Long Time No Post

I am still here though! Sales on eBay have been keeping me busy, which I never expected . . . especially seeing as I had things in my stash that I didn't know I had. Does that sound a little intriguing?

Let me tell you about it . . . as you already know I am having a clean out of stuff which I really don't need (and probably never did). It was while sorting, that I came across a little suitcase I painted for my mum a long time ago (2002), which I inherited when she passed.

I'd never opened it before and had no idea what was inside, so it came as a real surprise when I found it was full of Kellogg's Cereal Toys!! Yep, those tiny plastic things that kids found in their breakfast cereal back in the 60's and 70's. My first thought was to ditch them, but my instincts told me to check eBay before doing so.

So glad I did, these have become quite collectable and I had a heap of them. This photo shows what's left after the first listing . . . one chap bought so many, I was able to pay for Manica and Cleo, the two articulated Paola Reina dolls which I had my eyes on from Spain!

The first three dolls which I ordered from Dolls and Dolls at the end of last month, arrived today and I just love the two boys. (In case anyone here in Oz is considering placing an order with them, shipments travel from Spain to the Netherlands by road, before shipping to Oz by air. Tracking is via PostNL and Australia Post. I thought exactly three weeks from order to delivery, amidst this pandemic, was a pretty good delivery time.)

The the third one, a Berjuan Luxury Doll is also articulated. Her name is Eva, she is 35cm tall and comes without clothes. Being slightly different, I'll probably need to adjust my patterns to dress her, but I think she will be fun to sew for. I will tell you more about her later.

All these photos were taken with my Canon 600D with the Ring Light attached. I haven't had a lot of experience with it yet and haven't used the flash, just the light, but I love the light as it shows very little shadow. So if I never use the flash, it's been worth it (certainly was a blessing for taking close ups of the cereal toys).

Well I guess it's time now to catch up with what's been happening with you!

Four Little Dresses

I told you I had been hand sewing and the following two photos were taken before the dresses had their press studs sewn on. However, I wanted to see how they would fit different dolls before completing them.

The pattern I used is this one from La Boutique de Vaniline, but I lengthened the skirt and changed the neckline slightly on a couple of them. Her 32-33cm patterns are designed to fit Corolle Les Chéries, Dianna Effner Little Darlings, Sylvia Natterer Minouches, Paola Reina Las Amigas.

Here are the dresses are worn (L to R) by my Phyn & Aero Patience, Corolle Les Chéries, Tonner Betsy McCall and Paola Reina Las Amigas dolls. The dress is slightly big on Patience as her torso is thinner, but she can get away with it.

As I have quite a few different doll this size I wanted to be able to swap their clothes around when it came to dressing them, but still keep all the clothes together in one box. I have some clothes meant for this size doll that cannot be worn by them all, and that annoys me, so they will have to go.

Knitwear can also be switched, however, shoes can not. Just look at the difference in the size of the dolls feet, especially in the first photo. It's laughable! It really is such a shame doll makers don't make all dolls this size have the same size feet!

Here are the same dresses (L to R) on my Vestida de Azul Paulina, Minouche, Little Darling and IpleHouse KID Irene. If Paulina was going to wear this dress, I would need to make one just for her with only one centre set of buttons, as the front of her chest is wider. The fit on my KID is similar to Patience, so once again, she could get away with it.

Here are the completed dresses worn by the girls they were intended for. Lucy (Manica) in the white and Barbara in the dusty pink. I'm not sure about the bright pink buttons on Lucy's dress, I think I may change them to white and I'd prefer a more appropriate pink ribbon in her hair, similar to the pink braid on her dress.

And here we have Carolina and Nora in the more subtle vintage colours. I'm going to change the ribbon in Carolina's hair to a deeper and more olive ribbon and perhaps add matching green braid above the lace (if I can find some) as I have on Nora's dress . . . what do you think?

Well time has flown by and still without an end in sight to this current lockdown. I do hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are making the most of your sunshine and freedom.

FOR BARB: Here's a comparison between my Little Darling's foot and Tonner Betsy McCall's. As you can see Betsy's foot is just a fraction bigger, but I tried my LD's shoes on Betsy and they went on, but were a tight fit, so they wouldn't go on over socks or stockings.

Photography

I know some of you already use a ring light to take photos with your phones, but I was wondering if anyone uses a Neewer RF550D Macro LED Ring Flash on their DSLR cameras?

Finding many of the Macro LED Rings were really expensive, some even more than what I paid for my Canon. I looked at quite a few reviews before I read this recommendation.

"If you're working to a very limited budget and simply need a ring flash that works, we'd recommend looking at the Neewer RF550D Ring Flash. While it doesn't have anywhere near the level of functionality of other ringflashes on this list, it is incredibly cheap and gives you the basics of what you need to start shooting macro. Compatible with Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras with macro lenses attached, it can be used as a flash or continuous light, with manual and auto modes available. The build feels plasticky and cheap, though that's mostly because it is, but the flash itself works pretty well, and provides a tidy amount of illumination where you need it."

So I looked for one to see exactly what it was and this is what I found:

Description: This RF- 550D Macro LED RingFlash is specially designed to use in the field of macroshot, scientific research, medical and personal photography in very close distance shooting. It can provide continuous and stable semi light or full light to meet higher photograph needs. The device fits any model of NIKON or Canon brand DSLR.

Package Contents: 1 x Macro ring head
1 x Power control with LCD display
8 x Adapter rings (49mm, 52mm 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm)
4 x Flash diffusers (amber, blue, oyster white and transparent).

I was drawn to the "personal photography in very close distance shooting", as I thought it described exactly what we do when we photograph our dolls. I wasn't too fussed about "it feeling plasticky and cheap", I was happy that "the flash itself works pretty well, and provides a tidy amount of illumination where you need it".

I also thought the diffusers could be fun to use. The price was definitely affordable and it was readily available at a number of online stores. So for AU$51.99 including free delivery, I chose to order mine from Amazon and it should be here on 4th September.

When it arrives I'll take some photos with it and share my thoughts on how effective it is. In the meantime, if you have used one, I'd love to hear your review.