Wee Goldie

Lord John has become one of my favorite characters in the Outlander world, and as much as I enjoy David Berry's portrayal of him on the show (and I do LOVE how he portrays him on the show), he just doesn't look like I imagine him in my head. I still see him in my head as the "Wee Goldie" described in the books. When Iple decided to retire the Theo sculpt several years ago, I kept looking at him and thinking he would make an awfully good Lord John. I ordered the head with Oscar A default face up, and he has now taken over the SID body from poor Justin.

Of course one of the things that was a "must have" for John was a proper uniform. As I have posted on previous installments of the blog, my friend Robyn at Period Threads agreed to give the uniform a go and she did an AMAZING job of recreating it (see previous installments of the blog for comparison pics of the actual uniform on the show with my version created by Robyn). In fact, I love the uniform so much that Poor John hasn't had a change of clothes in the 2 years or so since the uniform arrived.

Today I thought I would take some more pics of John in his uniform just because it had been a while since I had spent some time with him and I'd missed him a bit.

I do have some other ideas of clothing for him. I actually have a red vest and black pants to change up the uniform a bit...….maybe I need to at least bring myself to put that version on him for something different. In the meantime, some different edits to enjoy him as he presently stands. He has quite a handsome profile, doesn't he?

Recreating the Wedding Night

The weather has not been conducive to picture taking here...……….very dark and dreary, so pulling out a few older pictures I've never shared on the blog that I took as a nod to one of my favorite episodes of the TV show, The Wedding Night.

A Special Pair

Next to Jamie and Claire, Ian and Rachel are my favorite characters in the Outlander world. There is just something about both of them and the way they interact together that I really love. Since I haven't been taking many new pics recently I thought I would edit a couple of older ones and showcase Ian and Rachel here. As I've said in previous posts, as soon as I saw the Venitu sculpt, he was the embodiment of what Young Ian looked like in my minds eye. While I love how John Bell acts the part of Young Ian on the show, he doesn't look like how I envision him in my head. I quickly hit the buy button on Venitu as soon as I saw him and I had him painted with his tribal tattoo's as I wanted  my version to represent him in the years after he came back from the Mohawk. 

Young Ian was one of the first characters I shelled in my BJD Outlander world, because of the fact that the Venitu sculpt was perfect for the character in my minds eye. I knew I would eventually want to shell Rachel as well. The problem for me was finding a sculpt that would work with Venitu's aesthetic as well as come close to representing how she looks in my head. When Dollshe announced the Diana sculpt I wondered if she might work for the character. I was going to purchase the doll anyway from a friend who had gotten her and then changed her plans and wanted to sell her. I  requested that she paint her as a brunette with very subtle make up, as Rachel would look in my head and I'm very happy with how she turned out. She is on a DT17 body, as my EN Diana head is on the original Diana body..............and my friend Robyn, who does most of the wardrobe for my Outlander crew has a DT17 girl.😀

I'm really happy with the pairing of these 2. I think their aesthetic works really well together. For me, they have the dolly chemistry similar to Jamie and Claire's. I look forward to spending more time with them in 2020. I hope to add some new wardrobe pieces for both of them and get more pictures of the pair. I also want to do some more knitting/crocheting for them and Oggie as well.  

New Knits for Rachel

I bought this shawl from Etsy with Rachel in mind, but its taken me a while to get her dressed in it and out for some new photos.  Gosh I love this doll! Rachel and Ian are my favorite characters in the series next to Jamie and Claire, and when I saw Diana's sculpt I thought that she would mesh well with Venitu, who plays the part of Young Ian in my Outlander world. I couldn't be more pleased with Diana as Rachel.

My original intention was to take Ian out with her for the photos, but handling 2 full sized dolls outside, trying to balance them to stand on uneven ground ( I don't like using stands for photos) isn't fun, so I decided to save that outing for another day and concentrate on Rachel this time.  Part of the reason I decided to shell Jamie and Claire in the mini size as well is the greater ease in transporting them out and about for photos, and posing them together while out and about. I have debating using Mari as Rachel in the mini size, since she and the Diana sculpt are very similar to my eyes...……..but then there is the problem of finding my perfect Young Ian in mini size. None of the currend Iple or Raccoon sculpts fit the bill for me yet.

I really want to get some shots of Rachel with Claire as well. Another project for another day.

A Little More Red

I finally think I found a wig color I'm pleased with for Bree. The wig she is wearing here is Monique Lea in double red. I thought it looked very similar to the way Bree wore her hair in several instances in the show.

A pic of Sophie Skelton as Bree in the show below for comparison.

The shade definitely has more "red" in it than the reddish brown and auburn wigs I had tried on her previously. I also ordered the updo "Annabelle" wig in carrot red, which is very similar actually to the double red shade she is wearing here. Pics of the carrot Annabelle later.

I am in process of knitting another shrug for Claire, and as soon as I have it done I'll get some pictures of all of the Frasers together.

Young Ian

My first impression of the Venitu sculpt by Fifth Motif was, my gosh he would make a terrific young Ian from the Outlander series. I had fallen in love with the books by the time Venitu was introduced, and had decided that I was going to shell Jamie and Claire in resin form.  It didn't take me long to decide, since Venitu was limited and there was no guarantee he would be offered again, to bite the bullet and order Venitu to be my young Ian. My friend Lyn agreed to paint him for me and I decided I wanted to shell him with his Mohawk tattoo's. He and Jamie actually arrived home from Lyn's "spa" at about the same time, September 2014. Below is one of the first shots I took of him wearing his Dollshe khaki urethane eyes and the Monique Paris wig. Lyn did an awesome job on his face up.

I have tried several wigs on him over the course of his time with me. Below is another early effort that didn't stick.

He has also worn a mohair wig when dressing up.

I always seem to come back to the Monique Paris wig though, so a year or so ago I decided to put a few braids in it. While it isn't the perfect representation of how I see him wearing his hair, it works for now.

Next to Jamie and Claire, Young Ian (and now Rachel) are probably my next  favorite characters followed closely by Lord John. When I shelled Young Ian, they hadn't come close to casting him in the TV show yet, so I cast him in my resin world based solely how young Ian looks in my head. The sculpt probably comes closest to what I see in my head when I read the character of all my Outlander dolls.  I based all the dolls on my internal representations of the characters more than the actors on the TV show though. 

 I have been able to acquire a couple of pieces of clothing that work perfectly for his character (in my mind as well). I was walking around JoAnn Fabrics one day when I came across some calico fabric that immediately made me think of Ian.  There are several passages in the books that mention Ian's love of calico fabric. In  "My Own Heart's Blood" book 8 in the Outlander series Rachel muses in chapter 131,

 “Are you all right, Rachel?” I asked, [. . .]

“I am,” she answered, her voice slightly muffled behind her not-quite-sterile-but-at-least-boiled mask. She’d used one of Ian’s handkerchiefs for the purpose; it was an incongruously cheerful calico in dark-pink-and-white checks. Ian’s taste in clothing was strongly Mohawk.

Earlier in Chapter 94, his fashion sense and love of calico fabric was mentioned again : both curiosity and conversation rose to a much higher pitch when Ian walked in. He wore a new shirt, white calico printed with blue and purple tulips, his buckskins and breechclout, moccasins--and an armlet made of blue and white wampum shells, which I was reasonably sure that his Mohawk wife, Works With Her Hands, had made for him.

So, it only seemed fitting that the piece of calico fabric I found should be bought to make something for Ian. I bought it and sent it off to Robyn and she made the shirt he is wearing below, along with the vest, which also seems to suit him.  I have another piece of calico in reserve with a white background, that has Ian's name all over it...……….especially after rediscovering the quote from Chapter 94 above. I love finding little details, like the calico fabric,  that just add to the authenticity of the characters. 

The Completist in Me

I guess it is just the completist in my that spurred me on to add the final piece to the Tonner Outlander collection. As I was photographing the rest of my Tonner Outlander dolls I looked on Ebay to see what the prices were for the one remaining Claire doll I didn't have...…………………….and saw I had an Ebay coupon, so in a moment of weakness I hit the buy button. She arrived today.  She being the final "Basic" Claire in the 40's dress she was wearing when she went through the stones.

I like that this version has her hair down, as the other 3 Claire's have her hair up. I need to rinse the "product" out of her hair to make it softer and help the curls fall more naturally, but I'm happy to have a version with her hair down. I'd like to eventually have some of the costumes she wore in the first season made for her.

The outfit does come with a belt as well, but I left it off here as I was photographing her outside reminiscent of when she "fell" through the stones and woke up in the 1740's. The jersey knit of the dress is so soft. The shoes were a bear to get on, but I finally did manage to wiggle them enough to where they went over the heel.

All in all I'm glad I went ahead and added her. I'm afraid I would have regretted it down the line if I skipped her, as she is a little different from the other versions and will lend herself well to the Highland fashions if/when I decide to commission some in the future. While I wish the collection had gone on longer to encompass more of the fabulous fashions represented in the show, I'm glad to have the 5 dolls we got (4 Claire, 1 Jamie).  I'm REALLY surprised that Mattel hasn't gotten the license to do their own versions of Jamie and Claire in Barbie scale.