I interviewed Kristin Tercek back in 2006 when she was first starting her Cuddly Rigor Mortis line. Since then, she has had a number of her designs mass-produced and distributed. She currently has a series of one-of-a-kind voodoo plushes available and going fast. We’ve got a gallery of her amazingly spooky-adorable voodoo dolls and I caught up with her for a quick chat about talismans for animistic deities.

Amelia G: What was the inspiration for your voodoo doll series?

Kristin Tercek: An awesome collector of our plushes wanted a voodoo doll (in our style) for his wife for Valentine’s Day. After a bit of sketching, Ed [Mironiuk] and I (well it was all Ed, really) came up with a basic pattern — mismatched button eyes, feathers on head and stitching. Then I spent a couple of days putting together different combos of colors and fabrics until one just hit. I liked having some freedom to not have to worry about whether or not I could source enough fabric or buttons for a lot of one specific character, but simply go and buy what I liked. Besides, who can resist a rainbow of feather colors to choose from?

Amelia G: Who are your voodoo dolls most suitable for torturing or do you not recommend sticking pins in them?

Kristin Tercek: I did some research on voodoo dolls and found that the ‘real’ ones are not for torturing or seeking revenge on anyone. They are really good luck charms and there should be 7 different colored pins representing different things like spirituality, health, repelling negative engery, etc. I put actual 3″ needles with different buttons on top into each plush so you can ’stick them’. But it makes it a bit easier to set them free into the world hoping that they will be used for good and not evil ;)

Amelia G: Which of your designs are available in mass market versions now and where can people find them?

Kristin Tercek: Devil, Zombie and Skeleton are the first three to be mass marketed. They are pretty well sold out of Hot Topic where they were introduced but you can buy them directly from the licensor at Net Sales Art for the Masses.

Well, damn, if we didn’t all have a really good time at the Golden Gals Gone Wild gallery show this weekend. I admit I was, to a certain extent, dubious about the concept. I wasn’t really allowed to watch television as a child. My parents didn’t want me to turn out weird or antisocial or anything. So I have never seen the TV show Golden Girls, although I understand it is about a group of charismatic elderly babes who still speak like human beings, instead of like people’s warped concept of what people are supposed to act like as they age. I have this pretty much on hearsay and having walked through a room where the TV was on. So, anyway, I’m sure there were nuances in the work displayed this past Saturday which would have spoken to someone more versed in old television shows.

Curator Lenora Claire spent $110 on an oil painting by artist Chris Zimmerman off eBay, featuring Golden Girls actress Bea Arthur (I think she was the sexy one, but maybe that was Blanche Devereaux.) in the nude. Lenora Claire loved the painting and decided that it’s existence in her possession was a great reason to throw a massive multi-artist gallery show to celebrate the whole theme. I was charmed by the idea, as a lot of projects I end up blowing up into ridiculously huge things start off with exactly the same sort of thought process.

I had additional really excellent reasons for going to the gallery show, despite my innocence of sitcoms of yesteryear. First, Blue Blood’s own Ed Mironiuk did a sleekly latex-clad Bea Arthur for the show, which was featured in fliers and all that good stuff, but I love seeing art in person and I like to support my friends’ creative output and I like to see Ed Mironiuk, but he lives on the East Coast. Also, some of my unsavory pals and I thought having gone would be an entertaining conversation piece. One of my friends was threatening to spend the whole time texting people to tell them “hey, guess what I’m at!” It seemed like half the people in the gallery space actually had cell phones out and were doing this and it made for a super packed event.

The art show at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard transcended the theme, however. I did not have to be an aficionado of the show to really enjoy the art there. Kudos to Lenora Claire for gathering up a really interesting diverse group of creative people. A few standouts including amazing use of texture were Jason Mercier’s junk portrayal of Rue McLanahan and Elmer Presslee’s flowery Bea. The punk fantasy of Austin Young’s piece was a cool take on the theme, which made me look him up when I got home. In the clean commercial lines department, I really liked the superhero quadtych (Is that a word — like triptych only four?), a little blue naughty piece, and of course Glen Hanson’s piece, which was also used for commemorative T-shirts. I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of Glen Hanson, as he was wearing essentially gold lamé underwear and looked delightfully striking. And it took something to be striking in a room where go go dancers sported giant paper maché granny heads and a DJ complained that they had been planning to hang work by club kid killer Michael Alig. No idea why Alig didn’t show, but I’m guessing a club kid famous mostly for killing someone because he couldn’t figure out how to otherwise acquire drugs . . . well, I’m just saying there is some Darwinism there and maybe not so much responsibility.

Luminaries in attendance included Blue Blood head designer/artist Forrest Black, Blue Blood hottie Scar 13, Blue Blood hottie Xochitl (who Forrest Black and I each thought the other had photographed that night), artist Kristin Tercek of Cuddly Rigor Mortis fame, writer/gadfly Clint Catalyst reporting for BuzzNet, writer/director Ramzi Abed creator of The Black Dahlia Movie, editor Tony Pierce from the LAist, fashion designer Adele Mildred, and writer Tucker Max who was there to support Rudius Media artist Jim Wirt of Coloring Book Land.

Incidentally, I mentioned in a previous feature on Tucker Max that he was coy about whether or not he did cocaine. It seemed to me, in a very funny story he wrote about a Las Vegas vacation, that he was deliberately avoiding committing to whether or not he had done blow in the land of casinos. He would like me to share that he would absolutely have just said it, if he was nose down in white powder and that, in point of fact, he has never done, and never intends to do, cocaine. I’ve been trying to decide if I agree with the Tucker Max theory of “beer and hot chicks” versus “hookers and blow,” but I’ll have to get back to y’all on that one.

Clint Catalyst, fresh off his acting turn with Michelle Tea and Guinevere Turner in In the Spotlight told me he started off the evening with a lot more makeup and had gone through five outfits over the course of the night. At the bottom of the page, you can see the video Clint Catalyst shot, including some footage of Forrest Black at the beginning.

I have to say that I kind of wished I had brought a change of clothes because it was ridiculously hot in the gallery. My clothing was so drenched with sweat that I actually did go home and change my shirt before going to an afterparty. (Admittedly, my home is on Hollywood Blvd, in between where the gallery is and the house in the Hollywood Hills I was going to afterwards, but it was hot.) It was so hot inside that what might normally be delicate napkin-blotting to avoid damaging makeup quickly became the full on athletic-style blot or face squeegee. World of Wonder could stand to invest in some A/C. You will notice in the photos of the event that Scar and I are making what appear to be peculiar gang signs; we are fanning ourselves in the oppressive heat.

Excessive warmth notwithstanding, whether or not attendees were Golden Girls fans, I think everyone had a good time. I got to see tons of people I like, who I don’t see every day. There was a crazy mix of people. In fact, the demographics were so mixed that it was like a game of rock/paper/scissors whether people were going to go in for the handshake, the Hollywood hug, or the cheek kiss. I’m usually not a big fan of kitsch, because I feel an artist should truly own what they create and not hide behind irony, but a lot of the Golden Gals Gone Wild artists really rose to the occasion and it was a smashing fun event. I can tell it is going to be a really fun time in Los Angeles this season, can practically smell it on Hollywood Blvd. Not that I want to go around smelling Hollywood, but you get my meaning.

I met the talented Kristin Tercek through Ed Mironiuk who has been doing artwork for Blue Blood projects since 1995 or 1996. But Kristin wouldn’t need nepotism to be covered here because I love love love her Cuddly Rigor Mortis doll collection. Kristin is also an accomplished illustrator and completely self-taught. She explains her fairly organic creative process, “I basically sketch out a design and then go to the fabric store and wander around, touching everything, holding it up to the light, stretching it out to see if it might be the right fit.” She generally has an idea what she is looking for. For example, the artist was sure her Pulp Fiction-inspired fetish plush Gimp “needed to be black leather or vinyl” and was pleased when she found just the right soft, black pleather. Some of her creations, however, such as the Tiki plush doll and matching purse came into existence because Kristin found a cotton wood grain print velvet fabric which just begged to be made into something cool.

Although Kristin Tercek’s Cuddly Rigor Mortis plushes have only just been launched, they have already appeared in Frontiers Magazine, been a Yahoo New & Notable and Daily Pick, and been part of the Plush Rush show at Acme Art Gallery in Ohio. Kristin even did an exclusive one-of-a-kind cuddly piece for Plush Rush called Gorbot. The seasonal Gingerbreadman plush was a featured item on Etsy the fast-growing online marketplace for all things handmade. Seasonal means that you can only order Gingerbreadman which his deliciously chewed-on head or the very cheerful Snowman between now and January 31, 2006, although this article will be archived to tease you after the moment of opportunity passes.

Here is our exclusive Blue Blood interview with artist Kristin Tercek, the creator of the fabulous Cuddly Rigor Mortis plushes:

What first lead you on the path to the darker end of the artistic spectrum?
Always been there, always will be. What’s great now is the combination of cute and killer, something I’m obviously attracted to.

How did you get into doing art in general and cool dolls in specific?
I think I was born with a paintbrush in my hand. I grew up on Bob Ross and William Alexander (the same premise as Bob Ross but with a big, old Prussian guy ‘Firing in the trees! with your brush!’). I started painting on my own around 11 and haven’t stopped. About 4 years ago I started dabbling in other mediums and stumbled upon sewing. I’ve always loved stuffed animals (to the point where I still can’t watch any being thrown away) and got sucked into the whole urban vinyl/designer toy movement where all these different artists were turning their work into three dimensional toys. The plush designers like Ugly Dolls, Friends with You and Anna Chambers really inspired me to buy some fabric and let my inner plush-maker out.

What inspires your work?
I guess you could say all the old monster movies do. Certainly artists like Tim Biskup, Seonna Hong, Mark Ryden, Takashi Murakami, everything San-X, Aranzi Aronzo, Toy Field (Japanese Teddy Bear designers), Kariwanz (Japanese Fetish designers) and of course, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Do you whistle while you work?
I don’t listen to much but recently Gorillaz has gotten my attention. I love everything about them, even their toys by Kid Robot (I recently acquired Noodle and can’t take my eyes off of him). Black Eyed Peas is an amazingly good album, too. One of my oldies but goodies is Desi Arnaz. You gotta love Cuba when it was cool. Honestly the past couple of weeks I’ve been going through the original Star Trek DVD’s while I work.

Any additional special credits or bio info you want to mention?
So far I’ve been so lucky with Cuddly Rigor Mortis. Gimp made it onto http://agentchin.typepad.com/cutethings/ . It’s a great list of cool toys that this person liked. So I emailed her to thank her and low and behold it’s Lili Chin one of the creators of “Mucha Lucha”. Gimp now lives with her in LA. He’s also been a part of Tokyo Perve’s Halloween Ball, accompanied by Karin and Wanco of Kariwanz. All of the plushes have sold really well due in no small part to the fact that someone over at Yahoo! (I don’t know who) took a liking to my website and made it a ‘New and Notable’ with only three other sites for a week in October and a Daily Pick in MyYahoo!. My webhits jumped from 3 a day to 5500 (it’s gone down a lot more now…whew!). These little guys have been shipped to Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, Italy and of course, the good old US of A. I even had a fan over in Iraq in the form of an army soldier. (hope you made it home, Daniel!) who bought three of them! Everyone has been so nice and so happy with their plushes — I can’t ask for anything better.

What are your plans for the near future?
Sew! Sew! Sew! oh and celebrate Christmas with the little ones (2 chihuahuas and a husband, Ed Mironiuk). I was also asked to be part of a 12 artist plush show at Plastic Passion Toys in Seattle sometime in February. Ed and I also want to shop around a gallery show we want to do called ‘Pinups and Plushes’. It includes both our artwork — he’s started making pinups that include and compliment my plushes. Oooh he’s so talented it kills me!

Who is your favorite Blue Blood hottie?
I must say I’ve taken a liking to Dana Dark. I like her dog.