Today, March 14th, is "National Potato Chip Day", and we are supposed to marvel at all the many flavours of potato chips - and sample as many of them as we can. Enough said - any excuse to eat potato chips, is a good excuse!    I guess my girls won't be needing any dinner tonight....

It's also "Learn About Butterflies Day" - not the kind you might get from eating all those chips...

And for all the Math geeks, March 14 is a very special day - it's "Pi Day" - not for that guy in the lifeboat with the tiger, but that marvelous number that goes endlessly into infinity (3.14.....)

Nami and Byuri all decked out in some "found" jewelry to celebrate National Jewel Day today.

"Now girls, don't forget to put it all back where you found it, when you're done!"

After fussing with Soa some more, she ended up with a long brown wig with bangs that I bought a year ago as a possible wig for Byuri in her native attire. The wig hasn't been used for anyone, and was way too long, so I gave it a major trimming. I think this will be Soa's look for now.

I also wasn't that happy with the bright yellow hat, so made a new one in white - a more spring-like hat, reminiscent of the Easter hats we used to wear as little girls. I'm actually enjoying making the little hats. They are super easy, and fast, and it's a great way to use up some of that multi-colour pack of crochet thread I bought some time ago. I just wish I knew how to write down the instructions in proper crochet terms, so I could make a tutorial for it.

I picked up Soa and Erzulie from Charie's last night.  Soa is so beautiful, and Erzulie is just so cute. I spent a lot of time trying clothes and wigs on them, trying to find what looked best, but none of the wigs I had were just the perfect look I was after.  I'm sure they'll settle into a special look all their own eventually after I take the time to make some new wigs and play around with them some more. Right now Soa has a black mohair wig, but the black is too dark and "dead", and she needs a hat to keep the wig under control. I have some very nice dark brown mohair I can make her a wig from, but I think what she really needs is some kind of girly style out of dark brown synthetic mohair like Byuri's - after all, they are supposed to be sisters. I'd like Erzulie to have shorter hair, but I'm a little reluctant to cut her wig just yet.

Anyway, here they are..... first Erzulie...

..and Erzulie with her new friends...

...and Soa...I need to make her a brown mohair wig...

...and Byuri with her new sister...

And in other news, I just signed another contract with Springbok puzzles!  They will be making another one of my photos into a puzzle. This time it wasn't part of their annual contest, but they actually approached me, in early January, having seen one of my doll photos where the little girls were posed surrounded by nutcrackers. They wanted to know if I had taken any photos of the nutcrackers without the dolls, and if I hadn't, would I be willing to?  Sure, you betcha!! 
I LOVE Springbok puzzles, and would be happy to take a photo for them. Our Christmas decorations had already been packed away, but fortunately the nutcrackers go into a separate box, so Jan and I unpacked them, then spent a whole evening in the basement studio setting them all up, and taking a photo. I don't think I can show a picture yet, but as soon as Springbok introduces it to the public, I'll post my nutcracker puzzle photo.    Just goes to show, you never know what opportunities will present themselves by posting doll photos online!

Another of my weekend projects was to finally make a new scarf for Tedros. Even though his orangy-brown one looks fine in real life, in photos it just looks too glaringly bright orange. So I made a new one in a gold ochre colour with reddish brown stains.  After washing the scarf to remove excess stain, and letting it dry, Carina presented it to him.....

Charie has finished Soa and Erzulie, and I'm looking forward to picking them up. In anticipation of the new dolls needing something to wear - especially Erzulie - I took the time this weekend to make some new little things to be worn with existing sun-dresses so they become a more versatile, any-time-of-year kinds of outfits. I made some little long-sleeved T-shirts, and crocheted some cute little matching hats.......

Today, March 11th is Name-tag Day. It doesn't matter what name you put on it, just so long as you wear a name-tag. So, my tiny girls are wearing name-tags today......

It was a productive weekend for finishing off all kinds of loose ends. All the fairy commissions have been photographed, so now I need to make their Gallery pages.  I even started knitting a tiny sweater, but it's not done yet. I decided my little girls need something other than Elf outfits to wear outside next fall and winter, so if I start now, knitting in my spare time, maybe by next fall everyone will have nice warm sweaters..... and hats..... and scarves.....

The next project is a few sets of pioneer/Hobbit style outfits for girls and for boys - one of which will be for my new Narin and Narae. But first I'm going to make some underwear for Maya and Narin. It's a bit disturbing having those stiff resin boy parts exposed every time I have to take their pants off. I think it's time for some modesty. I'm sure the boys will appreciate that too. 

It was supposed to be nice and cloudy all day, so when Jan came home from church, we packed everyone in the car and went back down to the lake. Unfortunately the clouds very quickly disappeared, and it turned to bright blue skies - which is terrible for doll photography. I did manage to take a few shots of each fairy with Jan shading them with his coat. Unfortunately it was impossible to take group shots, which would have been really nice. So, here they are.....

Hope as Flora Fairy. We managed a few shots of her before it got really sunny.....

Kayla as a Blue Fairy....

....and Miki in the final Mini Ruby Fairy ensemble....

I love how the green periwinkle in the background gives a fresh spring-like impression, when 
in truth everything around here is either dead, brown and muddy, or covered with snow. 

Unfortunately it was impossible to take any photos with the three of them together outside, 
but I did take one with all of them in the studio.

In late afternoon, the sun was hazy behind thin clouds, so I packed up all four fairies and we went down to the lake. I only managed to take a few photos of Isar - in two spots, one of which the photos didn't work at all. I didn't feel like trying the other fairies, so we just went home. Maybe I can find a spot in the backyard tomorrow after-all.  

There were a few good photos of Isar, and this is one of my favourites. 

Someone on DoA wanted to know what Asa's head would look like on a JID boy's body, so I thought I'd give it a try. Looks pretty good! With a more masculine faceup, and a bit of sanding to open up the bottom of the head so it sits lower on the neck, and it would be perfect.

Finished my new Narae's tights and underwear, and thought I'd take a photo of her with her two sisters. They are all so different!  I'm not sure what sculpt the older two are - I always thought they were the "Classic Narae", but apparently there's several slightly different molds.  Narae, on the right, who was my second BJD ever, is an older version, in yellowed, golden beige French resin. Aeran, on the left, is also an older doll, with tan French resin that hasn't yellowed at all. She's going to need a new faceup eventually because of the damage I caused when hair-spray reacted with her sealer last spring. And then there's my new Butterfly Narae, in D-Storic's real skin French resin. She's going to need a new name to distinguish her from her sisters. I'm terrible at naming things, so maybe she'll just stay "Butterfly". 

What I find especially interesting is how each girl looks progressively more realistic, and less doll-like. Maybe it's the sculpt, or maybe it's the faceup, or maybe it's both.

This weekend I need to address a lot of odds and ends. My new Narae needs tights and underwear so her stand won't scuff her body. Narin needs an outfit of his own, so Maya can have his clothes back. When Erzulie comes home, I won't have any seasonally-appropriate clothes for her to wear, so I thought I'd make some plain long-sleeved T-shirts to fit under the BID sundresses so they can be worn anytime of year. I bought some white and bright pink T-shirts at Walmart this week, and have made one white "test top" so far.

Here's Nami with her new white top, checking my progress on Narae's pantaloons...

There's also loads of photography to do, both in the studio, and hopefully out in nature. It's bright and sunny out today, so that's no good. Maybe tomorrow before it starts to rain.