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Ten Fairies

8/11/2014

This past weekend I took the time to set up scenes with all ten fairies. I wanted to recreate a 'fairy branch' scene like the ones Marianne and I made many, many years ago when we first started sculpting dolls from polymer clay. We both made little driftwood scenes covered in little fairies. The BJDs are a lot bigger and heavier, and can't be permanently attached to the branches, so I knew it was going to be a major challenge.

There was a huge juniper root from a tree that was cut down last year, which was hauled out of the garden and scrubbed. I positioned it on my picnic table along with a pot of ivy, and created a 'woodsy' setting. I waited for the sun to get above the crabapple tree and cast shade on the table. Then the challenge began - ten fairies all needing to be positioned in some kind of interesting fashion. It took well over an hour to set up. Here's the result from Saturday....

I took lots of close-ups, took everyone down, then started all over again on Sunday....

There's dozens more fairy photos to be posted, and I think I'm finally 'fairied out'. I've decided I will make two fairy photo albums - one with 'flower fairies' (already started) and the second with the Fairy Branches and all the corresponding close-ups. Today I need to take all the studio shots, and then I think I'm done. Almost.

Blue Fairies

8/10/2014

I have access to my photos again, so I can share some of the ones I took in the gardens at the Recreation Center the other evening. I especially love the ones taken in the lavender....

I loved the gardens at the Rec Center, and they were nicely private at the edge of an outer parking lot, so I'll definitely be going there again with some of my other fairies.

Bonnie Fairy

8/9/2014

A few photos of Bonnie with some day lilies that match the colours of her fairy dress.....

I'm glad I still had these two photos to post today, otherwise I'd have had nothing. There was a split second power failure this morning (like several mornings this past week) and it shut down my entire computer. I do have a surge-protector power bar which is supposed to keep my computer from shutting down, but it doesn't seem to be working anymore. And on top of that, none of my External files came back on after I restarted my computer. That's where all my photos are, so I have no access to them at all. And I took such nice photos in the blue flowers at the Rec Center last night that I wanted to share today!

Jan's away kayaking all day today, and I'm a total techno-boob, so it looks like I won't have access to my photos until tomorrow. And here I was thinking I'd be working on photos all day today!

I've made a Fairy Album where I'll be adding new Fairy photos as I post them here, so you can see all the fairy photos posted so far, in one place.

In the Meadow

8/8/2014

I spotted a group of fairies in a meadow of yellow wildflowers the other day.....

I had all kinds of photography plans for that location, but it proved way too challenging, so I didn't take many. I'm always keeping my eye open for what look like good doll photo locations around town, and there is a church with a huge side yard full of the yellow bird's foot trefoil. They mow it, but it always comes back - so it's nice and short. But when we arrived there one evening earlier this week, I noticed that what had appeared to be a lawn from the distance, was actually a totally overgrown future parking lot of gravel. Well, inserting wire stands into the gravel proved almost impossible, and the dolls won't stand on their own on such an uneven surface, so after managing a few photos (with great difficulty) I just gave up. Maybe there's another park or schoolyard with the short yellow flowers.

And yes, I keep switching Nami's wig. I prefer her in dark hair. Bonnie now has the short blonde curls. I always pictured her as a blonde, and I think these curls are perfect for her. They are also adorable on Elin, another blondie.

Erzulie and the Day Lilies

8/7/2014

When deciding who was going to wear which fairy costume, I chose the orange one for Erzulie. I think the colour really suits her. I'm not normally a fan of orange, but I think it might just be one of my favourite fairy dresses now. Here she is with some of my day lilies.....

Erzulie's dress isn't actually orange, since I didn't have any orange tricot. So I layered golden yellow over pink tricot, and together they look orange. Add some yellow and orange fancy yarns, some light orange flowers and petals, orange beads and glitter, and all together it says 'orange'.

Lavender Fairies

8/6/2014

I spotted a tiger swallowtail butterfly on my pink phlox this morning,
but I wasn't alone - two lavender fairies had spotted him too.....

I quickly snapped a few photos. I love this one....

Well, I finished the last two fairies yesterday, so now all the photography begins.

The next project will be a commissioned Musketeer outfit for Tedros, and I've started thinking about how to go about it. All the costume parts need to be designed from scratch. I never sketch or draw anything, but do all the design work in my head, figuring it out one step at a time. The actual costume will be the easy part - once I get the patterns worked out. Dealing with such a huge, heavy doll, will be the biggest challenge. For months now I've been working with my tiny dolls, and now it's time for the biggest doll I own. He must weigh the equivalent of 20 little dolls combined! I get to move from small snippets of fabric, to actual yardages. I find it a difficult size to work with. It's technically too big for snap fasteners, but still too small for real buttons and buttonholes - which I'm terrible at even in full-size clothes. Handmade props which look great on a smaller doll, would look too 'homemade' on a huge doll. Same with belts and leather work. I find it's a real challenge to not make costumes that big look like "doll clothes". I guess that's why I've been putting this project off for so long. But no more delays - now is the time to tackle it.

Blue Butterflies

8/5/2014

This is the last of the Killarney photos - Elin trying to catch some lovely blue butterflies...

All the photos from our weekend up north are now together in an album - Killarney Adventure.

Yesterday was a holiday - the August Civic Holiday (Simcoe Day in Ontario) - but it rained so much that I had no chance to go out and take any fairy photos - so I made a puzzle that's been sitting around since I was given it for Christmas (2012). I have just two sets of wings to put together and sew the Velcro onto. I'm finding sewing Velcro is very hard work, and it's really agravating my carpal tunnel. Oh well, just two more sets to go. Then it's photo time! I figure I should give all the glue and glitter a decent time to fully cure so it's not the least bit tacky anymore for packing and shipping.......so.....that means lots of time for fun photos! By the time the outfits go up for sale, everyone will be sick of fairy photos.

Jan also made an architectural photography prop yesterday for some photos I'd like to take. We bought a pressure-treated porch railing post and three turned spindles as the basic materials. I'm not saying what it is, but after a lot of cutting, gluing, screwing, and sanding, it's looking great. Once the plastic wood dries and gets sanded, I'll start painting it. I need it to end up looking like aged concrete or marble.

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!

8/3/2014

I'm up to my eyebrows in glitter! It's everywhere! Normally I don't use sprinkle glitter. I usually use the fabric glitter paint where the glitter is confined inside the glue/paint and doesn't fall off everywhere, but the fairy wings needed to be extra glittery, so all week I've been using sprinkle glitter. Well, at least I can honestly say I've turned into a very glittering personality!. There's glitter everywhere - in my hair, on my face, in Jan's beard, on the floor, in the carpets, on the table, all over my iPad, and who knows where else? And I was even being extra careful with it.

Oh well, the fairy wings are looking great. I varnished over the heavier glittery areas in order to keep the glitter from falling off when the wings are handled in the future. Now I'm in the process of attaching the upper and lower wings together. Four pairs are together......

There's velcro to attach the wings to the fairy bodices. The wings have the hook part of the velcro, while the bodices will have the loop part. That way if someone wants to use the dress without the wings, the doll's hair won't get all caught in the velcro. The final touch will be a little matching rosette glued on the very back.

Because the wings are so sparkly, I decided to add a bit of glitter to the fairy dresses as well. But for that I used the fabric glitter paint - so no more adding to my already sparkly house.

A New Friend

8/2/2014

"I'm so sorry," sobbed the bear. " I didn't mean to scare anyone, or chase you away. I was hungry and lonely, and so happy to see you all. A couple of days ago, my Mom left to look for berries..... and she never came back. I went to look for her, but couldn't find her. Then I heard you in the woods, and I smelled all the delicious food. I was so happy, and hoping you might share some..."

"Oh my!" said Nami, "That's so sad. I had no idea."

"You poor bear! You must be starving! Of course we'll share with you....."
.....and Erzulie offered him the biggest slice of watermelon she could find

The bear wiped his tears, and took the watermelon, as Erzulie sat down beside him...

Efreet picked up all the teddies that had been knocked over, and sat down too.

Bonnie and Byuri also came and joined them. Byuri picked up all the spilled donuts
and put them back into the box, and Bonnie helped herself to a hotdog

Everyone was happy to get back to their picnic....and that they had made a new friend.....

..except for Elin, who was still cautiously watching from the bushes.
Her parents had always warned her to be wary of strangers.

But I don't think it will be very long before she realizes that this 'stranger'
is just a new friend she just hadn't met yet. Then she will join them too.

Confrontation

8/1/2014

The children ran from the bear, and when they realized he wasn't following them,
they turned and peered from the bushes to see what he was up to....

The bear had made himself comfortable on their bench, and was sampling all their treats...

Efreet had had enough. "The park ranger says people should never run from a bear, but should back away slowly. If it charges them, they should confront it, making themselves as big as possible, and yelling loudly, to scare it off. There's six of us, and just one of him, and he's eating all our food! I'm going to go scare him off. Who's coming with me?"

Erzulie and Bonnie went with Efreet to confront the bear.

"Hey you! Bear! What are you doing eating all our treats? Who do you think you are invading on our picnic like this?!? You weren't invited! We don't want you here! GO AWAY!!!!"

The bear started to cry.....

*to be continued. To see the whole story so far, go to Teddy Bears Picnic

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