Okay people, I've been holding out on you.
And for my penance I am going to write a ridiculously long post...
May I humbly introduce you to Tori P. Elise:
I recently signed up for the newest round of the I Love My Poppet Swap, and I realized rather guiltily that I still hadn't posted pictures of my beloved Tori! So I set out to remedy that, for both her sake and that of my partner.
Tori began her life as a skein of very pretty colored yarn. I saw it in the dollar store and just had to have it, though I didn't quite know what it was for yet. If you're familiar with the Poppet Along you may recognize it as the yarn used for the Rob Zombie poppet's hair. In any event, I quickly realized what I had found and set about creating a poppet. Unlike most poppets I make, I started with Tori's head first, and so for several days she was simple a disembodied head with some pretty cool hair. No face to speak of, but hair.
Her body came next, and it was at this time that Tori's true purpose came to light. People often say that crafting is better (and cheaper!) than therapy, and I agree with that 100%. When I started Tori's body, I was going through a very difficult time in my life. To make a very long, torrid story short, my then fiance and I were in the midst of calling off the engagement and breaking up. I won't go into faults, but at that time I was feeling very repressed. There were many things I wanted and needed to say to him that I never could, and with this in mind I set out to make a poppet who could be outspoken for me. Due to that I gave her a kind of "edgy" appearance, one that expressed how I felt at that moment. So she has a long mohwak and large tattoos on the sides of her head (pictures further down).
The night I finished Tori's body my fiance and I finally called it quits in a very quick but very painful argument. He had gotten to the point where he just didn't care any more and refused to talk to me (and still hasn't to this day unfortunately), so I crafted instead. That evening I began to tattoo Tori's body all over. Around midnight or so I finished and decided I absolutely hated it. So what's a girl to do? Do over! Yes, I stayed up until about 4am that night re-cutting and re-sewing and entirely new body for her. The only original parts were her head, tail, and the tips of her toes. At the time of this writing Tori has undergone another body change because the stitches were too loose for long-term use (I had no working machine at the time and so she was hand sewn). So this is essentially her third body, head still original of course.
Tori encompasses many of my favorite things, some of which will be explained with the pictures below. Her first name comes from Tori Amos, one of my favorite musicians and a big inspiration for her conception. Around the time I was starting her body I discovered the Tori song "Flying Dutchman." (Listen to it here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pPgtq4EU-qs)
This inspired one of Tori's tattoos as well as some of her personality. The rest of Tori's name is a combination of another favorite music artist of mine and my own chosen last name. "P" stands for "Penny," from the Hanson "Penny and Me" fame. Elise is actually my middle name, but I use it as a pseudo last name for all non-legal ventures.
Tori's looks were inspired by a combination of Neil Gaiman's Delerium, the wonderful poppet Quinn from the Poppet Along, fae folk (think mid summer night's dream), and my own personal muse. Personality-wise Tori is a mix of quiet and out spoken. She is at least part fairy and part muse, though I won't claim to know everything about her.
She loves to be outside, to dance, and to listen to music.
An overview of Tori in her newly finished skirt. She is ridiculously hard to find clothes for because of her coloring, but this seemed to work.
This is what I have dubbed Tori's "myspace pic" because of the angle. Here you can see her face a little better. Her eyes are two different colors, one green and one blue. When I was little I always wanted two different colored eyes, and in my favorite movie
Practical Magic, the hero has one green eye and one blue. The fabric around her and and in her ears was given to me by a coworker who was cleaning out her grandparents' house after a death. It was one of my favorites, and I wanted to make sure it went to good use. She also has a small crystal underneath her eye.
I finished Tori's necklace this evening, though I've been waiting forever to finalize it. I'm a huge fan of all things wolf, and I actually have a substantial number of wolves tattooed on me (including a chest piece). Rather than tattoo her, I decided to make her a necklace similar to one I have.
Tori's tattoos! This first tattoo came out of nowhere, so I can't really give my inspiration. It's sort of like a "tree of life" motif.
Next is her space tattoo, inspired by the previously mentioned Tori Amos song. Both the song and the video (fan made) involve space, and the latter had particularly nice pictures of the planets.
Tori's third and final tattoo is the product of a somewhat misinterpreted lyric. Anyone familiar with the band Something Corporate will recognize the song "I Woke Up In A Car." Basically it's about their tour life and how travel can lead you to your greatest homes, even if you don't remain there. At the time I heard this song I was practically living on a bus, so I felt the sentiment entirely. The song discusses meeting a girl who "kept tattoos for the homes that she had loved." A later lyric talks about seeing "the Mississippi on her knees." For the longest time I connected the tattooed girl with this lyric, and had the mental image of a girl with the Mississippi River tattooed on her knees. If you really go through the lyrics however, this isn't necessarily the case. That notwithstanding, I really wanted Tori to have this tattoo so she does.
Just for fun the back of Tori:
And the requisite panty shot!
That's about it, she's pretty much my most favorite thing/person/muse/etc. ever. If you have any comments/questions feel free to reply!
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