I love my Narae and have been keeping an eye out for another one at a reasonable price. Last night one appeared on one of the forums, and I couldn't resist. So my Narae will be getting a tan French resin sister in a few weeks after she gets back from her big adventure. The new Narae will need to be given a fresh faceup, and she'll probably need a different name so as to avoid confusion, but then the fun begins. I can already imagine the two of them posing together in their fancy Rococo gowns!
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I've been struggling with cutting out dagged Medieval over-sleeves all day. Two of the colour combinations I've chosen need cream linings, and the first set was cut with shiny satin. But I thought the satin was a bit too plain and shiny. I wanted something with a bit more texture, so off to Fabricland to see what they had. Came home with the last 4 metres of a nice cream taffeta that was on sale, re-cut all the linings, but they didn't like my iron - melted! The saleslady at Fabricland had suggested I try Fabric Towne on Lawrence between Brimley and Midland for more variety of trims, so we went to check it out. The place had the most amazing sari fabrics and trims! I picked up a new textured cream satin so I can replace the sleeve linings a third time. I also got some trims for several of the gowns I'm planning. I'll definitely be back to check out that store again!!
I finished the Gallery pages for the Sam & Jennet outfits. I just took some photos of Narae and Maya modeling them in the backyard, and down in the studio. I really like how both outfits have turned out and think they'll be perfect for a fall trip to New England!
I think I'm going to have to redesign my For Sale pages again and compress everything that is available onto just one main page. After the three items on hold go, there are just 5 outfits left. I seriously need to produce a whole bunch of new things for sale, but I need to prepare for our upcoming trip, and am still working on Tedros, so there won't be anything new for quite awhile. I'm thinking of choosing some fabric combinations for the next few outfits and doing some preparatory sewing so I can take some handwork along on our trip. There's bound to be days when it's too wet to sight-see, so it's good to bring something to do just in case. Narae is all ready to go on her fall adventure. She now has a hooded cloak and woolen scarf to protect her from the cool and damp. She is also now a redhead - at first I didn't much care for her with red hair, but I tried it again, and now I do like it - a lot.  This morning I trimmed some more off Tedros' wig to shorten it - I wasn't that keen on the "Fabio" look. Now he just needs his clothes finished - Maya took back his cloak, which I had tied around Tedros' neck, as he needed it for a photo shoot, so Tedros was left bare-chested. I liked the colour of Maya's cloak on Tedros so will make him a shirt from that same fabric, and some leather wrist-guards. I'm going for a "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" look, recreating an outfit I made sevral years ago which was inspired by the costumes in the film. I decided to make the photos I took of Tedros wig-making into a tutorial. I had posted some photos on one of the forums and several people suggested I should make the wigs for sale. Sorry, I'm not getting into that - I'd rather just share the patterns and instructions and let people make their own.  I finally decided to tackle the Tibetan lambskin wig for Tedros. My pattern did not fit on the piece of lambskin I had, so I had to cut the pattern up into four parts - kind of defeating the purpose of designing a one-piece pattern! The lambskin already had lots of seams, and the skin was very thick, but I did manage to make a half-decent wig. I washed the wig, conditioned it, carefully started cutting, then added great gobs of styling gel. After that dried it needed some hairspray to control the side-burns, and a bit more trimming. Styling hair is not my specialty, but I think it turned out not too bad for a first attempt.  A customer inquired if the Winter Fairy outfit posted on the Iplehouse MSD For Sale page would fit a Kaye Wigs doll. Yes it would, except the sleeves which were too narrow. Fortunatetly the sleeves had not been sewn into 'tubes' but were totally flat with snaps up both sides. So I removed the snap fasteners on one side, attached a small matching fabric extension, beaded and embroidered it to match, and then everything fit Layla perfectly! I took photos of Layla in the outfit with two different wigs - a white mohair, and my new palest blonde, long curly wig. I added photos of Layla to the Winter Fairy page, which is now in the Gallery 2011.  Had to go to London yesterday afternoon, so took advantage of the opportunity and went to Len's Mills store to see if they had any fabrics for some of the outfits I'm planning. Brocades are the hardest thing to find these days, but I did find some golden silk brocades for two medieval gowns. I just bought a metre of each so I can only make one-of-a-kind. I also found some sparkly nylon tricot in several colours, some interesting variegated ruffly fabrics, and a few trims and beads.  Took some more photos of Asa in the blue Celtic 'Shannon' outfit. Took some on the picnic table, some under it, and more on the rock-pile. Then we went to the lake - the conservation area on the west spit at Frenchmen's Bay has a great rocky beach for doll photos, and it's just minutes from home. There were so many great photos that I'll need to make a Favourite Photos page, and a final costume Gallery page. Here's one of my favourites taken on my garden rock-pile at the base of a large concrete urn with great architectural detail....  On another note, I'm still struggling with a wig for Tedros. He now has socks, pants and boots on, but I'm no further with a wig. I think I may just have to make him a hairdo the 'old fashioned' way I used to do hair on the art dolls, by gluing the mohair on directly - not onto his actual head, but onto a brown felt wig cap made from my new one-piece pattern. Cover his head with plastic wrap, run a stitching thread under his chin from sideburn to sideburn, and apply the hair to the cap. The hot glue will make the cap stiff so the sideburns keep their shape, and the felt will stay soft underneath so as not to scuff his head. Then wash and style the wig using styling gel. Worth a try. The trick will be to not apply too much mohair but keep it thin.
Well, the wig pattern for Tedros made a nicely fitting felt cap, but the piece of brown lambskin I have isn't the right size and shape to fit the whole pattern. So, it's back to the drawing board to design a 4-part wig pattern more like the ones in my tutorial. Hopefully that will fit out of my lambskin.  |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
January 2025
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