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

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!

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.

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!!

Bricks & Stones break my bones…but foamcore drives me Nuts-o!

1:6 Props & Miscellany, Making Stuff 10 Responses »

Dec 092012

Yea I have a lot of different projects on the burners right now –in fact I’d have to be a professional stove with double the normal amount of burners to handle all the pots I’ve got a’boilin!

One of those was making a brick wall to use for backdrop image when I’m shooting photos of stuff—-for Etsy & for using in Friday Monologues. It took me a good week or so to get the wall done. It wasn’t fun.

I’m not that happy with it because there were too many places I made mistakes and it shows.

However, it’ll do the job and that for now is what counts.

I have to say here and now that I am not, never have been and never will be a fan of foamcore.

Please don’t try to stone me you folks who love the stuff. I know it’s manna from heaven for a lot of people, and it’s the greatest stuff ever. For you.

It remains burned into my consciousness as the crap that professors made you use for pointless art projects (when in the day a piece of foamcore cost 6 bucks instead of 1 buck at the dollar store!) Anyway. I still think it is the stuff of the devil. It’s flimsy, flaky and just too prone to damage. Ok, that last bit is probably just down to me being a klutz and needing sturdy, break resistant stuff around me!

Anyway, I persevered through and made this: (in the 2nd one down Giselle is modelling in the pics just for the hell of it!).

See, this is where the nit-picky thing really rears it’s ugly head.

A lot of people just use bricks that the y print off of photos or they use scrap-booking paper (or fabric). I’d like to be happy with that for my use, but I … well. I just couldn’t. And I have heard that me putting all this detail in doesn’t make any difference at the end, so why bother with it?

But, I just had to. Really.

Anything else would have felt half-assed. And I really do my damnedest to make sure I don’t do anything that way. Why bother if you’re not going to do it right, you know?

Yes, it meant I spent more than a week scribing in all those blasted bricks. And then more experimenting (and failing spectacularly with different options for mortar!) I’ve kind of got the mortar thing sorted so the next wall will be better (and it won’t be foamcore).

And just a few shots of Giselle because, well….she’s a fave!

I’ll be updating again as soon as I have some more photos (of stuff) to share!

What 1:6 stuff am I up to? Do you really want to know?

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

Nov 242012

Ok, well first off, none of it is earth-shatteringly exciting!

I’m working on the following stuff:

making some walls for temporary roomsets/dioramas
a semi custom Hot Toys Female head (the “cuban” version)
A customized So in Style Chandra.

The roomset/diorama walls are el-cheapo but I’m trying to do my best not to make them look like crap.

I’m doing one as a brick wall set which is taking up some time…I’m hoping to finish the bricks today/tonight and start painting them tomorrow.

The other set of walls is kind of a Frankenstein wall set because I started it with one idea in mind and I’ve changed it into something else. I’m trying to do neutral sets that I can use for Friday Monologues and stuff.

I’ll try to update tomorrow with photos of what I have gotten done. (and when I get at least one set done I’ll shoot photos of the HT custom etc.) I’ll need to do a whole separate post for the HT head and also for the SIS Chandra.

Back to Planning: The Cup & Saucery Cafe

dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, What do YOU think? 7 Responses »

Oct 212012

I admit it. I’m an incorrigible diorama addict!
I’ve just moved house, am living a little bit rough, and what am I thinking of?

No, it’s not what color should I paint the walls of my studio (white, after we tear off the 1970′s paneling)…it’s Roomsets. Planning & thinking about them!

More specifically, how should I design the layout for the Cup & Saucery Cafe!

I know! Call me crazy!
But I decided that the Cup & Saucery would be the best roomset/diorama to make first…That’s mostly because I have the majority of things I need (furniture wise) and it would allow me to use the widest range of characters in it….And it is very likely the only room-set I’ll make for a while. So it has to really, really has to be multipurpose/functional.

Anyway–back to discussing the cafe: Starting back at the beginning, the Cup & Saucery cafe was named “The Mocha Loca Cafe (MLC)” and was owned by Alison. However, in the time since I 1) created Alison as a character and 2) started mentally designing (and part building a few times) the MLC, things have changed. The biggest change is of course space. I now have space enough to make the roomset the size I wanted to instead of settling for something smaller. That’s not to say I’m going to go batcrap-crazy, but….Yes. I am going to make the most of my space which meant that I needed to get a real idea of how big it needed to be to look right (for me).

I’m a really visual person. Drawing dimensions out on paper doesn’t help me a whole lot when I’m planning on making stuff. So the first thing I decided to do was take out some masking tape and try to mask out the area on the floor.

Yea, I know…Not very awe inspiring, is it? (no, I mean the box, not the floor–which is also a little underwhelming. I’m considering spilling paint on it to make it less…1970-linoleum looking.)

So the next step was for me to get out the misc pieces of furniture I had and lay them out in the space & populate it with some dolls so I could see how it was going to work. (some of the pieces are just placeholders for things I need to make yet).

I tried to include a fair mix of figure types: including volks dollfies, takara cy girls, Hot Toys action figures, Triad alpha, fashion royalty girls (yay Giselle!), and some barbies.

Overall I think the layout that I had in mind willwork out ok.I need to add a few extra inches on to allow for architectural features/fakes.

(Did you notice in the photo above it looks like Viv & Gil are doing a re-enactment of the shootout at the OK Corral? Guess there’s still a bit of bitterness over the divorce!)

I’m going to end up needing 3 windows (instead of the 1 I was hoping to get away with) but since they’ll be simple, single paned windows those should be easy enough & I won’t have to ask Mark to help with them. I still want to do the back-room/kitchen area/ office but that can be a separate set that I’ll but up against it if I need to.

As far as furniture: I think I will probably need to dig out an additional chair & table set and paint it. And I need to replace those chairs with other ones (they are placeholder pieces). And I need to see if I can tweak my ideas about the counters/display units. The spot where Gwen (kenzie on a cg body) is is going to be utilized as a coffee area–like where you get milk and sugar , napkins & crap.

So we’ll see. Our budget is especially tight now so I’m not sure when I’ll actually have the money to buy the supplies for the walls, floors and stuff. But I’d rather put together a plan of action and organize how I want to do it–that way when we can afford to splurge I can get the materials.

Speaking of Roomsets/Dioramas/Displays…
Here’s a quick poll: please let me know what The poll closed (11-12-2012) and this is what y’all told me call these things!

What do you prefer to call your 1/6 scale sets (or scenes)?

Poll Results:

Dioramas

50%

Room-sets

18.8%

Other *if other please share in comments!!!*

18.8%

Displays

12.5%

total votes: 16

My thanks to everyone who voted! I love to know what folks think!

Am I a 1:6 Elitist?

1:6 Props & Miscellany, 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, dioramas, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, What do YOU think? 7 Responses »

Apr 112012

A friend of mine and I were having a conversation the other day about levels of effort, and attention to detail in 1:6 scale. Discussing our experiences and views about various forums, boards and gathering places of 1:6 goodness on the web.

Said friend told me that I (we, since friend is too!) an Elitist. When it comes to the hobby anyway. That we want to see better quality work being done, that we want to see people putting more effort into things than propping your doll up against a cereal box.

But I made the argument that we’re not elitists.

What we are is perfectionists!

I say this because while I know I don’t do anywhere near the best that can be done, I do keep trying to improve myself and my skill levels. I’m embarrassed by some of the photos or things that I put out there but I continually keep trying to do a better job. I guess that’s where the perfectionist comes in though–since I expect other people to keep striving to improve their skills and I guess…well, they just don’t want to.

The important thing for them (and me too!) is just that we’re all enjoying the hobby–whichever part of it we’re into, and however we go around it. Yes, it does frustrate me to some extent (ok, a LOT) but life is full of things like that and although I do my best I can’t really see myself as being the sort to inspire other people to think about or change the way they do their hobbycraft.

Things I know I need to work on include my construction skills, my photography (which pretty much sucks) and developing more patience to allow me to do more of the first two items!

Of course, you could actually argue the fact that I am a 1:6 elitist since I am only interested in dolls and action figures that are in 1:6 scale. Anything else is “nice” or “interesting” but not enough to make me bother switching or juggling scales.

Anyway, just food for thought.

Wrenwood Hall: 1:6 diorama planning & creation part 1

dioramas, Making Stuff, Wrenwood Hall 11 Responses »

Jan 082012

It’s been an unaccountably busy couple of days (some real life things cropped up and ate into craft time) but it’s ok. I’m still making some progress!

Wrenwood Hall is the name of the fictional Costume Drama that the actresses work on. It’s also the reason I’m making the pseudo-medieval / fantasy dioramas. I’m hoping to have a lot of fun with it and weirdly enough I’m looking forward to the amount of work I’ll need to put into making costumes, props and furniture for the sets. Just call me weird, ok? I mentioned in my last post that I’d made a paper model (very rough) so that I could get a better idea of how I wanted the set to be laid out. It is not done to scale just off the cuff for my brain to play with. Here are a couple of pics. It’s nothing fantastic but you get the idea. (This is only the one set, I haven’t done the 2nd, smaller one yet.)

No, those aren’t really round colums–I just didn’t want to be bothered to make 1/4 columns) for the mock-up. The walls won’t be bare either. I had thought of doing them ala rendered plaster (like you see in some tudor homes) but I think it might be better to do them as stone.

It’s not as large as I’d like but you have to make do with what you can manage. And for now it’ll be using the large roomset base (which means it’s 22inches Wide x 30 inches Long).

You can see there’s a large alcove and of course that there’s a wall missing. I may, or may not add a second door into there. Not too sure at this point. Maybe I should add a window or two on that wall instead?

Main consideration of the alcove is that one of the side-walls comes off (the rest will likely be permanently attached) to allow for better camera angles & ease of access for arranging figures. I’m thinking the alcove area will be approximately 12x12ish.

On my To DO list for the diorama this weekend (and into Monday/Tuesday):

Make additional base for the alcove area (modular).

Scrounge mark’s wood scraps for pieces I can use for the flooring. (I was going to do flagstone look, but since I decided that I am going to do the walls as semi-dressed stone I thought that with the stone floor it might be overkill.)

Cut the remaining MDF for the walls. Cut out the apertures for the door & alcove.

Cut the MDF pieces for the alcove walls & cut out window apertures in them.

I’d like to get a lot more than that done but I need to be realistic–after all I have to do cleaning, laundry, try to take care of the garden which at the moment is in a state because we’ve been hit with some awfully harsh winds. (Yesterday Mark & I were picking the garden fence off of the ground and trying our best to reinforce it–it’s not the best stuff for dealing with gale force winds.)

Now here’s a question for the rest of you—do you want me to take any pictures as I’m going through the process of making the diorama set? Or do you all just want to see it when it’s constructed (but empty)?

More talk about Dioramas and Dolls

1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, dioramas, Making Stuff, Something to share, Wrenwood Hall 2 Responses »

Jan 052012

It’s taken me a few days to really think through what I want to do. I have a couple of different projects on the burners (yes all concurrently!) and my brain is certainly working overtime even if my fingers aren’t!

So, as I mentioned in the last post I am starting work on the dioramas for The Actresses. I Really need another tag to call them by since it doesn’t truly define all they do or what all of their stories will be about. Anyway, I should also mention that I am also working on the diorama for the pseudo-medieval costume drama (Wrenwood Hall).

So far I’ve managed to:

Realize that I should indeed still use the old living room base for the Actresses’ living room. I’m still debating about actually finishing the fireplace or just pulling together a 2nd plainer one to do what I want. I just don’t see the fancier one working since I’m de-glamorizing the place considerably.

Scrounged around and found some old wood that I can use to modify the remaining roomset base into something I can use for the apartment (the kitchen–which will be a medium size between the base I use for the LR and the small base I use for the University Dorm rooms, offices and student lounges).

Bought a box of spackling compound , a large container of white PVA glue and a bit of doweling.
Made a rough paper model for me to visualize how I want the 1st Wrenwood Hall roomset to look. (yes, I said 1st. If I manage to have enough supplies left over I may try to make a 2nd smaller room (on the new kitchen base). Maybe.

I’ve also been thinking about the actresses themselves. I forget how nice it is to sometimes step back from your main projects (like the University themed photostories). I have a rough cast of Actresses and support staff pretty much ready to go — unless I decide to customize some of them a bit more….(which, yes, we know I’m going to, Don’t we?)

I’ll check back and try to update with some photos in the next day or so!

Gearing up for “The most wonderful time of the year” uh huh?

Eh, what?, Making Stuff, quilting, Sewing in 1:6 15 Responses »

Nov 162011

Obviously you folks will have noticed that there’s been abit of quiet on the blog again. that’s because I’m busting my hump to get some 1:6 x-mas (or winter solstice) presents ready to go out in the mail for this weekend (or Monday at the latest). So with all the hard graft (that’s a phrase I’ve picked up living here) I’m making progress on other things as well. No, I’m not talking about the mazes of bureaucratic incompetents who are dealing with our bank accounts (oh, HSBC UK you totally suck!)

So, I’m sewing away–doing my best to make a few goodies for those special people (you guys know who you are!) and get other things done as well. I’d love to share photos on here of what I’ve made (because some of it’s turned out really well) but if I do they’ll see their presents and …well..that just wouldn’t be good right? So hopefully come xmas time they’ll post on their blogs & flickr accounts the goodies I’m making now! *I hope anyway*

While I’m at it I figured I’d post a pic of how things are starting to come together with the insanity quilt. It’s just a quick shot (I threw them on top of a tile) so you can see where I’m going with them so far.

Would you believe that there are 231 hexagons in that shot?

I know they’re not much to look at at the moment but I’m making some progress. I am glad that I only decided to do a dorm size (twin) quilt with them though and not the original 1:6 queen size I’d planned.

I’m also working on getting those photos done for new etsy listings. I’ve just about sorted out the light bulb situation here (oh don’t even ask) so that’ll be back on track soon. The broken printer–not-so-much-so but I’m still trying to source a replacement that we can afford at the moment. We’ll see what happens.

Ok back to the worktable! See you all later!

Experimental Patchwork in 1:6 so very bright!

1:6 Props & Miscellany, dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, quilting, Sewing in 1:6, Something to share, What do YOU think? 13 Responses »

Nov 022011

I started this quilt in the middle of the great internet blackout of 2011 mostly as a way to try to keep sane and not constantly be thinking bout talking to my friends online. I’ll say here and now that the photos for this post suck. I switched over all our bulbs to the energy efficient ones and I haven’t been able to get them quite right yet. Even with the custom wb & post processing.

It is pretty bright. Nothing wrong with vibrant colors — but wow, huh?

The patches all started out as individual squares. And no, before you start thinking I’m an absolute masochist–there was a reason for this: I had already had a number of them cut (to the wrong size for my Insanity quilt) and this seemed like the perfect way to use them and not end up wasting the fabric. I didn’t know if it was going to work but I gave it a try and I’m pretty pleased with the overall look. Next time I’ll try to do it as a Nine Patch rather than just random placements.

This quilt marks a lot of firsts for me.

It was the first patchwork I completed. The other one I’d started got tossed in the bin as a needless exercise in frustration),
The first time I made my own bias binding (not as hard as I thought it was)
The first whole doll blanket that I bothered to quilt by hand. Although I have to admit that it was a pain, and it is part of the reason why Nerissa’s Quilt is only lightly quilted.
I used a combination of tying & hand stitching to quilt the quilt.

So I sewed all the patches together, quilted it, washed it and now comes the really hard part–deciding which character gets it! After sticking them on it I came to 3 conclusions. Shayna could have it (but since I’m working on the insanity quilt for her it doesn’t seem right she should have two. Does it??Nope.) So….either Mallory or Parker will get it.

Maybe you folks can help me decide? Who do you think owns this quilt? I’ve snapped a few pics of each with the patchwork quilt so you can help me decide! There’s a poll at the end of this post–please vote!

Sooo..what do you think??

What else am I working on? ramblings enclosed

dioramas, Eh, what?, fashion royalty, Making Stuff, moving 2 Responses »

Oct 312011

You know, the thing with working on things, and having all these projects boiling away in my head is that I don’t always remember to tell you guys–you know–what exactly I’m doing! Or how things are or have changed in the process (well of cooking in my brain anyway) So, aside from updating the blog with pics of the things I made this last month, I ought to tell you that I am once more working on the dioramas for the FR girls. I know it’s been a while since I posted much about them, and y’all probably through I’ve tossed them in a box somewhere!

If you recall, my original plan for their sets was to make them a complete apartment.

What with putting the house on the market, packing things up, moving into the rental & stuff it all got shoved onto the back burner with me realizing I can’t do any of it until I move home (and then probably some months after that). But…..I really didn’t like that idea much. So I figured a bit of a compromise would be good. I’d make their living-room & kitchen and the rest would wait. After all, the important stuff in both those rooms are the furniture and props. Not the walls etc.

PLUS—— What’s to say that the Actresses couldn’t move? I mean, the show could become more popular and they get to move to a bigger, nicer apartment. Right? or maybe move up to the penthouse instead of the basement??

I figured I’ll commit to making their living-room & kitchen. I was originally going to use my retro-kitchen for them but I decided that that belongs to the Daniels (Merrit & Jane) and I wouldn’t feel right using it for people in the same universe. I probably sound like a nut for saying that, but you know, like, whatever!

So that’s something that I want to work on for hte month of November. I want to really crunch and try to get at least the living-room complete. I already know what I’m doing for funiture in there so that’s fairly easy–hardest part is figuring out if I can get away using my standard room-base or do I need to make a new one (It’s kind of looking that way for the kitchen).

Ok, I’ll update later (tonight, maybe.) with sewing related stuff!

Nerissa’s 1:6 Quilt

1:6 Props & Miscellany, 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, dioramas, Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6 16 Responses »

Oct 282011

Do you remember Nerissa at all? She’s one of the heads I painted back in August. She’s surprised me by becoming one of my favorite dolls. So when it came time to think about what kind of blanket she’d get for her dorm room I wanted to give her something that was a little bit special and somehow reflected a bit of her personality too.
This is what I came out with.

Yes, it IS considered a quilt (albeit not a patchwork). It’s a wholecloth quilt which means that the top consists of one whole piece of fabric. I did hand quilt it with some nice variegated thread in pinks.

She got a fitted sheet, a pillow & a pillowcase. (needs a flat sheet still)

There you have it. I’m gonna ask you all to forgive my pics. I’m still working out the new set up here and the lighting.

So…What was I doing the last 26 days sans Internet?

1:6 Props & Miscellany, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, Something to share 11 Responses »

Oct 272011

First, I want to admit that being without the internet made me be more productive with my time. Although I tried I didn’t come away with something for every day. I’ve been struggling with the new space/work area and the new place in general. It’s ok, but it’s taking a lot of adjustment from me, the cats & mark. For me, my workroom/living-room is what is giving me the most agita. Living out of boxes, boxes piled on boxes and well, trying to get any one particular box = exercise in frustration.

The room’s temporarily set up. I set it up initially based on where the sun was going to be most of the day (I didn’t want it getting in my re-ment boxes, or on my dolls). But now, I’m finding that if I want to do anything in the room I really need to re-think where my table is going (I had to give mark one of my work tables so he’d have something to put his computer on, so I’m sort of at a loss). In spite of all that I DID GET STUFF DONE!!! I’ll give you the basics here but soon I’ll do individual posts about some of these things.

Continued working on the Insanity Quilt. I’ve begun sewing the hexagons into “flower” shapes. Finally decided that I want to do them in sets of 3 (so 3 red, 3 purple, 3 blue etc) for when I finally construct the thing.
Painted 6 paintings (on 1:6 scale canvases that I stretched and primed) for etsy.
Made 4 new bonsai trees (also for etsy).
Began the great sort out of doll clothes in an attempt to assign them to specific characters. (I thought that by doing that it might be easier to dress them quickly & make it easier to shoot spur of the moment stories).
Made a 1:6 random patchwork quilt for one of the girls’ dorm rooms (not sure who it belongs to yet). It might belong to Parker. Maybe.
Made the comforter for Nerissa’s dorm room.
Made the comforter for Nik’s dorm room.
Wrote a bit of Giselle’s backstory & worked on Kendall’s too.
Worked on developing my ideas and concepts for Marissa (FP Kyori) & Kendall (Perk Collette).
Had a birthday (it sucked. what more can I say?)
Modified Kendall & Eugenia so they can sit upright.
Moved boxes around into some kind of organized chaos–so that I can try to start shooting some photos of the stuff I did do! LOL
Sourced a replacement worktable for me (since mark needed my other one).
Baked an apple cobbler *mmmmm cobbler….*
Worked on the Quinlan-Chronicles Website–still have to upload the updates & changes though.

So it wasn’t a total loss being without the internet. But I’m happy to be online again!

Clothes, clothes, clothes! Who gets what?

1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, fashion royalty, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, Sewing in 1:6, What do YOU think? 6 Responses »

Sep 262011

What with all the sewing of the last few weeks I realized that I need to assign pieces of clothing to specific characters.

That’s not reaaaaaaally a problem for the volks/obitsu dolls since they can wear the mattel/ barbie clothing with no trouble. But the trouble makers are of course– my fashion royalty dolls. Yes, those lovely, fashionable dolls! Although the fashion royalty girls can wear a lot of the barbie stuff (and their default clothing) but in general I always find myself struggling when it comes to finding them pants/ slacks since they can’t wear many of the babs bottoms due to their incredibly loooooong legs. So I made them a few skirts, pants and now I need to start the great clothing assignment of 2011!

The tough thing for me about doing this sort-out is…. who should get what pieces? Which outfits look better on…. well you get the idea, right?

So what I’m hoping to do later this week (probably this weekend) is to start shooting some photos of the clothing on some of the dolls—basically asking you to be the tie-breaker and help me decide who gets the clothing!

Are you guys up for that?

Just to prove I’m doing something! photos

Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6 18 Responses »

Sep 182011

Yes, I’m still alive! The stress of our situation is really getting to me. It’s a complicated situation (ugh) which I can do nothing about (which makes it worse for me). Buuuuuuuuuut I have been sewing. And I snapped some pics this morning to show you what I’ve done in the last 2 weeks.

Sorry that they aren’t pretty pics — I’ll try to shoot some of the clothes on the dolls soon! You can probably tell these are primarily meant for the students since it’s all casual wear.

Ok I fibbed! There’s one pair of slacks for Shay (and a camisole top for her too). I wanted to make more jeans but I didn’t have any more fabric — so maybe some other time? There is a definite shortage of jeans…

Yes, duplicate skirts. I’m thinking that some of the girls might do the occasional dress-alike thing.

Dresses… The blue ones were test-pieces. I’d never tried making a pseudo-babydoll type dress before. Not overly thrilled with them except for the black one. (the orange-y sheath goes under that).

And of course I managed to leave out a few items, but all in all (not including the things I made for Etsy) I made 90+ pieces of _usable_ clothing! That’s quite an addition to my characters’ wardrobes and I’m pleased—-although I do feel like it all looks sort of the same.

I’m not MIA …really!

Eh, what?, Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6 2 Responses »

Sep 082011

Ok, I know, you’re all thinking “Well, there haven’t been any posts lately. What’s going on over there? Is she doing ANYTHING?”

The last 2 weeks have been big, long exercises in stress & anxiety and I decided that the best way to deal with that was to do some sewing. For myself.

I don’t usually bother to sew anything for my dolls–the majority of stuff I make tend to go on to other people’s dolls. I get the rejects & QC fails–But the great thing about sewing (sometimes) is that it requires me to focus & concentrate. Which makes it harder for me to be all stressed about what’s been going on.

So, this weekend I’m going to sew on the hooks, eyes & snaps, and then I’ll photograph the stuff I’ve made. Which will be kind of cool since I plan on doing a few “Who wears it Better” shots since I can’t decide who really looks better in some of the pieces.

And of course, Happy Birthday Bob. I still love you and miss you.

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Speaking of Roomsets/Dioramas/Displays… Here’s a quick poll: please let me know what The poll closed (11-12-2012) and this is what y’all told me call these things!

Speaking of Roomsets/Dioramas/Displays…
Here’s a quick poll: please let me know what The poll closed (11-12-2012) and this is what y’all told me call these things!