Here are some pics to look at! (I’ll try to explain what I’m trying to get across in them)

This is the back & side of the cafe (before being primed for painting). You should always prime MDF since otherwise it pretty much sucks in coat after coat of paint… ugh.

This is the front of the cafe.

I’m working on what style doorknob/latch I want.And I need to make the mailbox/slot insert. I’m thinking something like worn brass or aged bronze for it and the door handle.

It’s also had the inside walls primed, the front’s been painted with a sand textured paint (it might end up becoming another color but that’s just for now). Some scribed in bricking was added for detail (though it might end up being lost when I make the awnings for the front.

DO you think there needs to be an awning over the door as well as the window? Or just the window/table seating area?

Here’s a shot through the window—you can see the lovely round (smaller) tops that Mark made for my barbie table bases!

Since they started out looking like this:

I think they’re much more in keeping with the cafe feel & size now. (after all they need to pack customers in, don’t they!??!)

This is the front of the cafe with makeshift sidewalk bases in place. These are previous diorama roomset bases that didn’t end up getting used… (yes they’re small–they were for things like bathrooms & storage closets LOL) so they’re getting used for this.  I’d have liked them to be a bit narrower but eh, I got what I got and that’s what I got! I plan on actually extending them a bit lengthwise so that I have more play with angles I use to shoot.

This is pretty much the whole set (for now) the main diorama roomset, the spacing out front of it for seating & some scenery stuff, and the off side area where the archway is (which could turn into another room down the line if I really needed it to)

Annnnd…there you have it. The current state of the Un-named Cafe Roomset/diorama!

First, I started with a pair of legs from a barbie with the jointed knees & a pair of knee joints from volks beauty body.

Cut the legs off just above the knee joint using a small handsaw. Pry the rest of the knee joint off and you’ll need to use a pair of wire cutters to remove the knobbly bit left (sorry no pics while I was doing this part by that time I just wanted to get it done and I’m still having camera issues  :p   )

You’ll end up with it like this after:

If you look at the white arrow in the 2nd pic it shows where you’ll need to start dremmeling out the inside of the barbie leg to attach the volks lower knee peg. Make sure you note that you are dremmeling to fit the larger (lower) peg-part rather than the smaller—otherwise you’ll need to keep at it. I recommend doing it slowly and a little at a time to avoid making the hole too large.

Poke the pegs into the appropriate slots and then stick them onto the doll who’ll be getting high heels to wear.

Here you can see the completed foot/leg mod:

As you can see the doll can still be balanced to stand un-assisted. (shown on a volks beauty b-body). I don’t think it looks too bad, considering!

And although this isn’t a very good shot you can see that the modified legs also work/fit  on the regular volks excellent B body(although the appearance of the knee joint isn’t as smooth).

Ok, so that’s about it. It’s a pretty simple modification and I might end up doing it again in the future. Any questions feel free to ask!

One of my biggest (actually, one of my only) gripes with the Volks dollfie bodies is that they don’t come with high heel feet as an option. You can buy optional hands, optional heads but…no optional feet.
I suppose technically there is the option, but only if you want to buy one of the century model dolls and I’m sorry, but 100+ dollars for a doll I only want the feet for is crazy! xD

Anyway, It’s a small project and I expect I’ll probably get it completed this week. I’m going to try to take photos though, so that if anyone else has the same desire for HH feet for them you can do it too.

The Kitchen:

I know, you’re probably wondering what there is to consider when it comes to putting the kitchen together, aren’t you???

Well, I have to put a lot of thought into just about every room. Mostly because once it’s done it’s done and I hate having to re-do anything (so much so in fact that almost nothing gets a 2nd go round with me).

What I had to consider:

1. Was the kitchen going to be an eat-in kitchen or not?
2. What furniture was I going to use for the room set?
3. How will the kitchen furniture affect the finished size of the room? Will there still be enough space for it to be an eat-in kitchen?
4. How big and where exactly did I want the windows placed?
5. Where exactly did I want the doorway into the hall placed?

You really wouldn’t think that the furniture would be a big consideration, would you? But it really was for me. Since I don’t plan on having tons and tons of room sets I want to have furniture that is dedicated to each one. (I’d like to do that with re-ment to, but frankly I don’t think that’s as practicable as dedicated furniture). So by dedicating furnishings to a given room set or diorama I am placing some limits on my options. I’m willing to put up with that as I also think it will lend some authenticity to the rooms.

Furnishing The Kitchen:

I only have a few pieces of kitchen furniture that I’ve picked up off of feebay the last 2 years.  I have the ever elusive (and ever-so-over-priced) Kenmore kitchen set, and I have various pieces of Sindy furniture. I also have a barbie wall unit kitchen, but frankly speaking it’s so out of scale it isn’t even funny.  Plus who ever heard of a sink with the over directly under it? (I ask you, WTF was Mattel thinking when they came up with that one???)

The kenmore kitchen set is nice (with some work). If I could I’d have multiples of that–however, I don’t.  I have one, I’m happy to have it but that also means that I’m saving it until I have the right set up in mind for it. I’m pretty sure that it’ll get used when I do the Loft apartment set, and I don’t want to “waste” it before then. Kitchens in 1:6 seem to be very hit or miss…and at least when it comes to my characters I know what they want in that room. (I wish their preferences were half as clear when it came to livingrooms, offices & bedrooms!)

When I get around to doing Viv’s place I’ll be making her kitchen from scratch as I want hers to be ultra modern & very trendy *something that Cass’s definitely is not*

So back to those questions:

• Was the kitchen going to be an eat-in kitchen or not?

Yes.  Definitely eat-in. I have already written scenes in the Quinlan-chronicles that take place in the kitchen, and I think it’s probably one of the rooms that will see the most use.

• What furniture was I going to use for the room set?
  

Sindy’s eastham furniture set with some modifications.  It looks like this:

What it needed:

1. first off, it needed to be raised about a cm to make it the proper height for Cass & co.
2. it needs to be primed and repainted (there will be NO bright yellow or mustard yellow kitchens in my photostories or dioramas! Sorry you yellow lovin’ folks. it’s just not gonna happen! *I am not sure at this point what color the kitchen appliances are going to be, though I’m leaning towards browns/wood look*
3. because of the market, and sindy stuff being “vintage” I haven’t been able to get my hands on the additional floor cupboard/cabinet that matched the sink & stove.  The kitchen looked weird with just the sink, stove & oven (and barbie fridge) Sooo… I took a spare sink & popped the sink out of the base and converted into a floor cupboard/cabinet. Removing the sink was easy because the glue that they used in manufacturing was old and gave very easily. It was then covered and then covered with thin wood (from Mark’s model airplane stock).



4. I still need hanging cabinets. I’d hoped to snag those off feebay but I’ve been unsuccessful so far. That means I’ll need to make them at some point. Probably in a week or two. I’ll make them out of styrene and paint them to match whatever color I make the units.

• How will the kitchen furniture affect the finished size of the room? Will there still be enough space for it to be an eat-in kitchen?

There’s still plenty of room for an eat-in kitchen. I can comfortably fit a table in with chairs.  It also seems likely I’ll be able to fit in some of the inevitable kitchen clutter.

• How big and where exactly did I want the windows placed?

This was a sticky point. I don’t really want the windows to be a focal point of the room, but I didn’t want to leave them out (even if it does mean that the room would be finished more quickly. I decided to emulate the windows that we had in the kitchen in schoharie and see how it goes. I pretty much figure they’ll be partly obscured by window treatments anyway.

• Where exactly did I want the doorway into the hall placed?

Weeellll…..I didn’t have a specific spot per se, just a general area I wanted it. I wanted it much closer to the apartment’s front door, so that the kitchen’s insides couldn’t be seen from the living room. On a practical point, it’d be nicer having that distance so that food cooking/smells etc wouldn’t fill the livingroom. I wanted the doorway from the kitchen and the doorway leading to the livingroom to be arched. I had an apartment that was like that and I really think it was the nicest feature (aside from the beautiful wood floors).. This is how the doorway has begun… (mark & I are discussing how the edge treatments should be…my apt just had smooth plastered sides, but he wants to put a molding around it… guess we’ll see

Also a word of warning: 1) this is what I do. I’m not saying it’s right, nor that it is the only way of doing it. I also take no responsibility for people trying my way of doing things. This process involves sharp scalpel blades, band saws, routers and any number of potentially harmful things.  If you’re a child, you should have your parents help you with it. If you’re an adult then be careful. Always wear eye protection.

(ok PSA finished)

So, what is my first step when it comes to making a room set?

• For me the first step to it is actually deciding what kind of room set I’m making.

I take into account if it’s for someone in particular or for a specific use: i.e. an office or classroom, or a bedroom.  How often I think I am likely to use it also factors in a lot.  (here space of any sort is at a premium and storage space is next to nil.  So event though I can generally flat-pack room sets they still take up space  and I need them out of the way if they aren’t being used.) I don’t want to duplicate what I have already made unless there’s a really good reason for doing so.

• When I know that then I can figure out what the dimensions of it are going to be. I’m not the most realistic when it comes to those—since my 1:6 is about fantasy –I tend to give my characters larger than they could probably afford rooms. So sue me! I live vicariously through them at times! 

Looking at the project of creating Cass’s Apartment is probably the best way I can go into it without boring the lot of you senseless.

I knew I wanted to make a complete apartment for Cass to use in the Quinlan-Chronicles. I had given a lot of thought as to where the majority of photostory scenes were likely to be shot and they came down to the campus/student lounge, the classroom, Cass’s place, the cafe, and miscellaneous alleyways.

Why make a complete apartment? When I could probably get away with just one or two rooms?

Weeeeeellll…. this comes down to one of my biggest pet peeves: 3 dimensional roomsets that you only ever see from the actual room itself. Yesss….I’m very guilty of it, but hopefully, with the creation of Cass’s apt, I’ll become less guilty of it as I go along! I want to be able to shoot scenes in the stories from a wider variety of angles–in the hallway looking into the kitchen or living room or from the patio into the living room… that sort of thing.

*are you bored yet?*

There were a few things I had to decide before drawing up the plans for the room set group:

1. was it a studio apartment? (no)
2. Does Cass live alone? (no. She has a roommate whose rent pays for the mortgage)
3. How many bedrooms does it have? (2–originally I thought 3 but nah, too many!)
4. Is it a house or an apartment? (It’s an apartment–but a nice one)
5. Does it have a backdoor or fire exit/escape? (no. it’s the first floor and plenty of windows to crawl out of–or people to break into)
6. Does it have a backyard? (No, but it has a patio. I wanted a place for some outside scenes)

After I answered those questions I drew up a quick sketch of what I thought the floorplan might be. I’ve got to admit to being somewhat spastic about that, as I actually cut out full size pieces of paper to help me judge if the rooms will be too big/small/just right. Even so, I mess up sometimes

I have to decide the number of rooms (someday, one of them will have a home office), and where and what kind of windows and doors I’ll want in them.

This is a revised  floorplan for the room sets that are in process:

While in the process of coming up with the floor plan, I have to give some thought to design issues, and fixtures that I may want in the room. I haven’t yet had a room with a fireplace in it and I’ve decided that one of those would 1) look good in Cass’s place and 2) add some visual interest to what would otherwise be a pretty bland and boring room.

I also decided that I wanted sliding glass doors to lead to the patio.  This will create some future issues when I want to shoot scenes and say its dark outside. I’ll either need to get better at photoshopping, or I’ll have to devise a shade curtain for the patio area. Possibly also have hanging drapes to cover the windows when not in use or when it’s night-time. (Little details like this I try to figure out as I go along rather than letting them stymie me and keep me from going forward)

Once I know the general dimensions of the rooms, I then have to ask Mark, the keeper of all power tools (in his locked workroom) to either let me use them or use them for me. (This is a step I look forward to cutting out in the future when I have my own power tools and space in which to use them without potentially damaging his workspace)

• Cut wood into frames for each room set. (this is very similar to cutting stretchers for making a canvas). Once you’ve got all the pieces (and sizes  you need) then you glue them together with wood glue.
• Before the glue dries add corner braces to the inside corners. This will make them more stable in the long run & we all like that, right???
• After the woodglue has dried router out a groove in each piece so that you will be able to slot the walls in. (the walls I am using these days are 6mm MDF).
• Cut the MDF to size for the walls. Generally I do this whenever I have the money handy to actually buy some MDF from the hardware store/B&Q/Home Depot.

(I’m sorry I haven’t got pictures of this part but next time we make bases I’ll shoot pictures)

Keep your eyes peeled for my next Cass’s Apt post.

The pics show off Merrit’s new shirt, and one of Raven’s new outfits. The set up is minimal (sorry, it’s all I can manage right now. The story was just an excuse to show off the printables I made today)

Today was nice in so far as taking a break from sewing goes. However…I’m not really willing to classify making printables as “fun”. While I generally am happy with my attempts at making printables to use as props in my 1:6 dioramas I don’t find the actual process of making them that much fun. (I know, you’re asking me, but what about those books? Didn’t you spend hours and hours scanning them?)
I should clarify: I would enjoy the process MUCH much more if I had a flat bed scanner that was bigger than a sheet of A4. I never really thought when I left it behind in the states that I would miss my ledger sized scanner. An 11×17 bed would make a lot of this so much easier. Eventually, when I feel more up to it, I’ll take some decent pictures. And make better printables. They would probably have come out better on ink jet paper. Next time. Meh.

Annnnnyway—-What you’re here for is the photographs, right?
Click the photos below for the link!

*sorry for the few typos & errors in wordage. I’m tired and I wanted to get this done before I went to sleep. those are my only explanations.*

Close up of basket:

Don’t like your figures in pictures showing so clearly where your lights were positioned?

Do you want a matte and slightly more human look to the skin? Have you got an hour or so to spare? If so then read on!

Seriously. there isn’t much to it and I think there’s a grand total of about 3 or 4 pics…

But first…a bit of background on why I did this!

For a while I have been wondering if it was worth the effort of sanding the cy girl 2.0 body down to remove the shine and make it matte. Those bodies are really wonderful as far as pose-ability go. However they are very shiny and they do have that some-what weird looking crotch area. (I won’t mention detailing that at the moment.

I’m very meh about sanding bodies. I gave it up when I got rid of my Volks Super Dollfies years ago. The order of the day with those dolls was spending hours (and days) sanding down joints, seams, and making aesthetic changes with the aid of sandpaper. The thought of having to go through all that again for a cy girl didn’t fill me with much joy.

However… As Mark so rightly pointed out–most people walking around aren’t shiny. (ok some of us with poor complexions probably do!) the absolute plus side to doing it is that the figure is small in comparison and won’t take nearly as long!

You will need the following items:

• 1 figure (that you want to de-shine)

• a couple pieces of 400 grit wet-dry sandpaper. (easier to use this wet, it keeps the dust level down, and keeps the figure cleaner)

• water (I use an old tea bowl because of the wide mouth–but anything that will hold water will do–just don’t drink it!)

• paper towels or a soft absorbent cloth–to wipe up excess water/spills/drops. Occasionally you can also wipe down the body too.

• be safe: use a mask or respirator whenever you do any kind of sanding. If the stuff gets in the lungs it can be nasty!

The How-To part:

Get your workspace ready: if you’re working on your computer desk–like I am–you’ll want to put down some stuff to keep things from getting too messy. (I like to use greaseproof paper (or baking parchment) since it is cheap and disposable–and puts up nicely with repeated soakings and spills without bleeding through to my cutting mat below.)

• I generally take a sheet of 400 grit wet-dry sandpaper and cut it into smaller pieces so that it is easier to work with. (think about 2.5×2 inches).

• fill the tea bowl with warm water.

• Put some music on or a video. It’s repetitive work so it is good to have something.

• Wet the sandpaper and pick a place to start. I like to start on the lower leg-shin area. gently sand using small circular motions .

• Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. Remember to periodically rinse and when necessary-replace the piece of sandpaper with a new one.

• Move on to other parts of the body as you complete each area.

• When you are finished take the figure and rinse it off throughly in running water to remove any sand/grit & plastic remnants.

Before and After pic:

Now, it’s up to you– you can blush & detail the body. You can seal it. It’s up to you! (but the shine is gone!)

 I’ll do my best to explain, but since I’m self taught and err..tend to make it up as I go along I’m not sure quite how helpful this will be!

So here we go! 

*as usual click the thumbnail for a larger image*

First, to kind of make it clear, I’ve made a simple illustration of a pattern. You can see it with and without the darts drawn in.

I know they aren’t the best drawings.

Ideally everything is straight, and the darts are angular. Just pretend with me, ok? (they’re like longish triangles….the non equilateral sort)

On the back piece of the pattern, the top dart (1) is usually for making the shoulder pieces fit togther better. and to make it lie better on the body. (If I hadn’t rushed through this last night, I would have added one to the dart-ed shirt I made. It would have helped it)

And please note—

You do NOT have to use all the darts that I have drawn in (all the time) it really depends on the fit you want from the garment. What is important is that you do them symetrically. So on one side of the bodice front, if you have one at the breast, you ought to have one on the opposite side) etc.

And there are other dart-types as well… (look for a good book on sewing? DK makes a nice one)

If you take the patterns above, this is what you get:

If you sew them both, these are the 2 different looks…

(am using a small-chested soldier story body, which is sporting Jun’s head. This top would look somewhat different on a larger chested doll as the darts would emphasize more of her assets!)

(bear in mind I threw these together last night and they’re both rough and not very well done)
 <—-No Darts    Darts—->

Yep.  There’s a definite difference in how the shirt looks!

Darts help to shape the garment. (I chose poor fabric to make these examples out of, sorry!)

SO…how do I get darts?

Simple! Sew up those pesky triangle-y things!

I know, you just gotta love my tech-speak, eh? :p

Here’s what I mean:
 

This is what it looks like on the right side of the fabric after you’ve sewn the darts up:

That’s the general gist of it anyway. Questions? You can ask, and I can try to answer…