While the pony was drying her feet on a heating duct, Teagan and Natalya helped me choose
the tea set, cake, and props, and set up a tea party for their doll and pony.....
It's handy having a big collection of doll props. Saturday Teagan said her Mom suggested a doll photo with some horses, so even though it was drizzly outside, I was only too happy to oblige.... Shannon is an 'Our Generation' doll, and the horse and colt are part of the 'Our Generation' line as well. Personally, I think the horses are a much better scale for my smaller BJDs, but who am I to argue? I let Shannon get up on the horse and go for a ride. Not sure my horse appreciated it.... The poor purple pony had wet, black feet when we went back inside, so I had to wash them.
While the pony was drying her feet on a heating duct, Teagan and Natalya helped me choose the tea set, cake, and props, and set up a tea party for their doll and pony..... Here's what I've been working on all of last week.....four sets of sleeves..... It's like building an old-fashioned wedding cake - adding layer upon layer to get the right effect. They are for four Elfdoll-size costumes, one each in dark green, rust, wine red, and magenta/pink. The trims are a challenge since most are no longer available anywhere, so I'm relying on what I have in my stash from years ago.
As soon as I finish the top puffs, they can be sewn onto the bodices, and then it will actually look like I'm getting somewhere. I think I should strip down my Rosy, so she can model the finished gowns along with Ryung. It's always nicer to have two models interacting for photos. These costumes are coming along very slowly. I think I've finally reached my 'saturation' level for these dresses, and am finding that I just can't stay focussed on them at all. I find it gets that way when I've made too many of something and it just isn't fun anymore. So I'm taking step-by-step photos as I go, so I can make a pattern with instructions. I haven't decided if I want to go into the 'pattern business' or if I'll offer it for free. Making patterns for sale is a tedious, time-consuming process, and it doesn't really seem worth it. I know that back in the 'paper pattern days' that each pattern sold would invariably end up in the hands of at least a dozen more people for free. It's a given fact. And that was back in the day when it still took some effort to duplicate a paper pattern. No one cared that it was a copyrighted pattern. But now with the Internet, it just takes a single keystroke to share a digital pattern with everyone. Selling only paper patterns doesn't really help either, since they are super easy to scan in, and again, with a single stroke on the keyboard, share with the world. It's no wonder there aren't more people selling doll patterns out there. And it also explains why the big pattern companies print all their patterns on those huge sheets of flimsy tissue paper. Those barely last more than a single use, and are almost impossible to duplicate. So I'll see what I decide to do......and in the meantime there's lots of photos needing processing, and shopping to do....and it's nice and sunny out there, so let's go visit the nursery for an early taste of spring. Sewing can wait.... This past week I received another email with a photo of an outfit made using one of my Patterns. Brigitte in Germany, wanted to show me what she'd made for her Bono - a lovely Steampunk outfit - using my Simple BID Dress Pattern. She'd even redesigned the bodice pattern to make a jacket.. I think it might be a nice idea to make a 'Guest's Creative Gallery' with photos of things people have made using my patterns and tutorials. I've been trying to figure out how best to do that - whether to have one Gallery with everything mixed through each other, or to add a 'Show and Tell' section to the end of each separate Tutorial or Pattern page (as photos come in) so that your creations are highlighted in the section that inspired them. But which is better?
Imagine my surprise this morning when I found a small package in my mailbox! It was from my friend Donna, and inside was a tiny metal sword - a tiny pirate cutlass actually. Donna's brother Mason is a blacksmith, and makes the tiny swords out of nails. He originally intended them to be used as bookmarks, but they are perfect for small dolls as well. I had a difficult time focussing on my breakfast, because my mind was just swimming with photo possibilities with Mason's swords; a pirate adventure, or maybe even a little fantasy adventure. And of course that means making lots of tiny costumes. But I'm in the middle of four Renaissance costumes at the moment. Sigh.... Anyway, I just had to go take some pictures right away, and with it not being 'pirate weather' outside, I had to take them in the studio. But then the sword shows up better too.... "Give my hat back!" Efreet and his cutlass...
So, what do you do if you don't trust your doll to stand on it's own on a hard surface? Or you are posing several dolls in a scene and don't want to risk them toppling each other over like a set of dominos? I use the standard metal doll stands for most of my doll photos. I hide the top under their clothes, and pay attention to positioning the vertical support behind one of the doll's legs, and then I try to hide the base. If I can't hide the base, I can always Photoshop it out later, but it's so much easier, and more natural-looking, to just hide the base right away when taking the photo. Even when taking photos in my backyard on my picnic table, I will camouflage the bases of the stands with some sand the same colour as the wood of the table....as I did here..... Can you see the doll's bases? One of the best examples of hiding the doll base, is the series of photos I took of Isar in the Southwest back in 2012. The US Southwest is mostly rock - lots of bare rock - red, yellow, or white rock. There was no way I'd risk Isar falling onto rock, or tumbling into a canyon, so I always posed her on her doll stand and covered the base with a bit of sand or small stones the same colour as the rock she was standing on. See if you can spot the covered doll stand base...... In this next setting, I had to balance her doll stand on top of some rocks, then hide the base with small matching stones.... I use this same technique of hiding the base of the doll stands when taking photos of my dolls in the snow...... If you look closely, you can see a bit of the vertical support peaking out behind Efreet's one leg (pants aren't that straight), and there's also a bit of base showing in front of one of his shoes. Here's another photo with the doll's stands hidden with snow..... Of course, now that you know my secret, you'll be looking for that bit of sand, dirt, or disturbed snow around the feet of the dolls in my photos. I'll bet you never even noticed it until I told you about it. It's a great way to take photos of your dolls outside without worrying about them toppling over and getting damaged (unless it's very windy, but that's another story)
So why not give it a try? With the warm March sun, the snow has been disappearing quickly. it's interesting to watch how it melts. The undisturbed snow banks have turned into a delicate, lacy wonderland. On this last official day of winter, I went out at sunrise this morning to try capture some of the 'frozen lace'.... Much of the ground is now bare, and I even spotted some crocuses coming up.....
*The Photo Tip on doll stands is too long for just one Blog post, so I'm dividing it into two. The button in Tutorials won't become active until the second half is posted. When taking photos of your doll, do you try to get the doll to stand totally on it's own, or do you use a stand? Personally, I prefer the security of a doll stand. Only on the rare occasion when taking photos of one or two of my smallest dolls, will I risk having them stand unaided.....as on the rocks in this photo..... My Iplehouse BIDs are just 25 cm tall, and stand quite well on their own, but I still prefer the security of a doll stand, especially when there's a lot of dolls in a scene. Doll Stands for Soft SurfacesWhen posing my dolls on a soft surface (like grass, or my garden, or in the woods) I like to use a wire stand that pokes into the ground. To make your own stands, I have a Tutorial available - 'An Easy Stand for Outdoor Photography' With the wire stand, a doll can pose in ways she would never be able to on her own Just make sure to hide the vertical wire behind one of the doll's legs. I have several of these wire stands, and they make it possible to shoot a scene like this one... It's the only way to pose my dolls to look they are 'running' on a spongy, uneven, forest floor. I've also used the stands in my garden and in the desert. In the picture below I was in a hurry because I wanted to minimize the doll's time in the sun, so I didn't notice Leona's wire was showing. But it's not too noticeable - it sort of blends into the plant.... The wire stands are also very helpful in windy locations, because the dolls won't topple over,
as here in very windy Newfoundland..... My kids are having a St. Patrick's Day party this afternoon. They have no idea what it's all about, just that it involves the colour green, which is one of their favourite colours, so that's good enough
When taking photos at home I'm fine on my own, but when taking doll photos out and about, especially in public, or with several dolls, having someone along to help is almost a necessity. Lucky for me my husband Jan actually enjoys helping me. When I'm out and about, I want to make my dolls look like they fit into the scene around them, and that means taking the photos more or less at the doll's eye level. So I have two choices - either elevate the doll to my camera level, or get down to shoot at the doll's eye level. For this 'shopping' photo I posed my dolls at my eye level on top of a snow-covered fence around the Walmart plaza. The dolls are on bases, the bottoms of which are hidden under the snow. For this second 'shopping' picture, I wanted Toys-r-Us in the background, and there's nothing in the parking lot to stand the dolls on. So I had two choices - either lay down flat on the wet snowy pavement (and have everyone stare - and maybe even call 911) or have my trusty assistant hold the doll up to my camera level. I opted for the latter...... I almost always have my dolls on their bases, with the vertical support behind one of their legs, so Jan holds the doll by their base, with his thumb over their shoes to keep them sturdily in place. I do the final posing and positioning before taking the photo. Here's Jan with Lisa in the Magnolia Plantation Gardens in South Carolina, with Lisa posed, ready for me to take her photo, and then the photo I took of her.... When we went to the top of Pike's Peak last fall, the altitude really got to me, so the only way to take doll photos up there, was if Jan held the dolls outside my passenger window...... I sat in the vehicle, reached out my open window to pose the dolls how I wanted them, and snapped the photo. Like this..... Pretty pathetic really, but one has to do what one has to do, and without a willing helper there wouldn't have been any doll photos up there at all. An assistant is also very important in situations where I have to get down flat on the ground to take a photo. With my poor arthritic body it's difficult enough to get down, but getting up is way worse, so once I'm down I'm staying there. But to shoot my dolls like they are part of the scene, they are usually too far away from me that I can't reach them to fine tune their poses, so a willing assistant is mandatory. For example, when shooting 'the Quest' series in the Rockies, I saw a perfect photo opportunity at the side of the Icefields Centre parking lot. There was a puddle on the edge of the pavement, with a low snow bank beyond, and the gorgeous Rockies behind as well as reflected in the puddle. I knew I was going to have to get right down on the pavement in order to capture the reflections, so actually got Jan to move the RV so anyone else in the parking lot (which was mostly empty that early in the morning) wouldn't see me laying there. So, I did the initial placement of the dolls (on their wire stands) on the snowbank, went to lay down on the pavement (on one of the RV carpets) and directed Jan to make any final adjustments. "Could you turn Kyle counter clockwise a smidge? Please straighten Maya's cloak on this side, and tilt his chin down a bit more....and can you wipe Aeran's hair out of her face on the side facing me? Thanks!" (Remember to always thank your helper) None of these photos would have been possible without my wonderful helper.
And the added bonus of having an assistant, is that there's always someone else to help carry all the dolls and props back to your vehicle.... |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
October 2024
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