2 Behind the Scene - Fav Photos 2022

Behind the Scene 2

A continuing series looking at how I make things for, and photograph, my dolls....

Here and There

The Scilla season was quickly coming to an end. I have maybe two weeks every Spring to take advantage of them, and then they are gone for another year. I love the field along the town-line, and wanted to try grow a patch at home, so back in 2014 we planted dozens of bulbs in our back lawn.....with a little help....

It's taken 7 years for them to spread and fill out. The thing with scillas is that they keep growing and getting taller and taller until the leaves completely overtake the flowers. So the best photos are taken while the flowers first bloom and are still short. Each time I take more photos, the flowers have grown taller.

Here's a photo taken in my Scilla patch ten days earlier, and another as it looked on May 2nd - a totally overgrown mess

Since the flowers keep on getting taller, I devised a way to deal with that before they do get too tall. I have some wooden disks with huge nails sticking through, which can be pushed into the ground to create a flat surface to stand a doll on.....

The stands add at least an inch and a half to a doll's height, so even if the flowers are taller, the doll rises nicely above the flowers to a better scale. I love the field along the town-line, and feel it provides a much nicer background than what I have in my backyard....basically some huge rocks and an ugly fence. The field along the town-line offers a much more natural setting.

So, as the flowers get taller, the wooden supports come in very handy. I took Miho and Winston there while the flowers still looked good, yet were getting a bit too tall scale-wise. Both Miho and Winston were supported on the hidden bases hidden in the flowers....

Jan pulling out some of the dead twigs, while protecting his ankles against ticks.

Porcelain Babies

I had been looking for some baby dolls to portray Baron and Naomi's children (when they have them). My sister suggested I could use the little Kaiser baby I'd painted at a porcelain doll painting class decades ago. It was very pale and lifeless looking, and needed some brightening up, which I did with pastels and sealer...

I was working on making new shirts for Rex and Jude, and Rex had insisted on holding my little baby. Jude couldn't resist...

I needed two babies, and my sister offered me hers. It also needed some work...

Then one of the babies with Iris and Steve for a scene from the White Cat back story....

Buckles

It's hard to find small buckles the right scale for doll costumes, and I'm not a fan of ordering them online since they are rarely the size I was expecting. So I keep my eyes open at Value Village for used sandals that have a lot of buckles. Like this pair....

So that's ten small buckles for just a few dollars!

Doll Photography in Killarney

There's just a few Behind the Scenes shots to share from our recent trip to Killarney.

The biggest adventure was taking dolls along in the canoe out Chikanishing Creek to the shores of Georgian Bay. Two of my doll boxes will fit into my one cloth bag, and two dolls would fit into each box, so four of the girls got to come along. Then the cloth bag was put into a big garbage bag to keep everything dry. I also took along Winston and Saphira in pretty much the same way, but that story is for another time.

With my spinal arthritis I can't paddle, or even sit in a canoe for very long, but I still like to take a look out along the coast, so I make the effort. We always get out at the mouth of the creek for a look around.

The view from high up on the rocks is spectacular, and I wanted to take some photos of my girls up there. However it being a clear sunny day, and resin not much loving the sun, I needed some shade for when I was setting up the dolls....

He'd step away when I took the photos....

I also asked him to hold the dolls individually so I could take some close ups. But he was too captivated by the scenery to really pay much attention....

Back at the campground I had wanted to take some photos of the girl's campsite. Fortunately all the other campers along the water had left by Sunday afternoon, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Which is just how I prefer it, with no one watching. I set up the girl's campsite...

...and got down to take photos....

Unfortunately I suffer from considerable back pain and it had become increasingly more difficult to get down on the ground (and up again), so I was only able to photograph the one set-up. There would be no getting up to change poses, get down again and shoot some more. Even so, I totally over-did it and am still paying for it weeks later. So I guess I shouldn't be doing that anymore. It's very disheartening since some of my best photos over the years were taken while laying down on the ground.

My Work Space on July 31st

Like usual I was busy with a lot of things all at once. I don't have a dedicated studio. Instead I work all over my house, with all of the sewing taking place in a corner of our living room. Cutting out fabric, and anything requiring paint or sculpting gets done at the kitchen table, and indoor photography gets done in my dining room.

Standing in my work space are my two newest arrivals; SJ Dominic, who is temporarily dressed as a Musketeer, and is patiently waiting his turn for his own costume; and KW Layla who also needs an assortment of outfits.

But there's several ahead of them. First my SJ Naomi; I had knit her a sweater for her fall honeymoon, on our recent trip up north (had to unravel it and start over twice). I knit a scarf to go with it, then changed my mind about the colours and started a new one...

I had envisioned a light blue 'boho' style top underneath, which didn't work out as planned, so it will now be worn over a long skirt as a Medieval 'maternity' gown. It's way too plain, so still needs embroidery and beading. I've cut out a white and a pale blue shirt instead, one of which will hopefully work with her sweater..

A also still have three House Elves to dress and wig. I had completed three in time to come on our trip up north, but now there's still Daisy and the Avery twins. I totally lost my momentum, and the only thing I've done so far is make them each some tights.

So like usual, way too much to do.

Update on Naomi's Outfits

I finished the second scarf and liked it much better. I also sewed two plain shirts to wear underneath. A white and a light blue one. Then I embellished and beaded the neckline and sleeves of the pale blue Boho top, and embroidered flowers around the neckline. I sewed a long skirt out of the same fabric, to wear with it, as a future maternity gown...

Packing for a Trip

When we went up north for a few days in July, I wanted to take two sets of dolls along - my little Kaye Wiggs dolls (who had never been camping before) and my two dragons and five Elves. It's always a challenge trying to pre-plan the photos I want to take, and then make sure I had all the props required. Most of the props would be for the KW girls camping trip, and I piled everything on the dining room table...

Dragons on the Rocks

In Killarney I really wanted to take some dolls and the dragons out Chickanishing Creek for some photos out of the rocks overlooking Georgian Bay. So, in addition to the four KW dolls, I also packed Winston and Saphira in a big cloth bag, inside a big garbage bag, to keep them dry in the canoe. Jan makes a comfy seat out of several life preservers in the bottom of the canoe, where I end up sitting, basically 'ballast with a camera'. Getting in and out of the canoe is a major challenge for me, but I'm determined to get some photos, so make the effort. We always get out at the mouth of the creek ....

The nice thing about the dragons is that they don't need to be shaded in the sun....

Then it was back in the canoe and we headed along the shore to another location....

...and get out for a snack....

...and to take some photos, while laying down flat on the rocks....

I even managed to capture their reflection in a pool...

Breakfast

It's so much easier to set up a scene on a picnic table than on the ground. Unfortunately picnic tables have wide gaps and I forgot to bring a piece of thin wood to put on the table under any scenes. So I had to be careful not to have the table legs, or the dolls, standing on top of any of the gaps. For the best light, I always set up my scenes with the sun behind me. It would have been better for the dolls if it had been hazy, or overcast, but it's not like I can order the weather. I just have to make do....

But Jan is always standing by with a big umbrella whenever I have to shoot in the sun, to shade the dolls until I'm ready to take the photos. He will shade the dolls as I set up the scene, then steps away so I can snap a few photos. Then shades them again when I change poses...

It's really nice having the scene up on a picnic table, and with the picnic table standing perpendicular to the sun, the wide cracks between the boards barely show up.

It's also great because then I can walk around and take photos from all the different angles...

Which is pretty much impossible now if I have to get down on the ground.

'Mountains'

I wanted some scenes with the little party travelling somewhere rugged, and had in mind the rocks beside the tiny parking lot at the Killarney lighthouse. I set everyone up on the rocks, moved back to take the photos, but everyone isn't posed perfectly, or some of the characters are hidden, then I need to direct Jan to make any adjustments.

Perfect!!

Royal Banquet

Back at home, I needed to photograph the banquet to honour the signing of the Treaty. I spent several days trying to figure out the seating arrangements, and finally came up with what I thought would work best...

I had four of the Elves seated beside each other on the far side of the table, so I could see their faces, and no one would be in their way to block the camera. it was a challenge to make the two sizes of dolls interact with each other, since the Elves heads don't tilt to look up very high.

Since there was only room for four Elves on the far side of the table, I chose to have Willie sitting with her back to the camera. After all, we've seen her a lot over the years, and I wanted to highlight the other four. Even so, she was still included in the conversation

Ketchup

Meanwhile, Winston and Saphira were having dinner on the castle terrace (my patio table)

It's one of the easiest places to take doll photos, and I buy several hanging baskets of million bells every year, with their small petunia-like flowers, to serve as background in any patio scenes.

At that time, I was working on Winston's Photo Album book with my sister, and had filled in 'Crunchy things with Ketchup' as his favourite food. She suggested I should put a bottle of ketchup on the table when he has Saphira over. Which I did...

But I went one further. I had taken the photos of Winston and Saphira squirting ketchup on their drumsticks, then decided it would look more believable if there was actually 'ketchup' on it, so tried drawing some on in Photoshop....

I was not impressed. So I got another idea. I asked Jan to hold two drumsticks onto which I squirted real ketchup...

I took close-up photos....

Then 'cloned' the ketchup in Photoshop, onto the drumsticks in the photos. Much better!!

Leaving the Castle

I decided that I didn't want to go straight into the wilderness scenes right after the dinner scenes, so thought of going back to the Ruins Garden for some 'leaving' photos. I was still recovering from the pain from the last time I got down on the ground to take photos, so decided I'd have to do it on something raised. Which meant posing them all on the top of the railing on one of the big installations.....

It was a cloudy day, so didn't require any shading from my assistant....who was free to roam around.....

I really wanted one more photo, with the Greek Theatre this time, but didn't want to take the photo in the usual location where I'd have to get down on the ground, plus a theatre group was setting up for a rehearsal there, and they were in the way. So I decided to shoot right on the stage itself, in the direction away from where the actors were setting up.

I had just fifteen minutes to do a really fast photo shoot....and shot the photo while sitting down on one of the lower steps. Then it was everyone back in the box, as the costume rack was wheeled onto the stage....