EAH Raven Queen & The Edgar Allan Poe Photography Challenge

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Dear and lovely readers, here is my second entry in the Edgar Allan Poe Photography Challenge.  For the last month, I kept thinking about the phrase for theme two : "spirits moving musically to a lute's well-tuned law."  What a beautifully eerie image.

My interpretation is more on the cute side of gothic.  Raven Queen is playing her guitar, rather than a lute, and summoning some spirits with her magic.  As attentive watchers of EAH will know, Raven Queen has been seen to have excellent control of her dark magic while playing the guitar. 

Raven Queen and her guitar were both repainted by me, the spirit faces are my BJD Supia Rosy.  The mosquito bite I incurred while taking this picture is still healing.  As always, thank you for looking. :0)

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Gothic BJD Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bridal Ballad"

The ring is on my hand, 
   

And the wreath is on my brow; 


Satin and jewels grand 


Are all at my command, 
   

And I am happy now

And my lord he loves me well; 
   

But, when first he breathed his vow, 


I felt my bosom swell— 


For the words rang as a knell, 
   

And the voice seemed his who fell 


In the battle down the dell, 
   

And who is happy now

But he spoke to re-assure me, 
    

And he kissed my pallid brow, 


While a reverie came o'er me, 


And to the church-yard bore me, 


And I sighed to him before me, 


Thinking him dead D'Elormie, 


"Oh, I am happy now!"

And thus the words were spoken, 
    

And this the plighted vow, 


And, though my faith be broken, 


And, though my heart be broken, 


Here is a ring, as token 
    

That I am happy now

Would God I could awaken! 


For I dream I know not how! 


And my soul is sorely shaken 


Lest an evil step be taken,— 


Lest the dead who is forsaken 
    

May not be happy now

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Notes:  This is my interpretation of theme IV of the Edgar Allan Poe photography challenge that I mentioned in my last entry.  I hadn't planned to illustrate the whole poem, but once I uploaded my pictures, a photostory seemed the best way to show the movement from superficial safety to real or imagined danger.   

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The Edgar Allan Poe BJD Photography Challenge

Hello dear and lovely readers, since my collaborative adaptation of "The Raven" has proven so troublesome, my partner (and author of this guest entry) created a smaller-scale challenge.  I'm sharing it here because I doubt I'm the only one who finds the subject matter inspiring.  The themes are as follows:

I. "It was night in the lonesome October of my most immemorial year"

II. "Spirits moving musically to a lute's well-tuned law"

III. "my life and my bride, in the sepulchre there by the sea, in her tomb by the sounding sea"

IV. "And I sighed to him before me, thinking him dead D'Elormie"

V. "A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young"

VI. "I am dying, yet I shall live."

VII. "And he was a passionate, and wild, and moody man, who became lost in reveries so that he would not see that the light which fell so ghastly in that lone turret withered the health and the spirits of his bride, who pined visibly to all but him."

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 I've been given leave to interpret the Poe quotes as I see fit, so we'll see how this new project goes.  Some things might lend themselves better to a contextual BJD illustration than others.  If any one happens to read this and decides to take on the photo challenge too, I'd love to see the results.  Thanks for reading, as always! :0)

 

 

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Canadian Gothic

Early this spring, I went on a trip and, while looking for a waterfall, happened upon one of the most haunting places I've ever seen.

Unfortunately, I could only get a few pictures of Roderick and his raven here.  The rest of the area was somewhat difficult to access, so it wasn't practical to take a BJD along.  However, I wanted to share what pictures of Roderick I could manage.
 

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Guest Post: The Snow Queen by Wiener-Blut

Once upon a time... Ah, that is not true, for the lady that is the hero of the story exists apart from time. 

She travels all around the globe, as fast as light, as silent as dusk, as cold as glaciers. For she is the Snow Queen, Lady of Ice and Cold, Great Duchess of Winter, The One That Sends Frost.

Alas, she was terribly lonely. Whenever and wherever she appeared, people always shut the doors and closed the windows, gathered around the fireplace and waited for her to go away.

“What shall I do? Truly, it is good they fear me, for I shall be feared; however, I need the presence of another creature to whom I may speak freely and expect an answer. Oh, how I wish there was a human who would appreciate winter like a do!” the Snow Queen sighed.

Now, my good reader, we have to leave the Snow Queen for awhile, for there is another person I wish to tell you about.

In a small village in the North of France lived a boy – or rather a young man, for he was no child, yet no grown man either – whose name was Julian. He was timid and quiet; he spent most of his days with books as his only companions. When his classmates started a snowball fight, he always backed away, saying that he had homework to do, and walked back home.

But he did not head home to do his homework, oh no! He stayed for long hours in the garden behind the house. It was a very special garden: one part of it was his late mother's vegetable garden, the second – her flowerbeds, and the third and last was an orchard. Julian liked that part the most. He always found the sight of snowy branches beautiful. Even as a child, he always played in there, pretending that he was a prince and the orchard was his palace. When he grew up, he found himself another pastime: he built castles of ice and snow, and decorated them with twigs, fallen leaves, or even holly berries.


That was what he was doing when the Snow Queen saw him. She had wandered there, tired of travelling and spreading the cold. As she was taking a walk around the village, she noticed the solitary boy. She wasted no time as she walked to him and asked:

“What are you doing?”

Julian looked up, noticing the lady. As he was a very polite lad, he answered:

“I am building a snow castle, madam.”

“Ah,”, she replied, “I see, but why are you doing so?”

“I do love snow, my lady,” Julian replied. He suddenly felt the cold breeze and shivered. He felt like he had already met her... He knew the stories of La Reine des Neiges, the mysterious lady wearing white and sending winter.

“Forgive me, my lady, may I ask you a question?”, he said after thinking for a while.

“Ask and you shall be answered,” she answered with a smile.
“Is it only my impression, or is the snow falling from under your coat...?”

The Snow Queen laughed, her laugh melodious and bright like the sound of clinking icicles.

“You are, indeed, a smart youngster. However, I do believe you meant to ask me whether I am the one who you think I am. I promised to answer you, and the answer is yes - I am the Snow Queen, and”, she smiled, “indeed, there snow is falling from under my coat. Now that I satisfied your curiosity, will you satisfy mine?”

“Of course, my lady,” murmured Julian, bowing his head.

“Very well. Do not be afraid, my dear. This is simply a friendly conversation between two polite and well-mannered beings. Now please tell me, have you ever thought of making a real castle in ice and snow? A palace so big it could befit a king with his whole court?”

Julian's eyes glowed.

“Oh, I have, my lady. It has been my dream since I was a child. Imagine the windows, thousands of windows made of purest ice, refracting sunlight; imagine the colonnade of icicles; the snow throne decorated with flowers of white frost... How marvelous, how magical would that look!”

The Snow Queen smiled.

“I must tell you, my dear, you have a vast imagination. Moreover, as I saw your snow castle, I can say you are talented. And – you have a spark,” she said, touching his cheek.

“I have an offering for you, young man. I would like you to come with me to my kingdom and build me a real ice palace. As an expression of my gratitude, I would  grant any of your wishes that lie within my power.”

“I will come with you, my queen”, Julian answered, “Even if you did not promise me to grant my wishes. My only wish is to be your official royal architect.”

The Snow Queen embraced him gently.  “So it shall be.”

~*~*~The End~*~*~

Somnifer's Note: Wiener-Blut is an internet friend and fellow doll and Poe appreciator.  She was kind enough to let me share her beautiful photostory on this humble little blog (my first guest post!), and I feel ever so privileged to be in collaboration with her.  I'll let her have the last word for this post.

Creator's Note:

"The Snow Queen" is one of my favorite fairy tales, although I have always felt more sympathy towards Kay and the Queen than towards Gerda. So here I am, writing my own version of the story (and taking photos in my garden :3 ).

The whole project would probably look a lot worse, or would not exist at all, if not for Somnifer. She inspired me, supported me, corrected all my grammar mistakes and added some magic to the photos :) Thank you, dear!

As for the dolls, Lorenzo's head is an Obitsu 1/6 doll female head 01 (white skin, silver hair), Julian's head is a Nenetl Dolls doll head N0001 (fleshtone skin, blonde hair). They both have Obitsu 1/6 doll 23 cm male bodies (it doesn't stop Lorenzo from pretending to be the Snow Queen ^^).

If you have any more questions, message me at wiener-blut.deviantart.com

Thanks for reading! I hope my story made your day a little brighter ;)

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BJD & Lolita Resolutions for 2015 and 2014 Review

My last post was back in the fall and focused on trying to be more active in the hobby after a long hiatus.  I'm happy to say that I have managed to do just that, though I haven't succeeded in documenting any of my dolling online.  Given my very limited energy, I have prioritized doing things over sharing them.  This is better than nothing, but not ideal.  I do hope to do a little better in the future-- after all, sharing is a huge part of any creative endeavour.

 Now, before I hazard resolutions for this year, I thought I would go over my goals for 2014 and see how I fared.

Last Year's BJD Resolutions

-To edit and post the photoshoot from which the above image is derived. 
By far the soonest accomplished of all my 2014 goals.

-To conclude a Once Upon A Time-inspired outfit for Elena.  Progress has been shockingly slow, but the end is (sort of) in sight. 
The picture at the top of this post is from my first photoshoot with that ensemble.  Even if the outfit has flaws, I consider finishing it one of my biggest triumphs of the entire year.

-To finish sewing and then to photograph a Frozen cosplay for Aurora. 
I think seeing so many beautiful Frozen cosplays discouraged me because I knew I'd never be able to make something as good.  I also underwent some sewing trauma with Elena's OUAT outfit, which definitely slowed down all my sewing projects.

-To complete the photography and editing of another Edgar Allan Poe adaptation.  This one is a collaboration :0) 
As I told one of my friends, I this project is becoming my Apocalypse Now.  It's still not finished. The Horror... The Horror...

-To continue modding Elena.  I have been quiet about this project because I am not yet convinced it will be successful. 
Her mods are not yet finished, but progress has been made & will continue.

-Possibly to update Marlowe's face-up. 
I forgot about this resolution.

-Possibly to find new eyes for Eric and Aurora. 
I also forgot about this resolution. >.<

-Possibly to lessen the dire infrequency with which my dA account is updated. 
Given the trouble I had with updating this blog, trying to update my dA account more seems absurdly ambitious. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice thought & I would still like to.

-Possibly to re-string Madeline, though the task is a dreadful one.
 Nope.  Mind you, this was never exactly high on the priority list.

-To take steps (for life in general) toward treating my condition as a chronic un-finisher. 
Hahahah. 

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BJD Resolutions for 2015

-To update my blog more often.

-To finish my Poe adaptation.

-To share my Ever After High repaints.

-To finish the Ever After High repaints that I haven't finished.

-To post the guest photostory that I want to share here.

-To continue with the progress on Elena's modifications.

-To (try to) fix the miniature teapot that broke tragically when I tried to move it.

-If not a Frozen cosplay, I would still like to make Aurora some kind of ethereal ice princess dress.

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Lolita Fashion Resolutions 2015

What's this?!  Do I honestly expect to do all those BJD-related things and attempt to exert myself in a tangent hobby?  Well, I'd like to try.

-Take more and better pictures of my coords.

-Make a cape with my own two hands.  It's not as though capes are particularly hard.

-Possibly attempt making my own print.  I designed one in the summer, and with a little tweaking, I think it could be a half decent gothic thing.

-Learn how to tie a bow that doesn't appear drunk.

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