Ella Saturday

Here is 'Ella Saturday'. This is the doll I made for the Doll Street Dreamers Discworld Challenge. The Discworld series was written by Terry Pratchett, and before the challenge, I was totally unfamiliar with his work. A bit of hurried research (bless you, google!) and I discovered the character of 'Ella Saturday' who is a minor character in 'Witches Abroad'. I was taken with the description of Ella as a kind of alternative-reality Cinderella with dark skin and pale hair and decided she was the gal for me. She is also known as 'Emberella' or 'Embers' and unlike her Brothers Grimm forbear, she actually liked her position!

I have also posted an update of 'Ophelia' with all the finishing touches completed - they were quite minor - you may not notice!

Ophelia

I have joined a rather wonderful online group called ADO art dolls only, which was started as a networking group for artists who sell their work on Etsy. The group is quite active and has been promoting a few challenges to help get the creative juices flowing - one of the challenges is "Much ADO about Shakespeare" - the challenge being to create a doll of a character or characters from the plays of the Bard himself. I have always wanted to do an 'Ophelia' - here was the catalyst - but I didn't have too much time to get it done. I compromised by making a bust mounted on a piece of weathered turned wood that I found on the beach (been saving it for years - knew I'd use it one day!)

Here is the finished piece - head is paperclay with cloth overlay painted with acrylics; hair and cap are cotton, stiffened and painted, and the fabbric at the neckline is silk.