Looking Back on 2015...

I was looking back over my blog posts this year and thought I would do a review of the year 2015 like Vanessa did in her blog post 2015 in Review . It gives you a time to reflect on accomplishments, things that need improvement and what you would like to do for the upcoming year. 

First, as far as the dolls- I did not have a limit on buying dolls- I buy what I love, the only thing that really limits me is my budget, which is very limited, LOL. I've often told my husband when looking at the extravagant dollies I lust after it is a good thing he is not a millionaire or I would be buying dollies like Demi Moore. 

On that note, 2015 was a year of many what I call 'Challenges' . I challenged myself in many areas, my personal life, my doll collecting, diorama building,work, my health and wellness, as well as re-organizing my household to better suit my and my husband's lifestyle. 

1- De-clutter. The beginning of the year I donated, sold at yard sales, and took to an auction house a great deal of needless items to make room in our home so we could begin the massive job of getting our home ready for repairs and refurbishing that we have wanted to do. It is still on going, day by day, job that I do. Hopefully I will get a larger doll display room out of this massive project. This is a continuation going into 2016.

2. Dolls.  I am more and more getting into the Hot Toys, Star Ace , Dragon, and other action figures and the realistic head sculpts and bodies that are offered out there and plan to explore and enlarge my collection. I am already working on a custom Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory show as I have purchased a head off of Ebay and I did a custom Amy to go with him. My tastes are widening from Fashion dolls into the action figures and the stories that I love to read, such as Harry Potter,Dr.Who and so on. There are several dioramas that I want to expand into for 2016. 

3. Dioramas. 
One of the 'Challenges' I did for myself was to do builds solely for my own pleasure and the Gothic Mansion and the Gingerbread Candy workshop are two ongoing dioramas that I have been working on in that scope. I never thought I could do something this large. Some pain in my left arm and shoulder has hindered work on that diorama when I had planned to have it finished for Christmas. I just couldn't finish it as my hands were too swollen or useless to cut the foamboard. 

This is where my dioramas have gone from 'dioramas' to what I now am beginning to consider miniature set building for stop motion photography and how it is used. The challenge this year of building to the camera really excited me and the Gothic mansion is and was a test of building to the camera angles. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it failed. 

4. Health and Wellness
2014 I was really serious about this and I carried it over into 2015 and succeeded in losing a total of 27 pounds so far. I still have a long ways to go to my overall goal I made with my trainer in 2014. When you have weight on you it hinders you greatly and when you start working out, even just walking, which works best for me, you never know how much good it does until you start. It relieves all of the stress, anxiety and helps release the creativity if you're an artist. That is why I love walking outside versus inside a gym, though I do like going to the gym too. 

Part of the health and wellness is also- learning to say no. For me, that will be saying no to over-extending myself to charitable organizations, committees, etc. who always need a 'helping hand' and call me. I have decided for the good of myself, it is time to say no to those organizations for a change and devote my time either to the business, or to my own interests, and art. It is hard to devote yourself to focusing on art or anything if you're racing about town to meeting. 

Toxic people. 
This falls into the health and wellness. You know the types. Moochers, people who argue, cause drama, and the list goes on.

5. Expanding...
I plan for 2016 to expand my horizons to try new things and not to do things so 'traditional' . Try new foods, new ways of doing things, if they are practical, new techniques in art, sculpting, etc. as well as attempting to learning to sew more, possibly even learning to weld, if I can get my husband to teach me. I am also going to look into felting too, as I still have the supplies. 

6. Writing...
Here is where I fall short. I would like to start writing more again, especially stories for the dolls and then enacting them, as it would make the set building come to life. Maybe start with short stories , scripts , plays and go from there. I have one that I need to edit but I need to work on the props and scenes. I would eventually love to do a photobook using miniatures, dolls and props. 

7. Photography
I am going to research more into stop motion photography and and film making as this subject really fascinates me and how to use dolls in it. I have tried it before but I never have enough time to really do it in depth. I also need to see if I need better equipment, cameras, etc. So that is on my list for 2016 this year too.

8. Design
I had some fun doing a one of a kind doll, Steampunk Butterfly and want to do more one of kind dolls later on in the year. I have another one on the drawing board, I just need to get the materials together for her and her costume together. I actually have alot of ideas for OOAK dolls to do, but not enough time to them! 

So that is a long list, and 2016 is going to be a year of what I refer to as 
'Expansion'....expanding my mind, my creativity, my artwork, my diorama techniques, to infinity and beyond! as Buzz Lightyear would say. Spreading my wings artistically without having to do it for a living. Though I miss my King William Miniatures website and Pumpkin Hill Studios eBay store , it was a good thing to close it.  Being able to focus on solely creating for the sake of it is invigorating and not a 'time to make the donuts' type of deal which I felt like I had fallen into. Also, learning my husband's commercial boiler industry also is stretching my wings in another mental direction which I actually enjoy on the business aspect as well.

Thank you all for reading the blog and being so interested in the things I do here! I hope to really accomplish alot in the coming year. I hope you have a Happy New Year!~Lisa

The Gothic Mansion at night....

More pictures of the Gothic Mansion at night....

Of course, Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, does her patrol of the rooms after the guests and family have retired for the evening....

'Twas the night before Christmas....and all through the house. 
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...except Mrs. Danvers...
who was on patrol....

Spooky and yet so lovely!~ The countdown to Christmas continues! Lisa

Agnes at the Mansion....

I finished editing the photos of Agnes at the mansion, and I'm really pleased with them. I have never really given alot of re-dress time to this lovely diva, and I'm glad I took the time to go through some of my dresses. The gown she is wearing is Concerto in M Agnes Von Weiss who was one of the very first Agnes at a W Club convention, who I was lucky enough by chance to win on a w club lottery on the forums. That doll is my favorite doll and her mansion is the mansion, Maison de la Royale, which resides in the doll room. I think in all right now I have about five Agnes dolls. They are quite literally taking over. She is one of my favorite characters,next to Elise Jolie and Victoire and of course, Poppy. 

She is so very stunning, isn't she? I just cannot get oer how she is so chic in this dress. She kind of oozes the 30's and 20's sleekness. I so loved that period with the furs, and the silk clinging to the body. 

Here's a little black and white and a little light play to give you an idea. Her luggage is in the background as she's just arrived home from the city for a weekend houseparty to the country. Let the cocktails begin, but after tea, of course...

A whole view of the mansion with the columns. Construction will begin as soon as the prop I have ordered arrives and Set B will be in full swing and my schedule settles down a bit from this week. Since Halloween is over with, I can rest now with the spooky dolls and begin to work on the mansions' Thanksgiving and Christmas decor in full splendor. Though it is a 'gothic' mansion , like all mansions it has a extravagant/luxury  factor and I want to take advantage of that with my divas. 

Part of the inspiration for this 'set' or diorama has been my Pinterest board,
Miniature Set Building and some wonderful pins of the movie, and its behind the scenes set builders- The Boxtrolls. Mainly of their homes, the lovely staircase, and the characters, the town, and so on. Other movies as well that required animation.  Building dollhouses is much like miniature set building but 1:6 scale is really when it gets into set building as the figures are life like and articulated and there is more detail. And the Gothic Mansion- Dark Hollows- is the culmination for me, of a dream of building a set. Just to see if I could do it. 

Today I will be getting lighting in my shop.I had purchased some lights to set up as my lighting sucked and it is difficult to take photos as once that upper floor was put in, the lower floor was very dark and there was no way to light it to get really good photos. These lights are extremely bright so I am going to have soften them so that will be another problem as it is a limited space. I may have to take one wall down to photograph this which will be difficult. One of the things that is great about this is the challenge of figuring out all the problems! It is fun, believe or now. I'm finally also getting to play with all my dolls. 

Here are some photos of Agnes that I will leave you with....

Tomorrow will be a busy, and hectic day as there is a doll show so I hope to get some pictures, and some cool items for the mansion. If not, I will have a post up later in the week!~Lisa

From Pillar to Post....

I have been preoccupied with getting the columns for the interior of the mansion done. One of the problems I faced was not only my schedule but the PVC material I chose to make the columns out of. PVC pipe is coated with a laminate of some sort as I was informed by my hubby, who works with it and cut down the columns with his saw for me since his PVC pipe cutters were too small for this pipe thickness. So the columns had to be sprayed in very thin layers with the spray paint and allowed to dry in stages, which takes longer. It got done, just took me longer with my schedule and I haven't had time to get by the shop to work on anything else lately. 

So here is a picture with the columns installed! And some of my more 'new' Fashion Royalty ladies enjoying the mansion, who haven't had much camera time.

These two photos show the downstairs and upstairs with the columns in place and a doll able to stand on the upstairs floor for staging.  

Some of these ladies are fairly recent acquisitions such as Edge Vanessa and Mademoiselle Jolie, but Purity Dasha has just recently been de-boxed a few months ago when I was doing hat commissions and needed a really snooty model. I think she was from 2013 or 2014? W club. I never de-boxed her as I was so undecided on her but could not bring myself to sell her. I loved her face sculpt and skin tone and wanted to find the right evening gown for her before I began to put her in another outfit. Right now I am shopping for long, beautiful evening gowns for my girls, as I would like to have a really big evening event for them. More on that later. I think Dasha looks stunning next to this red velvet wallpaper, don't you?

I think this is another Vanessa. She too, is still in her original outfit except for the shoes, which are Starlight Poppy's. Out Sass Vanessa- that's it. I never could bring myself to undress her because she made such a fantastic shopper in that cute suit for LaBelle's. Some dolls I debox and they just become continuous shoppers in my town. This time I would like to find a gown for that beautiful hair. 

Mademoiselle Jolie expects service and expects it quickly! The great and powerful Oz is the perfect butler in that suit. Some dolls, especially playline ones, make the perfect maid, cook or butler in my dioramas because of their looks or articulation. Oz has and was purchased with the full intention of being Agnes' butler or footman from Day 1 of his arrival in the dollhouse. 

I will have more pictures up as I edit them and watermark them. Regretfully, I have had to begin to watermark my pics instead of just posting them as I have found some of my pictures have been used without my permission or without someone asking in the past, so I am attempting to take this measure. 

I will have some more photos up tomorrow, this is it on the progress so far. Hopefully that much needed prop for the rest of the mansion's progress will arrive by next week and we can get on with the next wing's building or rather, Set B! 

Happy Valetine's day!

I decided to do some risque pics with some new dolls and some new props. One of the dolls is a Color Infusion guy Callum Winsor I think his name is, or he is Ace McFly, I can't remember- he's the one with long black hair and sideburns. He looks like a Scottish type of guy. Anyhow, he does not have any clothes or shoes and I purchased him at convention with another guy. Of all things, I also purchased from Denise Travers with Azone handcuffs! (Like all of our dolls would need handcuffs!) I think I was thinking of doing a bank robbery scene diorama. 

My Mademoiselle Jolie came in and she has that wonderful Lingerie, and I have this wonderful Bespaq french bed that is dying for a bigger bedroom off of the french dressing room I made, so I created a quick bedroom. So she and Callum are having an afternoon delight on Valentine's day and I hope you enjoy the pictures. It has everything delightfully sinful and sexy in it- handcuffs, cigarettes, booze, black lingerie, and a naked man, and french furniture. All miniaturized. Oh, and in case you're not into bondage (I'm not into the 50 shades of grey type of junk ) Mademoiselle Jolie just used them for a party prop. No Callums were harmed in this 1/6 scale sex scene without his plastic consent. 
Happy Valentine's day! 

I made the cigarettes, and they look really good and make this scene look so realistic...the only thing that could make it better is if Callum's body was blushed. I thought it added to it to tuck the handcuffs underneath her pillow. The CI guys are surprisingingly easy to stage and so is Jolie. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

LaBelle's windows at Valentine's day...

The windows for LaBelle's boutique in the doll town are done in pink and red and the shoppers are dressed in pink, rose red, black and it's all about the color of love.... Some of my lovelies are shopping and I wanted them all to match. Ever watch TV and wonder on some of these shows how they get the actress, the star, to just stand out from everybody else and it dawns on you, she's wearing a white dress while everyone else is wearing blue, black or some other drab color and her hair is angel blonde ??? Like, even the architecture is stone washed so it doesn't clash with the color of her eyes? That has always amazed me. I think it is wonders what photo shop can do, snicker. Especially in film, it draws our eyes and emotions even more to the storyline. So with these photos I tried to get the colors to tone and see if that played together just right. In the first photos, I made all of the French pastries, the St. Honore, the Religious pastries on the plate, the three tiered pink cake, I wanted to do a chocolate theme but it did not turn out like I wanted to, so I went with a pink theme which matched the clothing I had on hand. The chair and table are Bespaq. In the other window, I made the dress on the Barbie basics model, the end table is also Bespaq. The little felt hearts were so hard to find, they were at ACMoore. Nothing in the way of decoration fit and this is why it was so hard to decorate in a timely manner the way I wished. 

I hope to do some more 'romantic' type of scenes with the guys and have them up by tomorrow here. The cottage interior walls got more coats of white paint which I had to go out and pick up in my travels as I ran out. Won't bore you with more photos on the Extreme Kitbash until further along with more to see.

Hope you enjoyed the photos, and Happy Valentine's day!

Toys for Tots....

This is one diorama that I have been wanting to incorporate for a while into my doll town scenes- the Toys for Tots charity that the Marines do every year for needy children at Christmas. This is dear to my heart as my daughter Amanda has just enlisted in the Marines and is away this year at Christmas. She is a third generation, as her father was a Marine and her grandfather was as well. 

Enjoy!

How-To:
The toy bin was made from a Sun-maid raisin package, covered with contact paper and stuffed with paper, gifts and toys. The Toys for Tots graphics were copied from the internet and printed off and taped onto the easel and bin.