Friday, April 30, 2010

Friday Funnies! Matthew's New Wrangler Jeans


Hewwo ebberybuddy! 'Member me? Maffew da widdle towboy???

Wewl, mommy finawwy found me some weawl Wrangwer jeans in my size! Her's has wooked and wooked for Wrangwers for me for years and finawwy~her's found some! And jest to add to my spoiledness, her's got me a new Wrangwer bewlt too!


Wook at dat! The weawl Wrangwer's tag on the pocket!
(you know dat means dat mommy paid more fer dees jeans fer me dan she pays fer herself~right??)

Awe...in my Wrangwers, I can stay out here all day and wook at da horsies....



And...I've got da cutest cowboy butt in all of creation!



Happy Friday ebberyone!

Luv,
Maffew (and Mommy)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Prototype Jayden is here!



And oh my goodness is he ever beautiful!!! WOW! Artist's, if you have not pre-ordered this kit, you might want to do that! His features are gorgeous with those bent legs and amazing feet! And of course his hands and head are amazing too. :)

He is a limited edition kit and can be ordered here:

~Natalie Scholl's Website~

I've got the mohair listed for this week:

~Mohair on Artfire~

And I did some combo 1st clip kid and yearling packs. Using both grades of hair creates stunning results:


I took some pictures while I processed mohair this week. I am going to share those processing pictures the next time I blog...Sunday morning maybe?? Depends on if I have Capri ready for listing on eBay that day. I am getting close but his is one baby that is going to do me in! I feel like I will never get her done! Her hair is taking forever!

Until then~I'll post a few pics of Matthew and his new jeans on Friday, otherwise, I won't be blogging.

Dolly hugs~

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Taking my own advice.....

Well ladies, remember when I posted the topic on "How to be miserable as an artist"?
~sigh~

I must follow my own advice and I DO advise that list...after all I put it on my blog, right?

Here is the one that has hit me hard this week:

SET UNACHIEVABLE/OVERWHELMING GOALS...TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY TOMORROW

The Prototype horse race is in full swing. Natalie's Jayden is well in the lead, with Laura's Kristeletta following directly behind. Marita's Chicklet and Zinny are about tied with Kristaletta. And Cathy Rowland's Leah and Logan are about 2 weeks behind those three. This is where I had to come to terms with "I can't do all this at one time it's too overwhelming!"

Marita Winters is my sweet friend. Marita Winters is a lady full of grace. All through this horse race, she has checked on me to see how my schedule was going and if she should pass my prototypes of Chicklet and Zinny onto other artists. We have played it by ear. Yesterday the horses wrecked when both Laura's and Marita's were being shipped at the same time and the ears had to listen to the clatter.

I have made the ever so hard decision to pass my prototypes of Chicklet and Zinny to another artist. I cried a few tears...silly I know. I wanted to reach this overwhelming goal and reborn those prototypes for my friend Marita but I simply could not do it since all of the prototypes are coming at once. None of us planned it this way and it's no ones fault. I just happened this way.

I am done crying now and am delighted that some other artist has the blessing and privilege of working with Marita and her gorgeous sculpts. :) I appreciate Marita in appreciating that even though I want to be much more, I am simply and only...human.

So, now we wait until Jayden arrives, hopefully tomorrow. His outfit is finished and pending shipment to the US from France this week.

In the meantime, I am finishing up prototype Capri's hair. I MIGHT have it finished before a late bed time tonight. I spent all yesterday afternoon and night on it.

And I've got mohair nearly ready to list on ArtFire again.

Lalalalalala..onward forward!

Hugs!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Weighting Angelica




Well, I wish I would have had someone available with a camera the other night from 8 pm-11pm when I was weighting Angelica because it was a bit hilarious!To save some of you the pain....I will tell you what I did with my Angelica.


My overall goal with Angelica is to not make her too heavy. Yes, I want her to feel and move in a real way but seriously, she is a big doll and to make her fun to play with, I need to keep her weight down. So I used the "diet plan" with her~LOL Her total weight is 12 1/2 pounds.

For the vinyl part of her legs, I place plastic pellets in her feet up to the lower part of her ankles. She is big enough and my pellets smooth and flat enough that the pellets filled in the spaces of her toes and they feel nice to the touch.

With the rest of the leg, I stuffed...I mean really stuffed, polyfill up to the top. There won't really be any reason to seal these limbs as there is no way the pellets are going to get through all that stuffing. I used a large forceps to stuff that filling in there. I did a little bit at a time and stuffed, stuffed, stuffed. The three kabob skewers are to keep a space open in order to put the wire armature into the vinyl leg when assembly is complete.






For the vinyl part of her arms the process was the same except that I did not put as many pellets in her hands. I don't want her hands to be heavy and pull her forward or pull her arms down when I am trying to pose them.

At first, I tried just putting fiber fill stuffing in her hands and arms~UGH! DO NOT TRY THAT! Well, unless you have something that is long and strong enough, yet flexible that will reach all the way to her fingers to stuff that stuffing in there. I did not and I ended up spending an hour fishing the stuffing that I did get pushed to her wrist out of there.

For the cloth part of her legs I did this:

I put a little bit of stuffing right in the tip of her hip. Then I buy the medium poly pellet bags from Dolls By Sandie and placed four of them in her thigh~one on each quadrant of her thigh, meaning going around in a circle on the outside of the inside of the fabric. I hope that makes sense! I did not just stuff them in, one on top of the other. I circled them around the armature.

~Medium pellet bags from Dolls By Sandie~

I packed fiber fill then into her leg....snug but not tight tight tight. I want to be sure that her leg bends and moves yet I want her to be able to stand.

Stopping before the upper part of the knee, I left the stuffing very loose in the back of her knee where the darted fabric is. In the front of the knee, I placed another medium pellet bag. This gave her some weight to balance her and also a firmness that is a step above just the stuffing alone. The light amount of stuffing in the back of the knee will allow her knee to bend just right.

Before attaching the vinyl part of the leg to the cloth part, I filled in her lower torso. I half way filled a ladies stocking with plastic pellets and tied a knot just above the pellets so that they will not squish much. I put stuffing in the back of her "butt" and in the front of her "crotch", then I put the stocking right in the center all the way down to meet the cloth of the bottom of the torso. This gives her a nice center balance. Then I simply and snuggly filled the rest of her cloth torso with fiber fill. I like to use the stiffer, premium filling that Walmart carries. Plan on using 2-3 bags for Angelica.

For now, I have only used the string to secure her leg on, just in case I want to adjust anything. When I finish her, I will replace the string with a 14" small head , thin zip tie. Attaching the leg was funny. I laid her on the floor (I was sure to vacuum first!) with her torso towards my foot and her leg towards my belly. I wrapped my foot around her torso to hold it in towards me while I attached the vinyl leg to her cloth leg. I used my shoulder to apply pressure to her foot while I tied the string around the flange of her leg, bringing the cloth and vinyl together. It just felt like it must look funny!

I attached her arms then filled her head with stuffing and attached it to the torso. I stuffed the torso with stuffing but that made her too top heavy so I took that out. She has NO filling in her torso.

To learn how to assemble her upper body, see the link below.

~Doll Dreams Angelica Assembly~

Angelica does not stand on her own. Because of the heavier torso and the cloth part of her legs, without an stiff, full body armature, she will never stand on her own.

I found a really great guy on eBay who made my awesome stand. It was very reasonable in price and I've used it for both Kristaleta (while on display at the art gallery so that she would not get bumped over. Kristaleta does not need a stand really but it shows how well this stand varies) and Angelica.


~Awesome Doll Stand~

The eBay seller ID is biggecurly

I hope this helps all of you taking on the big task of reborning an Angelica.

Hugs!




Sunday, April 25, 2010

HOW TO FEEL MISERABLE AS AN ARTIST (sound advice)

Good day everyone!
I saw this on another blog and just HAD to share it. I love it!

HOW TO FEEL MISERABLE AS AN ARTIST
(OR WHAT NOT TO DO, UNDERLINE ANY TH AT CURRENTLY APPLY)


CONSTANTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER ARTISTS.

TALK TO YOUR FAMILY ABOUT WHAT YOU DO AND EXPECT THEM TO CHEER YOU ON.

BASE THE SUCCESS OF YOUR ENTIRE CAREER ON ONE PROJECT.

STICK WITH WHAT YOU KNOW.

UNDERVALUE YOUR EXPERTISE.

LET MONEY DICTATE WHAT YOU DO.

BOW TO SOCIAL PRESSURES

ONLY DO WORK THAT YOUR FAMILY WOULD LOVE
DO WHATEVER THE CLIENT/CUSTOMER/GALLERY OWNER/PATRON/INVESTOR ASKS.

SET UNACHIEVABLE/OVERWHELMING GOALS...TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY TOMORROW

I hope this sets all of us on the path to artistic freedom. :)

Hugs!

Friday, April 23, 2010

I love my job/work and the people I meet~


I've been helping a lady learn how to use the LDC paints via email.

Now, I NEVER expect anything in return but oh does my heart get warmed a whole lot by the people I help. If you know me well, you know that I love getting surprises and goodies in the mail. I love getting ANYTHING in the mail; I even get excited when my order of zip ties comes in! LOL

It never occurred to me until this moment how even more special the gift is that I received from the lady I've been helping with the paints. It's a.....



MAILBOX!

A very special mailbox!

It is hand painted with adorable characters hand picked by me and specialized by her.

On the side are our two doggies, Sniper and Deuce, my adorable cowboy husband, and me...his very own cowgirl and our kitty, Mikah.



On the front are our house number and two darling babies with one peeking out from the bottom. HOW FITTING!

I cannot tell you how much this mail box makes me smile! I can see it from the nursery as as I pass by the front door. I shall have many many warm heart moments, many smiles and many thoughts of Patty and her kindness to me.

Thank you my friend!

(No Friday Funnies today~just Friday heart warmers) :)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

2 O'clock in the morning....

This is the post for Thursday~even though I've not yet gone to bed for Wednesday! LOL Seriously, I WAS going to go to bed earlier tonight but I had another artist stop by the house tonight and we spent 2 hours in the nursery just talking babies. I'll have to tell you, she was fully blown away emotionally by Angelica, now Kendal. It was awesome for me to see Kendal move someone that way :)

So, when a girl spends two hours talking babies, it really gets her thinking and excited!

Some exciting things are:

There is a horse race going on within the prototype world. Natalie Scholl's Jayden prototypes arrived to her today and she took some quick pics and got them shipped to the artists~one of them being me! I'm simply elated!!! Here are the pics Natalie took of Jayden~WOW! Natalie said that the body she used on him made him about 21" which is even MORE exciting!







The vinyl of Jayden has a LOT of details which is wonderful! I am so impressed and will be holding my breath until he gets here.

Now about that horse race....So Jayden is in the lead by a stretch and it's hard to say who is racing in towards him. The latest reports are that both of Cathy Rowland's prototypes, Leah and Logan are shipping this week as well as both of Marita Winter's Chicklet and Zinny prototypes with Laura Tuzio Ross' Kristaletta prototype falling behind and due to ship to the US at the end of this month. Kadump kadump kadump...who will come in first and who will be right behind? Any wagers?? The kit companies can be unpredictable you know!

I did root on Capri tonight and I am loving how she is looking. I just love that baby anyway. She could wear a sock on her head and I would still love her.

Speaking of rooting~I had tried the 42G "Ultra" (crown??) needles I bought from Bountiful Baby and I am not happy with some of the shapes and sizes of holes it leaves in SOME parts of the vinyl. Now this could be due to the vinyls I've been working on are made in China...it will be interesting to see how those needles work on German made vinyl. But in the meantime, since I'll be working on all these prototypes, I have placed an order with Tinkerbell Creations in the UK for what they do call the "crown" needles. I'll report on them after they arrive and I use them.

Oh well shucks...I might as well show you the little 10" Denise Pratt baby I am painting for a custom order. This would be custom order #4 on my 2010 custom order list. She's just barely started~





Isn't she cute????

Okay, I am tired now so I'll go and "take a little nap" as my wonderful friend Angie would say.

Goodnight!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Huh...there is a CHILD in the nursery today!



I walked into the nursery this morning after a very late night cleaning it up and to my surprise (hehehehe) there was a CHILD watching over the babies!

Please meet "Kendal"~well sort of meet her! She is not finished, in fact, I have just pinned the wefted hair onto her head and pulled some of it up in bows. I just simply could not wait any longer to put her together! And THAT little process took 3 hours to weight her and put her pieces together. I still have a bit of tweaking to do but oh my is she ever fun!




And I just could not resist snapping a couple of pictures of Capri again. Nothing has changed with her~I intend to spend the night tonight rooting her. She is just so sweet and photogenic!



Mohair is up in the Artfire Gallery! I'll have more listed again next Wednesday and the following Wednesday as well.

~Buy Mohair Here~

Oh ! I went to got and get the link and all of the browns have sold! Within just 10 minutes! Yippeee!

I better get to work! LOL

Hugs!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The start of Capri's hair


Not much to look at yet but I do love watching my own progress~LOL! Seriously though, taking pictures throughout the process does help me see what I need to tweek and add. In this picture, I see that I need to remove some "pokey-ups" as I call them, right where her hair begins to take off to the right side of her head, at the bang line.

~In other news~
I'll be the featured reborn artist in Discover Dolls Magazine next month! I am very excited!

~Discover Dolls Magazine website~

Things are going well with the mohair processing. I am finishing up this weeks "lot" this morning and will have it available on ArtFire tomorrow by noon. I am trying something different with the hair~not with the color but with the packaging. I've always left the light colored band at the cut end of the locks for several reasons~and really, I prefer to root with it this way, however, I can save myself some time if I just clip that off along with the band leaving just enough light color at the cut end so that there is no question to which is the cut end of the lock, which is very important to know for high quality rooted results. I won't be clipping this end off on shorter hair, under 6" long. We will see how it goes.

My husband left today for a few days out of town. First thing on the agenda during one of my "up late at night" nights is cleaning up the nursery! Oh my goodness it's a good thing I haven't had any visitors! Wowwwweeeee, it's a mess!

Hugs for Tuesday!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Capri's paint is finished


I am so thrilled with Capri's color!
What more can I say except that she is ready for hair :)










Speaking of hair....Remember Rachel Maynard's Wee Yawns prototype that was rooted with my hair? That baby sold yesterday for over $5000 USD! I could not be more proud...or excited for Rachel!

~Rachel's Wee Yawns again~


I've seen more and more Angelica boys coming out on eBay~they are just darling!

I've a lot to do today. I have a pot of 4 ounces of mohair in on the stove that needs bands removed, washed, rinsed, conditioned, combed and rinsed again. Tonight I will dye more mohair and the routine will start all over again tomorrow.

I'll be prepping some 10" Pratt babies today too. And hope to do more rooting on Capri tonight after the dying is done. (Last night I got a wee little bit started on her).

Toodles!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Interview with Colliii.com

Wow! I was so delighted to see that the interview I did with Colliii.com was up on the website! James did such a fantastic job putting the interview together and I am so honored to be interviewed :)

~Colliii.com Interview~

Colliii.com and Colliii TV are top notch doll enthusiast information sites in Germany. Every year, they hold the world wide Colliii Awards. Their site is a great site~be sure to take a look around while you are there reading the interview.

***************Nursery Notes*****************

Prototype Jayden, by Natalie Scholl is on the way to her in Canada. I should have one of the prototypes in about a week.

Prototypes Leah and Logan, by Cathy Rowland are to be shipped to the US this week. All three of these babies may end up here at the same time! IKES! LOL Oh well, I work pretty well under pressure.

I've ordered some amazing outfits for Leah and Logan from Piccolissimo Baby which I am very excited about! Not fully sure just yet how I am going to outfit Jayden.

Prototypes Chicklet and Zinny, by Marita Winters and Kristaletta, by Laura Tuzio Ross are still in the mold making process but it won't be long before they are on the way to the US. I've got an idea for outfits for Kristaletta~

I have been working on mohair processing any chance I get. I've got 7 ounces combed out and ready for washing/dying. I will end up with about 5 ounces to sell out of that 7 (one of those ounces is already sold) and will post them on Artfire and let everyone know that it is ready.

~CUSTOM ORDER LIST IS CLOSED~
It is with a sad heart that I must close the custom order list for an undetermined length of time. With 9 orders already on the list, 7 prototypes on the list, 2 fall shows scheduled and big girl Angelica still sitting in the nursery without hair, I simply cannot do justice for my customers by taking on any more orders. From now until I open the list again, my babies can be adopted through my website, eBay, live shows and Artfire.

I'll be working on Prototype Capri today~hoping to finish up her paint. I am sure loving her! She's just so sweet!

Hugs for Sunday!
Debbie






Friday, April 16, 2010

Friday Funnies~Matthew goes to see Clinton Anderson, again!



Hello Aunties!!!!! Wow~I'm weawly excited! Once again, I get to see Mr. Clinton Anderson, world known professional clinician and horse trainer (Downunder Horsemanship). He has taught me, my mommy and my daddy so much about twaining horses.

We have traveled about 5 hours and here I am in the hotel~I'm tired so I just want to sit her with all my "comforts of home"!

And now that I am rested, I am dressed and ready for day #1.

I wunder which of Clinton's horses he will bwing dis time, Mindy or Diez. Three years ago in this very arena we are at now, I got to meet Clinton for the first time and sit on his famous horse, Mindy: See, here we are~Mr. Clinton was NOT that impressed with me back then....

Oh goodie...he brought Diez this time!
HAHAHAHAHAHA....Diez was sapposed to be laying down but when Mr. Clinton turned his back, Diez sat up...


Diez and Mindy travel to these shows from Texas in this gigantic semi horse trailer~cool huh???

~sigh~Dis is what mommy does wif me when she has to go potty and no one is around to babysit~

Here's a picture from IDEX 2009 when I went to Florida wif mommy and she didn't have a babysitter at da moment....I'm so abused!

OH goodie...time to meet Mr. Clinton again! But Mommy wasn't ready, she had to give instructions to her son-in-law, you know mommy...boss boss boss!

OH boy, this second shot shows Mr. Clinton not being too impressed with me~again! LOL Hey, dis time I am MUCH cuter as mommy has reborned me. Dis is my FOURTH Clinton Anderson event and I'm sure I will go to more. Mr. Clinton will jest have to get used to me.

Wewl, it's otay, my Auntie Sheri lubs me ALL da time! I lub her too~

No matter...I got Mr. Clinton to sign the chaps that my Auntie Michael Marie made me~how cool is this????? Clinton Anderson is my biggest horsie hero, well next to my Daddy that is.

I can't wait for the next horse training event. Pwobably between now and the next one, I will be out twaining our horses. Right now I want to ride the HUGE horsie dat my Daddy twained, Scout. I've not ridden him yet.

See, I even have my own saddle to ride Scout with
~sigh~I love my life!


See you next time Aunties!
Love,
Matthew

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Angelica as a boy and Capri WIP



When the Angelica sculpt landed in my nursery, I really desired to reborn it as a boy but opted not too as most will want a girly girl to dress up in sun dresses. I came across this listing of Angelica as a boy and I think HE is adorable!!!

~Angelica as a boy Auction~

I think he looks like my nephew when he was a boy.

***************************

Capri is coming along nicely. I should just have a day to a day and a half left of painting on her.


I did a lot of very fine details yesterday~darkening the creases and folds, doing the nails, working on the brows and lips, blushing and mottling.


Again the blog is washing out some of the colors plus when I put the Genesis Matte Varnish on, it will draw out and blend together all the colors making her ever so stunning. It's hard to explain what that varnish does~it's just amazing stuff, no matter which paint I am using.



Other than combing out mohair and cleaning things up, I am taking the next three days off. Some of our adult kids are coming home and yipppeee...other than picking one up at the airport in the city (2 hours away) I get to stay home! It's the first weekend in 6 that I am staying home :)

Have a great Thursday! Matthew will pop in tomorrow and tell you about last weekend.

((((((((HUGS)))))))))




Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Prototype Capri WIP and updated Custom order list



When I first saw the OOAK of Capri, I thought she had some real nice traits to becoming an AA baby so that is how I decided to reborn her.

When I reborn Nicky, who won the award (see yesterday's blog) I used a layer of Genesis paints to give her the base brown coat. With Nicky I finished her coloring with LDC paints but for Capri, even though I planned on finishing with the LDC paints, I have just kept on going with the Genesis. Oh those artists...you never can tell what direction they will go in next! LOL

Sometimes it is just fun to pick up a different medium and see what you can do with it.

So here we go~ Here is her head after a layer of color compared to her belly plate and limbs that had no color:


And here is a shot after that first day of working on her:


Yesterday I deepened her creases and folds, added a lot of shading, worked on her lips and brows and started to lighten the palms of her hands and soles of her feet. I like to color the bottoms of the feet just a wee little bit but I got them too dark so now I will just bring them down until I am happy.





Today I will deepen the creases and folds more, work on the palms and soles, start blushing and toning~AA babies have several different colors and tones just like Caucasian babies. I will use yellows, blues, and maybe some greens as well as reds, purples and browns. She is pretty shiny right now but that will change in the end. OH and I can't stop thinking about how I will do her hair! :)


~Updated Custom Order & Prototype List~

2010 Custom Order List


Customer ID Sculpt Status



X#1: MB Portland OR Arianna PAID/Secure ETOD: Mid March 2010

Completed March 4, 2010, shipped March 5, 2010


X#2: LC Portland OR Aubree, Completed and shipped March 25, 2010

X#3 AR Canada Berenguer Completed, shipped 4/5/2010

Prototype Payton~Completed

Prototype Capri~in progress

#4: SB Tuscon AZ Tiny 10” Claire PAID/SECURE ETOA late April

Angelica for ebay ???

Prototypes Leah and Logan~kits will be shipped here April 19th

Prototype Jayden shipping ???

Prototypes Zinny and Chicklet~Shipping here late April

#5 JM Marshing ID Aubrey Budget Baby PAID/SECURE ETOA Unk~kit out of stock

#6 SS WA State “Lillian”/Jena, kit purchased/PAID/SECURE ETOD: ???

Prototype Kristaletta~May/June?

#7 BN The Dalles OR Nicky, Kit provided

#8 RM Nampa ID Berenguer, doll provided

#9 RM Nampa ID new set of limbs on Emily, Emily in the nursery, limbs ordered

#10 SG Arianna Caucasian Deposit made, kit in stock


#11 MM S California undetermined kit (Noah?) deposit credit on file

#12 BN The Dalles OR Emerly, Kit provided