Hello and welcome!
 My name is Maddy Gwenyth Norval, welcome to Magweno.com! I'm a 22 year old red-head living and working on the Scottish coast. I graduated in July 2011 with a 2:1 in Illustration and have moved home, working on turning what was a hobby into a small business, making and selling artists dolls of fantasy creatures. My other passion is animals, I keep chickens, partridges, quails, lovebirds, a turkey, moths and in December I got a puppy! |
About
In the summer of 2011 I decided to move home. Our small fishermans house didn't have enough room to accomodate a messy and craft-orientated student so we decided it would be a good idea to build a dedicated studio area in the garden. It was a project that my Mum, my brother, my boyfriend and I all undertook and in October the finishing touches were added, shelves put up, pictures hung, display cabinets made and aviaries finished. I now have a beautiful work area to make dolls. This is where it all happens (although I still bake the fimo in the house oven), and it's serves as a fantastic base of operations!
News and Updates
This is a video for those of you who have bought or would like to buy a Magweno art doll!
An "artsy" film of Uisge the water dragon.
You can see more of my videos of dolls and my birds on my YouTube channel.
Leaf Kirin
I have wanted to make a nature inspired kirin for a long time and I've been collecting materials for it for months. Eventually I took a little time to myself to make her and she's a depart from the norm, but an exciting one.
Emperor Moth Griffon
For my birthday my boyfriend, Mum and brother bought me some cocoons and butterfly cages. I got ten emperor moth cocoons and when they hatched I couldn't help myself but make this fuzzy moth doll, inspired by the moths themselves!
Swallow Griffon
The swallow griffons feathers are real swallow feathers. Near my Dad's house is a farm and there is a clock tower. On the top floor of the clock tower about ten or twenty swallows and their fledglings had somehow got trapped, starved and mummified. Instead of leaving those tiny carcasses, I collected them and now the more intact bodies are in my display cabinet and the more chewed bodies have had their feathers plucked, cleaned and stored safely. The swallow griffons wings open and fold like real birds wings thanks to a mechanism I have carefully developed. I will make a limited range of swallow griffons available for purches to Europe only (various export laws mean I cannot send swallow feathers to most countries outside of the EU).
Starling Griffon
The starling griffon is a forest-dwelling spirit, combination of goat and starling. He has iridescent feathers, fur, horns and hooves, real folding starling wings (involving a carefully constructed mechanism to make them fold, each feather has been glued individually) and super soft faux fur.
Limey
Limey is a scaley, furry, bizarre combination of creatures created as my half of a trade. He is the first doll to feature horns with gold leaf, human doll eyes and scaley fabric embellishments.
Helaku
Liwanu's sister, Helaku, is a fire elemental. Her name means 'sunny day' which is too true, she radiates a lovely warmth, perfect for the colder months.
Dragon
Dragons are not affectionate creatures and will not come to your call because they "like" you, they will come for food. If you feed them too much early in the day then they will become full and will refuse to fly, so you must make sure to keep them hungry but not starving.In order to train your dragon to a high standard you must weigh him at the beginning of every day to find out his "flying weight". It's also a good practice to do so to determine whether or not your dragon is sick, because if he is suffering from parasites or disease he will eat but not gain weight.
When your dragon is nearing his moult, generally in Autumn and Spring, you will need to make sure to feed him extra food. You don't necessarily have to make him fly to do this, but it would be a good time to get in extra training. After he sheds his skin DO NOT fly your dragon, as he will be tender for the next few days.
This is a young dragon, about eight weeks, but learning quickly. I've found his particular favourite is dried mealworms, but I've had dragons in the past that have a huge appetite for cucumber and also millet seeds - what you need to train your dragon with depends on the dragon. When they get bigger your 'treats' will need to get bigger too, at about 10-12 weeks switch to defrosted mice or chicks.
Liwanu
Arthur
Kroko
Stump
The Laird of Morphie and the Water Kelpie
A short, dark story about a Laird who wants to build a castle and how he captures a Kelpie to work for him. It raises questions of prejudice and evil natures as even though the Kelpie is naturally cruel the Laird works it until it is nearly dead, then pays for his disrespect in the form of a curse upon the castle and his line, laid by the Kelpie. The story is based on truth and according to local folk lore when you walk past the loch you can sometimes still hear the curse being whispered again and again.
Porphyrios
Vindur
Khuno
Avero
Odette
Dominique
Goat
2010 Dolls "The Beginning"
Ty & Loke
Palimer
Iki
Leu
The first of its kind, the commissioned wanted a doll of himself. As you can probably tell, I don't make many human dolls so this was certainly a departure from the norm.
Tropical Griffon
John Alberti of Windstone Editions commissioned this doll from me as a Christmas present for his wife, Melody Pena! Needless to say I was overexcited and overhwelmed making a doll for such an incredible and famous person but I tried my best and used my best materials and I'm very pleased with what I came out with. John tells me Melody loves it!
Nox
Nela
Balthazar
Harpy Eagle/Landrace Goat/Pangolin
Balrog
A commission for a baby version of the famous Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
Steve
I was contacted through DeviantArt to make a doll of a creature the client saw in a nightmare and described to me.
Peacock-Wolf
I was contacted through DeviantArt to make a doll for the client of a wolf/peacock/cheetah combination.
Choppii
I was contacted through DeviantArt to make a doll for the client of a sugar glider/red panda/ferret combination.
Zuki
I was contacted through FurAffinity to make a doll of the client's character, Zuki
Purple Ferret Dragon
I was contacted through Etsy to make a doll similar to "T'rassar" using the keywords 'purple, happy and fluffy'. The resulting doll was awarded a Daily Deviation on the website DeviantArt.
Kush
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the client's character 'Kush'
Vitriolize
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the client's character 'Vitriolize'
Faerie Dragon
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the client a doll of a "faerie dragon", a monster from the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft.
Haku
Contacted through Etsy to make the client Haku from the Miyazaki film "Spirited Away" by Studio Ghibli
Raccon/Wolf
Contacted through Etsy to make the client a combination of a wolf and a raccoon
T'rassar
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the clients 'woodland dragon' character, T'rassar.
Dark Areodu
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the clients character, Dark Areodu.
Cheshire Kat
Contacted through Etsy to make a doll of the commissioner's brother's character.
Rabigon
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the clients creature design, a "Rabigon", a mix of rabbit and dragon.
Nebel
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the clients character "Nebel", a gryphon.
Galidor
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the clients character "Galidor", a dragon. She wanted it to be big enough to sit on her shoulders as an accessory for a faire she was going to.
Ozzy
Contacted through DeviantArt to make the clients character "Ozzyfrage", a lammergeier gryphon. These are photos taken with my new nikon D5000!
Tariana
The client contacted me through DeviantArt requesting a doll made of a sketch she had drawn of a Japanese kirin called Tariana. Click here to see the image provided.
Biscuit
Client provided a list of her favourite animals including snow leopard, wolf and hummingbird and said she liked pretty, majestic creatures like unicorns and gryphons. I provided two preliminary sketches, one I felt was quite boarish and not pretty enough and another more bird-like creature and she went with the second sketch. This was developed into two colour choices and then made.
Luca
The client contacted me through DeviantArt and provided reference images of the creature she would like made into a doll, her character called 'Luca'. Click here to see the image provided.
Magpie Gryphon
The client contacted me through Etsy and gave me a list of animals including magpies, snow leopards, hyenas and sheep and said her favourite mythological creatures were gryphons and kelpies. I then provided a preliminary sketch which was then made. The client wasn't happy with how much white there was in the wings so this was changed.
Lilycat Cerisedolls
Client requested an eastern dragon crossed with a cat, Cornish Rex being her favourite breed. She then requested the colours to be girly pink, purple and grass green.
Stiltikins
The client provided the sketches of her creature "Stiltikins". Click here to see one of the images that was provided.
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