Blog Archives - Antique Lilac

Another Snow Day

2/28/2013

Yesterday we broke the record for the amount of snow falling on February 27th. Last night we got even more - the beautiful kind that sticks to every branch of every tree and creates a magical winter wonderland. It never lasts long, so Tillie and Cinnamon had to go check it out. They wisely brought along their umbrella to protect them from all the snow falling out of the trees.

By mid-morning most of the snow had melted out of the trees, so I'm glad I went out first thing this morning to take some photos and capture the magical beauty while it lasted.

Now I have to get back to my sewing!

Happy "Flower Arranging Day"!

2/28/2013

Yup, March 28th is "National Flower Arranging Day", so my girls decided to re-do all the flower arrangements in their home. Lonnie proved especially deft at it, so Nami and Elin decided to just busy themselves gathering all the flowers and bringing them to her. Nicely done girls!

First Fairy Dress

2/27/2013

I took Kayla out in the snow for a photo of her fairy dress. I'm so glad I chose her as the model for this fairy commission. She's just so cute, and the colours really suit her. This fairy costume is a blue and green version of last year's pink and green Apple Blossom Fairy. The white sleeves and skirt have been dyed with light blue and green along the hemline, and pearls hand-sewn along the bottom of the skirt hem. I still have to sew the wing pockets on the back, as well as the snap fasteners, but I had to quickly take advantage of a break in the weather in order to take a photo - it's pretty miserable out today. She still needs her wings, but those will get done later.

The next two fairy outfits are about far enough that it's time to undress the next two volunteers so they can be models as well. Then I'll have four fairy models - three KW girls, and Isar. It's so nice to not have to constantly be removing clothes in order to fit other ones on. Now each outfit has it's own model. I can't wait to see the three KW fairies together, but that's still awhile before I get that far. It would be very nice to have all the clothes parts finished by the end of the coming weekend, so I can start the wings next week.

Happy "Tell a Fairy Tale" Day!

2/26/2013

Yes, February 26th is National "Tell a Fairy Tale Day". I don't know who comes up with these things, but I thought I'd try commemorate some of these "special" days with my dolls. So, today Lonnie has the little girls captivated by reading them lots of Fairy Tales from her favourite old storybook, while they play along with their toys. "Everyone aboard! It's time to go to the ball!"

BJDCollectasy Tutorial Links

2/25/2013

Just a quick note to let everyone know that BJDCollectasy, the online news magazine, has a new website (on a new server) so all the Links from my tutorials that I made for them were broken. I've fixed the links to the most recent ones, but still need to go hunting for the rest. So, please bear with me as I fix all the links. Hopefully everything will be working again soon.

Manuna Mouse

2/25/2013

I was so surprised to get a notice last night that Manuna Mouse is up for pre-order at JPopDolls! That's a lot sooner than I was expecting. He/she is light tan, just 10.5 cm tall, and is ever so cute. I especially loved the photos of all the poses - they made me laugh - so funny!

Pre-order is until March 31st, with estimated arrival in July. Jan ordered two for me!
These little mice are going to be so much fun!

I'm Finally Finished!!!!!!

2/24/2013

After months of work, I'm finally finished with my Fall Trip Photo Album! It always takes me so long because I shoot in RAW, so every photo has to be individually processed in PhotoShop. It was an exciting road trip through some of the most beautiful scenery in America, culminating with the annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here's a few favourite photos....

Mount Moran, at the Oxbow, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Park Avenue, Arches National Park, Utah

North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Fairyland, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Acoma, Sky City Pueblo, New Mexico

Balloon Fiesta, Albuquerque, New Mexico

To see the entire album of photos, just click on any of the photos above.

Now that That trip album is done, I need to focus on the Spring trip - between doll costumes of course. My goal is to finish that one as well, before our next road trip this summer.

Manuna Mouse

2/24/2013

I'm excited to share some news about an adorable little figure I've been watching the progress on for the past year. In March 2012, Ukrainian artist Iryna Scargeear first introduced her adorable little ball-jointed mouse Manuna on the Resin Cafe doll forum. She was the cutest little one-of-a-kind, fully jointed mouse, I'd ever seen. Many companies make ball-jointed animal figures, but they are all anthropomorphic figures - meaning they have human bodies with animal heads. This was the first time I'd seen a mouse that actually looked like a real little mouse - body and all - and the way Ira had dressed her, she reminded me so much of Beatrix Potter illustrations. The little mouse stands 10.5 cm tall, is made of Epoxy Sculpt and even has a jointed tail.

Everyone on Resin Cafe fell in love with Manuna, and begged Ira to have her little mouse produced in resin and offered to the public. So that's what she did, and Grace at JPopDolls says she will be offered for pre-order very soon - first in light brown resin, and later in white.

My doll collection is pretty much complete now, but I'd love to add a few of these adorable little mice. Dress them like Beatrix Potter characters, or fairy-tale characters. And of course, that would also open up a whole new direction in doll costuming for my little Iplehouse girls as they'd need little fairy-tale costumes for stories they could appear together in. Sounds like fun!!

Ready for Stain & Dye

2/24/2013

All the fairy skirts have been sewn, and have had their hemlines frayed (my fingers still ache), and now they are ready for staining and dying. It's rather a messy job, and one of the few times drying on the heat vents isn't a good idea. For some unexplained reason, the stain and dyes will dry very dark & spotty if dried quickly on a heating duct. They need to dry slowly and naturally.

Two Naked Fairies

2/22/2013

I'm making pretty good progress on the four fairy commissions. One of them is basically a remake of my "Topaz Fairy" for Isar, and the other three are for Kaye Wiggs MSDs. I thought since I'd not really done much with my Kayla yet, that I'd use her as my sewing model. Once the costumes are closer to being finished, I'll get two more volunteers from among my Kaye girls to model the other two.

It's interesting that even thought Isar and Kayla look so different - one is just a little girl, while the other is a mature young lady - they can actually wear these same fairy costumes. They both use the same bodice and skirt patterns. The only difference is that they need different sleeve patterns because I like close-fitting sleeves, and one has much slimmer arms. Or is it that one has such big hands that they don't fit through the sleeves? Yes, that's it. Isar's hands will fit through the tube sleeves, but Kayla needs sleeves that are wide open and snap up from top to bottom. So the sleeves are the same basic design, just sewn differently.