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My Latest Projects

You know I was going to do some flickr presentations of my past dioramas and photostories. I was going to go into an introduction of my girls, their personalities and family relations. But honestly, when you guys do that, I rarely remember who everyone is.

So I'll make this a little more reflective of my current situation. I'm pregnant and maybe in some fit of early nesting or the realization that my 1st child will still be eating small things off the floor while I'm dealing with the 2nd child, or maybe because we hate our house and any bit of packing I can do now will make me feel better, I have packed up all my dolls.

Yes, it hurts. But with those girls sitting around in their little apartments being so cute, I can't help develop intricate story lines which takes forever and before you know it, nap time is over. Not to mention the sound of pulling out an end table from under a pile of other plastic furniture is sure to wake the kid.

Anyway, this is the time for me to focus on props, backdrops, and home decor.

But see, I am too nuts for one project.

My first project is something I'd been thinking about for a while. Taking the Barbie RV I received as a kid (not the exact one, but a the same type to be purchased on ebay) and turning into a gypsy caravan. I've long been fascinated with gypsy culture and to have a vardo of my own to go with the new gypsy storyline (there'll be pics later but basically Hollywood Royalty Josephine Baker falls in love with Mattel's Fox Mulder-who is a repaint done with liquid liner but he's a Roma who never fit in with her glam lifestyle and who must return to his culture and marry a good Roma girl).

So, check out my flickr (at the bottom of the page) for pictures. Well that's the very beginning anyway. I'll post some pics when it's done, but for now I want to keep it closely guarded. Maybe because my husband has informed me that I will be selling it. What? Just give me a bigger doll room!

Okay so I bought a cast iron stove for the caravan but it's just too big. Maybe it would be nice in a rustic, Spanish style home? It got me thinking. What happens when Dynamite Girl Dani and Star Trek's McCoy finally get unpacked from where they rest in boxes? They're still living in a cheap shelf I bought at Walmart. Gypsy Doll doesn't even exist yet, but my favorites are homeless? A travesty. So perhaps a Spanish style home? (Later realized that two art dealers can't live in an overly decorated house. Their style dictates the house, not vice versa. And really the dang stove is still too big. So what I have so far:

















Bear in mind I'm only in the beginning stages, but I'm excited about the future of this home. Soon I'll add crown and base molding, hardwood floors, kitchen and bathroom tiles, etc.

Then I realized Josephine Baker, the only doll that has a proper house, is going to come home to a wildly undecorated house. This one:










This house has had so many incarnations, I'm almost afraid to do something permanent. But after watching Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette again, I'm obsessed with what I call Versailles paneling, as I can't seem to find the actual name for this.

So here's what I'm working on now. I'm pretty proud of it. It's not perfect but to date, it's the project I've given more time and careful measuring to than any other. Soon I'll paint it maybe Robin's Egg blue. Then a "wedding cake ceiling" (quote from Song of the Exile by Kiara Davenport).













I rather like it with this sofa. Shame I painted it red...Maybe I should mess with it again. It's either this or the Jonathan Adler pink sofa. All the pink and blue? Too literal Marie Antoinette?












Some little props to inspire me and the paint I mixed. The true color is on the paint lid. I'll be lightening it a bit more.














Well, I suppose that's all for now. Best of luck with your projects!

smooches,
dani

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