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Serca & Naias

8/31/2015

I've been trying to find something suitable for my two new little kids. They have wonderful face ups, and look great bald and nude. But I've been struggling with trying to find a wig that suits them. Naias looks really good in blonde, but without bangs, and all my wigs with centre parts are too mature, or too bulky, for a child. I did have two wigs which looked reasonably good, so she's just going to be auburn for now.

Serca is even more challenging. I wasn't sure if he/she wanted to be a boy or a girl, but not one of the girl wigs I have looked good at all. In the end it was a light brown 'Johnnie' wig that looked best. So I guess he's a 'he'. There's still something not working for me. Maybe the eyes?

Anyway, I took a couple of photos of the two of them....

I think they both could use new names, and I'm thinking something related to their sculpt names. Serca can become 'Eric', and Naias can become 'Nayla'. I'll see what speaks to me. It always takes a little while to figure out what looks best on a new doll.

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Happy Birthday Elin!

8/30/2015

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It was four years ago today, on August 30th, that she arrived. Elin was my very first Iplehouse BID, and her only friend that first year was Kaye Wiggs Cinnamon. Over the years many more BIDs have come to join them, and Elin has been through a lot - including falling into some rapids and being swept downstream into the river. So she really needed a freshening up, and I took her to Charie Wilson for a total redo. I picked her up again today.

Elin is beautiful, completely refreshed, and a whole new little girl....

Elin now has blonde eyebrows instead of the darker brown ones, and she also has
the light blue eyes I'd ordered for Lily (but were too big for her). I'd made Elin a pretty
lace birthday dress before she left, as well as a cake with her favourite duckies

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Switching Outfits

8/28/2015

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I'm in the process of trying to decide which dolls to take a long on our fall trip - a Fantasy group, or a contemporary family? Jan says take both. Okay, but I'd want both the groups to be like 'family' groups, with adults, teens and children.

Last fall I took along Leona and Owen as the adults in a contemporary family group....

I really only have two actual couples, and would like to take different 'children' this time, so that means Owen and Leona can't be the 'contemporary' adults.

The last time we went out west to the Rockies, I took along a Fantasy group, which included Aeran and Kyle, who eventually became a couple.

So I don't want them to go as a part of a Fantasy group this time. What to do? I don't have any spare clothes this size, which means switching everyone's outfits around. Then I can see if I still need to make something new. So this morning I played "musical costumes", doing the old 'domino ' thing, bumping an outfit from one girl to another, and so on, switching everything around.....

I really like Leona in Isar's costume...

And it's very interesting seeing Aeran in contemporary clothes - for the very first time. I was pleasantly surprised that Leona's pants fit her perfectly. JID and MSD clothes are usually not interchangeable, but the pants are stretchy, so that's what's making it work. The shirt, which
was originally made for a JID boy, is a bit big, so I really should sew a new smaller one.
Maybe a brand new shirt and vest in different colours.

I didn't think Isar really look that great in Aeran's Celtic costume, but she's only wearing it so she won't have to stand naked in the glass display case.

Next job is to switch Owen and Kyle. Then decide which kids will go with each couple. Charie is in the process of painting four of my BIDs- two repaints (Elin & Efreet), and two brand new (Naias & Serca). So I'll decide after they come home.

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Fabric Collection

8/28/2015

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Saw this great quote on Facebook, and thought I'd make my own version of it......

And these are just the brocades. Then there's the metallics (in cool and warm colours), the velours (plain and printed), velvets and velveteens, satins, stretchy fabrics, tricots, bolts of tulle, fringe and laces, leathers, furs, yarns, mohair, quilting cottons, plain cottons, rough fabrics, crinkle gauze, etc, etc......

Now to go put them all back in their boxes for safe keeping....

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Odds, Ends, and New Stuff

8/25/2015

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I've been working on Lily's Summer Goddess costume for the last few weeks, but have gone as far as I can go without the doll here to fit things on. The separate 'sleeves' are just about done, but I can't go any further with the dress itself until Lily is back home, so I can try the bodice on her.

Which means doing something else for a while. I realized there's two doll 'birthdays' during the last week of our upcoming fall trip, so I need to address those before we go, so i have pictures ready to post as soon as we get back home. Which means two more cakes to make. The forms are all ready - a styrofoam one to ice and decorate with drywall compound and flowers, and wooden tiers wrapped in florist tape, for the second cake, to cover with polymer clay 'fondant'....

...and if that wasn't enough, I'd really like a dragon for my Fantasy dolls. Problem is I'd like him to be somewhat posable, and I'm not sure how to go about it, and I don't have time to devote the next four weeks to it. So I'm going to make a small one from a pattern by Belinda Small Patterson, which I purchased twenty years ago. If it turns out, then I'll consider designing a bigger one at a later date, using the experience from this one as a guide. I chose some very basic-coloured fabrics because I don't want the dragon to be too flashy...

So, lots to do....

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Toys in the Playground

8/23/2015

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Yesterday morning our three granddaughters came again. Teagan brought a doll, while Natalya brought a bag full of ponies. We took them along to the park to se if we could take some pictures on the play equipment. It was a challenge, but we succeeded....

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Trip Pictures

8/22/2015

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While my house is upside-down for continuing renovations, I've been spending a lot of time trying to catch up with finishing a trip album of the photos I took back in 2012 of a four week trip west across the US, then up to Vancouver, and back home across Canada. It was also my first real attempt at taking dolls along with the intention of shooting a photo story.

We are planning on heading out west again this fall, and I'd really like the old trip album finished before I end up with another couple thousand photos. I've gotten as far as the last few days in the Canadian Rockies. We had had to make a huge detour up to Jasper because the Trans-Canada Highway was closed through Glacier National Park due to a massive land slide from days of torrential rains, and there's only three ways through the Rockies. So these are from the first day down the Icefields Parkway from Jasper National Park, down to Lake Louise, in Banff.

Dawn at the Icefields Centre

Morning Reflection along the Saskatchewan River

Peyto Lake, Banff National Park

It was early June and the weather was not very cooperative that trip. Way too much rain, with very gloomy weather, and very little sunshine. In fact, the next day, on June 9th we drove back up the Icefields Parkway in a snow storm..

I love snow, so took advantage of the opportunity to take some doll photos....

Tangle Falls in the snow....

After spending a day in Jasper, we headed down the Icefields Parkway again. It's one of our most favourite drives anywhere - 232 kilometres (144 miles) of gorgeous, unspoiled mountain wilderness. This third time we stopped to take lots of doll photos, many of which I'm now processing for the very first time. Like this one of my three adventurers at the top of a waterfall...

....and following the Athabasca River upstream....

...and Kyle....

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Painting Edges

8/18/2015

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Well, I'm at the worst part of making this current costume - painting all the edges of the dagged strips. I used to use just gold paint, but this time I'm going with bronze at the bottom, and gold higher up. The paint along the edges prevents fraying, helps give the strips extra body, and adds 'detail'. But it's a huge labour-intensive job.

Each strip gets pinned onto cardboard so it does't move around for when I paint the front edges. When dry, I remove the pins, and paint the fabric edges themselves with matching paint, one colour on one side of the strip at a time, allowing the paint to dry in between. Then the back edges get painted, and glitter paint lines get applied on the back over the stitches from the beading.

Top strip is just beaded. Middle strip has front paint. Bottom strip has back paint and glitter.

Each of the 14 strips needs to be handled and painted in eleven individual steps, with paint allowed to dry in between before I can go on to the next step. It's SUPER BORING!!!! Well, better go see if the latest paint is dry, so I can add the next layer.....

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Back to Beading

8/17/2015

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This past week I've been working on the costume for my Lily. I've decided to make her first outfit a 'Spring Goddess' costume. I designed her bodice pattern before she went away, and spent most of last week on the dagged velour strips that make up the overskirt. They were cut out of two different velours - a brown variegated, and an all-colour variegated. They were dyed with Phthallo green fluid acrylic, mixed with Fabric Medium, dried, then washed to remove any excess colour, and restore the softness of the velour. Next step is beading all the strips....

I seriously need to start planning what I need to make during the next couple of weeks, before we go on holidays. There's a couple of 'doll birthdays', which I had thought we'd be back for, but looks like we won't. Which means making the props and photographing the 'parties' before we leave. That's in addition to everything else that needs doing. I just wish this heat wave would end, because even with air conditioner, it's way too warm to work very hard.

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All for One

8/16/2015

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Took a few more promo photos to highlight Mason's amazing swords....

"All for one, and one for all, in the service of the King"

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