DollsArtCats

It's Christmas Eve! K, who is visiting, says "You live in a Wyeth painting!" I said I hoped it wasn't an N.C. Wyeth painting, because there would be pirates. This is the view from our kitchen, without pirates.

And here they are! Never mind that Nuru is missing his kudu horns and a paint job, that Brisbane (in the blue/gray hair) has no idea he's even supposed to be a reindeer, and the Soom Cuprit is plainly cheating (and she makes nine). There are eight Soom Sphaler heads in this picture. Next week one of them goes back to his real owner, and the rest of them will get more clothes and horns as needed, but I did in fact find 8 kirin in time for Christmas. Even without a sled, may they bring everyone good luck and a Happy New Year as well!

Stuart Jaffe has finished the sequel to The Way of the Black Beast, with a new character added to the mix. This guy's name is Owl, and I like him a lot, even though his base file came from Jimi Hendrix's arrest photo in Toronto (You can tell Jimi was pretty high at the time, because in his photo he's doing the "if I hold my eyes really open no one will know how stoned I am.") Owl looks a lot more sober, but the background came out pretty trippy. I'm looking forward to the third book!

My birthday is close to Christmas. I received some money for it and as usual, promptly spent it on a doll thing. In this case I upgraded a body for Crystal, whose fabulous ears were (in my opinion) too wide for her "native" Impldoll body. (Image on the left). I like the Impl body for some heads; it's very tall and narrow and looks great in Victorian skirts, but poor Crystal just looked like a bobblehead on it. So I found a slightly used Fairyland Feeple body, which is basically a elongated version of the old Luts Delf body (the one Roswell is on). It's an elegant body, but it is the first body that I have had to wire and apply "sueding" on to get it to hold a pose. Usually *I* am the one picking out the previous owners' wires, hot glue and moleskin, but this time I jammed in some copper wire into her arms and painted the inside of her elbows, knees and shoulders with clear acrylic gesso (thinner and less lumpy than hot glue, with a little tooth to it.) ...

Because there are not enough cats on this blog. The weather here is amazing--over 40 degrees F.

This is Sphaler Head no 8, which makes 8 tiny reindeer (or kirin) for my Christmas holiday. Never mind that I'm short at least one body, some other resident doll may have to lend theirs so I can get all the Sphalers in a group photo for the most Ridiculous Doll Christmas Card Ever. Meet Brisbane: He's currently on an FDoll boy body so he looks like a bobble head, but it means he can also wear some pretty cool clothes that don't fit on the bigger guys. He's from an Australian Den of Angels member, and he may be a rental rather than a long-term member of the collection; as she is still quite fond of him and I am not sure I need to permanently stable 8 of these guys here. I'm guessing the climate change alone is a shock--I know I'd rather be in Australia right now on the beach, instead of in thermal underwear and with 10 boxes of books still to pull out of the 25 degree garage and haul up 3 flights of stairs. I've been told this is the mildest winter anyone ...

Another photo taken inside Bass Pro Shops. you could almost imagine there was a real flight of ducks going on there, if it wasn't for the "being stuffed" and the fishing line holding them to the ceiling. All this is above the Waterfall/Mountain Goat/MuleDeer/Fishing Pond display. In the back by the glass elevators there is a mannequin in a tent, unaware that stuffed raccoons are sneaking up on him. Luckily for him they are very slow. There is also a table I covet in the shoe department: The bench is cool-looking but trust me, it's bony to sit on..like a bag of antlers.

Well, I am now living in Chicago. I have not gotten my updated driver's license yet, but after much drama I have my cardboard temporary plate on my car. (The locksmith who came to put new locks on the back door and the garage took an interest in my spinning the bolts on the back plate, and after some dremelling and drilling we got the Jersey plate off. It will take professional help to get the real plates on when they come, we totally thrashed the bolt holders in the process.) Anyway, J took me to Bass Pro shops as a sort of Christmas pre-event. We were looking for thermal underwear and instead I found Taxidermist Disneyland. You have to click on it to see how over-the-top it is. It is three stories high and includes a giant tank of some kind of freshwater fish. (Walleye or carp or something, I have no idea.) There was an enormously fat catfish in there as long as my arm, too; sadly the picture came out blurry. Even more amazing, apparently Cabela's has the same thing . Si...