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and a Prosperous New year!

Lily - Story Doll

百合

The Lily (bǎi hé)

The Lily is a symbol of summer and abundance, and some believe it represents "forever in love" or one hundred years in love. The lily is used as a lucky charm and the Chinese maintain that it averts the effects of the evil eye upon them. It is said to help a person forget his troubles.

 I have always loved creating the flowers for my Story Hats! These designs are of my own making and are not part of the traditional Chinese hats. It is stepping out of the box or expanding the box...push push..that I find such great pleasure and within that continued inspiration.

Close up

Lily is sculpted head in stone clay overlaid with silk crepe, body is crepe silk lined with cotton batiste. Her face has hand-painted eyes and embroidered eyebrows. Shading with pastel chalks.

For this pieces, I decided to embroider the center front of the top. The top and vest are both embroidered with a cross stitch using a variegated thread. 

For color balance, the interior of both the top (warm color) and the vest (neutral color) are in a polished cotton-fairy frost (lavendar- cool color). Two little pearls are the vest closures.

Since all the fabrics were of no print, I added embroidery in a delicate manner. Here below on the sleeve, complimenting the pattern as on the top front.

The pants legs hold the traditional geometrical style of pattern. Shoes of wool lined with a deeper shade of lavendar from the  cotton as the top and vest.

The Lily Hat + one more!

The Lily Hat base is of print on print woven black silk. The flowers were designed as individual petals in dupioni silk, using a heavy weight stabilizer. Then each stitched into a "standing" position and then all stitched together to create one flower. The stamens are hand-dyed silk ribbon.

The large leaves are a subtle striped dupioni with an embroidered center stem and backed with a metallic cotton. The band is a Chinese silk brocade framed with vintage metal cording.

A few years ago, I started to make just the hats for collectors, who either already owned a doll or wished just to have the hats!

One more!

This was a special order for a collector who already had one of my pieces but loved the lily hat! This hat flower was designed in bright tones of magenta that I hand-dyed the silk to give a variegated expression. Here I used vintage stamens in green tipped yellow and gold.

The leaves are all dupioni. I quilted the leaves to created the look of a leaf pattern. I love the band on this piece, it is from a wee scrap of vintage metallic kimono fabric. I enhanced the center front with small sequins (from Australia). Band framed with vintage gold cording.

Interior lined with Chinese silk flower brocade. You can see the stitches of quilting that was done on the hat base.

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To read more about flower Story Hats...

Link here to About this Doll -  Lotus..

Seahorse

In the last few years, while diving, we see (or should I say find after hunting for a bit) Seahorses. They are in grassy and somewhat shallow areas and blend in so beautifully to their surroundings.

I find them to be remarkable little creatures. They seem so very fragile holding on by their long skinny tails while being pushed and pulled within the current...sometimes even being nudge flat by the rapid current along the sandy bottom, then *pop* off they go...although territorial and hold close to their area.

Here are a couple photos from Cozumel MX...

The Seahorse symbolizes unity, harmony and love.

This tiny creature also represents balance in life and in nature.

 It is the only known species that the males give birth to the babies.

They encompass all that is nurturing and giving.

Story Dolls©: Leslie Molen

 Photography©: Mark Mortensen

I love the water, I find it nurturing and life giving...it is remarkable, wondrous and peaceful. I like being under it...within it...more so than swimming on top looking down into it.

With this love of water came a great need to create a Seahorse...

My color selection was based on the reef colors of Cozumel where you find these little ones. I chose a soft watery aqua with rusts of the nearby soft sponges...

Opening her vest (like a book) inside you will find the Seahorse legend in English and mirrored in Chinese on the other side.

Close Up of Costume Design

After years of interest and much study of Chinese design and legends, I know that the Southern areas of China decorative designs are more geometrical, in keeping with that, I embroidered using a variegated thread along the vest and pants edges.

The sleeve and skirt edge have a grassy leaf design in the rusty-copper. 

The interior of the jacket is in a copper silk with soft small aqua flowers.

Shoes are of linen lined with an aqua cotton. 

Small vintage triangular beads for closures.

One design element I like to use, is a pop of color or the unexpected on the soles of my dolls...here I used a Japanese-print cotton. I feel all angles of the doll are important and deserve extra attention.

Close Up of Hat Design

So I looked online for Seahorses and looked and looked...so many wonderful images! From there was able to draft a pattern. I used silk for the main bodies and a little scrap of vintage kimono for the tummy areas. For lightness of their fins I used a  tulle on the back dorsel and vintage netting around the head fins. Vintage sequin adorn around the head.

I wanted to make a pair since they mate for life...

I wanted them nestled in a bed of soft sea-grass

The the grass sitting on top of the brocade silk band of  ocean colors - 

deep aqua and rust with a sandy gold.

Interior is silk of bright reds, rusts, 

soft aqua, and gold in a diamond pattern.

Seahorse are unusual in that

the male carries and delivers the eggs. 

- notice the entwined tails!

 

Usagi Mimi- new rabbit pattern

Once upon a time...

I created Meow Meow Neko read more here...

For many years...

on the sidelines, I have had Meow Meow's buddy, Usagi Mimi sitting there waiting...patiently...

Usagi Mimi- Long Ears

Our focus for this new Usagi pattern is on making your own eyes for your doll which will be added into the doll's needle-sculpted head. The body construction is for a doll that can sit or be hung. Usagi's costuming is in the kimono hime style*- taking the traditional and cute-ing it up!

This doll was about using the great Japanese import cotton chirimen-crepe like fabric for her kimono top. Even though the print is large, I offset it using the design to balance out with the skirt design and shape.

I choose three bright pinks as accents which are in her ears, her obi, and the ruffles on the pants. For her pants I used this great metallic gold cotton to balance out the brightness and pick up the gold-tones within the kimono top fabric.

White eyelet peeps out as the underskirt to balance out the white of Usagi's velvet color. Black shoes help ground her accenting the eyeliner and her kimono color. A nice contrast- the black and white.

Close up:

*The main focus of the Kimono-Hime style is to create a modern-vintage vibe with your outfit, combining antique kimono and obi with modern western accessories.

Her kimono was made from chirimin fabric

I purchased from Japan

Vintage Kimono fabric for her obi

lines with the same liner fabric of the top

The liner, I used a Japanese cherry blossom print

 

Great eyelet that I had for her underskirt

I especially love these pants in a golden Japanese flower print 

with the ruffles of vintage kimono.

Pattern is now available at
Dollmaker's Journey!