Blog Archives

Creating a 'Stage'

9/30/2023

After finishing the Phantom, I needed to take photos of him. In the stage production he appears on a giant staircase in the middle of a New Year's Eve Masquerade ball, but that is beyond me, so I decided to recreate the same 'stage' set I used for the photos of Christine four years ago..

So I printed out some photos of it and we set to work. Jan hauled up the draperies we used last time, which I had originally found at Value Village. The French doors to the dining room were moved into position to support a beam for the drapes....

The long set of drapes were put up first...

Then the valance was pinned in place, using Rex's height as a guide....

The drapes were tied back, and a second fringed drape was pinned in behind, and plain black fabric was pinned behind that to fill in the hole. This is the back view from the hall....

Now it just needed all the candle stands....

I would light all the candles, and then take the photos straight on, level with the doll's eyes. The photos were all taken in the morning or early afternoon before it got too bright out the dining room window. Then when the candles were lit, it created just the right dramatic lighting I needed....

I'd blow out all the candles after every photo session, change the doll's poses, light the candles again, and take more photos. The candles aren't very big, so burn down too fast, plus it's a lot safer to work with the dolls when the candles aren't lit. I spent two days taking photos, and by the last scene with Rex and Bianca, the candles had become a lot shorter....

The final shot of the two of them...

The key thing to remember when photographing dolls is to always take the photos straight at their eye level. Doesn't matter how tall or tiny they are, if you want the dolls to look 'real', the photos should always be taken straight on at the doll's eye level.

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After the Performance

9/29/2023

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Some photos of Bianca and Rex without his mask. These two are a couple, and some day whenever I make Raoul's Hassar uniform, it will be Rex who plays Raoul with Bianca as Christine. Then someone else will have to wear the Phantom costume.

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A Few Extras

9/28/2023

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It has been my dream to one day recreate the Masquerade Ball scene from Phantom of the Opera, with the giant staircase and the dozens of opera cast members all in costume. I don't know if it will ever happen, but they say it's good to have dreams. The opera cast members would include all my MSD size dolls, and since four of them currently are already dressed like they could be going to a masquerade ball, and already have masks, I decided to include them in the background....

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with Christine

9/27/2023

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As an artist, I am inspired by whatever designs I personally prefer, and will mix and match my favourite costumes that were designed by Maria Björnson for the Broadway production with my favourites that were designed by Alexandra Byrne for the movie. So even though I preferred the Red Death from the stage production, I preferred Christine's masquerade gown from the movie. In the film version she wears a simple pink Victorian gown, which I elaborated upon. After all, I can't do 'simple'.

In the story, Christine and Raoul have just become engaged, but she is trying to keep it a secret. However, the Phantom, who is in love with her, knows, and feels betrayed, so confronts her in front of everyone at the New Year's Masquerade Ball.

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the Phantom as the Red Death

9/26/2023

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Some photos of Rex wearing the completed costume, including the mask, and holding his staff. In the story, the Phantom appears on a giant staircase in the middle of the New Year's Eve masquerade party, but that set was beyond my abilities, so I created a 'theatre' set with lots of draped curtains and candelabras.

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Naomi's Costume Shop

9/25/2023

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Two years ago at this time I was in the middle of Somewhere in Time, the story of Baron and Naomi's meeting and falling in love. One of my favourite sets of photos of all time was Naomi's costume shop. I loved that set and the entire series of photos. Here's just a few of them...

*To see all the photos taken in Naomi's shop - Costume Shop

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Memories

9/23/2023

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On Facebook I get daily reminders of the things I posted on that same date in previous years, and yesterday it was a series of photos from Naomi's back story in Somewhere in Time from two years ago. I always loved those photos and thought I should post them here again as well...

As a child, Naomi loved to read, and her favourite stories were Fairy Tales and tales of adventure..

She would imagine herself the heroine in the stories.
She would be Alice going through the looking glass...

....or Cinderella....

...and every fairytale Princess...

But one of her favourite books was the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and she would imagine that she was Lucy going out on adventures with Aslan, the lion.

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Chainmail and Ice Cream Cones

9/22/2023

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Today, September 22nd, is both Chainmail Day and National Ice Cream Cone Day, and we find Jamie and his little sister Bonnie, checking out a new shipment of chainmail that just arrived from the blacksmith....

"Wow! That's a lot of chainmail!"

"But, what's up with the empty ice cream cones?"

"Where's your ice cream?"

"It's Ice Cream CONE Day, not ice cream day."

"Oh...."

"And these waffle cones are great."

Bonnie let out a big sigh, wondering why guys were always so literal. "Well, your loss."

"Why? These are just like eating a big, delicious, rolled cookie."

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Rabbits

9/21/2023

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Today, September 21st, is National Rabbit Day, and I caught Avery and Emily playing with some rabbits in the garden....

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Fun in the Flowers

9/20/2023

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It was late spring and the locust trees were dropping their spent flowers everywhere. The fallen flowers covered everything. Avery and Emily were sent out to rake them up. But then the baby dragons arrived....