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New Shirt & Art Apron

1/28/2018

I started three colourful shirts for Narae, for when she's working in her studio. I had hoped that I could use an existing shirt pattern, but the JID one was too big, and the KID shirt was a touch too small. So I had to draft up a whole new set of patterns.

I chose some bright colourful fabrics. The two batik ones are leftovers from shirts I made for myself years ago. The other, is just a different colourway from a shirt I'd made for Benny....

Narae in the first of the three shirts....

And because Narae will be giving art lessons, I decided that I also needed a bunch of Art Aprons for her students. Some in BID size, and some in KID size. The first BID (test) one is finished....

Brand new, and nice and clean, but not for long....

I have six more in different sizes cut out, but haven't decided if there will be adult art classes. Because then I need to make even more.

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January 27th

1/27/2018

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Some Special Day photos for today, from the Archives....
January 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day...

And it's also Thomas Crapper Day, in honour of the guy who brought us indoor plumbing...

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Narae, the Artist

1/24/2018

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I'm continuing to work on the clothes and props for my upcoming artist series, but couldn't resist taking a few photos today of my Narae in her new outfit, and looking through her paintings. Like she's sorting them, getting ready for an art show.....

These are all real little paintings, that my sister painted and gave me at Christmas. Well, not the bigger yellow hibiscus painting. That one she did two summers ago, and I thought I'd include it so the whole scene wouldn't be too 'pink'.

My sister painted all these painting with the intention that they could 'rotate' being hung on the wall above the fireplace that Jan made in November. However, I thought they were too nice to just have them show up from time to time in the background of room settings, and decided instead to start at the 'beginning' and have one of my dolls be the artist, and have her at work in her studio, possibly even giving art lessons, then having a 'public' art show, where several of my doll families would take some of the paintings home to hang in their own homes.

In other words, one idea just led to another, and another, and the simple need for something to hang over a fireplace evolved into an entire artist series. At least that's the plan today. Who knows where it all ends up, since these ideas tend to have a mind of their own.

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Tiny Still Life

1/23/2018

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I'm currently working on all kinds of artist props, so my sister challenged me to create some still life set-ups using my doll props, and to take photos of them. Then she will paint some of them for me.

The first still life I thought of doing, was with several of my tiny Southwest baskets and pots, complete with colourful gourds and a bouquet of sunflowers...

Then I set up one with flowers and a tea set....

...then changed it up a bit....

Decided to Google 'Traditional Still Life Paintings' for some more ideas, and tried something similar. I started with cutting some orange cheddar for the plate in the foreground, but it didn't look right, so cut some cream coloured extra old cheddar instead...

Decided the fruits in the basket just looked too much like 'plastic' (because they are)
so switched to my homemade watermelon slices....

Then just for fun I decided to try recreate a painting I'd seen of a stack of tea cups....

...and then, just to show the giant mess these few still life photos had created.....

Now to go clean everything back up.....

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Tiny Artist Acrylics

1/22/2018

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I spent all day yesterday making a set of tiny jars of artist acrylics. First I found the bag of small wooden 'jars' that I've had stored away for decades. Then I got out all my folk art paints, which are stored in three old metal cookie tins. I divided the wooden jars into thirds, and painted each third with some of the colours from each box.

It's a pain painting something 3-D because I can't paint the whole thing at once. I have to paint just the top, let it dry, then paint the bottom and let that dry. And of course, everything needs two coats. Then I painted the 'lids' white....again two coats....

They were really starting to look like those oversize jars of acrylic paint that you can buy at the art stores. But they needed labels. I looked online to find some simple brand labels that were just black and white (Golden & Liquitex) shrank them down, and made a page with 35 tiny labels to print out.

I cut out the tiny labels, glued them on, and gave everything two coats of Satin varnish, so they'd look more like plastic jars.. And then I had to mess them all up with paint splatters, because the paints need to look used, and not like they are brand new from the art store.

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Tiny Leg Warmers

1/20/2018

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I'm in the middle of trying to put an outfit together for my Butterfly Narae, and I love the look of the really colourful 'Boho' Fair Isle leg warmers that I see on Facebook. So I decided to make some. I chose needle punch yarn in all the colours in my girl's floral print top....

It's a nice little project now that I'm sick, and I'm almost finished the knitting. However, I'm not at all looking forward to sewing in all the yarn ends

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Furniture Collection

1/20/2018

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I was down in my photo studio taking photos of Nelly in her yellow gown, when I had the idea to take a picture of the two bookcases down there that are packed with doll furniture and props.

Most of the stuff on the bottom shelves isn't doll-related, and is just there until I need the room when I get more things. There's also several pieces of furniture on my dining room table at the moment, hence some of the spaces on the upper shelves.

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Updating Photo Albums

1/20/2018

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What better thing to do when I've come down with a nasty cold/flu bug, but update my doll photos?

The first four albums are completed, with the whole story or photo shoot shown. Each photo below links to it's album, but they can also be found anytime, over on the Favourite Photos 2018 page....

Christmas Cookies

Introducing Lawrence

Kassia in the Snow

A Lego President

Iplekids Everyday

Kaye Wiggs Everyday

The last two albums are the usual collections of smaller photo shoots, and will be added to as I take more pictures.

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Lego Election

1/19/2018

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Ringo was unhappy with the figure that came in the set with the US Capitol building....

"We aren't Americans, so we don't have to have this guy as President in our Legoland.."

"Well, how about this guy then?" asked Efreet, offering his favourite Magician figure....

"We can vote on it..."

Two candidates for President....

"Okay, everyone who wants the angry guy with the yellow hair, raise your hands...."

"Now everyone who votes for Efreet's Magician, raise your hands..."

"Looks like we have a new President.."

"I like this one much better."

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Lego Capitol

1/18/2018

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Nami loves Lego, and for Christmas she got the BIGGEST set ever - the US Capitol building.
She invited her friends over to 'help' her put it together, but mostly they just watched....

In amongst the bricks, lay a single figure.....

"I wonder if he's supposed to be the President??"

"I think so...probably....."

"I don't know...he looks rather angry.."

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