Today is the eleventh anniversary of the day I started this website, and I like to mark the day like every birthday, with a cake with candles. The first few years a cupcake was big enough for the few solitary candles needed, but now I'm at the point where I need to make a bigger and bigger cake every year to hold all the increasing number of candles....
It's been an interesting eleven years. I started out the first year buying all kinds of sizes of BJDs with the intent of using them as costume models to make doll clothes for sale. But in 2012 I joined an online Yahoo Group dedicated to the smaller Iplehouse dolls, and they had an Alphabet photo challenge. That was what really got my interest in the photography aspect started, as well as my interest in the smaller Iplehouse dolls. So I started collecting them.
It was so much fun that I spent all of 2013 doing a huge series on Special Days throughout the year. The number of smaller Iplehouse dolls just kept growing, as my excitement for doll photography grew......and my interest in sewing costumes for sale dwindled.
Then in 2016 two of the doll companies started offering Fashion sized dolls, and I was hooked. I'd always loved realistic dolls in historical and Fantasy costumes, but didn't much care for the huge SD sized dolls. Even though they were beautiful, they were just too big and cumbersome. I was used to smaller dolls. In the days when I made art dolls with my sister, our dolls were 16 to 18" tall - the same size as the new Fashion sized BJDs. So I finally had the dolls of my dreams - beautiful realistic adults, that were posable. In some regards it is a good thing they weren't available back when I first became interested in BJDs or I may never have gotten hooked on the smaller children first.
So, what now? I have a LOT of dolls, and way too many ideas. The Fashion sized dolls have taken centre stage this past year, and will likely continue to do so. Many of the children who didn't already belong to specific family groups with JID size parents, have been adopted by Fashion sized parents, helping to inspire all kinds of stories.
Like 'the Christmas Story' back in January, staring Nami, one of my first BIDs....
It was so much fun that I spent all of 2013 doing a huge series on Special Days throughout the year. The number of smaller Iplehouse dolls just kept growing, as my excitement for doll photography grew......and my interest in sewing costumes for sale dwindled.
Then in 2016 two of the doll companies started offering Fashion sized dolls, and I was hooked. I'd always loved realistic dolls in historical and Fantasy costumes, but didn't much care for the huge SD sized dolls. Even though they were beautiful, they were just too big and cumbersome. I was used to smaller dolls. In the days when I made art dolls with my sister, our dolls were 16 to 18" tall - the same size as the new Fashion sized BJDs. So I finally had the dolls of my dreams - beautiful realistic adults, that were posable. In some regards it is a good thing they weren't available back when I first became interested in BJDs or I may never have gotten hooked on the smaller children first.
So, what now? I have a LOT of dolls, and way too many ideas. The Fashion sized dolls have taken centre stage this past year, and will likely continue to do so. Many of the children who didn't already belong to specific family groups with JID size parents, have been adopted by Fashion sized parents, helping to inspire all kinds of stories.
Like 'the Christmas Story' back in January, staring Nami, one of my first BIDs....
Then there was 'the Queen's Birthday' story....
...and the recent 'Somewhere in Time'...
The stories seem to be getting more and more complex, developing minds to their own, and I just willingly follow along, going wherever inspiration leads me.
Another group of dolls I really love are my Forest Dwellers by Whispering Grass. This year I finally made the decision to make them all some clothes...which inspired a story of its own....
Another group of dolls I really love are my Forest Dwellers by Whispering Grass. This year I finally made the decision to make them all some clothes...which inspired a story of its own....
The past year has also seen a few new dolls arrive. There were Judith and Faye...both to be children to FID parents...
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There was Little Lenny, by Kaye Wiggs, who I won in a Christmas photo contest...
...and Jude, by SartoriaJ, who arrived on Christmas Eve...
I ordered Iplehouse KID Paige, to be Jude's son, Jamie.....
There were three little BIDs I couldn't resist on the secondary market; Erin, Aki & Lizzy...
..and finally, the beautiful Naomi by SartoriaJ, who continues to inspire....
So, what now? Well, I really liked Baron and Naomi in their modern clothes - something I never planned on making - so decided to complete Baron's outfit and make him some jeans. I also felt the urge to make Naomi a simple dress, even though it was too late for her to wear it in the recent story. I plan on releasing the patterns for both soon....
There are also four other sets of patterns that will be released, including all of Naomi's clothes that she wore in the recent story, as well as the dressmaker dummies, and the safety vests. They will be released one at a time as I complete each one.
I currently have five dolls on preorder; two dark gray Manuna Mice, and a pair of brown Komirka Chipmunks from Whispering Grass. They will need tiny outfits when they arrive.
With Miho having come to her own recently, I thought she deserved a guy of her own. Miho was the very first of my Fashion dolls, and arrived back in 2016, but she never fit in with all the later arrivals, until this year when she became the Fairy Queen....
I currently have five dolls on preorder; two dark gray Manuna Mice, and a pair of brown Komirka Chipmunks from Whispering Grass. They will need tiny outfits when they arrive.
With Miho having come to her own recently, I thought she deserved a guy of her own. Miho was the very first of my Fashion dolls, and arrived back in 2016, but she never fit in with all the later arrivals, until this year when she became the Fairy Queen....
She does have a good friend in Winston, and now the Raven as well, but I felt it was time to get her a partner.....so ordered Dominic by SartoriaJ...who probably won't arrive until next Spring....
So, what are my plans for the coming year?
Well, I still have to finish posting the photos of Baron and Naomi's trip up north, as well as a few other scenes involving the two of them.
Lawrence is taking some time off as king, to temporarily play a role in one of my favourite Jim Henson's Storyteller episodes..... 'the Soldier and Death'. He's already in costume, just waiting for me to transform Miho's castle into a devil infested, palace interior....
Well, I still have to finish posting the photos of Baron and Naomi's trip up north, as well as a few other scenes involving the two of them.
Lawrence is taking some time off as king, to temporarily play a role in one of my favourite Jim Henson's Storyteller episodes..... 'the Soldier and Death'. He's already in costume, just waiting for me to transform Miho's castle into a devil infested, palace interior....
I'm not sure what stories lie ahead. I have so many ideas, and it's impossible to do all of them.
One thing I would like to do is finish the sequel to 'the White Cat'. I took the entire first part of the story last year, but it developed into such a complicated storyline that I had no idea on how to resolve it, so, because it didn't have an ending, it was never posted.
One thing I would like to do is finish the sequel to 'the White Cat'. I took the entire first part of the story last year, but it developed into such a complicated storyline that I had no idea on how to resolve it, so, because it didn't have an ending, it was never posted.
I need to think hard on how to bring the story to a happy conclusion....
Then there's 'the Quest'. The photos for it were taken back in 2012, the very first time I took a group of dolls along on a cross country road trip. Many of the photos taken on that trip exist in albums in Favourite Photos 2012, but it was never presented as a proper story, as it was intended.
There were only the five characters, with no props or interior shots at all. I didn't have any of that back then. But I have so much more at my disposal now, so many of the missing parts of the story could now be taken. I still have all five dolls, and four have not changed at all - in fact the two main characters are still in costume - so I'd like to finally shoot the missing segments to that story and present it next year in its entirety on the tenth anniversary of when most of it was first shot.
And who knows what else will pop up? I've had things I've wanted to do to for years, but something else always comes up. So we just have to wait and see if this is finally the year....
In the meantime I'm just going to have a slice of cake....
And who knows what else will pop up? I've had things I've wanted to do to for years, but something else always comes up. So we just have to wait and see if this is finally the year....
In the meantime I'm just going to have a slice of cake....
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