Took some more photos of Hope as "Bo Peep". There's not much in the way of flowers blooming right now that are suitable for background, but I have this one variegated plant that has bunches of blue forget-me-not-like flowers. So I took advantage of it. I love Hope in this outfit. There was a notice from Iplehouse in the night - my Peach has shipped! I'm crossing my fingers for a Friday delivery. She's going to look very weird, with that little girl head on the more mature body, but that won't be for long, as I'll switch her up with Soa and her KID body right away.
I took a few more photos of the little girls in the scillas last week, then went again on the weekend hoping to shoot Bo Peep, but the flowers were all finished, all gone to seed. So this is the very last scilla photo for this year.....Byuri and the butterflies, in the blue flowers..... I'm continuing to work on the sundress ensembles. The dresses themselves are almost all done, and I've started crocheting some of the hats. I bought some golden yellow crochet thread to simulate "straw" hats, for some of the gingham sets. In the meantime, with the glorious weather we've been having, my garden just keeps growing. The magnolias are in full bloom, the tulips and forget-me-nots have started, and the buds are showing on the crabapples.
Today is "Cinco de Mustachio Day", when everyone who has been growing a mustache, competes with their friends to see who has grown the best mustache. My boys haven't been shaving lately, as they all wanted to participate, so here they are ready to be judged.... I'd say Maya takes the prize for the longest shaped mustache. That must have taken a very long time to grow - no wonder we haven't seen him around lately. Personally, I think the only one who doesn't look completely laughable, is Kyle on the far left.
"Here's your razors and shaving cream boys! Thanks for participating, but I liked you all better before" The temperatures are finally up, the skies are blue, and the sun is shining. Plants are popping up everywhere, and the trees are bursting with new buds. Roadsides are yellow with carpets of dandelions. You can almost watch them growing. The woods are abloom with wildflowers... My magnolias are opening for their annual display. Last year with the super early spring, followed by an April frost, all the magnolia buds froze, so there were no flowers at all last year. But this year it's looking to be spectacular....the purple star, and the saucer magnolias. With spring finally here, and my commissions behind me, I'm inspired to make something. Two of my tiny girls need sundresses, so I figured I might as well make a whole bunch - choose two, and put the rest up for sale. So I cut out eleven. I chose some more colours of gingham from my fabric sample box, and cut up the half yard of pretty heart prints I bought a few months ago. I'm not sure yet if they will be simple sundress sets, or if I will go all the way to making them more elaborate outfits complete with tops and hats, so they can be worn in all seasons. I'll see.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..... a Princess and her droid were preparing to lead a group of Rebels in a fight against the evil Empire.... Finally, it's "Star Wars Day" and I can post my photo of "Princess Leia and R2D2". I love this photo. It was inspired by my son's R2D2 Mr. Potato Head, and I took it some time ago. It's been so hard to keep it secret. Anyway, Happy Star Wars Day! and "May the Fourth be with you!"
One of the images I entered in this year's Springbok Photo Contest came in second. They chose my photo of summer wildflowers. My husband and one daughter-in-law's birthdays are in mid July, and at that time there's very little blooming in my own garden that can be picked for a bouquet, so we go up a few country roads and pick wildflowers - day lilies, purple loosestrife, daisies, black-eyed Susans, and fleabane. After making the cut for the ten finalists, they asked for a RAW file of my photo, and this is what they did with it.
Don't you just hate it when you just don't have the right colour or width of ribbon you need for a particular project? I have so much ribbon, rolls, and rolls, and rolls of ribbon, but as is often the case, there's nothing in the right width or colour to go with the fabric I'm using. I need some 1/4" royal blue and medium purple, and some 1/8" dusty rose. Which means, I'll need to go to the fabric store for more ribbon later! So much for using up stock on hand. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way, and should try picking ribbons I want to use up, and then look through my stash for fabrics to go with them. But how much you want to bet there wouldn't be anything and I'd end up having to go fabric shopping - which would be harder, and more expensive than just buying a few new ribbons. Maybe if I spent the next few years just making white and cream outfits that can have any colour of ribbon as embellishment, I'd make a dent in my huge stock, but then I'd need lots of new white fabrics, and that would be too boring.
After altering the dress and slip I took off my "Little Bo Peep", and making a new, larger hat, Hope tried on the entire ensemble - even Bo Peep's wig, which I had washed. She looks so pretty! It's such a familiar look, but with a much nicer doll. I think at some point I really need to make some outfits like this for sale. I can picture "Red Riding Hood", "Alice in Wonderland", "Bo Peep", and dare I even say it - "Anne of Green Gables". Of course, that would really be "going back to the beginning" - right back to my early cloth doll-making days. Funny how that works.
I'm in the process of going over old dolls I'm going to put up for sale, dusting them off, and checking them over for anything needing fixing. The "Snow Queen" is in the process of getting a fresh manicure, and her nails are awaiting a final coat of polish. Upon investigating Bo Peep, I discovered a huge crack in her head, so she's not sellable, then realized her outfit was removable and should fit a Kaye Wiggs girl. The dress needs the snaps moved, and the lace fichu tacked down, but then it's good to go. The Hat is too small for a KW girl - it fits an Iplehouse JID or KID - so I'll make a new one to match, and the old one can become part of a new Victorian outfit for Peach, assuming I find fabrics to go with it. I thought maybe Red Riding Hood's outfit would look good on a KW girl too, and it's also removable, but it turns out it's way too big. I love the red bonnet though, so thought I'd just take a photo of Layla in it before I put it back on it's rightful owner. All this playing around with fancy costumes like "Bo Peep", and "Red Riding Hood", really makes me want to create some outfits like that for the Kaye Wiggs girls. A whole series of Victorian girls with large flowered straw hats would look amazing too! Of course there's no time right now. My space is totally overtaken with old dolls in various states of undress, piles of doll clothes needing photographing and filing away into zip-loc baggies. Then just to remake Bo Peep's hat, I need two whole boxes full of ribbons, and another two big boxes of small fabric flowers to choose from. The ribbons were already brought up so I could choose ties for all the little sundresses I cut out yesterday, but now there's straw hats, and flowers too. Talk about feeling overwhelmed! I need to take a deep breath - or ten - and try focus on just one thing at a time. Who knew trying to put old dolls up for sale would be this much work?
After much fanfare and weeks of tantalizing teaser photos, the new Iplehouse line of Pixie dolls are finally up. Like most people, I think they are cute, but not for me. The heads are just way too big in proportion to their bodies. What does amaze me though is the details of their tiny clothes! Apparently the Pixies will always be "Limited", and these four are just available for one month. They will be releasing new Pixies from time to time, and many people hope that Iplehouse listens to customer demand for smaller heads more in proportion with the bodies.
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
May 2024
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