Some eye candy
Alert Janeite Laurel Ann pointed this out to us. She seemed a bit alarmed, but we love our Barbie dolls and gasped in amazement at this beautiful one of a kind doll.
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February 21st, 2008 at 6:44 am
I never was a Barbie sort of girl, but these are impressive. There’s an Emma doll as well: http://crawfordmanor.com/em.html
February 21st, 2008 at 7:26 am
Sorry, she may be well crafted, but that Barbie is about a convincing a Lizzy as Keira Knightly.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:38 am
The doll is beautiful, but I agree with Maria L. More suited to Jane Bennet, perhaps?
February 21st, 2008 at 8:57 am
In the interests of accuracy, the original doll isn’t a Barbie but a Brenda Starr doll by the Effanbee Company. Brenda was one of a group of expensive 16″ vinyl collector fashion dolls that have spawned a mini industry of “repaints” and makeovers, where an artist removes all of the factory paint from the doll–and sometimes the hair–and then repaints and reroots the hair, restyles it and sometimes adds a new costume.
If you hunt around on the Crawford Manor website, you’ll find an astonishing Aragorn made over from a Tonner Matt O’Neill doll.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:48 am
Well, at least in the case of Emma, the repaint and makeover resulted in the *very wrong* colour of her eyes which should *not* be blue.
Emma has a …true hazel eye… according to Mrs Weston, poor Miss Taylor that was.
And *she* should know!!
February 21st, 2008 at 11:48 am
I think the doll is exquisite. The interview(found on the “Home” page) with the artist Cheryl Crawford is worth reading. It helped me to appreciate her journey and techniques.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Well, whoever she is, she’s lovely. That dress is just WOW!
February 21st, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I don’t think Emma is meant as Emma Woodhouse–I think she’s just a Regency-costumed doll given the name Emma. This artist seems to say very plainly when her dolls are inspired by a literary character. Do look around the site, there are other Regency-gowned dolls and they are all stunning.
(I confess I drooled a bit over her Jason Isaacs-inspired Captain Hook doll. Yum. Oh.)
February 21st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
OK, I’ll admit they’re beautifully crafted dolls, but I’m still a bit disturbed by them. I guess I’m just really not a doll person.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Gorgeous! I don’t care who they’re meant to be really, they look absolutely stunning. Now I have to poke around the website and see what else she’s done.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
A little heavy on the eye makeup, but then Mr. Darcy does admire Lizzy’s eyes.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I love the dress, but the addition of “ivory panties” can only mean she did not read “The Jane Austen Handbook.”
February 21st, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I like the fact that the doll is dressed in yellow. I can’t find the quote right now, but Austen, in a letter to Cassandra, mentioned “seeing” Mrs. Darcy at a portrait exhibition dressed in yellow. I always this of Mrs. Darcy as dressed in yellow.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:35 am
These are gorgeous! The seamstress is very talented.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:11 am
Hello there!
I am an English Leader and Literacy Consultant from Canada. I am happy that I found your Blog. You see, I have the responsibility of leading the English department Leader meetings at my school board. At the last meeting, we were debating the validity of the Internet vs. the Library. One of the leaders said, “The library is best because…I mean…you can’t find Jane Austen on the Internet!” This comment has bothered me so much because I knew that Jane had a following that would be valid in the classroom. Today I typed in Jane Austen and Blog into Google and found your amazing Austenblog site!! I have looked at the P&P Barbie, browsed announcements about Jane Austen singing tours, seen photos of people dressed like Jane and learned the term Janeites all in the past 5 minutes!
Your Blog is a wonderful way to bring Jane alive again for students! Could you post my comment for others to see and comment on. I would like to have a collection of comments to present at the next English department leaders’ meeting on Monday, February 25th. Thank you for your enormous efforts and love of Jane! GO JANEITES!!!
Thank you!
Janet Lee
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Yes, I think the costumes are gorgeous!
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Beautifully costumed dolls.
In 1813 Jane Austen wrote to Cassandra about going to an exhibition in Spring Gardens. She had hoped to find a picture of Mrs. Darcy and says: “I dare say Mrs. D. will be in yellow.”
She later adds: “We have been both to the exhibition and Sir J. Reynolds’s, and I am disappointed, for there was nothing like Mrs. D. at either. I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye. I can imagine he would have that sort of feeling — that mixture of love, pride, and delicacy.”
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 am
The doll is beautiful, even if inaccurate. I have been planning to make some JA dolls sometime in the next couple of years, but I make cloth dolls. These are wonderful inspiration!
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I prefer cloth dolls, Anonymous.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Can someome link me to a site to buy the doll?
February 25th, 2008 at 12:20 am
I don’t think it’s for sale. It seems like she makes the dolls and sells them on eBay–that’s just a gallery of dolls she has made. Poke around her site, she might take a special order.