Elf Agnes' pink and gray gown is slowly coming along. One of the first things I started was the hanging sleeves, as I knew they would take the longest. The are always a huge job. After tracing the pattern onto the wrong side of the pink satin, basting the layers, machine sewing them, clipping and turning them, they needed to be basted around the entire outer edge again before they could be pressed. Then the basting thread was removed, and the embroidery and beading could begin. The under sleeves and basic bodice were prepared and joined together. After sewing the underarm seams, most of the embellishing on the bodice could be completed. It's a lot easier to do it before the skirts get sewn on. After hand-hemming the two metre edge of the velour overskirt, the front edges also needed a lot of embellishing. Meanwhile the beading on the edges of the hanging sleeves continued. In fact the edge of each hanging sleeve is the same as four times the length of each front skirt edge, and after ten days I was still not even finished the first one. Every now and then I'd lay the costume parts out to see how they look together... These costumes are a lot of work, and I'll be happy when it's done. To finish the outfit, I'm thinking that with Agnes being an elf, a flower wreath in her hair would seem appropriate, one matching the flowers on her bodice. And then she gets to put it all on and pose for some photos.
I've been spending a lot of time working on books recently, and thought I'd share a very special one. As many of you know, I spent fifteen years making hundreds of OOAK art dolls with my sister Marianne. We worked together from the late eighties, through the nineties, up until around 2005. She did all the sculpting, and I costumed and finished them. We always went to great efforts to take nice photos of every single one, since it would be all that we'd have left after they sold. So we both had stacks of albums full of photos. Then last year she decided to put them all into one printed book. Since 99% of the dolls were made in the days before digital photography, she spent the entire year scanning in all the negatives, then spent months laying out the book. She surprised me with a copy on my birthday a few months ago... It's a magnificent 245 page collection documenting every one of the hundreds of sculpted dolls we ever made. A true testament to Marianne's sculpting skills, and my costuming ability. So, I thought I'd take some photos to show a selection of some of our work...from our earlier figures... ...through our peak period.... ...right to the end when we were struggling.... The photos aren't necessarily all my favourites, as I wanted to show a variety of our styles. I'm sure some of the costumes will seem familiar, as I've made copies of some of them for my ball-jointed dolls. In fact I wouldn't mind BJD versions of many of them. like those knights, and the ones from the Elizabethan and Rococo periods. Who knows! Maybe I still will some day.
(*Note - This book will not be offered up for pre-order, because at 246 pages the cost would be prohibitive. Even at a publisher's half price sale it would still be almost four times what people who have purchased my previous books are used to paying) My sister and I are currently working on a new book - Fantasy Fashions - which will feature photos of every costume I've made for my realistic adult dolls. But there wasn't a good clear photo of the green and gold Medieval gowns. Yes, my dolls had worn them both in several stories, but there were no good 'portrait' shots of either one. So I had to take some. First I took some in the castle interior... but Bianca was blending into the background tapestry too much, so I switched positions... Then tried some different poses and photo angles... It wasn't working, so then I took them outside onto the 'castle terrace'.. Much better! So, since they were out there I thought I'd just take some more photos just for fun.
August 2nd is National Colouring Book Day, so I made the girls some new colouring books. There were a lot to choose from... Cinnamon immediately went for the two animal colouring books.... Raillie looked through the Sleeping Beauty Ballet book.... ...but she ended up choosing the Fantasy Characters colouring book, and started on the Princess with the Unicorn... Layla was colouring in the Butterfly book... But Cinnamon could never decide which animal to colour...
Introducing my very first story book. It was inspired by a little book I received in Sunday school some sixty odd years ago, on the very first Christmas after our family immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands. The book was called Better Than Anything Else, written by Dutch children's author, W. G. van de Hulst. I had planned on waiting until some time later this fall to release it, but with Mixbook no longer having their sales as often anymore, and there not being much interest in Mr. Ropuha's book, I've decided to not hold off any longer, and just introduce the book and start a waiting list for it as well. A Christmas Story is the heart-warming story of a little Princess who heads out on Christmas Eve to find the babe in the manger. She doesn't tell anyone where she is going... ...and she has an accident when she gets lost in the woods... She is rescued by an old woodcutter and his dog, after being found by a boy from the village. The Queen becomes very worried when her daughter does not return and is nowhere to be found, so the King heads out with some of his men to search for her. He eventually finds her safe at the woodcutter's cottage... The characters in the story are played by eight of my favourite dolls... My sister did an amazing job on the layout, and it's a beautiful book. There are 75 pages with over 170 full colour photos. And we've even included a spread at the end with some Behind the Scenes photos... This is a wonderful story, a true labour of love. and I'm thrilled that it's been turned into a book.
*Edited Aug 11 - The order for the books has gone in, and there will be one extra copy available. A Christmas Story will cost $98. US plus shipping |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
May 2024
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