![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hat_plays_simsHokay, official notice. I make dollhouse miniatures for a living, and I have a mini show coming up the first weekend after Labor Day. I really need to switch gears and quit making stuff for Sims and make some stuff I can sell, instead, so...
Now begins Hat's official August sabbatical from Sims 2 Stuff.
Except it's a crappy sabbatical, because a) I can still play if I need a break from sewing, b) I can still download, c) I can post already-completed items, and d) no way am I going to quit socializing. I'm just not going to make any new crap for a month or five weeks. Expect a hair dump and my party-and-games defaults before too long, because I just finished twenty-one hairs and I feel bad not releasing them as soon as I get them photographed and named.
(I also have a doll show to do in November, but I don't need to barnstorm so hard for it.)
Now begins Hat's official August sabbatical from Sims 2 Stuff.
Except it's a crappy sabbatical, because a) I can still play if I need a break from sewing, b) I can still download, c) I can post already-completed items, and d) no way am I going to quit socializing. I'm just not going to make any new crap for a month or five weeks. Expect a hair dump and my party-and-games defaults before too long, because I just finished twenty-one hairs and I feel bad not releasing them as soon as I get them photographed and named.
(I also have a doll show to do in November, but I don't need to barnstorm so hard for it.)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 08:05 am (UTC)That is so cool! Do you have a website or something to look at?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 05:05 pm (UTC)I don't make the dolls myself, but I do all the wigging and dressing.
Sailor suits are not easy, but are worth it.
Sometimes I do character dolls. I'm not as happy with my Oberon as I am with Titania; I think he needs more glitter.
Everybody complimented me on my Can-Can girl, but it was four years before she finally sold.
Trimming is very important on a Victorian gown, but sometimes the silk speaks for itself.
All the seams are sewn by hand and all the clothes are fully removable.
I used to make elegant baby gowns and bonnets and the whole nine, but apparently? I can only actually sell babies if they're in a diaper.
We also make bottles out of beads (okay, Mom mostly does that. It's a hobby of hers that I sell).
Taken at a show, with crappy lighting AND my old crappy camera, but... pirates, man.
I don't do Empire clothes often, but this pattern is one of my favorites.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 09:03 am (UTC)Isn't it hard to make a living out of this? I mean, they're collectibles right, so I imagine the market isn't too large ...
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 05:10 pm (UTC)Mine are porcelain, yeah, but porcelain is sturdier than you'd think. The clothes are all natural fibers-- cotton and silk, mostly, though sometimes I get to play with linen and wool when I can find a light enough weight-- the seams are sewn with a buttonhole stitch, which is very sturdy... Basically, they'll stand up to being played with. I sell to a lot of older collectors who want variety (full families for each of their houses (some people have LOTS of houses), plus different outfits for them all) without making too many compromises in terms of period accuracy, and to a lot of kids in the nine-to-fourteen range, who still understand that dolls are toys and meant to be played with. (I sold two pirates to a twelve-year-old boy once; I think they were the only thing in the building he was at all interested in. But then I make a good bargain for my pirates; buy one and get a treasure chest for $10; buy two and get the treasure chest free.)
Although I admit, dolls aren't the only thing I sell, and that helps a lot. So is the fact that dollhouses and dollhouse miniatures is a pretty popular hobby, and I'm always happy to take commissions.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 08:09 pm (UTC)Your dolls are beautiful. I especially love Titania -- her dress is so pretty, and the belt is too cute for words. Good luck with your shows and your work this next month! I'm sure everything will be gorgeous! :)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 08:15 pm (UTC)Again, not taken with the good camera, and sold to another dealer pretty much before that show opened, but he was fun to do.
Today's project is a purple polished cotton day dress circa 1850, nice and simple. Underwear's almost done. This? This is why not quite being able to make everything I want for Sims stuff bothers me. If it were fabric? I could do it.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 03:45 am (UTC)-Astral
no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-07 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-07 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-08 09:28 pm (UTC)The table is just an acrylic riser, but the bottles are so fun-- those are the good ones, made with Swarovski crystal instead of just glass beads. (Never plastic. For one thing, glass, metal, and crystal (with occasional forays into stone, bone, and clay) look better, and for another, the good glue tends to melt plastic.) We have a lot of fun in the beading aisle of your average craft store.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-08 11:15 pm (UTC)I did one little doll costume once that I really liked, a baroque thing with those stays which have about the form of an ice cone and the skirst which seem to be up to two yards in breadth but luckily more or less flat if viewed from the sides. Thera are some fun images from that period where you can see women walking through doors sideways because that's the only way they can get through.
> Victorian (which is a loooong stretch of time, technically from 1834 (I think?) to 1901, although Americans tend to count Edwardian as Victorian and sometimes mid-Victorian as Civil War era. We Americans are nuts
Believe you me, after a few years of medieval re-enactment (that's like medieval fairs but with an obsession for getting historical details right) there's very little in the way of butchered period looks that can still shock me. The absolute high light was a french one. The most awesome backdrop you could imagine, because that village hadn't developed much and the old church, castle, wall and caves were all still there. A lot of visitors came dressed up, among other things in:
- whatever blouse and skirt in their dresser looked medieval to them, completed with the lace doily from the couch put onto their hair
- plasticy Disney princess costumes including crowns cut out of goldish cardboard
- baroque dresses consisting of 100% unnatural fiber
- other variations which I have successfully suppressed.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 04:24 am (UTC)I faked that style of skirt once-- but it was character and not period, and I worked out that demi-panniers were the best thing for the shape it needed. One of the few things I've made to keep for myself, actually.
I have immense respect for re-enactors, even if the closest I've ever been is to a Renaissance Faire... where the employees are good, some of the attendees are REALLY good (I get all giggly when I see someone with their dog or iguana all dressed up), some of the attendees are trying, some of the attendees are in jeans, some of the attendees are dressed as fairies (quality ranging from the Brian Froud-inspired and OMG-inducing to 'I am in a tutu! That makes me awesome!'), some of the attendees are in jeans, and then there are the weirdos... The 'barbarians' wearing chains and little else (whether they've got the body for it or not), the people in their Halloween costumes, Commander Riker (no really. Beard and everything, one year)... But hey, they all paid their $17.50 to get in, and it's not like there's a dress code besides 'don't get arrested, guys.'
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 07:54 am (UTC)The embroidered vest and the gorgeous dress with the long sleeves and OH MY GODS that dress from the dream scene! And the jewelry and you even made a tiny book and those gorgeous jewelry on her hair!
**deep breaths**
Friggin' Heck, you even got the cover of the book! And rings on her fingers and EVERYTHING.
**deep breaths, counting to ten**
It's amazing. I'm not surprised you kept it, I don't think I could ever, ever, ever give something like that away, not for 200 dollars. (Unless of course I was already planning how to do the next version better, which I don't think would be possible without divine intervention.)
I am so blown away by all the details, it's beyond words. And of course I recognized her at first glance (I just read "End of Days" over at ffn, Labyrinth fic). This definitely clinches it, you are a genius.
How tall is that doll? It can't the be classical barbie size (10 or 11 inches?) because you couldn't have gotten details like that embroidery on the dream dress (OMFG the embroidery!) on that scale.
I'll be saying someting about the fairies in tutus as soon as I can crowbar my mind away from that doll. Love of the gods.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 09:11 am (UTC)She's my sampler doll-- there's a little bit of everything I know how to do in Sarah, plus things I learned just for her. (And honestly, all the work that went into her, drafting and adapting patterns and linings and real hems and re-embroidered brocade and beading and the hairpieces for the ballgown and learning to print my own silk? If I parted with her (and her outfits), I couldn't ask less than six hundred for her, just for all the time and materials. So yeah. But I HAVE sold duplicates of the book and her blouse, which I deliberately made so it would fit male and female dolls equally well.)
The hardest part was the dream dress's bodice... but also very hard was convincing myself it was okay to use glass beads for the plastic bracelet. They just don't make plastic beads small enough for it, alas! (The FUN part was going through the movie frame-by-frame to look at details like seam placement and jewelry and hairstyles and the like. The shoulders of Sarah's shirt and Jareth's shirts are made the same way. Someday, when I have time? I'm doing him, too. He's wigged and painted and has undertights (with Special Padding) and one pair of hose... and one glove. Because I got the Peter Parker As Spider-Man doll with the separated bendy fingers, and let me tell you, turning seamed fingers on kid leather gloves made for a hand an inch and a half long? CHALLENGING.)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 01:47 pm (UTC)Ehm, yes. I love details. They make the show.
My main worry about a shop specializing in silk would have been to go in to by half a square yard and walk out with 20 square yards. At the least. The patterns really are amazing work, everything looks so like the movie! The moment I see the pictures I immediately have the scene in front of my eyes.
Finger gloves for a 1 1/2 inch hand? I wouldn't even have believed that to be possible. Seriously, my take would have been to just dip the hands in that liquid latex stuff you can buy.
And Jareth? Goodness, if you ever try him you'll need everything you learned on Sarah. Those shirts and the jackets and the collars! And of course the magical pants, which by now have a sort of internet fame on their own. (Quote tvtropes: "I think there was a study once about how sixty percent of the girls in America lost their virginity solely because of watching David Bowie in this movie... ")
I know I watched that movie the first time when I was about 12 and was utterly drawn in. The whole Labyrinth world with the strange creatures and riddles, biting little fairies, doors which only work after picking them up and leaning them to the wall, and of course Jareth with the voice and the juggling and his whole mysterious, wicked, arrogant demeanor. It was only ten years later when re-watched it that I noticed those pants. Whoooooo dear. Special Padding indeed.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 10:38 pm (UTC)That? Is the lovely thing about working in miniature. I can get two ladies' dresses and, depending on what skirt patterns I use, a little girl's dress or maybe a hat, out of a quilter's fat quarter. A half a yard of fabric gives me endless possibilities for dolls from Sarah's size on down to dollhouse scale. AND I can go to thrift stores, find silk shirts or dresses or whatever, and cut them apart and get TONS of clothes out of them. I have more fabric than I'll ever, ever use.
But he changes gloves! He has black gloves and white gloves and gray gloves, so he has to have them in the right colors for each outfit! (The nice thing about Jareth, aside from the whole having to learn to tool leather thing, is that while Sarah has three outfits, Jareth has a wardrobe-- so many of his outfit changes are just adding or subtracting pieces. Even the ball costume can use the same black pants as the costume from the opening scene.) He already has the magic to go under his pants-- front and back, actually, because the male dolls I use have a slight case of cracker ass. Also really nice about the underhose is that two layers of stretch knit really covers up the joints in the knees and hips beautifully.
I didn't get to actually WATCH Labyrinth until I was in my teens-- I had (still have, actually) a beautifully illustrated storybook and I wanted to go see the movie SO HARD, but Mom wouldn't take me. I don't remember why. I watched The Dark Crystal so many times I still have large swaths of it memorized, but I had to wait until I spotted it on VHS for cheap somewhere and went "MOM MOM THIS IS THE MOVIE MOM!" and she was all "What movie?"
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 03:33 pm (UTC)Excellent thing with the magnet, because it would be a crying shame to have tiny holes (which don't stay tiny) in those amazing dresses.
I can just imagine how you see thrift stores and flee markets with an entirely different eye. The cut of that blouse is atrocious and those earrings are tacky beyond words? Who cares if the fabric is good and the stones in the earrings are small enough to make a beautiful necklace.
> I have more fabric than I'll ever, ever use.
Why, can't imagine what that is like at all. /self-depreciating irony
> I had (still have, actually) a beautifully illustrated storybook and I wanted to go see the movie SO HARD, but Mom wouldn't take me.
That's so horrible when you are a kid and the potentially most awesome movie ever is showing. Weirdly enough, I heard the movie didn't do well in the theaters at all, and then it really turned into a cult classic and still sells great on DVD. I love my DVD, it has such an awesome making off where you see how the juggling of those glass balls is done.
And there's a story book? Look, if you ever, ever have ten minutes with nothing better to do than to scan a few pages and upload them, because now I'm curious as all heck. But really, don't do if it's a bother, you have enough sewing work.
> but I had to wait until I spotted it on VHS for cheap somewhere and went "MOM MOM THIS IS THE MOVIE MOM!" and she was all "What movie?"
I think I had a very similar reaction when finding the VHS by accident. It had been years since I'd have seen the movie but I still remembered it as awesome, and there it was. Mine mine all MINE!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 09:25 pm (UTC)Also the men's shirt section is an amazing source for high-quality cottons. Just amazing. And I'm not much for actual embroidery, so that purple suit the redheaded dollhouse doll is wearing upthread of here? That was made from a thrift store blouse.
Ah yes, but mine is mostly in lengths your average costumer would consider scraps. *grins*
Labyrinth did do fairly poorly in theatres, but it does so well on DVD they've released three different versions of it-- I recently got the fancy schmancy remastered version, but before that I had the one with the making-of bonus feature. I was astounded to see that Dr. Crusher from Star Trek was their choreographer!
Alas I don't think my scanner is big enough... and the Goblins' Library so far only has the cover scanned (it's the orangey-yellow one, the one with illustrations, not photographs). If I can find some way to hold it open in good light, I might be able to take pictures.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 04:28 am (UTC)We cut that trip short, I felt HORRIBLE as they day got warmer.)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 02:46 pm (UTC)And of course it's triple as bad for the guys in armour. Padding, chain-mail, court-of-plaids, sword, shield, helmet. At one point they had to wait for 10 minutes (real, on the clock 10 minutes. Felt like 60) in the full sun shine and I was pouring water _into_ their clothing (that is, right onto the neck where the skin shows between the helmet the various collars), resulting in a short shudder and a "right, I'm awake".
> But hey, they all paid their $17.50 to get in, and it's not like there's a dress code besides 'don't get arrested, guys.'
A very commendable and tolerant stance on it. I tended to be in two minds - for one thing, the people are supposed to have fun, and yep, they just paid 3 bucks for it. On the other hand, when you're trying hard to get the image right (no lace, no pedal-driven spinning wheels, no bloody friggin' corsets, no silver-painted-wool chain mail) an elf running around or, worse, someone dressed up as a witch complete with fake warty nose telling nonsense that sounds like the worst fairy-tales just crashed into $ilver Rabidwolf's teachings ... It's very tempting to have crossbows and a counterweight catapult in moments like that.
> The 'barbarians' wearing chains and little else (whether they've got the body for it or not), the people in their Halloween costumes, Commander Riker (no really. Beard and everything, one year)...
I heard the "Captain Riker" story before though I find it incredibly hard to believe. Barbarians with beer guts? Well, okay, probably just as realistic as the fresh-from-the-gym versions. And after all, I wouldn't dream of disqualifying a girl from dressing up as a fairy/princess on weight grounds. So there.
That's the thing about the hard-core re-enactors, also called "authenticity fanatics". People who train to fight with a three pound sword in one hand and a 20 pound shield in the other tend to have upper bodies which look good naked.
It's such fun to be historical nutcase.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 10:25 pm (UTC)Hot work in hot weather. Ouch. And this is why there's no such thing as a chainmaille bikini.
Ahh, the distinction between cosplay and re-enactment. (My game uses pedal-driven spinning wheels, because so far nobody's made any other kind. Of course, I also let my witches turn green, so yeah.) ... Actually, I think I'd be less bothered by a real solid "I put effort into this nonsense and I'm not going to break character" cosplay than by the off-the-rack Snow White costumes (except on small children. Small children always get a pass). Because it's... It's a 'living the dream' thing. They may not be playing the game by the same rules as everybody else, but at least they're playing it as hard as they know how instead of half-assedly. ... The difference between a garden variety fail and failing with style, I guess?
Well, I can hardly blame the guy, really-- those Next Generation pajamas they go around wearing look pretty comfortable, and it's not the silliest thing I've ever seen at Faire. The barbarians weren't just overweight-- well, the one etched into my memory wasn't. He was wearing a chain as a thong. No tunic, no trousers, plenty of armor and fur on his front and over his shoulders, those furry boots, but from the back... just one thick chain. And I went "Whoa, what?" (And I do so love a fat fairy. And of course a princess should be plump-- she's wealthy enough to have plenty of food, after all!)
You know, I was randomly researching Roman gladiators, and apparently? They were fed in such a way that they'd get a good beer belly. Vegetarian, high-carb diets. The weapons training worked different muscles than the abdominals, I guess, and the fat was considered another layer of armor-- it was entirely possible that a strike to the belly wouldn't hit any internal organs if there was a good layer of 'useless' pudge in the way.
But yeah. It used to take some muscle power to be human-- kneading bread for hours on end, for example.
Thanks for the link to this
Date: 2010-09-01 06:09 pm (UTC)Wawabc
Re: Thanks for the link to this
Date: 2010-09-01 09:54 pm (UTC)Well, my least favorite would probably have to be these guys:
An attempt at Brenda Starr and Basil St. John on commission. My client was pleased, but I've never been happy with them. Mid-century is just not my cup of tea.
My favorite is... easy. Have you ever seen the movie Labyrinth? Granted, she's three times taller than I usually sew for, and she's not for sale, but dang I'm happy with her.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 05:34 am (UTC)And for Brenda .... well, if you put her hair up it would remind me of something Lucy might wear (Lucille Ball -- I Love Lucy). You could re-do it and make a Ricky Ricardo in his samba outfit. You'd be swamped with orders for that one I bet!
Wawabc
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 09:39 pm (UTC)I think part of it is the smile, although that face was chosen by my client. They just don't represent my best work, I think at least a little because I don't really know the characters all that well. ... I mean, look at Sarah and see what happens when I DO know the characters well.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-03 05:43 pm (UTC)And that is one spiffy story!