Switching from One Hobby to Another

When or where do you separate the two? Over the past year I have found myself drawn to and enjoying making dioramas for my dolls more and more. In fact I haven't felt a real urge to purchase a doll for quite some time, apart from Sergio & Nadia who were required for a project rather than a desired. And the two impulse purchases in Singapore.

The only dolls of what I call "play sized" who have been bringing me the most enjoyment are my kids: Holly, Primrose, Magnolia, Violetta and Marigold.

Looking at photos of them in the various rooms I've decorated, makes me wonder if these are the dolls I should be telling stories about.

Especially after making the new bar and finding my Integrity Toy dolls far too tall for it! When photographing the IT's in the past, I never noticed how extremely long their legs were compared to other 1:6 scale dolls (they are taller than Barbie & Neo Blythe).

FOUND THIS COMPARISON ON PINTEREST

Not to mention the fact my scaling was completely off, I don't know what got into me, I'm usually very good at mathematics. The bar ended up closer to 1:8 scale and suits my kids beautifully . . . it makes me wonder if perhaps the kids are magically influencing my calculations. What do you think? Can you imagine my five little cuties sitting in the White Panther Jazz Club?

By the look on her face, I don't think Holly is too impressed by these two under-age drinkers!

Some Days

I don't much feel like posting, however, today I'm in two minds. Firstly, I'd like to thank my readers for their lovely comments on my Singapore holiday photos. I am so pleased you all enjoyed them.

As most of you know, I have another blog called The White Panther Jazz Club and that I have been working on a diorama so I can photograph the story with my Integrity Toy dolls. The story includes two males, both are jazz musicians, but I only had one doll to play the part and he needed some minor adjustments as seen here.

To cut a long story short, I ordered another male doll from the USA on the 3rd July, records show it was despatched via USPS and departed LA on the 10th July. According to Australia Post it hasn't arrived in Australia, fortunately it was insured so a refund will eventually be given to the sender, but they wanted me to wait indefinitely before replacing it or refunding me. Which I, as a former business owner myself, would not have done. I think it's a mistake to let customers wait without providing a time when they can expect a resolution, so I've asked for a refund which is now in the hands of PayPal.

In the meantime, I managed to find the same doll on eBay (in Australia I might add and less expensive too) so I have ordered him and he should arrive soon.

Now if I could only see to make clothes for all my dolls I would be over the moon, and hopefully that shouldn't be too far away from happening. Cataract surgery is next on my agenda!

I do hope you are all doing well and enjoying your northern hemisphere summer, I am looking forward to seeing ours arrive so I can enjoy the outdoors again.

P.S. Thursday, 10th August: PayPal have given me a refund.

Singapore #2

Gardens by the Bay was so impressive. Water flows through the Outdoor Gardens via interconnected lakes and waterways. Dragonfly Lake and Kingfisher Lake are tranquil spaces, perfect for taking a breather to appreciate the sculptures that lie within them. During the day we wandered along the Kingfisher Wetlands trail to the Super Trees.

Below photos were taken as dusk fell and turned to night. The Super Tree evening light and sound show blew me away, it's best I have ever seen. I took a video, unfortunately it was too long to upload to Blogger.

The Garden Rhapsody theme was "World of Fantasy", which was inspired by the the colourful worlds of Wizardry, Magic, Cosmic Space, Ocean, Adventure and Dinosaurs. The colours of the lighting changed in time with the music, which included several themes from different television series such as Bonanza to films like Star Wars to Frozen and the Little Mermaid.

The following day we visited Singapore’s popular Bay South Gardens which cover 1.28 hectares. This cavernous cooled conservatory holds the Guinness World Record for the largest glass greenhouse! Here's just a few photos I took of the popular Flower Dome.

Above is the painted fibreglass sculpture of Kei-Chan by Yayoi Kusama. Everything changes from season to season in the Flower Dome which features some really gorgeous and unusual displays. I recommend you wear good walking shoes if you want to see it all.

We visited the Cloud Forest the same day. It is a cooled conservatory, however, it's far from being cool inside it, although it is very cool to look at.

Above left is a bronze sculpture of the "Thinker" by Lee Kuang-Yu, and on the right, the blown glass and steel sculpture "Ethereal White Persians" by Dale Chihuly.

Above, an Avatar sculpture (there were several others) and  below, one of the tallest indoor waterfalls and the imposing mountain wrapped in plants from all around the world.

Above you can see the walkway that meanders through the "clouds" and the huge mushrooms which are suspended on wires.

When I was planning this trip, people told me I could see Singapore in less than seven days, we spent fifteen days there and still didn't see everything! This is a wonderful place to holiday if you like the heat (and I do). Given the opportunity, I will certainly visit Singapore again, it's SAFE, CLEAN and the Singaporeans are COURTEOUS & FRIENDLY and we mustn't forget the FOOD, well you've seen some of it already. 😊