Dagmar, the aspiring painter.
With yesterday’s rain, everything smell “pretty” said Dagmar this morning. Donning clothes like it was October, she headed outside. Of course I had to open the door latch for her, poor thing she can’t reach that high.
We ventured out, first filling our lungs with as much air as possible. And then went down the steps to the garden.
Dagmar, like any child her age, is very curious.
Always looking under rocks, with squeals of delight when she discovers a snail, and a bit more apprehensive notes when she finds a millipede or an earwig. She doesn’t like those.
She also looks up, to the canopies of birches and poplars, balsam and oak: looking for nests and the throats of the songs we hear.
What she is really after are flowers. All sorts of flowers. She knows the name of several wild ones and especially the cultivated ones in the flower beds.
She tries to name them all at once. Like it’s one big race. Like I am taking notes and I will grade her efforts.
I just giggle.
“Oh Dagmar, what is this little flower?” I ask her, knowing fully well the answer, but prompting her little naturalist heart.
“Oh yes, that’s mallow. Like marshmallow. You can eat it but it’s not like smores”. She grabs it in her chubby hands and tries to tuck it in a pocket.
Darn forgetful dollmaker. No pockets. The horror.
I volunteer to hold it for her but she asks to keep it atop her “good ear”.
She heard Grandma saying “to whisper in her good ear” and so she now has one too. Children do copy a lot the world around them.
Dagmar loves to sit and whisper stories, newly-made and good ones too, especially to Grandma. To anybody that listens.
The dog is usually her confidante. She tries hiding behind a curtain and tells the dog all her troubles.
Like the day the mail lady said hi, and she ran screaming inside the house because she thought she was a wicked witch of the west.
Or about the day the boys across the street teased her because she was wearing her “faberge cape” in the middle of summer.
More than stories, Dagmar loves to draw and paint. Finger painting is for babies, she said. So she prefers little brushes and your good pens.
She draws flowers, the dog, and clouds. Lots of clouds. Dagmar loves her dress because it has “so many clouds”.
You will find her most days, feet tucked under, or lying on her belly. Paper everywhere and lots of pens. A stubby pencil on her ear, a crayon on her hair, and maybe some inside her socks. She likes to be prepared for when the inspiration strikes.
Dagmar is looking for a home today. A home where she is taken on walks, given loads of paper, and told the names of all the flowers she encounters. She also wishes her new family can have the generosity of time to lie down on the tall grass and look at clouds. “And nuffin’ else”.
Dagmar is an 18” doll, made with cotton and wool. Her face has been sculpted with needle-felting techniques, eyes embroidered, and hair made of mohair.
Dagmar comes wearing her drop-waist linen dress, with added collar and puffed short-sleeves. Underwear and socks are made of cotton jersey. Shoes are made of merino and close with hemp ties. She comes with an upcycled fair-isle cape, as well as a matching set of beret and ruffle collar made of wool.
She is suitable for a child 6+ than can handle her with gentle hands. She is ready for play, paint and adventure. Her price is $1100 USD and shipping is $45 to the US and Canada, $65 International.
If you want to tempt your fortune and volunteer to take Dagmar home, please enter your details in the form below. Please only enter if you are personally interested in bringing her home, one entry per household. She will receive entries until tonight at 10 PM EST. After this, we will close the form and select a person at random to buy her and send a paypal invoice.
- - - THE FORM HAS BEEN DELETED NOW. DAGMAR FOUND A LOVING MOTHER TO TAKE CARE OF HER AND HER ECCENTRIC HEART. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE THAT VOLUNTEERED TO TAKE HER HOME.
A bit of background on Dagmar. I found her name quite some time ago, researching the Russian nobility. Dagmar was the original name of Maria Feodorovna, Dowager Empress Marie. Her initial title was Princess Dagmar of Denmark, and she was ever so fortunate to be read stories by Hans Christian Andersen himself. Her husband, Tsar Alexander III started the tradition of giving her an easter egg every year, created by the talented Peter Carl Fabergé, and now known as the Imperial Fabergé eggs. Her son Nicholas II continued the tradition, giving his mother and wife an egg every year.
Dagmar is very proud of her name, and loves her cape, which reminds her of the intricate delicacies of the eggs.
Thank you so much for reading my stories, and loving my dolls. If you are entering for Dagmar, I not only wish you luck but patience with her. May the force be with you!.
