So this is long overdue. I've had my Mercy Thompson doll for over a year now, I think. Let's dig in.




I've been reading Patricia Briggs' Mercedes Thompson series since Iron Kissed. It was my first novel by her and I picked it up at the airport in Bermuda before I went on vacation. Cry Wolf and Iron Kissed were right next to each other. I really wanted to get both, but when I saw that they were written by the same author, I snatched Iron Kissed and vowed to get Cry Wolf later.

I haven't looked back since. Patricia Briggs is such a good writer and Mercy is so much like me, I was instantly attached to Mercy and her world. I couldn't put the book down the whole trip!

So, years later, as my doll collection was taking off, I decided to make dolls based on my favourite fantasy book characters. Mercy Thompson was a must.

This was right around the time, when I committed to commission 2 doll repaints from Julie Allen aka IvyHeartDesigns. I agonised over who to send, but in the end it ended up being two of my lead Fantasy girls: MacKayla Lane of Karen Marie Moning's Fever Series and Mercy.

After I made that decision, there was only one problem. This was the doll I bought for Mercy:


And she did. I'm so glad.

See how good that looks! It blends in with the rest of her hair, while also adding a really cool decorative element to her look - since we were going for 'Mercy Made-Up' look.

Which leads me to the actual repaint. I love it. Julie Allen's work is so spectacular and she was able to give me everything I wanted.

The main inspiration for my Mercy was Francis Tsi's work on the Homecoming comic book covers.


It was the Mercy I had in my mind, manifested in images. Especially the illustration on the left. That is so MERCY to me! You can see the mix of Native and Anglo features in her face and her complexion is what it should be.

Julie gave Mercy the brows, lips and eyes that wanted, so when she sent me those final photos, I was so pleased. There's also a sweetness there that was unexpected. (I don't think Julie can help doing that! You should she her Kelly doll repaints! So cute!)

I'm so happy with this doll, I'm still kinda scared to touch her. A part of me still wants her to be rerooted in black with a middle part. That may still happen. Not anytime soon because I have more urgent reroots, but it may still happen.

That's it for now. I'll be back with talk about the... extra painting I asked Julie to do and Mercy's outfit. {Preview: its inspired by the cover of my favourite Mercy novel. ;D }

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All doll photos by Julie Allen, the magician with paint.