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Friday

May The Man Forgive Me

Today I did something I never thought I would do . . . I actually ordered a head for an SD size body!! Yep, I really did it, I stepped right out of my comfort zone and bought a biggy!!! Mind you, ever since I laid eyes upon Bandersnatch's Margo I've had this strange "yes I will, no I won't" conversation going on in my head.

Photo courtesy of Napi
When I finally got round to actually placing an order, Rogebell wasn't available, then I thought maybe I would be content with Agabell, but she didn't quite do it for me.

Then today, after I reading Bandersnatch's blog, I took a little trip across to Napi . . . and what do you know? There she was . . . Rogebell in all her glory, ready and waiting to be ordered. What threw me a little, today was going to be the last opportunity (at least for the immediate future) for me to order her, so I just did it.

I have ordered her without a face-up as I didn't want all the detailing that was on the default face-up. She is to have a very soft pastel look, which I want to tackle myself.

So it appears there will be NO MORE complete dollies for me (at least for a little while), just orders for lots of headless bodies.

My DIM Human Flowne head arrived today, so I really need a body for her and one to replace the body I stole from Nadia plus the larger one for Rogebell. Gasp! There goes the bank balance again!!

Saturday

Floating Head ~ The Beginning of Seraphine

At 4.30 a.m. today, I bought my first floating head from Alison, over at BJD's For Beginners.


She is a Human Flowne from Doll In Mind and has a face-up by Alexandra Somma of 16-Bit Faceups, complete with gorgeous freckles and unusual eyes. The original face-up from DIM didn't do a thing for me and I would never have purchased it, but there was just something about this particular head that really appealed to me.

This Happy size head is approximately 18.3cm so it appears I will be looking for a body around the MiniFee size to do her justice, which means the three girls that I planned to have in this size has just increased to five!!

Wednesday

Diaphanus

For the past few days I have been trying to think of a name for my sweet Hybrid. I wanted her name to be delicate, like she is and to have the right meaning that describes her as I see her. A delicate princess fairy, an ethereal beauty full of grace with a kind and loving heart. She has no wings, yet is as light as a feather and can float through the air on a whim, just like a dandelion seed.

It required considerable researching to discover the name that would be perfect for her, but I finally hit the jackpot! Diaphanus.


The origin of Diaphanus, dates back to the period between 1605 & 1615 and is derived from the Medieval Latin meaning for transparent. In modern times, it is spelt "diaphanous" which means - very sheer and light; delicately hazy; cobweblike; almost completely transparent or translucent; gossamer like.

Monday

The Hybrid (Part 3)

Well the wigs arrived today and one got discarded . . . well not exactly discarded, I put it on Gina as it fitted her better and put Gina's wig on my little Goth girl.

Now here's my hybrid, Diaphanus, in her new wig.



Wednesday

The Hybrid (Part 2)


Had a little break from sewing and ordered a pretty lavender wig for Amy from Leeke World and a black one for my new Lati Yellow which should arrive tomorrow, with any luck.

The LY is to be a little Goth girl and I am looking forward to dressing her, but more on her later.

Back to Amy and her bodice come corset.


It's not perfect, it could probably have done with a little more shaping to fit neatly, however, it still looks pretty and fairy like to me.

The silk ruffle wasn't a problem and I was fairly happy with the the way the eyelets went in. They lined up beautifully and I used silk ribbon to lace it up. Now, if I add a hook and eye at the top, I think it will look and sit much better.


I have a lovely gold tiara for her, which will look quite stunning against the lavender hair and I will make a matching pair of bloomers for her out of the yellow batiste. After that I guess I will need to decide on shoes . . . . will I buy them or make them I wonder? 

The Hybrid (Part 1)

Having finally made the decision to take my 5 Star Doll Amy head and put it on the Luts Kid Delf Body (Girl Type) that belonged to my Nadia, I took the plunge and changed it.

I was really pleased with the way she looked with her shapely long limbs and tiny bust and proceeded to toy with several ideas of what sort of fairy she would finally become.

After pulling out all my wigs and not finding what I wanted, I ended up pinching the one from my Radicelle as a temporarily measure.

Then I began sorting through what I thought were suitable fabrics and made a complete mess of my studio, but just as I was about to give up, I found exactly what I was looking for!

It's the most gorgeous pale green tulle that is embroidered with pretty butterflies and flowers in pale lemon, lilac and white Rayon embroidery thread . . . very suitable for an important and beautiful fairy.

The tulle is very soft and drapes well, however, I felt it should be lined in someway, so I went with a pale yellow cotton batiste.

I began by making a full length underskirt with a layer of the embroidered tulle below the basque. It has an encased elastic waistband and a small press-stud (snap) at the back.
The shorter over skirt is made in the same way, but using only the embroidered tulle. So far, so good.

The bodice is a bit more of a challenge, as I want it to fit her shape perfectly and to feature the same embroidered tulle as the skirt in the front panel. Not at the back though, as I intend to make a laced up closure. It needs to be less complicated, so I will use the plainer part of the tulle above the flowers.




Sunday

Doll Meet Photos

We had a fun meet yesterday at the Country Club, with around twelve attending and over fifty dolls on display. I spent most of the day chatting, but did manage to take a few photos too.

The Early Birds

Cadbury and the Ladybird

Little Posers

Having a Cuddle

Rot: "What's so funny?"

Such a Cutie

Lookin' Shy

Pretty in Pink

"You're Mine!"

"Wanna Dance?"

"Twasn't  us, we didn't do it.""

Chubby Chops Hershey Lost an Eyelash

Too Much Hair

Just Lounging Around

Now I finally think I may have the courage to attempt a re-string on my own, thanks to being able to watch Simmo and Shelbelly help Willoughby re-string her tiny Luts Centaur/Unicorn..

Tuesday

Our February Adventure

Once again we are joining Heather for another adventure, don't forget to pop on over there to see the others.
The sun is shining today, so Hershey and Lindt decided to pay a visit to Cadbury, to see if she would come out to play. Cadbury's home stood high on the hill, so it was quite a ride to the large double storey, white weatherboard house. Her house always looked so pretty with it's charming sky blue roof.

As they rode their trikes along the footpath they noticed the roses were all in full bloom and were poking their pretty heads out through the freshly painted white picket fence.

February Entry - The House On The Hill

Cadbury's home had once belonged to a Nature Fairy (one of the most beautiful glimmer fairies there are) and has the most wonderful garden. Everyone in Tinytown knows the house well and it has become quite a landmark. Since moving there, Cadbury has opened the garden to the public, and it's now THE place in town for everyone to visit, a real local attraction!

The Flowered Garden by Monet
Although Hershey and Lindt call in mainly to play with Cadbury, they also find the garden an interesting place to explore, there are so many things to see, places to hide and trees to climb.

Hershey particularly likes the garden in the morning, when the sun has managed to warm the earth just enough to make the mushrooms pop through. Lindt loves it best when all the flowers are in full bloom, which create a canvas of colour that looks just like an Oscar-Claude Monet painting.

Monday

My Obsession Minus Two

Fairyland, Iplehouse and Luts, all make exceptionally gorgeous dolls and in a wide variety of sizes. I have more of their dolls than any of the others and it appears that I am tending to lean towards the tiny end rather than the SD end when it comes to size.

I'm still learning about the terms used to describe the different sizes, but it's my understanding (and please correct me if I'm wrong)  that most people align the sizes to the Volks range.

SSD's (EID) are about 27.5" (70cm) tall
SD's (Delf & YID) range from 22.5” (57cm) to 24” (60cm) in height
MSD's (Kid Delf, MNF & JID) are approximately 16.75” (42.5cm)
KID's are approximately 13.7" '(35cm) tall
YoSD's (Honey Delf, LTF & BID) are approximately 10.25” (26cm) tall
TINIES (Tiny Delf, PKF, PP, RP, PID) it can also refer to anything under 40cm

I have also noticed, I have unconsciously managed to group most of my dolls in sets of three. Apart from, of course, my Fantasy ones, which vary in sizes and which I hope to eventually tie together in a story.

It's not that I dislike the larger dolls, I am simply drawn to the smaller ones and those with a fantasy feel. Not sure why, the only explanation could be my love of all things magical and the fact I have always been a bit of dreamer . . . but I can honestly say, that when I do dream . . . I dream BIG!!!

Yep, this hobby which began in earnest just a year ago, has grown to quite a substantial family of 20 and will be 23 when the last orders arrive. Though I do have two that I would like to move on, as they really don't quite fit in with the rest of the family. So that will bring me back to 21, that is providing I don't order any more and knowing me that is more likely to be a probability rather than possibility. :)

Lia - Venus the Warrior
Now who's to go? Firstly an In Motion Girl, Lia, whom I purchased from Ruby Red Galleria complete with face-up and everything shown in the photo to the left and who was simply returned to her box soon after the photo was taken. (FS @ US$200 plus postage)

The other is Amy, a 5 Star Doll who came to me naked, with eyes, face-up, a wig and blanket, but only in a shipping box. I will need to take her out of the box to photograph her in something decent before I can show her here. (FS @US$160 plus postage) 

If you are at all interested, please feel free to contact me through my Etsy store and if I receive no nibbles here, I'll take a few more photos and list them on DoA (Xanadu Dolls on there) and Paracosm (where I am just Xanadu).