Blog Archives

A Few Good Books

9/17/2018

After breakfast, the Foxes and Mr. Ropuha decided to relax on the dock....

"What are you guys reading??"

"I brought along my whole 'Teddy Bears' adventure series..."

"Maybe I could borrow one, when one of you is finished??"

* Photo Tip

When I started taking the photos above, it was foggy and overcast, which makes for great even lighting for doll photos, with no harsh shadows. But then the sun came out, and everything changed. I took a few more photos...just to see how they'd turn out....

Although Winston and Mr. Ropuha still worked just fine with the sun on them, the sun totally blew out the reds of the Foxes. My camera has a hard time with reds and oranges. I managed to tone the red down some in Photoshop, but even though I like the darker background scene when the sun was out, I found the first pictures with the gentle lighting of the overcast sky much better overall.

Princess and the Dragon

9/17/2018

Rachel had brought one of the doll dresses I'd made for her two Christmases ago - the lovely blue 'Peacock Princess' gown - and wanted me to take pictures of her doll in it. Her Mom had already arrived to pick her up, so we had to be fast, so I grabbed Winston.....

More Fun at the Beach

9/17/2018

Rachels' girls decided to bury my girl in the sand, as she lay napping....

They even built a sand castle on top of her..

After she woke up, and shook all the sand off, May Lea and one of the others decided to race floatie rings down the beach...

Rachel was collecting stones to take home to paint, and let her girls play with them....

"What are you guys doing??"

Starry Nights

9/16/2018

I finally finished the two gowns for the larger Iplehouse ladies. I'm thrilled with how they turned out, so had to take a picture of Asa and Carina in the studio right away. And share it, of course.....

The gowns are made from three scarves that I found at Value Village - a gorgeous, beaded, blue Indian shawl, a crinkled gold scarf, and a sheer blue/purple/turquoise scarf....

I hand-embellished the bodices to match the skirts, and glued sequins onto the hanging sleeves so they'd match the sequins all over the skirts. I'm calling them 'Starry Night'.

New Albums

9/16/2018

I needed to update all my photo albums in Favourite Photos 2018, so there's now six new albums with active links, that actually have photos in them....

There's two albums with all the photos from the Forest Dweller Welcome Party....

Welcome Party

More Party Pictures

I divided the Victorian Kitty series into three albums....

Victorian Kitty

...ending with the washing and mending.

Dress Up Kitty

And created one album for Willie, Winston, and the monarch butterflies

Washing and Mending

Goodbye Butterflies!

Of course there's still lots more to do. I'm never going to be done until after I stop taking pictures. Which I don't foresee happening anytime soon.

At the Beach

9/16/2018

Yesterday morning only two of our granddaughters came, and one had brought some of her dolls and some 'beach' props. So I grabbed a bunch more stuff, and we packed up the car and headed down to the lake. Rachel was very helpful in arranging everything...

A sunny day at the beach...

Building sand castles....

At the barbecue...

Just relaxing....

Teagan 'planted' a tree on the beach, and the girls wanted to try climb up it...

Real girl, in a real tree....

It was very hot and humid, and we all appreciated a little shade for a break at snack time....

More Behind the Scenes

9/15/2018

the Sunset March

I paid attention to taking more 'behind the scene' shots on our last trip. Which was easy, since the little Whispering Grass characters, having no clothes, so therefore with no place to hide a stand, always had to stand on their own. A gust of wind could blow someone over, and they'd need to be made to stand up again. I'd be flat on the ground, and with my arthritis I couldn't just jump up to fix anything. So Jan had to do it. And while I was waiting, I'd take a picture.

For the sunset march, I had put everyone in position and laid down on the rocks to capture the scene against the sunset....and took a photo....

Then Jan decided the Fox and Raccoon who were pulling their respective wagons, didn't look 'tired' enough, so adjusted their poses....

...and then he gave everyone lanterns....making for a much more interesting scene.....

the Skinny-dippers

It was a constant challenge to make all the little Whispering Grass characters stand on their own, and even more so on an uneven surface. Fortunately, being so small, it wasn't too difficult to get them to stand unaided, but sometimes someone would topple over, or a gust of wind would blow someone over..... and someone would have to stand them back up....

For the 'skinny-dippers' scene I was extra careful to choose a spot that was on the rocks, and looked like it was surrounded by water, but if any of the little characters should fall over, they wouldn't be rolling off into the lake. Definitely a prime candidate for a 'forced perspective' shot.....

Behind the Scene

9/15/2018

I've been trying to remember to take 'behind the scene' shots whenever it might be interesting. The breakfast series was one of them.

I prefer to set up my scenes on something elevated - like a picnic table - so had brought along a big, thin, sheet of wood for a base, to cover the huge gaps between the table planks, which I knew were big enough for the little critters to fall through. I needed a better 'floor'.

With the sun just starting to burn through the fog, I needed to set up the entire scene before I put in all my little characters. Jan had taken all my doll boxes down, and put them on my bed in the back. I rummaged through the prop and furniture boxes to gather everything I'd need....

I set everything up on the end of the picnic table out on the rocks.....

Each little character had been stored in it's own colour-coded sleeping bag, that I'd made specially for this trip - at the very last minute....as a way to protect them from each other....

It was a hot, very humid morning, and got even hotter when the sun burned the fog away. And for those who assume I always have help for all my photo sessions, I quickly snapped a photo as Jan was leaving in his kayak - to prove I don't always have a handy assistant. Often I do, but sometimes I don't.....