Oh so rare

I love this doll for many obvious reasons like her face and patina, but one reason for sure would be her fabric. This is one of the rarest of the rare mid 18th century fabrics that one can find today. It is a early painted Indian cotton print. In its day, this import fabric was not costly like silks and would have been far more utilitarian in use. Because so little of it has survived today, its become such a rare treasure.

Early 18th century elegance

I think this doll has a wonderful patina and wonderfully expressive eyes. Makes you wonder what she is thinking?

UPDATE: I received a lovely compliment on this doll from a follower of our blog. She wrote:

Greetings,
All so lovely...
Re: Early 18th century elegance - she is so beautiful, she looks like an angel. Her eyes are incredible - she almost looks sad, but it is a beautiful sadness. I wonder what the person who made her was thinking?

______________________

Always a lovely compliment when one of our dolls is mistaken for a original antique and truth be told, it happens a lot, but this lovely lady with her very convincing patina was made by David about a year and a half ago so she is just a babe in years. Thank you for the compliment!

A very unusual and rare doll

We based this very unique doll on a antique example of a very rare 18th century wooden.

A very rare very early German wooden

We were asked to dress this extremely rare and very early German wooden. To our knowledge, we have never seen another like this one. Note her very unusual neck pinning which allows her to nod her head up and down. Her body also has a carved stomacher carved right into the dolls torso which we followed when making the bodice. We were very pleased with the way this dolls dress turned out as was her owner.

More mid 18th century elegance

Hello everyone: In my last post and e-mail that I sent out about my newest wooden that I was so pleased with, I mentioned that she did not work with the rare 1750's aqua silk, silver stomacher and shoes I made which I had planned on dressing her in.
I have now finished the doll for the 18th century aqua and silver fabric from a court dress and the silver stomacher and this time, the fabric and colour are perfect for my new doll.
Our friend Ulla (Ullabenulla blog) to compliment the last doll and agreed that the aqua fabric was not her colour.
Paul wrote her back and said.........

"Glad you enjoyed seeing the new doll and you are right... the aqua silk with the silver metallic just did not do her justice. This vexed David something terrible and he had made that lovely stomacher and an exquisite pair of tiny shoes in aqua silk for the doll. What to do? Well if you are David, you sit down and craft a sister doll with all of the same qualities as the first one but with a more subtle palette, paler skin tone and decoration, carved specifically to fit the existing clothing elements and to compliment that exquisite and rare 18th century court dress taffeta. And that is exactly what we did! He finally finished her last evening. Did she ever turn out beautifully. I'm sure David will be taking lots of pictures of her so you will see her soon."

Paul was right, I love this doll and so here are all those photos he said I would be taking....
Not only is the aqua and silver silk mid 18th century but so is the stomacher fabric and so is the really exquisite lace on the doll as well. She even has her Old Pretenders mask in hand in a couple of the photos.
Hope everyone enjoys seeing her.

Best Wishes: David