It's also been a long hard winter with the real animals so I've not had time to do much with the dolls, but I did manage to come up with some projects to work on.
Firstly I'm planning - if it works out and all being well - a big story in the summer which is going to need lots of props. It features horses (doesn't everything always!) and one of the things I wanted to do was find or make Tye better riding boots and a better helmet. The mattel stuff is nice up to a point but riding helmets have moved on far more than the old 'bit of elastic under the chin' hats, and a doll of Tye's many and varied talents deserves decent boots for riding, especially if she ever ends up in a another model horse show where detail is the key. Children always wear short boots, so long ones would be completely wrong even if I could find any to fit her. I put that on hold and decided to work on the helmet.
After a bit of a hunt around online and chatting with doll friendly friends (hi Manda!) I came up with the basis for a new helmet - Kinder egg capsules. So with care I cut one down (after enjoying the yummy chocolate) and fitted it to Tye's head. I haven't had a chance to finish it yet since it's still an ongoing development idea but here's a basic shot of how it's going to fit.
Later on after Christmas, Manda and I had a great day of shoe making with Manda working on shoes for her Heidi Ott girl, and me working on jodhpur boots for Tye. They're not perfect but they look and fit better than her mattel ones.
Here's a shot of them 'in action' lol
Course no shoot is complete without the 'studio shots' lol
I also had a go at making her T shirt, a new shop has opened up and it sells all manner of craft gear I hadn't seen before including something called 'image maker' which basically takes the image from a photo and transfers it onto a bit of material. Most of what was online were adult or child sized clothes but I wanted to try and make a nice horsy T shirt for Tye.
After hunting through various things for a suitable image I managed to make a basic t shirt although the sewing leaves a lot to be desired! In my defence the new obitsu body may look similar to the original Mattel one but it's anything but when it comes to outfitting it!
However the main point of the exercise was to transfer the image, which sort of worked. It looks to me like a faded seen-better-days tee so to that end it will feature in the mucking out the stables shots and maybe hanging around the yard since no one in their right mind wears 'good' stuff anywhere near a horse!
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their spring!