Really Cute Doll

      My progress this week has been pretty great so far. I have several dolls in the works and have even managed to finish a couple. One that is still in the ugly stage is this dressage rider doll. And her ugly stage is not the worst thing ever. She needs her stock tie and cuffs, but then just her coat and finishing need to happen. I already have her head haired and her face painted. She won't take too long to finish up.

     Speaking of finishing, I managed to finish up this youth doll. I think she came out really cute. I still have some work to do this week to be on target for my NOT Breyerfest sale on July 5th, but I am doing pretty well so far. Depending on how much time I have today I might be able to finish up the dressage rider and the western doll I have in the works. That would be fantastic. 

      I'm sure part of the reason I had so much time to work on dolls yesterday was that we didn't do any work on the house. Ethan found the rubber mulch he has been looking for, in stock at one of the stores he went to. Every other home improvement center he would have had to order it. He couldn't pass up it being right there or the buy in bulk and save discount. I helped move some heavy stuff around the yard and spread some mulch, but there was not a lot of work that needed my help yesterday. So I got a lot of doll work done and forced Travis to spend a little bit of time outside. 

     I'm in a weird place with doll work mentally. I kind of want to get as much done as possible in the next two and a half weeks, but I kind of want to just reach my planned goal as quickly as possible and then stop and take a break. I am tired. My hands hurt. It may be from all of the doll work with work on the house on top of it. I don't usually notice except first thing when I wake up or when I try to lift something heavy and can't. I know I sort of also have the option of doing just 2 dolls and 5 pairs of chaps a week as planned and then nothing else (doll related) in the week. But I always am a little bit afraid that I won't reach my goal. It's good to have goals. 

Sometimes I Surprise Myself

     I have less than 3 weeks left until my NOT Breyerfest live sale and the pressure is on! I have everything I need to get done carefully planned out but I still have other things I need to do as well as make dolls. There is always something that needs doing after all. Yesterday I knew it was going to be an excellent weather day which meant we would need to get more work done on the house. Because of that I set my dolling goal to cutting out outfits and sewing. That was all I needed to get done, and potentially all I was going to get done. My student didn't show up for our Zoom class so I emailed several colleagues about a different student and then started to cut out clothes. I wanted to cut out and sew 4 outfits. It seemed like a reasonable amount. I don't think I can get all those dolls finished this week, but you never can tell.  

       Pretty much right after I finished cutting things out Ethan needed my help with the fixing. It was actually really excellent timing. We worked for awhile and then Ethan wanted to take a break and plan out how to do the next stuff. I said to let me know when he needed my help and I got out the sewing machine and got to work. I got almost one coat done and then went back out to help Ethan. All progress was good progress. 

      We got a good chunk of work done and things are looking pretty good. The work went fairly smoothly and we got to a point where we were done with what we were doing and the next step was really to get more material to do the next stuff. Ethan decided we would be done for the day. Things had gone really well and it was nice to end the house work on a good note. 

      So I came back in and got back into sewing. That all went well, and I still had a good chunk of time before dinner, so I decided to get into dressing one of the dolls. This guy had the most perfect hands to be an English rider! I was very excited for this doll. 

      I think he came out pretty well. These dolls have such great range of motion I am sure he will be an excellent rider. A lot of models could also really use a larger rider such as this guy. He will be available at my NOT Breyerfest live sale on July 5th. 

     One doll done for the week and it's only Tuesday. I think today I will work on the youth hunt seat doll. I have been trying to get myself to make one for a bit now, it would be good to follow through. I am hoping today will be another pleasant, productive day. 

Ghost in A Jar and Other Stories

      Friday, on Artist Unlocked, people heard me talk about how I really found the hobby through ebay. I made an offhand comment about going to check ebay for Breyers because you can get anything on ebay, you can get a ghost in a jar. Over the weekend the link to the interview was posted here and there and people have commented that they remember ghost in a jar. I hadn't realized how long ago that was. 
     From Ghostinajar.com: On May 26, 2003, Teajay101 of Arkansas began his auction at $99 for "Ghost In A Jar! No Joke Serious Inquiry Only." The auction hawked a mysterious eerie glass cylinder with cryptic painted markings. Teajay101 claimed that he "would not be held responsible" if the "black thing" escaped the jar, and that "all sales are final."

     Over the years there have been a lot of weird auctions that went insanely high. Ghost in a jar was apparently the first, and there is even a book about it. You can get it on Amazon.  Sometimes things stick with us and we don't realize how old they are unless we go looking for them again. I still remember the Dunkin Donuts commercials with Fred the baker saying "time to make the donuts". Fred the baker started out in commercials in 1981 and was retired in 1997. He was around for most of my childhood, no wonder I remember him so well!

     For anyone that is curious, if you Google images of Ghost in a jar, mostly what you get is the cute little guy below. 

       It's funny how time can get away from you. I am really bad at remembering when things happened unless I have some sort of frame of reference. Recently I started watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air again. That was always a favorite when I was young and HBO Max has it in their catalog now. I have not seen the show in years but I am definitely still enjoying it. I had forgotten how often they tackled racial inequality on the show. Right from the first few episodes, and in fact, in most episodes. I had to Google when the show aired originally and it was 1990! It makes me sad that in 30 years we don't seem to have come that far. There is a lot of homophobic content in the show, disgust and shock about an interracial couple (with eventual acceptance) and body shaming. I THINK we are finally moving past that. I hope 2020 is the year we also finally move past racial inequality. 
     I try not to work on the weekend too much, but it is supposed to be really nice weather for most of the week, which means Ethan and I are going to need to get a lot of work done on the house. I wanted to get a bit of a head start on dolling yesterday, because I need to try to get 2 or 3 dolls finished this week. Plus a bunch of chaps. In preparation for my planned work of the week I was working on remaking this youth doll. I actually really like this particular youth body and have found that with new arms, a bendy neck, and her feet removed and reattached in a way that allows them to turn and get her heels down, she makes a pretty good rider. I do also dremel out the inner thighs. I forgot to take off the boobs, but I will do that as well. Now that the body is prepped I will have that ready for fitting when I sew the clothes. Progress. I also got gloves painted on her and on the hunt seat guy that I have planned. I need to get the clothes cut out and sewn but any progress is good!  

     This little handheld rotary tool, that I got as a gift, has been pretty great. It is not super powerful and is probably only a step up from one of those manicure buffer tools. But I managed to use it, and the drill bit attachment, to drill holes in the doll arms and feet for adding wires. It will work to dremel down a bit of plastic on a doll, so if I have something quick, like taking off some boobs I forgot to remove, it will be perfect for that. For bigger jobs, or multiple dolls, I run the extension cord and bring the dremel outside. But I have found a lot of uses for this little tool, and it definitely saves me time when I just have one or two small things to do. 

      So this week is my last week of school. I have an appointment with a student today to hopefully finish up her math that she needs to pass. Then on Wednesday I have another appointment with a student, but I might not need to meet with him. He may be finished his work owed. I need to talk to all of the teachers and see. Then there is also a lot more house work, doll work and then maybe sleeping. I think after all that I will only be able to handle sleeping. 

Live Sale Prep

      Friday was Travis's last day of school. In a few weeks I will start back up with a summer program for him, but for now he has earned a break. Especially since Mom doesn't give breaks during school. I completely understand that breaks are important, but he is not doing 6 hour school days with me. And he would take nearly continuous breaks if he could. He did a great job in Mom-school and I am sure he will do just fine in Mom-Summer-School. But we will have a break first. 

      I had a lot of work to do for my school on Friday as well. I finally got a student back into a Zoom class for much needed extra help. We worked for about an hour and a half catching up on assignments. I pre-planned another Zoom class and I am gathering all of the missing assignments from all of the student's teachers so we can be prepared. Only one week left, time is running out. 

     Since I had already finished all the saddlebags and dolls for the week, and school and school took so long, I decided not to do anymore doll work. I did some deep cleaning around the house and then decided I wanted to start putting the backwards numbers on things for my live sale. Getting this done is a big head start to finishing up sale prep. I have all of the cross country kits and saddlebags numbered, and all of the dolls that are currently finished. I also have photos of everything and will publish a catalog of sorts on live sale day. That way people who check the blog early can start thinking about what they want to try for. 

      It's hard to feel like you are making progress when the items you make are fairly small. This bag contains 24 dolls, 20 cross country kits, 16 sets of saddlebags, and 16 sets of saddlebag stuff. And it doesn't look like much. I will add a bit more to it before I am done but I can literally fit everything for my live sale into a shopping bag. 

       The other day I mentioned the really cool replica bills that I bought for Travis to use to practice money math skills. A few weeks ago I got another set of fake bills along with some really nice quality play coins. The bills look incredibly realistic, but the ad is deceptive. They are about half the size of regular bills. In the ad they had a small child holding them fanned out in front of her. The close-up of the money, with the child behind, made it look like they were excellent play bills. But they are small and I am not a fan. So I decided I would list them on Mercari. I was not looking to get more than maybe a few dollars for them and shipping. Someone might be into educational bills that are the wrong size. 

      Well Mercari pulled down my ad and sent me a warning for listing prohibited items with a link to their prohibited items list. Play money is NOT on that list. Real bills, counterfeit items or replica currency is. I emailed them and asked how my much-smaller-than-real size bills (which was clearly stated in the ad) can be considered replica. They wrote back to me and said they looked into it further and the warning stands and they sent me the link for the policy again and said not to relist the item. That doesn't explain a thing! There are other listings for play money on Mercari. Very frustrating!

     So I have a bunch of smaller than real sized bills that I don't want or need. Anyone have some kids that want play money? There is a good amount of it and other than being smaller than real-life they are very realistic. 

     Friday the second episode of Artist Unlocked dropped on Youtube. This was the episode where Emily interviewed me and I had a ton of fun! I am looking forward to more episodes and learning a bunch of new thing about a variety of artists. 

6 Dolls, 22 More Days

     I was incredibly efficient this week. I had my plan to make 2 dolls (at least) and finish up 3 sets of saddlebags for my live sale. I also had an order for a couple of casual English dolls. I thought that I might be able to finish the 3 sets of bags, and all 4 dolls, if I really tried. It turns out I was right. The casual dolls are not overly complex, so that helped. But not only did I have to bake some new helmets but I had to cover one and paint one. Also not super time consuming, but not as quick as just baking them and popping them out of the mold. I am thinking I might make a couple more basic, plain casual english dolls. I do have 20 cross country kits in different colors after all. 

     I also got this cowboy doll finished. He is taller than the Breyer guys or the Type S guy, so the chaps for those guys won't fit on him. I made a new pattern for this larger size of chaps. This guy will come with his chaps and I will have at least a couple/few pairs of chaps in this larger size at my sale. The next 3 weeks my plan, other than dolls, is chaps. 

     This week I was very efficient. I managed to finish the 3 sets of saddlebags I set out to finish, I made 4 dolls and drafted a new chaps pattern. My goal is just 2 dolls per week and 5 pairs of chaps. I think I can likely make 3-4 dolls a week without hurting myself too much. So then it gets me to wondering... if I get 3 dolls done a week, I will reach my goal a week early. Should I take that extra week and make nothing and just get the last minute stuff done? Should I see if I can fit the last minute stuff (trivia, finding prizes, numbering things) into the next two weeks and then just take a week off before the sale? What do people do with free time? I have one week of school left and then I am done until whenever we go back. Well, other than starting a reduced schedule of a summer program for Travis in July. A lot of stuff is still closed so I don't know if there are any places to go. Maybe I will just sit in the yard with a book and an iced coffee. And try not to get a sunburn. 

Props and Micros

      I have been doing a lot of work with Travis with money. Counting money, in all sorts of combinations, with the eventual goal of teaching him to count back change. I know a lot of adults that don't possess that skill, but it is an excellent skill to have. About a week ago I got a package of highly realistic prop money. I have always felt that learning is easier if you have either the real thing, or as close to the real thing as possible. The $10 I spent on this set of 140 realistic bills was totally worth it! Mostly I have had Travis counting coins. He's quite good at it, though at times he needs to be reminded of things. Counting by 5's, 10's, or even 100's is a skill that kids usually acquire when they are little. But counting by 20's? When would you really use that other than when you are counting money. So I made Travis a chart, gave him a stack of realistically crumpled bills (they come immaculate, I modified them, lol) and set him to counting. Sometimes I would add some and sometimes I would take some away. When he got on a video chat with his teacher he demonstrated his new skill for her. If anyone is as fascinated by super realistic bills as I am, you can get them here. 

     Today is technically the last day of school for Travis. I told his teacher I was opting out of the remote learning for the summer program. Becky is an amazing woman though and she is adding a bunch of lessons to my two favorite sites (that only she has control over) so I have new work for Travis over the summer. And she told me to text or email her if I need anything. I think that is great. We are definitely going to do at least some more work over the summer, especially with money, but we will also have a break. I don't give breaks during school (school is also not as long with me) so having a shorter week with maybe fewer lessons, will be nice. And we can get out and enjoy the summer. 

        I am a huge fan of Morgen Kilbourn's work. I have owned many horses she has sculpted over the years. A lot of times I use them for performance, or that is my plan when I get them, but I have been super into most of her micros. I loved the Ranch Mare when she came out. I had one, she was gorgeous, and I showed her some. She was also long and sort of a shelf hog and I have limited space. So I sadly sold my Ranch mare. I managed to snag one of the first 8 3D prints of Crouton, who is the micro Ranch Mare. I am over the moon excited over this tiny horse! I will probably also get one when they come out in curio scale. 

     I have been working away on dolls this week and I actually made a lot of progress. I am right on schedule for my live sale, which will be July 5th at 2:00pm on my studio page on Facebook. I am debating whether or not to make a few extra dolls, or maybe do some saddle pads to match the dolls I have made, or maybe just take more time off. So far I am right on schedule, but I can likely get more done in a week than I have planned out. I am not sure yet what to do. I guess I could see if I can finish up the NOT Breyerfest stock and then start on stock for the miniatures sale. That might be an idea. 

Midweek Update

     There are about 4 weeks left until my NOT Breyerfest live sale. In just 25 days I need to be finished all of my projects, have everything packaged up, numbered, prizes gathered, trivia figured out and paper lunch bags purchased. Because I wrecked some of my paper bags (though I can and will reuse most of them!) and I did not have enough last time. I would rather have too many than not enough for next time. I can always find a use for a paper lunch bag eventually after all. 

     This week I needed to finish up the last 3 sets of saddlebags. I did it, though I managed to lose another bag in the process. Not a whole one this time, and I didn't have it at all when I sat down to work, but I was still missing one of the already cut, ironed and glued black saddlebags. I couldn't find it and figured I could waste a lot of time searching for it, or I could just make a new one. Anyway, they are done and next week I will start on chaps. So far I am doing well staying on target with my goals!

    I also finished up this cowboy, who apparently got photographed from a weird angle. His body doesn't look to have the normal proportions they have in real life. But he is done and is 1 of 2 dolls that I need to finish this week to be on target. And the week is not over. I feel like I am doing pretty well. 

     Yesterday Travis and I went to meet up with Alex, Travis's para, for a socially distant visit in a park. She gave him a birthday gift (a squishy Spiderman he has not let out of his sight since he opened it) and we walked around for awhile and chatted. Travis wanted to run to the gazebo and Alex said she would race him. I was not in any kind of running mood but they had a good time. Travis does not get out to run nearly enough these days. And he sure is good at it. 

     Before we left Alex they got a socially distant selfie with their masks on. I am definitely looking forward to the day that social distancing isn't necessary anymore, but I do like how clever everyone is about it. And we still had an excellent time. We will have to get together for more visiting. And exercise. 

      I have a couple of English dolls in the works for an order and another cowboy. I think next week I will work on another male hunt seat doll and maybe a youth hunt seat doll. I think those will be the two official dolls I try to get done. If I have time and energy maybe I can squeeze in another one (or two). If I finish all my planned work early I can either do a few extra things or take a bit of a vacation. Lol, I somehow doubt the vacation will happen. But you never know.