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Ever wonder where my inspiration comes from and why I take the photos that I do? Well, recently many of them were inspired by the new dragon book my sister and I were working on.  We'd been working on it for months, and had done a rough layout of the pages, and there were still several sets of new photos that I wanted to take to include. There was also one photo which we both really liked, and it needed to be in the book. It had been taken way back just after the baby dragons had hatched, but being a vertical photo it couldn't take up a full page, and it just wasn't working with anything else.  It really needed to be paired with some photos featuring books. That's when I got the idea to photograph a brand new 'library scene'. It was back in November, and I'd just finished photographing Winston and Saphira moving in together. Their lair was still set up on the dining room table, so I quickly put together a 'library' scene with every small book I own, right in the middle of the dragon's lair..  I took lots of photos of the little dragons reading, and then my sister put together a spread using that original photo of Winston and his kids....  We decided it worked well there. But then, while I was in the middle of the 'Drako' story I had the idea to share both Winston's and Saphira's back stories, and we thought it would be fun to include their baby photos in the new book somehow as well. But how? Well, how about using that photo of Winston looking at his photo album with his kids? They could be looking at their parent's old baby photos. So that photo was removed from the 'library' page that I'd just taken the photos for...  and it was moved once again to create the 'looking at Baby Photos' page, where it finally stayed.  And that's just one example of the thought process involved in putting together a new book, and coming up with brand new scenes to compliment existing photos, and why the whole process seems to take forever. These are some of the other recent photo shoots which were done specially for the book.... Moving in together...  Agnes and the birds in the snow...  ...and the entire Little Dragon's First Christmas story...  ...and there's still one final story which I photographed back in early December for the end of the book, which hasn't even been shared yet.
The little dragons loved books, and could spend hours in the library....  Nuri loved fairytales and stories about animals....  Whereas Sparkle was fascinated by da Vinci's notebooks.....   Elliot was always looking for something new to read....       The library was a great place to spend a rainy afternoon.....  I figured since I'd taken a group photo of all my different MSD men bodies, I'd do the same with the ladies. So I chose one doll to represent each different body. One thing to notice right away is that there's not nearly the same height discrepancies as with the men.  From the left: Narae, Limhwa Lily, RaccoonDoll Monica, SartoriaJ Naomi (Ath body), Iplehouse FID Miho (Athletic body), Iplehouse FID Grace (Slim body), and Iplehouse JID Asa The main difference at first glance is that the four Fashion sized ladies have smaller heads, more in proportion to a real woman. The three ladies on the outside are proportioned like standard MSD dolls. Miho's Athletic FID body is slightly larger than everyone else. Grace's Slim FID and Monica's Raccoon bodies are very close in size, although Monica has a slimmer neck. Naomi's SartoriaJ 45 Aphrodite body has a slightly smaller upper torso than the other ladies, but much bigger hips and thighs. JID Asa has the same size upper torso as Grace and Monica, whereas Narae and Lily are much slimmer. Since I make all my own doll costumes, I always make the Fashion size outfits to fit the Iplehouse Slim FID body, and with adjustable lacing, so any one of the ladies can wear them. Both Narae and Lily's default outfits were originally made to fit an Iplehouse JID, and it turned out that they will now also fit the Fashion ladies.
Someone on one of the doll groups was asking where they could get clothes for their new SartoriaJ ATH guy, and asked for a photo of one beside a MiniFee. Well,I don't have a Minifee, but do have a wide selection of MSD size men, some of which are probably the same size. So I took a photo representing all the different sizes of MSD guys that I own, with an SJ 51 ATH Jude in the middle.... From the left: Doll Leaves Maya, Narin, Limhwa Mono, SartoriaJ 51 ATH Jude, Iplehouse FID Lawrence on a Muscle body, Iplehouse FID Baron on a Model body, and Iplehouse JID Kyle.  SartoriaJ men are by far the biggest. They also have a slightly bigger 52 Zeus size, but I don't have any of those. I make all my own doll clothes, and the only one Jude can share with is Lawrence. They have pretty much the same size torso, and can share clothes. Baron has a Model body, and although he can wear something from either Jude or Lawrence, neither of them can squeeze into anything made specifically to fit the FID Model body. Iplehouse JIDs have the same size torso as the FID Model, and they can share clothes, although FID clothes will be too long on a JID, and JID clothes will be short on an FID.
The three MSDs on the left can share each other's clothes. but there's no way any of the other four can borrow anything from them - not even the JID, who has a much chunkier body. So, what it boils down to is that SartoriaJ men can only wear SartoriaJ clothes made specifically for them, or you have to make your own. With the Holiday Season just about over, the kids were finally allowed to help themselves to the gingerbread houses....  Bordy began dismantling the lighthouse...  ..while the girls started taking apart the first gingerbread house.  Effie broke off the chimney...  While Byuri took apart the roof.  But Aki was mostly interested in getting the giant bubblegum ball...  After dismantling the lighthouse, which seemed a little boring because it was so plain...  ..the boys turned their attention to the second gingerbread house which had way more icing and candy decorations...  But not before Aki had removed the big gumball...       Little Gabi woke up from her nap....  ...all refreshed, and ready to play....  Daniel was playing with Mika...  ...and Olivia was talking to her grandmother... 
Fiona wanted to show her grandfather her giraffe...    So he put Gabi down on the floor, and picked up Fiona.   But no sooner was Gabi down on the floor, than she climbed into Mika's doll bed....  Miho noticed what she was doing,
"You better be careful. I don't think that bed is big enough for you."  But they were having too much fun to care.  Miho and Dominic loved their grandchildren..  ..and would sometimes have all of them over at the same time so they could play with each other...  They both loved watching little Gabi as she napped in Dominic's arms.  Daniel was a quiet little boy, and liked to be close to his grandfather...
 While his sister Fiona really enjoyed playing with her cousins....
  The girls were having a good time...
..and Daniel finally decided to join them...   My latest story book is finally here!  It's the delightful story of all my little Forest Dwellers as they come together at the Foxes' home for their traditional Christmas celebration.  The ladies spend much of the day cooking and baking....  while their menfolk spend the day amusing themselves....   After a delicious dinner, it's the ladies' turn to relax while the menfolk clean up.  The book is 61 pages featuring 162 full colour photos.  This is a wonderful little story, reminiscent of the nostalgia of the large family gatherings at Christmas not that long ago.
A Forest Dweller Christmas - $89. US plus shipping *If you are interested let me know - [email protected] - and I'll order your book the next time Mixbook offers a sale. |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
January 2026
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