Fixing blog problems & new food items

Attempting to fix some problems on this blog...

I have no idea until I began looking at all three of my blogs that there were picture size problems on this blog, so am fixing that today and adding the Etsy shop to the left where some new items have been listed! First up is St. Patrick's day cake with 3 layers, shamrock cookie on top and white icing. It comes with that marvelous Celtic looking doily & free shipping. One in the Etsy shop and one on my Ebay auctions

Also just listed is my new Rainbow cakes and Rainbow individual cake slices, with a china plate. The rainbow cake and cut slice also come with a doily for display. The rainbow cakes have 6 layers of different colors of cake- red, orange, yellow, green, blue & violet.

Shamrock cookies still available in the Etsy shop!

What I have been working on....

Yikes! It seems incredible that it has been 2 months since I last posted to this blog. I have severely neglected this blog of late in the past year. 

I have put aside the Borrowers project simply because of space. I haven't left it entirely, but on a project of this magnitude, I like to have room and with the severe cold weather, snow, and Arctic winds that have plagued us all through January and now into February, many things I do on a project of this magnitude I cannot do inside, except sew their clothing and customize the dolls and sort through 'found' objects. My original plan was to use a lamp box to make it look like the borrower's home underneath the floor.I had even looked at some old plumbing fittings and figured out how to make the rickety flooring with red scrapbook paper to resemble 'blotting' paper that Homily liked. Those plans are still in place, but I will need warmer weather and a place to store this diorama that will have to be disassembled later. I also still need to acquire Homily and Pod.

What I have been working on is a French chateau diorama project. I have long been obsessed with French history, from the Sun King - Louis XlV, to his descandants Louis XV and Louis XVl as well as Marie Antoinette...up to Napoleon. I love Versailles, Petite Trianon, French decor, art, porcelaine- you name it. The history of French artistry is one that is fascinating in a study of both economics on a global level that goes back to the Sun King's genius minister- Colbert. The genius behind dominating the luxury fashion, art, decor and fabric and porcelaine industry made France the country everyone turned to for what was the latest in fashion and design. Every monarch in other countries sought to replicate their own Versailles. 
I have started a French Salon diorama first, as well as dolls that represent Marie Antoinette, Louis XVl, the Dauphin Louis Charles and their daughter, Madame Royale- Marie Therese. Though they had four children, the older Dauphin, Louis Joseph, died as did 
their infant, Sophie. I may still replicate them in the famous picture of Marie Antoinette in red beside an empty cradle after Sophie passed and the older Dauphin is pointing to it.

I have spoken of this project for a few posts on my other blog THe One Sixth Scale Dollhouse . The Chateau project right now consists of a room- which is intended to be a music salon where Marie Antoinette and her family and friends, courtiers can congregate. I am working now on her children. I chose Lilac Frost Poppy Parker to be a young Marie Antoinette and the doll who will be Louis will be ready by June as I am having him re-painted and re-rooted to look like Louis- this is an Emmett Twilight doll who has the features of the young Louis. 
I also just finished a tutorial on Foamcore French doors on my other blog, so please read it, they turned out very well for this diorama and are hinged and open and close. 
Right now here are some photos of the project-

The doors are made of regular thickness of foamcore, but the walls are 1/2 inch thick foamcore. All rough edges on the doors and walls were covered with white contact paper and the doorknobs and hinges came from my local miniature dollhouse shop. I made the lit du polannaise settee/divan myself with fabrics in my stash and odds and ends. I also made the tassels myself on this project- I may still add a few touches.

The walls will be treated with embellishments of course, when I can get my additional supplies I need. I have a fireplace, overmantel and brackets on order as well. The doors will open onto the veranda terrace , I just have not finished the items for outside as I am concentrating on the salon. I am attempting to score a Suzy Goose piano, but no such luck right now, that would so resemble the Louis style I need for a music room. I may still add a harp. 
The other characters I am attempting to replicate will be Madame Campan, Yolande (Gabrielle) de Polignac, and the Princesse de Lamballe, as well as Count Fersen. My inspiration for the characters are from history as well as the Kirsten Dunst Marie Antoinette movie. I have done alot of research on the portraits of these historical figures to get the clothing, hair, and face molds correct or as near as possible. Louis will be the ultimate in replicating him into doll form, so I hope I do this correctly. I am currently gathering fabrics for his coat, vest, shirt, and breeches. I found the most wonderful remnant at Joann's for a few bucks for the color of his breeches, wonderful material. I may use it on a gown for Gabrielle, who was the Queen's closest friend. 

Here I have shown pictures of Louis, Marie Therese and Louis Charles, the older Dauphin, Louis Joseph, Marie Antoinette herself, and Kirsten Dunst in costume, as well as Lilac Frost Poppy Parker as Marie Antoinette. Just by luck I had the bright pink and gold India fabric with the silk ribbon and miniature lace for her gown. It really laces up in the back. I washed and reset her hair- no easy task to get it tall and stay that way. I used a pattern for the gown that was originally for an MSD sized bjd in Haute Doll, but resized it and altered it to fit a 12 inch fashion doll. The bodice was the most complicated part. 
I hope you follow my other blog the One Sixth Scale dollhouse as I will be posting more on the Chateau Project. Hopefully during the summer I will be able to continue the Borrowers project, along the similar lines of when I did the Ingalls' dugout home from LIttle House on the Prairie. 

clothes for Arietty...

Ouch. It has been a while since I posted here- almost a week. I had finished a test or prototype of dress I created with fabrics and mateerials on hand from the pictures of the covers of the books. 
On research, Arietty's dress with the long torso, somewhat baggy/tucked and a short skirt and sash appeared to be from the 1880's- to the turn of the century- more around the late 1890's to the early 1900's. I have an American Girl doll, Rebecca Rubin with this type of dress and she wears the little black and white spat boots. I used a pink gingham cotton I had on hand with some ruching I had. I think for a first try this dress turned out pretty good. I used the cover pic of The Borrowers Afloat to go by, as Arietty's dress in the first book is more beruffled than the later ones. 

I used a very thin piece of silk ribbon for her hairbow and I think this turned out so very period. The dress pattern (I did this by eye, just looking at the pictures and putting the doll on the fabric and measuring what her bodice, skirt length and sleeve length should be). I used a piece of muslin for her square collar, which did not turn out exact but looks like it works in the pics. Young Sophisticate has such an innocent young teen look that she is perfect for Arietty- who was fourteen when the storyline in the books start. Many people forget that young girls did not put up their hair and skirts until 15-17 depending on what mothers decided back then. (Sort of like when I was growing up- you did not begin to wear pantyhose until you could wear heels) 
I did a test shot or two of her in front of our front door like last time, and putting a ornament on the tree. The only thing is the colors will have to be a tad darker on the fabric, light pastels will reflect/shine back on the camera and she will look like an inkblot so the fabrics will have to be a bit darker. 
Hope you enjoy my progress- Lisa

The Borrowers- new project

 The Borrowers series of children's books by Mary Norton enthralled me as a child, especially as a child with dollhouses. I loved to read the books and then 'pretend' the dolls were borrowers. I think I thought of so many scenerios that Mary Norton did not when playing. I adored Arietty...she was so fearless and fun at the same time. 
I have had it on my projects or doll dioramas 'to do' list and thought that it should come about. This project will be somewhat special to me as I have not been posting a great deal on my blogs- my mother had been very ill in the hospital with a stroke and bypass surgery for over a month in November. To my sorrow, she passed away on December 3rd. With sitting by her bedside in ICU and helping my father, dolls in my spare time consisted of taking a few 'fun' pics and I have not had the heart to do much more than create some miniature foods..which helped me to keep my sanity in the midst of this sadness. As an artist I can tell when I am affected by my emotions and the more I sculpt/sew/design/ build or work, the more able I am to deal with my emotions. During this time I decided to focus on this project for the upcoming year as it would be a tribute to my mother - who was the original 'miniaturist' and loved little things. She herself was a creative person- always creating sewing- yo-yos for miniature yo yo quilts, and collecting her dolls- she loved child and bride dolls. Scale did not really matter to her, and in going thru some of her dolls and items I realized she was a true collector- she paid absolutely no attention to scale, just if the whimsy hit her and she liked the items together. Thus, the Borrowers is a perfect diorama project for me to work on, in tribute to my mother's sense of fun and whimsy. 
I decided the best way to start was to acquire the dolls for the main characters in the 1st book- Arietty, Homily and Pod Clock. Here are some illustrations of them from the first book, which is set in the late Victorian era- my favorite!

I have thought that Young Sophisticate Poppy Parker has a wonderful innocence about her especially her hair. Arietty's young girl Victorian era style dress with the little Victorian boots would be adorable on her. 
For Homily, I thought Grandma Barbie with a wig would be a good choice. I have a friend on Flicker whose work I greatly admire, whose doll Euro Auntie inspired me. Euro Auntie is a caucasian Grandma Barbie who she altered with a Felted wig that has fascinated me. Click HERE to see the photo in OddMod's photostream that makes/creates the look for Homily I am going to attempt. I have located a synthetic Monique wig that will work for Homily on OddMod's advice. I am looking forward to this alot as I am hoping this will help me work thru my grief and sadness. 
Pod will be an action figure that I am hoping to acquire soon, funds are low right now. 
As to scale to photograph the dioramas, I will be working in 1:6 scale. I have many reasons for this. Though in the books the Borrowers are about 6 inches high, dollhouse scale 1:12 scale, that size will be too incredibly small to do visible and artistic shots of a diorama. 
I decided to use Young Sophisticcate Poppy, aka Arietty, to do some test shots of her with a 'borrowing bag' to see if it would be believeable in real, full size surroundings. Here are some of my test photos which pleased me.

I did these test photos since many large scale 'found' items will have to be full size or doll size since the Borrowers have to invent and create their home and furniture from found items. 
I thought Arietty looked cute with the spools of cotton, a silver fork, and clothespins, paperclips, safety pins and a doll size teacup and saucer like Pod had to get for Homily. I recreated their drawing room wallpaper from the descriptions of how Homily papered their parlor with letters and the writing going in vertical lines up and down by using scrapbook paper that looked like someone had written a letter. 
My first task will be to get and acquire the dolls and replicate their clothing as well. I have looked at some movie images but did not like the  most recent images of the Borrowers movie, it did not keep to the books' Victorian era look. I thinki the actual building of the dioramas I will need will take place in the spring/summer when it will be convenient to work outdoors on this large project. 
Enjoy the photos-
Lisa

Antique shopping at Christmas...

I love to antique shop- it has been something I was accustomed to doing my whole life, even as a child- only my parents called it yard salin'  or 'let's go to the flea market', lol...I learned early how to set up displays, and what was a good deal, and so on. Over the years I have 'evolved' and love love love indoor antique malls, They are my 'inspiration' you might say. I just adore it....the displays give me ideas on how to revamp my own items and finds for my own decor as well for my doll dioramas and the doll mansion. lol...

Today Hubby got the wanderlust- finally! And we went to several indoor flea markets and thrift shops, antique stores. It was a cool rainy fall day today and we went to my all time favorite- Through the Garden Gate antiques. It is a combination of dealer booths, shabby chic, jewelry designers, you name it- the old the new, the old revamped. I find great items here occasionally. But enough of that- here is the eye candy! Enjoy!~Lisa