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.

As I mentioned earlier, Blue Blood has been doing a number of media sponsorships as we move into our fifteenth year and Blue Blood was the media sponsor for the Release the Bats Nine Year Anniversary. It was an amazing evening.

Dave and Jenn Bats were the hosts with the most. DJ Shane Taleda, of Element and STG fame, celebrated his birthday. The band Fangs on Fur did their deathrock meets Burning Man performance. And a good time was had by all.

Luminaries in attendance included Forrest Black, Dahlia Dark, Domiana aka Vita Voodoo, Michelle Aston, Thistle Harlequin, Eva O, Kettle Cadaver, Dave Grave of Frankenstein, and of course yours truly and many many more.

So, of course, Forrest Black and I shot a ton of artistic portraits of a bunch of the fiends who came out to help celebrate. You can see photo galleries at the following links:

**Release the Bats Nine Year Anniversary
Deathrock Photo Gallery #1
by Forrest Black & Amelia G

**Release the Bats Nine Year Anniversary
Deathrock Photo Gallery #2 Extended Remix
by Forrest Black & Amelia G