Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to stop in and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

I finished my custom sculpts and have been recovering from another virus of some sort, so have been away from the computer recently. I am anxious to get to work on a new little one to offer for sale in the beginning of the new year!

I do hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season!

Finished Sculpting!

I have finally finished sculpting the limbs for these custom sculpts I'm working on. Now I just need to finish sanding and painting. Not too much longer now, and then I can get back to doing my own little ones. :)

Hope to be sharing some photos soon...

Two New Little Ones

What can I say? I am still working on customs and have neglected my blog yet again! I was knocked off my feet for a little over a week from some sort of illness, but luckily I am back up and at it again now, and feeling much better.


I just finished limbs for another little one last night. They still need to be sanded and painted, but they are finally sculpted! I also finished another two babies a little while ago and since I had them here at the same time, I took a few photos of them together. I'll share one of them with you here... a sound little sleeper and a cranky little fellow. It looks a bit like a fist fight is about to errupt in this picture though! :)

A Quick Update

Hello!!

I have had a couple of people email me in the last few days asking where I have disappeared to! I apologize for not writing in my blog as of late. I have been working many long hours on some custom sculpts trying to get caught up here. I have made lots of progress with them, but still have a ways to go yet. I do hope to have a new baby available in the coming weeks for sale. I also have plans to finally get at working on a kit doll. So, for all the reborners out there that have been asking when one will be available... with any luck, this winter!

For those of you on my mailing list... do not worry, you are still on my list! You have NOT missed any dolls! I have not had any available for awhile. :) I do appreciate you checking in and your continued interest! It is always good to hear from everyone.

Take care,
Natalie

Summer

Nearing the end of summer already and I've neglected my blog again! I have been busy travelling and working on more custom orders. I flew out west to visit my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. We went camping in the rockies together... what beautiful scenery! It was nice to see them and spend time together. I also travelled up north to go camping and canoeing for a few days. The weather didn't cooperate too much with that trip unfortunately, but it was still nice to get away and enjoy the solitude up there. I am posting a couple of pictures from my trips to share.

Miss Mia

I have been busy travelling this past week, and am finally back and settled for a couple of weeks before I am off again. I am trying to enjoy the rest of the warm weather before the cold reappears here.

My little custom girl is named and now off to her mommy. Here she is ... little miss Mia.

A Peek at Little Miss

I have finally finished this little miss, (still no name for now), and she is now at my mom's waiting to get her outfits made. She is a tiny little one compared to the last ones I have made... just barely 8 inches long. I took a few pictures of her right after I painted her. She did not have a body yet and I just placed her pieces in a dress, (which is far too large for her), for these pictures. I thought I would share her like this anyways. :)

Long Lost

I can't believe so much time has gone by since my last posting! So much has been going on here as of late that has kept me either away from sculpting, or going slowly. I spent such a long time working on the limbs for this little girl... trying to improve on my arms and legs as I went. I sculpted and resculpted both the arms and legs several times. It wasn't a total waste of time, as I learned from each one that I decided to take apart again. :) I was lucky enough to have a couple of friends send me pictures from all different angles of legs and arms from the same baby to help me in my quest to improve. These pictures helped immensely and I look forward to the future when I can improve even more!

In the next couple of days I will be sanding and painting this little girl and then she will be ready to be outfitted. I shall share her with you all as soon as I can!

After an extremely hot week near the beginning of the summer, it has cooled right off here. It is unusually cool for our summers here, but it does make it easier to sculpt... so I won't complain about the coolness from that point of view! :) I have been enjoying the flowers and green grass that this summer has to offer as opposed to the burnt grass and desolate flowerbeds that are usually common this time of year from the heat. Here are a few pictures I have taken in the last little while...

I will write again soon!

Little Miss

Before I left on my trip, I started on a custom order that I agreed to do awhile ago. I didn't get very far before I left, so when I got Emilio up on Ebay, I went back to work on that one. I finally finished the head for her late last night. She is now patiently awaiting her limbs so she can finally go home to her mommy who has been waiting so long for her. She is much daintier looking than Emilio... it is fun to put her head next to him and see the difference. It looks like a 5-6lb baby next to an 8lb one. My nephew, (the one that I used the pictures of to sculpt Emilio), was an 8 pounder, so I guess that seems right! :) This newest little one does not have a name yet, so I am just calling her "Little Miss".

I will post pictures soon....

Introducing Emilio

After a two week vacation, I am back with a new listing on Ebay... my first in a very long time!

Please welcome Emilio...

His auction link is: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190314649612

A Series of Unfortunate Events #2

In continuation with the post that I just made, my second series of unfortunate events was in relation to the mini baby I have been working on. When I realized I was getting nowhere with my large head, (and fast), I decided to get back to work on my mini. I worked two days on a set of arms that I thought were some of my best yet. I put them in to bake and set a timer for fifteen minutes and when the timer went off, and I went to take them out, I was stunned at what I saw. Black tips of fingers, dark brown skin in other areas... blackened elbows... it was awful!! All my hard work gone! I could not figure out why they had burned like this. I have never burnt any of my sculpting before. It has happened to so many of my fellow artists, so I knew it was bound to happen to me one day... but why that day!? :)

I finally realized that I had set the oven to 375 instead of 275. I have been baking a lot of bread and cookies in the last few months, so I think being away from my sculpting while doing my resins... and only baking items that were always set to 375, I just automatically set it to that without thinking. Needless to say, I won't do that again!!

After a few days work, tonight I finally finished arms and legs for this little guy and I just pulled them out of the oven a little while ago. I am anxious to paint him and put him together. I made very newborn looking limbs for this one... working from pictures of my nephew to go with the head I made from his pictures. The feet and hands are more wrinkly than my usual... quite cute! I hope he turns out like I have him in my mind.

Anyways, I thought I would share a picture of my poor boy with his "unfortunate" limbs. :(

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It is just after five in the morning and the sun is already rising. I still have not gotten used to the sun coming up so early and staying up so late in the day. It was only yesterday that I realized it is now light until about 9 at night here. I love having so many hours of sunlight. It is a shame though, when you still haven't gone to bed and the sun is already on the way up! :)

My series of unfortunate events began with working on a large head for hours on end to the point that my fingers and hands were actually cramping... to come out with a face like this...

Only to decide I didn't like it, and change it to this...

Only to yet again, decide I did not like it and change it to this...

Then I tweaked it a bit more to this...

and finally to this....

At this point, I still had to finish putting that eye on the left side in and get the cheek to match the other one, among a few other things. One day I woke up, looked at it, and decided it was just not realistic enough and destroyed the whole thing. What a waste of many long days of work that was!! Now I look back at some of these pictures and wish I had kept features from all of them. :)

From Small to Big

Just thought I would check in since it's been awhile. After sculpting my last little head, I kept wishing it was lifesize. Probably the fact that he looks like my nephew did at birth did not help! :) So off to work I went on a lifesize head. I am at the point now where I cannot count how many times I have resculpted the face on this one. I have realized no matter how hard I try, I cannot replicate something I've already done! Going from a sculpt so tiny to one so big is also a challenge in many ways.

I am finally making good progress with this head though, and am hoping that in the end I will like it enough to have it reproduced into a kit doll. I will keep you posted as I finish up this head. I hope to finish it this week, but if I change my mind again on the face then it definitely won't be this week! :)

Tuckered Out

After studying MANY newborn pictures of my nephew at various angles and an infant skull I have here, I think I have corrected some of the things that I had done wrong in previous sculpts. I think I have improved on the general head and face shape of a newborn with this sculpt... beginning with what the "skull structure" would be underneath and the various muscles, tendons, and fat pads associated with a newborn.

I had intended on creating a little girl, but this one has proven to be boy all the way. I guess studying all those boy pictures did rub off in another, unintended, way! :)

Here he is, just cured, no paint...

Happy Easter!

Now that I have hosted Easter dinner and all is calm again, I can return to my sculpting. I had started on a new head last week, but it was turning out smaller than I had wanted this one to be... so I started anew today. I am working on one that will be about 9 inches and will list it for sale on either my website or Ebay. I have not decided where yet.

I have an idea of what I would like this one to be like when it is done, and hopefully that idea will surface in this clay. :)

I will write again when I've made some progress.

Happy Easter!

A Matter of Neglect

All I can say is, "Oops!". :) I was surprised when I logged on today and saw that I hadn't posted since March 17th! I have long since finished babies numbered 17, 18, and 19. Unfortunately the buyer for number 20 had to drop her spot. On the up side for me, it means I am now finished my resin orders and can get back to my sculpting. The past couple of days I have been catching up with my cleaning/organizing and knitting for my nephew. It has been nice and now I am ready to jump into the clay!

The three resins that I have left here I will complete at a later date... for now I need to sculpt a new face. :)

Here are numbers 17 and 18:

and number 19:

The Big Mix-up

I forgot to come back and post a picture of these three cuties. I thought I was being so smart by having each of the three wear a different coloured diaper so I would know which one was which, but I still managed to mix up two of the babies. When I went to dress them, I mixed up their bows and outfits and was part-way through taking their pictures when I realized it! Good thing I don't have real triplets myself! :)

In this picture, the ones on the right and left are in the wrong outfits, but I liked this picture so much that I am posting it as they are... mixed up. The little one in the middle looks like she is squirming with all her might to get herself infront of the other two. :)

I am just finishing up numbers 17 and 18... they are almost ready for photos. I will post a picture of those two soon. When those two are finished and off, then I just have two left to complete. It is hard to believe I am nearing the end of this edition, yet, not so hard since it has been such a long process. What a great learning experience it has been all around.

Triplets

I am just in the midst of finishing three more resins, (the first time I have attempted doing three at once). All the "mommies" requested medium brown glued hair... so even though they look slightly different in the way their hair lays, I still kind of look at them as triplets.

I just finished making their diapers... so they are lying on my bed waiting for their arms to be sewn on, but wearing their diapers. Each of them has a different coloured diaper so that I know which one is which. :)

After I finish these three, I will only have four left to do. Two people have given up their spots, so I will still have two left here to do, but since they are not yet sold, I can look forward to sculpting for now.

I will write again soon with pictures of these three, (numbers 13-15).

My Latest

I forgot to post the last two resins when I finished them. I finished these two a few days ago... they are numbers 10 and 12 in the edition. I'm slowly getting there and as the new moms patiently wait for their babies, I patiently wait to get back to sculpting.

Here are the latest two...

Almost Halfway

I have now finished numbers 8 and 9 in the edition, which brings me just about to the halfway point. It has been such a long process... I wonder how it will feel to me when I am back to sculpting. I am very much getting the "itch" to sculpt again. I see pictures of cute babies, or see pictures of other wonderful sculpts and it makes me want to pull all my sculpting stuff out. Soon enough!

I am beginning work on numbers 10 and 12 in the edition, (11 is on hold for now). Hopefully in a few days I will have pictures of them to share. For now, I will post this picture of 8 and 9.

My Time Off

While waiting for my resins to come for the last week, I decided to take some time off. After several sleepless nights, I definitely needed the break. When I start on the rest of them, I will work straight, with no days off, until they are all complete... so I am using my time wisely now, and enjoying it. :)

I have spent my time doing the cleaning I neglected while working on all these little ones, as well as doing some knitting for my niece and nephew. I am a beginner knitter, so I work slowly... but I have made great progress, (for me), and hope I can finish off these two sweaters before these little ones outgrow them! I have enjoyed my time working on them.

I am now feeling renewed and ready for the rest of these resins.

Caught Up!

Well, it is the middle of the night here and we are in the midst of a snowsquall... yet again. A night where we were only supposed to get "less than 1cm of snow" has now amounted to quite a lot more! It does look pretty out... blustery, but pretty.

I have finally caught up by finishing all the resins that I have here to do. I am now waiting for the rest of the edition to be shipped to me so I can finish numbers 8-20... the studio is a bit behind in schedule.

Here are some pictures of numbers 5, 6, and 7.

Jordan the Fourth

Here she is... number four in the edition...

The Fourth

I have made more progress in my resin edition... the fourth baby is now finished. Including all the proofs, I have now completed seven of these little ones and, surprisingly, it does not seem like it. I do miss my sculpting, but I am glad that I am not tired of finishing these resins. I will post pictures of her as soon as her "mommy" has seen the pictures for herself.

This week brought about a lot of activity surrounding my preemie. I had many emails about him. I was not at all prepared for this to happen. He was just a little guy that I knew was flawed, but I wanted to finish him anyways. I wanted to see what he would be like when he was all painted and put together. I discovered that I love his size. I also discovered that there are others out there that love him, just as I do. :)

My Little Guy

Two posts in one day... must be a record for me! :)

Today I had planned to spend the whole day organizing and cleaning. I ended up doing a little bit of that, and then I pulled out my preemie that I started months ago. I worked on it until he was finished. This is the baby that had a couple of moonies in the leg and a small crack at the corner of one eye... so he will stay here with me... my little guy. I have decided that I do very much like this size. He is about the size of a 3lb baby I think.

Anyways, here are some pictures of him...

Now There are Three

I finished number 3 in my resin edition the other night. I was waiting to hear back from the new mommy before I made pictures public. :)

Here she is....

Number 3

Today marks the day that number 3 will be born. All the pieces are now ready and a body is waiting... I, on the other hand, at 3.20am have a bed that is waiting for me. :) Later today when I awake, I will put her together and make her little diaper and pacifier. These little ones have been such a long time coming, that it is nice when I finally come to the moment when they are ready for their very first photo session. The next few days have snow in the forecast, so hopefully I will be able to get some nice photos with the aide of some artificial lighting.

More to come...

Forgotten Blog

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I entirely forgot to come back to my blog. I do sincerely apologize! I had a very busy holiday... and am now catching up with my next set of resins that arrived over the holidays. All my relatives have returned home in the last couple of days and I am back to the grind on these little ones. I did get numbers 1 and 2 finished and shipped... they even both arrived to their new mommies in time for Christmas. Here they are....

These two were a little difficult to photograph due to lighting issues. Number 1 in the edition has medium brown hair, (it looks mostly dark in my pictures), and number 2 is actually blonde... for some reason she shows up looking like she has strawberry coloured hair. The lighting issues were due to the weather. Almost every single day up until Christmas, it snowed here. I can't remember ever having so much snow so early in the season. Normally we are hoping for a white Christmas... this time, there was no question it would be. Following that, it got very mild with heavy rains and we experienced flooding. It sure has been a strange season so far!

I am presently working on numbers 3 and 4 in the edition now. I find I like working on two at a time while I paint, because it allows me to keep working while one is drying. Hopefully soon I will have pictures of two more to post!

Again, sorry for neglecting my blog. :)