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Indigenous Peoples Day

6/21/2022

 
Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day and I thought I'd share some photos of my Indigenous inspired dolls.

I've always loved Native art, especially that of the Eastern Woodlands, and that of the Pacific Northwest. Way back when I was a volunteer art teacher, I liked to teach children about some of the traditional art of our First People. I was especially interested in the rich traditional culture of the Pacific Northwest, and it inspired me to make a series of cloth dolls depicting some of their stories.

The first was Raven Steals the Sun, which depicts the traditional story of how Raven tricked the Chief's daughter into opening the chest in which he kept the sun. I made him in 2004 for our doll club's Puppet Challenge that year, and he won Best Doll in the Canadian Doll Artist Conference Mythology competition.
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Every part of his regalia tells part of the story.
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The next figure, also for a club challenge, was Raven Steals Beaver Lake, in which Raven brought salmon to all the people. Again another cloth doll with soft sculpture face, on a wire body....
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The third, and final doll in the series was Thunderbird. He has a wired cloth body, but his mask was sculpted of paperclay, as were the serpent parts of his upper arms. He won Best in Show at the 2006 Canadian Doll Artist Conference.
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For more information on these first three characters - My Native Art Figures
Years later, in 2012, after I'd started into the world of BJDs, we were planning on taking a trip to the West coast, and I was planning on taking some dolls along to photograph my very first doll photo story. Two of the main characters were a little lost native girl, and her mother.  I made their regalia out of chamois leather, painted with traditional designs...
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I made a traditional inspired button blanket for Asa.
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Later that same year, I made a Cheyenne inspired outfit for Byuri for a trip to the Southwest.
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The following year I photographed Soa, as a grown up Byuri from the first story....
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Father's Day

6/20/2022

 
Yesterday was Father's Day, and I thought I'd put together a collection of photos of my doll Fathers. The first guy to be featured in a Father's Day photo was Narin, back in 2014...
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Two of those children ended up in another family later, although Elin appeared as his daughter again recently in the White Cat sequel...
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Owen started out as a 'foster father' back in 2014, when he and Leona took three  kids to the southwest...
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The following year they had a family of their own...
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..and he's been a great Dad ever since...
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Steve was next. He had a daughter himself, and married Iris, who had two younger children...
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As time travellers, in Victorian times, they welcomed another child...baby Sena....
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He was a great Dad whatever period they were in...
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 Lawrence became a Father as well...
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Rex also became a Dad...
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Then there's Jude...
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All of them are great Dads.

And most recently, while I was working on making him a new formal shirt, Rex just wouldn't put down a baby I was also working on.  I think he'll be talking to Bianca soon about adding another little one to their family....
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Acceptance

6/19/2022

 
After breakfast Kassia went out for a stroll in the garden. She left very conflicted. She was so thankful that she was human again...
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...yet sad that everyone else was still stuck as a cat.
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Adrian came out to join her....
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"Well, that sure didn't go as we had hoped.  But I am happy that it worked for you."
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"Really?"
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"Yes. Truly.  Everyone is very happy for you."
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"Anyways.....being a cat isn't so bad...."
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"There are far worse things we could have become..."
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"..like a bug....or a worm.  It's definitely given me a new perspective on life.  And on what really matters."
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"You're right.  So we'll just continue like before, making the best of things, and patiently wait for our court date."
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Making Plans at Breakfast

6/18/2022

 
The Cook had gone to considerable effort to prepare a lavish breakfast..
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Lucy took the Cook aside..."Why did you bother to go to all this effort? Everyone is feeling so disappointed right now."
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"Exactly!  It's because everyone could use a little cheering up.  And life has to go on. So, just smile and help serve breakfast just like it's any other day."
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But Kassia wasn't hungry. She felt torn inside, feeling happy to be human again, yet guilty that she was the only one that the potion had worked on. ​
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Even so, she thanked Cook for making such a wonderful breakfast...."It looks delicious."
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"Yes! It certainly does!"
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Then to the Wizard..."So, what now?"
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"Well, I had honestly hoped the potion would work better.  It should have, but it didn't."
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"We had delivered some to the Princess whose three brothers had turned to Ravens, and the potion only worked on two of them..."
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"And it didn't work on the Frog Prince either.  He's still a frog."
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"But I knew up front that a transformation potion wasn't going to help everyone affected."
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"There was no way to get someone unconscious to drink a potion, so it wouldn't have been any help at Prince Phillip's castle where everyone was asleep."
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"So I had taken the initiative to apply for a hearing at the Fairy Court, to present a class action suit on behalf of everyone affected by that evil fairy's curse.  She didn't abide by their rules to provide an escape clause, so we can present a case to have them undo it."
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"But fairies live a long time, and time is meaningless to them, so they are never in any hurry, and there's no way to know when they'll hear our case."
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​"So there's still a way out of this?"
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"Most definitely!  The Fairy Court is renown for their strong moral code. I'm confident they will rule in everyone's favour. We just need a court date, and they haven't responded to my queries yet, other than to say they'll get back to us. As Willie said, they are never in any rush."
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"Did you hear that? We aren't going to be stuck like this forever?"
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Lucy suddenly felt a little more hopeful...
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"Some tea your Highness?"
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"No thanks...."
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"I think I'm going to need something a lot stronger this morning."
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"Me too..."
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Disappointment

6/17/2022

 
Kassia rushed downstairs to find the Wizard and Willie...."Your potion worked on me!"
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"That's fantastic!"
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"However, it didn't seem to work on Adrian..."
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"He's still a cat..."
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Lucy came in....​"I'm still a cat too..."
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"As is everyone else. The potion doesn't seem to have worked on anyone, other than your Highness..."
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"I'm so sorry."
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"Why didn't it work?"
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"I really don't know.  It was the most powerful transformation formula I know of, and it should have worked."
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Kassia was happy to be human again, but she was keenly aware of everyone else's disappointment. 
"If you both would excuse us for a little, we will go and get dressed, and then we can talk about it some more at breakfast.... and figure out what to do next."
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Waking up Human

6/16/2022

 
The next morning, Kassia sat up in bed..."It worked! I'm human again!"
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She felt her face....and her whiskers were gone!
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She went to check in the mirror...
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"Yes!  The potion worked!"
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"I can hardly believe it!"
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But when she turned to Adrian....
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Her heart sank....
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Adrian was still a cat....
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He rolled over, and sat up, ​"You're human again!!"
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"Yes....."
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"...but...you're not...."
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"I wonder what went wrong?"
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Peonies

6/15/2022

 
Taking a tiny break while everyone is asleep, waiting for the potion to work.

In addition to photographing my dolls, I also love taking pictures of flowers. Right now it's peony season. There's a garden three towns over that has a peony garden with the second largest collection of peonies in the province. This past weekend was their annual Peony Festival.

My personal favourites are the tree peonies which tend to bloom earlier, so we went two weeks ago to check those out. I like to go in the evening when the sun is low in the sky, since it adds dramatic lighting to the gorgeous flowers...
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Then the other day, we were in the neighbourhood picking up some of my dolls, and decided to see what was still blooming. Way more than I was expecting!
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Joyful Anticipation

6/13/2022

 
Everyone had received their dose of the Transformation potion...
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 ....and the only thing left to do was to wait for it to work...
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The room took on a party atmosphere...​
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Everyone was excited and happy that their days as a cat would soon be over.
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"We really appreciate all your, and Willie's, efforts..."
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"....to turn us all back to our human selves again."
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"You're welcome..."
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"We just hope it works..."
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"Well, it's getting late, and I'm rather tired...."
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"Yes, time to call it a night, and head off to bed."
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"Good night everyone!  And hopefully we'll all be back to normal in the morning."
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"Yes, here's hoping."
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Lining Up

6/13/2022

 
As Lord of the castle Adrian went first. He chose his dessert and was first to receive a dose of the potion....
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...followed by Kassia...
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..as a line started to form at the other end of the table...
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"This stuff doesn't even taste half bad."
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"This seems to be going quite smoothly."
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Then finally, it was the Cook and Maid's turn....
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"There you go."
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved

Getting Ready

6/12/2022

 
With dinner over, the table had been cleared, and was being set up for the distribution of the potion. The Cook had been very busy all afternoon and evening making everyone's favourite desserts.
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"This looks very impressive!"
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"They say 'a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down', and everyone is going to enjoy this. You've certainly outdone yourself with all the sweet treats."
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"Everyone can line up at this end of the table, take a plate, and help themselves to whatever they want..."
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"Then they'll take a goblet with wine, and make their way to the other end...."
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"Where Willie will administer the correct dose of the potion into their drinks."
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"I think we are all ready to start..."
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Copyright © 2022  Martha Boers
All Rights Reserved
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    Author

    Martha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes.
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