Home to Yren

Yren's Make Over

2012-01-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

We went Picniking again today--we never get tired of it--and treated Yren to Eye Brightener, Mascara, and Lipstick, plus... a skin color change. The sunless tan wasn't quite what we wanted, so we put blush all over her. Now we know what she would have looked like in pink porcelain. Pretty darn cute! But I still love her best the way she is.

Among Her Souvenirs

2012-01-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

I took these pictures of Yren for the January Photo Project on the ED forum. I used different effects on Picnik to enhance them.

Snowing on Yren

2012-01-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Yren in her red wig

2012-01-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

2012-01-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

First Pencil sketch, then HDRish, then 1970s.

2012-01-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

Something about this effect I never can resist. Have to keep from using it every time.

Revisiting Yren in Early Fall

2012-01-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Lately I switched over to Picasa for picture-editing... It's not so easy and intuitive as Windows Picture Manager is, but it does have some nice editing options. It has encouraged me to take a new look at some old shots of Yren that I didn't like so much, and play with them to see if they might be improved. So this is Yren from a photo shoot you might recognize if you've kindly dropped into this bloghome before.

Hmmm, playing with Picasa makes me want to try some new photo shoots too... Yren says she's willing. She's usually a night owl, but when there's pictures to be taken she wakes up early to take advantage of the cool morning light. This set of pics in the wicker chair was taken in golden afternoon light and isn't so flattering; it's one reason I didn't like the results of that afternoon's effort quite so much. And it's probably why I like this black and white version better.

At least she has clothes on this time!

Happy New Year From Yren

2012-01-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

My Blog Home

2011-07-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

I have a particularly heavy reading schedule for work this year. Working through it, plus giving Yren a little of the attention she demands, doesn't leave me much time for blogging.

If you'd like to look in on my home blog, where I mostly talk about reading, you'll be very welcome.

A New Chair for Yren

2011-04-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

At the Nature Conservancy store, I found this funny kind of a new chair for Yren. It's actually meant to display sea shells or geodes, but it displays Yren just as well. At first I couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be.

But once I'd figured it out, it was definitely going home with me! ED size chairs are just irresistible!

So today, finally, we had a chance to try it out for Yren. It looks a little uncomfortable, but she doesn't complain--just presides over the scene with her usual self-possession and calm.

No matter how carefully I set up the full-length shots of her to show off clothes or furniture or whatever, I can never resist making a portrait or two out of them. The better I can see her face, the lovelier she is to me.

The lighter background was much easier to photograph; or, I should say, the photographs came out much better. The ones with the dark background kept coming out over-exposed. I'm guessing that's because there weren't any mid-tones in the picture--some clothes would probably have helped avoid that problem. Poor Yren, being naked she was doubly over-exposed!

But I liked her pose with the dark background so much I couldn't give it up, so I mussed about with the light and dark thresholds a bit; now, at least, she doesn't look radioactive. And you can see her new chair, although it's upside down in this picture. So that gives me a good excuse to include one of the other shots, where it's right side up. At least I presume it is.

Role Playing and Dressing Up

2011-03-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

So I got this idea for a photo shoot for Yren: dressing and posing her to resemble some of our favorite pictures of Enchanted Dolls on the ED website. Our window of opportunity for picture-taking is about two hours before noon on Saturdays. After noon, the light turns more golden and doesn't photograph so well--or at least I can't make it photograph so well. So we managed to finish only these two.

Yren doesn't have to try very hard to pretend to be Gwendolyn, since that is her "mother" mold. But this other one, in which she impersonates the divine Emerald, made more demands on us. Yren's coloring is different from Emerald's, and she owns a mink rather than a chinchilla, so the color palette had to be different. And then Yren's eyes are focused more off to the side, rather than straight ahead like Emerald's, so that meant her head looked better a little more tilted than in Emerald's photograph.

We had fun with these pics. I'm anxious to try the various "in hand" poses, as I've always been especially fond of those. But then, which of the Gallery pictures have I *not* grown fond of, after gazing at them in rapture so many hours at a time?

One thing I know is true: if you try to imitate Marina's posing of Enchanted Dolls and Chad's photography of them, you are sure to learn a great deal by the experience. There just isn't anyone who can create such beautiful, expressive postures and gestures as their own creator, Marina, or who can make them live in the eye like Chad. I'm in awe of both of them and their work!

Yren Says Hello

2011-03-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

What has Yren been doing, all this long time?

Well, she has stood patiently while I fitted patterns to her. My idea is to create patterns for people who don't feel they can sew very well but would still like to make something pretty for EDs. Our current project is a simple kimono and an even simpler obi--nothing authentic but just pretty and fun to wear. I tried photographing her in the latest trial of it, but it being after 10 a.m. the light in my sewing room was terrible.

For Christmas, my daughter gave her a very charming bathtub. She's been wanting one for a long time. This one is clear with sparkles and just the right size; it came with sweet-smelling Bath and Body Works products in it, which I now get to use in my own bathtub, so it was a present for both of us.

Also, very exciting for her around Christmas was the arrival of her own official Enchanted Doll "pencil tin" case, with the marvelous ED-formed foam that gently supports and protects her delicate self. She says she feels like she's floating on a cloud.

And this morning she sat for this portrait, which wasn't so pretty at first because of bad lighting but then we passed it through Picnik and the wizards there made it ever so much better and anyway, I tell her she never takes a bad picture--it is I who does that.

I wasn't going to post the kimono picture but oh well, here it is anyway. Maybe I'll get some better pics Sunday morning, after I've been out shopping for Japanese print fabrics on Saturday. Then they will look extra good by comparison with these!

Barbie Patterns to Adapt for EDs

2010-12-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Sometimes patterns drafted for Barbies can be adapted quite well to fit Enchanted Dolls, and if you want to explore that possibility you'll want to meet the most amazing designer of Barbie-size clothes there ever has been or will be, Joan Chiara Cigler.

For years she published her designs in needlecraft magazines as well as sold them separately in her huge catalogs and in "Pattern of the Month" series. She's done ethnic regalia for many countries, period costumes, costumes taken from books, movies, celebrity weddings... You'll find gowns a la Madame Pompadour, Marie Antoinette, Guinevere, Scarlet O'Hara, Eliza DooLittle, Joan of Arc, Juliet, all four of the Little Women, Moll Flanders... You can dress ballerinas, nurses, stewardesses, brides--I could just go on and on, because there are hundreds of them and the level of detail on them is amazing.

I have many of Joan's patterns that I ordered directly from her, and many others I was lucky enough to find in old needlework magazines. And now that her new catalogs are available, there's a bunch more I need---Holly Golightly's black dress from "Breakfast at Tiffany's", Princess Grace's wedding gown...

Want to have a sneak peek of some of Joan's designs? You can find a few illustrations here and here, but these are barely scratching the surface.

Here's the text of Joan's email to her customers from July 2010--just in case I've piqued your interest and you'd like to give her patterns a try, either for Enchanted Dolls or your other favorites:

Hello to all my doll seamstresses friends.....

Just a quick note to let you know that the

brand NEW TOTALLY ILLUSTRATED 2010+

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DOLLS

doll costume pattern catalogs A and B

are finally finished and ready to go.

Over 850 designer original patterns (and articles)

by Joan Chiara Cigler

All patterns by Joan Chiara Cigler are copyrighted.

Patterns and articles are NOT for copy or resale in any form.

Wonderful World Of Dolls is a copyrighted Trademark.

Patterns to fit Barbie and many sizes of Modern Fashion dolls...including Gene, Tiny Kitty, Tyler Wentworth, Kitty Collier, etc.

Period Portrait Bridal Series...First Ladies of the White House...Americana Series

21 Years of Nation-Of-The-Month Club ethnic costumes

Period and contemporary fashions

Patterns to fit Antique, Reproduction, artist dolls, child, adult, baby, toddler,

French Fashions, male,

Pincushion, and doll kit Bodies.

Patterns for vintage and repro dolls such as American Girl, Bleuette, Shirley Temple, Ginny, Toni, Wee Patsy, Schoenhut, Riley, Sasha, Margaret O'Brien,

Fisher Price, Ideal, Tonner, Effanbee, Alexander, Mego, Mattel, and so much more.

* * * * * * * * * *

Set of two pattern catalogs (A and B) can be ordered as follows:

Check or money order for $10.00, payable to: Joan Cigler

Mail to: 138 Arbordale Lane

Painesville Twp., Ohio 44077

Spinning a Yarn, Yren's Way

2010-08-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

This afternoon a package came in the mail from my daughter... It was the most delightful surprise! She just returned from a trip to Ireland, and in this package were all the gifts and souvenirs she bought for us there.

For her brother, there was an envelope of Irish coins for his coin collection, for her Dad there was coffee-flavored fudge and "Guinness" brand golf tees... And for me, a pretty embroidered linen handkerchief, some bookmarks for my collection, and some gorgeous handspun yarn!

I'd been planning to buy my first skein of handspun yarn at the Michigan Fiber Festival last weekend, but I had company during that time and the Festival just wasn't going to work very well as a destination for all of us. We went to the zoo instead, and I didn't mind--the Fiber Festival will happen again next year, and I could wait till then for some handspun.

But thanks to Emily, I don't have to! She bought this lovely lamb's wool at the Castle she was staying at in Markree, where they spin yarn from their own Wensleydale sheep. It was so beautiful, I had to photograph it with my other most beautiful possession, Yren. So even though this blog is not about knitting, I decided to show her with it here anyway.

Noxy has Ribbon-Be-Gone Expertise!

2010-08-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

She has dramatically improved this picture of Yren, who is very grateful to her and sends many hugs!

Yren's birthday portraits

2010-08-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

I do love taking close-ups of Yren. She always looks soulful to me, plus close-ups are easier to manage than full-length shots, for which some little detail generally goes awry.

As in this case, the ribbon of her shoulder tie is showing! If I were a photoshop wizard, the ribbon could disappear. But alas, I'm not, nor am I likely to do better if I try the pose again. This is why nudes are easier--nothing that's showing was meant not to be showing!

As I was leaning her against the tree, the idea occurred to me of making some stiffish paper cylinders to slip over her legs (under her long dress). They would prevent her knees from buckling while she poses standing up on occasions when I don't want to use her stand.

We'll see if that idea works as well as another one I had about keeping Yren's wig from slipping: Handitak reusable adhesive, also known as poster putty. A little thin band of it along the back of her hand keeps the wig in place. It's doubly useful for her red wig, as I like that one worn a little further forward than it naturally wants to sit.

Windy Day

In the Sheltering Forest

Late Summer

2010-08-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yren passed her birthday shut up in her box--isn't that a crime! But there were little children in the house and she needed protection more than admiration, so there she stayed. Now I'm trying to make it up to her. I haven't found just the right birthday gift for her yet, but she expects it to grow in grandeur the longer she waits for it, so she is waiting very patiently indeed.

Today we celebrated being together on a sunny morning by taking some pictures outside.

I Dream of Renny with the Light Brown Hair

2010-07-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

...floating like a vapor on the summer air. I hear her melodies like days gone by, sighing 'round my heart like the fond hopes that die..."

Well, she doesn't exactly have light brown hair, it's actually light red, but I do like that song.

I have been thinking a great deal lately about Yren's red wig. For a long time now I have preferred her dark one, first because my original idea was for her to be dark-haired and second because I liked the hairline of the dark one better. The way her red one fits, it gives her a much higher forehead and I think she looks prettier with a little bit lower one.

But for this set of pictures, I tilted the wig a little forward and I do think she looks very pretty in it. My sister says you can tell that her face was painted especially for that color of wig. There might just be a way I can anchor the wig so it will fit more forward all the time.

Will have to study a bit to find good lip colors for her. The one she's wearing in this picture is on the violet side. I've seen fashion pictures of redheads with violetish lip color and like it very much, but when I try it on Yren I'm not so sure. I try brownish/gold on her here. Requires more thought and experimentation...

Home From Vacation!

2010-07-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

We're safely home and Yren is safely home, and another golden summer is passing by... Soon we will celebrate Yren's one-year birthday. Or maybe we should say her one year anniversary of coming home to me, since it is rather odd to think of her as a one-year-old!

We had a fantastic time while we were away. Since this is Yren's blog, I don't want to fill it up with too many non-ED posts, but here is one scene, anyway, from our visit to the Bronx Zoo. Soon I'll be putting more pictures on my other blog if you want to see them.

Summer Vacation

2010-07-02T04:31:00.000-07:00

We're off on Summer Vacation 2010, headed to the place so great they named it twice. That's right--we're going to Paw Paw.

No, just kidding, we're going to to New York, NY to visit my daughter. We have serious shopping to do at the Strand and maybe the fabric stores in the fashion district and definitely Kinokuniya. As for the boys--well, they are going to visit the new Lego store at Rockefeller Plaza and play with remote control boats at Central Park and I don't know what all.

Yren is not accompanying the expedition--she has gone to visit some friends of mine who are giving her their guest room. We brought her most comfortable chair along, plus her knitting, so she can sit placidly and watch the birds at the feeders outside her window. I could tell she felt perfectly at ease with these friends and content to bide with them awhile--she must have felt they admired her sufficiently.

Now I must go and finish packing!

A Picture for Amal

2010-06-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

...and for anyone else who was wondering what happened to us! Thank you for asking. ♥

Yep, I'm okay...dealing with other matters for a time, but fortunately none of them threatening. Yren cares nothing at all any of it; she advises me to get back on board her admiration train or risk incurring the expense of repairing her little foot when she breaks it against my behind.

To thank you for your kind thoughts, here is the only present I can send instantly to you: a new picture of Yren. I haven't had any new photo shoots of her, but I do have a picture from the day we met Monika Viktoria in Chicago. (That was a lovely day which will have its own post.) So here is Monika trying her silver shoes on her. I don't have her permission yet to show the whole picture, but if she says it's okay I will post it too. No pressure, though, Monika! We know that you are modest, though beautiful.

One thing I've been managing to do lately is learning to knit. Ever since Silkthread sent me her glorious silk shawl for Yren, and then more recently when Annina knitted scrumptious neckwear for her, I've wanted to knit for her too. But it seemed like a good idea to learn to knit people-size things before trying them at 1/5 scale. I've made scarves, mittens, bags, and baby hats, and am currently embarked upon a sock.

Knitting is a perfect complementary companion hobby for Enchanted Doll lovers. Aside from the sheer pleasure of knitting for them and posing them in the things you make, knitting offers a deeply satisfying shopping component. You may never get to point at a row of Enchanted Dolls and say "I'll take all of them," but in a knitting store the yarn world is your oyster. Here are glorious, soft, beautifully textured threads in color ways that knock your eye out and fibers that caress your skin....Guess what--you can take as many skeins as you can carry right to the counter and the shopkeeper will let you buy them all! You can take them home with you that very day, no waiting. You can put them all on the shelf and just gaze dreamily at them, or cast some on your needles and make something to adorn yourself. We all need such experiences, especially when something else greatly desired is unavailable.

Yren does not care to hear me talk like this, not one little bit. She prefers to remain at the center of my shopping world, the secret common purpose behind all my charge slips. I shall have to come up with an idea to appease her soon or else paint a permanent frown on her forehead. She was born to be indulged, after all! I'd better get a move on--her foot is starting to look twitchy.

Under The Lilacs

2010-05-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

To be a heroine from a Louisa May Alcott book, Yren would have to be dressed very differently than this. But like Louisa and her ladylike characters, we love lilacs in the spring and we've been waiting impatiently for our free time to coincide with some pleasant weather so that we could enjoy them and take pictures.

So here is my darling under the lilacs, where who would not like to be this sunny day? If you're so inclined, you can read Louisa's book Under the Lilacs free on Project Gutenberg, preferably with an iPad so that you can read it properly under real, actual lilacs. And if you have none of your own, you are welcome to join us under ours. The scent is heavenly!

Renny's Famous Feet

2010-05-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hey look--Marina's work just got another cover!

Not really. It's just me playing with Photofunia again. But it sure makes a convincing Esquire cover, though.

Yren at Times Square

2010-05-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Springtime in Our Town: Sunny and beautiful all week long, then rain rain rain all weekend! Yren and I have not been able to go out for photosessions among the buttercups, poppies, and lilacs. We actually tried the lilacs after lunch, but they were still dripping and bowed down with rain.

So instead we followed our forum friends to Photofunia (thank you, Eiko!) and played with the pictures we do have to visit Times Square and anywhere else our imaginations can take us. If only there was a Photofunia pic with lilacs!

Reading Gallico's "Enchanted Doll" story, Part 2 (No Spoilers)

2010-04-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Fear not, Gallico's story of the Enchanted Doll is a very nice little tale and I won't spoil it for anybody who wants to read it through themselves--no spoilers. But for those who despair of ever getting their hands on the book it's published in, I shall share some of the yummy parts...

The setting is New York City, in the early part of the last century. There are many poor people--everyone in the story is poor. The narrator/hero is Samuel Amony, M.D., a doctor (so romantic!) who is not at all wealthy because his practice is among the poor. He charges $1 per visit, but for people who are really ill and cannot afford to pay, he charges nothing. His office is near Third Avenue and Fifteenth Street and so are the other locations the story carries him to.

[If you are a lover of New York, as I am, and want to know, as I did, just what part of it Third and Fifteenth is, then this information is for us: it's kind of in-between areas, but is closest to Union Square. Here is a picture of Union Square in 1936. The statue is of the Marquis de LaFayette, who has been gazing at the neighborhood since 1876.]

This doctor sees a remarkable doll in, of all places, a dusty stationery, cigar, and toy shop. Idly looking over the few toys in the shop window, "all a-jumble with boxes of withered cigars, cartons of cigarettes, bottles of ink, pens, pencils, gritty stationery, and garish cardboard cut-out advertisements for soft drinks," for something he could send to his young niece, he sees, in the shadows, a rag doll "with the strangest, tenderest, most alluring and winsome expression on her face."

I could not wholly make her out, due to the shadows and the film through which I was looking, but I was aware that a tremendous impression had been made upon me, that somehow a contact had been established between her and myself, almost as though she had called to me...

...Nevertheless he took her from the window and placed her in my hands and here it was that I received my second shock, for she had the most amazing and wonderful quality. No more than a foot long, she was as supple and live to the touch as though there were flesh and bones beneath the clothes instead of rag stuffing.

It was indeed, as Abe had said, hand-made, and its creator had endowed it with such lifelike features and grace that it gave one the curious feeling of an alter presence. Yet there was even more than that to her. Could a doll be said to have sex appeal in the length and proportions of her legs, the shape of her head, the swirl of her skirt over her hips? Was it possible for an emotion to have been sewn into the seams marking the contours of the tiny figure? For though I am young, I have seen too much, both in peace and war, to be either sentimental or subject to hallucination. Yet to hold this doll was to feel a contact with something warm, mysterious, feminine, and wonderful. I felt that if I did not put her down I would become moved by her in some unbearable fashion.

Dr. Amony pays $14 for her, far more than he can afford, because he can't leave her lying there on the counter "for she was a creation, and something, some part of the human soul, and gone into the making of her."

The rest of the story concerns the mystery of who this dollmaker is, and what her life is like, and why she makes them. Gallico said he wasn't entirely happy with the ending of the story--but I am! :-)

Reading Gallico's "Enchanted Doll" story, Part 1

2010-04-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

I'm finally going to do it! I'm ready to read "Enchanted Doll" and consider whatever Gallico has for me in this story.

The selection is preceded by the author's comments, which are very interesting to ED fans. First let's look at what Gallico says what was the inspiration for this story, the little kernal of experience that he could not forget and so needed to write about:

Somewhere in New York, in some shop I saw a painted doll and fell in love with her. I can't remember where or when, or why I was in the shop and in the doll department, but this was a little creature created by a specialist who had hand-painted the face. The expression, as I recall now, was extraordinarily sweet and lifelike, and the little figure touched my heart. If one wanted to really hark back to what the head-shrinkers [psychoanalysts] were saying and doing in those days, one could suggest that this funny little momentary love affair grew out of the fact that I had always wished to have a daughter and instead produced sons.

In other words, Gallico began just as we all do--by falling in love with a doll-person! Then Gallico goes on to discuss the vicissitudes of publishing short stories, even by well-known authors, and then mentions this fascinating little item of primordial ED trivia:

Mr. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., was making a series of two-reel half-hour television shorts in England for an American sponsor, and asked my London agent to see my wares. With a wide collection of stories to choose from, he selected and bought "The Enchanted Doll" and filmed it.

Ah ha! Oh ho! Another yummy morsel to track down! And in connection with a famous movie star, woo woo! The Internet Movie Database shows it under the "Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents" heading here. (It was also known as the "Rheingold Theatre." YouTube has the opening to a few episodes, but not this one.)

It would be exceptionally nice if the American Film Institute listed "The Enchanted Doll" in its catalog; however, it doesn't seem to, that I can poke up. Nor does it appear in the Internet Archive. But because of IMDB we can find out a few things: the original episode aired July 20,1955, and the role of the invalid dollmaker was Josephine Griffin. (Her character's name was changed from Essie Nolan to Mary Nolan for the film.)

Now we have to wonder, did Gallico like and approve of this film? He does not leave us in the dark. He says, that while all the other films made from his stories were "catastrophes," he liked Fairbanks' adaptation of "Enchanted Doll" very much.

It was the first time that I had ever had the spirit of the story, its emotional content as well as the physical appearances of my characters, faithfully translated to the screen. I can't remember now the name of the actress he employed for the part of the unhappy girl, but I do know that she was tender, wistful, and endearing and brought my character most beautifully to life. The part of the young doctor was most excellently played by Mr. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., himself.

So that's all I have to note from the preamble to the story, except to note, as Robert Frost did, "how way leads to way," that the British children's author Enid Blyton wrote a book called "The Enchanted Doll." It's not so easy to find her works in the United States, but maybe they're still getatable in Britain. No real connection to EDs, of course, but still might be interesting as part of the history of the name itself.

Early Dreams of Enchanted Dolls

2010-04-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

My father often said there was nothing in the world so boring as listening to somebody talk about their dreams. So if you feel the same--and so do I, very often--you'll want to skip this post!

Long before I ever heard of Enchanted Dolls, I had a dream that expressed my deep wish for a certain kind of doll... Next morning I wrote it down so that I would never forget it, and it has remained special to me all this time. I'm reproducing it here so as not to lose it again--it took me a long time to discover where I'd written it down! It really should be edited for wordiness and excessive length, but then on the other hand, I don't want to lose any of the detail or alter what was recorded immediately after the experience.

A few days later, I had another doll dream, and that is here too.

June 3, 2003

....Now for the dream: Ray and I were at a shopping complex; I was looking around in a beautiful craft and collectibles kind of store while Ray was arranging some kind of financial investment in another place close by. I saw an appealing doll, displayed in a stand on a shelf. She was a lady-doll, about 14 inches long, made of wood, with straight dark hair, shoulder length. She had a pretty face with a pleasing smile and eyes that looked right at me. She had a tall, slender figure and a small waist. She was wearing a long, deep red, prairie-style dress with long sleeves.

I picked her up to see her better; her cost was $18—-not inexpensive, but not more than I could easily afford, either. I had a $20 bill. I held her gently by the waist. There was something special about her: she could move and change expressions, smile, laugh, hold out her arms, gesture—all on her own. The salesperson told me that the doll would bond with me; she would bond to her owner and no one else.

Another woman near by was waiting eagerly for me to put the doll down so that she could buy her, but I walked quickly away from her with the doll still in my hands, determined to buy her myself. I began to feel guilty for being rude to the woman, so I looked for her to offer to let her look at the doll, though not hold her or buy her. But I didn't recognize the woman among the others in the store.

As I walked around and waited for Ray, the doll bonded with me, and I realized she was precious to me. Every few minutes she would communicate with me, through her face and arms, that she knew what I was thinking and feeling. Then the doll revealed that she could, for a short time, turn into a kitten, which I could hold and pet. When Ray found me, I explained to him that I wanted to buy this doll, and that it would sometimes turn into a kitten, but he refused to let me have a cat in the house, since he is allergic to them and we don't want another pet anyway.

But that was a problem: the doll had already bonded with me and couldn't be sold to anyone else—I couldn't refuse to buy her now, and I still wanted her very much. So I explained the problem to the sales lady; she said not to worry, that the transformation must always begin with the doll, and that she could change into some other animal that wouldn't bother Ray—a snail or a goldfish or something else. So I told Ray, very firmly, that I intended to buy the doll and that she need not turn into a kitten and bother him. Then, I told him that if he would not let me buy the doll, I would open a new checking account in my name only, have my paycheck deposited to it, not give him access to it, and mess up the financial arrangements he was making. I knew while saying it that I wouldn't have to follow through on the threat, that I would buy the doll and bring her home.

When I woke up, I enjoyed telling Ray the dream and asked him if he knew what the moral of the story was. He said, "Yes—don't look at dolls!" I said, "No, the moral is, 'Let me have my way!'"

June 17, 2003

Oddly enough, I had another live doll dream last night. Just a brief one, which seemed to refer to the last one. I was holding and looking at a pretty little doll, blonde and smiling, and noticing how she reacted to me. I had said something that was good news to her, that made her laugh and smile, and I thought, "Well, dolls must be alive, because she couldn't laugh and smile like this unless she were alive." What was happening in the dream? I was making her happy, and she was reacting to me, and so making plain that something in doubt was actually true. As in the other dream, the doll had a pretty smile and expression and was looking straight at me--seeing, not unseeing.

This time it was not a question of purchasing or possessing the doll; she was already mine.

Gallico's " Enchanted Doll" Short Story

2010-04-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

So this is the way it happened:

We have a new iPad at work, just sitting out on the table, and the boss asks us each to play with it and get used to it a little bit so that we can use it for "roving reference." (That's when the reference librarian walks around the library asking people if they need help, rather than sitting behind the big desk waiting for people to come to her.)

And when I picked it up to play with it (and it really is fun--and cute) what else would an obsessed ED fan search on google but "Enchanted Doll"? So that's how I came to see a few sentences on Marina's blog that I had never seen before. I would have sworn I'd read every column inch of it many times over, but no--I had never before seen this part:

When I needed to come up with brand name to give my dolls an identity, I decided to name them after Paul Gallico’s fictional, short story called “Enchanted Doll”, where a young woman creates dolls with so much love that they enchant people at first sight with their compelling, delicate, life-like beauty.
And this is my goal also.

Well, that was a surprise, because I've read Gallico for years--it must have been Junior High when I read Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris for the first time. But this short story, and the collection it is from, I had never heard of before. I'm so curious how Marina discovered it.

One of the nice things about working in a library is that when you hear about a book you want to read, you can march yourself downstairs and see if it's on the shelf. In this instance, it was! (I skipped the part where I got a little help from the catalog identifying which short story collection it was in.)

And now that I have it I'm kind of afraid to read it... There is just something so powerful about the concept of those enchanting dolls. I know from reading other Gallico books that he writes well about magic (one of his titles is The Man Who Was Magic) so I should trust him to do justice to them.

The whole prospect goes back even further into childhood when I read the "Land of Live Dolls" books and other stories about dolls who became real. Though less subtle than fiction for adults, they were still about forming a personal, intimate connection to a very special doll.

But I shall read it--I'm far too curious not to!

Yren's New Stilettos...

2010-04-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

...arrived a few days ago and she has been agitating to show them off a bit! They take some time to put on, the first time. But they are worth the effort! We just love them.

Having TOO much fun on Picnik

2010-04-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Stop me, somebody! I may never eat or sleep again. I'm Picniking.

Hee hee, I did about five different apps to this one. First I turned it into a pencil sketch. Then I used "Neon," making the neon lights white on a black background, to give the lines that rounded shape. Then I used "Invert" and then whited out the edges with "Matte." Then I museum framed it to give it a little better balance in space.

Annina's knits have a Picnik

2010-04-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm continually amazed at what the Picnik photoediting site will let you do. I uploaded my favorite picture of Yren from the last post because I was loving the textures of Annina's knits with the smooth porcelain and wanted to play with them. The effect below came from using the Pencil Sketch tool, then increasing the strength and reducing the fade, then applying a matte vignette finish to it. I think it looks like an old photograph from a very romantic book.

Presents from Annina!

2010-04-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

At last Yren and I have been able to take some pictures of her with the beautiful knitted gifts we just received from Annina in Sweden. We both agree that one of the most marvelous things about Enchanted Dolls (Yren modestly admits it) is that they bring people from all over the world together in friendship. Yren has had gifts and mementos from Ireland, France, Australia, England, and Sweden, as well as from Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, and Florida here in the United States. And we love to send gifts to other people too.

We had to stay inside for pictures today because even though it is sunny out, it's very cold. Here she is with a very clever knitted collar-style scarf in her favorite color. To close it, Annina used a special Rainbow Moonstone bead that came from a necklace.

The stitches in this lovely scarf are so tiny, I just can't imagine how she managed to knit them with human-size fingers! Maybe Iðunn is really the one who knits them in secret. If the word got out, then everyone would want Marina to make them a knitting ED too.

After we were done taking pictures I left Yren on the work table while I went to tidy up after us... She says she finds knitting very soothing and fun to do already--even though the hardest parts of this knitting set have already been done by Annina. (Or by Iðunn, if our theory is correct!) Yren often sees me knitting--or struggling to knit, as I'm just a beginner--and I think she feels fairly certain she can do a better job of it than I. Well, I'll give her all the thread she wants! But she'll have to get vastly better at it than I am to come close to the lovely things that came to her from Sweden!

Thank you, Annina!

She Wanted Hoops

2010-04-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

I made Yren a pair of red earrings to wear with her red gown and flaxen wig and red lipstick. Then she said she wanted hoops too. Hoops! I don't know how to make hoop earrings. But Yren has a strategy for getting her own way: she invites me to imagine what she'd look like with whatever it is she wants. And once I had pictured her in hoop earrings, I had to try them.

I'm going to keep making little tiny pairs of earrings and whatever else seems do-able in order to practice the basic wire techniques. Then I'm going back to the bead shop for an intermediate class, and the basic stringing class too. Yren does not protest--she thinks it's a fine idea. The more I learn, the more things she can picture herself wearing!

I like this pink fluffy stuff she's wrapped in. Emily and I went to Hobby Lobby today and there was a hunk of this in the remnant section. I thought it could be a winter coat or a stole for her, so it didn't matter that it's only about 6 inches wide. But now that we've seen how nice it is, Yren would like some bedding made of it... Maybe one of the other fabric stores in town has more. I hope so!

PS: When these photographs get blown up to large size I sure can see my mistakes excellently well. Sigh. Two new tools needed: round-nose pliers with smaller tips, and a magnifying visor with stronger lenses.

A "Hitchcock Blonde"

2010-04-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

So we were reading an InStyle magazine this morning and we came across an article called "What's Your Perfect Color?" In the section on red, there was this transfixing bit: "'Striking shades, such as true red, really frame women with this coloring, like Gwyneth Paltrow,' says designer Michael Kors, who dubs these cool types with flaxen hair, light eyes, and porcelain skin 'Hitchcock blondes.' Kors adds, 'Muted tones wash them out.'

And of course, this was illustrated with a really stunning photo of Gwyneth in a red dress... Well! On seeing that, Yren did not care to lose any time transforming herself into a Hitchcock blonde! She reminded me that has light eyes, and a flaxen wig that was a present from Aneemal, and a siren red dress from Miss Orchid...."And as for porcelain skin--I ask you! Skin doesn't get any more porcelain than mine!" So we dressed her up and put on lipstick the same color as Gwyneth is wearing. It's rather cold for posing this morning but Miss Yren did not complain--just another sacrifice for beauty.

We dedicate this photo shoot to Monika Viktoria, who especially likes Yren's blonde hair and who permitted Miss Orchid to create this dress, thus making Yren's Hitchcock Blonde look possible.

PS. And did we check out the rest of the article to see which other perfect colors Yren can wear? We did indeed. Periwinkle was one; also, if she is wearing her dark wig, violet; or her red wig, olive, emerald, or forest green. Knowing that, we're probably going to be exploring these ideas quite soon! And noticing what else Gwyneth Paltrow wears. ;-)

Rainy Renny

2010-04-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Poor Renny, it's raining and what she wants more than anything is to go for a walk in it. But she can't; she can't get wet at all, and it makes her sad. So she sits here by the door, or sometimes in the window seat, and gazes out past her reflection at the lovely sad rain and dreams of how it would feel....

Easter Day update: I added this picture too, just because her reflection shows in it...

Sweet Things from Monika Viktoria

2010-04-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

You remember when Monika liked Yren in her blonde wig so much that she painted her portrait? Well, as you might expect, Yren just had to have the original of that painting. I understood completely, and secretly felt the same way, but I wouldn't confess it to Yren. Better that she should think I'm indulging her once again.

So we went to Monika's lovely etsy store and bought it. Yesterday it arrived, all beautifully wrapped in silver paper and tied with ribbon, and like Yren herself it is even more beautiful in person....But there were more treats in store for us! Turns out, Monika had promised herself that whoever should be her first etsy customer would receive extra lovelies from her to celebrate and she was just waiting to see who that would be. And it was us! Yren and me!

That's how we came to be the proud owners of that wonderful side poof skirt and that sweet button made with one of her early, very special, drawings.

With Spring in the world and new clothes and a pretty portrait Yren is feeling on top of the world! And the toppest top of the world seems to be this little hill covered with violets in our back yard, so that's where we went to take pictures. It's a little overcast today, so we had a slightly easier time than yesterday in the evening sun, but I think even more overcast would have been good...Silvery clouds smooth all the harsh lights away... But she did love being out in the sunshine... I caught her just relaxing, too. Benny found the violets and she wanted to just lie there for awhile. But she can't stay there long, for it looks like rain soon....

Yren's new "Side Poof" Skirt

2010-04-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

It's almost 8 o'clock here in the Midwest on this early spring evening. The sun is deep, long shadows are falling. Yren is climbing down off her stand in eagerness to show you that the forsythia bush started blooming just today, and that she has a way cool new skirt from Monika Viktoria.

What, a package from Monika Viktoria? Yes! And tomorrow you shall see and hear all. For the moment, Yren is enjoying the warm colors of the sunset and the balmy breeze and the fact that she looks like a little miniature Monika, who told us that she wears skirts like this to her work at the jewelry store. We think it is ingenious and therefore suspect that Miss Orchid may have had a hand in it. Till tomorrow!

Another Sneak Peek

2010-03-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, when I posted that glorious picture of all the silver ED shoes, I invited people to guess which ones were Yren's. Back then I said the answer would be revealed only when they arrived--but I can't wait anymore, I'm too excited! Because Marina has used Yren's shoes in a pic again!

Okay, NOW guess which ones are Yren's!

Yren's Yrings--and a new wig too!

2010-03-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

I got to work on only one more pair of earrings, since we headed north for the weekend and are only just returned. So here they are, and lots of fun to do they were. The bottoms are coiled wire with a 4 mm crystal above it. Haven't been able to find any 3 mm ones at any shops; fortunately they're not hard to find online.

Yes, that is still another crocheted cloche hat. I wanted to see how the variegated thread made up.

I'm excited about learning to make bead and wire jewelry, especially wire wrapping, because it's so fun to do. Fortunately my local shop offers lots more classes.

Our wigs from "Facets by Marcia" arrived Friday. She has very fast service! The Alexis one works pretty well for Yren, though probably if it came in size 4 1/2 that would fit her better than 4/5. At the same time we ordered a "Faith" wig, and that isn't going to work at all. Too bad, because the color is really nice.

Medium-dark hair looks best on Yren because her brows and lashes aren't black, as they would have to be, I think, in order to look really good with black hair. If you look carefully at Yren's long dark wig (the one she usually wears) you'll see that Marina blended in some lighter, reddish hair in the front near her face. I think that was so ingenious--it looks so good that way.

I didn't know you could do that!

2010-03-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Watch Noxy--you can learn way cool things from her.

I wanted to show everyone the neat wallpaper she made for me, and stupidly thought I'd have to take a picture of the whole computer... But then I was just over at Noxy's place checking out her new post, and there were these great pics of her wallpaper--obviously not photos.

*gaping jaws* It never occured to me to just take a *screen shot* of it! Never a "duh" moment with me around!

So I am doubly indebted to Noxy for this image, both the original and the reproduction! When I'm on my other work computer, I'll post the other one. Cute cute cute.

Learning to make cool earrings!

2010-03-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went over to a class at our amazing local bead shop where a very encouraging and patient young woman named Jenna taught me the basics of making wire jewelry. She showed me how to make eye pins, and twisted eye pins, and coiled pins, and hook ear-wires, and how to put the beads on them and attach them together... Now have I told you enough for you to guess why I wanted to learn all these things?

I sense that you are absolutely right: Yren wants more earrings! For now she is resigned to them being a mere beginner's effort, but she will make me practice and practice and never quite give up on me so long as I'm producing little bits of wonderment to decorate her ears.

The first pair is already done! Didn't even wait to have dinner first, just got busy with the wire and the tools Jenna recommended and we were off to the races! Now they are in her ears, and though they aren't perfect, and the bead I used is a little too big, still Yren manages to look ravishing in them.

Picture tomorrow when the sun is out again!

Okay--picture now in spite of the light being bad. I see one of the bottom loops needs adjustment. Hee hee, I know how to do it! I have new tools! I have spools of shiny wire! I have beads beads beads, mostly unsuitable! I don't want to do my homework for class tomorrow, I want to make more earrings!

But I'll be sensible and do my homework, so long as Yren promises to stay pretty, which she does.

Crochet Pattern for Yren's Little Dahlia Hat

2010-03-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Annina wrote that she liked Yren's red crocheted hat, so I'm making some like it to send to her beautiful Enchanted Doll, Iðunn. I call them "Dahlia Hats" because when you look at them from the top, the loops seem to spiral out from the center like dahlia quilts. (You thought I was going to say "like dahlias", didn't you? But I know quilt patterns better than flowers.)

So anyway, here are the directions in case anyone else wants to make some. These instructions are for size 20 thread and a size 11 hook. My favorite thread is Lizbeth because it comes in pretty colors and varigations, it handles beautifully, and it comes on small spools so you don't have to buy more than you need. I find mine at Hobby Lobby.

1. Chain 7 and join to form a ring.
2. Chain 1, 12 sc in ring, join.
3. *Chain 5, sc* in each sc around (13 "petals")
4. *Chain 5, sc* in first chain-5 loop and in each loop around; no need to join, but put a marker in so you can see where the round ends.
5. Continue working chain-5, sc in each loop around until you have worked 8 rounds, counting the petals from #3.
6. For the hat band, 4 sc in each loop around; join. Chain 1 and turn.
7. Sc in each sc around; try on doll to see if you want a third row on the band; otherwise, finish off and weave in thread ends.

These are meant to come out a little smaller than Yren's, since her head seems to be larger than other ED's. Hers were made with DMC Cebelia thread, which is thicker; I make 12 petals at step 3; crochet seven rounds instead of eight, and put three rows of single crochet for the band. But once I publish this post, I'm going to make her one with the LizBeth thread and make it come out a little bigger around.

Update: I like Monika Viktoria's idea of sewing tiny flowers to the brim! That would look very sweet. I had thought of making a little fabric flower with a yo-yo and a tiny button center to put on one side of the hat. Threading beads on the crochet thread or sewing them on separately is a pretty look too. (Y'all know what I mean by a yoyo? I'm not sure that's an international concept! Anyway, here's an example.)

A Moment of Peace and Solace

2010-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

...for Enchanted Doll forum members... For reasons that don't need explanation...

The October winds lament around
the castle of Dromore.
Yet peace is in her lofty halls,
My loving treasure store.
Though autumn leaves may droop and die,
a bud of spring are you.
Sing hush-a-bye low, lah loo, lo lan
Sing hush-a-bye low, lah loo.

Bring no ill-wind to hinder us,
my helpless babe and me,
dread spirits of the black water,
Clan Eoan's wild banshee.
And Holy Mary, pitying us,
in Heaven for grace doth sue.
Sing hush-a-bye low, lah loo, lo lan,
Sing hush-a-bye low, lah loo.

Take time to thrive, my rose of hope,
in the garden of Dromore.
Take heed, young eaglet, till thy wings
are feathered fit to soar.
A little rest and then the world
is full of much to do.
Sing hush-a-bye low, lah loo, lo lan,
Sing hush-a-bye low, lah loo.

by Sir Harold Boulton

Sung by the Flying Column

Cool spring afternoon

2010-03-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yren doesn't complain about weather much and she doesn't get chilled easily on these cool spring days. So today, together, we went outside to check round the garden plot a bit, and make sure the deer have not trimmed down the bushes overmuch with their teeth. Forsythias and then lilacs are only about six weeks away!

I should have put a shawl on her, but here she is anyway in her walking skirt. The top she is wearing is a muslin-trial I worked on; she also has a little white tee to go with, but we haven't finished any of her "official" tops that were suggested by her friends earlier in this blog. I think the color is a little too close to her skin to photograph easily.

Paige's Lovely Jewelry

2010-03-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

I thought I had taken the measure

of my Enchanted Doll's beauty

having seen her in every light,

every different shadow

of sunlight or green leaf or brown leaf,

playing lightly on every angle

of her darling face;

draped in every color;

cool light, warm light;

gazing at me, gazing away;

resting in my hand, confidingly;

I, her protector, guardian,

first love and friend, thought

I knew her every look.

But today when her necklace,

like dancing tears embraced her,

and her earrings delicately shone,

I saw more than jewels there:
I saw beauty I had not known.

Yren needs help with her outfit!

2010-03-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

I made this skirt for Yren to wear, but I just don't know what to make for her to wear on top. Does anybody have some suggestions?

It's supposed to be an outfit for her to wear in the summer when she walks around outdoor antique fairs, which she loves to do. So she can have the hat and some sandals and a great, slouchy bag to carry, and maybe a shawl... but obviously the look is lacking something essential!

My plan is to sew her at least one of the ideas, if I'm able to, and maybe more, because she definitely needs more clothes.

It doesn't even have to be a top, per se... The skirt hasn't been finished yet--there's no hem or waistband--that's just a scrap-cloth "belt" I pinned in place, so it can be short or long, or be worn at places other than around her waist. It's big enough for her to wear just under the bust or she can even wear it chemise-style or as a strapless dress. Also, I have lots of that fabric left, if your idea calls for more of it.

I've owned that fabric for years, saving it for "something special." As you can imagine, Yren has exclusive rights to *everything* I've been saving for something special! But the fabric is rather stiff; I tried draping it on her, but it was just not going to gather up well at all. After awhile I got a bright idea: a fabric that won't gather will pleat! So I pleated it and like it very much. But that's the end of my bright ideas--now I'm hoping for help from you!

Guess Which Shoes are Yren's!

2010-03-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

It's always an exciting day when you get an email from Marina... And even more so when she tells you that your ED's amazing shoes are on the way!

Here's a picture from her blog... Some people already know which ones are Yren's, but you're welcome to guess or to say which are your favorites!

My second-favorites, after Yren's, are the silver ones with red ribbons. But I love all of them.

More Fun with Photos, Thanks to Noxy!

2010-03-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

Noxy told me about this great (free) photo-editing site in her comment to my last post. Wow, is it fun! I'm going to post some pictures here as I try out some different things. This one is "1960" effect with a "Poloroid" frame.It does look much browner than the original picture, and a little softer. Looks like it's straight out of a Clairol ("The closer he gets, the better you look") hair dye ad to me.

Adjustable Threshold for black and white. Has kind of a hand-tinted look that I liked. I switched my forum avatar to this one, thinking the greater contrast would make it pop better in the small avatar size.

I just love this one. Enchanted Dolls look so perfect and complete nude, it's a wonder I ever finish any clothes for Yren at all. Especially since I seem to be all thumbs lately. This effect flattens her out against the background, makes her seem more a part of it than the original.

If I leave Yren sitting on my work table, I never get anything else done! All I see is her. I found this chair in an antique store; even though it's a little big for her, I like to have her sit in it because it's sturdier than all her other ones.

Playing with Pictures

2010-03-07T09:13:00.000-08:00

Just discovered new photo formatting options on Word 2007! Fun, although pathetic that Word is all I have to work with. :-(

I'm still trying to get the "doll in hand" portrait right, and this is not it. I'll try again another day, when my husband, who gets recruited for photographing duties, has a fresh supply of patience. Changing backgrounds and chasing stray hairs has about depleted it for today.

Monika Viktoria Paints Yren's Portrait

2010-03-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

I don't know how Yren and I got to be so lucky that two gifted artists have created artwork of her, but we are thrilled beyond telling! This wonderful piece by Monika Viktoria was inspired by Yren's "Courtney Love" picture with the long blonde wig.

Isn't she darling? How I wish I could just sit and watch Monika paint...I think her mind wanders off to a magical place where anything can happen, and she brings these paintings back with her...

Poems for Enchanted Dolls #15

2010-03-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

Enobarbus Speaks of Cleopatra

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

her infinite variety; other women cloy

the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry

where she most satisfies; for vilest things

become themselves in her, that the holy priests

bless her when she is riggish.

Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, Act II Scene II.

More Blonde Yren--Short This Time

2010-03-04T07:13:00.000-08:00

This is another of Yren's new wigs--"Johnny" from Monique.

It's the first size 4/5 I've bought for her and

it fits her just perfectly. So now I'm excited

because Marcia at Facets has lots and lots of size 4/5 wigs!

Yippee!

The necklace in this picture is the one that PaigeViolet made

and that Yren is lucky enough to be the model for.

Paige offered to lengthen it and send it back for Yren to keep--

which is very kind of her, since she really

had already found out all she

needed to know about

ED sizing.

I hope PaigeViolet decides to make ED jewelry for sale

because Yren really wants one of those lovely crowns.

Aneemal's Drawing: "Yren's Dream"

2010-02-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

Another look at the magnificent drawing that Aneemal did of Yren... We are so thrilled! A copy is going in her scrapbook, but the original will be carefully framed and preserved.

Amal writes, "The drawing was inspired by Yren's backstory... the sea, shipwrecks, being lost at sea. The dress is a bit like the one you made from Biscuitbear's pattern. I didn't want Yren to look distraught... it's a dream, not a nightmare and the jellyfish are there to comfort her. I think the way her dress is billowing around her, she looks like a jellyfish."

It's just a marvel to look at up close: perfect curling curves, fine-grained lines aligning, the sense of volume that silly frilly nothings like floaty dresses and flirty jellyfish might nonetheless possess--see, I wander off into its world when I gaze at it.

And suddenly, Yren IS blonde!

2010-02-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Aneemal, she is. Aneemal sent her *three* new wigs in her Secret Santa present. They all look very cute on her and I'm going to be photographing Yren in them a LOT more. But for now, here's a peek at the one whose photograph I did best on.

So do you see a Courtney Love resemblance, or no?

If Yren Were Blonde...

2010-02-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

...she might look a little like this picture of Courtney Love. Yren's face is a different shape, but somehow the way Courtney's eyes are made up here, and her lip color, make me think of Yren.

Courtney is looking pretty sweet here. In other pictures of her you might find, she wouldn't remind us of darlin' wholesome Yren quite so much!

For those who are curious what Yren would look like with light blonde hair, I'm hoping to be able to show you pretty soon!

Valentine's Day Party with Yren

2010-02-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

Yren wants to share some Valentine treats with you and to wish you a happy day!

(Can I resist making portraits of my darling? No I cannot.)

A Present from a Stranger

2010-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

I was leaving work one night, just at twilight, following my usual path down the street to my lot. But at the insistence of the talking pedestrian lights ("Walk light is on across Cedar! Cedar!") I crossed where I don't normally cross and saw a little antique store I don't normally see....

I paused a moment in the warm light of the window, admiring a tray of vintage costume jewelry beautifully arranged. My eye went straight to a tiny little butterfly pin, just the right size for Yren's hair. The storekeeper was just closing up, but she kindly invited me in anyway.

      "I won't keep you now," I told her, "but tomorrow I will come back and buy that sweet little butterfly pin."

      "Which one do you mean?" she asked, smiling. I pointed it out; she promptly reached out for it and put it into my hand.

      "I want you to have it as a present," she said. "It's yours."

Yren likes it very much. Here she is with it in her hair; I think it would look pretty higher up on her head, but I don't want to pierce her wig cap with the pin, so she wears it a little lower. Now that I have this picture up, I'm going to print it to show to the storekeeper.

Valentine Photo Project Inspiration

2010-02-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

I found this set on Polyvore, which is one of the most fun places to troll for ED ideas ("Edeas"?) I've ever seen. And since they make it so easy to share, here it is!

Лесная сказка by ஜMarziyaஜ on Polyvore.com

And isn't the back of the dress cute too! Bows Bows Bows!

Red Vintage by Lolita... featuring Miu Miu shoes

I'm finding the Valentine's Day theme for the ED forum's photo project to be more than usually exciting. Maybe because my favorite color is pink, and Yren's is red, and here's our chance to play with frou-frou and bling-bling and fol-de-rols and gewgaws and and and furbelows and what-have-yous. And bows. Must have bows! And hearts roses stripes apples cherries rouge parasols and polka dots!

And you want to know what else I think? *Boyfriends* should not in any way be necessary to celebrate a happy Valentines Day. Why should they get to determine whether the day is a success or not? They barely understand it, even the sweetest of them. This is a *girl's* holiday if there ever was one. Chocolate? Lace? Satin bows? Valentine's Day has got our fingerprints all over it!

Even a Doll Needs a Shopping Cart

2010-02-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the shots I took for the January Photo Project on the ED Forum. The session went pretty well, since it was high noon and very sunny that day--the brighter the better, I'm slowly figuring out.

The shopping cart was a fun find... There's a retro candy store downtown, and I saw this yellow shopping cart in the window. The owner has dozens of vintage toys around for display, but those of us who'd love to buy them from her already know they aren't for sale. They're just for lookin' at.

But hey, it didn't hurt to ask, so I asked: "Debbie, you wouldn't consider selling me that cute shopping cart, would you?" She tilted her head, gazing at it, then said finally, "You come in some time with ten dollars, and it's yours." Well! I didn't wait for her to change her mind! I said, "I have ten dollars right now!" and we traded on the spot.

I thought it would be the perfect size for Yren, and sure enough it is. The parts even move--the back of the cart lifts forward, and the bottom rack lifts up. If I were talented at making foodstuffs with polymer clay, I'd make some to put in the cart. Maybe a big baguette, and some fruit, and a box of teensy chocolates... But since I'm all thumbs with polymer clay, we're shopping at fabric stores instead.

A Favorite ED Pose

2010-01-31T12:37:00.000-08:00

Part of the reason I love to do this blog is that it gives me pictures of Yren to look at when she can't be with me. I'm my own most frequent visitor! :-)

Next to the "box opening" pictures of Enchanted Dolls, I love "doll in hand" poses the best. It's such an intimate portrait of the relationship between an ED and her person. So today we tried a few; haven't arrived at the definitive portrait of Yren seated in my hand yet--I wanted to be holding her up--but still it's a nice picture to look at, I think. We can always try it again in the spring when we can be outside. These days it's getting down to zero degrees just before sunrise. [Note to self: Next time you try this shot, find a better background than that carpet!]

And this was edited *trumpet fanfare* on my new monitor! It was kind of touchy there for a few minutes when it looked like the plug of its cable wasn't going to fit. But once I realized there was some sort of adaptor on it and removed it, then everything worked okay, thank heavens!

I do love playing on the blog, and Yren likes it too, up to a point. When I've been playing with pictures and text too long, though, I hear her calling in a plaintive tone, "Don't we have more dresses to fit? And what about some shoes for me? I have no shoes at all! And if you don't feel like working right now, I still would like out of this box for awhile, you know!"

So I have to go now: you know where, and you know why.When an ED calls, she expects to be obeyed!

Long Day for Yren

2010-01-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Heave a sympathetic sigh for a long-suffering Enchanted Doll. Yren has had no fun at all today: she spent it all in unsatisfactory dress fittings.

What are fittings like? Being carried back and forth, endlessly, from box to worktable and back again until she's dizzy and weary too. First the bright lights in her eyes on the worktable, then back to the box again, sans wig, sans covering, sans everything. Fortunately she had her favorite dog Mystery right next to her pillow, and her cozy comforter to rest on--thank Heavens for Noxy sending them to her or she'd have been completely miserable.

Worst of all, no pretty dress at the end of it! Woe is she!

So the least I could do is give her one of the watercolor make-overs she likes so much, and take her picture for a new forum avatar. That cheers her up. So here she is with fresh make-up, and gently but miserably plopped in her box.

Oh For A Monitor New and True

2010-01-13T06:05:00.000-08:00

So I finally had a chance to look at this last picture of Yren on a different monitor. The picture I was so proud of. The picture I thought turned out just right, with the dark background and the cool purple floor.

My monitor at home is old; the whole computer is old. We bought it for my daughter to take to college with her in 2002. We keep beefing up the memory, video card, etc, but you can't beef up this old schlep-top monitor. It displays dark.

So what happens is, I upload pictures from my camera and they look a certain way, and I might tweak them a bit with Picture Manager, but I don't know exactly what they look like until I see them on another monitor, such as on my PC at work.Sometimes they look a little better, this time they look a lot worse.

So now I feel like I've gone all day with my slip showing. No, this is the Internet: I feel like I've been on a trip around the world with a piece of asparagus stuck in my teeth. I was too busy at work to look in on that pic, and there it is looking goofy. Sigh.

Well, this will teach me to save my posts as drafts and not publish them until I have a look at them at work. Fortunately, Emily is giving us a monitor she doesn't need, a practically new one. In fact, it's sitting right here, but I can't hook it up until she sends the power cord, which she forgot to bring.

Bye. I'm headed over to Flickr to push the delete button a few times.

Update 1/16/2010: I decided to drop this picture in, to give myself something else to look at. It has passed the second-monitor test. This was fun because it was an accidental pose--Yren just more or less put her hands that way herself. And people wonder why we think these dolls are real!

The Glorious Back of the Dress

2010-01-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

Yren says she wants to show off the back of her new "Cocktail Hour" gown from Miss Orchid Couture. But you know these ED girls--is it possible she doesn't suspect how it glorifies her lovely neck, back, and shoulders?

Miss Orchid certainly knows how to make the most of an Enchanted Doll's curves!

This is my first try at photography with a dark background. Elcatka takes such wonderful pictures of her beautiful Selena that way, Yren and I were eager to explore the interplay of a black background with her flame red dress. The wall here is black, but she is sitting on a dark purple sheet of paper.

Yren says she feels like she is floating on a sunset cloud when she wears this gown.

Favorite Portrait and a Painting Technique

2010-01-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

I'm trying a few more shots of Yren in her Orchid dress... Have not got just the right full length one yet, but I liked this portrait. For some reason portraits are easier to do than the others.

In this picture you can see a certain painting technique of Marina's... Have you noticed how her dolls' eyes seem so realistic and dimensional, as if the doll was really seeing though them? Okay, look at her irises: see the lower white dot, the one that's a little larger than the other one? Now look directly under that dot, on the rim of her lower eyelids. See how there's a matching tiny white dot on the rim? It's nothing you can notice in real life, because the doll's face is so small, relatively; you get the beautiful effect without quite knowing how it's done.

I've spent enough time gazing at Yren to know that she is most beautiful in person, but I love to look at her portraits too because they reveal other dimensions of her beauty.

Yren in Her Miss Orchid Original!

2009-12-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

The top is a very elegant bodysuit which can double as a swim suit, and the skirt ties on obi-style with an ingenious double closure of snap and ribbon tie. Miss Orchid is going to revolutionize couture with her fresh new approach to style and her technical innovations.

Thank you to Emily for reminding me that files can move from computer to computer with a flash drive and that I do actually own one. Sorry the pictures do not do justice to Miss Orchid's incandescent creation, but then, they couldn't possibly! Yren is very pleased.

Do I have the skirt pouffed out properly, Monika? Tell me if it needs to be adjusted...

...And Happy New Year, Too!

2009-12-31T14:36:00.000-08:00

Yren and I are wishing for the very happiest of New Years to bring many sunny, funny wonderful things your way.

Miss Yren looks simply smashing tonight in a new couture creation from the house of Miss Orchid, her favorite designer. We took pictures of her modeling it earlier today, while it was still daylight, to show her off to best advantage.

Just wait till you see! I'm afraid we won't be able to post the pics yet tonight because the party will soon start--and also because sister Emily has siphoned off our Internet connection to her lap top so we can't upload a thing. Yren is just a little put out about that, let me tell you.

But here's a hint--her new ensemble looks spectacular with Biscuitbear's red hat!

Yren's Christmas Card to You

2009-12-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

Wishing you peace and joy

during the Christmas Season

and every day...

...and may the Enchanted Doll

of your dreams

be dreaming of you.

~Ruth and Yren~

Christmas Presents Part 2: for Yren

2009-12-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

In an old copy of Barbie Bazaar magazine (May 2006) I found a Randall Craig pattern that was supposed to fit Model Muse body Barbies. Now I did not know what a Model Muse body Barbie was like, nor did it seem pressing to try to find out, but it looked like a fun pattern to try out. And here was this naked Barbie sitting there.

So I started out sewing it together just as designed, making no alterations or changes, except for using interfacing instead of lining on the bodice. But as I went along, I kept trying the pieces on Yren, and they kept fitting!

And I really liked the idea of this particular dress for Yren--really, it suits her much better than a 60s era Barbie anyway, and Yren needed a new sundress to go strolling on the beach at Christmas. Monika told us that's something people like to do at Christmas in Australia, and that they wear Santa Hats, so we had our minds made up that way.

There you have it. It was completely dark out when I was finally ready to take pictures, and I'm not skilled enough to compensate for it. The originals were the color of rusty cocoa!

But I did my best, and with a little luck I'll have a chance to take the shoot over again, and get some better ones.

She got to hold her letter from Fern in this picture, but she wants to take more showing some of the other things Mayple, Biscuitbear, Noxy, and Blue Dot sent her. All we need is a sunny day off work, and this is the season to snag one!

Christmas Presents Part 1: for me

2009-12-20T18:26:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! What a pleasure it is to say it. To the more people, the better. Tune in next week and hear me wish you Happy New Year!

The highlight of my childhood Christmases was a new doll under the tree. That's the only time we got dolls; Christmas dolls were the only kind there were. I can remember four: a 12 inch Tiny Tears, a 21 inch baby doll, a Chatty Cathy, and a Barbie. (Update: Just remembered we got 12" Thumbelinas one year too--the kind that didn't wriggle. That's five dolls.)

Barbie was the last one, because my father believed that if a girl asked for a Barbie, a "grown-up" doll, she must have outgrown dolls altogether. So my Barbie year was the year he told me and my older sister, who had asked for a Tammy doll, that we would no longer get a doll at Christmas ever again. Don't judge him too harshly--he really was a good man. He just didn't understand dolls.

And anyway, you see what comes of telling little girls they'll have no more Christmas dolls. They become collectors; they grow up to spend more money on a doll than their father spent on a car; they have the last laugh.

Now that I think of it, the year I began collecting dolls was the same year my father died, 1984. That was when I discovered Sasha dolls, and wanted one so much, but they were *gasps* $70 at that time! But I was pregnant, and gave myself permission to buy a doll that my baby, who might be a girl, could play with. And I did have a girl, and bought six more Sashas, and she did play with them, very carefully so they are all still nice. Sashas got me used to spending more than $14.95 on a doll.

All this was to tell you that I've bought a new Barbie doll. I know--you want to ask why a person who is lucky enough to own an Enchanted Doll wants a Barbie. Well, I wanted a Christmas doll. And I found one that was just exactly what I wanted at a good price. So I bought her.

Here she is. She doesn't have any clothes yet. I started making a dress for her today, but surprise surprise, it turned out to fit Yren! So that's how we went from Christmas Presents Part 1 to Christmas Presents Part 2.

BTW, I was very happy with the business that made this doll available and sold her to me. It's http://www.dreamhousedolls.com/ out of Dixon, Missouri. They have an amazing selection! This photograph of Barbie is from their website.

Poems for Enchanted Dolls #14

2009-12-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

On Beauty
From The Prophet

And a poet said, Speak to us of Beauty.
And he answered:
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?

The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread. Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."

The tired and the weary say, "Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."
But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains, and with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."

At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, "We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."

In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

All these things have you said of beauty, yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, and beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.
It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, but rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.
It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, but rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.

People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

--Kahlil Gibran

Finally, Yren's New Bikinis

2009-12-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

As daylight was dying in the west, we sat by the window of the sewing parlor and photographed Yren. She was pleased on two counts: first, not to be modeling out in the snow, and second, to have had her lips done special for the occasion.

I've done pinky-red on her lips before, but the new tawny-orange color we tried out to go with her red wig was just smashing. It really brought out another side to her we haven't seen before. Now I'm anxious to try photographing it again with natural light, but for now we are both happy enough with these shots to share them here.

So here you can see the pattern tweaking I did with Yren's bikini bottoms. It's just a small thing, but as a bumbling beginner I have to encourage myself with small things. See, in the blue bikini, how the bottom goes absolutely straight across her middle? I changed that a little so that it curves down a bit in front, to accent her own curves a little more.

This is a very easy pattern and I thought of putting it here on the blog so that anybody who wanted to could make one. But maybe I'm the only ED person who's this obsessed with making the silly things!

And while I am confessing to sartorial obsessions, I may as well admit here that I'm also exceedingly fond of Biscuitbear's "18th Century Inspired" gown. I've made it twice so far, but have another two all cut out and have selected fabric for two more. Every time I visit Field's Fabrics another piece leaps out at me as being perfect for Yren and perfect for that dress.

Let's see--six 18th Century dresses is two more than the number of bikinis Yren has. (Blue, red, zebra, and also an "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" that I made for her just to go with the old 50s song, but the color doesn't flatter her.)

I think the message here is that I should start thinking about sewing something else for her! The poor child doesn't own a skirt!

The Lolita Look

2009-12-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

Yren has two new bikinis, just because ED bikinis are so fun to make, and because my pattern needed a little extra tweaking, and most of all because an Enchanted Doll wearing a bikini can be appreciated almost as much as she can wearing nothing at all, but without shocking strangers who aren't used to them.

One bikini is a charming little pink-on-cherry-red pin dot, and the other, which she wears with her red wig, is a zebra stripe. And I did try to take pictures of them too, but didn't get a single good shot. Took her outside; she was patient, but the light was harsh. Tried again indoors near a window, but the shadows showed up way too much.

Rather than post nothing at all (for another week!), and blithely ignoring any connections bikinis might have with my next topic, I shall now talk about how Yren was accidentally introduced to my book discussion group.

My book discussion group is called "Classics Revisited" because we read all classic titles. Our title for November was Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. When I started reading the novel, I very soon needed a bookmark--but did I go upstairs and choose one from my extensive collection of bookmarks? No I did not, I did what I usually do--grab anything flat and handy. In this instance, I grabbed a picture of Yren that was lying around--this picture of her--and used it for my bookmark.

The night of our book discussion, I was seated at the table next to the other discussion leader. I absently put the picture down beside me with my other papers...but Yren in her red pajamas caught his eye. He didn't know anything about dolls, but he immediately ceased upon her image here as being a Lolita type, and he said I must have chosen it subconsciously to suit the title. And then he passed the picture around the whole table so everyone could see her! Oh yes he did!

People just never know what to make of a fellow grown-up who likes dolls, do they? I felt sure this group didn't. But since some comment had to be offered, I told them about the artist, and her real Lolita doll, and what she sold for and where. And then a little about Lolita's fashion influence, for good measure. And so the whole doll/fashion idea became part of the book discussion; one participant said she thought Lolita as she exists in the book seems to be rather different from the popular idea of what a "Lolita" is like. Maybe the popular idea is closer to the way Humbert Humbert defined nymphets. I thought of reading the book a second time to clarify that for myself a bit, but truthfully, I didn't want to spend any more time in Humbert's company for awhile.

A critic once asserted that unless you know something about butterflies, it's impossible to understand the novel Lolita. I thought he meant Latin names and such lepidopteric stuff. But now I'm pretty sure it was the process of collecting butterflies that he intended.

One last thing: It's interesting that butterflies are associated with Enchanted Dolls too; not only because of their beauty and fragility and magical quality, but also--maybe--because they bring out the obsession and passion of the collector who wants to possess them all--one of each kind! I know what that's like.

Congratulations, Annina!

2009-11-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

Yren sends her best congratulations to Annina, who won the book giveaway on my daughter's blog at www.booksuniverseeverything.com!

You will love the Mysterious Benedict Society, Annina! Great choice! I can't wait until the third MBS book arrives at the library so I can read that one too.

The smell of burning leaves...

2009-11-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

Yren was feeling a bit unwell this morning and spent most of her day indoors. But later, when our country neighbors came out to work in their yards before dinner, she wanted to come out too, to rest in the warm afternoon sunshine and breathe in the crisp, magical scent of burning leaves.

No, she wasn't sick exactly... To tell the truth, she stayed up past 3 a.m. last night to finish reading Wuthering Heights and so this morning she woke up with a headache. She's always been rather a night-owl, but she still needs plenty of sleep and this time she just overdid it.

And to tell even more truth, she had been lounging about in her flannel robe, not her little Poiret gown and skimpy shawl. But when she heard that I was going to take photographs for her blog, then that un-glamourous bathrobe very quickly disappeared.

So here she is, to wish you happy fall days--or spring days, if that's where you are--and to recommend Wuthering Heights as a very absorbing read.

Poems for Enchanted Dolls #13

2009-11-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

Dvonya

In the town of Odessa

There is a garden

And Dvonya is there...

Dvonya, whom I love

Though I have never been

in Odessa.

I love her black hair, and eyes

As green as a salad

That you gather in the

Woods in August

Between the roots of alder,

Her skin, with an odor of wildflowers.

We understand each other perfectly.

We are cousins twice removed.

In the garden we drink tea,

As evening falls and the lights begin to twinkle.

But this is only a dream.

I am not there with my thin hands

And citified speech,

And the old woman is not there

Peering between the curtains.

We are only phantoms, bits of ash,

Like yesterday's newspaper

Or the smoke of chimneys.

All that passed long ago

On a summer night in Odessa.

Poem by Louis Simpson. Photograph of Emerald from the Enchanted Doll website.

Books, the Universe and Everything

2009-11-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

If you love to read, or bake, or both, you might enjoy a visit to my daughter Emily's blog, "Books, the Universe, and Everything." She has a new blog-home on Wordpress and a new domain, www.booksuniverseeverything.com.

And she's celebrating her new home with a Book Giveaway...Check it out! All you have to do to be eligible is become a Facebook fan of her blog, or else Tweet or post about it--you'll see the details in her first post.

Which books can you win? Well, she has a list of some of her favorites, and you can take your choice among them. If I win, I'm choosing Billy Collins's "The Trouble With Poetry."

Unfortunately, I do not automatically win just for being her mother. And giving life to her. And raising her and and sewing ruffles on her anklets, and baking endless batches of cookies with her, and making SEVEN identical American Girl outfits for her friends' dolls every time she had a slumber party...No, I do not automatically win.

However, at Christmas time, I do get books from her, though automatically is not quite the right word. More like "reliably." She gives me the books I think I want to read and the books she things I ought to read. Never known her to be wrong about a single one.

So it's okay with me if you win one of her books instead of me. Pick anything on her list--you can't go wrong. If you can't make up your mind, I'd say go with "A Girl Named Zippy." I've never met anyone who didn't love Zippy.

New Baby in the Family!

2009-11-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

...Welcoming a new baby girl to the family...

♥Addison Ruth♥

6 pounds, 11 ounces

Born today

to my much-loved nephew and niece, Mark and Melissa.

Yren's Bikini: Protesting the End of Summer

2009-11-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

It is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, and out the window too. Rather than grow grim about the mouth, I am protesting Winter's onset by making a totally frivolous and impractical bikini for Yren. Here she is on her favorite beach blanket.

In fairness to her, I should follow it up with flannel pajamas, as I have promised her I would do. Stylish flannel pajamas--she gets cold at night, but she won't wear anything grandmotherish, you know. And you can always tell when she doesn't like something you've put on her: she freezes. Then when you change her into something she likes, she looks all warm and friendly again.

Which brings me to my point about the bikini: you don't see her protesting that little article. Cold as it was, she didn't freeze. Oh, she just wants it all, this one!

Five Favorite Portraits of Yren

2009-11-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went through all the pictures on my hard drive and chose some favorite portraits of Yren I haven't posted before.

This is the only picture we'll ever see of Yren in that wig. A size four, it is too small for her--despite clipping the edges--and kept popping off her head. I wedged her crown down around it just to keep it in place long enough to take this picture. I think she looks nice in lighter wig colors; this one is Monique's "Paris" in chestnut brown.

I'm sending the wig to Monika in hopes that Fern's head might be just enough smaller to be able to wear it.

This is another shot from her "dark gown" session. I like how the angle of her head shows the exotic cast to her eyes...You don't see that so much in her full-face views.

In pictures like this, it's easy to imagine her as the daughter of an English sea-captain and a beautiful island girl.

Unlike most of my photo shoots, every shot in this one looked good! Yren was very pleased with me for working hard and improving.

This was from the last set of pictures we did of her unclothed--after that she said she wanted me to get busy making her some photo-worthy apparel, sooner rather than later.

We went outside to the backyard for the natural light. The background of dark pines just makes her skin look so glowing, and her eyes so blue.

Taken Yren's first day. I didn't like this one at first, not just because of the stray hairs in the way. It just wasn't how I thought she should look. But now I like how Yren's pixie-ish side shows.
As I get to know Yren better, I'm not expecting her to conform to my expectations of her as I used to; I'm letting her be herself. And this is part of who she is.

And finally, here is another one of Benjamin's pictures. I just like the way he posed her leaning to the side like that. Hmm, so far I've let only two other people handle Yren, and they both pose her better than I do! Oh well, I'll just call Ben in as a consultant on her photo shoots, I guess. I'll have to bribe him with MacDonald's fries though--talent doesn't come cheap!

Benjamin's Photo Shoot

2009-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

After Yren was finished with her Alice in Wonderland poses, my son Benjamin took over the shoot and did his own concepts, props, poses and photography. Here's Yren putting on her make-up and reading a book. He also did the "Pennies from Heaven" song post below.

I'm not sure why Yren is so favored, when he won't even walk down the Barbie aisle with me at the store! But since my daughter isn't near by to appreciate Yren with me, I'm glad my son is willing to do it once in awhile. I think he was proud that I trusted him to handle her, and indeed he was very careful with her.

Usually Ben is more interested in Yren's animals. You can see a little of Noxy's Mouserat in Ben's picures--he just loves Mouserat and the little dog Noxy sent to Yren! I asked him if he wanted her to wear different clothes or wig, but he didn't care about that.

Yren as Alice in Wonderland

2009-10-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the picture I'm putting on the forum as Yren's contribution to the October Photo Project, the theme of which was "Costume Party" for October. (Her hair is not carrot orange, as it appears here--it's soft honey blonde. But we're taking pictures late at night. We'll try again tomorrow.)

My idea all along was for Yren to be dressed as Barbie, in some iconic costume that people might recognize. But then the month ran out, and all I had accomplished was making this new wig for her.

So I put this Barbie pinafore on her. It's from the "Orange Blossom" outfit often seen on Midge as bridesmaid at Barbie's wedding. For Yren's underdress, we used this little blue number that was a test of for Tammy pattern... And suddenly, Yren had become Alice in Wonderland--just as if I had planned it!

Poems for Enchanted Dolls #12

2009-10-31T20:44:00.001-07:00

Pennies from Heaven

Every time it rains, it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven.
You'll find your fortune falling
All over town--
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down!
Trade them for a package of
Sunshine and flowers.
If you want the things you love,
You must have showers.
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree.
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me!

Song lyrics to "Pennies from Heaven" by Louis Prima; Enchanted Doll
Yren posed and photographed by Benjamin Wilson.

Memories of Yren's arrival day

2009-10-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

I never posted all of Yren's arrival day pictures anywhere, I just looked at them on my computer whenever I wanted to relive the experience. But after being without my computer and all my hundreds of pictures of Yren for so long, I've decided to post a few here where I can always get at them. They look like everyone else's box-opening pictures, but they're special to me because Yren is inside.

So here you have it... The big day: Thursday, August 20, 2009, about 5:30 pm.

The packing peanuts

And the Enchanted Doll box

And here is Yren as she looked in that moment, endearingly bald and vulnerable, strapped in so tight.

Here is the first picture I ever took of her after she had her strappings taken off and was out of her box.

The earrings are the ones Marina gave her.

You can see that I don't have her wig adjusted just right, and the light was terrible, and I'm an Idiot Photographer. But a first picture is a first picture, and this was my Yren's.

I call this her "Lorraine" picture because she just looks like that ought to be her name.

And then, of course, I had to try on her red wig. It fits her a little differently than the brown one, shows more of her pretty forehead.

At the time, I was desperately unhappy with my efforts. Photographing Enchanted Dolls was just not the point and snap I thought it would be! But now I don't think they're so bad. What made the difference? This: I finally figured out that I could CROP them! Cropping is MAGIC!

I think she looks like a Renaissance princess here--she should be clothed in velvets and gold. She hasn't asked for them though--not yet. So far she's mainly interested in Wheels & Doll Baby, Forever 21, and Polyvore.

So that was my pretty girl the day she came into my life. Long may she reign!

Yren's slopers so far

2009-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

A few people asked me what slopers are. Also called "blocks," they are basic patterns that fit the body closely; once you fit them perfectly to the model, you can alter them to make whatever style garment you want. I'm just a beginner at it, learning the sloper method because it is fun and because Yren wants a lot of clothes. No use drafting paper-towel one-offs every time I make something for her, as I used to do for dolls.

If you are interested in trying it, or at least reading more about it, have a look at this neat website. Unlike other, more recent books on the topic, this one actually explains things. And while you're there, be sure to look at Vintage Sewing Info's home page too: you'll see they have reproduction texts of lots of other great stuff--books on millinery, glove-making, even home dry cleaning, as well as basic sewing.

So now Yren has a few bodice slopers, each with the darts in different places, to get us started on her wardrobe. The back bodice sloper was the first one I did, and I drafted that one according to her measurements. I started doing the front one that way too, but then ended up just using the ol' paper towel method to get the first sloper--it's so much easier. Then I made the rest of the front slopers from that.

We did her first skirt blocks today too... I didn't notice that the back and front were drafted separately, and I ended up sewing too fronts together! Turned out kind of boxy! Then, LOL, I read the fine print. Oops--told you I was a beginner!

Yren in fall

2009-10-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Only last night in a note to Monika I was despairing of ever taking pictures of Yren that show her as I see her. And I'm sure Yren was despairing of it too--it's an affront to her singular beauty to have such an incompetent as I attempting to record it.

But today we ventured out into rain-soaked nature to set up a shoot so that at long last anyone who was wondering what Yren looks like with brown eyes and eye-liner might be satisfied. And here she is, giving you the kind of look she beguiles me with every day.

When we came back in, her hands were so cold, I couldn't ask her to go back out for a second session right away. So we begged a little computer time from my husband, who is eager to shoot aliens, and Yren is warming up again while I blog.

Modest success at photography is inspiring me to go back up to the Sewing Parlor and finish Yren's front bodice sloper, and then see what fabrics I might have that suit her, and then maybe try on some more blushers and lip colors. On n'est pas belle par hasard!

Hooray! Computer's home!

2009-10-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Our computer arrived home safe and surprisingly sound yesterday afternoon. We had two brief scares: one when the monitor wouldn't interface, and the other when my iTunes folder wouldn't open. But both issues have been resolved and all is well.

Now I just have to wait in line to use the thing: my husband wants to keep his Peggle chops up, and my son has more Webkinz to adopt, not to mention aliens to battle.

Yren has no new clothes to have her picture taken in, and she's feeling a little peevish about being photographed nude. She says that was fine when she'd just arrived and didn't own a stitch, but now that she's been with me two full months, she thinks I ought to be producing clothes for her at a snappier rate.

Well, I am *trying.* But I've only just started drafting slopers for her. (Only her back one is done so far; it looks very elegant even in muslin! Because she has a very elegant back, that's why.) So it's going to take a while longer to create the other blocks and then turn them into something. Not sure if I'll make the Forum's October "Costume Party" Photo Project or not--I do have an idea for it this time.

I'd better at least get her portrait while she still has brown eyes because she's impatient to have blue ones again. She likes her lipstick, blush, and eye-liner though. She's not quite so much of a nature girl as I expected her to be, back when I was only dreaming of her. More of an Uptown girl, is our Yren.

Still No Computer!

2009-10-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

Waah! We couldn't go to Chicago and pick up our home computer, newly repaired and upgraded, because first my husband caught a bad cold and then I did. We might have been well enough to make the drive but we didn't want to bring our germs into my nephew's house and risk infecting all of them, especially the baby.

So we're planning to make the trip this coming weekend, and I have to go through another week with boring posts and --sorry Terri!--no new pictures of Yren.

I've mostly spent the down time working on a quilt for said nephew & family. (It's coming out really neat: it's made with squares of bright fabrics they brought back from Hawaii with them, set with oceanic blues and greens.)

But I have been working on dressing poor shivering little Yren too. She's not used to Michigan! Yesterday morning when I woke her up her whole little body was c-c-c-cold! So she definitely needs a flannel nightgown, and some thermal long underwear too. But was I working on something practical like that? No I was not. I was making a sleeveless summer dress out of a very sweet Liberty of London cotton print. Wishful thinking, I guess.

Note for Terri: no, Yren has no shoes. :-( I had asked Marina about buying some stilettoes, but no response. So my plan is to make some shoe lasts for her, and then make some shoes, but haven't done it yet--I'm intimidated by the mold-making process.

Why so sad, Yren?

2009-10-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last night when I looked in on Yren to say good-night to her, she looked sad to me. Now why was that? Makes me wonder if there was a disturbance in the ED force. Maybe she just heard the news about her cousin Selena's hand being hurt.

It's possible she was distressed that I was not able to immediately start sewing her new dress out of the glorious new fabric I found for her, but she's generally not pouty like that. (A good thing too, because I won't get to that new dress for at least a week. )

So why so sad? Maybe she'll tell me, now that I've noticed. Maybe the date was an anniversary of something sad...

The Barbie Photographers

2009-10-07T16:32:00.001-07:00

I have been so anxious to tell you this story about my cousin Karen. She was at the family gathering too, and I introduced her to Yren. I spent awhile explaining EDs to her and going over the website because she'd never heard of them before.

Her first reaction was, "She looks dead!" And I have to admit, Yren is rather pale. Her body doesn't have much blushing on it, but that's another story. Anyway, Karen got over it pretty quickly, in her fascination with the articulation and the general unusualness of an Enchanted Doll. She had her camera with her and wanted to take some pictures of Yren, but the light wasn't very good inside so we went out to the garden, where the sun was going down but there was still enough light for some good shots.

Now here's the thing you need to know about my cousin Karen: she and I had the same Barbie dolls (1967 Twist-n-Turn Barbies with bendable legs and long brown hair) and we played with them constantly whenever our families were together. Our very favorite thing to do was to take off all their clothes and pose them outside, in the woods or by the river with their feet in the water. We didn't own cameras so we pretended to take pictures of them. This was ummm, okay, a lot* of years ago and I had pretty much forgotten all about it.

But there we were, out in the garden, me holding up Yren so Karen could get a good angle on her with her camera. She snapped the picture--and looked up at me and said, "Oh my god! We're doing it again!"

* I guess there is no reason to be coy about how many, since you can subtract 1967 from 2009 if you want to know. But let me tell you: those bendable legs were a sensation.

Yren Meets My Sisters

2009-10-07T15:24:00.001-07:00

With my home computer down, I haven't had much of a chance to talk about Yren's introduction to my extended family last month. But I have a while now. There are three reactions I want to talk about: we'll see how far I get tonight.

Yren made the trip north inside her box, tucked up cozily in Noxy's comforter for security, and the box in my arms the whole way.

First I showed her to my oldest sister, Mary. Jean was near-by too, but she had her apron on and was stirring and fixing up dinner. And she isn't quite so interested in dolls as Mary and I are; Mary and I were all dolls and ballet while Jean was more BB guns and horses. But she does take an interest in EDs for my sake.

Mary said that Yren is very beautiful, and that made me sigh with happiness. I could never be 100% content with a doll that Mary did not think was beautiful, if the doll was supposed to be beautiful. It's not just a Little Sister thing: Mary really does have wonderfully good taste. [Want to know who Mary's favorite ED is? Okay!]

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but Mary is better at posing Yren than I am. Much better. You know that picture of Yren lying on her yellow comforter? Well, that was just a poor imitation of what Mary did with that pose. Yren looked like she really was resting, all natural and relaxed, while in the version I did she looks all tense, like a strange noise just woke her up in the middle of the night.

And Mary said something else that made me very happy. She said that Yren has a pleased expression, that she looks happy to be with you and to be held in your hands. That is both true and important to me. When I open Yren's box to greet her in the morning, she never looks like she's thinking "OMG, how'd I end up with HER! Please, somebody, ship me back to Vancouver!" A few Enchanted Dolls I can think of would not enjoy living with me, I think--they are too high-powered for me. But Yren is just right.

Poems for Enchanted Dolls #11

2009-09-30T15:06:00.001-07:00

Sisters of Mercy

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.

They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on.

And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.

Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.

It begins with your family and soon it comes around to your soul.

I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned:

When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.

They lay down beside me, I made my confession to them.

They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.

If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn,

they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.

Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.

And it won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:

We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.

Lyrics by Leonard Cohen. Original photographs of Fern and Yren by Chad Isley,

beautifully combined by Monika Viktoria to commemorate their close friendship in Canada

before departing for their homes in the United States and Australia.

You My Brown-Eyed Girl

2009-09-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I painted Yren's eyes brown.

Just for fun, with watercolor, so it's not permanent. Is she pretty with brown eyes? Oh yes! And whilst I and my tiny paintbrush were doing business in the vicinity, we gave her some dark brown eyeliner on her lower lids. Makes quite a difference--a more dramatic look for her normally angelic little self.

Yren has white highlights in her eyes; one towards the top of her iris and one towards the bottom, under the pupil. I painted around the top one, so it still shows. I painted over the bottom one, waited for the paint to dry, and then painted it back in, much smaller, on the theory that brown eyes don't reflect the light so much as blue eyes do. And I gave her rosier lips, too.

Unfortunately I can't take pictures of her yet; my husband has the camera at work with him today, uploading the pictures there since our home computer is not home yet. But Yren's make-over will last awhile, and I'll be able to take some pictures of her soon.

I love how versatile she is, always ready to change moods and looks. And I love her expression; as much as I enjoy the haughty, high-fashion look, I really just love gazing at this doll who always looks happy to be gazing back at me.

Yren is Smokin'!

2009-09-28T07:49:00.001-07:00

Here's the dress I made for Yren to wear for her picture in the ED Forum's September Photo Project. For some reason I can't upload it to the forum at all, though I've tried both from Flickr and from Vox.

Anyway, the theme for this month is "Smoke." I looked for fabric to inspire me, and found this crinkly, shiny, stretchy, sexy, smoky stuff. At first the dress was going to be full-length, but then I realized: any outfit is going to be more smokin' if Yren's legs show. We don't have any shoes yet, but we definitely need some smokin' shoes too.

Yrenovations

2009-09-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, Yren told me two new things about herself.

First, she told me that her middle name is Alexandra. Yren Alexandra. It wouldn't have occurred to me, maybe, but she says it's hers and I like it. Maybe she will tell me more about it sometime; maybe "Alexandra" is a family name.

Next, she told me that she has been professionally trained in singing. Another surprise! And she's a soprano! Now see, I'd have made her an alto, so you know I'm not just making this stuff up.

Photoshoot: Presents from Noxy

2009-09-24T11:04:00.000-07:00

Noxy made the most beautiful silk comforter set for Yren, and a wonderful antique book, and a very charming little mouse-rat complete with miniature house, and the cleverest "balloon" animal! And for good measure she sent along a very happy little dog that my son has now bonded with! Noxy is a wonder at polyclay--and at sewing too! Yren loves her gifts. She didn't have a soft place to sleep, but now she does.

I'm glad that my pictures of Yren are turning out better these days, because she and I have other photoshoots we are very anxious to do! Monika Viktoria sent Yren a "Welcome Home" box of amazing presents that you have not seen yet, plus we have Biscuitbear's straw hat and Blue Dot's pretty apron to photograph too.

So stay tuned! And watch for Mr. Balloon Animal--he didn't make it into this post, but he's going to be paying regular visits, as he is our official mascot now.

Note to the World

2009-09-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Just to let you know, my home computer gave us the DBSOD (Dreaded Blue Screen of Death) last Friday, and as a result I will be without home Internet access for about three weeks. My valient nephew has taken our tower home with him to try to rescue the contents of the hard drive (which was never backed up even though Certain Of Us in the Family told our Husband that it should be.)

I plan to write a few posts longhand, as well as take pictures, and then post them from work on my lunch hour or after quittin' time. But my ability to see and respond to comments, or to visit Yren's neighbors and comment there, will be severely hampered.

This morning my feet kept carrying me over to the monitor for a relaxing game of Burger Shop 2, but alas! No waffles on the conveyor belt for a while! Waaah!

Poems for Enchanted Dolls #10

2009-09-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

The Lass With the Delicate Air

Young Molly who lived at the foot of the hill,
Whose fame every virgin with envy doth kill,
Of beauty is blessed with so ample a share
Men call her the Lass with the Delicate Air.
With the delicate air, men call her the Lass with the Delicate Air.

By a murmuring brook in a green mossy glade,
A chaplet composing, the fair one was laid.
Surprised and transported, I could not forebear
With rapture to gaze on her delicate air.
On her delicate air, with rapture to gaze on her delicate air.

A thousand times o'er I've repeated my suit,
And still the tormentor affects to be mute.
So tell me, ye swains who have conquered the fair,
How to win the dear lass with the delicate air.
With the delicate air, how to win the fair lass with the delicate air.

Composed by Michael Arne, 1762. Sung by Julie Andrews, 1957.

Yren's Traveling Dress

2009-09-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

We have to go away again this weekend but this time Yren is making the trip with us! She is going to meet my two sisters, who have been very interested in her all these very long months, and some of my nieces too.

When I opened her box this morning, she greeted me with the unexpected comment, "Je n'ai rien à me mettre!"

Hmmmm... That is a phrase from my college French 100 class--is she telling me that she is French? Belge? Or maybe that she lived on a French-speaking island? She is a sea captain's daughter, after all, so she could very well have come by those pretty rolled r's naturally. I await further revelations from her.

Oh well--whatever else she is telling me, she is definitely saying that she doesn't have anything to wear for the weekend. So I made her a quickie little sun dress, as we are having a very balmy fall here after our cold summer. I think it's funny that lavender is turning out to be a good color for her to wear, while it's one of my least favorites (though I love lilacs.) And pink, my favorite color, does not look particularly good on her unless it's a greyed or brownish one. I guess this is proof I'm not forcing my tastes on her, but letting hers emerge as best I can.

Photo Shoot: Yren in the Garden

2009-09-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Yren lives in a hundred-year-old farmhouse and has a kitchen garden to play in, so here she is atop my son's prized pumpkin, and in the shade of the mulberry tree. Now that the pumpkin pic has been up awhile, I'm not liking it so well: too straight on, too stiff. Maybe I'll have a chance to shoot her there again before that pumpkin becomes a Halloween decoration and a pie.

And maybe she'll have clothes then too! In the meantime, thanks to my friend Terri of Reikidolls for the cute underpants.

Revelations

2009-09-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

The following post will be déjà vu for Monika, to whom I just wrote the exact same thing in an email! But I wanted to blog about it too. :-)

We speak often of getting to know our Enchanted Dolls... That means more than just learning to move their articulations properly and keep their wigs smooth. They have a way of letting us know important facts about themselves, and yesterday Yren succeeded in doing exactly that.

What she told me is that she is not a "morning" person! She'd rather sleep in--and then stay up late at night! Before I leave for work in the morning, I always go in and check on her to make sure she is comfortable for the day and to admire her a bit. But for some reason, she never seems quite herself at this early hour: the shadows under her eyes look heavier, as if she's just exhausted, and she seems to want to do nothing so much as to lie back down.

But I didn't get truly get her revelation until last night. Since I get up early, I'm tired at night and ready to go to bed early, but I like to have Yren by me on the nightstand for awhile before I go to sleep. And the little imp deliberately kept me awake! There she sat, giving me her prettiest and most beguiling looks, so that I could not resist smoothing her hair, and turning her face a little to the right, so that she looked straight at me, and thinking how darling she is--over and over. I was so tired and wanted to sleep, but I couldn't take my eyes off her.

If you want the whole picture, you have to imagine her sitting there in my Kleenex box, of all places! (And to help you out with that, here's a picture.)It's a secure place for her--she'd feel too precariously perched on the nightstand in one of her chairs, and she can't sit on the pillow beside me because my son is fond of dashing in to see me and he arrives with bounding leaps to the bed when he does. But the Kleenex box, half-full, fits her like an armchair with a very soft seat. And I've discovered that she likes playing this kind of game with human-size objects: to use a Kleenex box as her armchair, and a round basket for her papasan chair, she thinks is a very funny commentary on us great galumphing humans.

Oh yes, she can be an imp, despite that innocent expression! But the getting to know her is fun and full of surprises. Yren a night owl? I thought she looked more like the "pre-dawn-stroll-in-the-garden type" --who knew?