The Dolfie Littles blog

A paint job well done

Now this is something to be proud about, the tops still need one more coat and there might be some touch ups to do but I turned four sample jars of Poetic Princess, Salty Tear, Cabbage Leaf, and Crocus Petal in to this and I still have what looks to be enough to do the book shelf.

The little dresser started off school bus yellow with white trim and in my good 20 or so years of painting it was black and gold then all black, then the violet color I chose at the milenium which is exactly the same as the new one I just bought. (Crocus Petal) The big one was found badly painted white then I did the matches Crocus Petal, the unseen bookshelf was white and became the same matches CP. 

Two moves, the TV on the small dresser, and general other wear and tear combined with it being crappy Wal Mart paint took their toll. The tan paint and brown carpet at the last house made the lovely violety color look even dirtier and greyish. 

Alas my 'Orrible 'Oo mug didn't come pre smashed.

The dark grey was another sample, the idea was the color would hide and dust the TV attracted, and being eggshell things tended to stick to it and take bits of paint when moved. Had the same problem at the last house with the inside of the cubbies being painted with the same stuff. Flat is the way to go for furniture.

Did make the little dresser knobs almost black, I'm half searching for replacement knobs, maybe ones for polymer clay, haven't decided yet.

Once these are dry and back in place I can get to the bookshelf then off to other things hopefully more doll related.

Operetta is in the house

You know the drill, http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dolfielittles Just For Us #1 is the Monster book. 

Love love love her logo and box color.

There is a bit of black hair in the back. This will be a puzzler as the product keeps the front intact but it makes the back kind of nasty :/

The rest of the news is all fabulous, everything about her is great. 

The scars in the face are pure Phantom.

The mask is on a comb rubberbanded on so it comes off.

The spider is too head heavy to stand up on his legs, the only real bummer.

The guitar coffin opens.

If Brian Setzer was a hot possibly dead chick...

Now if she can keep the other Monsters from mugging her...

Well, I guess I'll be doing a doll making book

Or Activaproducts why you no make Apoxie Sculpt? Well I use a fair amount of Aves and Amaco stuff too. Interesting they all start with an A. Contacted all of them for permission and await a response. The La Doll people were in contact with me before when I was just starting with the stuff.

I figure if I'm going to knuckle down and put some real effort in to making things like another Roger, a ball joint doll I can finish, and Jimmy and Marty and any other heads it'll be worth doing it properly with pictures and making some money on the tail end.

So the Dolfie Littles Book of Doll Making has just been started. I will assemble my supplies, take a good look at everything, and see what in the parts box I can melt with a hose. Not the old La Doll doll but I think the best thing will be to start from scratch with all the new things I've learned about sculpting and anatamy to guide me.

Found out which Mother Goose book it once was

The cat and the bellows, actually A Moony Cat http://dolfielittles.typepad.com/blog/2011/09/mother-gooses-nursery-rhymes-mystery.html was a bit of the key but old fashioned Googling for old Mother Goose books and the title specifically brought me to The Mclaughlin Mother Goose on Ebay and the book being from somewhere between 1900 to 1920 which makes sense because my granmother was born in 1921. 

Look up the horrifying A Moony Cat rhyme then wonder how our ancestors had that and other "nasty" tales as kids yet grew up just fine.

Read it here http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/BookReader?bookid=___moth_00870063&twoPage=true&route=simple_0_0_mother%20goose_English_0&size=0&fullscreen=false&pnum1=52&pnum2=53&lang=English&ilang=English

If they had it as a download it would save me a lot of right clicking, but at least I don't have to scan my copy and can see if any of it can be salvaged for art projects.

Everything but Operetta

She's at the post office, I'll get her tomorrow. 

Four of six dresser drawers are painted,  clay oven is secured, shelves are being stained and the brackets have been bought. 

It kind of feels good to be "done", although I'm never ever done, just with less things on my kind of need list like dry erase markers. I was going to devote all of tomorrow to doing and making and crafting. It'll just have to be half the day, after the stuff on the craft table is sorted, dressers are painted, Operetta opened and photographed, Personal Geographies and Spider-Man 2 read...

Magnet tape and paper dolls

If you need magnets why go to the beach with just any old bag?

How simple and fun of a it ended up not being a rainy day project is this? If you can stick a bit of magnet tape to it you can make it a magnet!

These girls are from a vintage paperdoll set called Pert and Pretty, these are prined out copies, and the longest part was cutting them out.

They make magnet sheets yu can do artwork on and run through your printer. I plan to make more paper doll magnets but I need more sealer. 

And yes, at the store with the magnet board I say no less than five Operettas. But I have patience to wait another week if it's pretty much free.

It's the waiting for Dr Elebenty I grow impatient over.

Yes I just "overpaid" for a doll, but...

In a way I didn't. Doll math is so "fuzzy". Or it's not.

Thanks to everyone who bought books from my store http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dolfielittles in December I was able to get an Operetta on Ebay. Book money, most of it from the Monster book, paid for her :)

Ebay makes the economy go 'round. I've been lucky with the last two Monsters, Gil and Cupid, and 3 of the outfits I kind of felt I needed to make an offer to the doll gods and make a balance in the money universe.

I will also make it back as I found a MIB Mega Blocks TNG Enterprise with a Cpt Picard figure, and I'm going to make myself finish the Disco Cleo reroot I started now that I'm settled.

Well, I'm a proper magnet board and some Matte sealer away from a neat project I plan to share. It's a PT day so I'll have time to get started on the Personal Geographies book http://www.amazon.com/Personal-Geographies-Explorations-Mixed-Media-Mapmaking/dp/144030856X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327412141&sr=8-1 got the download and just flipping through it has got the mind gears turning.

Things are settling in finally.

And I still feel the need for a dedicated clay oven, where's my cupon?

Simplicity 1955 fits a few dolls

First some business, this is a useful pattern for some dolls but...

If you have just Monsters, Liv, Moxie Teenz, or a bunch of boys or you have many different dolls and feel up to trying to draft (which isn't hard) check the Dolfie Littles book store http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dolfielittles

The pattern in question is fairly new, Simplicity 1955 in 3 doll "sizes" of small, medium, and large.

I made examples of the leggings, which should be made out of stretch fabric (people occasionaly forget or just don't) and the overblouse of the wedding gown which are the tightest fitting garments out of muslin to see who they fit. Nothing was tailored, I basically followed the assembly directions sewing the pieces as i would sew for my dolls but without hemming or turning the edges. I used what I gouess are 1/8 seams, the pattern allows for 1/4 and says you may need to make a few adjustments as you sew for a specific fit.

Is it worth buying? Pretty much yes. The pattern says Large is for Moxie Teenz, Medium for Liv and Barbie, small for Bratz.

IT WON'T WORK FOR MONSTER HIGH.

Large size on a Moxie Teenz, if the leggings stretched they would have gone on. Medium on a Liv. Small on an older Bratz, I don't have a newer one. The fit is fine.

Medium on a 100 Poses Barbie, the fit is fine.

Medium on a Volks Dollfie Plus, needs tailoring.

On a Volks EB N, would need some adjusting for length but a good start.

Large on an Obitsu SLim, Medium on an Obitsu regular female, Small on an Obitsu 25 medium bust. Good fits, would need a bit of tailoring in the tops.

Medium on an Obitsu 17 large bust, Small on an Obitsu 23. I realize now I bunched the top, the bottoms of the darts are touching by mistake. Good starts.

So the bottom line, the pattern is a good buy if you have Moxie Teenz, Liv, Barbies, Bratz, Volks 1/6, and Obitsu 1/6, and even better buy if you find it for 99 cents!

Time to get back to abby normal!

A good sleeps on a good bed has refreshed me, and some rain is going to try to keep me in, at least until PT tomorrow morning, so have plenty of project time!

Now most of the room is still in the closet and I must sort the collages from the lace making from the sewing but that's fun in its own way. What is done is the watching other people move the large objects so walls can be washed and beds assembled and things generally disrupted. I'm even looking forward to painting my firniture as fun.

First off I started and will shortly finish the demos of the commercial doll sewing pattern I bought. So far the review for the dolls they are intended for is mixed. She who wrote a doll pattern drafting book http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-dolfie-littles-book-of-pattern-drafting/11384657?productTrackingContext=author_spotlight_3385703_ knows. And as less than five people have copies when I retire this for a bigger better version I don't think anyone will notice :/

The dolls' corner will finally get straitened up, I haven't unpacked the twins or the Orientdolls since the move, but not much needs to be immediately done as they are rather neat and tidy. It's little things like will the thinggy I bought that fits in the Target cubes work for an idea I have for Holmes and Watson?

The Monsters got kicked out of the cubes for partying too loud, er, storing fabric in them which I think will be a better use at this time. They will either return to the roof of the dollhouse or the top of one of the 9 cube things. Valuable realistate it all is. 

Everything crafts is temporarily migrating towards the bathroom to separate its self from other things in the closet such as action figures, seasonal clothing, and empty doll boxes I don't quite know what I wnt to do with.

Once I get a handle on crafts I will do a new exploration of clays and their usefulness to dolls, a clay oven is on my list along with some Milliput just to see what how it behaves. So that means a sort of Dolfie Littles guide to clays. I have a longer term project that will fall in line as well.

I need to make a big decision if the Star Trek Action figures will be on display here. There is a left over piece of wood from the base of the bed and pieces that were cut for to make shelves in the closet. That might make a good Trekker shelf. 

Once things get setteled and when you have a good night's sleep you can see things amazingly clear.

And I got an E-Book on personal map making, interesting idea and I get a half a feeling my new magnet and dry erase boards may help in that venture.

Oh yeah, I have magnets to attach to paper dolls. I thought that was a great idea to display and use some old friends like Jem and the Holograms. :)

My pretty new (to me) bed

And if this bed was orginally sold for what I think it was sold for I did really really good, even with having to buy hardware and a board to go over the saggy baggy I think an elephant slept on it last springs.

The quilt is signed 2000 back when I made it, then had to pack it away not to be used two moves ago :/

But that's all behind me! I now have to figure out how to get the whole room, the not doll part at least, to work with this layout. I got four paint sample jars for my furniture, four harmonius colors one of which matches the color the stuff is now but without years of scuffs and grime. Pics of that when it's done.

Above the bed I plan to put a magnet board, neat project I'll show off, and I got a roll of sticky back dry erase to make a big one of those too.

Big thing is I'll have all rainy weekend to do things at my pace, no hardware or anything else needed, and curse my joints that always bother me in the rain.

And I will get to checking out that new sewing pattern to see who can fit it.