Serenity Oceana

Serenity's face is so beautiful and her body is so interesting. Yet I still felt she wanted arms to enhance the centaur aspect of her body. I gave her arms and attached her wing/fins to them. I also added some raggedy lace fins to her tail - she reminds me of the sea horses at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. They are really lacy and raggedy.

I glazed her eyes with dimensional glaze for shine, but I didn't want to fool around with her face any more. I gave her hand cut scales made from a milk bottle, that look rather mother-of-pearly, instead of using sequins.

So many "Serenity" quotes had already appeared in the journal so I did some searching and found some words I like.

Here's my favorite:

"I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want the consistency rather than the highs and the lows." ~ Drew Barrymore

Prince Charming - additions by MA

Prince Charming arrived here and after visiting the other dolls for a bit (and probably stealing a few kisses too) he told me that he really needed a stand, because it was awfully hard to kiss the girls when he kept toppling over! 

So my husband, being the woodworker in the family, created a nice wooden booth where the Prince would feel secure whilst smooching with the pretty women.

The Prince really thought his booth should be green, just like him because, after all, he didn't want to clash.  He gave his approval for some pretty fabric to decorate his booth and then decided that this kissing girls was making him really hungry.  A search through my stash yielded some flies, which made him a perfect lunch (no onions or garlic though, because he is quite conscious of his breath).  The lily pad Talitha made for him was a perfect addition to his booth too, along with some little green butterflies.

Now the Frog Prince is off to visit with Arlee in Calgary.  I wonder what adventures will await him there?

Lady C. Sebastian

I tried to convert the Egyptian love poem to what looked like hieroglyphs, then obscured them somewhat with dilute white and tan to make them look more aged. The poem has a translation as well:

I hear thy voice, O turtle dove-
The dawn is all aglow-
Weary am I with love, with love,
Oh, whither shall I go?

Not so, O beauteous bird above,
Is joy to be denied....
For I have found my dear, my love;
And I am by his side.

We wander forth, and hand in hand
Through flowery ways we go-
I am the fairest in the land,
For he has called me so.

The rose leaf is real, sealed with a diamond glaze, so i hope it only ages as a leaf should after millennia, rather than crumbling!




I must admit this was a bit more challenging as Lady Sebastian seemed to have everything she needed! Then i realized that as a traveller, amateur archaeologist and wandering soul, there was one thing she would have, need and treasure and that would be samples or fragments of the past.



Her notes reveal that as she shops the souks, she stumbles across clues for her search. Being a smart woman, she knows there are chances the offerings may be not what they seem. Even so, she buys (after much haggling of course, as money is starting to run low) what she thinks may be important to her journey of self discovery.




The fabrics are a small piece of weaving from my college days, and some ecoprint and wrapping scraps from my natural dyeing experiments.

The Spy

The Journal pages tell the story here. The words are very hard to read due to the white gel pen and the flash, so I'll tell the story of the pictures so you don't have to worry about reading the words.

Far beneath the waves, in the dark depths, the Queen roamed.

Amphritite, wondering from afar where the Queen was now, disguised one of her offspring in the form of a fish and sent her off into the deep to spy and learn what she could.

Amphritite's spy swam near and far, searching for signs of the Queen. She stayed near the bottom most days, but one evening, she ventured to the surface.

The Queens's minions where watching and saw this strange fish speaking with a two-legged woman.
They hid in the coral and when the fish returned they trapped her there to await the Queen.

What I did - I made the fish and beaded her fins and tail. I also added a starfish and broken shells and coral to the base of Talitha's large coral outcropping.

Raisa, Raisa, Russian Rose

Raisa, Raisa Russian rose

Has a blanket made of clothes

Too old to wear

Repurposed with care

For a traveling lady's repose

The Keeping Quilt

Raisa may be an it girl, but her family came to America from the old country with little more than the clothes on their backs. When those clothes wore out, the aunties and grandmas turned them into a quilt, passing down the stories of the family members with the fabric scraps. Raisa takes it with her on all her travels, bringing the old into the new.

Raisa's quilt is indeed made partly from old clothes, and though it is tiny, it is full of stories. I created it crazy quilt style and hand embroidered every seem. I also added a touch of feathers to her headband.

Anneelaw in south Texas

Anneelaw arrived and I was blown away by her uniqueness.

It was very challenging working on her.

She had already been to many great artists,

so it was difficult to come up with an idea

on what to add to this "lady of the lamp".

Here is a front view with all her additions so far.

This view shows the ribbons I added to her hair.

This photo shows her scissors charm and the round beaded charm

on her wrist.  She has another round beaded charm just like this

around her neck.

Added to her glass body is a fabric flower with a bead in the center.

The fabric flower has old lace added to it.

Two keys were added as embellishments.

One has the word LIFE on it,

and the other has faux diamonds on it.

Her journal pages were fun to create.

This first page has a photo of her with a ribbon.

It's hard to see the words on the ribbon, in the photo, but it says

"Some things a lady doesn't tell."

I think Mae West said that.

There is a song called Lady of the Lamp, sung by Donovan.

I added the lyrics on this page.

There are two more journal pages,

one of which lists the additions Anneelaw got while visiting me.

These are all of my additions....

1. button and ribbon on journal box to help open box

along with beaded fringe on front of box

2. round beaded embellishments to neck and wrist

3. scissors charm to wrist

4. two key charms

5. purple fringe arouond neck

6. fabric flower

7. nose stud

8. ribbons to crystal hair

It has been a joy to work on Anneelaw!

Yvonne