davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2023

Oh, it rained? Bummer. I did see pictures of the crowd, and they said some people had been camping out for days.
Your white-sweater guy suddenly made me think that this is what one of the young crew-members from the Bounty will look like, in another 40 years

8 May - A Doll A Day 2023:





Another half-forgotten project from the storage shed:

Last summer I tried to reconstruct my old Shady Rest Water Tower.

The original tower looked better.



I think the new platform is an improvement.

I usually don't have much success when I attempt to reconstruct old projects.

8 May - A Doll A Day 2023

Soon you are going to have to rename this thread to "a project a day"
Your water tower is very cool, I actually didn't realise it was doll sized until closer inspection.

CatDragonStorm wrote:Soon you are going to have to rename this thread to "a project a day"

I'm curious to see how long this "Project a Day" series lasts! I didn't realize how many unfinished, semi-finished, and completely forgotten projects I have.

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9 May - A Doll A Day 2023:


At least these diorama pieces aren't buried in junk! These are my two spiral staircases, sitting inside a basic "corner room box" that I constructed to use for "quick" photo set-ups.
Of course, now that the stairs and box are sitting on a high shelf in the storage shed that requires a ladder to reach, they don't see much action anymore.

The water tower looks like it's right at home on the Hawaiian beach (together, now: siiggghhhh....).  You could build one huge set incorporating all this stuff.

I want to build a diorama so bad but I don't have much space for storing anything so I wonder if there is a way to make a collapsible one?
I am impressed with your building skills though.

CatDragonStorm wrote:I want to build a diorama so bad but I don't have much space for storing anything so I wonder if there is a way to make a collapsible one?

There has been a flurry of discussion lately on some of the action figure forums about constructing "flat pack" dioramas, where the walls are easily disassembled for compact storage.

The Master of the Flat Pack was MiskatonicNick on Flickr. Most of his amazing and detailed settings were simple cardboard or poster board walls. Even his elaborate science fiction style sets were flat cardboard walls. He used some kind of clips, similar to laundry clips or clothes pins, to hold the corners together.

Alliecat wrote:The water tower looks like it's right at home on the Hawaiian beach (together, now: siiggghhhh....).  You could build one huge set incorporating all this stuff.

Village of the (Damned) Toys, yeah. As you mentioned, I could almost do my own Marwen. Except most of my dios are interiors. I'd like to have a giant wall shelf, like those old Victorian libraries that had the built-in ladders that ran on a track. Only put doll and action figure dioramas and scenes on all the shelves.

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10 May - A Doll A Day 2023:


The 1/6-scale tiki bar project was initiated in June 2018, but promptly fell in to development limbo. I realized rather quickly that the walls were not tall enough for photo purposes, so I set everything aside until I "had time" to address the shortcoming.

Eleven months later, May 2019, I resumed work on the project, extending the walls upward and outward to create a setting more amenable to a variety of camera angles. Again, however, the project soon stalled, and has been sitting more or less ignored for the last four years.

Four years! For four years, the tiki bar room box project has been little more than a box full of random craft supplies.

Could there, however, be a "Flickr" of life in this interminably delayed project?


Emmy (Chocolate Cigarette Momoko), herself recently unearthed from beneath the clutter in the storage shed (I honestly had forgotten all about her), is amazed to discover what appears to be another effort to revisit this project. Indeed, it looks to be a serious effort, once again involving a major rebuild and expansion of the original structure: raising the wall height even further, and nearly doubling the original floor length, necessitating the construction of additional floors and walls.


Will the current attempt prove any more successful than previous efforts? Or will an initial flurry of enthusiasm and effort quickly fade as more pressing "real world" issues and events take priority?

I don't know, but... say, is that a piano in the back corner? Could it be the same piano that was recently rediscovered in another abandoned (and since disassembled and discarded) room box diorama? Is progress being made in consolidation, prioritization, and actual action?

11 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

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Pinky-Street scale (for 3-3/4 inch to 4-inch figures) theatrical stage diorama. This project, which I began in March 2019, was almost but never entirely finished, and has only been used in perhaps three or four photos.

The "anvils" thing was a long-running "inside joke" in the comment streams of a number of toy photographers on the Flickr photo-sharing website at the time.

A Doll A Day -- 11 May 2023

The shelf with doll rooms sounds like a wonderful idea.  I've just seen a dollhouse coffee table which is absolutely fabulous.  It's deep enough for 1:12 rooms, all beautifully finished, has windows and doors around the side, and a glass top.  It was in a FB group so I don't think I can link it.

Sooo many projects.  A quote from a favourite character in a completely unrelated context in something I need to finish came to mind: "Pick one and get on with it, Mr. ---."

Alliecat wrote:"Pick one and get on with it, Mr. ---."

Good idea. I've kind of done that... although 'one' turned in to 'three.'

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12 May - A Doll A Day 2023:


The space ship control room diorama doesn't have, ironically, an assigned space yet, but it has some random pieces stuffed randomly in to random places.

I tried to look up Dollhouse coffee tables out of curiosity but all I got was 1/12th scale tables which isn't quite the same thing. Your house would be cool to wander round with all these dioramas and half finished projects.

CatDragonStorm wrote:I tried to look up Dollhouse coffee tables out of curiosity but all I got was 1/12th scale tables

Hahaha, same. I wondered if they were a common thing as I'd never seen one before.

OK, I found a link and could see it without being a member of the group, so maybe it will work for you guys?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/672280702818407/permalink/6204522312927524/

Oh wow that's just about the coolest thing I have ever seen!

13 May - A Doll A Day 2023:


The remains of my Pinky Street (10cm figures) U-Boat (constructed back in July 2007) and unfinished Smart Doll (1/3-scale) chairs (started in 2018).

Which of the projects is the closest to being done and needs the least amount of work? Maybe starting on one that needs very little work, will make it easy to finish, then you have some sense of accomplishment, and could go on to the second-nearest-finished one, and so on.

...*pauses* Hmm... there is probably some sort of lesson in that for ME....

CatDragonStorm wrote:Oh wow that's just about the coolest thing I have ever seen!

That's pretty much what I said where I saw it posted. It would be really hard to choose between this and the lighthouse dollhouse I'd still like to copy someday, if I had to name the Coolest Dollhouse Ever.

Alliecat wrote:Which of the projects is the closest to being done and needs the least amount of work? ...

... It would be really hard to choose between this and the lighthouse dollhouse I'd still like to copy someday, if I had to name the Coolest Dollhouse Ever.

That's exactly how I finally managed to finish my university degree. After my first couple of years, taking a variety of "required" courses with no specific goal in mind, I set my "college career" on hold for a while. Like, for too long, but that's a judgement error I'd rather bury in the past. Anyway, when I finally went back, I still had no idea "what I wanted to do with my life," so I went to an academic counselor, showed him my transcript, and asked what degree I was closest to completing. Hence: Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism.

A lighthouse dollhouse you'd like to copy? Do you have pix or a link? I mean, a Pinky-Street scale lighthouse is actually on my goals list for this year! Admittedly, that would entail starting yet another project.

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14 May - A Doll A Day 2023:


I unearthed an entire cafe play set from beneath the clutter in one of my disused dioramas! I had completely forgotten about having purchased this until I dug it out from where it had become completely hidden.

davidd wrote:... I went to an academic counselor, showed him my transcript, and asked what degree I was closest to completing. Hence: Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism.

Cool. I mean, it's not a bad strategy, assuming the thing you end up with is something you're actually interested in.

I started thinking about this back when I only had THREE minis. With anticipated me-time on the horizon, I envisioned setting up in the garage and puttering along building it. Life didn't work out that way.
https://nanasminis.com/lighthouse

15 May - A Doll A Day 2023:


This is my not-a-tki-bar pub-tavern diorama. It was originally intended to be a quick set for a couple of quick scenes, but I liked it so I kept it and... here it sits. I think Frank can be spotted, still sitting in the corner in the back.

17 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

..

Poor girls, hard at work again.
Perhaps Ernest is writing a story about their lives of toil...?

Alliecat wrote:
Perhaps Ernest is writing a story about their lives of toil...?

Or more likely the thought of all that work has inspired him to take the afternoon off and have a drink.

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19 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

I managed to clean out another diorama. This used to be my primary "multi-purpose" diorama space, usually serving a variety of purposes for Bratz doll photostories and as a generic background for photos. Now the Ameliæ Escadrille are considering commandeering the space for ærodrome purposes.

Seeing this room box "empty" again is reminding me why it ended up being set aside: the walls and windows are too reflective and are prone to distracting glare spots. I've tried coating the walls with "matte" sealer a couple of times, with little effect. I'm not sure what to do about the windows. I might remove the plastic windows and replace them with paper. I don't know if I can buff down the walls with wire wool to reduce the gloss. I might try a few things, and if they don't work, maybe it will be time to retire this space.

On the Amelia front -- a nice example showed up on eBay last week for $350. I added it to my eBay "watch list," and the seller soon offered a much better price, about a hundred off. However, my hobby budget is "below water" at the moment, so there was no way I could take advantage of the offer... and now she's gone.

I sympathize with Ernest. The thought of all the stuff I have to do in the next two days has me headed for a major stall right now. Sigh.
Too bad about Amelia. Do you check Mandarake? I don’t know if she comes up there, but you can set up email notifications. I still get them for Crimson Veritas because I haven’t been bothered to take down the search after I got her.

20 May - A Doll A Day 2023:



Gnatalie is reading a book of health tips distributed by an insurance company in1923.

We want to see glam shots of those poor working girls.