Note: Today’s post was originally written and published in November of 2012, on another website I own. I’m sharing it here as a “Throwback Thursday” so that you know my “sudden” interest in dolls is not new and not just a Covid obsession! This post is image heavy. In addition, there are a couple of pictures of an almost anatomically correct, nude doll below!
I thought I would show you a doll I made that was delivered to her owner last week! (Yes, sometimes I do things besides cook! LOL!)
This is Narin-Ja. She is an Ottoman Elf. All of the Ottoman Elf women are dancers, it is a major part of their tribal affiliation. In addition, Narin-Ja is trained as a gold-smith and makes beautiful jewelry and other ornamental items.
Basic Doll
Narin-Ja is made from my adaptation of the basic poppet doll pattern, and the Elenore Poppet pattern. She has a positionable head. It will turn right and left, and has some up and down movement. Her wig is removable so she can “dye” her hair other colors, and change the style. Her arms and legs are jointed with dental floss strung through her body and ball buttons inside each limb. Her fingers and toes are soft-sculpted and she can stand on her own.
Undressed, she looks like this.
Her eyes are hand painted, and she has eyelashes!
All of the Elf tribes live in a universe parallel to ours, and are able to cross over freely, although we don’t often see them because they are shy creatures (and are only 14 inches tall.) When the are in our universe, they dress as we do, and love to be fashionable. However, when they are engaged in tribal functions, they dress according to their tribal affiliation.
Tribal Clothing
This is Narin-Ja’s Tribal Outfit.
It consists of a tunic…
and Turkish Pants.
Over these, she wears a Ghawazee Coat which fastens in the front, shoes with pointed toes, a veil and a hat. She also has a face veil, but I didn’t take any pictures of her with it on before I gave her to her new owner.
Here’s a picture of the back of her Ghawazee Coat without the veil.
Basic Doll Clothes
All of my dolls always come dressed in undies and a robe. This is what Narin-Ja came dressed in…
It is a Kimono-style robe. Underneath the robe are her “undies”.
Her underwear is a strapless corset and bikini panties.
Explanation
The owner of this doll is in the SCA and the type of elf I chose to make reflects the owner’s SCA persona. She is a dancer, and she is also a jewelry maker. I chose to make the doll orange, because it is her favorite color.
If you would like to read more about the Ottoman Empire, you can start with the Wikipedia page here . From there, you can spend quite a bit of time researching clothing, and the SCA for more information.
If you would like to know more (a LOT more!) about poppet dolls, try searching on craftster.org. There is a huge amount of information, and lots of patterns, examples and tutorials. You can make your very own poppet doll! It isn’t that hard, and it’s a ton of fun. The patterns are free.
Enjoy!
Note: Craftster.org announced it's closure on December 2, 2019. At this time, I do not know where the Poppet Pattern is still available.