seeing a living soul. I had my seven-year-old son and our dog with me, and I had packed food and sodas and fresh water, THANK GOD! What we didn't have was SHADE. I mean, there is not a tree, not a big cactus, not a cliff overhang... NOTHING in the way of shade, except for the vehicle. I tried digging a burrow under the car, but that was like an oven, so we couldn't use that. Then I tried getting us inside the car with all the windows down, but it still must have been 130 degrees inside there. I used the air conditioner in the car once every hour until I ran out of gas to operate it. I had an old blanket in the back of the Blazer, and I scouted around the area until I found two pieces of cactus wood that were about 2 feet long each. I tied corners of the blanket to those, and stuck them in the sand, then weighted the back of the blanket down with rocks. That made a tiny shelter that I could get my son into, but we couldn't both fit in there. I was getting a major burn, as I was only wearing a swimsuit and a pair of cutoffs. At night, the temperature would drop so cold that we had to have a fire and wrap up tight together in the blanket. On the second day, I carried my son to the lake water so that I could cool him down, as he was getting fuzzy on me, and I was in a panic by then. We were finally rescued three days later. My son recovered immediately, and I spent a few weeks recovering from heat stroke. That's about it.” She laughs, “Oh…, except I am no longer allowed to take off out in the desert without adult supervision!!”
Prior to her desert experience, Jean had already been a lifelong sufferer of depression. Because of a head injury she suffered as a child, which cause her to have debilitating headaches, Jean cannot take medication to help her depression. It only makes her headaches much worse. As Jean puts it, “There's not a day of my life that I don't have a headache, and at least twice a week I get a migraine or a cluster headache. Since her desert experience, Jean’s body has never fully recovered. She ended up with a myriad of serious physical ailments, including advanced Systemic Lupus and Fibromyalgia. The Lupus attacks her muscles and internal organs; wearing them away. Jean has to avoid exposure to the Sun as even an hour of sunlight will cause her to be in bed sick for several days. Still, the Fibromyalgia is worse. It causes Jean constant pain, 24/7, with absolutely no treatment available to relieve or prevent the pain. With these major health problems, Jean was no longer physically able to do her beloved construction work. She went in search of something else.
Beth “That’s when I discovered that fashion dolls could be totally changed to fit any style that pleased me.” Jean states. Still, she didn’t purchase her first “important” doll until about three years ago. “When I discovered the art of repainting dolls, I began buying Barbies® by the dozens!” Jean states, “I spent almost all of my free time repainting them, doing their hair and creating beaded gowns for them. That was my first venture into doll art. I still do a few Barbies now and then, but my real love now is for Gene® and friends. I’ve obtained almost every doll in the Gene line since then. For the past year or so, I’ve been doing Gene and friends almost full time.” Jean’s mother taught her to sew. “The first time I used the old Singer treadle sewing machine, I was five years old. I still have the scar on my index finger to prove it.” Jean recalls, “Painting was a completely different experience. I was determined to learn to paint dolls and just did them over and over until I got a look I was happy with. I still feel like I improve with every doll I paint, and that is a big part of what keeps me fascinated with this art form.” While Jean still sells dressed repaints on occasion, lately she has found she doesn’t enjoy sewing as much as painting. “Even now that I’ve cut back on my sewing,” she states, “I’m still addicted to fabrics. When I see a beautiful piece of yardage, I simply must purchase some of it! I have enough fabric in my stock to make a hundred quilts and do a thousand dolls. Now I just need to motivate myself to actually do something productive with them.”
Jean has an interesting approach to repainting dolls. “I’m one of those artists that simply begins.” She states, “I seldom have a clear idea ahead of time of exactly what face I want a doll to have, unless it’s a special order. I usually just “feel” that a certain doll should have a different brow shape, or a more glamorous look, while another gets a more natural look. I don’t let the doll dictate to me on that. I’m just as likely to do a redhead with natural colored lips as I am to do a sultry looking one. I do tend to let their faces and hairstyles determine the sort of outfit I think they should wear. I also tend to have four to six dolls in progress at once. There are a lot of days when I’m not physically able to sit and paint, and those days are when I spend my time prepping the dolls. I usually spend one day just choosing which dolls I’m in the mood to work on, deboxing and undressing them, and packaging up the costumes they came in. I sell those costumes from my site to collectors who want them for their other Gene dolls. I then spend another day removing all of the factory paint from that group of dolls, and painting in the whites of the eyes. I’m frequently teased about my studio reminding people of the old “Village of the Damned” movie, with those poor dolls standing there sightless. Then I begin work on one doll at a time until that repaint is completed. While her hair is drying, I may begin on the next doll, or I may wait a day or two while I work on other things. Once the doll is ready, I start working on the photos for my website, www.madandolls.com. That actually takes me longer than repainting the doll, as I have almost no skill with a camera. If it weren’t for digital cameras, I doubt I would have remained in this field at all!”
How long do repaints take Jean? “There are times when a doll face just flies from my brush.” She exclaims, “On those happy days, I can complete a repaint in a matter of four or five hours. More often the doll seems to have a mind of it’s own, and refuses to cooperate with the repainting process. A stubborn doll can take me three or four days of effort to finish repainting.” Jean is also one of the few who do Trent® repaints. “I really enjoy doing Trent repaints.” she admits, “He has a tough face mold to work with, but once he’s finished he looks so much younger and far less dissolute. I do wish he had a softer head, because he cries out for long hair at times. I would love to do one with a “Fabio” kind of romantic look.” Jean offers both removable and nonremovable outfits on her dolls, depending on the total idea she is trying to create. “Depending on the doll and the concept, some of the outfits I do are removable and some are not.” She explains, “Sometimes I create a doll that I just don’t feel should be changed in any way, because the finished doll requires all of the components together to be successful. Other times the look I create is more flexible, and I want the outfit to be removable in order to be able to change the mood of the doll by what she wears. Sewing the basic outfit is not all that time consuming, but many times the hand beading can take days of work.
Eleanor in Lilac Mood
Asked how long it took her before she started selling her repaints, Jean replies, “I began selling my OOAK dolls from the very beginning, three years ago. At first, the main reason I sold them was to finance the purchase of more dolls and supplies to do the next set of dolls. This can be a very expensive hobby to be absorbed in. Soon the demand for my dolls outstripped that concern, and I was able to concentrate on higher end dolls and fabrics. Eventually, as my Gene repaints gained in popularity, I was able to concentrate strictly on those. At that point I switched almost totally to doing nude repaints.
When asked if she takes commissions, Jean replies, “The term ‘commissions’ is debatable in the repaints area. Many collectors use this word to denote having dolls from their own collection repainted, rather than the artist supplying the doll. To avoid that confusion, I use the term “special order” to indicate that a doll that I provide will be repainted to the customer’s specifications. Much of my business is based on special orders. Frequently a certain doll will sell within minutes of my posting it on my website, to the disappointment of other interested customers. That usually leads to several requests for similar dolls to be done, which I’m happy to do, so long as they realize it won’t be identical to that doll. It’s impossible to hand paint a doll without some variations in the look. At least it is for me. I also get many requests for specific combinations, such as a Madra with black hair and blue eyes, or a Gene with blonde hair and brown eyes. I quite enjoy doing special orders.” While Jean can very easily see herself owning a doll shop at some point, she would still keep it small and personal. Asked if she can foresee herself mass-producing dolls, Jeans states, “I don’t think the big business end of things would suit me. I like knowing my customers by name and getting a hug from them at the conventions. And I think my customers like knowing that they will always speak directly to me, and not some faceless corporation. The world moves so fast today. I think we’ve lost a lot of human contact in business of all sorts. I would really like to see my repaints become a full time business. My husband would like to retire soon, and it would really be nice if we could count on this income to replace his.”
In the meantime, Jean’s dolls have pretty much taken over her entire house. While she does have designated areas that she works in, and she uses her “best efforts to contain it in one place, the dolls seem to wander through every room.” She and her husband hope to build a garage with a studio above it in the next few years so that all of her doll related items will have a room of their own and she and her husband can start enjoying their home again. Jean finds the most difficult part of the repaint business to be in letting people know who you are and what you do. “I seldom use any of the auction sites, so many of the people who shop eBay don’t have a clue as to who I am.” She states, “Name recognition is a vital part of this business, and that takes time to build up. I belong to several doll related email lists, and I post links to them when I create a new doll. I also post to doll related bulletin boards. Most of my customers also belong to my “First To Know” mailing list and they get first notification when a new doll is available on my site. I have to say though, that my best advertising is word of mouth. Many of my customers refer their friends to my site for repaints. I think communication is very important, so I maintain close contact through emails with my customers. I always encourage them to let me know when their doll arrives, as I like to make sure they’re happy with their purchase. So far the feedback has been wonderful, and it helps me tremendously in keeping abreast of what they might want next. I am just now getting into the convention scene, and I will always have a sales booth when I go. I prefer to attend the Gene convention and the smaller egroups lists that hold conventions, such as Fashion Doll Makeovers and Custom Dolls.”
Miranda in
Jean states that her dolls are as “all-consuming” as her physical limitations allow. She works on them seven days a week, as long as she is physically able to. Given her physical ailments, Jean’s repaints are even more remarkable. While she can’t go out in the sun herself, each one of her repaints radiates a bit of the sunshine that comes from within Jean’s soul. As if those talents aren’t enough, Jean also finds time to pursue other hobbies she loves! “I love to read, and go through four or five books a week.” She laughs, “I enjoy doing wood work, and all sorts of needlework."
Looking ten years into her professional future, Jean hopes to be a full time doll artist, able to financially support her husband and herself with that income. Personally, she sees herself “exactly where I am now. I’ve been happily married to the same man for 34 years, and there is very little about my life that I would change.” When asked about where she expects to be twenty years in the future, Jean’s goals are a little less lofty. “I imagine in twenty years I’ll be sitting in a rocking chair somewhere, wondering where I left my teeth.” Knowing Jean, they’ll be lost in the desert somewhere waiting to be excavated by future explorers! |
