Some Tips

I figured out solutions to some things that were bothering me lately, because as you know, I'm a perfectionist and 'good enough' is never good enough. So I thought I should share....

A Victorian Collar....

First Steve's collar and tie.  I just couldn't get the black ribbon to wrap nicely around his neck, or tie it in a bow, and it kept riding up over the top of his collar, so was always dissatisfied with how it looked.  Like in this recent photo....

So I wondered how it would look if I made a separate, stand alone collar with the necktie attached, that could be worn over his shirt collar. So I drew up a pattern to give it a try....

The ribbon was sewn on along the bottom edge, and it looks a bit 'lumpy' when it's laid out flat because I stitched it on with the collar curved over my fingers. I sewed a small black snap under the bow.  I think the new collar looks much more elegant, like a proper Victorian gentleman.

Steve also has a white tie, so now I need to make a second separate collar with the white bow attached.  And Rex's 'Outlander' outfit can use one too.

Hiding Doll Stands

Then there's the Fantasy photos I'm in the process of taking.  I always use doll stands to support my dolls in photos, and have gotten creative at making them disappear. So far I've managed to mostly hide the big black bases of the guy's stands, either under the edge of a carpet, or behind a lady's skirt.

But I need to shoot a scene with just the guys, so there was no way to hide all their bases.  I had been using a brown paper circle to cover Lawrence's base, but I didn't want three of them in the photo. They would stand out way too much.  So I got the idea to cut a bit off the corners of the big sheet of upholstery fabric that I use for the castle flooring.

I traced the base onto paper, added about an inch all the way around, made a paper pattern to determine where the vertical support should go, drew where the hole should go, smeared the back side with white glue, and cut the 'U' shape out after it had dried. I also used FrayCheck around the outer edges.....

Then I took a photo of two guys, one with the base covered, and one without, with the vertical supports hidden behind their legs....

Even though there is no bothering to try match the woven pattern, the fabric circle is barely noticeable.  A bit of Photoshop afterwards will make it completely invisible.