I just finished my second pirate lass yesterday, Mary Read, friend and comrade of Anne Bonny. Mary, the poor girl, died of fever whilst in prison, but only after a number of high seas adventures. The story goes that Read remained dressed as a man and no one knew she was a lady pirate until Anne Bonny developed a bit of a crush on her. The misunderstanding forced Read to reveal to Bonny that she was in fact a lady pirate. The famous Calico Jack Rackham, who was Bonny's lover, became jealous and threatened to deal with Mary Read. To prevent Read's death, Rackham was also let in on the secret. At some point Mary fell in love with another man on deck, who had the poor sense to offend a pirate superior. Mary, fearing that if she didn't intervene, would suffer the loss of her lover, challenged the offended pirate to a duel. Once the duel was begun, Mary flashed the pirate her bosom. Her opponent was so stunned, he was caught off his mark, and Mary took the opportunity to mortally wound him! Good thinking, mate!
I started this doll with men's white cotton under drawers, same as Anne Bonny. I gave her a yellowish-beige chemise with lacy edging, and a blue silk bandana. Her hair is mohair dyed a warm dark brown.
I painted her face as I would imagine her, quite a bit darker than the first pirate I did. I like how it came out.
I added a black vest, navy breeches that are worn and ripped, some black suede boots, a red band at the waist to hold her weapons, and a black pirate's hat. For weapons she got a large sword, which she wears at the hip and a pistol, which she has ready at the waist. She is again 12" tall, all cotton body, mostly cotton costume. I put her on a wooden base, which I will likely paint black at some point.
After finishing my last character doll, Olive Malvery, I asked my friend in London if she had any other interesting characters on her list of fascinating women. She sent me a photo of Anne Bonny, a 17th Century real Pirate of the Caribbean! Thinking that female marauders are entirely under-represented, I couldn't resist.
Thinking that the 12-inch size doll I made last time is really quite convenient for placing on shelves and so on, I started with a body similar to the Olive Malvery doll. I made her quite pale skinned, as Anne Bonny was of Irish descent.
I gave her a bit of the wild-eyed, slightly fierce look with some extra shading and coloration. I also gave her auburn locks made from alpaca.
Back in the day of lady pirates, corsets and stays were de rigueur. I am doubtful that a gal wielding double-bladed swords and packing a pistol was likely to be bothered with such silliness. Instead I gave Anne a man's white cotton chemise. I also gave her a man's drawers, which were made of slightly lighter weight fabric than the chemise, since I would be putting breeches over top. I edged the undergarments with a pink thread embroidery just for fun and added a pair of Ultraleather black pirate boots to the ensemble.
With the underthings sewn on, I added a pair of man's brown britches, a dark brown jacket and a pirate hat. I also gave her a plaid neckerchief, but later removed that, as it wasn't quite right.
At this point, she was looking a bit, well, fashion runway. At the suggestion of my husband, I distressed the clothing, which meant rubbing a pumice stone over the pants and jacket, which gave the clothing some holes and wear. This was actually quite hard (emotionally) to do after all that hard work, but I think it was worth it for effect. I made weaponry (a cutlass for her to hold, a saber worn at the side waist, a knife, worn in her shirt, and a pistol worn in a striped hip sling) from polymer clay that I painted with acrylics. I added a plaid headband, changed the hat, because I didn't like the first one, and added a plaid band to the hat's crown. I also neatened up the face a bit and painted the base black. I'm quite pleased with the finished doll. Let me know what you think. 
