Mar 31

Mar 31 Elizabeth Bennet, a Jane Austen Dream Custom Doll

It took us time to find Miss Bennet under the wool but we are so pleased in the way her personality finally came through. If you are an Austen fan I hope you approve of my interpretation of one of her most memorable characters.

Elizabeth Bennet, a Jane Austen inspired custom art doll by Fig and Me.

In my early years, those impressionable teenage years, I was a devout Jane Austen reader. Obviously Pride and Prejudice was the soup of choice when given options were scarce. I used to quote this novel all the time, even to myself, and mostly while doing dishes.

I have many fond memories of reading these works of English literature and when I was called upon to use Lizzy as the inspiration for my next custom doll…well, let’s say my pillow confirmed the choice almost immediately!

Her mom trusted me completely, just basically selecting a few choices for hair colour and skin, and off I went. To draw from my memories (I do not currently own a copy of this book, to satisfy my appetite for all Austen words) and mainly the sentiments I had towards how I saw Lizzy in my head.

I shy away from creating dolls based on known characters for many reasons, one of them being that I feel characters from books are created in our heads to each reader’s image. Now with the advent of movies, tv series and what not, that has spoiled the effect to a degree but I still think that this Little Elizabeth Bennet embodies the sentiments of the one in Jane Austen’s magnificent novel.

I hope you can agree.

Little Miss Bennet was finished quite some time ago, except the weather in Canada in February is not the most conducive to evocations of English meadows and gardens. Knowing the weather and scenery would improve upon landing in Portugal, I decided to bring her with me and wait for the right moment to capture some of her essence.

Obviously it took some time to regain our bearings, and then it rained for weeks. Ha! Foiled again by the lords of climate.

But not for long, because then came a beautiful afternoon in which Lizzy and I headed into the narrow ancient streets of the Portuguese village where we currently habitate, and we made ourselves available to the forgotten walls, the ivy and the wild primrose to be our allies.

As I’ve said many times before, making dolls is a privilege, an honour, an exciting adventure of discovery and introspection, a bit of balm for my achy heart.

Watching them evolve under my eyes and through my hands is one of the most intriguing aspects of this art. I never really know if it’s me the one leading the process, or if it’s the dolls animus that decides the whole thing.

And while knowing who is “the boss” is not really of any great consequence to me, nor it impacts the passion I have for what I do, I find the mystery, the magic behind this process all the more enticing.

Melting together the memories of my youth, the skills of my doll making journey, and the aim to please my customer and future doll mother, were all serendipitously amalgamated into Lizzy’s woolly self.

I believe her little face has so many stories to tell. Her brown eyes full of old wisdom and wit. Her curled locks begging to be played with and her adoring clothes a touch sentimental to the Georgian period the novel depicts as well as the Regency era it was published in.

As usual, I am incredibly grateful to the kind soul who gave me the opportunity to see this dream of mine realized. Even more now that I’ve grown quite confident in exploring these cherished literary characters.

I will always create dolls from my own imagination, written under my pen and dreams, but I also feel called now to embody certain literary characters into a wool filled doll, with a sculpted smile and fanciful handmade clothes.

I feel the opportunities abound and I hope you are in for the ride.