Snowed in...

I have not posted much, as since Thursday evening here in Virginia it has been snowing and we have been housebound. Since we live in a rural area, we were projected to get alot of snow until 7am this morning, on Sunday. It was bright and sunny this morning, thank goodness, and had stopped snowing last night sometime in the early hours of the morning. Winds were up to 40 miles an hour. 

Forgive the pic, I took it with my new phone through my front door. I couldn't open my front door as the snow had come up too high! Ordinarily you can see the road in front of those trees, and a field, but all you can see is white out, that white stuff is a road, a ditch, and I assure you a huge field. somewhere across that road is our mailbox. 

Yesterday and Friday we weren't going anywhere- and today someone got stuck in our ditch in front of our house. We had not dug out our driveway or cars or trucks, so someone else had to help them. My husband and I were not going to risk it, the road was just too dangerous to go out on. 

So today I caught up on some dolly tag game pictures for Flicker. 

One was Dolls in lingerie an the other was Dolls in Black. 

I had not taken any pictures of my City Shopper Steffie Barbie in a long, long time. I made these black lace panties with the pink bows on them and thought I would take a pic of her as if she were getting ready to go out with her dress laid out, stockings, etc. I love her, and have always thought she was cute for a Model Muse. I ordinarily hate the body type but they are great for one of a kind dolls if you need a doll to display your gowns on. 

I used Dial V for Victoire for Dolls in Black. I got her at GLOSS convention in 2014 and she is now on sale, she is one of the more lovelier ones. Her outfit is wonderful. I have her skirt on another Victoire that is a saleslady in LaBelle's. This Victoire has the look of a cat burglar to me from the time I saw her outfit, hence the gun. I need to get her a Glock or a nine mil. or a James Bond type of gun. She really looks like she needs to be stealing diamonds or fine art. That is one of the dioramas on my list- it would be neat to have her doing that. 

Looks like I might be snowed in some more, even though it melted a little bit but maybe I might get some more pics. I don't do well without sunlight and today was the first day the sun came back out. I sooooooo....hate snow!
Lisa

Mandrake botany books for Harry....

I have been working on more books, spilled open , designed to lay open, with aged pictures, for Harry and hopefully, Ron and Hermoine when they arrive. I found some stunning pics on google images with mandrakes this past week and printed them off. I also wanted to do some Da Vinci themed books on anatomy, in keeping when Harry loses his bones when one of his inept Professors gets rid of the bones in his arm- remember? so I thought that would be a cool set of books to do as well. Here are the mandrake books.

The only bummer thing I could not make the mandrakes in their pots. I had the pots about in my craft stash but now cannot find them. It has been snowing all day today, so I concentrated on books. Later this week I will get the pots. 

Here is a picture of the closeups of Hogwarts Castle which was 1:12 scale, that was my inspiration for my 1:6 scale project. Click on the greenhouse with the mandrakes!

and now for my pics!

Hope you enjoyed them!~Lisa

Blythe, Blythe, Blythe.....

I love dolls. One doll I am drawn to and go away from is Blythe. The big head, the eyes on the string that 'switch' ...she is ultimately fascinating and intriguing and sometimes can be repulsive with the big head, little body and adorable and cute and beautiful all at the same time. I remember wanting one in the 70's as a kid when Kenner made them and my mother simply hated their big heads and eyes. My mom had this thing about dolls with weird eyes, and not letting them in the house. (I think it had something to do with her 6th sense and being able to see spirits, but that's another long story, lol. ) 

But back to Blythe. One of the things on my long to-do list this year was to finally to something with the factory Blythe I had purchased on Ebay a few years. I had purchased her with the intention of doing a faceup and getting 'into' Blythe. Regular Takara Blythes cost as much as a bjd- up to $99-300 dollars, depending on edition size. Kenner Blythes run about $2000.  'Factory Blythes' are for the most part, essentially 'fake' Blythes and are made with parts from the Chinese factories. They are great for customization, body swapping, etc. 

My factory Blythe has a great wig, so I didn't take her wig /scalp off to do any work, just a light sanding on her face which was easy to do and I did the faceup on her brows, and lips and cheeks with watercolor pencils and chalks. I have not sealed it yet because now and then I occasionally add some color to it here and there. Here is a photo shoot I did this morning with her. I really need to get her a new body and some clothes.

Here she is on a Saturday morning adventure going exploring with Marigold Finch, Mr. Tickles the bear and Minuette Mouse. I have shown her here and I don't have a before picture but before, her face was extremely shiny and now it is more 'matte' finish. I want to swap out her body for a jointed Obitsu body so she will stand more easily and get some better shoes for her than the barbie ones I have. Her eyes are so big and 'all-knowing' ...one of the things that draws me to these dolls when they are customized is the look of intelligence in their big eyes. 
NEWS...AND UPDATES...
So, I am currently beginning work on the staircase set, Set B, and it is hard going. I did some cleanup from Christmas in my workshop yesterday and hopefully I can get over there today.  I have several irons in the fire, so to speak and really want to get the staircase set done so I can do a whole host of new dioramas done. 
I also got a new phone! It's a samsung and the camera is awesome, even more better than my little cannon, which I may now have to upgrade.......it takes great pics. I took some pics of the Gothic mansion yesterday with it, and they were really sharper than my camera pics. Simply amazing. 
Enjoy!Lisa

Star Ace Studios Harry Potter (Casual Wear) Philospher's Stone in 1:6 scale....

I have been a little awol until today because my new action figure, Star Ace Studios Harry Potter Philospher's Stone casual Wear just arrived today. He comes with Hedgwig, his snowy white owl, his wand, an extra hand, and of course, the philospher's stone. The graphics on the box are really wonderful. In America, the company is known as Star Ace Studios, but in the UK, it is known as Big Chief Studios . Look at the whole lineup of Harry Potter characters HERE

Here are my photos I took. I made some items for the table such as some little aged leather books, the candy sticks in the candy jar. The jar of wishes is an embellishment by Tim Holtz from the scrapbook aisle that I thought would be cool for the scenes I plan to do. 

When I first began getting back into miniatures in 2002-2004, the craze was for Harry Potter miniatures. Anything witchy, or any scenes, to do with the movie were the rage. At that time, I only knew 1:12 scale, standard dollhouse scale and was not collecting dolls, and was into building mainly in the 1:12 scale. I did some scenes in this scale. One site and one collector that was very publicized in the miniature magazines, was Sally Wallace, who engaged many artisans, namely Rik Pierce, to construct a miniature Hogwarts castle and other various roomboxes, in 1:12 scale to help her create her own miniature magical Harry Potter world. This was really inspiring for me. Since then, it has always been on my bucket list, if a company ever created decent action figures in 1:6 scale, I would then begin to collect them for the scenes as I knew i could create the accessories for the Harry Potter scenes.  Here is the link for Sally's site-
Magical Miniatures  as well as her old site- Sal's Site

Another artisan that Sally patronized and who is truly amazing is Erika Van Horn, of EV Miniatures. She creates the most magical, historically accurate visual, period miniature books I have ever seen. A truly wonderful artisan. 
Her site is EV Miniatures and she also has a blog Erika's blog . She also sells on Etsy as well. 

My plan this year is to pull back a little from crazy buying on the fashion dolls, or only on those that I can truly use or really wow! me on their quality. I'm just not buying every fashion doll I see. They have to fit into my needs this year and I am going to be focusing my collection on the action figures a bit more if possible. Especially the Star Ace figures as there are quite a few that I have on my list. I am gunning for Hermoine and Ron next. I wish they would do a Hagrid.  So I have alot of buying to do to play catchup, lol. I also have alot of sketching and building to do as well for the dioramas. 
Enjoy!~Lisa

How to Start the New Year off...

I decided to do a shoot comparison with some of my silkies and some of the new Integrity convention girls that came into the doll room for Christmas.. It really is hard to choose. Which is your favorite- Silkstone Barbie, regular collector Barbie- or Integrity toys with Poppy Parker, the Fashion Royalty 2 line, Style Lab Color Infusion, and the list goes on...

The last photo is a closeup of some of my Silkstones by themselves, with Stage Presence Veronique looking on from behind. I have to say that Boater and In the Pink from years past are still two of my favorite Silkstones. I do have more Silkstone Barbies than this just wanted to put a few in the shot that would go with the girls I had already set up in evening dress.  

The reason I am posting this is because of the recent email from Barbie Collector I received about re-joining...

This year, I am, of course, going to join. But I had to stop and think twice. I really , really did. First of all, I haven't purchased that much from Barbie Collector. I purchased Lady of the White Woods (backordered, had to wait.) then I purchased Queen of the dark Forest, (backordered, had to wait) both of these dolls, I used my reward. I ordered Haunted Beauty Zombie Barbie using my third reward , and then, finally, Boucle Beauty Silkstone Barbie with the last reward and free shipping. But this year whenever I have tried for that wonderful hard to get doll, such as Toki Doki- or there was another Platinum, it has been quite literally a disaster. 
The Andy Warhol doll was a one doll I was somewhat glad I did not try for. Some collectors ordered, paid, then were told later after being charged that the website had over extended the order and they would not get their doll! And the waiting room business- all of this to order a doll. 

For this reason, I have done business with Integrity. You don't have to fiddle around with someone who plays guessing games whether or not they want to sell to you or make you 'hunt the doll'. Plus their quality control is on point, they give you articulation, the clothing is beautifully made. 

I will say my only reasons for joining BarbieCollector...nostalgia, and I am eager to see what they do with the articulated Silkstones. But I believe not making some of the Silkstones non-articulated is a really bad decision- not all the collectors like articulation. (why,I have no idea unless you're stuck in 1959 and refuse to come out. ) There has been alot of talk on the Barbiecollector forum about who will stay and who will not buy and I think those collectors are not giving the new articulated Silkies a chance. 

But then again, who am I? I'm just a nutty diorama builder who hates mannequin dolls. I do love my Silkstones I have, and won't change them, but at the end of the day, they are mainly shoppers in my town, I cannot change their pose, their stance. They are not the stars, my buildings are. 

Two...I am collecting the Faraway Forest series of dolls and am hoping...HOPING. that Mattel will add some knee articulation into these idiot Model Muse dolls. We are paying $100 or $80 with a reward for a doll with jointed elbows and model muse legs. The outfits are stunning and so are their facial sculpts. I would love an articulated body on the bottom to go with it so I could get more poseability in pictures when they are out of the box. I was unable to acquire Forest Elf, the first in the series, so am hoping to get the others in the series, there are going to be seven in all. 

Probably my buying with BarbieCollector will be as skimpy in 2016 as it was in 2015...As there are some dolls or action figures on my list that I am simply dying to acquire. Integrity may be put on the back burner as well. I have vowed unless they come up with something that WOWS me, I will not be placing pre-orders.  Especially on the registration to join. Last year I purchased all three, this year I am hoping to save some money. lol...

So what about you? Any thoughts on your dolly purchases in 2016?

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a wonderful & fun & safe Happy New Year!  See ya on the flip side in 2016~ Lisa....

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