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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I am stretched on your grave and will lie there forever

If your hands were in mine
I'd be sure they could not sever

My apple tree, my brightness
It's time we were together 

For I smell of the earth
And am worn by the weather

When my family thinks
That I'm safely in my bed

From morn until night
I am stretched out at your head 

Calling out to the earth
With tears hot and wild

My grief for the girl
That I loved as a child

Do you remember the night we were lost
In the shade of the blackthorn
And the chill of frost 

And thanks be to Jesus
We did all that was right 

And your maiden head still
Is your pillar of light

The priests and the friars
They approach me in dread
Because I still love you
My love and you're dead

I still would be your shelter
Through rain and through storm 

And with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm

So I am stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever 

If your hands were in mine
I'd be sure they could not sever 

My apple tree, my brightness
It's time we were together 

For I smell of the earth
And am worn by the weather

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 Notes: I first discovered "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" through the Abney Park song a number of years ago.  More recently, I have also discovered Sinéad O'Connor's older, but no less gorgeous rendition.  Upon having my socks knocked off, I learned that the lyrics are taken from a 17th century Irish poem.  Since then, I have wanted to do a BJD photostory as tribute.

What finally made me start the photostory was an enormous amount aggravation around my attempts to make another Edgar Allan Poe tribute.  As I mentioned in my last post, this Poe project is a collaboration, so there is some extra pressure.  I had started shooting and found that practically everything was garbage. 

Then, we had some rare snow in Vancouver, and to blow off some steam and do a less complicated project, I decided to try an interpretation of "I Am Stretched On Your Grave."  Since this is a poem, I wanted to keep things a little more abstract.  In "Ligeia," I tried to honour Poe's ambiguity.  Here, I wanted to push the ambiguity of what is real and imagined a little further. 

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Tea Time

* * *

Hello, dear and lovely readers!  After a long hiatus, I am back with some new pictures.  Eric and Emilia decided to have tea outside yesterday.  If you will observe carefully, they now have croissants and macarons.   

I have two or three things that I shall be quite excited to share here-- so, while this is a short post with casual pictures, meant to ease us out of hiatus, there will be more to come, hopefully before the end of the month.  :0)

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Essay Land

It's that time of the year again.  I blame my lack of recent updates on this situation of most direful essay-writing.

On the upside:

Iplehouse has released three interesting nYID boys (Justin is my personal favourite), and I might (might-- I said might!) soon be in the position to speak in a more informed way about Marina Bychkova's Enchanted Doll resin line. 

One may also notice a few books in my stacks that pertain to dolls.  Who knows, but perhaps I shall have some research-induced thoughts to share in the future.

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nYID Emilia in the Morning

I decided to try to take some better pictures of nYID Emilia.  Eric came to pay her a visit, and they seemed to like each other immediately.

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Box-Opening: nYID Emilia

After spending the night before last in a sleepless state of anxiety over whether nYID Emilia would arrive and what she would be like, the package arrived.

My excellent assistant, Mr. Black is helping to unwrap the box.

A first glimpse at all the treasures!

The box of clothes and the wig.

The inner box.

The nYID boxes are all glossy and snazzy compared to the EID boxes, but somehow, they feel a little more fragile.

With the lid taken off, I could see the nYID manuel for restringing, the CoA, and Emilia's head.

Another shot of Emilia in her box (sorry for the blurriness).

I took her out of the foam cushions and began to unwrap her packing.  Her peach-gold skin looks like some kind of hideous pink against the green blanket-- I can say this is not a very accurate representation of her real colour.

Detail of her blank face and shoulders.  

Inside her head-cap, which I think shows the peach-gold colour a little bit better (though in all honesty, this is kind of a magical colour that seems to change dramatically depending on the light and colour context).

A partial shot of the after-math:

After this, I started to work on her face-up.  As I may have mentioned, this was the first time I had ordered a full doll blank.  Initially, I felt concerned that I wouldn't be able to enjoy the experience.  There have been two (or three) box-openings that disappointed me hugely because the doll arrived with a face-up that I did not like.  Based on these precedents, I expected the worst.  

Instead, it simply felt as though the doll could not properly arrive until she ceased to be blank.  I did not even bother to try her dress and wig; all that I could think about was giving her a face.

So, I raided my art and face-up supplies and set to work.

Progress: basic blushing.

Progress: eye-brows.

Progress: more stuff done to eyebrows and blushing.

Progress: for how long can I avoid painting eyelashes?

Progress: I continue to avoid painting eyelashes.

By the time I finished the face-up, the sun had long set.  Only then did I try the outfit.

Iplehouse designed a stunning ensemble for their lady-- I feel incredibly lucky to have this outfit.

The purple is a beautiful, rich hue in person, and the jacket of the dress is rather swoon-worthy. 

Here is a first shot of nYID Emilia wearing her opera gown.  I am focusing on her hands because their aesthetic beauty is likely to have an edifying effect on even the most casual viewer.

And here she is!  I realize the face-up is not 'professional-quality' and that my technique has still many improvements to make, but considering that I have not yet seen any Emilia's with custom face-ups for inspiration, that the weather was very inadvisable for face-upping, and that I had never painted on this colour of resin before, I will admit myself to be pleased with the result. *puffs*

A quick close-up to deflate my ego >.<

Thank-you very much for looking!

* * *

Notes:  On the whole, I am impressed with nYID Emelia.  Although I did not have particularly low expectations for Iplehouse, Emelia is even more lovely in person than I anticipated.  As I worked on her face-up, I kept finding nuances in her sculpt that surprised and delighted me.  

The nYID body is wonderfully curvaceous and has many improvements from the EID female body.  I am so glad that Iplehouse changed the elbow joints.  They also made some kind of gear-like joint in the hips so that the nYID girls can sit straight better.  I had a bit of trouble with making Emelia stand, but I think this had a lot more to do with the weight of her wig and elaborate bustle-era dress, than with the doll itself.

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