Corsetkitten's Workshop: a blog devoted to 1:6 dolls, props, & photostories

Welcome Indy! An Unexpected Addition…. NDR post

May 092013

I’ve been lax on posting lately. Mostly it’s been me being sick and trying to kick the cold (It has gone from my head to throat to chest and I think there’s just a bit left *hanging on like an unwanted visitor!* before it’s gone).

Monday this week I ran across an ad online for a cat that needed adopting. I know….. It’s not like we were in desperate need for one, right? I mean we have the most beauteous Electra and Harley to keep us company.

So ok, a semi-bald, abused cat. Bound to have issues.

I decided I’d email them anyway. What harm could an email do, right? Besides, I wanted to see what he looked like, you know?

Juli, the awesome chick running the rescue emailed me right away and snapped some photos of him. She also gave me some excellent information about him and his background. It’s Rough. With a Capital R. Basically, the guy bought him for his teenage daughter (to try to get her to visit–it didn’t work and he was then stuck with a cat he hated and reminded him of his failure). This guy intentionally starved him (he told his neighbor when he took the cat that he was trying to starve it to death), drop kicked him, and threw him across the room whenever he saw him. He had no veterinary care, was infested with fleas, had scabs over his body and was mostly bald. In general he was in really, really poor health when the rescue took him. (that guy should be thankful I don’t own a gun. Yes, people. I would shoot someone for doing something as inhuman as that.

You can’t really tell from looking at the photos but right now he looks a lot like a bobble head….big head and stick figure body but he has the best personality. He’s sweet, and affectionate. I find it so unbelievable how loving he is considering his treatment.

This was one of the photos that the rescue sent me to let me know what he looked like:

I figured that although it was a bit of a long drive I’d go meet him in person, and see how it went. I’d wanted to get a Maine Coon kitten some time later this year (or next) but was also feeling guilty about getting a kitten when I know so many cats are out there in shelters and rescues who really need the home. You know? So in that sense, he seemed like a perfect match. He was a maine coon (if horribly abused and malnourished), and he needed a home. And he’s a lapcat.

And we met and he liked me. That was about all there was to that. I was hooked and took him home. So then Mark (although he’s still in the UK, but on his way home next week) and I decided we should rename him (we just didn’t see him as a Jackie Chan….More of an Indiana Jones since he seemed to have escaped from his own Temple of Doom. So we’re calling him Indy!

This is a pic from this morning (*he came home with me yesterday afternoon*) he was winding himself around my legs Yes his little ribs are sticking out, and you can feel every knob on his spine

So wish us all luck with getting him to good health, feel more secure and loved. He’s a wonderful boy!

Have you met Cora? A Friday Monologue for you! :D

Friday Monologues 5 Responses »

Apr 192013

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy here and the 1/6 stuff has suffered a bit. I’ve been making great headway on my calligraphy *woo!* and I went to my first SCA event in about 20 years this last weekend. It was awesome and I had tons of fun!

Anyway, to make it up to the few of you who’re still reading this blog….a Friday Monologue! (please forgive the overly large text in it. I forgot to change the default size!)

Friday Monologue #9: Claudia Carsten-Kane

Friday Monologues, QC: character info 8 Responses »

Apr 052013

Yea it’s almost 11pm, but I got the monologue done for this week. I apologize ahead of time that it’s not a very good one (the photos weren’t working and I didn’t have patience to take a new batch). But something is better than nothing, right?

Click the image below for the story! (and feel free to leave a comment here)

Friday Monologues and Me…

Eh, what? 3 Responses »

Mar 252013

I’m sure that some of you have wondered what happened to my plans on doing new Friday Monologues? Actually, I’m not sure at all that anyone even gave it any thought!

Anyway while I have been busy (obviously) working on stuff, moving and trying to get my etsy shop up and running I have been jonesin’ to do some FMs. So expect some soon–I’m not promising super interesting stuff…but something is better than nothing!

Wrenwood Hall: more thoughts on casting, characters & sets

photostory stuff, Quinlan Chronicles, Wrenwood Hall 11 Responses »

Mar 222013

Ok, so a brief change of gears here–from modern/ contemporary diorama planning back to pseudo-medieval diorama planning & thought!

It seems like I do a lot more thinking these days and not as much “making”! Grr! Frustrating! But the warm weather is coming & that means I’ll be able to make more things (without say, realizing that the house is so cold that the 2 part epoxy won’t come out of the tubes LOL)

The plus side to it being so cold is that I can dedicate the time to think about/ plan/ how to make things. I have primarily been finalizing the basic *female* character roster for Wrenwood Hall. This is what I’ve come up with thus far: (click on the image–then on the white “X” for larger version). Yes, you’ll notice that at the moment they are all Fashion Royalty dolls from Integrity Toys–I do have a few other characters that I am hoping to use my Takara CG female figures in too…But I’m not ready to commit them to specific roles yet….

You’ll notice that I haven’t yet cast Lady Merithi. That’s because I haven’t found a doll yet that I like for that character. Still hoping I’ll find one at some point (or somehow do a massive about face and cast someone who already exists LOL).

Next I have to start thinking about the main male characters…

I’m still working on sourcing them so that will be updated (and decided) later. I know roughly 5 roles that require guys so I am keeping an eye out! I’ve seen a few male action figure heads on feebay lately that I think could work for them.

Speaking of the guys….On flickr I saw that Hot Toys has put out their True Type Advanced Muscular Body–which appears to be half a head/ or slightly more/ taller than the standard Hot Toys True Type Body.

Here’s a great comparison pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53915760@N04/8560432997/

That would be awesome if it’s really taller since I want to use Hot Toys action figures as the male cast—but they are short-asses compared to the Fashion Royalty female dolls——-and I really don’t want to have to do constant shots where I’m hiding the fact that the guys are standing on boxes to make them the same height or taller than the women in the cast!!!!

Sets: Hmm, where do I start with these?

Before I left the UK I had 3 ideas in mind that I wanted to do for Wrenwood sets.

a cloister garden / with walk ways and possible fountain? (this is a photo of the cloisters @Manhattan): http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/1140649614/

a small chamber–with window seat. –useable as a small bedchamber/ personal space/stillroom

Medium size Hall –with alcove at one end and two entry ways (with doors) into them. Stained glass windows, flagstone floors and faced stone walls.

I know it’s all kinds of crazy work to do–on top of doing my 3 main roomsets for the regular chronicles (university based). Which means that these are going to continue to stew in the back of my head. But I think I’m pretty excited about it anyway. For the cloister/garden area I’ve been looking into plants and ideas on how I can use them for the settings—and if I should try to do the whole cloister set outside—on the ground—or….on raised beds/ tables outside.

I know it sounds a bit bonkers to want to do it and make a set that could withstand the outdoors and the weathering it would get. I really love the idea of being able to shoot in natural lighting with _real_ weather to color the scenes and give it that added realism.

Anyway, I’m thinking that I’ll leave the cloister set until mid-spring, and see about making the small chamber. From a purely financial standpoint that would be best–it’ll take the least amount of supplies (just to make), and I could use it for quite a few scenes depending on how I shoot it. We’ll see I guess? (I’ll need to decide if I want to do rendered “lime washed” walls, or use faux stone appearance.

Starting another quilt: for…..who?

Eh, what?, Making Stuff, quilting 2 Responses »

Mar 192013

Well, some of you may know that my sweetheart has taken a trip and is now back in the ol’ UK. Which means that things are quite quiet here. Me, Electra and Harley are rattling around a bit like peas in an empty pod

I knew it was going to be difficult to get used to — being alone in the house, doing everything (grocery shopping, laundry, shoveling the driveway) all alone with no one *human* making noise, or just “being” in the house to talk to (unless I go to the store or one of the weekly meetings with SCA folks). I just didn’t think it would be so echoingly …quiet. So I’d planned a list of things I wanted to try to make some good strong progress on while he’s away.

Paint the walls of the dorm room roomset
Paint the walls of the “Office” room set
Cut the wood for the flooring
Stain the wood for the flooring
Seal the wood flooring
Glue the wood to base
Drill holes in walls above windows to hold window treatments for all sets
Stain and seal the new doors
Make some furniture for the Dorm Room (couch, chair, coke machine)
Make some office / professor furniture (desk, chairs, etc)

Yesterday I decided to add the list of “want to Do” projects that I have planned. I got the idea I wanted to add a quilting one to the list too!

So I spent part of tonight working on a layout plan for the quilt. I’d thought it might work for Astrid, but now I’m not sure. I’m thinking it might (maaaaaaybe) go to Shayna, since her insanity quilt is going to take foreveeeeeeer…..But I’m not sure. I figure I’ll think about it once it’s done and decide then who it’ll get assigned to!

Repainting…why does it have to be this way?

1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings 1 Response »

Mar 032013

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and tried painting any heads (witht eh exception of the commission head). And I am pretty disgruntled by how quickly my skills seem to have atrophied! I spent yesterday working on Bonsai trees and last night trying to get some repaints done.

But the painting didn’t go too well… I started painting (because sometimes a head I feel “so-so” abot in the paint/sketch stage will end up surprising me and being really nifty when I finish it). It just didn’t go well.

I wiped the head — repeatedly. And again. and again. and…..again.

I did that drill about 8 times last night. It’s very frustrating and it sure leaves me well aware of my lack of patience and skill. But I did keep trying, so one plus for me. right?

Anyway I came out of it with the head repainted (and not wiped) and even so I’m not sure about keeping (and not wiping) her.

Here’s what she looked like pre-painting (she was wiped prior to our move):

I repainted her because I just didn’t like how she looked. She has a centruy model head (no idea which/whose) and she was re-rooted with saran from Restoredoll.com (burnt orange).

This is how she currently looks:

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep this face or end up wiping it. I do think she looks mature enough to be a professor or an admin person at the University though. I need to find a name that fits her though and then go from there….

Wishful thinking: so many lovely doll goodies out there….

Eh, what? Comments Off

Mar 012013

I know you know just as well as I do how many awesome 1:6 scale goodies (and dolls) that are out there! And I try to be a good sport about looking and admiring what everyone else has gotten. It’s nice to see, of course. I do wish I had the money to burn for it sometimes but I can usually shrug it off and think that I might get it someday down the line…. But today I got this (advertisement) in my email today. And it just made me go *UNFAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIRRRR!!!!*

(for those not in the know, these purses are the Purse of The Month Collection by the Wieler Sisters: http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/7504078 )

In RL I’m not much of a purse or a bag person (I lack all fashion sense unless it’s black clothing, with a black bag and black shoes.) but these are so completely and totally the kind of purses that more than one of my characters would have that I just felt punched. Yea, it’s silly. But yea. I felt like that. Both of those are just awesome. The choco-cocoa colored one is lovely and that pumpkin one is too! Curses! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I’m hoping that by the time I get the new bonsai trees listed in Etsy Sunday, that maybe those or something else will sell in Etsy and allow me to get one of these purses before they sell out! I can hope anyway!

Who lives with whom? Roommates decided at last!

1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, photostory stuff, QC: character info Comments Off

Feb 272013

Ok, so you know I think about my photostory stuff a lot. And as one of my good friend says about my attempts to assign roommates/ pairs of students “You over-think it! Just DO it already!”

Guilty as charged.

But I was determined that I’d do it this time. I mean since I have the dorm room / student lounge set almost (sort of) done, I need to know this stuff. Really! And I need to be able to refer to it time and again (since I can remember the characters but not always who’ll be living where). So today (after I finished the last 3 re-paints so I had enough students for this) I made up a chart. It’s a quick reference one, so it’s not all pretty and lovely. But it’ll do the trick. So. Here we are: the female roomates. (you’ll notice that Nerissa isn’t on the chart. That’s because she’s got a private/ single room! Lucky girl!)

If you want to see the image @ full size click it and then look for the white X and then click that.

There you have it!

Now I have to get back to sewing!

More thoughts on the 1:6 diorama plans!

dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, Quinlan Chronicles 4 Responses »

Feb 182013

Yep, so I’ve got Mark slaving away inserting windows and making me (YES!!) 2 doors to use in the dioramas. This makes me a very happy chickie Ok, so while he’s slaving away doing that (YAY!) I was trying to think up of different layouts I can use for the walls/room sets.

This is what I’ve come up with for the Dorm room dioramas:

This is the old dorm room set (geared for Karly & Astrid)

It’s kind of important that I can get as many permutations as possible out of that one since I have a lot of students who obviously have to live in a dorm room. *and while it’s true I may not have lots of scenes set in all of their rooms, it’s nice to have that option!* Some of these set-ups would depend on the students getting along/being good friends.

So that’s the basic ideas for the dorm room….

Next let’s talk about the base walls for the Student Lounge:

It looks a bit bare for the moment because I have to work out how the things I have will work in it. I also need to make a couch for it. So for right now all I know is that the room has 2 windows and a door! And when I get around to it (provided I left enough room) I’ll be making a 1/6 soda machine. You gotta have one of those, right?

This is the old dorm room set:

This one is different, obviously, but I’m still looking for that kind of flavor to it.

So once that’s figured out it’ll be great! Annnnnd depending on how I do the window treatments (Blinds? Curtains?) I could possibly use this as a student dorm room. Maybe for some special student, or as an upperclassmen room. Maybe?

And of course, the Professors’ Office / Academic Office:

It’s a shared wall with the Student Lounge. I’m thinking the windows for the academic office will need to be blinds or something similar. I have the 4 wooden book cases that Mark made me back in 2010

And I think that I might have at least 2 versions of the offices so I can swap out which professors are in which, etc.

Anywho: after the doors & windows are inserted I get to paint the walls and stuff and begin the process of making and collecting all the stuff I need to actually “fill” the sets! Woo!

It begins again: 1:6 scale Dioramas redux!

dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff 5 Responses »

Feb 152013

Yes, at last I’m going to get to work making replacements for the dorm room & student lounge roomsets! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! ~Waves arms in a kermit the frog dance~>(You *must* click on the pic of Kermit to see the dance!!)

Ok, so what do we have to do?

The first thing I did was take stock of the stuff I brought back with me from the US… I was gutted to realize I am missing a few pieces I was sure I had, but oh well. :/

I do however have enough windows to make a wall to use for the student dorm room and the student lounge. That’s great, right? And even better—there’s a pretty good chance of me reusing the wall from the student lounge as a wall in the professor’s office.

Maaaaaaaybe.

It’s possible anyway~! The only thing it would really need different is a door…..and I could probably get away using the dorm room one until that was made down the line… Unless I can talk Mark into doing one (or two! ) The Dorm room needs a closet door! Really!). Don’t you think that a room that 2 people have to live in would be big enough for 2 professors to have to work in together? Or am I pushing too much? I recall seeing some really tiny academic offices when I was in college (both times) so I’m thinking that it could work. And heck, maybe 2 and an adjunct at the same time

It’s not really the ideal plan (because we’re working to a time constraint etc. Mark is going to visit his people next month so I won’t be allowed to use stuff while he’s gone. So I have to get them now!) but whatever. I want a real roomset again and this will do the trick!

So here’s a quick pic of what the basic set up (for the dorm room) is probably going to be: (ignore Harley, ok? She’s not to scale!)

Actually, looking at that that is the wrong set up! D’oh. The window should be on the wall opposite the door. So just imagine it is there ok? And pretend that I unwrapped & re-assembled the dorm beds! I was tired last night though so I didn’t bother for the lay out mock up.

For the Student Lounge, there will be 2 of those white windows on one wall and no other windows. I’m not sure what the floor treatment for either will be at this point. For all the sets the walls will be basic white.

Commission: Triad Alpha AA head

1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, Something to share, triad toys 8 Responses »

Feb 132013

As I mentioned previously I’ve been working on a commission. It’s been kind of an up & down process. I’m not really pleased with all of it (parts of it yes, parts of it — not so much) but I’m waiting to hear back from the person how they feel about her. The brief was that I customize a Triad Alpha AA head to look very similar to the one I did previously and made into Lilith Porter (a character in the Quinlan Chronicles).

I’ve put a lot of effort into this and ran into some issues along the way…But anyway, what did I do?

I removed her original hair.
I made new and enlarged her existing hair holes so that I could re-root her with dreads.
Made the dreadlocks.
Painted the scalp of the head to match the new hairline.
Rooted the head with the dreadlocks.
Repainted her face.
Repainted her face again.
Repainted her face yet again.
Repainted her face still again….and again…and again.
Finally got a face that I feel works with the brief. Sadly, I think my lack of painting is showing.
I’ve decorated her dreads.
Took some photos to show her appearance off.

Ok, so that’s that. We’ll see what happens. If the person isn’t happy they have the option of taking the original Lilith’s head. We’ll see.

We survived the blizzard! Yay!

Eh, what? 2 Responses »

Feb 102013

We survived the blizzard and haven’t (yet) turned into iced Popsicle people!

I did however manage to hurt my back shoveling our driveway so it kind of put a damper on things a bit (thank goodness for heat /cold packs). I’m going to update the blog with a proper post a little later this week. I want to share how my commission is coming along (which means taking pics and stuff which also means using my back….which means probably tues-or weds to expect pics).

I’ll also hope to update the etsy shop later this week (thurs/ fri?) with some 1/6 clothing. Not as exciting as furniture, I know, but it’s a nice break for my poor over worked wrists!

Etsy? Did I mention more 1:6 scale stuff on Etsy?

1:6 Props & Miscellany, Etsy-related, For Sale, Something to share Comments Off

Feb 012013

Welllllllllllllllll….just in case I didn’t mention it wherever you’ve been hanging out, I did update my etsy shop: CK Workshop with some more 1:6 furniture!

This set is all white washed and like the other set it took an awful lot of nails! (If I keep making these I’d need to buy stock in a nail co! LOL!)

Making progress on the commission: slowly!

1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings 3 Responses »

Jan 312013

As I mentioned previously I am working on a commission for someone. It’s a Triad AA alpha head. The brief was that they wanted someone who looked like my aa alpha Lilith .

It’s going more slowly than I’d like, partly because it took a lot longer for the supplies to get here.

I got most of the grunt work of it out of the way:

her dreadlocks made
head de-haired, new holes drilled and old holes enlarged
scalp repainted and new hairline added.
Dreadlocks inserted and conditioned

I’d like to say that I got her repainted but…alas. I have not!

I’ve tried repainting her about 5 times now and it’s feeling very frustrating for me not to get her to come out “right”. *sigh* This is part of the reason I don’t tend to take on commissions! Ah well! I’m going to take a few days break from that and do some practice painting on some other heads. Maybe I’ll practice on that alpha hispanic I wiped a couple (6?) months back….Or maybe I’ll work on the Insanity Quilt a little bit. Or just another 1:6 quilt? OR costumes?

Oh Soooo much I want to do!

Eh, what?, Making Stuff 1 Response »

Jan 282013

I know, I knooooooooow! I don’t seem to be posting half as much as I should these days!

I’m working on all kinds of stuff, surviving the winter in Central NY, and remembering how nice it was to be toasty and warm (now, just a memory!).

Buuuuuuuut…………. I need to make a list of the things I want to get done. When finances and weather allow I’m not going to include the ones that depend on getting things done in the house re-model. (like the sewing room or my workroom).

Make a proper room-set / diorama base & walls set….Something that I can use for photostories & random photoshoots. I love my fake brick wall but it’s already suffered 4 accidents and I’m not sure that it’ll make it through to spring! Stupid foamcore — so delicate! Grrr!
- I’d like to make the base interchangable for 2 or 3 different rooms.
- I need a Student Lounge, Apartment Living room (for Giselle), and an Academic Office. I brought my windows and doors with me from my old sets so those are ready to insert!

I’d like to start working on the Wrenwood Hall stuff again. I have some ideas for dioramas for that.
- I think I could probably start with costumes.

Maybe next week I can do up a couple of costume sketches and see where to go from there? (Of course, if someone buys some stuff in my etsy shop I’ll have some money to buy the supplies to make a roomset / diorama…..

And of course at the moment I’m working on making a few more things for Etsy, a commission, and a new character that I want to add into my photostories!!

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