Garden of Delights - Custom Blythe

Garden of Delights

First Prize Winner - BlytheFest 2014 Australia

For Adoption

Garden of Delights - my very special custom Blythe who made her extravagant debut at Blythefest AU in Sydney, winning first prize in her category. She is an exquisite art-custom, her body and head fully covered in intricate hand painted floral vine motifs. She wears a large floral crown atop her spring green hair. She has been given "sleep eyes" and gaze adjustment, and has two of my crystal-resin glazed illustrated cameo pull-rings.

Front and Back face-plates feature a bouquet of beautifully painted garden flowers, roses, leaves and hydrangea blooms. Her entire body is encircled with vines and blooming roses, wrapping around her arms, torso and legs.

Her eyelids also feature floral continuation of her facial design, so that when she closes her eyes she can merge into her floral background... a wallflower, a perfectly camouflaged nature spirit. Eye-chips include 4 custom sets: one pair Takara pink, one pair Takara forest green, one pair hand-painted metallic silvery green, and one pair human-iris prints.

She has been meticulously sealed between each layer to protect her extensive painted designs. None the less, I would recommend she is handled minimally, and displayed in a clean dust-free environment, preferably enclosed within a glass dome or show cabinet to ensure her everlasting beauty. 

Garden of Delights

First Prize Winner - BlytheFest 2014 Australia

Diorama Competition

OOAK fully hand-painted art custom by Orchid's Designs #005

~AVAILABLE~

BlytheFest 2014

Blythefest AU was wonderful! I've had a few days to recover, come to terms with all that happened and calm down! I was simply buzzing with excitement on the day, and have to say it was an absolutely fantastic event! I'm sorry I have to wait a whole other year until the next one! 

I had less than a month to prepare, so it's been hectic leading up to the day. Not only were we still reeling from our huge move back to Australia, but then I spent every day frantically sewing and customising to be ready in time. It's been stressful, but I feel it was all definitely worth it!

The Dolly Fashion Sketchbook had a whirlwind day! All our physical copies sold outBlytheFest! 

I am so excited that so many wonderful creative people will be filling up their sketchbooks with gorgeous designs soon! Hopefully our flickr group will soon be abundant with snapshots of the books in use! If you grabbed a copy on the day, feel free to upload your pictures to our group!

We have a few back-up copies left in our Etsy Shop, so if you'd like to grab a copy before the next pre-order, hurry over!

Our beautiful custom Blythe diorama "Garden of Delights" made her debut on the day, and to my immense delight she placed first in the competition! I owe a HUGE thank you to everyone on the day who voted for her, and who admired her, and came and complimented her, it meant so very very much for me! As a reward, she will be available for adoption soon to a lucky home!

I had an utterly fabulous day. I met SO MANY wonderful people, it was so lovely to put faces to names I already loved. It was amazing to get to meet everyone in person!

Of course, I came home with plenty of fantastic goodies!

For more photo's of the day and of course, all the dolls, here are our photo albums:

Facebook - Doll Photography 

Flickr - Orchid's Designs
Flickr - Doll Photography

Enchanted Forest

Remember our special commissioned "Kingfisher" costume ensemble created for Blythecon Barcelona in collaboration with Liquiriziadolly? For the sake of this photoshoot at the time I adjusted the size to fit the exquisite Resin line of Enchanted Dolls, but never did share the fantastical results. 

Not wasting another second, please delight in this glimmering moment captured amongst the willows!

Thanks to Doll Photography for documenting this little wander amongst the willows. 

Full album of photo's can be viewed ~here~

Resin Enchanted Doll
Dressed and Wigged by Orchid's Designs
Location: North London Gardens 

All Photographs © DollPhotography AKA FourFingerPhoto

BlytheFest AU: We're Vending!

After fearing we'd missed out on this years Sydney BlytheFest (we mixed up the date) I'm absolutely delighted to have been able to squeeze myself in as a vendor at the last possible minute! 

Now with less than a month to prepare (and we're still reeling from our huge move from London to Sydney just a week ago!) it's frenzied here.... flowers everywhere, laces and silks being dyed with camellia's, roses, avocado's and all sorts of beautiful vividly coloured blooms. We're going to try and get  diorama together for the day, and frantically working on a few very special Blythe customs to fit the floral theme. Rather than go for a retro 70's vibe, we're laying focus on the "flower" part, it'll be all about extravagant floral decadence for us at BlytheFest AU 2014!

Blythefest AU and We-Love-Blythe have been publishing a feature on each of their vendors leading up the event, and here's ours! Enjoy reading, let me know if you're excited, and see you there!

Vendor showcase no.4.

Monika from Orchidsdesigns.

www.facebook.com/orchidsdesigns

1. Hi can you introduce yourself?

Hello! My name is Monika Viktoria and I run my Haute Doll Couture brand as "Orchid's Designs". I create OOAK gowns and one-off designs for such artist made BJD like Enchanted Dolls, Popovy, & BJTales. I am an illustrator and Fine Artist, and my custom Blythe Doll's are embodiments of my romantic vision and quirky style. Rare fabrics and antique trims sourced from my travels around the world are synonymous with my creations, making sure each piece is spectacular and completely singular. 

After three years abroad in Europe, Africa, Paris and London I have now moved permanently to the Blue Mountains, and I can't wait to meet the Australian Blythe community at the 2014 BlytheFest! See you there!

2. Can you tell us what it is you make and what you will be selling on the day at Blythe Fest?

For this years BlytheFest, Orchid's Designs will be offering a floral fantasia, inspired by blushing blooms and budding gardens, fantasy floral wonderlands. 

Our beautiful fabrics have been dyed naturally with vibrantly coloured flowers, resulting in delicate, softly rosy silks and laces. Vintage velvet millinery flowers and handmade paper roses embellish our designs, which will be exclusively unveiled at the Flower Power BlytheFest in Sydney!

As a special treat, we will be bringing a small LE print run of our popular "Dolly Fashion Sketchbook" for Blythe designers and fashionistas.

Kingfisher - The Enchanted Forest

My collaboration Blythe with Liquiriziadolly - Martina the glittering Kingfisher. 

She made her extravagant debut at "The Enchanted Forest" 2014 Blythecon Barcelona and is now available for adoption through Laura.

Contact Laura Liquiriziadolly for more information on Martina the Kingfisher!

Collaboration - The Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest

I have had the pleasure of being part of a fantastic collaboration to create an extravagant OOAK costume for a special custom Blythe by Liquiriziadolly for the "Enchanted Forest" theme of this years Blythecon Barcelona. I created a glittering couture frock with velvet leafed bodice, feathers and skeleton leaves dancing around her organza skirt. A stiff organza tutu of layered forest green organza helps to puff out the fantastic shaped skirt. Long gossamer sleeves dotted with beads and shimmering sequins shine in the sunlight like dewdrops on a hummingbird's wings. A glimmering band of satin and leaves crowns her forehead. 

More photo's of this costume can be seen on my facebook and flickr

Visitors to the 2014 Blythecon Barcelona can be enchanted in person at Liquiriziadolly's stand.

BCUK '13 Blythe Collection

Here are some selected designs from our first collection for Neo and Middie Blythe, previewed at Blythecon UK 2013. 

Each piece was a one-off design, and they will be available until sold-out in our Etsy Shop

Princess Middie Dresses

Best Use of Tartan Competition

Thought I'd shine some light on my winning entry for the BCUK '13 Fashion Competition. The theme for 2013 was "Best Use of Tartan" in honour of the location: Glasgow, Scotland.

Design Sketch and Ideas / Dolly Fashion Sketchbook

As usual I designed my own pattern for the costume based on my illustration for the outfit, but this time round I designed my own fabric too. We printed out the same pink tartan pattern onto thin cotton, and coated canvas.

And here is the costume all finished...

Corset Front

Corset Back

A prim little schoolgirl!

It was such an honour to place first in the competition, a truly wonderful recognition at BCUK!

The entire ensemble set is now available in my Etsy Shop.

BCUK 2013 re-cap

Such busy days! A little late but let us re-cap our wonderful time at BlytheCon UK.....

Held in Glasgow, Scotland, Orchid's Designs attended as a vendor - it was also our very first Blythecon. Here we previewed our brand new collection for Neo and Middie Blythe that I designed and completed over the prior few months. We met many lovely people, saw some beautiful creations and custom Blythe's, and had a wonderful time. I'm glad we were able to drive all the way up to Scotland to be a part of this, and I really hope I will be able to attend many more Blythecon's in the future... I find it really nice for "dolly people" to meet up, share stories and ideas, praise and admire each other's collections. 

Enjoy just a few little snapshots, at the end of this post I have listed a few photo pools and albums where you can get the entire visual scoop :-)

Last minute tweaks and adjustments

This was our cute little stand!

Outfit twinsies: Orchid's Designs and Obvious Zebra

It was also a wonderful surprise and a honour to place first in both of the competitions on the day, we won both Photography and Fashion!! This was a truly wonderful recognition for me, and I felt very proud of Orchid's Designs! I had spent weeks to months creating my entry for the fashion competition, and my lovely partner (hence why I always refer to us as "we" - he is the other integral member of Orchid's Designs!!) took the photo of Middie as a heavy-weight lifting champion.

Accepting the tiny trophy from Fifilatrixibel.

Winners!!

You can find many more photographs using the links below... enjoy browsing!!

Photo Documentation from BCUK 2013

Orchid'sDesigns Flickr pool

Four Finger Photo FB - full album

BCUK Flickr Pool