Kassia and Lonnie are still not here yet. It's been nine days since receiving their shipping notice, and usually it takes just three days for Iplehouse dolls to arrive. They've been at the mail sorting station in Mississauga for several days now, but this is the crazy busy season for parcels and holiday delivery, so I guess it's no big surprise. Still, I keep checking tracking several times per day. I'm wondering if we get Saturday deliveries this time of year?
Well, all my Kaye Wiggs girls are back in their normal everyday clothes, and all the Holiday dresses have been sent off, so now it's someone else's turn for Christmas photos. The little Iplehouse girls like the Creche figures - to them they are just special "dolls" to be rearranged and played with. Nami likes the angels with their golden wings. Elin loves lambs.
Kassia and Lonnie are still not here yet. It's been nine days since receiving their shipping notice, and usually it takes just three days for Iplehouse dolls to arrive. They've been at the mail sorting station in Mississauga for several days now, but this is the crazy busy season for parcels and holiday delivery, so I guess it's no big surprise. Still, I keep checking tracking several times per day. I'm wondering if we get Saturday deliveries this time of year? Well, the last two red and black Christmas Velvet ensembles just sold, so now there's nothing left. That was fast! Anyway, now I have to pack them all up - but first a few more photos this afternoon while I still have a few not yet packed up. I found last night's photo attempts were very yellow because I had to rely mostly on the yellow lights in the tree, and the photography spot-light couldn't totally overcome it, so today I'm working with a bit of natural light and the photography light with the softening filter removed. It gives a much more natural effect. My family room is a disaster though, since I had to move most of the furniture around in order to get the best photography angles, and so I could back up far enough to take the photos. I'm going to open a Kaye Wiggs Holiday Album in Favourite Photos 2012, so I can put all the photos there as I take them. The Holiday Velvet dresses may all be sold, but I'm not done with other Christmas photos - the girls would not have worn these special dresses while baking anyways. Velvet and flour do NOT go together!! Eventually I'll sort the pictures into separate albums, but for now it's a convenient place to put them - and for everyone to see them.
Hope is reading her favourite holiday story - Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - to her sisters. I found the great little book at one of our local card shops the other day, and just had to get one. I'm busy trying to take some final "mood" shots of the girls in their Holiday dresses, as most have to be packed up and taken to the Post Office this evening. I'm also trying to fit in the next free pattern and tutorial. I have to take photos of all the steps by natural light, so can only work on it during daylight hours. Well, I better go pack up another dress or two. My kitchen table is piled high with fancy dresses, petticoats, tights, tissue paper, bubble wrap, and boxes, and there's no room to sit and eat breakfas
The eight Holiday ensembles for Kaye Wiggs girls were posted this morning, and
the purple ones are all gone already. There's just three black and red ones left. I finished the four red and black holiday dresses today, and the girls wanted to model them. The collar and cuffs have gold and red picot beaded edges to match the embroidery on the skirt. The buckles and jewel just below the collars are gold metal with white rhinestones, and there are more rhinestones centered on the bows on the sleeve cuffs. The red taffeta has a black sheen from certain angles, so most of the collars look almost black in the photo even though they are from the same red taffeta. Tomorrow two of the girls will go back into the purple dresses and we'll take some "mood shots" with the Christmas decorations.
Another round of nutcracker photos today, but this time with all five elves, and some with just Tilly and Cinnamon. We had nothing but trouble. First all the nutcrackers - most of which were precariously balanced on warped pieces of wood - came tumbling down like a house of cards, so had to be totally reset. Then Cinnamon kept fooling around, much to Tillie's annoyance. The black velvet bodices for the next set of Christmas Velvet dresses are all finished, and I'm ready to choose the trims and embellishments, but Fridays are always "clean up day", so I'll have to wait to pull out all the flowers and ribbons until later tomorrow. It would be great to have them all done and posted before the two new girls arrive next week - although they will have to go away for faceups, so I can't make them anything right away anyways. I suppose I could always draft patterns immediately and make Lonnie something while she's away.
It's been two years since I took some nutcracker shots with Cinnamon - the only little elf I had at the time. Since then the elf population has grown to five, so I thought it was time to set up all our nutcrackers for some more fun colourful shots. First the little Iplehouse girls..... Nami decided her outfit with the red velvet vest was perfect for Christmas, so she gave her elf outfit to Tillie. However, I will be making her a new elf collar and hat as part of a free pattern and tutorial to be released later this month, so she can still be an "elf" with the other girls.
Nami is also excited that she will soon have a big sister. There was a shipping notice from Iplehouse this morning - Lonnie and Kassia are on the way!! Up until now Nami has been the only little girl with the lighter "normal" skin, but both Lonnie and Kassia will be like her. They are both coming blank, so I'm hoping there will still be enough time for them to get faceups and body blushing in time for some Holiday photos. The four purple holiday dresses are done and I couldn't resist taking a group shot with my four adorable Kaye Wiggs girls. I've started the next four, which have black velvet bodices with sequined red taffeta skirts - and will put everything up for sale once they are all finished.
Had to go to Michaels for some paint the other day, and all their fake Christmas flowers were half price, and I spotted some blue poinsettias. Someday I'd like to make a larger BJD version of my "Queen of the Night", the last sculpted doll I made before switching to BJD costuming. Her costume had dark blue poinsettia petals and embossed velvet hydrangea petals incorporated into the embellishment design. Of course Christmas flowers change every year, and it's not possible to get the same ones ever again, so even though I much prefer the older ones I used on the Queen of the Night's gown, I don't know if I still have enough left, so I bought the new blue poinsettias as a back up.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it, since there's a lot of really fancy Holiday flowers available right now - many already on sale. Flower petals make great costume embellishments, so now's the time to stock up. Nothing much happening sewing or doll-wise this weekend, as we are decorating the house for Christmas. Our normal decorating style is "maximalist", and for Christmas that goes up several more notches to "Super Maximalist", especially when it comes to the tree. There must be at least a thousand ornaments, so it usually takes a week to finish hanging all the decorations on it. My job is to un-box and unwrap everything while Jan hangs the stuff on the tree, then I finish up with all the special things, like big red bows, mushrooms, tiny bells, angels, and candy-canes.
I put aside several kinds of ornaments for photos - some super fancy glass ones for artsy shots, and a bunch of others that would be good for doll photo accessories. After taking photos the ornaments will end up back on the tree where they belong. |
AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
April 2024
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