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Medieval Maiden #1: "Lynnda"
First Place
2005 FDM online competition, Historic Category.

Hi there, my name is Denix (that would be the celtic version of Dennis, the creative guy who wrote this piece), and I’m here to speak in place of this wonderful doll because, in truth, you probably wouldn’t understand her any more than you understood the reading of Beowulf or The Canterbury Tales in High School.

The young lady, whose name is Lynnda, asked me to interpret because she thinks you wouldn’t even understand the difference between a pissemyre and an olifaunt, much less the difference between a kirtle and a crispinette.
Lynnda was born of a Jude Deveraux Barbie ®. Her facial paint was redone using artist quality paints and sealed for protection. Her bliaut… No, wait, I’m translating aren’t I… her gown is made from limited edition designer soft satin in grass green with dyed-to-match lace. It is "lined" in a blue grey soft satin. She calls this her kirtle, but we’ll call it a lining. The gown is trimmed with burgundy silk satin ribbon, handmade burgundy silk tassels, tiny blue-grey glass beads, blue-grey silk brocade medallions, Swarovski crystals and genuine pearls.

She asks me to mention her sleeves, and tell you that they are lined in steel grey and the slashes edged in light gold. The sleeves are banded with burgundy silk velvet ribbon and trimmed to match the dress.

And let’s not forget that the lace on the sleeves and around the hem is studded with tiny Swarovski crystals. (The rhinestones are not visible in the pictures but they ARE there!)

“What’s that? Oh, right I’ll mention it.” She wants to draw attention to the corsage, or bodice to you, which is a blue-grey, light blue, green, and yellow silk brocade edged in raspberry silk soutache and laced on both sides with hand braided burgundy silk cord. It comes to a point in both the front and the back and the points correspond to the design of the brocade on both sides.

Lynnda's hair has been braided into seven tails, two of which are coiled over her ears in a Ramshorn Hairdress fashion, three hang in loops at the back of her neck, and two hang down in front, banded with burgundy silk. The braids in the back are short enough that the detail of the bodice back can be seen. Her head is covered with a veil of blue and gold iridescent silk chiffon that picks up the color in the bodice and is edged with hundreds of blue-grey glass beads, individually sewn on. Braid covers, or crispinettes as she calls them, are metallic gold mesh, the same color as the gold on the edges of the sleeve slashes. The crespinettes are studded with blue-grey glass beads.

“Yes, I’m sure they noticed. Oh, okay…” She would like me to mention that her headroll is made of the same brocade as the bodice and is cut so that the pattern is consistent around its circumference. It is trimmed with blue-grey glass beads and burgundy silk embroidery, and a tassel to match the ones on her dress.

“What’s that, lovely Lynnda? Of course I’ll describe the accessories.”
The necklace and the cross on her belt are sterling and marcasite. The necklace hangs from a hand braided black silk cord.

The belt is a dark grey chain and is adjustable. The shield on the belt is artist made and displays her family's crest, three boars heads. Her pouch, that is her coin purse, is blue-grey silk velvet with 22k gold and red glass bead trim. It hangs from a braided gold cord from her belt in such a way that she can adjust where it hangs so that it is always convenient.

"Is that all? No? Tell them about the Standard? Oh, right, the pole with the flag!” Absolutely! One last exquisite detail. The Standard…. The pole is dark grey with a white Swarovski crystal finial. A ‘golden’ medieval dragon, with red crystal eyes, is attached to the top of the pole. It holds a metallic dark red flag “embroidered” on white silk with the same coat of arms as the shield on her belt – three boar’s heads. On one side of the flag, the crest is surrounded by a knight’s helmet.

On the other side, the crest is displayed alone. Since there is a dragon on both sides of the flag, no matter which hand she holds it in, the crest will still be displayed.

The flag is wired so that it can be made to stick straight out, to fully display the crest, or it can be made to "hang" downward as it would naturally fall.


Lynnda thanks you for your attention, and I thank you for your patience listening to my - I hope not too faulty – translation.

---By the way, a pissemyre is an ant.


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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 Revised: October 5, 2004
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