The spinning lesson..... *Story Here
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I've been working hard on Nami's little coat and hat, just in case the storm tomorrow brings snow. But when I tried it on her it was way too tight. I needed hemostats to pull her dress sleeves down to where they should be, and she ended up so stiff that she couldn't bend her arms at all. The little jacket would have fit over a simpler dress with plain, narrow sleeves, so the choice was to either make a new dress, or to make a new, slightly bigger jacket. I love her dress, so chose to remake the jacket.....  I worked on it during all the free time yesterday, but now it looks like the storm will be all rain, so I can relax and take my time.....and wait for the next snowfall....
I've been spending evenings lately knitting, and finished a sweater and hat for Raillie....  I'm currently working on her scarf, then can start all over again, knitting a sweater set for Little Lenny, who has finally arrived in the country - in Vancouver - and should be arriving next week.
When I took behind-the-scene shots the last three times I took doll photos out in the backyard, it dawned on me that they were all taken in the same place. Under the bridal wreath spirea bush in the upper garden. It has tiny in-scale leaves, and is one of the few places the ugly fence is hidden. That's also where I had set up the Jurassic Park scene in the summer...  Then again in the end of October, with the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, set up again on the table on the lawn in front of it. By then the garden was almost empty, and the bush was starting to turn.....  Then again, two weeks later with Monica and her horse.....  ...and again, ten days later, with the first snowfall....  Alice had arrived in Wonderland, with her cat....  ...where she met the Mad Hatter....  ....who invited her to his tea party....  Alice sat down beside a green toad. He wasn't one of the usual guests one would expect, but this wasn't your usual tea party, and I had to make some replacement decisions....  ....like the two little Victorian boys, who could stand in for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum....  ....and Winston instead of the Jaberwocky.....  I did have a dormouse, and he needed some help to sit high enough at the table....  The dormouse brought a friend, and because there were no rabbits, a Raccoon was invited instead..  It was a lovely afternoon, perfect for a tea party....                     They all had such a fun time, that I need to see about gathering some more friends for more adventures in Wonderland next year....  For years I've wanted to make costumes for the various Alice in Wonderland characters. A few years ago I made an Alice, in the traditional style, but I also wanted to make the Mad Hatter and Red Queen from the Johnny Dep movie. Well, this past October I finally made a Mad Hatter outfit. I couldn't decide on whether to make it MSD size so he'd be more accurately scaled to Alice, but in the end went for KID size, so it could be used as a Halloween costume in the future. I started out with Milo as my model, but didn't really like him in the role, so switched to David....  It was a complicated outfit, made up of many parts. I decided to make the shirt and vest in one piece to help reduce bulk. I bought a couple of packages of tiny wooden spools, painted them, then drew lines on them with matching coloured pencil crayons to simulate 'thread'. The hat was the most challenging, since the doll already had such a big head and I didn't want it to be HUGE. I made a red mohair wig on a crocheted cap, which I glued into the hat.  So of course, once the costume was done, I wanted to shoot a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It would be a complex set requiring several tables, lots of chairs, and lots of food and dishes. In those situations I always set up the scene inside so I know exactly what I need to bring outside. It's a good thing too, since the three tables didn't have enough space to accommodate the cakes I originally chose. The basic scene set up on the kitchen table. The only real 'Alice' characters I had were Alice, a Mad Hatter, and some mice, so I just substituted various other characters. After all, who says that the Tea Party depicted in the book and movie was the only one they ever had???   Once I had a decent table layout, I moved all the props onto a tray, all in the same position, so I'd know how to lay them back on the tables outside....  The scene would need a much wider space than usual, so Jan carried an old counter-top outside and laid it on the patio table, which had been moved down to the grass.... It was the day before Halloween, and I took lots of photos, but time kept flying, and I had all kinds of other pressing things to do, so a whole month has gone by, and I'm finally getting to posting the photos. So, stay tuned.....
I finished her new dress last night....  So now all she needs is her little jacket.
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
January 2023
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