Sarah was walking in her garden when Saphira and her children arrived....
"I'm so glad you could come."
The little dragons were always eager for any kind of outing...
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Bella went out to look for her friend....  "Where are you?"  "Oh, there you are!"  I just wanted to share a few photos from the project I was working on all of last week. My sister and I had started work on the next book in Baron and Naomi's story - Somewhere in Time, the Wedding. It was going well until we hit a road block. The part in the story where Miho tells Baron that she's been seeing someone, and we are first introduced to Dominic, needed to be expanded upon with more photos. So I quickly came up with several new scenes to help tell Miho's story, and spent an entire week doing eleven marathon photo shoots. I really love some of the new photos, and just wanted to share some of my favourites - one at a time, without any explanation.  A few photos of Sarah in the garden, wearing the first gown... 
   I finally finished the second green and wine gown.  ...and took Sarah out for some photos - where she met the Raven, who was also out having his photo taken.  This second gown is pretty much identical to the first one, except this one has dagged sleeves...which took more than triple the time to bead.  There are also a few other subtle difference. The second gown is beaded with 'solid' gold beads, whereas the first one was done with sparkly, clear gold beads. Part of that was from necessity since I didn't have enough of either to do both, and none of the local stores had any either. Thankfully my sister came to the rescue and donated her collection of gold seed beads. The second gown was also given the chatelaine I purchased at the doll show last month.  The second gown also has different lace at the neckline, again because I didn't have enough of this one - my favourite - to do both. There's also a few subtle design changes, including larger gold beads along the neckline, and a slightly bigger 'pendent' in centre front. And her necklace is made with sparkly gold beads instead of the solid gold ones in Serena's necklace.  It is interesting that even though both gowns are exactly the same size, they fit both ladies just as well, even though Sarah has the smaller 'Dew' bust, and Serena has the larger 'Bell' bust. It's thanks to the fact the bodices lace up in the back, making them 'adjustable' and able to fit different sized dolls.  I had wanted to take a photo of my tiny babies with the dandelion puff balls, but the plants in my garden were already way too big, so I had to create a setting from scratch. So I got out my mushrooms and the bags of moss, and went out into the neighbourhood looking for dandelions. There weren't very many, as most neighbours had mowed recently, but I found enough, and picked them carefully as they are very delicate. Back on the patio I set up a scene on a board elevated on a pot on the picnic table.  Then I 'planted' dandelions by inserting toothpicks into the bottoms of their hollow stems and poking them into the moss behind the two little girls...  All the dandelions in the meadow had gone to seed, and Mika and Gabi found them fascinating...       I've been working on two very similar Medieval Fantasy gowns for a while. It's taken a long time due to all the beading. Fortunately I had been working on both of them in tandem up until the hanging sleeves, so after the first gown was finished I didn't have to start right from the beginning with the second one.  The gowns were inspired by a gorgeous multi-coloured semi-sheer velour I found at Value Village, and the first gown has simple, straight, hanging sleeves.
Serena in the first finished gown...  The second gown is almost identical except it has dagged hanging sleeves, which take WAY more time to embroider and bead (several days each)  The next step is to attach the hanging sleeves to the under sleeve and sew the sleeve units to the bodice. Then I can finally embellish the neckline and finish the second gown.
Sara enjoying the crabapple blossoms...  with her little buzzing friend...    |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
June 2025
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