Blog Archives - Antique Lilac

Wrapping Up Loose Ends

12/31/2012

It's the last day of 2012, and I'm busy dealing with loose ends today, so I can start next year off nice and fresh. First I repaired a pair of tiny black shoes - the bow fell off one of the shoes somewhere in a field of scillas last spring. So I made a new little black leather bow and sewed it on. Next is the bins of ribbon that have been piling up for the last many months. Fabricland sells wonderful ribbons that come in hanks which spill all over the place once you open them. After each project the unused ribbons were just left in a bin, and then another bin, and so on, until it's finally time to deal with them. I took a sturdy cardboard roll from some Christmas gift wrap, cut it into narrow widths, and glued cardboard circles on both sides. After the glue dries on the next batch I'll wrap the ribbon on them, and they can go down with all the other rolls of ribbon.

Lonnie and the Tree

12/30/2012

I'm still working my way through taking some more holiday photos before everything gets put away for another year. But right now it's clean-up time since I'm getting guests the next couple of days, and my main floor is a mess with dolls and props everywhere.

Weebly has made some changes again - they are always "improving" their features. A year and a half or so ago, whenever I posted larger photos they'd always show up on my website rather dull and greenish, regardless of how I tried to colour correct and brighten them. Then Weebly changed something and for the last long while all the larger photos appeared just right. But they recently changed something again so the largest photos appear dull and greenish again. Like the collage of the new dolls from 2012, and all the biggest Holiday photos like "Helping Saint Nicholas" in the previous post. It's interesting that the photos that were posted during the time that the colour and brightness stayed the same, are still correct - it only seems to apply to newly posted photos. So, if you notice that the really big photos in the albums aren't the same colour or brightness as the smaller ones, that's the reason. Maybe I better just stop posting them.

Helping Saint Nicholas

12/29/2012

Saint Nicholas isn't sure if having this many elves is actually helpful or not. Last year he had just two elves and everything went very smoothly. This year, with five little helpers, it's hard to keep them all focused on what they are supposed to be doing. Elin would rather play with the animals on the ark, and Cinnamon is transfixed by the little horse pull toy.

the Bird Feeder

12/29/2012

With the freshly fallen snow, Tillie and Cinnamon decided to go check on the bird feeder....

...and there they found some bright red cardinals enjoying the seed they'd left out earlier.

I'm still struggling with the right wigs for Lonnie and Kassia. Only two of the six wigs I made turned out, and none really work for Kassia. I ordered three Monique wigs the other day, and one is intended for her, but you never know how it will look until it arrives and you try it. I've never had so much trouble finding the right look before. Maybe it's the Normal skin-tone.

New Faces from 2012

12/29/2012

It's time for a look back to see who all joined us this past year.

First Snow

12/28/2012

Woke up to our first snowfall yesterday, so took the opportunity to shoot a
short story about Tillie and Cinnamon hauling their gifts through the snow.

Making Wigs

12/27/2012

In an attempt to find just the right style and colour wig to suit Lonnie and Kassia, I have five wigs under construction - three of wefted mohair, and two human hair - all in various shades of light red or blonde. They are all sewn or glued onto their caps, and are ready to shampoo, condition, and comb out, which always reduces the bulk considerably. Even so, it's always a surprise exactly how well they will end up, but here's a classic fly away, super afro, "Before" photo.

Dollhouse Inspection

12/26/2012

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

I took this photo a few days ago, of my smallest girls inspecting the dollhouse my husband made for our youngest granddaughter for Christmas. I couldn't very well show it any sooner, as I never know who is lurking here on my Blog. It was a very "bare-bones, open concept" dollhouse, with just the mere suggestion of walls and roof - not the kind I would have chosen myself, but it was what they wanted - something easily accessible and for a wide range of different sized dolls. It did have stairs between each level though.

Today I'm just taking it easy, continuing to work on mohair wigs. I've sewn the wefting for two so far, and have one more to go. The mohair needs a lot of combing and cleaning because it's full if plant debris, and the lanolin in the wool is making my hands super soft from all the handling. It's also stirring up plenty of static, with mohair sticking to everything, and tiny zapps every time I touch anything. Next step is to crochet some wig caps, then tackle the hot glue gun and gluing all the wefting onto the wig caps. Then comes shampooing, and a good thorough combing. Then after the wigs are totally dry I fially get t see if all the work was worth it.

Merry Christmas!

12/25/2012

Wishing everyone a wonderful day!

Christmas Eve

12/24/2012

I've been baking and doing food prep all day, but managed to make two new wigs - one out of light red mohair, and the other from long blonde human hair. I'm having difficulty controlling the fly-away strands on the human hair wig, so I applied some hair gel, and now it's drying on the heat vent. The soft red mohair wig looks very nice on both Lonnie and Kassia.....

Kassia finally met her Prince this evening too, and it was love at first sight.