With frost warnings almost nightly, my porcelain girls decided to take advantage of a nice afternoon, and walk their babies out in the garden one last time...
With all the in and out, taking photos with my porcelain dolls, Nyssa's baby had an accident.... Her doll fell on the floor, and the whole head shattered into pieces.... It was broken into so many pieces that it would be impossible to glue back together ... "No, I'm afraid this time she can't be fixed..."
Several of the kids were Maple Leafs fans, but their team hadn't won in ages. Then suddenly.... Their team scored a goal, and Coco became very hopeful..... Nami was so excited she could barely eat her chips.... Another score, and their team was in the lead.... It seemed almost too good to be true! "Go Leafs, Go!!" ...and they won the game! Poor Ringo was feeling conflicted. He'd been a Leafs fan his whole life, and because they NEVER won, he had made the difficult decision to change allegiance this past summer. But now it seemed that no matter who he supported, they lost. "I think I'll go back to being a Leafs fan again!"
Owen and Leona had invited several friends over to watch Saturday night hockey... There were always lots of snacks.... ...and they'd ordered pizza...
I really like the two little Iplehouse sundresses that came with my two newest little girls. However with the weather having switched to cold and wet (and me being down with a cold/flu bug) it made me cold just to look at their bare little arms and legs. So I decided to make each girl a long-sleeve T-shirt and some leggings to wear under their sundresses. And while I was at it, I decided to 'fix' the flounces along the bottom of Olivia's pink sundress. The hemline had just been tacked higher up onto the skirt, exposing the eyelet lace of the slip underneath. But it was uneven and looked messy, so I carefully picked everything apart, and redid the flounces by gathering up from the bottom of the skirt, and stitching it back into place on the seam of the slip where the lace was sewn on. Now the flounces look to scale, and I've removed the tension on the actual fabrics of the dress and the slip.
Every Saturday night, a group of family and friends gather at Owen & Leona's house to watch the game together. Everyone wears the jersey of their favourite team....
I'm one of those people who hates change, and can't easily give up on something I've loved for years before. But I needed more space in my dining room china cabinet for my BJDs, and to better display all the miniature cakes and tea sets. And that meant bumping out the five old porcelain reproduction dolls sitting in there. They used to be displayed proudly on a shelf in my glass doll display cases, but got bumped out of there when I needed more space there for my BJDs a few years back. And now they are being bumped again. Last month I totally refreshed all five, washing all their clothes, replacing or reworking worn out elastic, and washing their wigs, and restyling the two human hair ones. I haven't decided what to do with them. One can't keep EVERYTHING, but I have a really hard time getting rid of my things. So I decided to take some photos of them, while I still have all of them. Yesterday I forced myself to take some photos of them out in the back garden, before the frost expected tonight kills all my plants.... Four of the dolls were bought as porcelain doll kits at doll shows over the years, back when I was a young Mom. The kits just included the porcelain head, hands and feet, and a sometimes a pattern for a cloth body. Then they needed nice clothes - which I thoroughly enjoyed making. This Steiner has a pinafore of beautiful antique laces, and a handmade wig of human hair... Their clothes became simpler over the years (from right to left).... The fifth doll (in green) was one I painted myself at a porcelain doll class. She's on a reproduction composition body. Her outfit is made with pure green and pale pink silk, and antique lace.... One thing I noticed when taking the photos yesterday, was just how unposable the dolls are. At least all the ones with cloth bodies. The only thing that moves is their head. Their scale is jarring too, with their huge heads, and TINY hands and feet. But they bring back a lot of fond memories. My Mom gave me the money to buy this 'Gail Karen' modern porcelain doll kit, for a birthday..... ..and I made, and sold, several different colour versions of this Steiner..... I had considered reworking all their clothes and making them fit various BJDs, but decided in the end to leave them alone, and let them keep their clothes. One is already promised, and I think I'll keep the green one that I painted myself. Not sure what I'll do with the other three.
Things have been very slow here the last while, because I'm dealing with a nasty cold/flu bug, courtesy of some grandchildren with runny noses. And on top of that, the weather has been totally uncooperative to taking any photos outside - assuming I even felt well enough to try. The whole thing brings back memories of when poor Ringo came down with a bug.... In the meantime, I'm working on knitting a sweeter, which was originally intended to be for one of the two new girls, but it's turning out way too big (long). I decided to just finish it, and then I can recalculate the proper number of stitches and rows, and start again. Hopefully this first one will still fit someone.
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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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