Saturday, September 10, 2011

New Doll: Alyona from "The Scarlet Flower"

I am so excited right now, because I actually made a doll!!! This is something I have wanted to do for many, many years. She is a knitted doll, and I wrote the entire pattern myself - normally I just alter existing patterns, but I couldn't find one in this case. Oh, there are a lot of cute knitted doll patterns out there, to be sure, but none of them were suitable for this project, because I want my dolls to look similar to my illustrations. So in the end, I decided to write this pattern myself, it was my first time doing something like that. I feel like God was guiding me the entire time (I always pray before I start a new project), because all the pieces turned out right on the first or second try! I was so surprised, and I feel really blessed that that happened, I was expecting to have to remake everything several times before I was happy with it. I'm glad that I didn't have to, though!

Anyways, my first doll is inspired by my illustration of "The Scarlet Flower" (Аленький цветочек), which is like the Russian version of "Beauty and the Beast". I named her "Alyona". Actually in the story the main character does not have a name, she is just "the merchant's youngest daughter". But there is a film version of "The Scarlet Flower" from the 1970s that I like very much, and in it they call her Alyona, so that is where I got the name for my doll. 

She is made of 100% bamboo yarn, and stuffed with fiber fill made from corn. Her headband is made from swarovski pearls and crystals, she has a swarovski crystal "ring" on her right hand (to represent the ring the beast gives her in the story), and she holds the scarlet flower, made from swarovski crystals and a glass bead, in her left hand. She also has "nail polish", a little feature that I like to give all the girls in my illustrations. She is about 8 inches tall. Well, enough with the descriptions, let's get to the pictures!

Alyona with my original illustration of "The Scarlet Flower". In person the illustration is much darker, especially her dress, but in this picture it looks kind of turquoise because I used the flash when I took it.




Closeup - before I did her hair 


Nail Polish! 

I love this kind of shoe, I think they are so pretty! So of course, I had to make them for Alyona ^-^

The lace trim on the upper part of the sleeves is a variation I made of the "Torchon Edge" which was originally printed in 1891. The cuffs have gold-trimmed picot edging.

Closeup of Alyona finished - her headband is made of Swarovski pearls and crystals.

The ring from the Beast - a red Swarovski crystal.

Closeup of the back of her hair - for some reason the color looks kind of purply in this picture, but it's actually a dark reddish-brown. 

A full-length shot of Alyona finished - she did not want to stand up at first! 

I took this picture of her in the sunlight, and thought it was pretty, so here it is!

I cut a lot of her hair before, but she still has a ton!



The Scarlet Flower - made of green and gold Swarovski crystals and a pretty little red glass heart.

The ring in the sunlight.




Took this picture right after I finished rooting her hair, I hadn't made her clothes or "painted" her nails yet...
... And as you can see, she had way way too much hair at first! lol
Well, that's all for now. I had so much fun making Alyona, I am trying to decide which of my illustrations I want to make into a doll next!


Update: You can now commission Alyona at my store on Shop Handmade ^-^ If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

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