Saturday Fright and Sunday Mourning...
Who are you?
I'm Candy! I'm a 32 year old fashion graduate who works in an office by day and am a self-taught graphic designer by night. My design work is inspired by patterns in nature and geometric shapes, I like to explore the beauty inherent in maths - if the names Sierpinski, Fibonacci or Pythagoras mean anything to you, then you will understand, although please don’t ask me to explain their mathematical theories, or formulas. I sell my designs, on fabric, to sewing enthusiasts around the world and have also been commissioned to design for gift wrap, fashion collections, boutique studios, homewares and corporate logos. I also have an unnerving love of all things zombie…
Because…
Their relentless nature makes them terrifying monsters but they’re also great for social commentary. Don’t believe me? Well, you’ve got your zombies as a symbol for consumerism in Dawn of the Dead, zombies as a symbol for class struggle in Land of the Dead, zombies as a symbol for human isolation in 28 Days Later. And now we have Dawn of the Unread, a subtle twist on the zombie genre, where writers, frustrated at library cuts and bookshop closures, return from the grave in search of the one thing that can keep their memories alive: ‘boooks’
What do they symbolise for you?
David Wong wrote, “The zombie looks like a man, walks like a man, eats and otherwise functions fully, yet is devoid of the spark. It represents the nagging doubt that lays deep in the heart of even the most zealous believer: behind all of your pretty songs and stained glass, this is what you really are. Shambling meat. Our true fear of the zombie was never that its bite would turn us into one of them. Our fear is that we are already zombies.”
The creative spark is as infectious as any zombie virus. The spark is that thing which stops us from being mere “shambling meat”, that thing which aids us in the creation of our “pretty songs and stained glass”. This quote may have originally been intended as a comment on religion but to me it is an observation on the importance of our creativity. My creative streak is in the graphic and visual arenas and creating prototypes for my Flipping Zombie dolls
What are Flipping Zombies?
Flipping Zombies are digitally printed cloth dolls that are ‘normal’ people on one side and flip inside out to turn into brain hungry zombies. Someone once described them as being adhorrible (adorable/horrible) which I think sums them up nicely. I design each doll using Corel DRAW, then once I am convinced that they are adhorrible enough I print them out. I then cut, stitch, stuff and finish the dolls and inter them in their body bags.
How long does it take to make one?
The sewing of each doll takes about an hour but the design process is harder to put a timeframe on, I have made a wardrobe of design templates for clothes, shoes, hairstyles etc so the outfit of each doll comes together quickly, but researching wounds or eviscerated guts can take a long time…
Where did the idea come from?
Flipping Zombies are the product of me being a Zombie fan, a seamstress and a graphic designer. The original idea for the dolls was sparked in my childhood by a cute hand-knitted princess doll that my nan made for me, one side of the doll was awake and when you flipped her skirt over it revealed another side which was asleep.
The zombie industry is worth an incredible 5.6billion a year. How come?
Most zombie stories - with the exception of movies such as Colin - don't focus on the zombies themselves, but instead concentrate on the exploits of the surviving humans. All of us like to think of ourselves as being unique or special in some way and zombie movies allow us to relate to those remarkable characters that survive against all odds and aren't just another member of the shambling masses.
What's been your favourite commission so far?
I really enjoyed creating a pair of dolls as a wedding gift for a couple called Annabel and Ratty, their friends sent me loads of cool pictures of the couple to work from and I enjoyed recreating Annabel's awesome tattoos and adding a Dias de los Muertos twist to the dolls. Another doll was created as a birthday gift for a girl called Anastacia, she has masses of Pink dreadlocks which were a satisfying challenge to recreate.
All of my custom Flipping Zombies have been really fun to create, I love talking to my customers about all the gory details that they want to include on the effigy of their loved one. It's always good to chat with fellow horror fans and I receive awesome pictures of the reactions that the dolls get. Strangely the most popular occasions to commission a Flipping Zombie are anniversaries, weddings and valentines. Love is.... zombifying your significant other, apparently!
Other than creating an Alan Sillitoe doll for Dawn of the Unread, have you made any dolls for other celebrities?
I gave a customised doll to one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman, who writes great fantasy realism novels. I made the doll just in time to give it to him at a book signing in Bath. I reassured him - as I handed over an effigy of himself in a body bag - that it wasn’t intended as a death threat. He seemed genuinely pleased with the gift, telling me that the one other present he had received that evening was a coyote penis bone pendant…
What’s next?
I'm working on a new process to create photoface zombies where the photo of the person to be zombified is printed directly onto the doll. This cuts out a lot of the time spent hand drawing the face, allowing me to spend more time on the wounds and gore. It will also make bespoke dolls more affordable.
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