I wanted make a blog post today about Mae West, and I was trying to decide what it would be. While searching the Internet for a song or a video, I discovered today is her birthday......Happy Birthday, Mae!
Great Sale on Gene Marshall Items at Integrity Toys Direct
Posted by bayan
Madra Lord "The Jeweled Cat" is on sale for $139.99. That is a bargain at 1/2 of retail. Many, many more dolls and fashions at very good prices. Go!
Integrity Toys
Added on August 18th:
There are other items on sale, too. But as Uriah commented below, none of us was notified by email or announcement that there was going to be a sale. I think they're afraid we'll crash the server - we've done it. Hehe. More power to the collectors!
More about → Great Sale on Gene Marshall Items at Integrity Toys Direct
Integrity Toys
Added on August 18th:
There are other items on sale, too. But as Uriah commented below, none of us was notified by email or announcement that there was going to be a sale. I think they're afraid we'll crash the server - we've done it. Hehe. More power to the collectors!
Some more from Italy
Posted by bayan
The view from our room in the farm where we were staying.
This view is of Osimo's Promenade; Lonely Planet could tell us nothing about this town and area, it is also rare
to hear people speak English or any other non Italian language over there.
to hear people speak English or any other non Italian language over there.On the last morning before we had to leave for Rome (where we took our flight back), we went to see the fields of Lorenzo and Katrina, the owners of an organic farm who hosted us at their home.
(in case you were wondering what the kids in the above photo are looking for)
The morning before, we were busy with preparations to "Ogni Giorno Vale", in which we took part.
In this photo, Gal is the guy standing with the red shirt; I'm standing in the middle; Olympia, who is the woman behind this entire event, is standing on the right; and Gabriele, her husband, is bending down.
This is how my dolls participated in the event.
My part was the workshop I had to conduct - even after one week of traveling through Italy I couldn't conduct the workshop in Italian by myself, so I demonstrated the work in English to a few local assistants.
This five-year-old boy was so serious… 
Later on, Gaia and her sister had to finish the stitching for him. And now that I mentioned sweet Gaia (aka stormy???, who was also assisting me with the workshop), don't forget to check out her flickr. She makes awesome stuff with toys she renovates.
(Some of the event's photos are by Massimiliano Ballerini Thank you)
Picture of the Week Award ~ Al Gudka
Posted by bayan
I came upon this stunning photograph of the new Mini Avantguard doll Androgyny on the W Club board.
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| Property of Al Gudka |
Al's photography is a favorite of mine. He's a master of composition. You will come across his posts not only on the W board but also on Doll Divas and BC.Com.
Here are the answers Al sent to my questionnaire:
-This gorgeous doll is the Mini-Clone Androgyny AvantGuards with her original wig
-No changes were made to the doll itself, but I did release the wig's ponytail
-She is wearing the Barbie by Jonathan Adler dress; corset and stockings from Aerodynamic Vanessa; shoes from last year's W Club Eugenia; jewelry from Flight Pattern Kyori
-The Hows:
- The camera I used was a 15 megapixel Canon Powershot G10
- For the backdrop I used a white foam-filled poster board; doll is leaning against it
- The only prop was a little desk fan that doubled as a large industrial fan in 1/6th scale
- For lighting I used a cluster of three 35 watt daylight florescent bulbs placed directly in front of, and slightly above the doll, at approx 6 ft away. I hung a large sheet of tracing paper 2 feet in front of the lamps. This diffused the light and made it look like natural light.
-My inspiration for this shot was some behind the scenes footage of model Gisele Bundchen during a photo shoot.
-The biggest suggestion I would give to budding photographers is to get acquainted with Photoshop. It can transform a dull, lifeless photo into a brilliant, high contrast eye-catcher. It is also indispensible when it comes to white balancing your photos if your camera can't do it properly. I see so many beautiful photos that have been unintentionally marred by green or yellow color casts.
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Thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Al.
