Remember when the Baroness was sitting in the parlor attending to her correspondence? Turns out she was sending out invitations for a party and a reception to welcome home her sister, Pepper. Pepper is younger than her and just arrived. The reception was held in the ballroom of Maison de la Royale.
The reception was packed. Of course, Agnes had invited the creme de la creme of society to meet her baby sister.
Pepper was surpised to greet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the heirs to the throne of England. They left Baby George in England to have a holiday. Kate's baby bump does not show yet!
Princess Grace of Monaco flew in with one of her ladies and Audrey Hepburn was seen talking with one of the models from the Baroness' modeling agency. The attendees were a who's who of celebrities and minor royalty.
The food for the reception was a delight in pastrys, fruit and other delicacies prepared by the Baroness' staff in attendance. Truly a wonderful party!
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I wanted to get these photos out of the way to welcome home my new High Visibility Agnes to the dollhouse. I am hoping to pair her soon with my Tony Stark. I am attempting to get these kinds of photos wrapped up so I can begin to start the halloween diorama as my mistress of the manor is coming soon.
Enjoy!~Lisa
I have a very active Flicker album, and recently I participated and was tagged there in a Tag game called 'Lunch'- take a photo of your doll or dolls and how they have lunch, anywhere. I had had this photo of my favorite Diva, Agnes, the Baroness, who 'owns' (she thinks!) the dollhouse, and the town, and all the best outfits that come into my possession. Some dolls!
Here is my photo in my Tag Games album. Behind her are Andrews, the butler (the Great Oz) and Ann Marie, her maid (That Girl! Barbie outfit is from Ebay)
I have had two dolls or three dolls that have come into the doll room only they are not deboxed- and one of them is an Agnes! shudder. I do not know what it is about that particular character, but I adore how snobby and arrogant she is...
Above, Agnes is 'only' having lobster for lunch- and then her coffee- no dessert for this diva, she must protect her figure! She has such a very tight schedule today- only an hour and half for lunch, no time for dawdling! These appointments with designers for her new fall wardrobe are sooooooooo demanding and exhausting!
As a kid I adored the show 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous' with Robin Leach, it was so funny and cool..So...Champagne Wishes & Caviar Dreams!
Ok, quiet on the set! (muffle, shuffle shuffle shuffle..)
'And.....ACTION!'
You may noticed I started this post as if a movie was being filmed. I have this corner of the diorama table set up with the lights clamped to the edge of the dollhouse ledge shining down. Great part of this is that light and others can be moved about so I don't have to hold them while I take the photos...More and more as I experiment with this scale, I realize the scope of how you can take 1:6 scale to the level of miniature set buildings for movies, film, and videos.
I have a new board on Pinterest called Miniature Set Building and I encourage you to go to the link pages of the pics on this board-- very fascinating and extremely interesting how they do this. Another link is to Ray Harry Hausen
the creator of special effects in the original sci-fi Godzilla movies of the 40s and 50's. He has passed away but his work is amazing. This type of miniature artistry is generally thought of as Concept Art. We never think of all of the animation needed for those movies such as Trolls, Frozen, and more, but they take miniature creation to a whole new art form. (Personally myself, I would rather work and create with the artists who make it happen than watch the actual movie!!)
Another artist who inspired me on this journey was Caroline McFarlane-Watts, mainly a 1:12 scale artist. She owns Pixie Dust Miniatures, HummingBird Miniatures and has been featured in American Miniaturist, Dollhouse Miniature Magazine, Dolls House World, and Miniature Collector, too I believe. Her work on her own stop motion movie has been exciting and I encourage you to browse her blog Tall Tales Scroll back all the way to the beginning, the artistry of her work in building a set for her movie is amazing and useful, because building sets is not about 'one' scale, it is the use of several scales to create depth, life and realism.
Onto the dollhouse. I did some cleaning and tidying in the bedroom and the salon of Maison de la Royale (the Manor) and I switched out fireplaces in the bedroom. I placed the Jim Coates fireplace and screen and it created more room than the Bespaq one. That is going on the drawing board table to be altered for another diorama. One thing I like about the dollhouse is the ability where I can switch the furniture in the salon and dining room and have a library, kitchen, or ballroom if needed. I want to give the illusion of a huge mansion in the French provinces without having permanent dioramas.
Here is the bedroom-
I used a long light and it really made the difference in the photos over natural light, which has way too much shading for my liking. But these photos of the cats and the dog, create the lighting when people wake up, the cat stretches on the bed or carpet and also life. Both Natalias are getting up or still sleeping. Both are IT direct lottery dolls. I made the loungerie they are both wearing as well as the bedding and pillows on the bed.
The Salon-
First, I have a shot of the entire dollhouse. The dining room on the ground floor is not done yet, as that means I have to get on the floor and then get up. That doesn't happen easily and I am going to be working on that room without distractions but the Salon did come off nicely after all the junk and excess dolls were out of it. I want to create the illusion of a large mansion so I will definitely need more dolls in maid and cook and houseman uniforms. I have even thought of having footmen in old fashioned breeches and wigged. That may come later. Right now I have one maid and one butler. The great Oz makes a great butler and That Girl Barbie is the maid. I have long wanted to do a scene with Agnes getting out of the car and the household staff is lined up to greet her like Downtown Abbey's opening scenes. So I will need housemen, or footmen, maids, cook, and housekeeper....
Note- Please check the blogs to the side that I follow, I have added some new ones that I think everyone will enjoy, as well as the links resource box has been revamped as well. More to come, and happy Sunday!~Lisa
Merry Christmas everyone! Here it is Christmas Eve...this post may be a tad different than yesterday's! For One, I deboxed Jack Sparrow, aka Johnny Depp. My dolls were quite insistent that such a hottie should not sit on the shelf condemned to a ridiculous pirate outfit. So I thought it would be fun to have some 'fun' with Jack, and he willingly obliged. Who couldn't resist Johnny Depp even in doll pirate makeup? I know I couldn't!
Enjoy the Christmas hottie! Jack is reclining in my rare no longer manufactured Bespaq bedroom suite in the main dollhouse- Maison de la Royale, which belongs to my no. 1 doll Agnes Von Weiss (Concerto in M) who hasn't found her Christmas present yet!
Teacup is Rement, vase, found in a souvenir shop. Cat is from a miniature store. I made the little Christmas bag on the table.
