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It's actually snowing outside - and staying on the ground and trees! So Cinnamon, who was already dressed in her Christmas Elf outfit, wanted to go outside and test out her new red boots. The first snow is always very exciting! 
I'm working on another elf costume for Cinnamon's friend Elin - which is why Cinnamon was wearing her's - so I could try duplicate it. When it's done they'll both be all set to help with the holiday decorations.
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Managed to take the last photos of Tedros and my two ladies today. They are both wearing the gowns they wanted to keep. 
I created two new 'Favourite Photos' pages to showcase all my favourite photos from the last few days. I have to thank my patient customers who agreed to wait for their gowns until after I had taken my last photos - their ensembles are now on their way home.
I decided to undertake a huge challenge today and take photos of Tedros and my two girls in all five different costumes, and make it look like all five were in the photo at once. First we set up the patio. We even found some cement garden edging to stack as "stairs". Fortunately it wasn't cold, so we took out some houseplants to provide some greenery. Keep in mind I just have two tall ladies - a Hazy-Soom hybrid, and my Iplehouse EID with two heads - Carina and Asa. Taking the separate photos took several hours, with two costume and head changes in between. Then a few minutes of PhotoShop, and everyone appeared together in one scene. Pretty cool!!  I also took some photos of Tedros with both ladies in each set of costumes. The ladies seem very attracted to him! Tedros doesn't know who he likes best - he loves all of them! Unfortunately it became too dark to take any photos of Tedros with Hazy and Carina in their own gowns, so that will have to be done another day. I'll make a Favourite Photos page to share my favourites.   I made a new softer belt and some studded leather strips to fit around the tops of his boots. He still needs some weapons - a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and the bottom of his cloak still needs to be muddied, but that's for another time. Right now Tedros is all set to meet the ladies. Who will he choose - Carina, Asa or Hazy??  Most of Tedros outfit is now finished - actually it's 99.999999% done - there's one bead missing on his collar. I ran out of gold beads with just one left to sew on, and it's right at the very front where I can't fake it by substituting a different bead, so I have to go to the store and buy another package. Actually his cloak still needs the clasp and to be muddied along the bottom as well. 
The shoe order from Mimiwoo arrived today. I love "store-bought" shoes! They are so much nicer than making them myself - clothes and wigs are one thing, but I never liked making shoes. I love how the shoes from Mimiwoo come packed in lovely small satin-lined boxes with tiny bows on top. There's boots for Maya for an eventual Medieval outfit, boots to go with Victorian outfits for Miki & Layla, as well as fancy dress shoes. There's tiny fur-trimmed red boots to go with Cinnamon's Christmas elf outfit, and some black patent leather for Elin.  It's interesting that I've never been fond of green, brown and orange, yet doll costumes in those colours often end up the most striking! I'm up to my elbows in browns today. All the last costume parts have been cut out, and some have preliminary sewing done. I couldn't find a brown seam-binding I liked, so had to cut some bias strips from a russet cotton, but the colour was too vibrant, so I had to dye it. Some orange cotton gauze I wanted to use was also too bright, so after bleaching parts of it, and adding fabric paints to it, it's hanging up to dry. I like my fabrics to look old, faded & worn. There's still plenty of studs to do, and the entire bottom of Tedros cloak needs unravelling so it can go in with the wash tomorrow and become even more rugged. There's lots still to do, but it's nice to just be working on one outfit by itself for a change.
I'm working on finishing Tedros' outfit. It is inspired by a costume worn by Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" - the one he wears as he storms the Sheriff's castle to rescue Maid Marion. I've made another smaller variation of the same costume many years ago for an art doll, but this new larger one needs to be removable, and that presents a whole new challenge. There are so many studs!! At first I thought I would sew on gold and silver metal beads to represent the studs, and on the sleeves the gold beads did look very good, but for the tunic after first buying the wrong size, then rushing back to the bead store to replace them with larger ones, I finally decided I preferred the look of real studs after all. I do have very tiny silver studs, and they are a real pain to work with, but since this a "keeper" costume for Tedros, it will be worth the extra effort. I have around 50 studs inserted at this point, and another 300 or so to go!! And that's just in his tunic!!  I love how this final Renaissance-style gown turned out so decided to keep it myself. It was a difficult decision, as I also really liked several of the others, but there's just something about black and red which appeals to me. I'm glad all four are finally all done - that was one very long haul!! The blue ensemble has already sold, and I've put the remaining two up for sale. Today I need to finish the Gallery pages for the two which are taken, and then I can continue with Tedros again. The fabrics are chosen, but I still need to draft the patterns.  Carina modeling my third new Renaissance gown "Isabella", a gorgeous combination of silver brocade and carmen pink. Took the photos early this morning while the backyard was still in shade from the house. It was interesting in that the lighting was way better at 8 am than it was later in the afternoon the last few days. I may have to remember that for future photography. 
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
December 2023
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