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Eric and Nyssa thought they were about done decorating the tree, but then their Dad came in with a few more boxes of ornaments...  "I found some more."  Lisa was busy replacing the pillows on the sofa with the holiday throw pillows...   "Who wants to help with all these last ones?"  "I will."  Another section in the two Victorian Family photo albums we were working that were lacking, were the Christmas scenes, so I shot several new ones.... Holiday BakingIt was almost Christmas, and the girls always loved to start their Christmas baking a bit early  Lisa would mix up the cookie dough...  While Nyssa would choose her favourite cookie cutters...while waiting impatiently...  for her sister to roll out the dough.  Cutting out the cookies was one of Nyssa's favourite parts...  "Try to cut them out a little closer together."  Once the cookies were baked, and cooled, it was time to decorate them...  It wasn't all that easy to squeeze out the icing in nice even lines...  Their brother had smelled the cookies baking, and came to try one out...  "Who said you could take two?"  Introducing Guinevere, my latest collaboration with Ruby Red Fashion Friends, who is currently up for preorder...  Available for preorder until August 8, 2026
She was designed as a companion doll for Lancelot, who was released earlier this year...  I was really pleased with both of them, as they ended up almost identical to my samples. I always enjoy photographing my own dolls wearing my costume samples before they are sent off to Hong Kong, and I decided to share some of them here for the first time... Sara as Guinevere....  Knighting her hero Sir Lancelot (Alex)     I came up with the idea of photographing the family having a picnic at a park, and practiced setting up a scene at home....  Problem was, it was the end of April, and the trees were all still bare, and it was way too soon for anyone to be having a picnic at the park. So I printed out the photo for whenever I would need it to remind me of how everything was set up, and I waited an entire month for just the right time. When we went to Oshawa to take the photos of Steve and Iris at Parkwood, we took all the children and all the props, along. After finishing at Parkwood, we went to the nearby Peony Gardens. It was still too early for the peonies to be in bloom, so there was hardly anyone there. I chose a spot on the south end of the gardens, set up the projector stand, placed a somewhat larger board on top, covered it with the moss blankets and posed the dolls on top.  Then I took the photos up close straight on at the doll's eye level. The colour and texture of the moss blends in perfectly with the real grass in the park behind the dolls....  When I was trying to come up with alternative places for Eric to sail his boats, I thought of using the bird bath as a 'fountain' in a park. I covered the patio table with the tarp, with the gray underside facing up, so it would resemble concrete. I dumped the water out of the bird bath to make it a little lighter, and asked Jan to move it onto the table. I filled it with water, and tucked moss all around the outer edges. Then I posed the dolls, and placed some baskets of million bells behind them...  Because I was shooting in mottled shade with the doll's backs to the sun, I needed Jan to hold the foil-covered board to bounce light onto the dolls...  The million bells were still at peak, and the bridal wreath spirea bush was blooming in the background, making it look like my family was in some beautiful garden park. But I always try to avoid having the trunk of the crabapple tree be too prominent in the backgrounds as it's hugely out of scale. There is a small bush in front of it, and I always try take the photos with the tree off to the side as far as possible....  Then I took all the photos closer up, straight on down at the doll's eye level....  Another member of the family who had very little coverage in the original sets of Victorian photos was Lisa, the older daughter. So to remedy that I put together her bedroom. Now, I figured it could be much like Lonnie's modern bedroom, since the two girls lived in the same house, but a hundred years apart. So, the basic layout could be the same, and she could even have some of the same furniture, and wallpaper. But the decor and props needed to be different. It was just a small set taking up half the table...  But it looked so real with the sun coming in through the window...  One of the photos taken in it...  In the process of putting together the Victorian Family Photo Album it became obvious that there was very little featuring Steve. What did he do all day? The family was clearly well-to-do, so I thought he could be a banker. Which meant putting together his bank office, so I could take some photos of various people coming either to invest or withdraw some money. It's always interesting trying to create a brand new set using many of the same pieces of furniture. I couldn't use any of the foam core walls that appear in any of the family's Victorian 'home', so went with the stone walls from my castle interiors. Even though much of the furniture also gets used in my medieval castle interiors, it's the props that help set it apart, and turn it into a banker's office. It's elegant and uncluttered, and he's clearly interested in art. Jan asked if he was 'Canadian', which reminded me of the three little 'soapstone' carvings I'd made once upon a time, so I found them and placed them in prominent spots on his desk. And then a few of my mini plants help to create the appropriate atmosphere.  I had come up with three separate scenarios to take place in Steve's office, gathered the dolls, and started with Bordy...  I figured as a bank manager, Steve would have a secretary. I don't have many regular MSD guys, and couldn't use any of the ones who appeared elsewhere in the book, so chose Narin. Now, he's just a small, slim MSD, but had to wear my much larger FID Phantom's shirt, vest, and cravat. I had to roll up his sleeves or they'd have come down to his knees, and I had to temporarily take in the back of the vest. And I wasn't even going to try find him some appropriate shoes.
I thought it was a really cute little story.  And then Iris came to get some money. Taking a vertical photo was always a challenge since the walls aren't very high, and the table isn't all that deep...  So then the photo has to get cropped...  I had been unable to find a suitable spot for Eric and his friends to actually sail their boats in the water when we were out in Prince Edward County, so the only choice was to do it down at the lake close to home. Due to all the storms and rain we'd had all spring, the water levels were very high, so the more private beach where I prefer to take my doll photos was non-existent, so I had no choice but to set the boys up in the water's edge along the more popular beach. The much wider sand beach there was just a narrow strip after the high water, but it was better than nothing. Thankfully the water was very calm that morning, since it would not have been possible if there had been any waves, even small ones.  I lay down on the tarp right at the water's edge to take the photos. Then all of a sudden an entire class form the nearby school appeared on the beach right where we were. They had come to explore the erosion from all the storms. (note all the brown exposed roots from the tree beyond the boys) Well, that was the most awkward experience ever. Here I was, this big, old woman lying down right on the water's edge taking photos of dolls. I refused to make eye contact, didn't look up at them, just sat up, quickly cleaned everything up, and we left.  Back at home all the boys needed their feet removed so I could remove any sand in their ankle joints, and let their feet and lower legs dry....  ...and I had to hang up their wet clothes to dry...  I'd also taken Eric and his friends along on the drive to Prince Edward County. There's a park out on a spit into Lake Ontario in the town of Wellington. There's a long sand beach on the lake side, and the other side faces the town and there's the docks with a boat launch. Prince Edward County projects quite far into Lake Ontario towards the border with the USA, so there's an unmanned, self-serve entry station at the dock. We set up the projector stand roughly at a child's eye level, with one of the the docks and Wellington shoreline in the background, and I posed the boys on top..  ...then took the photos...  Before continuing on with the last two stories in my new Victorian series, I'm going to share a behind the scenes look at the most recent posts. I took the dolls along on a spring drive out to Prince Edward County, and decided to take some photos of Steve and Iris at the beach in Wellington. We had gone there several times in the past, so I was familiar with what to expect and planned ahead, taking along any props I might need. It's always easier to set the dolls up on a picnic table as opposed to down on the actual ground. So I set them up on the table and sprinkled sand on the table around them, while Jan shaded the dolls with an umbrella.  Then he moved the umbrella when I wanted to take the photos...  In Victorian times the well-to-do would promenade along the seashore, so I posed the dolls as if they were walking along the beach  Then I took the photos straight on at the doll's eye level....  |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll artist and costumer, who enjoys photographing, and coming up with stories, featuring her vast collection of ball-jointed and artist dolls. Archives
October 2026
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