Poppy's Doll Closet: High Flying Raven

High Flying Raven in her full outfit.

This is a doll I have unexpectedly fallen in love with. I wasn't even going to buy a Raven. But I did and now I love her!

I'll start from the begining.

I have loved Helen Kish's dolls since the 1990's. I remember making paper doll versions of her ballerinas in blue and white

The girl in the foreground was my favourite.

In those days, I was a teenager and not a lot of dolls were available where I live, (and ordering things internationally was a lot more complicated than it is now) so I never even dreamed of owning the dolls I saw in magazines. Although in 1998 I actually wrote off to a shop in America to find out how much it would cost to buy the porcelain Bonnie doll, when I got the reply I was crushed and shocked.

Helen Kish's Bonnie from 1998

I haven't kept up with what's going on in the doll world for the last few years, so I didn't even know about the Chrysalis dolls. Last time I was paying attention Riley had only just been introduced and I was only just paying attention then, the last time dolls had my full attention Bethany was only just getting started.

Earlier this year I decided to buy myself a doll, initially I planned on getting one of Dianna Effner's vinyl dolls which I was vaguely aware of, but I was a bit disappointed by their lack of articulation and a bit scared by their price. (I had only seen the studio dolls, not the Heartstrings ones which are a lot more affordable.) And at some point I stumbled across the Chrysalis line. I had to have one! I was enchanted!

But not by Raven.

I'm not going to say I disliked Raven, I didn't. I just didn't like her either. The other Chrysalis girls I saw and wanted, Raven I simply overlooked as uninteresting. I was actually confused by this. As far as I can see, of the Chrysalis dolls Raven's is the most quintessentially Kish face, and I love Kish dolls. But not Raven.

In the end I (obviously) bought High Flying Raven. Why? She was on sale, I loved her outfit and I planned on using her body to fit patterns for the other dolls. She was never going to get to wear the finished clothes.

When she arrived I was madly in love with my Lark, Raven was deboxed, placed on a shelf next to Lark and forgotten.

It was two weeks before I finally took Raven down to have a look at her. I got her hood and goggles out of her box and spent a frustrating fifteen minutes putting them on her. I love the little hood and the fact that it's lined with a sheepskin type fabric and that the lining isn't just around the edges but all through it. The body of her little jacket is lined too (not in sheepskin, just cotton) which always impresses me with dolls clothes.

Raven's little hood, goggles and jacket.

I took her jacket off to see what the dress underneath looked like and it is really lovely! All little pink ruffles. I don't like pink but it does really suit her colouring. Of course I had to change her shoes to see the dress as a dress. Spent five minutes trying to unlace her boots before I realised they unzipped down the back and felt a bit silly.

Raven's boots and socks

A change of shoes changes Raven's look completely

(Shoes are MSD shoes from Alice's Collections)

And her face is just beautiful. She reminds me of my sister when she was a child, and of an old Bru doll. . . which isn't overly surprising since the bru faces have always reminded me of my sister as a child too. Actually I've half got a thought to buy the palest Raven I can find and rewig and redress her like and antique doll.

The kind of face I'm talking about.

Raven all pink and sweet.

And now Raven has gone from a doll I never expected to like, to one of my favourite dolls ever! I find that strange about these dolls. I'm probably going to sound like a crazy person but they have an amazing amount of personality. I've discovered I can't name them before I get them, or more often than not I get them and they just don't accept the name I give them.

My Raven was initially going to be named Briarlee, but firstly I discovered I can't say Briarlee without it sounding like Briley and even when I said it right, Raven just looked at me as though she was thinking "That's not my name."

I call her Rowan now, I have no idea how that came about because I was calling her Rowan for about a week before I even realised I was! Since my rule with dolls is that if you change their name and a week later you're still calling them by their factory name, the name you've given them is wrong, I've decided it works the other way too. If you find you've been calling them something that isn't their name for a week without realising it, that probably is their name.

The other thing I am finding with the Chrysalis dolls is that I'm giving them back stories and personalities in my head which is something I haven't done with any doll since I was about twelve years old. They really do take on a life of their own! And I really love the different looks Raven has. In her full original outfit, I think she looks quite cheeky, but if you change her down to just her dress suddenly she's very demure and sweet.

And finally some more pictures of Raven, just because I can.