Making a Christmas Story
This story was inspired by a little book I received in Sunday school some sixty years ago, on the very first Christmas after our family immigrated to Canada. The book was called Better Than Anything Else, written by Dutch, children's author, W.G. van de Hulst. I have always loved fairy tales and fantasy adventure stories, and the simple illustrations always spoke to my imagination.
Each year I try to come up with some new stories for Christmas, and I've always wondered if I could create my version of this one, but much of it needed to be shot in the snow, and snow is never a given in December, and I didn't want to shoot it after Christmas only to wait ten or eleven months to post the story the following Christmas.
Plus, the main character was a little Princess, and I didn't have any of the Royal characters I'd need. But with the addition of the Iplehouse FIDs to my collection this past year, I had an entire court of Medieval Royalty, a castle interior, and lots of horses, so I thought now that I actually had all the characters, I might be able to give it a try.
Plus, the main character was a little Princess, and I didn't have any of the Royal characters I'd need. But with the addition of the Iplehouse FIDs to my collection this past year, I had an entire court of Medieval Royalty, a castle interior, and lots of horses, so I thought now that I actually had all the characters, I might be able to give it a try.
A New Costume for the Princess
So in the hopes that I'll finally get to doing the story this year, I decided to make a new outfit for the Princess. I did have some Medieval/Fantasy Princess costumes, but I needed one with a shorter skirt. I took my inspiration for her costume from the Russian Snow Maiden, who is their Father Frost's granddaughter. She's traditionally dressed in blues with a fur trimmed jacket....
I had gathered the fabrics together. When choosing fabrics for doll clothes, it's important to remember scale, not only in the patterns, but also in the colours. It's always best to avoid bright colours and go with more muted colours instead. Bright colours will make even the nicest dress look like a 'doll' dress, as opposed to a miniature costume, especially in photos. So the main dress would be the gray and blue brocade, with an underskirt and sleeves of the lighter blue, and a little jacket and hat out of the darker blue brocade....
I cut everything out and started to work on it. The gown would be for BID Nami, who will be the Princess in the story, and I used my patterns for BID Medieval Gowns, just in a new, all blue colour combination....
The bodice with one sleeve finished....
The bodice finished and ready to attach to the skirts....
And our little star had her dress...
Then came the tricky part - designing the little jacket, and trying to figure out how to trim it with white fur, without it getting too bulky. I had been working hard on Nami's little coat and hat, just in case the storm forecast for the next day would bring 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 loved her dress, so chose to remake the jacket.....
I loved her dress, so chose to remake the jacket.....
I worked on it during all my free time, but then the storm turned out to be just rain in our area. But a little further north of us, about twenty minutes away, near where one of my sisters lives, they received a lovely snowfall. She always posts photo of the woods when she takes her daily walks. So we went up to just take a look, and took Nami along in case there were any photo opportunities....
the Cast
With Nami's outfit done, and more snow in the forecast, I gathered all the characters for the story, and dressed them all in winter wear, ready for their starring roles in my story. The dolls were going to be playing characters, like in a play or film...
Nami, as Princess Elora
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Monica, as her Mother, the Queen
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Lawrence, as her Father, the King
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Coco, as Hans, a boy from the Village |
Leona, as his Mother |
Owen, as Hans' Father |
Santa, as Nick, the woodcutter |
Narae, as Nora, his granddaughter |
Shadow, as Max, their dog |
The First Photo Shoot in the Snow
I had made a list of all the scenes I wanted to shoot, in hopes that I wouldn't forget any of them. We packed all the dolls and horses in the car and headed north. The woods were beautiful, with every branch covered with snow, and it was still snowing hard. Thankfully I had my trusty assistant to help carry stuff....
The very first scenes to be shot, were of Nick carrying the Princess. I had put them together in that pose at home, using elastics and pins, knowing I'd never be able to do that out on location. It would be way too hard in the car with cold hands. So I attached them to each other and put them together in a box.
Then after those first scenes with Nick carrying the Princess were all taken, I could remove Nami, and proceed with the other scenes. It was handy having my list of scenes to check off, since I wasn't shooting the story in order, and it would have been really easy to forget something.
The snow was coming down really hard, adding to the realism of a snowstorm in the woods. In fact the snow was also falling out of the trees overhead, so the dolls got covered, and I would occasionally have to wipe some of the snow off of them.
Jan's view of the scene from above....with the tarp and messed up snow in the foreground...
Because it was snowing so hard, I made sure to take several photos of every scene, since you never know just when a big flake will end up right in front of someone's face. Like here...
Or like here, in one of Jan's photos. So always take more than one shot.
We had brought along a big tarp for me to sit or lay down on, and once I'm down it's too hard to just get up, so I'd have to direct Jan to make any posing changes...like when dolls aren't looking in quite the right direction...
The scene, being photographed while laying flat on the tarp, to shoot at the doll's eye level....
.....to take advantage of 'forced perspective' and make the dolls look the right scale for the woods behind them.
We shot around ten separate scenes that day, along trailheads in two locations. And even though we had brought a tarp for me to sit or lay on, it was snowing so hard that the tarp was quickly covered with snow, and I got rather wet. Thankfully it wasn't all that cold - just a little below freezing - and we had brought along hot drinks.... and the car has heated seats.
Back in the Snow Again
After getting home and downloading all my photos, I realized that even with my list, I hadn't taken close ups for when people are speaking. So the next morning we packed everyone back up and headed north again. The wind had blown much of the snow out of the trees on the east side of the roads, but it was still thick on the other side, so I needed to find new locations, and preferably ones where I wouldn't have to get down in the snow again. Like this tree stump.....
And of course it wasn't snowing anymore, so Jan had to fake it by shaking snow over the doll with a sieve.....
I really didn't want to get down in the snow again, so found raised places to photograph the dolls....
We found some fresh-looking snow at the side of a plowed driveway, and Jan added the falling snow...
I shot the photos from a standing position, since the woodcutter needed to be looking up at the King....
And I took a lot of hand-held close-ups, with Jan holding the dolls, making sure the background looked much the same as the photos from the day before..
...and with a bit of sprinkled snow to make it look like it was still snowing....
the Castle
Many of the scenes would take place in the castle interior. The dining room table needed an extra leaf put in, so that it would be wide enough. I decided to use my standard Christmas tree. It is decorated in a 'vintage' style, and does have lights, but I wasn't going to plug them in, so it would do just fine.
I had spent an afternoon making two 'rustic', more natural-looking wreaths, one for the wood-cutter's cottage, and intending to hang the second one over the castle fireplace - after all, I couldn't use the same wreath for both interiors - but in the end I decided to just use the fancy ones with the colourful glass balls. After all, they looked much more festive, and it was a fantasy story, and royalty would have had the means to buy such luxurious items. The more rustic wreath ended up hanging on the window...
I had spent an afternoon making two 'rustic', more natural-looking wreaths, one for the wood-cutter's cottage, and intending to hang the second one over the castle fireplace - after all, I couldn't use the same wreath for both interiors - but in the end I decided to just use the fancy ones with the colourful glass balls. After all, they looked much more festive, and it was a fantasy story, and royalty would have had the means to buy such luxurious items. The more rustic wreath ended up hanging on the window...
I decided the King needed to be busy doing something, so used the books I'd made recently. They were made for my Wizard, but could pass for some book-keeping journals too....
I really like the light I get with the window wall of the castle setting on the window end of the table, so to take advantage of the real outdoors out the window, the table was pushed right up close to the window. I had hoped for some snow especially on the bush right outside the dining room window, but we didn't get much more snow, so I had to pay attention to not let the 'green' backyard show. I wasn't too concerned about the actual window frames showing, since they could pass for the exterior, castle architecture...
Christmas Dinner
I decided that I was going to have an intimate dinner with just eight people. There would be a person on each end, and three people on either side facing each other. That meant I really needed three 'identical' chairs for the camera side. The far side didn't matter, since the dolls would be sitting on those chairs, hiding them. Well, the closest I could come to three identical chairs were the chairs my Dad made for my dolls when I was a little girl. Problem is, they have two different colours upholstery. I debated replacing it, but decided I wanted them to keep their original charm, and sewed some slip-covers instead....
For the dinner scene I had to take great care with the seating arrangement, as I had so many different sized dolls, with different sized heads. The King and Queen are FIDs with the smallest heads, and Nick has the biggest head, so he needed to be way at the far end of the table from them. Narae has a smaller head than the JIDs, so I placed her in the middle between the Queen and Owen, as a transitional size. I wanted the children in the closest seats to the camera, since they were shorter, so wouldn't obscure the adults on the opposite side as much. ....
I had wanted to take photos from both ends, which meant the backyard would show out the window behind Nick, so I waited to shoot this scene until after we actually had a bit of snow out there...
Then the candles added that special 'golden, evening glow', even when it was photographed in the middle of the day. The smaller candles burned down rather quickly, so had to be replaced often. Eventually I ran out and had to use cut down, full size candles. It was one if the inconsistencies I had no choice but to live with. Or maybe a servant noticed, and replaced them?? At least that will be my excuse should anyone notice.
the Woodcutter's Cottage
The only setting I didn't have beforehand, so still had to make, was the woodcutter's cottage. I wanted something 'fairytale' looking with a bit of a Tudor vibe. The walls were made of foam core, and I started underpainting the sections. The 'timbers' were all cut from thick cardboard, and painted dark brown before they were glued on.
The lower 'stone' walls were painted using a variety of 'stone' coloured paints, squirted on a plate, and stamped with several sizes of sponges, to recreate the look of different sized rows of stone blocks....
Then the upper walls were sponge painted to resemble stucco, and the walls weighted down to try and prevent warping....
After gluing on all the 'timbers' the walls had a bit more sponge painting done to create a bit more shading, and then the room was ready to set up. I had also made a bristol board cover for the top of the fireplace, so it would match the cottage walls. I filled the room with all kinds of furniture and props they might have had, including a spinning wheel in one back corner. It doesn't show up in photos much, but it helps fill in the background, adding to the realism of a small, cluttered cottage.
I had also decided to use a small table-top tree, as was traditional in the old days. I wanted it to be sparsely decorated, and have candles, but didn't want to bother making fake candles out of polymer clay, so just cut some real party candles in half, and glued them into the tree. They were never going to be lit anyways. I also made a 'rustic' wreath for over their fireplace....
I had also decided to use a small table-top tree, as was traditional in the old days. I wanted it to be sparsely decorated, and have candles, but didn't want to bother making fake candles out of polymer clay, so just cut some real party candles in half, and glued them into the tree. They were never going to be lit anyways. I also made a 'rustic' wreath for over their fireplace....
In the scenes where Nick first arrives with the children, I needed some snow for on their clothes, so Jan went out and collected a bowl full, for me to sprinkle all over the dolls, like they'd just come in from a storm....
the Ruins Garden
I had wanted to take some 'palace' pictures at the Ruins Garden, but we hadn't had any decent snow down in our area. My dolls were all dressed, just waiting for the right moment. Then one morning we woke to wet snow on the ground and in the trees. It was supposed to really warm up, so it wasn't going to last very long, so we left right after breakfast to go take the pictures.
There was snow, but not much wherever there was any tree cover, and the grass was showing through....
There was snow, but not much wherever there was any tree cover, and the grass was showing through....
So I had to get rid of the grass afterwards in Photoshop....
Same with the scene with the king and his men. It was supposed to be in a snow storm, but there was grass showing....
I was laying down on a tarp, but the wet snow was falling out of the trees in huge wet blobs, so we had to work fast, and I'd fix things later in Photoshop....
In the Woods
I still needed a few more shots of the King and his men searching in the snowy woods, so we went along one of the trails through the woods at the Ruins Garden. The snow was melting fast, and everything was getting really wet. Jan kept his hood up to keep the wet blobs of snow off his head as they fell from the trees...
I was in a hurry, and don't wear my glasses when I'm taking pictures, so never noticed that the King's horse's bridle had slipped down over his nose. And it was such a fantastic picture too. I was so disappointed....
I'm no expert at Photoshop, but thought I'd try to create a new bridle where it belonged. I even impressed myself....
The horse's bridle, before and after. Note how wet the horse and Lawrence's hair are.....
The snow was melting and falling out of the trees, and everything was getting soaked. Including me.
The snow was melting and falling out of the trees, and everything was getting soaked. Including me.
the Nativity Scene
I didn't like the ending in the original story book, so decided that the woodcutter would make two creches as gifts for the children instead. I'd been looking online for tiny nativity figures, since I really didn't want to try sculpting them. The figures needed to have that old world look to them, and there was no way I'd be able to do that. Then I found some sets available from an Etsy shop in Italy. The standing figures were just an inch tall, so the perfect size, and they looked really good, and were a great price, so I ordered two sets. They arrived rather quickly, but then I still had to make the stables.
I had thought of using thin wood, but decided that cardboard would be a lot easier...
I had thought of using thin wood, but decided that cardboard would be a lot easier...
I had looked online for a nativity scene that I liked, and decided to use it for my inspiration, painting on the textures as I went...
To give extra texture and realism to the fences and roof tiles, I cut them out of two different thicknesses of cardboard...
The angel was standing on a bright white cloud, which was way too distracting, so I painted it brown to make it disappear.
Two finished, identical creches, with the figures glued in. Looking so closely the figures didn't have exactly the perfect paint job, but considering the standing figures are barely an inch tall, it's not too bad. Better than I could do.
Two finished, identical creches, with the figures glued in. Looking so closely the figures didn't have exactly the perfect paint job, but considering the standing figures are barely an inch tall, it's not too bad. Better than I could do.
The children received them as gifts after Christmas dinner....
Re-Shoots
Most of the time my photos turn out just like I imagined, but sometimes there's a problem, and I have to go back and re-shoot. like in this scene where the King is supposed to be hugging his daughter, but it looks more like she's not having any of it and is struggling to escape. So I had to try again. Sometimes all it takes is a slightly different camera angle...
Then there was one of the scenes from the very beginning. I felt the Princess looked too big and clunky, and it wasn't especially interesting, so did a re-shoot. Much better!
I needed a close up of the Queen and I noticed afterwards that she had a big streak of hair out of place......so I reshot...
Then there's the pesky tension points one has to always watch out for. Like a big bow right on top of the King's head, so I reshoot so the bow is a little to one side...
Here the handle of the King's sword was right in the Queen's mouth....so had to reshoot...
Here a big a snowflake ornament on the tree behind the Princess, was sticking out like a tiara....
Then there was the scene where Nick and Nora arrived. The king was making introductions, and I realized Nick would not have been wearing his hat inside, especially not in the presence of Royalty. But instead of reshooting, I just cropped him out....
the Epilogue
I needed a sleigh for the end, and I had one Jan gave me last Christmas. It was still a bit small, but would have to do. But I needed some kind of harness so a horse could pull it....
Shooting in the upper garden in our backyard this time. We woke to a bit of snow, perfect for the photo shoot I had in mind. It started out cloudy, which is what I would have preferred, but the clouds quickly started to get thin. I knew there was little time before the sun would melt everything, so shot the scenes as fast as I could. The hazy sun did add a bit of a magical feel to the scene....
But then all the clouds disappeared and it was way too sunny to continue.
I did try to take a few photos with Jan shading the scene with a big white umbrella......but it wasn't nearly as effective. So any further scenes that I'd wanted to take with Elora and Hans were scrapped. It would also have been nice to include the dog as well, but I didn't think of it in the stress of trying to take the photos that fast...
Thankfully there was still some shade at the other end of the garden, for the travelling scenes...
But by noon most of the snow was gone.
Better Late than Never
When putting the final story together, there seemed to be some missing transitional scenes, like when the King leaves Nick's cottage with Elora. Instead of them just suddenly travelling home on the horses, I wished I'd taken some of the King first putting Elora up on his horse when they first went outside. I needed the same kind of beautiful snow we had in early December, but it just wasn't coming. The weather forecast was like the proverbial 'carrot on a stick' with a few centimetres of snow expected later in the week, only to become less and less the closer the day came, only to totally disappear or turn to rain.
I waited the entire month of January, and still no snow. Then in February it was looking promising again, only to have the snow in our area turn to rain - again. But I messaged my sister, who said they had had several centimetres of snow in her area, so we packed up the dolls and horses and headed north. It wasn't easy to find a suitable setting, because it was very windy and the snow was blowing out of the trees, but we eventually ended up at the end of a dead end road with another trail into the woods....
I waited the entire month of January, and still no snow. Then in February it was looking promising again, only to have the snow in our area turn to rain - again. But I messaged my sister, who said they had had several centimetres of snow in her area, so we packed up the dolls and horses and headed north. It wasn't easy to find a suitable setting, because it was very windy and the snow was blowing out of the trees, but we eventually ended up at the end of a dead end road with another trail into the woods....
I only needed a couple of photos, but had really wanted them, so all the extra effort seemed worth it.
I just quietly inserted them into the story.
I just quietly inserted them into the story.
So, in the end everything came together, much of it thanks to the four gorgeous snowfalls. Some years we never even get one like that, where the overall depth isn't much, but the snow is layered on every branch of every tree and bush, and in December we had three of those, and one more in January.
Then with social isolation due to the raging pandemic, no one was going to be coming to our house anyways, so it was fine to leave the dining room as a photo studio for six weeks.
I ended up taking over six hundred photos, each of which needed to be individually processed, since I shoot everything in RAW. There were some amazing photos, and it was sometimes difficult to edit down which ones to include in the story, since most were really good, but I wanted to stay focussed on the actual story, so I had to be ruthless. Altogether the project took six weeks, and I'm happy I was finally able to present the story, as something completely new...
Then with social isolation due to the raging pandemic, no one was going to be coming to our house anyways, so it was fine to leave the dining room as a photo studio for six weeks.
I ended up taking over six hundred photos, each of which needed to be individually processed, since I shoot everything in RAW. There were some amazing photos, and it was sometimes difficult to edit down which ones to include in the story, since most were really good, but I wanted to stay focussed on the actual story, so I had to be ruthless. Altogether the project took six weeks, and I'm happy I was finally able to present the story, as something completely new...
A Christmas Story
I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed putting it together...
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