Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have so much for which to be thankful.

Here's a turkey pin doll I designed a few years ago. It's going to be in the pin doll book I'm writing in my *free time* ~ yeah, right.

Mystery Doll's Head Attached

After a brief loss of electricity this morning (we've been having some stormy weather lately), I gave my mystery/challenge doll her head. She's a mystery, because I have NO idea where I'm going with her.

After joining the head to the neck, I painted it with white tacky glue. This will make a nice surface on which to add paperclay. I considered doing some needle sculpting before applying the glue, but decided against it. I put a little tape around her neck to avoid getting any glue or clay on the paint. Let's hope I can get it off again.

If I make any progress today, I'll update this post.

(Taking) the Long Way Home

Ok, I've been listening to Supertramp lately. But what I'm really trying to say is that I always seem to make things more difficult than they need to be.

I'm working on a doll for doll club, using one of the two patterns chosen for this challenge. Someone said the designer of the pattern I'm using creates patterns that don't quite go together. So I thought I'd just make one in plain muslin to check out that theory, without wasting my good skin fabric. As it turns out the body pattern did NOT go together well, and I had to do quite a bit of modifying.

But after all the modifying, sewing and stuffing, I really didn't want to start over with the good fabric. Now I've got a really white doll (and I don't mean Caucasian). So I decided to paint it. Of course, I'd already attached the arms, making this a bit trickier. I also painted on layers of Messy Mix and gesso before the paint. Her arms are sticking up in the air for ease in painting and drying, with one coat of acrylic skin color in place.

She's headless, because I'm not particularly happy with the head shape, either. I thought I could just augment it with a little paperclay. Easy peasy. Except I thought I really ought to paint the neck/body first, before sticking the head on. If I do this right, I'll have a fabric/paperclay head that can turn side to side. Of course, I'll need to paint that, too.

New Video Camera

I've finally taken the plunge and decided to purchase a digital video camera. So far, any videos I've taken have been on my little digital camera ~ and therefore are very short in duration.

So last night I did some research (like I know what I'm doing - Hah!) and got out the credit cardI settled on this Canon. It's been shipped, and should be here in a few days. B&H Photo is my favorite site for cameras - and I've purchased quite a few for myself and others (no affiliation, yada yada).

Having a nice camera like this may make it possible to develop some video tutorials.

Canon's VIXIA HG21 Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with a 120GB HDD and additional storage for video or 3.1Mp stills available on SD/SDHC cards provides you with all the space you'll ever need. Because you can capture up to 45 hours and 55 minutes of true 1920 x 1080 high definition video (in LP mode) when shooting to the HDD you'll never have to worry about changing discs or tapes right at the key moment...
• Record
Record to both the 120GB Hard Disk Drive for up to 45 hours and 55 minutes (HD video in LP mode) and to external SD/SDHC memory cards when you need the extra storage. In addition, the video you record on the HDD can be copied to the SDHC card and inserted into your computer or HDTV's card reader slot for instant viewing. You can also transfer still images from the SDHC card to the internal memory.
• 1920 x 1080 Full HD Recording
Capture each and every image in true 1920 x 1080 HD. Your images will also be output and recorded in the amazing quality and clarity of full HD. Record at the highest AVCHD bitrate of 24Mbps.

Where have I been, and just what have I been doing?

Well, it's truly autumn here, and life/work has been busy. I've been itching to make a doll, but it hasn't been in the cards. We're seeing many folks with the flu or "flu-like symptoms" present to the ER every day. Most of us have had our flu shots, but I get the feeling it's only a matter of time before we all start dropping like flies.

I attended a great trauma class last week (certification is required every 4 years). You might notice that the instructors are teaching in a hotel room. That's because the person coordinating the class lacks some organizational skills.

Not pointing fingers ~ I'm just saying...
Good thing they're real ER nurses, and therefore very adaptable and able to go with the flow (though the instructor said she couldn't sleep until she put the dummy away.)

TNCC (Trauma Nurses Core Course) is a comprehensive class, with written and practical exams. When I finished my one-on-one practical exam, the tester asked what courses I instructed. That caught me by surprise. I said, "Uh, doll making?" That's not what he was talking about. He said I'd make a good TNCC instructor because I like "control." I guess I do, but I think I'd rather teach dollmaking ;-)

We also babysit our grandson every Monday and Wednesday. Yesterday (during a rain break) we went to the local park with Ivan. He's so much fun to be around, and his vocabulary is expanding weekly. Dare I say, he's a genius?

Monday, my oldest son announced that he and his fiancee are expecting a girl in April. It came as quite a shock, but at least he knew to tell me in person and not via email. He's very excited and happy about it, and I'm happy that he's happy.

In just a little over a month we'll be celebrating Christmas. I'm sure I'll be ill-prepared as usual. Our Christmas party/auction is on December 19, and we've put together a little ER band for entertainment. We've just started rehearsing a set of songs to perform. The band has two new members that both work in the ER - Ian (drummer) and Kyle (my youngest son, on sax and is learning a little electric guitar). I'll also be playing the electric guitar for the first time. That should be entertaining...or not.

I've also become a little bit addicted to karaoke (at home, in private). Myspace.com has a karaoke feature, which is a good way to exercise the voice. I bought a mic for the computer, and now I can experience the pain of hearing recordings of myself.