#speaking rain

[mountbetter]

i love this illustration like there’s something so peaceful and cute about it, like they’re just playing dolls and horses and awww 🥹🥹🥹 its up there as one of my all time favs for sure

[americangirlstar]

Kaya'aton'my – Semi-Complete Costume Collection

I have been meaning to gather a collection of major characters and their outfits since I started rebooting my American Girl Sims save. We're starting with Kaya, who's an easy one since she doesn't have many alternate outfits. I also collected as much as I could of the minor characters, though I don't have access to her full Step Into Reading book, which has pictures of multiple characters.

American Girl Costume Collections, 1/?

Update 1.0: Added scans from Kaya Rides to the Rescue, including more outfits for Aalah, and outfit refs for Fox Tail and Kaya's Aunt; while unnamed in the first book, she later references three aunts. One does not live near her and only appears in her later mystery, one was very young with a baby, and so if this Auntie is one of her other mentioned aunts, it's most likely Red Duck.

[thestuffinginside]

dollie photo dump since I've literally never posted some of these girls (aka Dilyéhé appreciation post lolll)

[canon-disabledcharacteroftheday]

The canon disabled character of the day is Speaking Rain from American Girl who is blind.

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Character Moodboards // Speaking Rain

The earth has music for those who listen.

[shakespearefreak]

So I'm currently reading the second Kaya mystery, The Ghost Wind Stallion. I'm not very far yet (no Spoilers, please!), but I love how much it focuses on Speaking Rain, and it got me thinking again about Speaking Rain customs.

I've always seen people use the Kaya face mold for Speaking Rain. That makes sense, because Kaya's is the only female mold with a closed mouth; but still, I don't like the idea of them looking exactly the same except the eyes. Recently on Marketplace, I saw a custom for sale where the artist had used something to fill in the lips of a doll, hiding the teeth (I think the intent was to make the lips fuller, and the teeth were just a side effect). Anyways, I thought the Nanea mold, with her narrow face and wide eyes, would be perfect for Speaking Rain if someone did that. I started out just daydreaming, but then I was so enchanted with the idea that I ended up spending far, FAR too long making this edit (it's currently 7:43 am local time and I haven't slept yet). Anyways, I think she is gorgeous and now someday (probably years in the future, but someday) when I have the money, I'm going to commission someone to create her for real.

[zoominag]

1800-1849

This is part of a series in which I am posting clips of my larger project by decade as I finish them. For more about this project, or to ask me to include your doll or OC, check out my pinned post.

Previous posts:

17th century

1700-1739

1740-1769

1770-1799

The OCs in this post that are mine are Charlotte and Jane, Rachel and Abigail, and Hannah and Delia (they're in pairs because I did the Best Friends series based on @americangirlstar's suggestions, and in the process created a Best Friend for each of my own characters). Héloise and Aoife belong to @autistickirstenlarson, Violette belongs to @getintothesun, and Charlotte belongs to @gardner-n-pardner.

While putting together previous installations I became aware that I have the birth dates wrong for several of the canon characters. I'm planning a redo for the canon character set, eventually, so please do let me know if I'm wrong about anyone. I might already know, but since I have pretty severe dyscalculia as well as ADHD it's not bad to have the info available in multiple places.

1800s

Charlotte Finch: 85-94 Jane Finch: 83-92 Héloise Cormier: 46-55 Kaya'aton'my: 45-54 Speaking Rain: 45-54 Felicity Merriman: 35-44 Elizabeth Cole: 35-44 Rachel Gabay: 20-29 Abigail Schorr: 20-29 Lydia Livingston: 1-10 Caroline Abbott: 0-8

This is it, as narrow as skirts are going to get for about a century. Everyone was really into looking like Greek and Roman statues, so white dresses in drapey fabrics were the rage for young women. Caroline and Lydia are a little young for that style though. Before I decided to add the Best Friends to the project, I put Lydia's dress in Caroline's collection, but then I did make Lydia and made the green dress her meet outfit. Now that I'm thinking about a redo, I want to give Caroline a completely different dress, maybe that also has those sheer sleeves.

1810s

Charlotte Finch: 95-99 Jane Finch: 93-99 Héloise Cormier: 56-65 Kaya'aton'my: 55-64 Speaking Rain: 55-64 Felicity Merriman: 45-54 Elizabeth Cole: 45-54 Rachel Gabay: 30-39 Abigail Schorr: 30-39 Lydia Livingston: 11-20 Caroline Abbott: 9-18 Clara Montoya: 0-7 Josefina Montoya: 0-5

The switch from wearing their skirts calf-length with visible pantalettes to ankle-length might have been an exciting growing-up moment for Caroline and Lydia. At the same time, the silhouettes are getting less flowy with stiffer fabrics and little puffs on the sleeves. Meanwhile, in New Mexico, I gave Clara styles based on illustrations of Ana and Francisca as well as leftovers from Josefina's collection, and then afterward decided to do a siblings series, so...whoops again, I guess.

1820s

Héloise Cormier: 66-75 Kaya'aton'my: 65-74 Speaking Rain: 65-74 Felicity Merriman: 55-64 Elizabeth Cole: 55-64 Rachel Gabay: 40-49 Abigail Schorr: 40-49 Lydia Livingston: 21-30 Caroline Abbott: 19-28 Clara Montoya: 8-17 Josefina Montoya: 6-15 Hannah Kane: 0-5 Delia Freedman: 0-5 Violette Metoyer: 0-5

The early Regency was all about long, narrow lines, but now the width is coming back, along with growing sleeve puffs and lots of horizontal lines. Frills, lace, and bows are starting to show up on skirts, and hairstyles are starting to get tall again. It's coincidence that @getintothesun's Violette is the same age as my Hannah and Delia, but drawing them together is turning out to be a fun exercise: Hannah and Delia are comparatively plainly-dressed kids, appropriate to their hardworking lives on the Erie Canal, while Violette has a richness in her wardrobe that works with her comfortable life in the Louisiana warmth.

1830s

Héloise Cormier: 76-85 Kaya'aton'my: 75-84 Speaking Rain: 75-84 Felicity Merriman: 65-74 Elizabeth Cole: 65-74 Rachel Gabay: 50-59 Abigail Schorr: 50-59 Lydia Livingston: 31-40 Caroline Abbott: 29-38 Clara Montoya: 18-27 Josefina Montoya: 16-25 Hannah Kane: 6-15 Delia Freedman: 6-15 Violette Metoyer: 6-15 Aoife Callaghan: 0-3

This decade for the first time we have two members of the @autistickirstenlarson extended universe in play! Each of her characters has a strong color palette for their collection: not every outfit incorporates the theme colors, but enough do to feel like the character herself has a preference. For Héloise, the go-to colors are blue and brown. For Aoife it's green and cream.

1840s

Héloise Cormier: 86-95 Kaya'aton'my: 85-94 Speaking Rain: 85-94 Felicity Merriman: 75-84 Elizabeth Cole: 75-84 Rachel Gabay: 60-69 Abigail Schorr: 60-69 Lydia Livingston: 41-50 Caroline Abbott: 39-48 Clara Montoya: 28-37 Josefina Montoya: 26-35 Hannah Kane: 16-25 Delia Freedman: 16-25 Violette Metoyer: 16-25 Aoife Callaghan: 4-13 Cecile Rey: 0-7 Marie-Grace Gardner: 0-7 Kirsten Larson: 0-5 Singing Bird: 0-5 Charlotte Devereux: 0

I struggled a lot with finding accurate, non-exoticizing references for Singing Bird, as I did for Kaya and Speaking Rain. As a result, it feels necessary to include a disclaimer to the effect that this project should not be viewed as an accurate source for Nimiipuu, Salish, or Lakota clothing. Please do not cite me as a reference. While it was easy to find examples of modern-day Nimiipuu , Salish, and Lakota regalia, and there are photos of individual garments from the 18th and 19th centuries on display in museums, it was hard to get a feel for what an outfit might accurately have looked like, without entering into a level of research that would have been way beyond the scope of this project. That said, I do intend to eventually go back and redo the canon characters, so if someone seeing this does have access to and familiarity with good 18th and 19th century Nimiipuu, Salish, and Lakota clothing references, and the time and patience to share it with me, I will absolutely use them in the redo. For now, please know that the probable inaccuracies in my drawings of these characters are not intended as disrespect, and as always I am open to knowledgeable correction.

As always, to get your historical doll or OC included in this project, HERE'S THE LINK. Obviously if your doll is from earlier than the 1840s they'll have to wait for the next round of drawings, but you're welcome to put them in the form.

[in-pleasant-company]

The Dogs That Grew Wool and the People Who Love Them | Hakai Magazine

Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest bred little, fluffy white dogs that provided for them, both materially and spiritually.