|
Ever the good hostess, Kitty offered her guests a glass of wine, and some delicious treats....  Rhett made sure that no one's glasses ran empty....  Kitty had made some delicious cupcakes...  Everyone was having a good time....  ...as they waited for the last guests - some newcomers to the village - to arrive.....   "More wine?" 
2 Comments
Rhett led everyone into the house....  "I'd like to welcome all of you to our home..."  "I'm so glad you could come..."  The Toads had brought gifts...   "Please, make yourselves at home..."   Kitty and Rhett took everyone's coats, hats and scarves....  ...while some of the guests warmed themselves by the fire...  "With all the snow out there it's amazing they could all even make it..."  Rhett and Kitty Fox were relaxing in front of the fire, waiting for their guests to start arriving...  "Sounds like someone is at the gate..."  "Well, I better go let them in..."  Sure enough, the first set of guests had arrived and were ringing the bell outside the gate....  "Hold on....I'm coming!"  I had planned on shooting the next segment of my Forest Dweller's Christmas story today.....but....it took me all day yesterday to create the set. it was the most challenging one ever, mostly due to the problems with scale. The Forest Dwellers range in size from Very Small to Tiny, and It's not exactly a size I have much in the way of furniture and props for. The Tiny Mice and Chipmunks might be totally at home in a 1/12th scale dollhouse, but the Toads, Raccoons and Foxes would be way too big for that, and the festivities were going to take place in the Foxes' home, so it had to fit them first and foremost. I spent hours reorganizing the basic layout, changing the walls, changing the furniture, and moving stuff around, to create a comfortable looking, open concept home for the Foxes....  The focal point of their living room is the fireplace. The seating is a bit oversize, but it was the smallest I had, and that just makes it more cozy.....  After finally getting a good kitchen layout that I was happy with, I started adding the props. I wanted baskets of fruits and vegetables, including my tiny gourds. However, I'd photographed those same gourds twice on Saturday for another project and was fed up with constantly having to PhotoShop the white spots on all of them. When I bought them years ago, they came strung as a garland, with the thread going right through their styrofoam interiors, so when I removed them, each and every gourd had two big white holes. I was fed up with trying to hide the holes, and decided to fix them once and for all. So yesterday I filled all the holes with drywall compound, and first thing this morning I covered all the drywall compound-filled 'holes' with matching coloured paint. Then after varnishing them all, I took a photo....  Once they were dry, some could be put into baskets in the Foxes' kitchen....along with other fruits and veggies....  So...here's hoping to continue the story tomorrow.....assuming I don't end up going down another rabbit hole. Come to think of it..Kitty Fox could use an apron.....
Every Holiday season Rhett and Kitty Fox invited everyone to their home for a special get-together and dinner. The Raccoons, Toads and Mice were all going together. They had ordered a Polar Bear Taxi, and were almost ready to head out...  All the ladies had made themselves comfortable in the main sleigh...   While the guys loaded up the last gifts....   'We are almost ready to go..."  "I just hope there's still enough room in there for us guys..."  I was getting lots of photos of Lawrence in Facebook Memories, from when he got his first faceup four years ago. He and Miho were my first two FIDs. Miho was first - one of the first three FID ladies Iplehouse released. Then a few months later they offered three guys, and I chose Lawrence. Both were ordered blank, and were painted by my friend Charie. They were originally intended to be a couple...  But I really didn't like Lawrence's faceup. It just made me cringe...so he went back for a repaint. But things happened, and after he was wiped he stayed blank for over a year. in the fall of 2019 he was finally repainted, and he looked so much better. At that point I had several more FIDs, and decided to make Medieval Fantasy costumes for them all, and Lawrence was first....  He then fell in love, and started a family.....  While everyone else was going Medieval Fantasy, Miho stayed the lone woman out...always still wearing the beautiful green gown I had made specially for her - although she did rise to become a Fairy Queen after I made her some wings....and she was good friends with Winston....  Finally, a year ago, I decided she needed a whole new look, befitting her position as a powerful Sorceress and Queen of the Fairies. She was still best friends with Winston, but a new friend had arrived....the Mysterious Raven....  So at some point this year the Raven will reveal who he really is, and Miho will have a partner. Anyways, I thought it was interesting how the two characters had evolved over the years. From back then....when it was clear from the start that they were never meant for each other...  ...to now....where they are both rulers, in their own separate realms...  With the Forest Dweller outfits finally finished, I was taking the week to catch up with some work on my website, and finish using up some of the stuff I'd started. Back in early December I'd found two table runners at Value Village....  The first thing I did was to make two new banners to hang in the castle at Christmas....  But what to do with the leftovers? I decided to turn them into pillows and cushions....  A week after finding the table runners, I found a big Rococo tapestry in a nice frame. I thought the tapestry could be cut up to make two smaller ones for an upcoming story, and the frame could be cut down to fit around a painting that still needed a frame. So Jan took the frame off and reworked it for the painting. The tapestry was extremely faded, and I wondered if washing it would help, and it did brighten it a little bit. Then I proceeded to cut a section off, and started framing it with leftover cream borders from the red table runner....  It turns out that it was actually good that the tapestry was so faded, as the camera really picks up the colours and brightens them. It might have been too distracting in the background had it still been the original bright colours. Anyways, I did my best to make a nice straight border, but it still ended up uneven on the outer edge, but there's nothing I can do about it at this point so it is what it is.  With the holidays over, it was time for Baron to go back to work. It was time for the annual patrol of the outlying villages, and he didn't know exactly when he would be back. It would be the first time since they came back that Naomi would be alone in the past, and she came out in the snow to say good-bye....              We had a huge dumping of snow Sunday night into Monday, and are finally getting everything cleared off. Environment Canada issued a 'Blizzard Warning' for our area - the first time that I can even remember. We got well over 40 cm of snow...  So Monday morning the shovelling began....  The neighbour's cars....  Everyone was told to stay home, but some people ventured out anyways....and promptly got stuck in the middle of the road....  Piles along the sidewalk reached almost two meters.....  I had been excited to get snow, since we'd had hardly any so far this winter, and I had several doll photo shoots planned. But there was just WAY too much snow. Now two days later, with the temperature up above freezing, we needed to do some last minute clearing before the bottom falls out of the temperature tonight turning everything into solid ice. Two little girls came out to help....  The road was plowed yesterday, and with the 'warmer' temperature today, it was finally clear....    Most people had cleared their sidewalks so they were clear too....  ...well not in this direction....  But there was still plenty up the front walk to the house that needed moving.... 
 The girls decided that shovelling this much snow was definitely no fun....  I finally finished the outfits for my two new little Forest Dweller guys. I spent much of last week working on them intermittently each evening, but on Sunday decided that their tops were turning out way too stiff, and I also didn't like how wide the neck openings were. So I decided to throw them in the trash, and start over completely from scratch. I made the new neck openings smaller, lengthened the vest by about 1/8" and lengthened the sleeves by a touch. At this tiny scale it's amazing what a difference even 1/16" can make. The new tops turned out so much better. Komirka Chipmunk's shirt seemed to be missing something, so I gave him a tiny red bow tie - to match the red flowers on his wife's apron....  These tiny outfits are definitely no fun. The sleeves are about as big as a postage stamp, and inserting them into the armhole has to be the worst job ever. And then there's the tiny collars hand-sewn from double 1/8" wide silk ribbon. I have to sew with a beading needle since it's the only needle fine enough. But they are finally finished! Yay!! While I was at it, I also decided to try make a crocheted hat for Miss Chipmunk. I had to make changes to my crochet pattern in order to accommodate the different position of her ears. I chose some gray crochet thread to match her apron, and embellished it with red and turquoise silk ribbon and a small red ribbon rose....  The gray mouse couple...  All four new, little Forest Dwellers....  I also dressed Miss Muffin Mouse. She's a tiny, jointed, porcelain character, roughly the same height as the four Forest Dwellers, and she is supposed to be a 'mouse', but compared to the much more realistic looking Whispering Grass Mice, she looks way more like a 'rabbit' in my opinion (even with the rounded ears) so that's what she's going to be....  |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
January 2022
|
RSS Feed
