Well, looks like spring has finally sprung, and a sure sign is the dandelions popping up everywhere. The plants are still short to the ground, and the flowers are just opening and still quite small, so the perfect size for my girls to make dandelion wreaths out of.... It will probably have been their last outing for awhile, as all three have been chosen as the models for the next set of commission outfits. Well, I better get going on those outfits then, so the girls won't be stuck inside for too long.
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Nami and Elin were all excited to give their Mom a gift and some flowers for Mother's Day... Leona is my only 'contemporary' JID who can interact with my smaller dolls right now. I do have a fantasy costume planned for her eventually, but right now she's still in the clothes she came with. I think maybe once all the commissions are out of the way, that I may need to make some more 'modern' clothes for some of my other JID girls and guys. Maybe they'd like to participate in some of the fun everyday activities with the smaller dolls sometimes. I mean, it's all fine and good to be a fantasy hero, an Elven warrior, or exotic royalty, but maybe they'd like to have a more contemporary alter ego as well. Never thought I'd say that, as casual modern clothes are among the hardest things for me to make. And one more photo, of Elin with the bouquet of flowers she picked out in the garden.... On another note - my Ringo is on the way!! Woke to a shipping notice from Iplehouse this morning. Even though we are past the eight-week waiting point - the longest wait from IH so far - I'm still surprised, because they have made it very clear that they are WAY behind because of all the special orders from before Christmas. So I was thinking the end of May. Unfortunately Ringo is coming blank, so I'll have to bring him away for a face up first before I can even start trying wigs and clothes on him. He is coming with a pair of jeans, because like I said, contemporary clothes are not my favourite thing to be making - especially nice pants like jeans. T-shirts are fine, and I have two of those ready. I also bought a ball of sock yarn from Michael's so I can knit him a pullover. I'm just curious as to whether I will prefer Ringo as a boy or as a girl. I chose a girl body so I can go with either one. Someone else recently got their Ringo, and even though she intended for him to be a boy, I personally liked her doll when she did him up as a girl way better. I guess I'll find out.
To celebrate Mother's Day today, I thought I'd post one of my favourite photos of one of my favourite dolls - Byuri and the butterflies in the scillas - taken last year..... We've been taking advantage of the nice weather, and getting some garden work done today. We've been on an 'Impatiens Hunt' to the WalMarts and Home Depots here and in the next town, to gather as wide a selection of New Guinea Impatiens, in as many colours, as we can find. The hanging baskets are on sale for Mother's Day and cost as little as two tiny individual plants from the nurseries. With the powdery mildew disease having put a complete end to regular impatiens last year (and for years to come) we've had to switch to the new Guinea variety.
Well, it's getting late, and I'm hoping to still go and take a few photos this evening, before we head into a week of rain! I've been working on my Owen, seeing if I can get him to how I have always imagined him. But making a nice, masculine, removeable wig for a guy seems to be the most challenging part of this entire BJD hobby. I decided Owen wasn't a 'centre-part kind of guy', so I've adjusted his wig so he now has a side part instead, and I carefully snipped some side-swiped bangs. His wig still isn't perfect, but it's a lot better, and he looks good without a hat now. I think he needs to sit awhile before I try do any more on his hair. After all, anything I trim off is gone forever, and it's not like I can go back and 'undo'. He looked too much like a 'common farm hand' before, so I've spruced up his leather vest, adding epaulets and some embroidery, and I made him some wrist guards. Now I need to make a holder for his sword. And I think his shirt is screaming out to be stained and dulled down. That white is just too glaringly bright. But I sort of like it the way it is, and, like the wig, it can't be undone once I stain it.
I'm in one of those moods the past few days, totally exhausted, getting side-tracked at every turn. I cut out tights for the next three outfits, but then also cut out some T-shirts for Ringo for whenever he comes. After all he's going to need some clothes. But they need to be mostly hand sewn since I just can't seem to get a nice flat seam on stretchy fabrics with the sewing machine. It has special settings for knits, and I use a needle for stretch fabrics, but still no success.
Then when I'm checking the box with leather to see if I have enough for a Little Bluebird costume, I see there's only enough for the main dress, but I'm going to have to go to Canadian Tire for another chamois for the rest of the outfit. But while I'm in the leathers, I thought maybe I should really make some wrist guards for Owen, so I chose the leathers for that. Of course it means I have to get Owen to fit them on, and I decide to try doing something about his wig, which I'm still not totally happy with. I like the colour of the mohair, and it was the very last mohair that colour, and cutting the wig is totally permanent, so I have to proceed very slowly, snipping a tiny bit at a time. So there goes the whole morning. I have two costumes boxed and ready to ship, but my computer is acting up and I can either be connected to the Internet, or my printer - not both. Ever since I got my computer upgrades a few months back, all kinds of things still haven't been sorted out. I hate change and the frustration of things that won't work!! So here's a silly photo to represent the day.....wasting time, doing anything and everything, except what I should be doing......just fooling around... Little Bo Peep, has lost her sheep, and doesn't know where to find him..... Fortunately it was easier for her sheep to find Bo Peep, so they were soon reunited.... I've put the two extra Bo Peep outfits up for sale, and there is currently just one left.
I need to pack the Bo Peep outfits and redress my two models, then it's time to start the new commission, which is a remake of my BID Little Bluebird native outfit, and the tiny Jennet. It will be helpful that I still own both originals, as I'll have something to measure and compare with. Miki came along to the woods last night, to check out all the early spring wildflowers. One of my favourite early spring woodlands wildflowers is the yellow trout lily. Miki loves them too, and picked a small bouquet.... Right now the trees are all still bare, allowing the light in to the forest floor, where if you look closely, there's all kinds of plants and wildflowers popping up through the fallen leaves. There's the delicate hepatica which is almost finished, while bloodroot and trout lilies are in full bloom, and the trillium buds are just starting to open. One of my earliest childhood memories is of the lovely yellow trout lilies. We had just immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands to a large dairy farm on Manitoulin Island, a large island up north in Lake Huron. It was spring, and I had just turned five. My Dad was out all day walking the fields as a cowhand, and my Mom was busy cleaning house and watching my baby brother. There was a small woods at the top of the driveway, and I remember exploring those woods with my little sister, and picking bouquets of these lovely yellow flowers. I was obviously into flowers at a very young age, as several other memories of that farm (where we lived for less than half a year) centre around wildflowers - the blue flags along the stream out front, and wild strawberries in the pastures. I don't know what it is about the trout lilies, what makes them so special, but to this day they remind me of the awesome wonder of nature to a young child. Miki likes them too... Along with the patches of trout lily, the woods are also full of trilliums, the buds just
starting to open. In another day or two, the forest floor will be a sea of white trilliums.... Although toads and frogs like to eat all kinds of things - bugs, snails, worms, etc - Mr. Ropuha likes his 'fast food' - things that fly, which he has to chase down. I caught him the other day wheeling through my small patch of scillas intent on catching the butterflies there......
While waiting for the Apoxy to cure, I thought I'd catch up on my old doll photos. Every time a photo appears here in my Blog there are always several others from that photo shoot that were not shown. So I've created two new albums, one with this year's Easter photos, and another called 'Iplekids Everyday', which has all the photos from small photo sessions not big enough to warrant their own album. I expect this new album will become 'Part 1" when there's too many photos and I have to start a second one. Here's Bonnie and Erzulie in a new photo from the 'Little Mommies' set.
Thought I'd post some photos of where I go to take the photos in the scillas. It's an old abandoned orchard, that becomes a carpet of blue in early spring. However, in the past two years, the invasive dog-strangling vines have really taken over all the sunny areas, and the piles of dead vines are obscuring the short blue flowers. Some areas are quite a mess. There's still some areas of dense blue, but most are under, and through the bushes where it's almost impossible to get to. There's also a lot of fallen branches this year. Even so, it's still an amazing sight, and on a nice sunny day, the scent wafting up on the breeze is just wonderful. I love these tiny blue scillas! If I can get my Bo Peeps done fast enough, then I can take one (or two) for a photo shoot among the flowers before they disappear for another year. And yes, believe it or not, I actually sculpted the three crooks today. So the worst is behind me. Now I just have to wait for the Apoxy to cure, and I can finish them off.
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
March 2024
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