Sunday, April 8, 2012

Dolls and Colors

★Do your dolls have colour schemes?
Oh, yes. Most of my dolls make up a Medieval fantasy Court, and color and fabric choices in one's clothes were a very important way of describing wealth and social status in the Middle Ages. You just glance at a person and you can tell what rank they probably are and how wealthy they are.

I also dress them according to personality and complexion in colors that "make sense" for their character.

Kevya, (Iplehouse Barron) for instance, is a servant, so he almost never wears bright colors, as those would be expensive. He is, however, a personal servant to the Prince, so his clothes are of fine sturdy quality and very good workmanship, and he gets to wear a little blue, an expensive color, which would have been bought for him by his employer so that he presents a good image. It is still a blue woven jerkin, handmade in his people's fashion, but with nice colors, so it is appropriate to his station while still showing that he works for someone wealthy. (Also, he has blue eyes and looks great in blue and earth tones.)

Prince Lir (Soom Lupin) and Princess Elinore (Migidoll Jina), being royalty, are the only dolls I have who will be seen wearing deep purple. It was very difficult to dye cloth to that shade and very expensive, so as royalty they're able to afford it. They are also some of the only dolls who will be seen wearing deep-plush velvet, as that's also a very expensive thing.
They also wear a lot of green because it is the color of their kingdom's banner, and as sovereigns they represent the kingdom. (Luckily, it also looks very good on them both.)

Lady Fiachra, (Nobility/Souldoll hybrid,) wears some colors that are extremely loud and kind of clash. She's from a nation heavily inspired by ancient Celtic cultures, and she shows her noble rank by wearing the brightest of colors- checked reds and golds, bright blues, and so on. The Celts were in love with bright colors and anything showy. Fiachra herself is not a wallflowery sort of person and bold color statements fit her well.

Tiarnach (Soom Chrom on eventual Granado body) is a fae Prince of a dangerous temperament, so he wears dark rich colors, in fabrics that have been distressed or antiqued to give the impression he is very, very old in spite of his young face. Like he belongs to a former era.

★Do you prefer a doll to have matching colours?
I dress all my dolls within their rank and station, but also according to their personality and their complexion, in colors that "make sense" for their character. So, no, I don't have dolls with green hair, green eyes and green clothes. For instance: Donovan, my redheaded, seablue-eyed Akando, wears nothing that is not either green or blue, and never dark. He just looks great in those colors and it describes a peaceful, thoughtful personality.

★Have the colours in factory photos/owner photos swayed your buying decisions?
Nah, never really notice 'em. I try to imagine how the doll would look blank, or look at blank pictures to imagine whether the doll fits a character of mine.

★Were you ever upset/delighted with a random wig/eye combination you received?
Not really. I usually end up selling them off.

★Do you tend to have favourite colour sets for dolls?
Yeah. Each one, as described above, has certain colors they look good in, so they each end up with their own color palette I choose from when making their clothes.

No comments:

Post a Comment