Darya enjoys a winter concert.
Model: Darya Silkstone Barbie
Jewelry: Darya Silkstone Barbie
Gown and Coat: Winter Concert Barbie
Ken: James Bond 007 Ken
Set: Gold console table found on Ebay. Leopard shade lamp – Marann Roy furniture ( http://maryannroy.wordpress.com/) Ornate wall panel made by me. Flooring is wood parquet floor paper.
Happy 2012!
Sweet Confection Poppy is ringing in the new year with a glass of bubbly and wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2012.
Model: Sweet Confection Poppy Parker
Gown: Monaeglow (http://stores.ebay.com/monaeglow)
bracelet: Mattel Trace of Lace Silkstone
Ehhh hmmmm!! Well Miss Poppy…what’s with the honkin’ rock you are wearing on that all important digit??!! Word is that Poppy’s boyfriend Chip will be making his debut in 2012. Perhaps it’s a bit more than “boyfriend”??? Will have to see about that.
Preferably Pink for early Bogue’s Vogues Vendredi
Preferably pink refers to the doll in this photo but it really could be the gown as well. This was perhaps my favorite Bogue’s Vogues purchase of the year though choosing a favorite Bogue’s Vogue is like choosing my favorite child between my two kids….impossible. This delicious pink cotton pique number with rolled black velvet collar is paired with a black velvet hat with netting bow. TO DIE FOR! Once again Mr Bogue…that hat is off to you. Ms. Preferably Pink has had her hair restyled at the salon de Berry.
Model: Preferably Pink Silkstone Barbie
Gown and hat: Bogue’s Vogues (http://www.etsy.com/shop/boguesvogues)
Shoes: Mattel
Wall panel: made by me ( tutorial is available here…https://insidethefashiondollstudio.com/2011/03/19/the-wall-panel-background/)
Bottle Brush Tree: Bethany Lowe Pastel bottle brush tree
** tree is sitting on a miniature stone urn. The urn does not come with the tree**
Black Diamonds Anyone?
One of the highlights of going to doll conventions for me is the opportunity to see, photograph and sometimes purchase a One of A Kind doll ( okay so that’s my favorite part LOL!). I feel extremely blessed to have some truly amazing OOAK works of art in my collection and they mean even more because I have come to know the artists behind the work. One of my all time favorite OOAK artists is Matt Sutton. This past summer at the Ft. Lauderdale Barbie Convention, I was able to add this beauty to my collection and have finally put her in front of the camera. It is always a joy to photograph something sooooo beautiful.
OOAK Silkstone “Black Diamond” by Matt Sutton (http://mattsutton.com/)
And…because the front shots don’t really give the full story of the detail that went into this lady…here are some closeups of more detail.
Beautiful Beaux–Part Deux
I felt the need to photograph the new Fashion Royalty convention exclusive by Dressmaker Details on a Silkstone. I also wanted to photograph the adorable dress beneath the shrug….my previous photos really didn’t show off that. Also, the gloves are leather-like and fit really, really well on a silkie. LOVE them! I am starting to pull out the holiday stuff for photos so be prepared….Christmas trees will show up randomly from now through January LOL! I am also looking forward to photographing the Fashion Royalty Convention collection when it arrives ( taps foot impatiently while waiting 
). Oh and not to mention…but I will definitely mention…I have a couple of new hats by the talented Allyrenee to showcase in some upcoming photos.
Model: Restyled Silkstone Verushka
Ensemble: Dressmaker Details “Beautiful Beaux” ( available at www.windycitydolls.com )
Beyond the Still Monogram
Thanks to a very gracious table mate, I was able to purchase this lovely lady at the F.R. Convention this year. I love the high couture look of the Monogram line by Integrity and this lady fits in very well with my collection. I was also impressed with the promotional photos of the up and coming Monograms for the holidays so I thought I would play around with some more dramatic lighting. Here is my first attempt at trying to sculpt the light into something different. While it isn’t perfect yet, I am liking the direction it’s taking.
This ladies jewelry is TO DIE FOR!
Beautiful Beaux–Dressmaker Details Convention Exclusive
I am a huge fan of Steven Fraser’s work so it can be no surprise that I purchased his Fashion Royalty Convention exclusive this year. He named it Beautiful Beaux and it is indeed beautiful. I adore the faux mink shrug with this.
The fashion is available at Windy City Dolls ( http://www.windycitydolls.com/dressmaker.htm)
**note** the necklace on the mannequin is NOT a part of this fashion. The gloves and the purse are.
The Wall Panel: The Painting Phase 2
The final touch added to the panel was the gilding. This was kind of hard for me because I wasn’t quite sure how much or how little to do. In the absence of knowledge I decided to do research and went through many of my travel picture that showed ornate gilded wall panels. Armed with that knowledge I went to town on the wall panel with a fantastic gold gilding pen from Krylon. And here is the finished product…..
Here are some of the products I used on the project
Here are some of the photos I used this wall panel in….
The Wall Panel: The Painting Phase 1
This phase believe it or not…took the longest in this whole process. When spray painting in 1:6 scale, there is one cardinal rule…..PATIENCE. Multiple thin coats gives the best results. I had a large computer box that I had saved to do spray painting projects in. I put a smaller box inside then laid the wall panel flat on that smaller box inside the bigger box. I have spray painted many, many small pieces of doll furniture but never a large wall panel. I was a little worried about my finger strength because I know even coverage relies on consistent and even spraying. I found something in my hardware store that made it soooo very easy to spray paint.
I am never going to do another spray paint project without this handy dandy plastic spray gun. They are fairly cheap too..double yeah! I used Dover white Krylon paint formulated for painting plastic. It took me a good part of one day to paint this panel. You have to spray one coat then wait about 15 – 20 minutes and do the next coat. I lost track of how many coats I did but there were more than 10. It is also important to note that if you are spray painting, you need the air temperature to be above 50 degrees and below 85 degrees for best results. One other thing I learned..the hard way…make sure you have a couple of cans of spray paint and that these cans were purchased at the same time. Much like fabric, spray paint has a certain die lot and if you buy paint at different times, it can have slightly different hues.
Stay tuned tomorrow for The Wall Panel: The Painting Phase 2……..
The Wall Panel: Construction Phase
I have a collection of what I call “gold embellishments”. Most are scrapbooking elements. I also use gold escutcheons ( keyhole cover) and other gold embellishments. On this wall panel, I used Jolee’s Boutique scrapbooking elements called Leaf Flourish 2 and two larger wood elements that I found at Michael’s. The wall panels and wainscoting panels are made out of Resin and are made by Lawbre. I don’t believe they make the large panels I used anymore but the wainscoting is still readily available. The crown molding I used at the top is Lawbre also. I ended up using another molding at top of crown molding called egg and dart and I used that on the base board at the bottom to give the piece continuity. The columns are flat resin pieces found at a miniature mail order shop. I also used two basic wood miniature shutters on the bottom of the columns to continue them to the floor. The baseboard for this panel are just two pieces of miniature baseboard glued one on top of the other. I covered all the seams between the components with miniature 1/4 inch chair railing and used the same chair railing to connect the flourishes on both large panels. I glued everything in stages and made sure things dried in between. The picture above shows what it looked like after gluing all the pieces. All of these components were glued on to a 22inch x 28inch trifold foam presentation board. The finished panel measures 15 1/2 inches X 18 1/2 inches.
Stay tuned tomorrow for The Wall Panel: The painting phase…..
The Wall Panel background
I have always been fascinated by old world architecture. My family and I travel and invariably, our travels will include visiting an old museum or estate so I can see the architecture. I have a particular fondness for ornate wall paneling. Don’t know why…just the way I am. I had always wanted to do some kind of ornate wall panel for my 1:6 scale photos and thought about it for a looooooong time. Whenever I would see something that might be interesting or work for my “wall panel” project I would buy it and put it in my project box. At the beginning of this year, Matt Sutton finished a commission OOAK doll for me and when I received this exquisite lady, I could see her in a setting with an ornate cream and gold wall panel in the background. I knew it was time to finally put my thoughts to action.
Explored on Flickr Jan 19, 2011
A number of people have emailed me asking for details on how I built the wall panel so I thought I would share that here.
The Wall Panel: Design phase
I gathered all the elements I had collected over the last two years to see what would work together and what would not. I ended up using miniature scale wall panels and a wainscotting panel to start then filled in with crown molding and column detail. I knew from the start that I wanted the wall panel to fit on a 22 inch X 28 inch trifold presentation board. I have used these boards in the past for backgrounds in my photos and the size works really well in my 30 inch photo tent. In the photos, you can see that I used a piece of furniture to try and get the right feel and scale for the panel.
Once I decided on the larger components, I played around with the smaller detail elements.
Stay tuned tomorrow for Wall Panel: The construction phase…….
Inside the Fashion Doll Studio 