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. 
 

Letters Home- Furniture Building

    Continuing the series of my doll, Little Elecktra, and her visits to friends all over the world, we find her still in Canada with Terri Wright. All of the photos and today's letter are by Terri. 

Hi Mom! 

     I've been busy visiting since my last note. The stables here at Priam are hopping with activity constantly, and people are always coming and going. Today Emmie came and asked me if I wanted to learn how to upholster a chair.

I learned that it is not as easy as it appears, especially when there are cats involved!!  We spent time cutting out fabric to cover the chair with.  This is easier done on the floor as so much fabric is required. The cats seem to think its playtime, and we can't help but laugh. I think we will finish off a chair tomorrow, though! I will write more soon!

Love,

     Little Elecktra

 

Life Lessons

     This is hanging in one of the classrooms I work in. I feel that it is a very important life lesson and can, and should, be applied to almost everything. I have been meaning to take a picture of it for a long time and I finally remembered. And now I will talk about doll making. 

     For a long time doll making was difficult. The first doll I made took me 4 (long) days of work to finish. This was after having about 25 years of sewing experience. These days dolls are usually easy. But before they were easy, they were hard. Very hard. 

     Dolls go through ugly phases, just like any other bit of art. The ugly phase of dolls is long and can be incredibly frustrating. But if I don't give up on them they usually come together. Sometimes it's very hard. It has become easier over time. It has also become easier, over time, to "see" how they will end up. Which makes the ugly stage easier to work through,

     It is entirely possible for me to make a doll, start to finish, with no mistakes. I do it all the time. It is possible to make a new pattern, and have everything come together perfectly, from start to finish. But I don't learn anything that way. When I order a supply (of any kind) hoping it will work for doll making, sometimes it won't. And I have learned what won't work. I have tried techniques that won't come together, no matter how hard I try. I have experimented over and over. Plenty of mistakes have been made along the way. And I have learned a lot. Now I can hear (read) what someone wants for an unusual doll and I can think about the steps in my head. I can plan it out in my head, which comes from all the lessons I learned from all the mistakes I have made. 

     What is the point of this? The same point I always am trying to make. If you want to learn to do a thing well, anything, you need to practice. You need to try it, and you need to screw up. You really will learn to be better at whatever it is you are trying to learn, if you make those mistakes. And then keep on going and try it again.

    The Field of Dolls Online Fall show is open and accepting entries. You have 2 more weeks to enter and get your entries uploaded. The show is being held on OMHPS so please make sure you are signed up with them before you enter. You can use the site for free, but you will be limited on how much you are allowed to show in each show. I don't have any entry limits so premium members can show as many entries in each class (all different horses, one entry per horse per class) as they want. The entry form is here. 

     I also have been getting interest in the new miniatures club. Thank you so much! To make things easier for myself I am going to be shipping miniatures in January, April, July, and October. Other than International members, those will ship once a year because shipping costs are outrageous. So even though people joining right now have not been in the club for 3 months yet, I will be shipping the first miniatures to you in October. The sign up for that is on my ko-fi page, which can be found here.
 

The Lies I Tell Myself

     Since Breyerfest I have been hunting for a few Django models. I needed 3 of them to finish my Django conga. Back in July (maybe August?) I found 2 of the ones I was looking for. The original Django was still elusive. I found one available (actually, I think Lynn Isenbarger found it and told me about it), I made an offer, the offer was accepted, and I was asked for my zip code for a shipping quote, which I immediately gave. And then... crickets. I heard nothing back from the seller for a couple of days. So I emailed again, to see if maybe my email had gone astray. Still nothing. So I went back on the hunt. I bid on one on eBay, it went out of the price range I was comfortable paying for it. Then I got a message on my ISO ad, the seller and I started messaging and then, finally, I bought a Django. And now he is here. Which brings me to the lies I tell myself. 

     I am not an OF collector. I have said that often enough. I even sometimes believe it. I don't get super excited about most OF models. I much prefer artist resins and nice custom models. I can't personally see the joy in having thousands of models (or even hundreds), because I wonder how I would enjoy them. I have 10 resins and customs on a shelf in my living room (which was recently switched up slightly for an experiment on long term packing of resins) and I feel I can't even properly enjoy those 10 models. The majority of OF collectors I know have a very large number of models. Other than lack of space I just don't understand it. And congas... collecting every single color of a mold you like, just for the sake of having a complete set... yeah, I did that. Because I lie to myself. 

      The entire point of finding those last 3 Djangos was having a complete conga. I don't even really like the gold filigree or the appaloosa one. That is really outside of what I collect for. I only collect things I love. But it was actually really fun seeing if I could get a complete set. Kind of like when I go unicorn hunting (buying the blind bag unicorns to try to find the chase pieces). I don't even really like the unicorns for the most part, and I have not kept any of them. Or the chase pieces. I just want to FIND them. It's fun. And completing this conga was fun. But I won't make myself crazy over it. I will keep it up just as long as the rest of the pieces are easily obtainable. Just as soon as they are not I will start selling off every single one that I don't love. 

      So yeah, this not-an-OF collector has a complete conga, belongs to the premier club and the stablemate club, and is eagerly awaiting the next offerings from both of them. But yeah, I am not an OF collector. 

     
 

Moving On

     I am still working away on different bits and pieces of a couple of different projects. The cat sets are still in the works, the lunch bag sets, and so on. The other day I got some more work done on the lunch sets. I got the sandwiches wrapped. I made little parchment paper envelopes for the cookies, because even though the cookies are not real, I would not have a real cookie just loose in a lunch bag, so I made a wrapping for it. I also made some little snack chips. At this point I think I need to just dig out the other miniatures I have ready to go into lunches and finish them up. It would be a good idea. But progress is being made on them. I am happy. 

    I should have been finishing up the lunch sets, and the cat sets (I still need things for those) but I didn't, I moved on to starting some cross country kits. I got as far as cutting out this rainbow of vests and getting the padding in them. They still need Velcro, the pinnies, and then I need watches and medbands. But some decent progress was made on them. 

     I also got this pair of Breyer cats in the mail. They were from a single eBay auction. I am thinking one will stay here and be mine and the other can maybe be a giveaway during the next live sale. I have not totally settled on that idea yet, but I do like it. 

     So progress is being made, even though nothing is getting finished. Sooner or later things will get done. I am hoping today I can finish up at least a couple of the projects and then maybe early next week, if everything I need has arrived, I can get the cat sets wrapped up. Next week I also plan on getting started on several other miniature projects. 

 

Tiny Toys

     Next up on my project list is feather toys for cats. As I have mentioned, I have never had a cat. But I do have the internet. So I looked up feather cat toys. There are a ton of different types of feather toys. I grabbed a design that was fairly easy to replicate in miniature and I made a bunch. Every one of them is different, though they are all similar. I am one step closer to having the cat sets finished. The dishes and litter boxes should be on the way soon. I ordered “litter” and “cat food”. Hopefully those arrive quickly. But progress is being made and I am happy about it.

    In other news that makes me happy, I have gotten to teach a bit the last couple of days. One of my co-teachers is out and I have covered some of the classes. I really love teaching. Though I have discovered I don’t love every level class. It turns out the classes I like best are with the kids that need the most help. I have done plenty of teaching in science classes, a bit in a couple of different types of math, but now I got to do some teaching in an English class. I love that too! Reading is one of my favorite things and being able to help kids with their reading and writing makes me especially happy. 

     So school is going along well. It’s still really early in the year, but it also seems to be going by quickly. As frustrating as things are at times this year it is so much better than last year! I definitely did not like hybrid. Remote was hard because everyone started at you silently. Hybrid was harder because it was way too easy to semi-neglect the kids at home. Things are still weird but I am glad we are in person.

      I still have lots of things I need to make before my next live sale, but I am making decent progress. I am still really tired, but today is the first day of Fall. Which I know seems like those 2 thoughts don’t really go together, but I struggle when the seasons change. I get tired and unmotivated for about 2 weeks every time we move into a new season. I have been forcing motivation so I think that is leaving me extra tired. Hopefully I can be more alert soon.

 

Shipping (Miniatures Club Update)

      I tried to do a fun thing and start a miniatures club. In part it is an incentive to help my blog earn a bit of money, so it is somewhat less of a burden to keep going with it. Ko-fi offers tiers now, so it should have been easy.  I have a "thanks" tier that is a monthly donation of $3 and is just a thank you to me with no extra incentive. The second tier is level one of the miniatures club. It is a $6 monthly donation and every 3 months I will send you a random miniature. The third tier is level 2 of the miniatures club, which is a $10 per month donation. In level 2, every 3 months you receive either 2 miniatures, an extra cool miniature, or a handmade miniature. All of them are surprises (aren't all subscription clubs?) and for tier 3 you don't get to choose, it just depends on what I have for that month. 

    Setting everything up was a bit tricky, though not horrible. Then I ran into an issue. Of course. The idea was to make a small amount of money from the blog, not just make more work for myself. USPS shipping rates has found a way that it would be more work. So, sadly, I already have to make changes to the club. 

     

     I do not want to leave international collectors out, but with shipping charges being the way they are I would make nothing if I shipped a miniature every 3 months. To some countries I would actually lose money, which definitely is not fair to me. So the most reasonable option I have been able to come up with is I will ship the miniatures to international collectors once a year. I know this sucks, but this is the only way I can see that will make it work. If you are outside of the US and have already joined, and do not like the once a year shipping rule, you are totally free to cancel and I apologize for this. Really, anyone is free to cancel at any time, of course. Again, I am sorry this is what I have to do. But I definitely don't want to leave anyone out. 

If anyone is looking for the ko-fi page, it's here. https://ko-fi.com/fieldofdolls

The Miniatures Club

       For almost a month I have been tossing around the idea of doing tiers on my ko-fi page. I mentioned that ko-fi now offers monthly subscriptions, and someone did subscribe (thank you!) but I figured if I had something more to offer to people, maybe they would subscribe. But how to make it fair to people? Sure, people can subscribe, which “buys me a coffee” once a month as a thank you for writing my blog. And I wholeheartedly appreciate it. But I wanted to do something more. Mary Snyder had the idea for a miniatures club, so why not? I mulled it over, and then mulled some more. I really liked the idea. I even started shopping for cool miniatures. But that was as far as it went.

     Then yesterday Jennifer Buxton and I were doing some trouble shooting on ko-if. There are membership options and tier options. Jennifer had membership set up but there was no clear way to tell the membership is there and will give you access to the blog. So we played around some more and I finally pulled the trigger on a miniatures club.

     There are membership levels. The first level is $3 a month and is just a thank you to me for doing the blog.  And I appreciate it! The second tier is $6 a month and is miniatures club level 1. Every 3 months I will send you a miniature, and it is a thank you for my blog. Tier 3 is $10 a month and every 3 months you will get either 2 miniatures, a super cool miniature, or a handmade miniature. The shipping months are January, April, July, and October.

     It is entirely possible that sometime in the future I might add another level or other bonuses randomly. But for now I will start with this. If you are interested in joining my miniatures club, or just supporting my blogging, here is a link to my ko-fi. And did I mentioned Jennifer is opening up her blog to subscribers? That is absolutely worth the $5 a month!

 

Miniature Food

     Something that can be fun to make, but is definitely really fun to have, is miniature food. I have a few different projects going on at the moment that require miniature food. I have cat sets in the works, dog sets will be coming soon, and I needed to get the bags put together for those. Soon they will also have food in them. I love the realism and I love to see the sets come together. Hopefully I can update you all with finished photos very soon!

      Next it was time to make tiny lunches. I need to feed the dolls and I have half a dozen empty lunch bags just waiting. My plan was to make sandwiches and cookies so the first step was to make a light dough colored clay. 

     There are variety of other steps to make tiny cookies and sandwiches, but one of them is adding shading with pastels. This adds so much realism. I have been making things out of clay since I was about 8. Back then I used Play Doh, which I made a huge variety of things out of, including food. Polymer clay makes a finished product that is a lot less delicate and has the potential to be incredibly realistic. This is my extra long loaf of bread waiting to be cut. 

      And here is my batch of finished cookies and sandwiches. I made a couple of extra cookies, in case I am inspired to make a couple more lunch bags. I also made a whole bunch more sandwiches than I needed to make. Making the peanut butter took an incredibly long time. So much mixing! Since it took so long I really didn't want to waste it so I just kept on making slices of bread and making more sandwiches. My dolls might end up with a couple of these. I also might just save some for the next batch of lunch bags. We'll see. 

     I still have more miniature food I need to make, but I got a good start on it. I think my next steps are going to be digging out some other things to go with the lunches, making the feather toys to go with the cat sets and then... not sure. But sooner or later I need to make all the different pieces. Must. Keep. Going. 

 

Letters Home- Canada

     Continuing my series of my doll, Little Elecktra, and her traveling to visit friends around the world she has now made her way to Canada to stay with Terri Wright. When Elecktra arrived I got a quick message "from her" saying she had wicked jetlag and was going to bed. The photos and some of the letter are by Terri (with some adjustments and additions from me. Enjoy!

     Hi Mom!

          After a good rest, I spent my first day with Emmie, Yonne, and the girls, relaxing and settling in. It's Fall here in Canada, just like back home, and everyone is starting to get the harvest in before the snow flies. I am staying in Edmonton, which is pretty far north, and the Fall weather is great. I am sure your weather is flop-flopping back and forth between Fall and Summer (it is) but it's wonderful here. We went out and bought tea and coffee from the famous coffee chain Tim Hortons, which is like our Dunkin. It was fantastic! Remember when I was young how much I hated coffee and tea? Boy have times changed!

          

     I'm still settling in and adjusting to the time change, but Emmie says she has a ton of stuff planned. I can't wait! I will write more soon. 

      Love,

              Little Elecktra
 

More Progress

     Thursday I finished up some more lunch bags. I am really glad I got that idea and that I came up with a workable design. Currently I don’t have plans to make more than these 6, at least before the next sale, but I like the ones I have. Soon I will have tiny lunches to go in them as well!

     I got in a bunch of miniatures for mystery boxes the other day. And I ordered a few things for myself. I got a really nice stand mixer and a cutting mat. I am really excited for these! I have to get around to setting up some more miniature scenes. I just need some time.

     Entries and uploading are open for the Field of Dolls Online Fall show. The entry form is here https://forms.gle/tzN7x7WfRRUvtxma7 The most up to date show information will be posted first on the Field of Dolls Online Facebook page. If you are not a member you can find the page here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1465159400351471.
 

Field of Dolls Online Fall Show Details

 

Field of Dolls Online Fall Show

 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1465159400351471

OMHPS Site: https://www.omhps.com/

Entry Form: https://forms.gle/jpKbqdd2G52XMEPw8 

Entry opens: September 18, 2021

Entries and uploading close: October 2, 2021

Judging begins: October 3, 2021

Results: October 17th championship results, special prizes and door prize drawings will be live streamed and full results available on the Field of Dolls Studio Blog, as well as on the Field of Dolls Online Show page on Facebook

Judges: Anne Field and Jennifer Buxton

Entry fee: $30 (Paypal link is in the entry form. Please click send and keep it set on goods and service.)

This show will be held on OMHPS. You will need an account with OMHPS. It is quick and easy to create one. Once you have entered the show your OMHPS user name so you can be added to the show. Please allow 24 hours for me to see your entry and to add you.

 

This show has 3 types of classes. A traditional performance class list, a specialty/creative entry class list, and halter classes. The performance classes will be all finishes combined (because a good performance entry is a good performance entry). The traditional performance classes will be single judged on real horse show rules. The specialty/scene classes will be double judged on concept and execution. Concept includes interpretation of the theme and overall creativity. Execution includes correctness of the entry and photo quality. The halter classes will be judged by breed type and breed standards. Halter classes will have OF and CM/AR separate.

 

For the specialty/scene classes there are 2 on the OMHPS site for each class. You need to put each of your entries in both so they can be judged twice (for example enter Arenas and Barns and Arenas and Barns #2)

 

Champs, Reserves and winners of the specialty/scene classes will be featured on the Field of Dolls Studio blog.

 

Prizes: Miniatures for 1st-6th place in each regular class. Miniature rosettes for 1st-6th place in each specialty class. For halter miniature rosettes for 1^st-3^rd with miniatures for 4^th-6^th

Champions: We are stepping away from the traditional way of doing champs for this show. Instead of the HORSE that has the most points it will be the SHOWER who has the most points. They will be calculated for every placing in every class in the show. We will name an overall champion, overall reserve champion and an additional top 5. Top prizes will get mini rosettes and a prize pack. Realistic backgrounds are not required. But the background should not be distracting. No class limits. Showers may enter as many pictures as they'd like, but individual models can only have one picture per class.

Other Prizes: We will have a special rosette for the spirit award. The winner will be determined by a combination of interaction with the group, clever photos, and overall awesomeness. There will also be multiple door prizes, the potential for other prizes, and every entrant will receive some fun prizes for entering!

 

All entries should include a model horse except for the Other Animals class.

 

Please include a link to any documentation. Imgur and Google Docs work well, though a direct link to any external documentation is fine.

Class list 

Performance (All finishes show together)

1. Pleasure and fine harness

2. Other harness

3. In-hand (lead-line, in-hand trail, lunging, etc)

4. Showmanship

5. Other Performance (no English or Western)

6. Native American Regalia

7. Arabian

8. Parade

9. Other costume

10. Roping

11. Other Stock work

12. Patterned Western (reining, Western Dressage, etc.)

13. Western Trail

14. Western Games

15. Other Western

16. Western Pleasure

17. Hunter

18. Jumper

19. Cross country

20. Dressage

21. English Games

22. English Trail

23. Other English

24. Hunt seat pleasure

 

Specialty/Scene (double judged)

 

25. Arenas and Barns

26. Epic Performance

27. It’s in the blog

28. PINK!

29. Trading Places

30. Wrong on so many levels

31. What scale?

32. Other (model) Animals (no horse required)

 

Halter (OF and AR/CM separate)

33 Stock

34 Light

35 Gaited

36 Draft / Cob

37 Pony / Miniature

38 Spanish / Iberian

39 Sport / Carriage

40 Longear / Exotic

41 Foals of all breed types

42 Fantasy / Decorator 

Prototypes and Progress

      I almost didn't write this post. Not because it is a touchy subject or anything, but because I thought I had already written it! I'm glad I went to check last night, or there would be no post today. And who knows when I would have time to write it. Anyway, as the title implies there is more about prototypes. The next new thing is the tiny "catnip" mouse toy. It is more like rat sized, but teeny things are even harder to make than just regular small things. So we have some BIG catnip toys. 

      And I made a whole bunch of them! They were kind of fun to make and I think they turned out super cute. I still need to make some feather toys for the cats, but I am making progress. 

     Here's another view of the little mouse. All of the ears were hand cut circles (it's so hard to cut things that small) and are not really identical. But handmade items can have character. And kitties can chew things and make them less than perfect. Cats do that sometimes, don't they? I have never actually had a cat so I don't know what they do with their toys. Other than hide them under the couch. 

     I also finished up a bunch more cat beds. My plan is to have 8 cat sets at the next sale. I have the 8 mice finished, the 8 beds, and I have 8 cat dishes and litter boxes ordered. I need to make feather toys, cat food bags (with food) and I think that is it for them. At least for now. There are, again, a lot of pieces to the sets. I am vaguely considering selling the cat and dog beds singly, a few of them, but I am not even sure how to price anything individually. I know I am likely not charging enough for the sets to compensate for my time as it is. So who knows. I'll keep thinking on it. 

    School was not bad yesterday. I decided I am going to have a positive attitude. The only thing I have control over is myself. Not what students I work with, my schedule, or any attitudes outside of my own. So lets see how this goes. Happy Friday everyone!
 

Prototypes

      Everyone knows I have been working on mentally designing new things recently. I try to have one or two new items for every live sale. People have been asking for cat sets and it is a good idea to make what people want. So I have been working on the design for the cat bed. But only in my head. At least until Tuesday. 

      I have worked on the mental design for the cat bed over and over for maybe a week. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, as well as a pretty good idea of how it would all need to go together. It took me a bit to work up the pattern pieces but I already had such a thorough plan it wasn't overly long. I did tweak the pieces a bit after I started work on the first cat bed, but it came together really well. 

     And in not too much time I had a finish cat bed! I know kitties love cuddle beds, and I wanted one that fits my cool laying down cat, and this is the result. I do really like the design. This bed would also work for small dogs, though this is officially my cat bed design. 

      No experiment is complete until you can repeat your results, so I made a second cat bed, and I timed it. So now I have a pretty good idea of how long they take me, I have a workable pattern, and I am quite pleased with the results. Onto the next NEW item!

      I can't remember exactly when, it was sometime after the August live sale, I was thinking about miniatures and what I could make and it finally popped into my head that I could make some doll sized lunch bags. I had the idea that it would be super fun to make not only a cute lunch bag that opens (of course!) but to have cool little lunch items inside. I struggled over this design. There are TONS of different designs for lunch bags but I needed something that would work in miniature, that didn't take a ridiculously long time to make. And I wanted it to be easy to use and not have little fiddly bits that would make people crazy. I finally came up with this idea, which is similar in some ways to Barbie purses I used to make, though has stiffened sides on all the sides. I think the design works pretty well, is cute, and there is plenty of room inside for tiny lunch. 

       All closed up the lunch bag is very realistic looking, though again, there are SO many designs for lunch bags, and I think this will be fun for the dolls to have. I have not yet made a second one to figure out how long they take, and to make sure that I can repeat the design, but I have one. I love how it came out and I am very excited to make some more. I also have food plans in my head. It might be time to get out the polymer clay again soon. 

        I didn't work a super long day on my new designs, but I got two new items worked up, with easy to use patterns, and one extra cat bed. It feels like good progress. Now I need to work out the rest of the things in the cat sets and get to work on more beds and more things for cats. And more lunch bags and tiny lunch... and then all the other things. 

      I have 11 weeks until my next live sale and have only just barely started making things for it. I do have the dog vests sets finished that I made last week (was it last week?) and I will soon have at least parts of cat sets and lunch sets. After that I might move into the matchy-matchy sets. So I can do the full sets of saddle bags (with the pommel bags) and a matching saddle pad, backpack and... I have blanked on anything else that should have gone into a matching set. So here is a question, would people want the cute printed fabric on saddlebags? Or should I just stick to pretty much solid colors for those. I have a feeling I know the answer, but I want to ask anyway. Oh, and hoodies are supposed to go with those matchy-matchy sets. So yeah, maybe after cat sets and lunch sets I will make matchy-matchy sets. And then... who knows. Eventually I will likely make some dolls too. 
 

It’s A Go!

     The other day I went into Travis's room to gather up his laundry and I walked right into a bear! He was just standing in the middle of the floor. So I asked Travis if the bear was safe or unsafe. He called out, unsafe! I asked him if the bear would leave me alone, and he said no (he was not in his room by the way). So then I asked him if I could get past the bear and he again told me unsafe. So I risked my life to gather up the laundry. And the unsafe bear left me alone. And the whole thing made me laugh because it was a very silly interaction. In case anyone is interested to know, I think that bear is about 6 inches long.

     Other than narrowly escaping tiny bear attacks I also picked up a bunch of supplies at Joann's. Cat sets are a go! I heard back on the 3D printed items I want to get, and while they are not ready yet I have already seen prototypes (amazing!) so I need to get to work on the other items. As I am going to sleep each night I have been working on designs for the cat beds. I want to make them differently than the dog beds after all. I also think I want to make my dog beds a bit thinner. I like the big pillow style, but I think maybe thinner would be good. 

      Design work while I am going to sleep is something I have done for years. I think I have a good plan down for how to do the cat beds, I gathered materials, and now I just need to have time to sit down and try things out. Making a prototype is not usually a simple task. But I need to get into it. I have cat items to design and then I have another miniature I want to make. But more on that soon.