Dwarven Women Clothing Design by Me

We don't see a lot of Dwarven women (for that matter, we don't see a lot of Elven women either) in the Lord of the Rings books, but from what little there is in the appendix....

Dwarven Woman Clothes

DWARVEN WOMEN ARE AWESOME!!!!

From the appendix, we learn, they are stubborn, picky, romantic, stubborn, do men's crafts (smithing, etc.), and stubborn.
I mean, there's a 2:1 birth ratio of male to female dwarves, and yet with the odds stacked like that a good percentage of them never marry because either, they are career types (smithing and all that), or because they only really fall in love once, and refuse to settle for anyone else if they can't get that one guy. So they're stubborn. And Romantic.

And if any race in Middle Earth has ninja-esque women with weapons it would be the dwarves. And yet...in movies they're just side-lined as a joke, and their menfolk are supposed to fall for elvish chicks. (??!?! It's its...as if a mole fell in love with a squirrel in Redwall...would. not. happen)

And I was sad that the only glimpse we got of dwarven women in the Hobbit Movie (in all of the 2 seconds they were in) wearing boring brocade Italian-Renn dresses, weighed down with skirts trying to run from the dragon.

Dwarves like ornament. But they also like things being functional. They make art out of functional things (weapons, instruments, armor, axes, harps, etc.). They love beauty, but they are very very practical.

Kind of like this belt & scabbard set from this amazing website.

from http://www.danegeld.co.uk/page13.htm

Dwarf Women's Clothes a.k.a. Costume Design for the Hobbit Movie in my head

 
Hence I think they would make jewelry out of practical things, like the key-ring of a woman's household, very much a symbol (but also, practical), would be decorated with jewels, or cleverly wrought metal. Their cloak chains and clasps would be elaborate. Perhaps they would have other symbolic/functional things.

buckle from Sutton Hoo

Detail of above

 Like Boromir's horn, functional for blowing for help/reinforcements, beautiful and decorated. And knives, suitable for both cooking/working and self-defense, would have elaborately decorated handles. I think Dwarven women would each have a personal dagger. On Royalty, it would obviously be more ornamental (like the weapons at Sutton Hoo) because they would have a bodyguard.

Horns from Sutton Hoo, note the remnants of the elaborate gold-work

 They would have lots of packs/bags/pouches to carry things, because dwarves are good at carrying things, and they like having little trinkets and tinderboxes and things.

Their culture also strikes me as very Germanic/Viking. So I started out with an apron dress. (Very practical, cuts down on laundry)

picture from reproductions sold here

I think they would have very thick hair, given their menfolk's pride in their beards, they probably take pride in growing it out quite long and probably wear it in all sorts of elaborate braids, woven with gold or leather straps.

Here's my take on a middle-class Dwarven Woman's clothing. She'd have a dress-tunic (with lace up on the front, that can be lengthened for nursing) with an apron dress over it. The medallions on the shoulders of the apron-dress would be as decorated as she could afford. The same with her cloak-chain, as it doubles as a sort of necklace.

belt buckle, Sutton Hoo

She would have a sturdy leather belt, with hanging pouches and a place for her horn, her household keys, and her dagger, as well as however many other things she carries. Dwarves are strong, so if in her childbearing years she'd likely carry her baby on her back as she works, as most cultures still do. Being working-class, she'd probably wear a linen head-kercheif, but her long hair would be elaborately braided under it.

My take on a Royal/Richer dwarf. Its the same basic dress design as the lower class dwarf, but her status symbols are more elaborate: her cloak chain is multiple string of jewels, her belt is gold-work, the chains holding up her keys and horn have jewels worked into elaborate metal beads, her keychain is full of keys, her dagger's scabbard is a work of art.

Shoulder Clasp from Sutton Hoo

  Her tunic-dress would be of richer colors of blue and red and green, her clothing embroidered with gold, her skirts more numerous and longer (as she doesn't have to work), her hair-style more elaborate (perhaps a mix of crown braids with hanging braids), and she would of course be wearing rings and necklaces as well. However, her skirts are not so weighty as to keep her from running, her horn would be loud, her ornamental-looking dagger would be very sharp and she would most probably know how to use it.

This is my take on an Adventure Dwarf. A Dwarven woman who for whatever reason, finds herself traveling through less-than-hospitable lands. It's really a more practical take on the Middle-Class dwarf, her tunic dress is cut off at the knee and supplemented with pants for better climbing, her apron-dress is replaced with a leather overtunic-jerkin thing. Her household keys are replaced with more tools and knives. Slung across her back she has an axe, a bow and arrows, and perhaps a pick-axe too for good measure. The rest of her worldly goods are probably in a sturdy leather pack on her back. She probably has another knife in her boot.

Dwarven women are tough. And stubborn.

One day I'm planning to make a Dwarven Outfit....have a lot of projects to finish before then. But I think it would be perfect thing to wear while camping. I'd have tinderbox in one of my pouches.

What We Wore Sunday, and More Cuteness

What we wore Sunday.

What Isaiah tried to wear to Church.....

First he tried to convince us to put him in "my suit!" (his Cap America suit he wears 6 days of the week). We tried to convince him Steve Rogers would only wear formal clothes to church.
After he was respectably clothed, and at some point as we grabbed diaper bags and headed to the car, he put on his mask and grabbed his shield.

Alas, right after this picture, he was stripped of his mask and shield, despite his protests.


In the car, coming home from church.

Jenny's outfit.

 What Jenny wore. I call it her "fairy dress". Its all cream lace, rose-buds, and more lace at the collar and puffed sleeves. Its so beautiful. She should wear it with pastel pink stockings, but hot pink stockings were what we had, so I used those. Josh teased me as I planned her outfit, "are you sure the stockings aren't too pink?" When I agreed, he then said how all the other women in church would be whispering about the mis-match.
Meaning of course, he thought I was being silly.

 I love her shoes, there's something so classic and timeless about this style. Jenny loves her shoes too. "PITTY SHOES!!!"
Actually its scary how much she loves her shoes....

 Isaiah, out of the car, reunited with his shield and mask.

Here you get a glimpse of what Isaiah wore, sans monkey. I love the look of long pants and suspenders and button down shirts on him. He looks like such a little man.

 Jenny, with her toothbrush. Pardon the mirror-shots...

She is pleased with herself.

I've found with my growing belly that a lot of my maternity clothes just needed to be repaired/accessorized to look nice. Like this shirt, it puffed out too soon making me look like a barrel. But wearing it with an A-line long brown skirt and brown belt really fixed that. I'm going to do this with all my tunic-length maternity tops.

 Note the failed cute mother-daughter shot....

 Now she's smiling....

Taking these pictures is always a challenge, since a lot of the time my kids are doing something like this.

 I thought a couple turned out accidentally artistic.

Isaiah escaping...

Note Jenny's mullet is now growing out more. Stay tuned for attempts at pigtails!

 And the crowning gem of my attempts at photography, I caught Josh laughing, making a non-camera actual-real-live-Josh face!

He doesn't like me taking pictures of him, like its an invasion of privacy or something, but I think of it as my external memory drive. Anyways, I'm pretty sure Josh's smiles come under all his worldly goods he endowed me with or something...

Isaiah at Breakfast

An example of Jenny's happy face

Jenny, as usual, was her sunny self this morning, "Dte-Dtu!" she exclaims in joyful thanks on receiving her morning banana.

Isaiah, as usual, had to be dragged out of bed. He was melodramatic, and when receiving his banana, and accidentally breaking it, proceeded to do his ritual mourning over the fact.
He weeps, holding the pieces of banana together, sobbing and begging for "tape, tape..." to fix it.

Isaiah: Pre-Food (with broken banana)

Finally, after consuming said banana, he cheers up a bit.
A muffin also helps.

Isaiah: Post-food (consumed banana)

This morning, I decided to start my new resolution of reading the kids Hebrew in the morning.
As I launched into a recitation of the first few verses of Isaiah 40 (alas, the only Hebrew I actually memorized since college), both kids stared at me, weirded out by the non-English syllables, they seemed disturbed.
I felt the need to dispel the terror of not-English, saying as brightly as possible "Its Hebrew, Isaiah. Do you want Mommy to teach you Hebrew?"
"Mommy--Stormtroopers!"
I stared.
"...shoot birds..."
A reference to "A Fierce Bad Rabbit"??
"...and Luke Skywalker"
*********

Isaiah has begun potty training, while seated on the green seat, he requests stories. And the great dramas of MAGGIES BIG DAY or  WHO IS PETER'S BEST FRIEND IN FIRST GRADE or BOBBY'S MOVE may be cute the first 3 times its read in a row, but by the 4th time...."Mommy, read Peter!...Again!...Again"... I start to feel claustrophobic.

Beatrix Potter has been a lifesaver. I don't know what it is, the beautiful illustrations, the well written words, the subtle humor and quirky story-lines, but somehow reading Squirrel Nutkin or The Two Bad Mice or Peter Rabbit ("Peter Jacket") over and over is a lot easier on my mental state.

But yesterday, he developed a fascination with "The Fierce Bad Rabbit", one of the simplest stories in the whole collection. It follows the saga of a "fierce bad rabbit" who takes the carrot of a "nice gentle rabbit" and who then becomes the target for a "man with a gun" who thinks its bird. The fierce bad rabbit escapes with his life, but without his carrot or his tail.
I worried why this appealed to him so much, trying to figure out if he identified with the dis-carroted rabbit or the bully, worrying that the story showed how he felt about his and Jenny's relationship.

Well, after reading it many many times on request (in rows), he began filling in words for me when I paused. He said "nice gentle rabbit" with appropriate gentleness, said "takes it!" with a little too much glee, but said "feels sad" with appropriate sorrow, so far I couldn't tell which side he was on. Then we got to the hunter, and the enthusiasm was unmistakable in "man with a gun!" I looked up and saw his little eyes lit up with joy, and they positively glowed when the gun goes "BANG!"

So now I know why it appeals to him.
It's the closest Beatrix Potter gets to Captain America.

For some reason, Isaiah thinks the threatening end of a sword is the hilt

I think I need to get him St. George and Dragon or something....

Goals for 2014

 Important Stuff

1. Have Quiet Time every morning. Even if its 10 minutes. 
2. Memorize Colossians and Isaiah 40-46
3. Read Genesis in Hebrew. And Read a Psalm to the kids in Hebrew at breakfast. Work through my old Hebrew book.

Art & Stories

1. Write up Even-Katom and illustrate it.
2. Write up Where the Lilies Truly Grow (as a child's book? Or a Novella?) and illustrate it
3. Write up The Woodcutter's Wife and the Wolf-King and illustrate it (think of as 1.0)
4. Finish my Jesus and Adam and Eve (Eden, Fall, Expulsion, Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, Harrowing of Hell w/ Adam and Eve) icon-poster set, make also the abbreviated version (Temptation, Fall, Expulsion, Annunciation, Crucifixion, Harrowing all inscribed on a Tympanum style hanging). Maybe even a doors of bishop Bernward...
5. Start and Finish my Hebrew Jesus set (Nativity, Circumcision/Aqeda, Jesus Healing/Isaiah 53/Purification stuff?, Crucifixion/Sacrifice, Harrowing of Hell[non-traditional]. Need to plan this one out a bit more.
6. "Work on" The Morning People

Illustrating Children's Books: Some Analysis of the Greats

So I have been thinking about my woefully inadequate attempts at illustrating my children's books, and how I am going to learn how to paint. I decided I have to get an idea of what I am aiming for, and thus rounded up some of my favorite illustrators.

1. Beatrix Potter, whose pictures are somehow so full of wonder....

 

Evidently I am not alone, C.S. Lewis mentioned experiencing wonder from Beatrix Potter's illustrations as a child. There's so much beauty in them. Especially the misty backgrounds, you can feel the morning sun and mist. OK---So practical notes here. It appears to be line (ink?) drawings, on watercolor backgrounds, filled in with watercolor (and maybe gouache?).

2. Brian Wildsmith.

I love his use of color and gold illumination, it also filled me with wonder as a child, how everything in the picture meant something, how there were meaningful secrets tucked into the details of the pictures.

pix from this blog These are from "A Christmas Story" Isaiah's favorite

Note the gold illumiated window, with the cross-beams highlighted...and the position of Baby Jesus' arms as he learns how to walk....

He seems to be using pencil outlines, with watercolor and gouache to fill it out....

3. Ivan Bilibin

He's THE fairy tale illustrator.

Love his use of borders, of dark and light, and his superb line drawings.

Again, he seems to use line drawing (ink?) and fill it in with watercolor (or gouache??). His colors cut off more at the lines than Potter or Wildsmith.

4. Jenny Dolfen
And then there's this absolutely amazing artist my siblings found on the internet, "Gold-Seven" on deviantart, Jenny Dolfen. She draws the most amazing and heart-wrenching pictures of Hannibal's struggle against Rome. Her website is here. Her Tolkien illustrations are pretty amazing too, she is the only artist I have ever seen who really captures Gandalf. Check out her galleries, they are amazing.

She really  makes you care about Hannibal. From her website http://goldseven.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/crossing-the-alps/

She has a lot of helpful tutorials on her blog. She does line art, and then paints it in with watercolors. If I could be one third as good as her, I would be very happy indeed.

5. Trina Schart Hyman

I stumbled across her art as an adult.

Hyman seems to use extensive pencil line drawing (with shading and cross-hatching and all) that is then painted over. There's a lot more pencil than the other 4 illustrators we've looked at so far.
It's very fairy-tale-ish. For me, it has a little less wonder in it than Bilibin, Potter, and Dolfen....but I don't know if that's style or my mental associations with having people fleshed out with pencil so much. Watercolor seems to leave more up to the imagination somehow...



So in conclusion, the kind of illustration style that I really like is some form of line art (ink or pencil, but not too heavy) with watercolor and gouache.
Since the best way to learn from them is to copy them, like the apprentices of yore, one of my goals this year is to mimic them.
This year, I'm going to go over and analyze and try to copy in some small way each of these illustrators in turn. First I need to get one of those "Watercolor 101" type of books from the library.