Dolls by Eolo Testi - Lavender House Productions

Eolo Testi's house is full of characters you're not likely to forget.

"The very gruesome, strange pieces are the ones that sell the fastest," he says of the museum-quality character dolls he creates in his Guilford studio.

Some are figures from Grimm fairy tales, others are pure flights of fantasy ranging from the whimsical to the bizarre.

Many depict historical characters with pinpoint accuracy, some right down to the Victorian crinolines, stays and collapsible panniers that hold billowing skirts aloft.

"If you could undress them - if you could cut apart a work of art - you would see that their corsets have eyelet lace with ribbon threaded through them," says Testi, who is known as "Gig" to his friends.

The bodies of the dolls are muslin, while the faces are hands are cast in thermosetting resins, then painted into surrealistic life. Some have glass eyes set by hand. Testi makes all the wigs, shoes, clothing and jewelry they wear. They can cost from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars.

The dolls takes from 80 to 300 hours to create, and Testi creates biographies for each one.

The 36-inch-tall Elizabethan jailer is a scary guy, wearing leather and spikes with hair sticking out of his moles and nostrils. A headman's ax, leather cat-o'nine-tails and keys to the dungeon round out his one-of-a-kind ensemble.

"I try to be as good as possible, historically," Testi says. "I get crazy with details."

At about 14-inches-high, Rumpelstiltskin is a flashy fellow sporting a black felt hat with feathers and beads, red pantaloons and a yellow shirt.

"He's a fairy tale character. I get totally free with those," Testi says.

Nearby, a collection of miniature mice dangles from the neck of a dapper, 15-inch-high Puss 'n Boots.

"There's a lot of James Cagney in him," Testi says.

Then there's the demure Sarah Louise Mapleson, 24-inches-tall. "She's a fictitious New York heiress," the artist says.

Over the years Testi has crafted English monarchs, medieval queens and a host of other figures recreated from the annals of 12th- to 19th-century history, modeling his dolls on actual portraits whenever he can.

He haunts antique and junk shops - and even dollar stores - for the dolls' accessories. He's working on a new series of elves and sprites that require a different sort of embellishment.

"I've been collecting butterfly wings and dragonfly wings all summer," Testi says.

Testi's works have been exhibited in museums and galleries in metropolitan New York, where he lived before he moved to Guilford a decade ago.

He will display his creations at a one-man show in Norwich at the Chenango County Council of the Arts from April 26 through May 24.

The dolls are unique, and so is their creator. "I'm very bizarre," Testi says. "It works for me."

Text from Press & Sun-Bulletin, April 4, 2002. "Good News" article written by Valerie Zehl.