SERAFINA and the TWISTED STAFF Doll

In last week’s post I shared with you how I created a doll version of my daughters’ beloved book character, Serafina.  Last week I showed you Serafina in her Pa’s Work Shirt Dress and Black Cloak from the book Serafina and the Black Cloak.   This week I will show you how I turned our Serafina doll into her character from Serafina and the Twisted Staff.  In this book Serafina finds herself in a mysterious pursuit of man seeking the powers of a twisted staff.  My daughters and I have found these books by Robert Beatty to be intriguing and adventurous.

Inspiration pictures were found on google searches and from reviewing the book trailer which you can find here:  https://youtu.be/ngiCq7-Fvzo.  Inspiration also came from our own ideas of what we perceived the character would look like from the author’s description in the book.

In our opinion there are two main dresses in each book.  In Serafina and the Black Cloak, Serafina has her Pa’s Work Shirt Dress and the Maroon Velvet Dress.  In this book, Serafina and the Twisted Staff, the first main dress is a beige dress.  In the beginning of this book Serafina is wearing a green dress given to her by Mrs. Vanderbilt.  Due to mishaps in the forest the dress becomes tattered.  Her Pa tries to cobble together a dress made out of burlap and discarded scraps of leather that are stitched together with fibrous twine.  A young maid, named Essie, is horrified at the sight of the crude dress and offers to lend Serafina a beige dress.  This simple dress is Essie’s Sunday best.  One of my absolute favorite seamstresses ever, Carol, from Etsy shop Sew Sew Carol, stitched an exact replica Serafina’s borrowed beige dress.  Carol is phenomenal!   Carol immediately noticed from the Google pictures and book trailer that the buttons lap left over right, which is the opposite for ladies dresses…men’s shirts yes…but not for ladies.  I had mentioned to Carol that the dress in the book originally was owned by a young maid servant.  Carol explained to me the history of buttons; wealthy women’s buttons were on the right so maids could button them up more easily, while men and common folk did up their own buttons.  You can message Carol via her Etsy shop for custom requests here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SewSewCarol .

All  dolls need to have an “accessory.”  In the first Serafina post, Serafina had a black cloak.  So of course Serafina in the Twisted Staff had to a…TWISTED STAFF.  I had the best of luck in finding an eBay store called Rick’s Twisted Walking Sticks!  The owner and craftsman, Rich, was absolutely fantastic to work with.  This shop specializes in twisted walking and hiking sticks as well as magic wands.  Rich allowed me to browse various sticks and choose just the right one to create the doll sized staff.  He then added a beautiful red mahogany finish and numerous coats of gloss.  The doll twisted staff is perfect.  Thank you Rich!  Your can find Rick’s Walking Sticks here: http://stores.ebay.com/Rick-s-Twisted-Walking-Sticks .

Here is a picture of Serafina as she comes upon the magical Twisted Staff in the woods.

The second dress that Serafina wears in Serafina and the Twisted Staff is a gorgeous creamy satin winter ball gown.  This is a Christmas present to Serafina from Braeden.

Once again Carol of Sew Sew Carol worked her seamstress magic and created a beautiful doll sized replica.  Once again, our vision of this dress came from Google image searches, watching the book trailer, and our own perception of what the dress should appear like from description in the book.

In the book, the dress is described as a ” magnificently embroidered pearl- and braid- trimmed corset and its long cascading train.  As was customary of a young lady, she wore matching satin opera gloves, and glistening shoes adorned her feet.”  We chose not to have shoes for Serafina…seemed just to over-the-top conforming of the character.  Plus, we did not notice Serafina in shoes in Google images or in the book trailer.  Maybe we will change our minds later about the shoes.

Can’t forget a beautiful Satin bow for Serafina’s hair!

Here is Serafina with Braeden.  This doll is originally our Gilbert Blythe doll from Our Anne of Green Gables doll.  But, his fashionable clothes make him perfect for Braeden.  This boy outfit is from the Kindred Thread: http://www.kindredthread.com/ .

Now I don’t want to give too much information away….but in the Google pictures and the book trailer Serafina remains with her lion-like mane of hair.  However, we envisioned Serafina with long jet-black hair that she let lay long and smooth over her shoulders and that made the amber of her eyes really stand out.  I did not glue either wig in place so my daughter could change them out for play.

Here are a few pics of Serafina with Braeden at the Christmas party.

We LOVE Serafina and the Twisted Staff and we hope you will too.  Books are so much fun when you can combine doll play!

For more information on the Serafina and the Black Cloak doll see here: http://brandyshappyhome.com/serafina-and-the-black-cloak-doll/