layers

White Princess Dress with Rainbow Skirt

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A white gown with a sweetheart neckline and off-the-shoulder poofed sleeves. The bodice is covered with a lacy pattern, and different colors of gemstones scattered along the edge and trailing down towards the waist. The full skirt is covered with seven layers, one for each color of the rainbow, with red near the waist, then orange underneath it, then yellow, green, blue and finally purple. Each layer is longer than the one before, and they split at the front of the gown to reveal the white underskirt, with its lacy pattern, which reaches to the floor.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Hello, everyone who’s still reading! You’ll be glad to know I’m doing well and really enjoy being a mom. Milo is a good-natured, active, curious little boy and every day with him brings something new and wonderful. There are frustrating days too, of course, and around here my suggesting to Brian “Why don’t you take Milo for a walk?” is essentially code for “Please please please let me have a baby break.” So Brian takes baby to the cafe and gets some iced coffee. Daddy gets coffee, a walk and baby time, mommy gets some breathing room and a chance to relax, and Milo gets fussed over by everyone Brian encounters. It’s win-win!

Milo has been a little high-maintenance, especially from around his third month, when he always wanted mommy there to play with him or at least look at him constantly. But in the last week or two, he’s become more able to play by himself as long as I’m nearby. He sleeps better sometimes, too, and then I get all hopeful about life again, and then he goes back to waking up three times a night… but I can see a future where I routinely sleep for an uninterrupted five, six, maybe even seven hours a night! The upshot is that I’m starting to have a little time and energy to think about amusing myself with non-baby related pursuits.

I’ve said it before, but I want to improve my drawing skills, especially drawing people; I’ve been practicing with a book RLC of Paper Thin Personas recommended, and for the first time in my life I can draw ears properly! I also want to keep drawing for this blog — I don’t think a goal of one post a week is too much? My dad has offered to watch Milo on Thursdays when he can, and our first time trying that out was a smashing success.

I’ve got a lot I want to do, as I always do, but for now I’ll start small. Though this dress can’t be described as small, can it? No, this dress says “Hurrah for new shades of Prismacolors! Hurrah for rainbows and poofy gowns! Hurrah for daddy holding Milo while he sleeps so I can draw! Hurrah for enough rest that I’m drawing instead of curling up and falling fast asleep!”

Wondering how Milo’s turning out? Well, enjoy some pictures! We have Milo wearing a shark outfit (never fails to amuse me, because he has the same approach to food as a shark does), Milo playing with his favorite green ball, and Milo smiling in his sleep.

Mermaid Monday #17: Layered Wedding Gown with Pink Pearls, For A Mermaid-Human Wedding

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

It happens, sometimes, that a mermaid falls in love with a human: maybe with a sailor, a brave seventh son, or maybe a shipwrecked prince. There are some that choose to keep their mermaid form (the houses built by such couples, designed to be comfortable for both sides, are architectural marvels) but many choose to pay a mystic for the spell that will grant them a pair of legs instead. Sometimes the love-struck mermaid forsakes the seas as part of her payment; sometimes she keeps her options open. Wherever the relationship may end up in ten years time, at any rate the wedding that starts it off is always a sight to behold.

I’ve written about traditional mermaid weddings, with their motifs of red seaweed and tattered gowns, but what looks romantic to mermaids just looks ragged to humans. Sometimes the bride will brook no compromise whatsoever, going with a dress that could just as easily be worn for a traditional mermaid wedding, except that it is the length humans expect for their weddings. These gowns will be the traditional bright red and have tattered edges, but they may also have more fabric than is considered practical or fashionable for an underwater wedding, just because the designer can get away with billowing skirts and so on on land. Such gowns are breathtaking, if unconventional to both humans and mermaids. But most such brides harbor romantic dreams of a human-style white wedding dress. (There’s a word in the mermaid language for the oddballs obsessed with human culture: our closest translation might be something like “xenophiliac” or “human otaku.”) As this bride did, they may include red accents or other reminders of the sea, perhaps as a nod to their heritage, perhaps just to keep their mothers happy.

I decided to go back to just the dresses in the thumbnails after all. Thanks, everyone for bearing with my experiment and giving your opinions!

No one has guessed the right answer to my question yet. This time, there are only 365 choices, so it should be possible. (I didn’t get married on Leap Year’s Day — no, that doesn’t count as today’s clue!)
What day is my wedding anniversary?
Post your guess in the comments! Again, the rules:
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter.
2) One guess per person per day.
3) If no one gets the exact date by 9:00 PM EST, June 9th, I’ll pick the closest guess.
4) I’ll give one hint each day the contest goes on.
– Today’s hint: It was in the summer.

This is my second mermaid-on-land dress in a row for Mermaid Monday. Shall I do a proper one with a tail next week, or shall I show you a traditional mermaid wedding dress adapted to land?

poll by twiigs.com

White and Pink 1930s Style Evening Gown with Rhododendrons

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Got started a little late today, so this dress isn’t my favorite, but it’s reasonably cute, I think. It’s supposed to be in the style of 1930s evening gowns, although it’s not based on any one dress. (So as always with the historical costumes that I pretty much make up, take the style, color, etc. with a grain of salt.) The rhododendrons come from some pictures my dad posted on Facebook of wild rhododendrons blooming around my family’s property on Hood Canal. Whenever I go to visit I always seem to miss seeing them bloom, so it’s nice to have pictures at least!

Every day that goes by makes me feel crueler and crueler. Someone, guess the answer soon! A couple people have come really close, but the exact number is still a mystery. But at least you know it’s under 1000 and — OK, above 200. I know, that’s not really much help…

Question: How many Prismacolor pencils do I own as of May 18th?
This includes the ones that I use, all the stubby little pencils that are too short for my current sharpener but I just can’t toss, all the ones I have in reserve and my set of Verithin pencils I hardly ever use.

Just to restate the rules:
1) It’s a new year, so even if you’ve already won one, feel free to guess again.
2) One guess per person per post.
3) If no one gets the exact number by noon EST, May 25th, I’ll pick the closest guess.

May Birthday Dress in Green and White with Emerald Brooch and Lilies of the Valley

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Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Now all of you born in different months are going to have some words for me, aren’t you? Or maybe some words with me. I don’t know which preposition makes it sound more severe. Well, green is a calming color, right? Look at the pretty green leaves, and the way the chartreuse fades into white on the edges of the fabric (a little more apparent in the original, sadly), and the wispy scroll pattern on the middle green layer. Don’t look, for my sake, at the long gap between this dress and the last one, or the missing blogroll that I never quite got around to putting back up after a server change, or the embarrassing state of my e-mail inbox, or all the increasingly heartwrenching comments on the last post. Green, right? Ooh, green.

Anyways, this is, of course, the May birthday dress… The May birthstone is emerald and the birth flower is lily of the valley, so I couldn’t resist. Plus, I guess I wanted to make something fairly ridiculous, since it’s been a while. I like to remind myself I haven’t forgotten how to use my colored pencils…

I took down the poll, because just thinking about it made me feel like a failure and a disappointment, both of which increase the odds that I’ll let the site go for another three months. I think I’ll probably be happier if I don’t revisit any of the things I never finished for a while. I’m sorry.