WIP Silvija the Moss Maiden

I have been working on a new doll, and am ready to share the first pictures of her today ^_^ Her name is Silvija, which means "from the forest" (it's the Croatian form of the Roman Latin name "Silvia"). She is a Moss Maiden (they are also known as Wood Wives). When she is all done, I will talk about Moss Maidens in more detail, but for now just know that they are forest spirits whose lives are closely intertwined with the trees in which they live, and they are very kind and helpful.

Silvija is approximately 9.5 inches tall. She is made of Japanese glass seed beads, Swarovski pearls, organic cotton fiber fill, undyed ahimsa silk thread, and organic cotton thread. She is a ball-jointed doll, with 13 points of articulation. I did a special kind of stitch for her hair, to me it represents autumn leaves, tree branches, or even moss that has turned a reddish color. It will go really well with her dress, which I am working on right now.

I will post more when her dress is all done (maybe before, if I decide to take some teaser pics), but for now, you can get acquainted with Silvija a little bit :)

Cotton vs. Silk

I've been working on a new doll (you will get to see the first photos of her next week, most likely). She is a beaded BJD like Esmeralda, but with a couple of differences. One, I moved the ball joint in her torso down a bit, so that it is more centered in her waist. The other difference is the thread. Up to this point, I have been using organic cotton thread to make my dolls. I like it, but I decided to make this doll using ahimsa silk, for a few different reasons. The main reason is strength. I don't use beading threads, which are generally made of nylon or other plastics, even though they are very strong, because they are bad for the environment, and also for my health (I have chemical sensitivities, and when I tried using these materials I got really sick). So I like to stick to very natural materials, and, as far as that goes, silk is stronger than cotton. For my dolls, I chose an undyed, naturally processed, ahimsa silk. Here is a photo of it, next to the undyed organic cotton I normally use:

I love the feel of it when I'm working! I also like the slight sheen it has, very soft and subtle, kind of pearly. It's very luxurious and pretty. It doesn't knot as frequently as the cotton, and when it does get a knot, it seems easier to undo it. It is definitely stronger too - not once did my thread break, and it didn't fray as much at the part that goes through the eye of the needle either. 

On the other hand, although both threads are basically the same weight, the silk seems to be very slightly thicker, which was a problem with the 3 smallest pearl sizes I use as ball joints, because I couldn't pass the thread through them as much as I would have liked.

There was also something I didn't expect: my new doll is about three quarters of an inch taller than the last one! It doesn't sound like much, but she looks a lot taller. That isn't really a problem, though, as she is still a nice size, and sits nicely in my hand. It was just a bit unexpected.

So on the whole, I liked working with the silk, and will definitely use it again in the future, when the dolls have a similar skin tone to that thread. Otherwise I will have to use the cotton, because it comes in a bunch of colors, but the silk does not. 

Deer Woman!

I finally finished my Deer Woman doll yesterday! I think she is so cute ^_^ Before I share pictures of her, though, I'd like to tell you about the inspiration behind her...

Deer Woman is a spirit being in Native American folklore - there are stories about her from many different tribes and areas, but many of them seem to come from the Eastern Woodlands and Central Plains tribes. She is said to appear sometimes as a deer, sometimes as half-woman half-deer, sometimes as an old woman. Other times, she appears as a beautiful young woman, with large brown eyes like a deer, and the hooves of a deer as well. This last depiction is the one I used as a basis for my doll. Deer Woman is related to love and fertility. She is sometimes said to help women, particularly with conception and childbirth. Sometimes she attends dances. She is said to seduce men, usually those who are known womanizers, or adulterous. She flirts with them and lures them into the forest, where she either stomps them to death, or leaves them, lost and pining away for her. If the man notices in time that she has the hooves of a deer, and is not really human, he can save himself, but this rarely happens - Deer Woman is so beautiful of face and form that few men ever notice her feet. All in all, I see her as a helper and protector of women.

Now, a few things about my doll. She is approximately 7 inches tall. She is made of Japanese glass seed beads, organic cotton thread and organic cotton fiber fill. Her dress and hairstyle are loosely based on that of a Potowatomi maiden (they seem to have a lot of stories about Deer Woman). Her dress is actually made using a beadweaving stitch called the Potowatomi Stitch. It was inspired by the intricate bead embroidery of the Potowatomi people, which usually depicted abstract floral designs. I think it's the perfect stitch for Deer Woman's dress, a pretty dress made of flowers that she could wear to a dance!

One more thing, before the pictures - I have been thinking of a name for my little beaded dolls, to make them easier to find, and to possibly offer them for adoption in the future. I have decided to call them "Faerie Dust Dolls", because the beads sparkle like faerie dust, and because most of them are inspired by folklore :) And now, pictures!

WIP Deer Woman, Part 2

I have finally decided how to make Deer Woman's dress, and should have her all finished up within the next week! So I thought I would just share a couple of progress pics in the meantime ^_^ When she is completely finished, I will talk about the inspiration and design of the dress in more detail...