7th March 2016 by angeliqueminiatures

ANGELIQUE MINIATURES CELEBRATES 28 YEARS TODAY!

To celebrate this anniversary I thought I would share some pictures of my favourite doll projects from more recent years (since digital cameras and the internet!!!).

From fairies and fantasy to historical characters, I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them. The planning, research and actual creating never fails to excite me and I look forward to each new project that comes my way, so please enjoy my selection:

Anne Boleyn costume for 16 inch fashion doll.

Miniature Fairy riding a unicorn.

Princess Diana wedding gown on miniature mannequin.

Miniature late Victorian Summer Bride.

Custom made Aurora Rose tutu for 16 inch ballerina doll.

Miniature Giselle or Sylphide tutu set.

Miniature Fairy Slippers (shown with an English penny and American five cent piece).

Miniature Fairy Flower Seller with her unicorn companion and helper.

Miniature Brown silk bonnet with shirred ivory silk lining and matching reticule.

Miniature striped cotton walking dress with matching tall bonnet and reticule.

Something for the Maid. A much plainer miniature cotton house dress and apron along with a little mop cap.

18th Century Marie Antoinette style gown modelled by 16 inch Tyler Wentworth. Made in pure silk.

Miniature Dita Von Teese style gown and hat. one twelfth style.

Valentine Ball gown for 16 inch fashion doll.

Miniature Faerie of Spring and New Life.

Miniature Princess Grace wedding gown on mannequin.

The miniature Elizabeth Bennett Regency wedding bonnet.

Front view of the miniature Fairy Harp. The harp stood about six and a half inches tall.

Miniature Young King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon.

Miniature Queen Jane Seymour.

Miniature King Richard III with his wife Queen Anne Neville.

Miniature King John and his wife Queen Isabella.

Miniature Elizabeth 1st doll complete in room setting.

Miniature Scrooge.

Miniature Ross and Demelza Poldark.

Miniature tricorn hat.

Miniature Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cranmer.

Battle of Flodden (c 1513) Scottish Pikeman outfit for action figue (around 12 inches tall).

Coronation robes for 17 inch male fashion doll.

Victorian underwear for 16 inch fashion doll.

‘Romanza’ ballet costume for 16 inch ballerina doll.

French (Breton) costume for 16 inch doll.

Alice in Wonderland costume for 12 inch fashion doll.

Miniature Lord Byron Albanian costume.

Miniature Lord Byron Regency tail coat outfit.

And last but not least:

Medieval style Autumn costume for 16 inch fashion doll.

Miniature Queen Mary 1st (Mary Tudor).

I hope you have enjoyed my selection…just a few of the many favourites I have created over the last few years. All of them have given me enormous pleasure and taught me such valuable skills and patience.

21st August 2011 by angeliqueminiatures

Brand New Doll: Young Katherine Of Aragon.

Hello! In between orders, I have been working on the latest doll to add to my Tudor miniature dolls line. Please let me introduce to you my ‘Young Katherine Of Aragon’:

Young Katherine of Aragon, dressed circa 1509/10.

I have always felt rather sorry for this grand lady, whatever her faults may or may not have been and wanted to be able to portray her in her youth, in happier times. As many of you may well know, Katherine of Aragon was the first wife of the infamous King Henry VIII of England. However, Henry was not her first husband as she had been first married to Henry’s older brother Athur. The match between Katherine and Arthur was arranged by their parents Ferdinand and Isabela of Spain and Henry VII and Elizabeth of England when both were just toddlers. When Arthur reached the age of 14, Katherine, shortly before her 16th birthday, travelled to England for the marriage in 1501. Sadly the young prince died less than six months later, leaving Katherine a widow. Unable to return to Spain, the young teeneager was stuck in England under the protection of her miserly father-in-law Henry VII, who by all accounts, left her barely able to clothe her ladies in waiting, let alone herself.

During those difficult years, Katherine formed a strong friendship with Arthur’s younger brother, the robust and lively Henry and, by the time the old King died in 1509, that friendship had turned to love. The 18 year old Henry, now King Henry VIII of England, married the 23 year old Spanish princess and it is well documented that he was most taken with his young bride. It seems fair to say that the early years of their marriage were very happy with the young King being most attentive and openly romantic towards Katherine.

So, when I created this new doll, I wanted to try and capture the youth, hope and happiness of that early married life. In researching the young Katherine, I came across the fact that, she had pale auburn hair, NOT as I had always assumed for a Spaniard, black or dark hair. I also found this lovely painting of her, painted between 1501 and 1509 by court painter Michel Sittow:

The Young Katherine of Aragon.

Since this portrait was painted before she married Henry, she is wearing more sombre colours than I have used for the doll. Henry VIII’s Court was very lively and vibrant, like him. Very unlike the dour seriousness of his father’s Court. Therefore I chose a rich gold silk jacquard for her over-gown with a paler, more youthful green for the under-gown, both popular colours for Royalty and the elite at that time. The style is that of around 1509/10, with the Medieval influence still visible alongside the more typical Henrician Tudor style. I have kept the head dress or ‘coif’ similar to the style in the painting and this would more than likely have been black for most married women.

Here is a close-up of the coif, jewellery and gown bodice. The tightly fitted over-gown bodice is open to reveal part of the green under-gown. Around the neckline, you can just see the edge of the lace from the shift she would have worn next to her skin. The lace is gold-edged, (Yep……..I painted that by hand!…….time consuming but worth it). There is also some more gold-edged hand-painted lace around the front of the coif and at her wrists.

Showing the individually applied jewellery, bodice detail and coif.

The long hanging sleeves of the overgown are lined with a rich brocade of cream and gold. These long sleeves were typical of the late Medieval and early Tudor era and eventually developed into the wider, turned back sleeves of the middle Tudor period.

Close up of the over sleeve lining detail.

At this stage the sleeves of the under-gown were still tightly fitted but these developed into the large padded and fancy false under-sleeves more commonly associated with Tudor costume.

Close up of the end of the tight-fitting under-sleeve, also showing the gold edged lace cuff from the shift.

During the early 1500’s, ladies could wear either a tied belt around their waists or the more elaborate jewelled hanging belt. Since Katherine’s gown is rather an elaborate Court gown, I felt it looked better with the more formal hanging belt. The pearls and crystals were all individually applied to fancy black and gold braid with the addition of jewelled gold filigrees at the waist and at the end of the belt.

Close up of the jewelled hanging belt.

I thoroughly enjoyed designing and creating this new doll and she is proving very popular, with collectors placing orders for her already. Of course I shall now have to work on a young Henry VIII to accompany her but for now it is only right that she has the centre stage and spotlight all to herself.

Until next time, bye for now!

4th April 2011 by angeliqueminiatures

THE BELLS ARE RINGING FOR HIM AND HIS GIRL! (PART ONE)

Yes, I know I said it last time but I can’t believe we are already into another month…..just where IS the year going?! All sorts of things are popping up in my garden, including yet more daffodils, more pear blossom and damson blossom too, plus pretty little forgetmenots and cowslips. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing and Spring is definately springing now.

I recall a very old saying about Spring……. it is ‘when a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love’ and with a Royal wedding planned for the end of April, what a good time to share my wedding gown-inspired miniature dolls and doll costumes.

On the subject of Royal Weddings, I had some lovely commissions to do for a very nice lady called Tracie who wanted me to create some royal weddding gowns in miniature for her. I was asked to supply them on miniature dolls but without the faces painted so that they would look like shop mannequins.

One of these Royal wedding gowns was Princess Diana’s. Tracie and I discussed the fact that the real dress and veil train was 25 feet long which of course would be 25 inches in one twelfth scale……….quite a challenge to display, so we settled on a little over 12 inches. The dress was made from silk dupion with teeny-weeny micro crystals on the bodice and a veil of pure silk tulle. Tracie has a miniature replica of Princess Diana’s tiara which is not shown in my pictures as I took these before the doll was posted but here are some pictures of the Diana wedding gown (without tiara):

Front view of the Princess Diana wedding gown.

I had to squash the train and veil up a bit to fit it all in the front vew photograph but here is a back view taken looking down on the gown:

The back view of the Princess Diana wedding gown train and veil.

I also decided to take a side view picture, again looking down on the doll from above:

Side view of the Princess Diana wedding gown, showing train and veil extended.

Another very famous and royal wedding gown that Tracie commissioned from me was that of Princess Grace of Monarco. I absolutely adored making this one! It took a bit of doing as there is even more work in this than in the Princess Diana gown but I had such a lovely time creating it.

Again, the main part of the gown was made in pure silk dupion with a tiny patterned embroidered lace over-bodice. The veil was made in pure silk tulle edged with tiny cotton lace, cut and applied to create the design. The headdress was quite an elaborate affair with lace and lots of teeny pearls, all individually placed. The whole creation took many, many hours (of wonderful creative bliss!!) to complete but was well worth the time. Here are some full length pictures:

Front view of the miniature Princess Grace wedding gown.

Again I had to squash the train and veil round to show it all in a front view picture but here it is:

Front view of the Princess Grace wedding gown with the train and veil in view.

Here is a back view taken from slightly above to show the back of the gown and the lace fishtail panel in the gown train. You can also see more detail on the veil in this picture:

Princess Grace wedding gown from the back, showing the lace fishtail panel in the train.

As I mentioned, the headdress was quite small but very fancy and required a lot of detail and time. Here is a view of just the head and shoulders showing the headdress from the front:

Princess Grace head and shoulders shot showing the bodice detail and the front of the headdress.

And last but not least, a close up showing the detail at the back of the headdress:

Picture taken from above showing the intricate detail on the back of the Princess Grace wedding headdress.

In the past, I have also made an adaptation of Queen Victoria’s wedding gown both in miniature and for a sixteen inch doll. The miniature version was made with pure silk dupion and cotton lace. The jewellery was made up of individually applied tiny crystals. This miniature doll was made quite some time ago so I apologise for the quality of the picture (it might be a bit ‘grainy’):

Miniature Queen Victoria in wedding gown.

Here is the one I made for the sixteen inch doll, modelled by Tyler Wentworth. This larger adaptation was made in ivory satin with tulle and lace veil:

Front view of the sixteen inch Queen Victoria wedding gown.

And also a back view of this costume:

Back view of the sixteen inch version. showing train.

Of course, not all famous wedding gowns are made for royalty. Some wonderful examples exist that were once worn by celebrities on their special days.

Amongst the celebrity wedding dresses that I made for Tracie were also those of Joan Kennedy and her sister in law Patricia. I was asked to make these on display dummies. Here is my miniature version of Patricia’s silk satin wedding gown and silk tulle veil. Patricia’s dress was quite plain in style with a lovely fitted bolero jacket. The plain tulle veil was attached to a little shaped headdress:

Miniature version of Patricia's wedding gown and veil on display dummy.

Joan’s veil and dress were more detailed. The dress had more fullness than Patricia’s and had sleeves and a fitted pointed bodice. The veil was also more detailed and had quite a bit of lace applied to the tulle so I will show this separately. Here is Joan’s silk satin dress together with the silk tulle and lace veil firstly:

Miniature Joan Kennedy wedding gown with veil on display dummy.

Here is Joan’s veil shown opened out to display the applied lace. Each of the lace motifs were cut and applied separately to the tulle, as was the scalloped (and the plainer) border:

Miniature version of Joan Kennedy's wedding veil.

Although I was not asked to make Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress (oooh I would have LOVED to but Tracie already had this one), I was asked to make her veil and it was very detailed indeed. Here are two pictures of Jackie’s veil, made in silk tulle with applied lace:

My miniature version of the Jackie Kennedy wedding veil shown draped here.

Here is a picture of the veil shown opened up to display all the lace detail. Again, as with Joan’s veil, all the lace motifs and borders were individually cut and applied to the plain tulle to create this lavish detailing. The veil was gathered onto a little round lace cap. Although it took quite a long time to achieve, I hope that you will agree that the effect was well worth the effort:

Miniature Jackie Kennedy wedding veil in silk tulle and lace.

Since this has been quite an epic blog posting, I have decided to come back with part two in a couple of weeks, since I don’t want to bore you all to sleep!

In the meantime, you might like to visit Tracie’s blog page to see her lovely costume (and other) displays in her miniature church.

Please also take a look at the latest AIM (Artisans In Miniature) on-line magazine here.

Until next time……bye for now.

12th March 2010 by angeliqueminiatures

Brand new Late-Victorian Summer Bride.

The front of the lovely wedding gown.

This lovely hand-crafted one twelfth scale miniature doll stands approx, five and a half inches tall.

She wears a late Victorian bustle gown of ivory silk jacquard, decorated with lashings of fine cotton lace and a delicate cream and gold fancy braid. The front of the gown skirt has a ruched apron-swag over a straight front panel and two long silk brocade ‘tails’. The back of the gown is puffed and trained with two angled and pointed ‘tails’ and a large bow. The off-the-shoulder bodice is fitted with a brocade centre panel under a deep frill of lace. Around her neck, the bride wears a golden heart pendant embellished with pearls and crystals. Her lace-trimmed puffed sleeves end at the elbows and she wears a pair of delicate lace mittens.

The dress is trimmed with peach silk roses, greenery and tiny ivory coloured buds that are echoed at the top of the fine full-length silk tulle veil that floats over the bride’s chestnut hair.

The Bride poses in the gardens.

Underneath the bride wears white, lace-trimmed cotton pantaloons and a fancy trained petticoat. On her feet are painted golden shoes decorated with pale blue silk rosettes.

Below are some other views of the dress.

The detail at the back of the skirt.

Showing the left side of the gown.

Showing the right side of the gown.

A couple of fun pictures taken in one of my dollshouses.

The Bride checks her dress before she leaves her bedroom.

The Bride waits at the front door for her carriage to arrive.

The Summer Bride is currently looking for a new home. If you would like her to come and live with you, please contact me for further details.