The BIG NEWS for me now is that I have decided to make a doll….or at least a head. It has been really hard, because I’m a 2-D artist and have never done any 3-D stuff. I plan to make the whole doll, but just doing the head is taking so long that I have bought an AoD body to use in the meantime.

Roughing in the head. I used a styrofoam ball, and applied LaDoll air-dry clay to form the shape.

Not sure why my captions are not showing up. This is the head as of January 29th after lots of sanding and some refinement. It is very slow going! The head is now on the AoD body just to give some idea of how it will work. I put a little pigment on the face to see how it would look. Still have lots of sanding to do, and more refinement of the mouth, plus need to shape the nose.

Prima (60 cm Obitsu modded to 55 cm, Gretel head) and Adam (Dream Realm Rad Correco) model new outfits on the cutting table.

Prima will be very upset if this dress sells.

I bought Adam because his sculpt was so manly, but when he arrived he was just….very sweet!

My Number One Model Giselle (Elfdoll Soah) takes a much needed break wrapped up in Adam’s sweater.

Girls in white show some attitude. (Fantasy Doll Nina, DollZone Lotus)

The chaos extends to the bulletin board where I stick all of my pattern pieces.

My trims and laces. It’s a miracle I can find anything.

My sewing machine table.

A stack of summer yukata robes ready to go.

I hope I survive this! Please stop and see me if you go to the CC Con in Fresno on May 15th.

Niki (Elfdoll Red) surveys the damage on my cutting table.

Three outfits ready to go.

Rack of finished clothing.

Escaping outside- four of my models escape from the sewing room for a little fresh air.

If you are planning on going to the Convention, please stop by the Lastochka booth and say hello!

Garden of Dolls Nabiya in the garden.

Little Emma (Garden of Dolls Nabiya) has been walking in the Autumn Garden.

The leaves have fallen off the trees and everything seems dead and cold.

But a ray of late afternoon sun lights a golden path for her to follow.

Something glints at her feet…..

When was this left here?

People have told her that Christmas is coming.

But in the brown and gold of the garden, it’s hard to imagine the winter fantasy of Yuletide.

But maybe the mysterious object is an omen of changes to come…

Bobobie Sprite

Soul Doll Apple

DIM Odelia

Doll Zone Feilian

I had bought the fabric to make these outfits to sell on ebay, but the events of the past month prevented me from finishing them in time to list, sell, and ship by Halloween, so I didn’t post them. But if you are interested in buying one of them, please contact me by leaving a comment. All outfits except the skeleton dress include dress, hat, stockings, mitts, and petticoat and are $25. The skeleton dress includes dress, hat, stockings, mitts, apron, and an underdress of vintage lace (below) and is $35. Prices include shipping. Dresses should fit most MSD dolls.

Vintage lace underdress.

Happy Trick or Treating!

And he finds that the crazy apples are everywhere.

The Bistro is empty today except for one single customer.

Pumpkin is Little Ben’s best friend. There are times that they both feel out of place in the Doll House. Little Ben is gay, and Pumpkin has elf ears. That has brought them close.

Sometimes an uncomplicated friendship is exactly what you need.

On the way back to the Doll House Pumpkin and Little Ben find that someone else has decided to escape into the cool air of Autumn.

“‘Sup Dawg?” Niki is the Doll House’s laid-back surfer and philospher.

Out and about. Autumn is a paradox. It’s a time for quiet and reflection as the world gets ready for winter, but in the human realm it is the sling-shot that flings us towards the Holidays- back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Sometimes it feels like all we do is run from Labor day to New Year’s.

In the meantime, if you can grab a moment here and there to stop time and enjoy the apples, it’s a real blessing.

The crabapple tree was a sapling when we moved here twenty years. Every year it would flower and fruit, and I’ve never known what to do with the apples. They fall to the ground, ferment, and the whole yard is filled with the sweet fragance of apple cider. One of them sprouted and grew into another tree, and now we have twice as many apples.

I don’t water, fertilize or prune them, and yet they continue to grow and fruit with gusto. Now every fall the ground is covered with the yellow crabapples. I have no idea what to do with them. It seems like such a waste. At the same time, I love to see the ground covered with the cheerful yellow globes when the rest of the yard is going brown and dormant, and I love the scent of the garden on the soft moist air of fall.

If anyone has an good recipes or ideas for what to do with them, please let me know.
In the mean time…..
Crazy Apples.

* * * * * * * * *
Little Ben is a Dollzone Megi. Pumpkin is a Bobobie Sprite. Niki is an Elfdoll Red.

Some friends of mine are out of town and so I am watering their large garden for them. After the business of the summer, it’s nice to spend some Zen time dragging around hoses. I took Alice with me. Alice is a 50 cm Obitsu (the new lovely body) with a Haruka head.

Alice walks down a row in the garden

Most of the garden is still lovely, but there are signs that the end of summer is near. The peas are done and the vines are wilted.

The garden reflects my current state of mind: tired, dusty, wilted. August is always a difficult month for me. Most people get seasonal depression in January- for me, the end of summer has the same effect.

August is neither here nor there. The excitement of the beginning of summer is over. Generally by now we are feeling the lack of rain, and dust has accumulated on all of the bushes and trees in the forest. The last two weeks of the summer are like the stretching pull of a slingshot aiming towards fall. Once labor day has arrived, it is Full Force Ahead until New Year’s, without much of a chance to breathe. But August is anticipation for the rain, the change of seasons, the start of school, and the craziness of the holidays.

In the meantime, we wait and watch as the summer slowly disintegrates.

One of the tiny lizards that scurried around the garden as we watered.

Otis the Wonder Dog

Yesterday I asked Otis if he wanted to go the beach, and as usual he started jumping around and wagging his tail. But when I opened the hatchback of my VW bug, he simply stood there staring at me.

Granted, Otis the Wonder Dog has the mental capacity of a crustacean. He is 100 pounds of stupid but affectionate black muscle. As with all of our animals, he is a rescue dog from the Mendocino Humane Society, and since his parentage is uncertain, I tend to describe him as “labbish”.

Anyway- as he stood staring blankly into the back of my car, I realized that his reluctance to get into the car may have something to do with the fact that for the past two months, Mozart’s Requiem has been blasting from my car stereo every second I am in the car. This has helped me memorize the entire piece, a good 45 minutes or so of Latin and tricky musical passages. When you don’t have actual talent, you must rely on cocktail party tricks, like the ability to memorize words and music.

The concert this Saturday night is the finale of the Mendocino Music Festival, and dedicated to the memory of a dear friend of mine, Marion James, who was universally loved by everyone who had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful and incredibly talented woman. She is also the mother of Carolyn Steinbuck, incredible and loved in her own right. Carolyn has been the Fearless Leader and chorus director who has somehow managed to wrangle over 100 free-range singers into a cohesive group for this concert.

In honor of this pleasant but unusual immersion into music, my first love, I did a short photoshoot with my musician, Marie. I made her a dress that I felt would be appropriate attire for a demure pianist (for some reason pianists seem to always be meticulously groomed).

Marie’s new look.

I moved the piano outside because it was so hot.

She tries out the keys.

Before long she is fully-immersed in the music.

And now, she is no longer aware of the world around her.

Marie is a Haruka head on a modified 60 cm Obitsu body*

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