Briar Beauty: A rose among the thorns

In my previous post, I wrote about how I bought the “Spring Unsprung”Briar Beauty in a bit of a rough shape and did my best to restore her to former glory. Even though ‘spring’ is far, far away, I wanted to celebrate with a floral photo shoot for her. Luckily, the local rose garden is still in bloom…

I never tire of expressing my surprise at how short summer always is, and with it, how fleeting the ‘neutral’ natural photo scenery is – blue skies, green grass… no autumn leaves. The latter have already been flying around, but luckily, not so much among the rose bushes.

Only the grass was never very green this summer due to intense heat… It shows sometimes in the background.

Nonetheless, this indeed turned out to be the prefect location for Briar, with so many varieties of beautiful roses. I suppose it’s not the most original of ideas, but I have no regrets about this. This is where she belongs 🙂

In case you missed my last post, I had to replace Briar’s necklace with a homemade substitute. I also chose to add some detail to her other accessories. I usually prefer to err on the side of simplicity, but this doll is over the top in all the best ways and pulls it off.

I really like what they did with her dress. It’s mostly shades of pink, but the richness of forms makes it look so elaborate. The bubble-type skirt is perky with volume, the train flows delicately and majestically. The only contrasting part, the black and white skirt, looks very stark to me, but in a good way, making the design more mature.

Black and white elements seem to be the uniting element between all the Spring Unsprung dolls. I am also quite partial to Cerise‘s birch-like leggings.

Wow, was this really designed with children in mind? I wonder if they were able to appreciate the unusual styles. I know that I as a child mostly liked bright pink, glitter and opalescence. But, even if today’s kids are similar to past me in this regard, I believe that exposing them young to something different but beautiful can plant a seed and expand one’s tastes.

This was fun – no sewing necessary, and still so much enjoyment. Summing  up, it may not be too late to get some sunshine and spring-like views, and it may not be too late to find yourself at least a second-hand doll from the “Spring Unsprung” collection. I’d hate to tempt, but I highly recommend 🙂

Fixing Up “Spring Unsprung” Briar Beauty

Recently I was shopping online for a certain Ever After High character – more about her another time… The seller also happened to have another doll available. Briar Beauty from the “Spring Unsprung” line. I had never considered buying this doll before, but at a good price and just one shipping cost for two items, I thought, why not. This is how people run out of shelf space…

What I did not notice in the photo was that she was somewhat beat up…

• she was dirty and musty all over, there was a stain on her dress

• the paint on her lips and her flower crown had partially rubbed off

• some of the hairs had been ripped out of her colourful strands in the front

• the rest of her hair looked fine too me, but it desperately needed washing, which meant that the style would be lost

She was also missing her necklace – that part I had noticed before the purchase – and her handbag looked like someone nibbled at one of its corners 😀 I was fully aware I was buying a used doll, but from photo online – taken from afar, I thought it was a used doll coming from a collector, but clearly not.

First of all, I gave her a bath and boil-washed her hair. Next, I put the straw curlers in. I followed the advice from this video by JLantis: https://youtu.be/TTi95Z96VG4 .

After it dried for two days, I took the straws out.

Before:

After:

I borrowed my husband’s paints (with permission :)) which he uses to paint his Warhammer and Warmashine minatures and I touched up the dolls’ lips and headdress. I even decided to add in some more detail.

A mixture of the colours “Sanguine Base” and “Sanguine Highlight” happened to match her lips perfectly!

Before:

After:

I also trimmed her ripped hairs as low as I could.

Even though there was nothing wrong with her shoes, I went on a painting spree and coloured in some details there as well.

Before:

After:

As for her necklace, I did not feel like I would be able to recreate the original one, neither did I feel the need to. I took a polymer clay rose, shaded it with the above-mentioned colours and glued it to a ribbon, creating a choker of sorts. It simply ties around her neck.

The final result:

Spending some time working on this doll has helped me really appreciate her. Not long ago I barely remembered a doll like this existed and I never felt the need to own her, but now I am so impressed by her rich, extravagant design. This doll has helped me to remember and re-experience a better era of Ever After High, so I too don’t mind helping her shine again.

 

More photos of Briar coming soon 🙂