My Thoughts on Carpatina's and A Girl For All Time's Newest Releases

Hello everyone, I don't usually see people talking much about Carpatina or A Girl For All Time. Mostly the posts I've seen are talking about AG, so I thought I would dedicate a post to sharing my thoughts about Carpatina's and A Girl For All Time's awesome new releases (including Emma, because I never talked about her when she was rereleased).

(screenshot taken from the official Carpatina doll site: https://www.carpatina-dolls.com/collections/pre-production-offers/products/louis) 

The first thing I noticed when I looked at a picture of Louis was that he had a different face mold than James (I renamed my James doll, Alfred) or Stephen, his face felt wider than the others. I think the reason for doing this had to do with the fact that the historical figure they were basing the doll on had a different facial shape:

(image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France#/media/File:Description-de-l%27entree-Du-Roy-et-de-la-Reyne-Paris_MG_1114.tif) 

Louis looks very similar to this portrait of King Louis the 14th, and I think Carpatina did a good job putting his personality and characteristics into doll form. Now, as for Louis's two wigs, which are removable, I find it very interesting because I thought at first that the brown wig was put over the auburn one, but it appears that you remove one to put the other one on. Since I don't have a Louis doll, I can neither confirm nor deny whether that is the way it works, but I am judging from what Carpatina said in the description. The cool thing about having two wigs is that you can always add a third one in, which adds a way to do quick customization without actually hurting the doll. As for the outfit, I love the style of it, and I like the style of the buckled shoes. The shoes are different from James' because of the time period difference and because of the fashion that was popular during King Louis' reign. As a whole, I am excited that they made another boy doll!

 (All three screenshots of Emma from the official Carpatina doll site, https://www.carpatina-dolls.com/collections/pre-production-offers/products/emma)
Emma was actually rereleased around the time I found out about James. I didn't really talk about her much at the time, because I was focused on the fact that a colonial boy doll was being released. Emma is a time traveller, who according to the description travels to the 1600s during Louis the 14th's reign (which is rather cool to have a girl doll and a boy doll who are from or time traveling to that time period in French history). Unlike the other girl dolls I have seen, she has two dresses (and a underdress), one from the modern time, and one from the 1600s. The 1600s dress is my favorite of the two, since the 17th century is one of my favorite time periods.

(image from the official girl For all Time website, https://www.agirlforalltime.com/collections/a-girl-for-all-time/products/elinors-surcoat-and-gown) 

Speaking of the 17th century, Girl For All Time recently gave Elinor (a doll from Shakespeare's time period), a new outfit, which looks beautiful on her. As a person who loves the Elizabethan era, I love that they are giving Elinor more clothes and accessories.

(image from the official Girl for All Time doll site, https://www.agirlforalltime.com/collections/elinor-your-elizabethan-girl-doll/products/elinors-cat-shakes)  

This cat reminds me of Caroline's cat Inkpot, except that he is named Shakes after William Shakespeare, one of my favorite playwrights! If you didn't know already I am a huge Shakespeare fan, and the fact that a cat is named after William Shakespeare in the Girl for All Time brand makes me so happy. And since her story is set in Elizabethan England (even though there hasn't been a release of it yet), it makes me wonder which of Shakespeare's plays will be mentioned in her story, and if there will be part of the book where Elinor visits the Globe Theatre! If there is a scene where she goes to the theatre, it would be awesome!

             

(Image from the official  Girl of All Time website:
https://www.agirlforalltime.com/ (downloaded may 20 2019)) 

As it turns out, Girl For All Time is releasing a boy doll, though he is from the 21st century (and I much prefer historical boy dolls and girl dolls). Although I find it exciting because this might mean that historical boy dolls will be released in the future. If there was a boy side character, who was friends with one of the girl characters, it would be awesome if they made a doll of him.  Anyway, I am excited to find out what releasing a boy doll means for future releases at A Girl For All Time.

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Do you have a favorite release from the ones I mentioned? Do you prefer 17th century France or England? 

Love,
Quinley

Custom Doll Project: Titania

Hello everyone.
I thought I would share another custom doll project, which I finished.
In this doll project I didn't use a reference for how the character looks, though there have been multiple versions of the character, Titania, from Shakespeare.
I decided I would do my version of Titania instead of someone else's.
So let's begin:

This doll always reminded me of Titania, so I thought 

I would turn her into Titania, with a little repainting. 

(But with no nail polish remover, I have not yet figured out 

how to safely use it on a doll without accidentally removing a layer of plastic.

So if anyone has done this successfully on one of their dolls, I would love to hear about it

in the comments.) 

The first thing I did was paint over her lips, 

and make them redder. 

And then I took a gold paint marker, and began dabbing gold 

spots underneath her eyes. 

The next thing I did was to paint a crown onto her head, 

which was inspired Boudica. 

And took a white paint marker and covered over her existing irises. 

And then started making my own, which were in a different place 

than the original. 

Then I took a green paint marker which was more vibrant than her original eye color

and began painting it over. 

I then added in red parts at the corners of her eyes to 

make it look more realistic. 

The first time I added the pupils in, it didn't look right, 

so I waited for it to dry and painted over them with green.

I then painted on yellow and gold eye liner and eyeshadow. 

I then added reflections in the eyes, by adding white dots,

and made her bottom eyelashes more visible. 

Once I finished painting over her existing paint, 

I used Mod Podge to stop it from scratching off. 

I found out later, that the Mod Podge had a gloss finish, 

but it felt perfect for her, since Titania is an immortal fairy. 

Next I began working on her outfit, 

I used brown felt and began gluing on silk leaves and flowers. 

Next I glued on two pipe cleaners, and started adding on silk 

 leaves. 

While working on her wings I also glued on 

some sequins. 

And then I glued the wings onto her dress. 

Before:                                            After:

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Which character from A Midsummer Night's Dream is your favorite?

Have you ever done a full doll repaint before? 

Love, 

Quinley 

Welcome Home Maryellen and Willa

  Hi everyone, finally I wrote a doll welcome home photo story!!!!
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 Bam!!

I turned around, “Uhh..are you alright Viola?” I asked.

“The famous Shakespearian actress Viola is fine!” said Viola, emerging with a giant tree which was twice her size. 

“How art thou, Sarah?” she asked, trying to sound Shakespearian. 

“Umm..Fine’th” I answered, Trying to sound as Shakespearian as possible…but judging from Viola’s expression I had failed…

“Now anyway, why don’t we put up the tree?” I asked.

“Of course fair Sarah” replied Viola, I was not quite sure what to say to that, so I got the ornaments out and started decorating the tree. Just as put I up one of the ornaments, there was a loud knocking on the door.

“I’ll get it” I said, it was probably the mailman. I opened the door, and two girls were standing there, they both had strawberry blond hair, and hazel eyes. 

“Hi” said The older girl. “We were looking for a girl named Quinley? Do you know her? Are we at the right house?”

There was a silence, then I replied…

“Yes you are at the right house, I’m Sarah, this is Viola” I said, gesturing to Viola. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Maryellen this is my little Sister Willa.”  said Maryellen. The girl next to her shyly waved but didn’t seemed to be paying attention. It was like she was thinking of something else. 

“Anyway, you must be cold. She can come in,” I said, opening the door.

Maryellen and Willa, walked in. Willa took off her hat, which revealed a cute bunny ear headband she was wearing. Maryellen took of the shawl she was wearing, then helped Willa get out of jacket and scarf.

“So…” I said. “Why are you looking for Quinley?” 

Maryellen looked up, “oh…” she replied, she was quiet for a minute.

She explained her whole adventure to get there…it was long and dangerous. 

“Sounds like something from one of Shakespeare’s plays” said Viola.

Maryellen looked somewhat confused when Viola said that. I leaned over and said “She likes Shakespeare, if you are wondering.” 

“Oh,” replied Maryellen smiling. “I’m sure I’ll get along just fine."

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I hope you liked the story, anyway way here are some pictures of Maryellen and Willa:

Love, 

Quinley 

Ophelia (a photo shoot)

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what do you think? which photo is your favorite?

Shakespeare! post by Viola

Hello everyone Viola here, or should I say friends, romans country men, lend me your ears.

so...guess what today I found this on google :

(Image from Google Doodles,
https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-william-shakespeare)

William  Shakespeare!!! 

today we are celebrating Shakespeare's death. 

He has created  so many plays, such as.

Hamlet Prince of Denmark , Hamlet is Shakespeare's famous 

tragedy and his longest play, it's about a prince named Hamlet who 

is trying to get his kingdom back from his uncle! 

Twelfth Night  that's one of my favorites, fair Viola has lost her brother Sebastian at sea,

Viola thinks Sebastian is dead and Sebastian thinks Viola is dead. Viola has a plan though, 

           she will disguise  herself  as a boy  and go by the name Cesario.

Romeo and Juliet A love story (Which I would put in the category Tragedy) of Fair Juliet and Handsome Romeo falling in love, but they can't get married because their families have been enemies for so many years.... 

As You Like It     *Ahem* Rosalind and her cousin Celia, are watching a boxing match, Rosalind has fallen in love with the young boxer. Surprisingly he wins. but they are unable to marry, and Rosalind is banished from the kingdom. But she has a plan, she and Celia will disguise themselves as a sister and brother.  Rosalind dresses up as a boy because she is taller. Rosalind takes the name Ganymede, and Celia takes the name Aliena. Together they go off into the forest.

The Tempest  Fair Miranda and her father are lost on a deserted Island. Luckily her father Prospero has a spirit for help,Ariel....

These are a few of my favorite plays and Happy Shakespeare...er...day

-Viola