Found some really fancy dresses at Value Village last week - in fact, there were two of them. I'm not normally into "brown", but the fabrics and details were beautiful. You just can't buy fabrics like that! I thought they'd be perfect to remake into dresses for Kaye Wiggs dolls, so bought them. The skirts are too wide for just one dress, but not wide enough for two, so maybe I can make three dresses out of the two full-size ones. A lot depends on how far I can go with the brown velour of the bodices - whether I can fit three sets of bodice and sleeve patterns out of it.
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The other day was "Book Lover's Day". There's a lot of special book days throughout the year, so when I "went to the library" I thought I should look around to see if there was anyone new there. I spotted Peach with a huge pile of books, including most of Beatrix Potter's stories. She told me that even though she enjoyed the stories, it was the illustrations that really kept her coming back - all those beautiful, delicate water-colour, animal illustrations.
This afternoon I thought I'd tackle the first scenes of my story. The king is sending his only child, his beloved daughter Aeran off on a quest, to find the legendary "stone of power" which will help guarantee a long and peaceful reign, when she succeeds him, and takes the throne as Queen. The role of the King is being played by "MacBeth", one of my favourite art dolls. I wish they made BJDs that looked like him! I'd love a handsome, more mature man, but Art figures aren't exactly pose able. MacBeth was sculpted by my sister Marianne, and I did his costume and hair. His outfit was inspired by Mel Gibson in Braveheart, and he's the figure whose costume all my Celtic Maiden outfits were inspired by. Aeran's skirt and cloak are even from the same MacBeth tartan, although I over-dyed her's blue. Unknown to Aeran, her father has sent for his best friend's son to come and accompany her... I can just imagine Aeran rolling her eyes, "Oh Dad... why him!?!?" But she has no choice, and her father sees her off and wishes them both well on their journey.... "Now, you look well after my daughter," he admonishes Kyle, "She's all I have."
"What do you mean 'look after ME'?" huffs Aeran, "He better look out for himself!" And so the Quest begins...... I've decided to part with three outfits from my own collection; "Ruby" fairy, which appears on all my headers; "Bo Peep", a repurposed outfit for KW dolls; and the "Blue Jennet" for KIDs, which I had originally made to be worn in Newfoundland. I've also put a "Pink Hearts" for BIDs back up. *Edited - Bo Peep and Blue Jennet have already been sold. For more information, just click on the photos above.
I went to check the mail and there was a big box sitting on my front step! What a surprise! I'd been trying to contact Allied Products ever since I came back from my trip - with no success. I don't know what happened to my contact person, but emails just came bouncing back or went unanswered, which was totally out of character, since he always responded almost immediately in the past. I was considering writing a letter. But now my free samples are here! It's kind of weird seeing all my nutcrackers on a Springbok box. I wonder just how many puzzles with one of my images on it it would take before I get used to it and it becomes "old hat"?
The puzzle looks like it's going to be hard. Asa offers a gift - the revered "Heart of the Sun" - for the return of her precious daughter Still working through the close-ups and interior shots for last spring's story. Each one takes considerable work, so it's going slowly. But I am making progress.
I'm also continuing to work on my last four new shirts. The first two are coming along nicely, and I'd love to finish them today so I can start the next two. It will be good to have them done. I took some more doll costume photos yesterday, and am working on catching up with the Gallery pages for the trip outfits. All of this means, of course, no new doll costumes under construction yet. I bought two gorgeous identical dresses at Value Village last weekend, which will make beautiful doll outfits. I'm not sure who I'll make them for yet, but they are high on my "To-Do" list (which just keeps on getting longer) I've been thinking that it's been so long since I've offered anything new up for sale, that I should probably make those dresses up first before making anything more for my own dolls. And when those dresses are done, I'm going to go through all my own doll outfits and put several of them up for sale as well. It's nice to have new outfits for doll photos, so the dolls aren't always wearing the same things, so I think it's time to put lesser used outfits up for sale. Of course, I'm very slow these days, so it will still be awhile, but that's my plan. Today is "Sea Serpent Day", the day that honours sea serpents both past and present, so I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised to have some unusual sightings down at the beach. First this morning, at Frenchmen's Bay, the girls were playing in the sand and sailing their boat, when suddenly they spotted a fierce-looking creature out in the water. "Freeze!" whispered Nami, "If we stand perfectly still, he can't see us!" So, even though the monster did cast a glance in their direction, he was more focused on the flock of seagulls at the other end of the Bay. "Whew, that was close! Let's get our boat and go to the other beach." Then, later on the other beach overlooking the lake, the girls spotted something very unusual coming out of the water up onto the beach. "It's the Loch Ness Monster! Quick, hide!" But their curiosity got the better of them, so they followed it down the beach. It wasn't a sea monster after all, but two little goblins marching down the beach. So much for that myth! Hopefully that will be the last of the sea serpent sightings for today! Sea Serpent Credits The fierce-looking sea-dragon is a large, beautifully detailed cloth dragon made by Charie Wilson. I bought it from her many years ago at a doll show. I lashed it to a wire stand so it would stay put in the water, and it got a bit soggy, but after some good squeezing and hanging up to dry on my porch, it's good as new - no damage to the paint or glitter. "Nessie" is a OOAK polymer clay sculpture made by my daughter many years ago when she was still a teenager. She based it on Brian Froud's "Loch" & "Ness" illustration from his book, the "Goblin Companion". Loch is a "venerable old Goblin" who proceeds through the Labyrinth followed by "Ness", his usher. As they wander between the hedgerows with their lower halves hidden out of view, they are often mistaken for a fearsome sea monster. I'm having a lot of fun with the doll photos, and it's distracting me from starting to sew new doll costumes. There always seems to be something else getting in my way. I did start sewing the first of my last four shirts - they really need to get done first, after all, they've been cut out and laying on my dining room table for almost two months now. And there's still so many photos to take and Gallery pages to make. Everything eats up so much time!
Tomorrow is another "Hamburger Day" (there are several throughout the year). Quarter pounder, with or without cheese, whatever suits your fancy, tomorrow is the day to indulge in a burger. So Peach and Elin went to the local fast food joint and got themselves a bunch of hamburgers. They know it's a day early, but tomorrow it's another one of those crazy multiple Special Days, none of which work together in a decent photograph. So I'm spreading them out.
Been spending considerable time this weekend trying to take the final photos for last spring's story. First the emotional reunion when "Little Beaver", Byuri, is reunited with her mother.... Asa seemed a little too "emotionless" when hugging her daughter, so I found a clean eye-dropper to strategically place a drop of water. Now she's crying tears of joy.
Then the final scene after Byuri and Asa's long journey back to their village. Byuri is fast asleep in her bed, but Asa just can't tear herself away - she can't believe she finally has her daughter back home - and sits late into the night watching her sleep by the flickering light of the fire.... When I was young, I used to collect miniatures - especially miniature china. For many years the collection was displayed in a "letter box" on my wall, but for the last while everything had been packed away in a box in the top of my cupboard. Recently in a photo on one of the doll forums, I saw in the background someone was using one of those compartmentalized plastic boxes to store their props! What a great idea! So yesterday I bought two of those boxes at Michaels, and then started unpacking my miniature collection. There were lots of vases, tea sets, china dishes, cutlery, a whole set of "birthday flowers" tea cups and saucers - even blown glass wine glasses. I added my eraser food too - might as well have everything together. There's still plenty of larger items that are too big to fit in these boxes, but they can go in my larger shoe boxes. At least now I'll have easy access, and lots of choices, when taking pictures of my smaller dolls. I don't know why I never thought of using my miniature collection sooner.
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
March 2024
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