Tiny Photos Challenge

     I imagine that the title of this post likely makes it sound like there is a challenge for tiny photos. Which does sound intriguing. But really it has to do with the challenge of taking photos of really tiny horses. This Scarlett is a micro mini. Which means she is maybe a little over an inch long. She is amazing, but she is also amazingly tiny. I managed to get a pretty good photo, but when it is blown up larger, as it would be for a photo show, it gets a bit blurry. And then my iPhone loves to show things in weird detail. So her lovely paint work does not look as lovely in my photos. 

     Hugh Can Do It is a Hugh micro that I painted for NaMoPaiMo a few years ago. He is pretty nice, but when I was nearing the end of his paintwork I managed to get something stuck on him. It is now part of him and the not-perfect paint work shows in glaring detail when the photo is larger. 

    My micro Mira is absolutely stunning in real life. But when I take a close up photo, and then blow it up so much more than life size, she looks a bit grainy. Which she is not. Over Breyerfest I purchased multiple professionally painted micros. They are amazing... in real life. In photos it is super hard to catch the accurate detail. 

    Moving into mini is a bit better. My mini Croi I got from Stephanie Blaylock (also during Breyerfest) looks nice in the photo. I brightened it and did something with color balance (I think) but there is not really a wow factor to it. I don't know how to make it better. 

    mini Barnaby (also by Stephanie Blaylock) looks nice too, but his photo is also missing that wow factor. It's a nice picture, and even blown up larger than life size he looks good. But something is off. Something is missing. 

      I am hoping to enter some micro and mini halter horses into the Mares in Black Spooktacular photo show, but so far I can't get a really great photo. It is not easy to stand out in a halter class and I really am not sure of the trick for it. But I will keep on trying. For a bit, I don't have forever to get these done. 
 

Field of Dolls Online Fall Extension

      27 people voted on whether or not to extend the entering/uploading deadline for Field of Dolls Online. 26 people said yes. I contacted admin and they can (and will) extend the show for me. The new deadline to enter the show, and get your photos into their classes, is 11:59 pm ET next Saturday, October 9, 2021. Happy showing!

 

Sets

       I like making sets of things. Many people like to have sets because it gives them (hopefully) all of the pieces they need for something. I have been making my cross country kits for a few years now. I have always made them in sets so they come with the vest and attached pinny, the medical armband, and a stopwatch. It makes it so someone can buy the set, add it to a casual rider, and have a cross country rider. Convenient and money saving. 

      For my next live sale (Friday, November 26th) I have some new sets. I shared about the cat sets the other day. Those will come with the bed, litter box (with some litter), a litter scoop, food dish, feather toy, catnip mouse, and bag of cat food. These are nice complete sets that give you a bunch of items for your model cat friends. 

     Another new item I will have are these lunch bag sets. Each set comes with the reusable lunch bag, a sandwich, drink, cookie, bag of chips and an apple. Everything fits nicely inside the lunch bags. Dolls need to eat too after all. 

     There are some items that I know people have wanted that I only make in sets (such as dog beds) and I may make some individual items at some point. But so far there are some things that only come in sets and are only available at my live sales. And some things that have mostly been offered individually may be offered in color matched sets soon.
 

Backpacks

    Before I get into backpacks, I want to post some reminders about the Field of Dolls Online Fall show. Entries and uploads end at midnight on Saturday, October 2nd. This is actual midnight (not when I get up Sunday morning) because it is programmed on OMHPS. You still have time to get your entries in! 

     On that note, this may be the last show I hold. Interest seems to be down. I added halter classes but have far fewer showers than the last show. Maybe it's the time of year? Maybe people are tired of interpretive class lists? Maybe people don't really like OMHPS? Maybe people are focusing on live shows? I am not sure what is going on, but I either need to cut everything way back or just stop. I welcome any feedback on this. 

     OK, backpacks! I started out the other day making 4 backpacks. I thought that was all the buckles I had at the moment. So I ordered a whole bunch more, but they can take a very long time to arrive. I thought that I might then make some backpacks that just needed buckles added when they arrived, but I decided it was enough for now. 

    Miraculously I found another small bag of buckles on my doll box tray! So I made four more little backpacks. I am moving on to making some other types of the smaller items, but I may go back and make some more backpacks later on. 

 I have a lot of projects that I wrapped up recently, and finally got a bunch of finished items cataloged. As a reminder, my next live sale will be held on Black Friday, which is November 26th, and will be semi-live like the last one. 
 

All About Cats

     At long last, I give you... cat sets! I have been working on these, either in design or creation, since we had a big discussion about them during my last live sale. I got in the items I ordered from Kari at HandcraftedbyKari on etsy, and she included a surprise. When I asked her to make me litter boxes I didn't ask for scoops. But she made them, and included them as a gift. Kari is awesome!

They look fantastic in the litter boxes. Each set will come with a bit of "kitty litter".

      The sets will also include a cozy cuddle bed. My Breyer cat thinks it's a nice bed. I have a good variety of colors and patterns. 

    Since kitties love feather toys, the sets will also include one of those. You have to keep those kitties active and happy!

      Another new item I asked Kari to make were the small double food bowls. I love them! They will come with a bag partially filled with "cat food"

       All of the sets also come with a cute little catnip mouse/rat. Clearly, these make kitties very happy. 

    Here is the complete cat set all together. I have a rainbow of colors and I will post all of the sets soon. 

     I hope these sets are what people were hoping for. Thinking of things to put in them, that don't make them overly complex (which leads to needing to price them very high or loses me money from the amount of time they take) is a delicate balance. I think these came out well. My kitties seem to like them. I hope you all will too.
 

Letters Home-Furniture Building Part 2

     Continuing my series of my doll, Little Elecktra, and her travels to visit friends around the world, she is still in Canada. Little Elecktra is visiting with Terri Wright and is learning furniture building with the dolls. All of the photos, and most of the post, are by Terri. 

Hi mom!  

     Today we did some more work on the chair.

      I learned there is lots of tucking and trimming and measuring.  It gets more complicated with patterned fabrics.  

      Emmie and I put the final parts together after covering them.  We still have to paint and attach the legs, but we got the hard part done at least!    

Of course, the cats are the first ones to sit on it !!

     I am having such a great time and I can't wait to tell you more about my visit. I will write again soon!

    Love,

       Little Elecktra

 

Learning New Things

     You learn something new every day. I really do believe that. It might be something really little and often it might not even seem like learning. Sometimes the new things stand out. The other day I learned that when a volcano erupts it causes a bunch of lightning. I didn't know that! That was a cool science fact I learned.

     Other things I learned recently were some super easy shortcuts to how I make my watches and med-bands for the cross country kits. I have been making those things for years. They have never been super complex items, but they are now so easy to make, and make consistently, and I am shocked with myself that I didn't think of these things before. 

     The first trick is how to easily get perfectly round watch faces. I have always glued the printed stopwatch to some cardstock, and then I cut them into tiny circles and glue them onto a bit of ribbon for a watch band. Not particularly challenging or time consuming, but not always super precise since they are so tiny. Recently I started thinking about the watch faces and how they likely were the exact size of the hole punch. Turns out they are! So I glued the sheet of watch faces onto a piece of cardstock, let everything dry, and then punched them out with the hole punch. Nice and precise. And easy! I have no idea why I didn't think of this before. 

     Another new trick I should have figured out years ago has to do with box tape. I can't think if I have used this trick before, it's possible, but for the most part it is new to me. For making the med-bands I have always cut out the medical info sheets, glued them onto a bit of plastic (from a plastic baggie) and then glued another sheet of plastic over them. Not hard to do, but the glue will sometimes decide to let go. So this time around I glued the sheets onto the plastic and then simply covered them with a piece of box tape. How did I not think of that before? I can, potentially, just stick the sheets to a piece of box tape and then add a second piece of box tape on top. I am also sort of thinking of sticking them to a piece of colored duct tape or maybe a matte piece of scotch tape. There are options. But the process is super easy. 

         I have been making miniatures in one form or another since I was very little. I have often remade old things in new materials, sometimes with really excellent results. Sometimes trying a new technique works out, and sometimes it's another thing to add to the list of things that didn't work. But when something does work it's pretty awesome. And looking at the world in a different way than normal (like a hole punch being the size of a miniature watch face) can often make the difference.