Blog Archives

Victorian Gibson Girl

6/29/2017

I have a bunch of old porcelain reproduction dolls I'm ready to part with. The dolls themselves no longer have any appeal, but they have some great costumes. So, instead of trying to sell the dolls as they are for mere peanuts, I'm going to rework their clothes to fit a BJD, and then possibly sell those. The first to undergo a reworking will be this old Gibson Girl in her Victorian dress....

The doll itself is a reproduction, from a porcelain doll making class I took many years ago. We had to clean the greenware, then paint it between firings. Cleaning the greenware was no fun at all, and the porcelain dust made me all itchy, and I had a really hard time getting the glaze on smoothly - worst was trying to apply a nicely blended cheek blush. Painting dolls had never been my strong suite, and this only reinforced that. I guess I couldn't be skilled at everything. But I think part of the problem was that we were expected to apply blush using liquid glaze with a brush. Now, when I see how BJDs are blushed these days, with powder instead of liquid paint, that would have probably worked far better. But it doesn't matter. To me the doll was only the vehicle to support the costume.

I really enjoyed making her clothes. The Victorian period had always been one of my favourites. The satin ribbon pleating has faded some, and there's stains here and there, so it will need a good wash. I just hope the pleats can withstand being washed. I definitely don't want to rework them.

So, after I finish the shirts I'm working on, this outfit will get picked apart. I tried it on my Leona and it will need some modifications. The skirt needs to be a little longer, and I know how I'm going to do that. The jacket will need major modification. Fortunately, I still have a bit of the grey stripe fabric, enough that I could probably make a whole new jacket from scratch. I don't relish the idea of redoing all that black braid work, but I think starting over would make a better fit - especially the sleeves, which wouldn't fit over Leona's (an older JID's) hands. There's no way at all they'd fit over the new JID hands. So I'm probably better off just picking off the reusable stuff, and starting over.

I'll reuse the lace at the neck, the pink bow, the black bead 'buttons', and the lace on the cuffs. Maybe reworking this dress will inspire me to make a couple more Victorian gowns. Maybe.
It could definitely make for some interesting new period photo possibilities, so I'll see.

the First Shirt

6/28/2017

I'm working on a pattern tutorial for a JID shirt, and the first 'test' shirt is finished.
It's the one I took step by step photos of as I made it.

The shirt is made exactly the same way as a full size human shirt, with collar, neckband, and everything. It's very fiddly in such a small size, but quite doable if one takes their time.

Owen likes it as a 'work shirt', and has been wearing it doing chores around the house....

He doesn't know I intended this shirt for his brother....

But the pattern still needs some minor adjustments before I can release it,
so I need to make another shirt. Red plaid this time.

Modifying Shoes

6/26/2017

Today I decided to try modifying a pair of gold high heels so they'd fit my JID girls. Back in April I ordered a pair of gold high heels from Facets. They were shoes for Tonner's 22" American Model, and people said they'd fit Iplehouse JIDs and FIDs. So I ordered some.

The shoes on the left are the 22" American model shoes. They are a bit long in the front - a total tripping hazard - but otherwise fit okay, at least as good as it's likely going to get. The shoes on the right, which were also touted as fitting JIDs, were a birthday gift, and are clearly quite a bit smaller.

I couldn't get the doll's feet into them at all, even though the basic shape of the shoe insole was almost perfect. They were beautiful shoes, and I really liked them, so what to do?

I thought maybe I could split the upper, and insert a small piece of vinyl, then cover it with one of the flowers from the green dress the shoes were meant to go with. I didn't have any gold vinyl or leather, so used some thin white vinyl.

The sewing isn't the neatest thing ever, but I covered it with two layers of gold glitter glue. When it dried, it was nice and gold - although textured. I had decided I didn't want to use one of the cloth flowers matching the green dress, as that meant the shoes could only be worn with that dress. So I decided to stay with gold instead, and sewed on some beads as interest on the front.

Now the shoes fit perfectly, and my girls have a second pair of gold shoes to choose from.
In fact I think they'll prefer these, as they fit better than the other pair.

Catching Up

6/25/2017

I've been busy the past couple of days catching up with posting photos in the various albums. Several albums have been finished, some updated, and quite a few brand new ones made. I find after photos - especially longer stories - appear here in short segments on my Blog, it's nice to have the entire story complete and in it's proper order, somewhere where I can just scroll down through the entire thing, without all the interruptions. Plus it's way easier to find them in Favourite Photos.

So, the following albums have been updated....

Iplekids Everyday 1

Fantasy Adventures

Kassia Out and About

And all these new ones added....

Draw A Bird Day

Iplekids Everyday 2

Iplekids Everyday 3

Narae in pink

Getting Ready to Renew Her Vows

Wedding Portraits

A Friend for Isis

Introducing Aaron

Two Girls in Purple

Of course, all these albums are accessible any time over in Favourite Photos 2017

Now I still have a dozen or so outfits to catch up on in the various Galleries.
The ones I make for sale get their proper pages, but the clothes I make for
my own dolls tends to get overlooked. Sometimes for years.

Behind the Scenes

6/25/2017

I'm trying to catch up with all my photo albums, and came across a 'behind the scenes' shot taken on 'Water a Plant' Day, a couple of weeks ago, which I've not shared yet.

I wanted real water coming out of the watering can, but there was no way to have Elin actually hold it when it had water in it, and it also wouldn't provide the pouring water as I wanted, because it would all run out well before I could take the picture. So, how to fake it??

I figured I could make it look like water was really coming out of the watering can, by pouring it through a straw positioned right behind Elin's watering can spout. But that meant taking two identical photos - one with the water, and one without, and checking the arc of the pouring water so that it would actually land in the plant - and then cloning the pouring water in afterwards when I processed the photo. So I set up the scene, and my tripod so I could shoot the exact same photo. Then I took some photos with Jan pouring water through the straw, and chose the best one...

Then I took the same, identical photo, but without the straw, and after I processed both photos,
I cloned the pouring water from the photo above, onto the photo without the pouring water, and cropped the scene to make for a better composition....and Elin was actually watering the plant!

What's Next?

6/24/2017

I picked up some 'people' clothes at Value Village this week, that I've washed and mostly 'deconstructed' - cut apart so that it's just flat fabric without all the seams.

I cut apart a Levi's denim shirt to make into jeans, and two boy's shirts with tiny plaid for shirts. And a really pretty, fine purple corduroy jumper to make into two doll dresses.

I was thinking of maybe taking step-by-step photos when I make the JID shirts, and creating a pattern tutorial, as the shirts fit both my guys and the ladies as well. The girls just need a little shorter sleeve and shirt length, but otherwise it's the same pattern.

Doll shirts aren't the easiest thing to make, as they have to be made just like human-size shirts, but in miniature - with tiny collar and neck band. And so many of the doll shirts I see out there aren't quite right, with the collar being way too high in front. So, maybe a shirt pattern would be welcome.

the Conversation

6/24/2017

Two more photos from the conversation these two ladies had a while back....

Welcome Back!

6/23/2017

With Kassia all dressed, they are ready to go to the party at the Charmings....
"Couldn't we just stay home and watch a movie? I picked up some new ones."

"These look really good, but we had said that we'd go to their party."

"Sigh.....all this 'happily ever after' stuff isn't what is't cracked up to be...
....I wonder if anyone else would like to borrow a wedding dress any time soon?""