I'm in the process of taking studio doll photos, but I couldn't wait any longer to take Owen out of his box. Both Maya and Adrian had to contribute clothes and wigs for him to try on. Everything is too small, but I couldn't resist taking a photo. I like the colour of Adrian's wig - and the waviness - but it was way too small, so I had to remove the back of Owen's head just to get it to somewhat fit. I think I should dig out the mohair I used, and make Owen a proper sized wig of his own - one that's longer at the back and sides to fill in that narrow neck space.

My Alice outfits are finished and it's photography time. Problem is, "Wonderland" is frozen solid, so I'm having to make do with interior shots. I especially like this one of Alice trying to find a way back through the looking glass. Why isn't it working this time? She really wants to go back.

My baby afghan is going well too. There's just 8 more colour stripes left to go, so that's maybe 2 or 3 more days. It goes so much faster when the end is in sight - starting and finishing a new project is very exciting, but the middle can be one big drag. But the end is now in sight.

Today is Hat Day, so I took out many of the hats from the various outfits, and let the girls play dress-up. They seemed to like the straw hats loaded with flowers best - and the princess hat.

My cute Kayla (SK Layla elf) is modeling as Alice for me. I really love this girl since Charie gave her a new faceup. Anyway, the first Alice ensemble is finished, and I'm working on the second apron. Then it's photo time.  I did take a quickie shot this afternoon....

I wanted her to hold a small "Drink Me" bottle, but I wasn't going to take any chances with that pristine white apron, so stuffed the bottle with coloured tissue paper.  That at least won't spill.

Today is National Bald Eagle Day, and wouldn't you know it, Byuri's bald eagle friend 
from her adventures out west, was out there when Nami went for a walk in the snow..

Today I tackle the pockets on Alice's apron, and hopefully there will be some pictures soon. I also need to catch up on my knitting, since yesterday was the first day I did not meet my quota. So I have to make up for yesterday, plus do my daily amount for today.

Last week I wanted to take advantage of the fresh snow one morning, and take some photos of my MSD size dolls. They get very little photo time. Mostly because they have just one outfit each (and some don't even have that), and the various costumes don't go together, so it's almost always shots of single dolls. 

I thought Isar hadn't been out in awhile, so took her out of the case, and found her a spare cloak.  Then I spotted Madmartigan further back on the shelf, and wondered if he would work in photos with her. After all, they are both warriors......and in similar coloured outfits.....and he's been standing there staring at Isar for the past year and a half......so......I took him too.....

  "I'm leaving..."

...and he watched her go...... and she never looked back

Another day or two and I'll finally be free to do something with my JIDs. It's been so long. They are beautiful dolls but have taken a major back seat to the little dolls the past year or so. It's finally time to rectify that. There's so many costumes I'd love to make for them. First on the agenda will be making something for Owen so he's decent for the annual "family portraits". I figure he can become a pirate with very little effort, so that's what I'll do, just so he can finally come out of his box and join the others. I want to eventually make him a Musketeer outfit. In fact, it would be amazing to have several of my guys be Musketeers. There were four of them after-all.  

I was thinking that when my Asa becomes Queen of the Night, it would be really nice to have my Butterfly Narae be her daughter, and Narin her suitor. Make the two of them into a Rococo couple. I'd also love to make some Medieval gowns again, but this time for JIDs, and possibly KIDs and even BIDs. They'd also make wonderful fairies. So many ideas, but everything takes so much time. I've wanted to do some of these things for what seems like forever, and I sometimes wonder if any of them will ever get done. 

With the Holidays behind us for another year, and all the decorations taken down and put away, the girls decided it was time to take apart their gingerbread house so they could eat it. Bonnie and Erzulie have taken the pieces with the most icing and candy decorations, and are both surprised that Byuri took just a big piece of plain gingerbread. But I can relate - I don't care for all that sweet icing either, and much prefer just the plain gingerbread too.

Well, I'm finally all up to date with all my photos and web albums. There were so many 
Holiday photos that I rearranged some earlier albums, and created some new ones. 

This is what I've done in the old 2013 Favourite Photos Album;
- A Kaye Wiggs Christmas
- Getting Ready for the Holidays
- the Gingerbread House
- Decorating the Tree

And in the new Favourite Photos of 2014 Album;
- Orthodox Christmas
- Special Days - Part 5

With that finally all done, I can now focus on my Alice outfits, and knitting the baby afghan. I'm hoping to finish both this week, and then finally move onto dressing my JIDs that have been patiently waiting. The Alice outfits are coming along nicely. I'm going with the original cover illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, and am using the Simple KW Christmas Dress pattern for the main dress. Bodices are done, and black ribbon stripes sewn on the skirts. The dress has a cameo brooch at the neck, and I just happened to have two very old cameo buttons - but one is pink and the other white. So I'm trying to paint them so they look somewhat the same. Adding pink to the white, and white to the pink. It's the first time I'm doing a pinafore apron which ties in the back, so I'm figuring it out as I go along. 

With the fresh snow yesterday morning, I thought I should take advantage of it and take some photos of my larger dolls. Kassia has been out in the snow recently, but always alone. This time Adrian (Limhwa Mono) came with her.  I think they make a cute young couple.

When I took today's "Houseplant Appreciation" photo, I also took a photo of how I set up for it.

I figured people might be interested to see a "behind the scenes" shot. To make my dolls look like they are in scale in my house, I find it's necessary to raise them up to eye level of a similar-age child. In my kitchen I set up on a box on my kitchen table. Move any chairs, and my big stuffed cloth parrot, out of the background.  I use both the overhead light, and my portable photography light. On a bright day like the one above, I might be able to shoot hand-held at a very slow speed, but I find I get much better results if I use a tri-pod.

It just occurred to me that it might be interesting to collect all my behind-the-scenes shots from the past, and put them all together in a Tutorial showing my set-ups, and include a final photo too. Then update it every time I take another set-up shot.  Just what I need - more work!

Today is "Houseplant Appreciation Day", and my girls are enthralled by the 
unusual flowers of some miniature cyclamen I bought recently.

Cyclamen always remind me of my Mom - they were one of her favourite plants, along with orchids, bougainvillea, and cacti. Actually she loved all plants, and I think I picked it up from her. We used to go visit plant shops and nurseries every week before Alzheimer's stole her memory. Now, every time I see the rows of cyclamen at Vandermeer's, or large displays of orchids for sale, it always reminds me of my Mom, and how much she used to love them. So when I saw these teensie tiny cyclamen, I just had to buy two for a "Houseplant Appreciation Day" photo.

Today I want to see how far I can get with my Alice outfits. I really want to get this commission finished so I can get to my own doll costumes. I was so excited last night I couldn't sleep. One of my good costume customers was selling an Iplehouse Leona at a very good price, and she was so beautiful that I just had to buy her. Which means next week I should be getting a new doll - one I've had on my "wish list" ever since she came out. Which means a third doll in need of something special. Should be fun!