From the shelves of antique shops and Goodwill stores, Emeral DeLorenzo-Brown adds to her inventory of fancily-dressed porcelain dolls. About an hour or two after accessorizing each doll, she severs its head, chiseling the pieces away with a hammer.
She positions a flathead screwdriver between the porcelain neck and head, only to hot glue small alligator heads, collected from various gas stations, to the rest of the doll’s body. After mending the doll’s dress, DeLorenzo-Brown paints the new alligator doll green to match the reptile’s skin.
Through her trademarked business, Oddly Unique Creations, the 24-year-old University anthropology student said she sells the alligator dolls on Etsy.com, a popular online crafting marketplace.
“I feel like they’re kind of a part of me now,” DeLorenzo-Brown said.
Though she trademarked the business last August, DeLorenzo-Brown said she has been creating alligator dolls for the past three years. When she and her husband moved from her south Louisiana hometown to the northern United States, she said she searched for something to remind her of home.
Remembering an incident when she and her father had to pull to the side of the River Road levee while an alligator cross ed the train tracks, DeLorenzo-Brown said she felt reconnected to her hometown. She went to a gas station, bought her first alligator head and got to work.
DeLorenzo-Brown’s first alligator doll, with its “poofy green and blue dress,” remains her favorite. She said it reminds her of a “Southern belle.”
Since returning to Louisiana, she continues her hobby.
Depending on its dress, each alligator doll gets its own theme and “Louisiana story.” For example, DeLorenzo-Brown attached an alligator head to a doll with a green dress that reminded her of the swamp and gave it a “Voodoo doll” theme.
“I put black feathers on her, got a chicken that I ate, cleaned up and dried the bones and glued it to her to make her look like a voodoo queen,” she said.
Other dolls include a “fall doll,” donned in a dress of brown, pink and cream and accessorized with a staff of seasonal flowers, and a Native American doll, sitting cross-legged and wearing a pelt vest. The latter is DeLorenzo-Brown’s husband, Cody’s, favorite.
Cody Brown, a University business entrepreneurship student, said he mostly manages the business aspect of Oddly Unique Creations while his wife focuses on the artistic side. He said he thinks the alligator dolls would especially appeal to tourists visiting the culturally rich state.
“It represents the Deep South,” he said. “It would be like a statement piece.”
With 14 dolls in her stock, including some that move and play music from their test case glass pedestals, DeLorenzo-Brown said her greatest challenge is spreading the word about her creations. Aside from an October art show, she said her studies have prevented her from attending other public events.
Though her shop only exists online now, she said she hopes to one day attract a tourist market. She said she would like to approach different shops in the French Quarter about putting her dolls on display.
“Some people think they’re a little weird, but they’re still cool in their own weird way,” DeLorenzo-Brown said. “I just want people to be happy when they see them.”