Unsurprisingly, I’m late for Valentine’s Day, but I had to do a Valentine’s Day gown for two reasons. One, Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion for the type of ridiculousness I do best. Although I appreciate the simplicity of the re-branded Valentine’s Day, I’m having none of it. (Pass the lace.) Two, I love all of you for not forgetting me like I so richly deserve. I’m sorry.

The truth is, for the last few months I’ve been devoting myself to my other great interest, which is studying Japanese, and for some reason, when I’m really devoting myself to one thing, my interest in everything else is non-existent, and I am lucky if I can start work on time and make dinner in a consistent fashion. I really miss drawing, though. I’m going to take a stab at doing both. As a matter of fact, I was thinking, if I could combine my Japanese studies and my paperdolls somehow, I would never get tired of either of them! I’m seriously open to suggestions on this point. If you were me, what would you do with these two incongruous, underdeveloped skills?

In the meantime… well, we’ll see. I really miss paperdolling. But even if you don’t see me again for another month (and I really will try not to be that flaky this time!) at least now you have a new dress to color. This one could keep you busy for a while, too…

~On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree~

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and for those of you who don’t, I hope you can still find some amusement in birds. Lots of birds.

Remember me?
… I know, I know. I do some of the best dresses I’ve ever drawn, and then I up and vanish on you. I’m very sorry, everyone… I do tend to swing between obsessions, and I don’t know if it’s quite time to return to paperdolls, but my mom was quite right when she said it’s past time for the fire gown to be the first thing everyone sees when they look at the site. This isn’t the December birthday dress or anything… it’s just pretty. I hope. I’m kind of rusty. And it’s blue because I’m feeling blue about being such a lousy paperdoll blog maintainer. Kidding. Sort of.

I will have another couple of updates in the coming days, but for now I thought I had just better post something, apologize for the complete and total neglect, and get it over with!

“Whoever that one is, she’s gone too far,” he said quietly, and she forced her eyes open and found the cause of the commotion: at the top of the stairs, a newcomer in a black and orange gown. “This must be unbearable for you,” he continued. “Or do you know her?”

“I don’t,” she said uneasily. “It’s someone’s idea of a joke…”

“Perhaps,” he replied. “Or perhaps not.”

As they were talking, the strange women Linnetta had been trying not to notice all night had gathered at the base of the stairs; the other revelers had given the five of them a wide berth, and they stood motionless, staring out at the dance floor.

“I think you do know who she is,” her partner continued. “I think you’ve known each of them since you saw the third one; possibly the second.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. Wisps of hair fell out of her updo, sticking to her face. “It must be some kind of joke. A trick, to try to scare everybody.”

“I’m afraid not.”

“But how? How is it even possible that they’re…?”

“They have made their own pacts,” he answered lightly. “There are other powers than those you have dealt with, you know.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Liar,” he replied, with an indulgent smile. “I know all about the bargain you made… Almost all, anyways. Was it that you were already sick, and you traded their lives for your own? Or was your illness part of the ruse, so you could avoid suspicion?”

“I — I could never do such a thing,” Linnetta whispered, but it was unconvincing even to her.

“And so you were able to possess them, and manufacture their deaths one by one. But Georgiana has been seeking her revenge ever since the night you directed her off that cliff. Did you think she could let such a thing rest, even in death?”

Linnetta turned reflexively towards the woman in the black spangled dress, and her eyes were so captivating that she didn’t even realize the queen of the ball was being announced. Her partner had to give her a little push towards the center of the dance floor; a crown was placed on her head and everyone started applauding. She smiled graciously and waved, but faltered when she saw her sisters. Why had no one else noticed they had taken their masks off? While everyone else was clapping, they stood motionless, their hands linked, their faces mangled and ghastly; the only face she could bear to look at was Lenora’s, bloodless and as pale as her gown. Panicking, Linnetta turned back to her dance partner, and while he still wore his mask there seemed to be no difference between it and the skin beneath. He reached for her hand; the embroidery on the cuff of his sleeve pulsed as if stitched with blood vessels, and the bright lining of her gown was setting her skin on fire.

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I hope you enjoyed my little Halloween story… In the end it really was just an excuse to do some creepy masquerade gowns, but it was fun to write too. Thanks to my husband Brian for brainstorming the original idea with me and editing it.

No thanks to Brian for writing a Python script to vote automatically for fairies 20 times. That’s right, the proper fairy vote count ought to be whatever-it-is-minus-nineteen… That means it looks like literary characters get next week, probably, since I doubt he’s going to try a stunt like that again.

You know I had to do this poll… vote for your favorite masquerade costume!

“Look at that one,” he said, pointing to a woman in a white and red gown. “How brazen to wear such a thing.”

“What do you mean? It’s kind of an odd color combination, but…”

“Considering poor Lenora’s fate, it’s downright indecent.” He shook his head. “She must not have known, or she’d have never worn such a thing tonight.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before,” Linnetta replied, “so I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.”

“It seems to me Lenora’s story is the most tragic of all of your sisters,” her partner said. “How horrible her last days must have been.”

“It wasn’t her fault though. About Georgiana and Ginevra, I mean…”

“Who’s to say for sure? She thought it was. Maybe Georgiana was just an accident, but she did deliver the poison to Ginevra.”

“Shall we dance again?” Linnetta asked, hoping to stop the conversation, but she regretted the words as soon as they were said. Just getting to her feet made her feel light-headed, and she clung to her partner as they made their way to the dance floor. Where was her father? Once she could have counted on thoughtful Ginevra to save her from such a predicament, or for Celestine to cause some sort of distraction.

“It’s all right,” he said. “This will be the last dance before the announcement of the queen.” She could hardly pay attention to the dance or the music; she had to fight back the feeling of being overwhelmed. It didn’t help that her partner was still talking about her family.

“I’ve heard,” he said, “that towards the end, Emmeline became paranoid, which I suppose was a reasonable reaction given the circumstances. She said Celestine complained of a crushing feeling right behind her eyes, shortly before her unfortunate boating accident, and that Lenora refused to see anyone before she took her life, blaming a horrible headache. And so when she started getting headaches herself, her own retreat was foretold.”

“You know more than I do, I’m afraid,” Linnetta said, her eyes downcast. “I was so dreadfully sick that the whole time is still such a blur. My father shielded me from the details, too…”

“Of course. You wouldn’t have needed to know things like that,” her dancing partner replied.

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BitterLilly sent me colored versions of the two most recent black and white dresses – they’re very delicate and cute! Click for the princess gown and for the masquerade gown. And as before, vote for next week and… uh… start suggesting literary character Halloween costumes, because I was counting on fairies winning and I haven’t thought of any. I’d like them to be Halloween related in some way though. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is probably in, for example. Assuming that fairies don’t make a comeback…

When her partner suggested they sit, Linnetta agreed immediately, hoping that it wasn’t obvious that she was stumbling, rather than gliding, to the edge of the dance floor. He guided her to a chair beside another stranger, a woman dressed in shades of blue that seemed to shift and flow. Linnetta’s fatigue must have been getting to her; her head was swimming. Linnetta accepted a glass of punch, and — when she’d finished the whole thing in one decidedly un-aristocratic gulp — the woman in the blue gown had gone.

“I think I had better leave soon,” Linnetta said tentatively. “I’m exhausted… I think I’ve been overdoing it tonight.”

“But you can’t leave yet,” her dance partner answered, “the queen of the ball hasn’t been announced!” He leaned towards her and whispered conspiratorially, “You’re bound to win…”

This cheerful thought made her sit up a little straighter, eyeing her competitors. Certainly no other gown was as striking as hers, and no one else had a prayer of causing as much sensation as she had simply by showing up. Her partner scanned the crowd too, frowning.

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… Some dresses, like yesterday’s, take pages and pages of sketching and redrawing, and some dresses you sketch with a cheap pen while waiting for your car to be repaired and they come right together and couldn’t be any other way. Not complaining. I like this one, although the two middle blue shades are more different on the original than they are in the scan. (Today, after a good night’s sleep, I like the green one too…) The poll is still up, so please vote.

After three years of black and purple mourning clothes, Linnetta’s gown for the masquerade ball — a playful representation of a demon princess — was a blaze of glory. She felt as if its crimson lining was burning her skin, and her cheeks glowed with, if not perfect good health, a fair imitation of it considering all she had gone through. Even after so many near brushes with death and grief, no one was as beautiful as she was tonight: such thoughts consoled her on such a difficult evening. Linnetta bowed her head demurely as she made her entrance at her father’s side, ignoring the buzz of voices. It was distasteful to hear people placing bets on when she was going to die, but she had gotten used to it.

Linnetta found herself trapped in polite conversations with Lady Someone-or-another, and then Duchess So-and-so, and (so it seemed, in the rush of masks and spangles) every woman at the ball; in her absence from society, Linetta had forgotten most of the titles she ever knew, but she’d lost none of her charm. She didn’t really want to talk about her sisters, but whenever a conversation partner made sympathetic noises about her unfortunate loss — five sisters, and so young! — she made grateful noises in return, so each nosy woman could leave feeling like they had comforted poor bereaved Linnetta without actually sharing in her tragedy.

The cursed sisters all should have been there that night, and Linnetta felt their absence keenly, as if she saw them from the corner of her eye. The masked faces were all focused on her, trying to predict the manner by which the youngest and fairest daughter would meet her end, and wondering if it might even be tonight. Linetta ignored them, taking refuge in a cluster of acquaintances. She couldn’t even lose herself in the dance, for it’d be unseemly to be too carefree at her first appearance after her long illness, and the period of mourning.

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… Don’t worry, I’ve written the whole story out in advance this time. In terms of site news, no one has guessed the correct singer / group that I learned to draw gold from. (Hint: look at my about this page link for an idea of possible dates – this isn’t a trick I picked up recently). Also, I’m going to put up a poll tomorrow for week 3 of costumes: please post any suggestions in the comments.

Sorry for missing yesterday – the time went past a lot quicker than it’s supposed to. There is a chance I won’t post tomorrow, but that is because I want my masquerade series to be great and I don’t want to rush it… We’ll see, wish me luck. If I don’t post tomorrow, you have this black and white masquerade gown to keep you company…

The elf dress coloring was suggested by Monica, who guessed my favorite warm color to be Sunburst Yellow (it’s in there, actually, in the gold part). Hope you like it! As before, I’ll color the masquerade dress to the order of whoever guesses this week’s question, and it’s kind of a strange one…
I learned my technique for coloring gold (fabric, metal) a while back, when I tried copying a costume from a specific singer or musical group. Which singer / musical group was it?
Not giving you any more clues than that… One guess per person please!

Leaving the poll on the LOTR costumes up a little longer…

I didn’t really intend to return to elves for the last day of this series… I wanted to do an Entwife with an orange blossom theme, but I got started too late and my patience with making a dress out of leaves and bark just ran out. You can always tell when I just want to get done for the day, because the dress will be white. No matter how crazy and detailed it ends up, if it’s white, it usually means I started out in a grumpy mood.

Galadriel doesn’t get a lot of description besides “white,” making her good to paperdoll on a grumpy day. I really rather like how this gown turned out, although if I was to redo it I would probably cut off the gauzy middle layer of material on the sleeves.

That makes my seventh costume for Halloween: a whole week of Lord of the Rings, all finished. Uh, those of you who have followed me for a while (like, for more than a week) may have figured this out already, but it’s slightly rare for me to finish up a project so well and consistently: it’s usually one or the other. (See also my poor dancing princesses…) I’m rather proud of myself. Since I don’t think masquerade gowns are likely to be upset at this late hour, I’m putting up a new poll just to satisfy my own curiosity… It’s rather unfair to pit the black and white elf dress against the others, because I think it’ll be lovely when it’s colored, but oh well.

I’m amazed that the first week is almost over… I’m very much looking forwards to next week. I’ve got an idea for next week, and that often means trouble…

Anyways, today we have a dress based off of Goldberry’s initial description in the Fellowship of the Ring. She’s described as wearing a green gown with silver “like beads of dew,” and a belt of gold in the form of flag-lilies with forget-me nots. And as her arms are described as white, I decided she didn’t need any sleeves… So this is just my interpretation of her costume, and if I could have just about anything I’ve drawn as a real costume, I think this might be it. It’s even prettier on the paper, I wish you all could see…

As always, vote in the poll if you haven’t yet… Have I ever gotten this many poll responses before? It’s almost up to 300.