My tutorial for making polymer clay buttons went up on BJDCollectasy today. When I was making my Pacific Northwest button blanket for my Asa I needed hundreds of tiny buttons, and the fastest (and least expensive) way to get that many was to make them myself. Plus, the handmade look of the buttons would add to the authentic look. I've added the link on my Tutorials page, but the quickest way to get there is just to click on the button blanket image above.
I'm slowly working my way through remaking the white "Blanchette" ensemble, but because I like to start at the bottom and work outward, the first thing I had to do was remake her shoes. They look pretty bad with the soles picked off. I wrapped Isar's feet with paper towels, covered with plastic wrap and secured with tape, then built the new soles out of cardboard and craft foam. But the craft foam didn't seem to want to co-operate, so I pulled it off and cut some light gray leather instead. The new slippers turned out quite well.
The skirt layers go slowly. When cutting the waistband for the skirt, I forgot to take into account the thickness of the three gathered layers. Which meant the skirt had to go in the narrowest part of the waist - but the slip was already sitting there. So I had to cut the waistband off the slip and make a new waistband an inch and a quarter wider so it can hang lower on her hip below the actual waist. I don't think I'm going to need the padded farthingale because the skirts already stick way out on their own. It's been a really rough two weeks, and with a long weekend upon us, I've decided to just take a little time and remake Blanchette's dress for my Isar. After modeling the Victorian gown, she's naked again, with nothing of her own to wear, so she really could use something special. And Blanchettes dress is definitely "special". As I'm picking it apart I can't believe all the effort that I put into that dress so long ago - it must have taken forever to make. Thankfully it was all neatly sewn together, with very limited use of any glue - just to hold the wired pearls into position between the flower petals around the neckline - and that glue has turned all yellow. There are so many layers to this dress: a ruffled slip, a padded farthingale to hold it out, a silver lamé underskirt, and two layers of tulle, the inner one with gold spots, and the outer one with silver spots which I heavily beaded and embellished with cascading streams of white flowers. Then there's the five heavily-embellished petal panels. The bodice is also heavily embellished. The challenge is going to be reworking everything so it becomes a removable outfit. In order to reduce unsightly bulk on a figure's back, I used to always make the bodices one piece around the neckline, and open under the arms, so I could slip the bodice over the doll's head, and stitch it together under her arms. Of course that won't work for a BJD so I have to split the center back, and that means cutting through some of the beading and having to rework it later.
I'm going to remake the ensemble to fit my Isar. Her large bust fits almost perfectly into Blanchette's dress bodice. The skirts are a touch long, but since I have to rework them all onto new waistbands, that's easy enough to fix. Isar is too old to be a companion to my new young Adrian, who has Blanchette's true love's outfit now, but maybe someday I'll order a younger-looking girl with a large bust from Iplehouse. In the meantime it's going to be Isar's. I cleared off, and dusted, my dining room table for some "interior shots". I figured the antique cupboard and French doors would suffice as background. I had to use my tri-pod because of the low light, and very slow shutter speeds. Here's my two girls sharing a secret....
The third of my picnic table benches gave up the ghost today. It collapsed - while I was sitting on it taking doll photos. The benches were very old and rotten, and we do have new ones in the garage just waiting to replace them, but they haven't been stained yet. Thankfully it collapsed slowly, so I didn't fall fast or far, and my camera, which I was holding, didn't get damaged - just my elbow. I was glad there was no one else around to see me sprawled on my back on the patio. Anyway, I just got up, brushed myself off, tossed the busted bench aside, pulled over the sole surviving one, and continued with my photography. Had to get those pictures taken before it rained... It's amazing how my garden can look so great in photos because there really aren't that many flowers this year. The heat and humidity have killed many of my impatiens which I inserted into the garden for colour. Oh well, through the magic of "camera angles" I can make it look like a blooming paradise. Here's a rare horizontal shot with my girls in the garden.
Even though I wasn't feeling well, and it was very hot outside, I managed to set up Asa and Isar on my picnic table and take some photos. My garden is very challenging as a background right now because there's nothing blooming out there with small enough flowers - unless they are far away in the background. I didn't feel like hauling out my tri-pod, so took advantage of the sunlight bouncing off the back of my house to light up the girl's faces. Now I want to try some photos inside in my dining room, and then there's still the studio shots.
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
May 2024
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