Letter Writing Portfolio

This is my very first tutorial in this format! Because of the many photos in it, I turned it into a PDF file which you'd be able to hardcopy & I could send out as well ...and then I discovered that blogger doesn't seem to like it, so I had to change each page into a JPG.
I know those of you reading this blog through a reader will not be able to get an automatic translation but with so many pictures, you should have no problem understanding it anyway.
Let me know what you think: can you read/view the pages? does it make sense? Would you have rather had it written directly inside blogger?







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If you click each picture, it should enlarge....
Enjoy!

This n That ....again

Thanks very much everyone! I made some big sales on eBay last week so rolling in dough I thought I'd finally treat myself to a pair of hip waders from the Dolls Cobbler. I'm still trying to flesh out my Greenleaf Fishing Hut.
I've had one listing for waders on my watch list for months. It was relisted once already! The cost: $34. Location is NY state, just across the border from me in Ontario. Shipping is worldwide except ...Canada, Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, South America! I think that leave only Antarctica. I'm not sure where Oceania is; maybe a new continent/country has been discovered somewhere in the world without my knowledge.
So of course with great disappointment, I wrote to the seller and to my surprise I actually received a response:

For eBay purchases, the only way I can ship this package to your country is Express Mail.
The post office price for Express Mail to your country is $26.95 USD for a package weighing up to 8 ounces.

I don't think so! I won't even spend $60 on a pair of waders that fit me!
Now I realize that postage everywhere is up but even so express mail has to be one of the most expensive options there is. Don't people want to sell and make money? Did I mention this listing has been up and relisted for several months? Obviously it's not a big mover!
One of my chairs sold to Holland. The box it fit in was 15 x 7 x 6 cm; it weighed 200g. To mail it at that size would have cost the buyer $34. Incredible! She only bought it for $10!
In order to bring her price down, I had to pad the original box with styrofoam packing material to bring it up to 15 x 15 x 7 cm. That brought the postage down to $8. Now how stupid is that!!
I wanted my buyer to be satisfied.

I opened a search option for Dolls Cobbler hip waders and with heavy heart (I hate when I set my sights on something that I can't have. Must be the child in me!), I was set to forget about it and turned to my emails where I found one from a lady selling off some of her books. What are the chances! Must be fate! There among her list was "The Doll's Cobbler: A Guide to Shoemaking, by Sylvia Rountree" Very good condition, 26 pages.
I immediately wrote to her; then I went to Amazon where the cheapest book was $17; to eBay where the only listing had a price of $160! This lady's price: $4!!

The other thing I looked at doing was anatomy or sculpting classes. Unfortunately no anatomy and the sculpting class is already full but I've submitted to their mail list. So maybe I can get in next semester.
As if I didn't have enough to do already!

OMG!!!! I'm Cilla Battersby!

If you've never heard of Coronation Street or have never watched it and have no interest in soaps, just ignore this entire post.

I've been watching Coronation Street for more than 30 years. In case you've never heard about it, it is Britains' longest running soap. It's been on TV since the 60s!
Ken (my DH not Bill Roache who plays Ken Barlow) is on the Street's Facebook page just about every day. So when he read about a quiz called: "Which Coronation Character Are You", we both took it.
Let me hang my head in shame. I realize I did it tongue in cheek. But really!! Cilla??! This is obviously going to mean nothing to you if you're not a fan. Cilla was a fun loving, big mouth character who left the Street to seek fame & fortune in Las Vegas.

Which Coronation Street character are you? Your Result: You're Cilla Battersby!   Gobby, thoughtless and spiteful- thats you. Like Cilla, you tend to put yourself before other people, even your family. Though deep down you love them. Be careful, you dont want to loose what you've got.
You're Sarah Platt!
You're Gail Platt!
You're David Platt!
You're Richard Hillman!
You're Steve McDonnald!
Which Coronation Street character are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Ok! So then I tried it again; giving answers that the real me would do & this is what I got: Sarah Platt.

Which Coronation Street character are you? Your Result: You're Sarah Platt!   You're very caring, although you might get yourself into some tough spots. Like Sarah, you have to stay strong to get through some of the hard times, and you dont have a problem with speaking your mind, though you usually fall for the wrong kind of men.
You're Gail Platt!
You're Steve McDonnald!
You're Cilla Battersby!
You're David Platt!
You're Richard Hillman!
Which Coronation Street character are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I think I'll quit before I turn into one of the Croppers.

World Travel Swap

Just thought I'd show you what I made for the travel swap at AllThingsMini:The portfolio is made from scrapbook card stock with the insides from regular paper. They can be made to open and close. The pencils are the ends of toothpicks, painted to look like lead pencils. The notepad can be taken out. The only thing I didn't add was stamps.

Here's what I received in return:From Ara came the packing crate with a monster inside. I had to look really closely at the crate to see that it's made of cardboard & not wood. The lamp is from Laura and obviously comes from India as there's a tiny elephant at the base. Airline tickets, US Passport, the globe & the map are from Kim; not sure if you can see but there's a tiny hot air balloon, a biplane and an airliner flying around it. Truly imaginative. Thank you all.

Porcelain Doll Assembly

Here's some tips in case you're wanting to do this:

Finger tip to finger tip should equal the distance, less than 1/8", of the height of the doll
Make sure that thumbs and big toes face each other. The easiest way is to hold the doll facing away from you.
Once you're all set, use hot glue to hold the pipe cleaners in place. You could also use regular glue as long as you have the time to wait for it to harden.
Keep a wet cloth nearby to wipe your fingers on.

The instructions say to use quilting batting to fill out the limbs. Of course, I don't have any so I raided the first aid kit.

Now to achieve a realistic pose ...nothing worse than a beautifully dressed doll standing stiff and looking like a mannequin.
You can add clay to your porcelain doll and rebake.
The best way to sculpt is at eye level. I use a turn table sitting on a footed cake stand that way I can turn it easily. When you're claying with warm hands, less handling means less smudging.
It doesn't have to be anatomically correct. As you can tell, his groin is too low. But since my guy will be wearing a robe it doesn't matter. All I'm trying to do is keep the doll holding his pose. The stand that I made for him is removable.

Now comes the hardest part ...costuming!

Procrastination

It's amazing to what lengths you can go to, to procrastinate. For instance, I have the cleanest craft room ...in like 3 years. I've whittled down my to do list:
I even took a leaf out of Nicky's workbook and ran with it
Of course her's was a dragon whereas mine somehow turned into a lizard. Huh! Maybe I should have taken Dragon Anatomy 101.
Tonight I mistakenly thought I was due for an overnight stay at the Sleep Clinic where I'm taking part in a drug trial research study; for as long as I can remember I've had problems shutting my brain down & staying asleep for the entire night.
I took my wizard with me ....and actually started on him!

New eBay Listings

I have some more Tudor/Medieval items on eBay:

Savonarola chair

Glastonbury chair This is one of my prototypes that was made to look aged. I'll have more delicate ones eventually.


Doll's House Magazine from May 2009 filled with Tudor table & screen DIY as well as 13 pages of Tudor inspiration & projects. I somehow bought it in duplicate >:-{