My additions to Lady S

I directed most of my attention to a marathon writing session and creating the journal. However I did make some small additions. I created Egyptian looking water lily motifs using cut out corner punches, hand altered, and some gemstones to make her gown more special, added a scarab beetle charm to her wrist (genuine Egyptian given by Jayn's friend whose Mom is from Egypt - sorry no photo) and hand sewed a gallibaya that I think would fit the doll if she were not already dressed. Altered Gallibaya's are mentioned in the journal, as the clothes that Lady S is now wearing for comfort when not in her fancy costume.

Lady Sebastian's mysterious journal

I found this picture of a cat lady from the right era of Lady Sebastian, and I swear she looks just like Talitha!

There is definitely some kind of conspiracy going on to prevent Lady Sebastian from tracking down her father and the Lost Temple of Sekhmet. I'm convinced that the month she lost, apparently spent in the temple, is amnesia from post hypnotic suggestion.

She continues to search and find artifacts and fabric swatches along the way. Meanwhile her journal definitely looks like it has been unearthed by someone years later.

I believe I know how Lady S's story ends...it involves fulfilling the prophecy at the temple.

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.

Lady Sebastian visits Ontario, Canada

I hope Lady Sebastian enjoyed her visit here with me because I know I certainly enjoyed having her around!  She and I decided that she really wanted to have her dress painted while she was here and she picked some beaded trim out of my stash, along with a cat charm to add to her apron.  She spied an old ring in my stash and wanted it for an arm band and also wanted a spear (or maybe it's a walking stick to use as she travels through Egypt looking for her father).

We then turned our attention to recording in her journal.

The page above was created using painted textured wallpaper as the background, some tyvek painted and heat shrunk, a painted scarab bug (Lady S wasn't so sure about the "icky" bug), and some Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

This page was painted watercolour paper for the background.  The cat and her wing were a cat button I painted and antiqued and the wing was a metal charm.  The sun was lurking in my stash and reminded Lady S. of the heat in Egypt.  Of course there is lots of gold in Egypt, so there is a string of gold nuggets too.

The final spread was created using some of my rusted fabric for a background.  The artifacts on the right are rubber stamped on hot glue and then antiqued.

Now she's off to Calgary to visit with Arlee!

Lady S - Stranger & Stranger

Yep, things keep getting stranger for Lady Sebastian. Now she's woken to find herself sporting an Egyptian dress with a bustle of golden feathers.




Her dress and feathers are paper mache. I couldn't decide how to decorate her dress, so I left that for MA or Arlee to decide. Her wings aren't attached yet and her apron is tied on with a ribbon and removable.



I hung a hand charm at the end of her arm, along with a homemade charm that's meant to be the note she found when she awoke in the temple. More can be hung from her wrist loop if anyone is so inclined.


And here's my journal entry with a bit more added to the story.

My part of the story reads:

4 January 1922

Things get stranger and stranger…

I awoke as from a deep sleep - still at the temple, but (as I discovered on my return to the hotel) having lost an entire month. Stranger yet, I found myself clad not in my usual dig clothing, but in a beautiful Egyptian sheath adorned with a wondrous bustle of golden feathers like those in my new wings. In my hand I clutched a penned note saying:

“Fear not, and have faith.
Your father is safe.
As are all who await
your ecclesiastical fate.”

What in the world is going on here?! What more can happen to me as I continue on this journey?

Now to get Lady S mailed off to MA in Canada!

Lady S. receives arm and more

Lady S arrived in south Tx.

with some amazing additions already.

I added the following...

feathers to her beautifully done wings (by Amy),

a right arm covered in vintage fabric,

a long horse hair braid,

feathers and beads to her hair

a poncho with a vintage button on the front

 (the poncho holds up her wings btw),

brown and copper paint on her body,

The braid is intertwined with a sheer purple ribbon.

This pic above shows the beautiful colors of her wings.

The Isis necklace that Amy gave her is now wrapped around

a recycled sari yarn collar.

I also aged the necklace with a bit of paint.

Lady S. is transforming,

as her journal explains.

She has arrived in Egypt

and the year is 1922.

Is it all a dream?

Where is her father?

Did the Horus mask she purchased

put some sort of spell on her?

Egypt is a land of great mystery.

As she catches a glimpse of herself

in a reflection,

she realizes then,

that this is NOT a dream.

What happens next?

Lady S. travels to Gail in North Carolina

to continue her story,

and for more additions.

Yvonne

in South Texas

Lady Sebastien Takes Flight

Lady Sebastian, while waiting for the day of her departure, wandered the streets of New York. On one of these wandering walks, she encountered an import/export business that had Egyptian artifacts which had just arrived. She entered and was astounded at the beauty of the artifacts. One, in particular, struck her, and she decided she must have it. It was a mask, in the likeness of Horus, the winged one.

She returned to her rooms immediately to examine her treasure. "It is just magnificent! Oh, I wish Father could see it!"

She fell asleep, and dreamed.
In her dreams, she was soaring high above the earth.

Oh! She had wings! She could feel the wind ruffling her hair. But, wait - it seems that there are feathers!

"Can it be? I have such keen eyesight!" She exclaimed.
"Oh, wingless daughter - of course it can. You have assumed my form and can fly wherever you will." The voice sounded deep and foreign in her head.


Lady Sebastian arrived and her form immediately spoke to me of a bird. I fought the impulse for a while before seeing a picture of the winged gods and goddesses in Talitha's journal. I found golden wings and painted them to resemble the wings in the funerary paintings in all of my books on the archeology of Egypt.

I painted Lady S's body with gesso and covered her head with paper clay to form her face and textured the hair to make it more feather like. I added paper clay feet as well. Her hair was painted brown and gold and she was given blue eyes and kohl eye-makeup in the style of the Egyptian masks. She has a beak-like mouth to suggest a birdlike visage and she has a necklace with the winged god's charm. Her wings are not attached currently, as there would be no way to clothe her.

ready to mail

page 3

page 2

page 1

Journal cover.

Made from a glue mixture and tissue paper with a fabric binding.
Lots of texture in this journal. Fun to run your fingers over the pages.


Lady Sebastian ready to go on her adventure.
Her final treatment was to use a glue mixture and tissue paper with a little paint to give her a nice color and texture. Maybe one of you will give her another arm:-)
I'll be packaging Monday and mailing Monday or Tuesday.
So exciting!
I can't wait to get Robyn's doll.
Robyn, would you like to drive her over and have a visit?

Lady Sebastian mummy stage

Here she is almost ready. My daughter rightly said she looks like a mummy:-)
I crafted her body over the wire skeleton using a glue mixture and pages torn from the journal.

my doll start

This is the skeletal structure for Lady Sebastian, Amateur Egyptologist. She started with a wire hanger and is resting on her journal which began as a composition book because I love the size and have them on hand. I am in the process of decoupaging everything. One goal I have for this project is to avoid buying anything new, but rather create from my stash. If you're anything like me, you have tons of fabulous supplies just waiting for a purpose. More as I go:-)
Talitha