Fairy #1: "Brielle"
Before you go willy-nilly scrolling down this page, I really need to explain something to all you good people. You see, this page is different than all the others on this site, because I’m different than any of those other dolls that Barb makes.
No, I’m not saying “better”, just different.
You see, for every other doll she makes, she gives you a detailed description of the doll and the costume – and right along side the descriptions, there are pictures of the doll. But, for me, you might see nothing but the description.
It’s up to you to whether you see a picture.
Because, I am a Fairy, and only certain people can see a fairy. It has to do with age. Well, kinda’, has to do with age because whatever your physical age you need to have a residue of child left in your heart and mind. You need to have retained that child sense of wonder, or you can’t see me, end of conversation, no arguments allowed.
It’s not my rule, you know? It’s just the Fairy Code. So, before you go on you have to ask yourself ---
Do you believe in fairies?
If you do then close your eyes
And say, "I believe."
Go ahead, do it. I know you want to. I’ll wait --- Honestly, seeing me will be worth the effort, because I promise you, I’m a beautiful, beautiful, doll. Okay, granted, I’m not a modest, modest doll, but if you close your eyes and say “I believe”, you can see for yourself.
You said it didn’t you? Oh yes you did! Maybe not out loud, and maybe not so anyone could see you, but you did say it. We both know you did, because if you scroll down, you can see me can’t you?
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Well? What do you see? A woodland fairy? An autumn fairy? A Christmas fairy? That, too, is up to you. All I can do is give you the facts about what went into making me. How you perceive the end result determines who I really am.
So, let’s go about it then shall we, giving you the facts?
First of all, my body is a classic TNT Barbie – I wanted the curves to show off my new dress, and Barb was kind enough to oblige me – but my head was
originally a My Scene Chelsea. As you can see, my hair has been thinned, trimmed, and gently curled and my face has been repainted to match my outfit.
My eyes now have green accents with light green and gold shadow, and my lips are auburn with gold highlights to match my hair. All my makeup was done with artist quality acrylics and sealed for protection.
There are now about 2
dozen tiny braids in my hair each one studded with tiny Swarovski rhinestones. Some of the rhinestones are topaz, some are jonquil, and some are clear to
mimic the different colors in my hair
My “dress” is really made of leaves. But not just any leaves. Because even though these are
really made of fabric, I wanted them to look like genuine leaves, with veins and dew drops and multiple colors. To achieve that effect, silk thread,
thousands of beads, and hundreds of rhinestones were used to create the details. Here’s how the fabric looked originally and with half of the embroidery done.
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If you want the specifics on how many different beads and/or rhinestones were used in each leaf please see the note at the bottom of this page because the explanation is too long to present here but, suffice it to say, 35 different types of beads and Swarovski rhinestones, or over 2000 ‘gems’, were used to create my skimpy little costume!
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And, get this, every one of those beads and rhinestones was applied one at a time so that their sizes graduated from largest and darkest to smallest and lightest as they made their way from the center of the leaf to the edge. Some of the beads were so small a magnifying glass was needed to get them on the needle. Don’t think that wasn’t a painstaking job, but it was worth it –
Because I SPARKLE!!! Here, have a look! Can you see the rhinestones nestled among the beads? Can you see how small some of those beads are?
But that’s not all! My dress is also posable! Five of the leaves are wired so they can be flared out. And my hat, which matches my dress, is also wired.
Barb says she did it for me but I know she did it for her own sake, to make the dress look more realistic. I guess that does benefit me, in a way.
Now here’s something none of those other dolls on this site can describe. WINGS!!
My wings are glittery gold, bronze, and green with bronze edges. They’re formed around gold wires, which are gently posable. The wing tips (not shoes, the tip of my wings, get it?) are beaded, ending with Swarovski rhinestones.
My wings, by the way, are attached to my back UNDER my dress. You can imagine how much trouble Barb had wrapping my dress around those wings. Of course it doesn’t LOOK like she had trouble – in fact I can’t believe how well my dress fits me - but believe me, I heard about it! And, of course, the dress is not removable.
Underneath it all I'm wearing a pair of gold panties edged in gold braid to which are attached the wisps of gold netting, gold and bronze fabric and gold cords you see
dangling beneath my dress. The wisps are edged in glitter and studded here and there with additional rhinestones. If you MUST have a picture of my panties
please email me separately - I didn't want my you-know-what exposed on the Internet!
Yes, I know – the boots – I’m getting there. They are gold fabric, hand painted with bronze to resemble leather and then wrapped in “golden” cord. The ends of the cords are curled to resemble grape vines and have a leaf hanging on each one. I suppose you could remove my boots if you really wanted to but you’d have to fight me for them!
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My hands and arms were shaped just so to hold my flower basket. Why? Because I have such a beautiful basket, hand crocheted out of gold metallic cord (Barb used a magnifying glass for this, too), lined with moss and filled with gorgeous flowers. Each flower was hand-assembled and the wire stems were then beaded. I’m holding two of them in my right hand and pushed a third into my hair. The basket and the flowers are all removable. In fact, you could even put something else in the basket if you really wanted to.
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Well, that's about it. As you can see, Barb likes me best when I'm posed as though I'm walking through the woods. But, here's a picture of me sitting down. I'm not exactly comfortable this way - my wings are too long and the tips bend - but if you insist, I'll accommodate you.
So, all in all, aren’t you glad you believe? All that description would have been --- well remember one picture equals a thousand words stuff? And don't forget, since you believe, you are responsible for who I am.
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*** Here are the details on the beading:
DRESS
- 5 different "types" of leaves
- Each leaf type repeated three times
- Each leaf type created using at least 5 different colors/sizes of glass and metallic beads
- Each leaf type also studded with at least 2 different colors/sizes of Swarovski rhinestones
- An average of 20 of each different bead/rhinestone used in each leaf
- 5 leaf types * 7 types of beads/rhinestones each = 35 different types of beads
- 35 types of beads * 20 of each on one leaf * 3 repetitions = 2100 beads/rhinestones used
HAT
- 60 rhinestones
- 180 beads
HAIR
- 24 braids * 15 rhinestones per braid = 360 rhinestones in her hair alone.
OOAKFolk, Inc., and artist Barbara Healy are not affiliated in any way with the original manufacturers of
the dolls pictured in this site. No photograph, text or graphic on this site may be copied without written
permission from Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2004 OOAKFolk, Inc.
Last Update: December 7, 2004
New : December 6, 2004
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