davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2023

[davidd]

Is it also 3 hours for things like groceries?

There's a small local grocery market, well stocked but with higher prices. Walmart and chain grocery markets are in Cedar City, so yeah, 3-hour round trip.

At least I don't have to pay for a round trip ferry passage on top of that!

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3 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

Another forgotten diorama project:

Sometimes a Box is Just a Box

I had nearly forgotten about this simple doll-size "room box." It was constructed a couple of years ago as a kitchen, but the size ended up being too compact for kitchen use. It also served a few times as a generic office type space in a few photo-story installments.

After that, it was relegated to its roots... as a box.

Currently two 1/6-scale motor scooters and a 1/6-scale piano are stashed away in this box. The piano player, a generic male action figure, was in here, too. And to my surprise, Solo in the Spotlight Barbie was in this box. I never would have found any of these items if I had been looking for them. I had forgotten I'd put them in this box, and I'd forgotten about this diorama until I was moving some things around in the storage shed and uncovered it.

While I like the gift wrap wallpaper, this box has proven too small for practical use with dolls or action figures. I shall likely salvage the wood trim and send the cardboard box to recycling. Its practicality for storage purposes is impaired by the lack of a lid, so there are better places for Barbie, Piano Man, and the motorbikes.

[Alliecat]

Maybe Barbie and Piano Man could go on a road trip with the scooters!

At least I don't have to pay for a round trip ferry passage on top of that!

Yeah and another 5 hours of ferry and waitingforferry time.
I don't think I want to be more than a couple hours from major services, but not having to deal with "the boat" would be a start.

[davidd]

4 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

Colorful Bratz Living Room

I constructed this set for use in my Bratz photostory that sort of went on permanent hiatus... six years ago. It even has a window seat! I don't even know what all is piled in here, so unpacking this stuff will be a treasure hunt!

I totes forgot about today being May the Fourth (Be With You).

[davidd]

5 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

General Purpose Doll Photography Room Box

My "general purpose" doll and action figure backdrop has become a general purpose dumping ground. It's a very versatile setting for photography... and for other things, like as a storage unit, or as a case study in obsessive hoarding disorder.

[Alliecat]

Oh boy. Well, my living room isn’t quite that bad! And a trunk load of stuff went to the mainland today so it’s a small success. That looks like a cute little chair in there.

[davidd]

And a trunk load of stuff went to the mainland today so it’s a small success. That looks like a cute little chair in there.

Congratulations on moving stuff out! I understand the challenge.

Yes, this particular pile is mostly "good stuff."

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6 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

IN HONOUR of HIS ROYAL MAJESTY KING CHARLES III of the UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and NORTHERN IRELAND

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[Alliecat]

Looks like everyone is celebrating at your place. I’d have watched but we had no power for 24 hours so instead I was busy lugging water from the creek to flush my toilet!! I’ll find a recap online somewhere. Just got power back.

[davidd]

Looks like everyone is celebrating at your place. I’d have watched but we had no power for 24 hours so instead I was busy lugging water from the creek to flush my toilet!! I’ll find a recap online somewhere. Just got power back.

The joys of island life... or rural life! I've used the skanky water out of my garden pond at times for flushing purposes. Do you actually have a creek running through your property? A year-round creek? 

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7 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

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Time to Clean Up the Kitchen

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The never-quite-finished kitchen diorama could stand a bit of tidying.

[Alliecat]

Had to chuckle at the lanternfish on top of the cabinet
I always need to tidy my kitchen too, but not quite that much.

Do you actually have a creek running through your property? A year-round creek? 

I wish. No, it's a couple minutes' walk down the road. But for all the buckets, I took the car, and drove home VERY slowly so as not to slosh in the trunk.
And no, it freezes in the coldest part of the winter. And would be a trickle in the driest part of the summer.

[davidd]

8 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

Water Tower II

Another half-forgotten project from the storage shed:

Last summer I tried to reconstruct my old Shady Rest Water Tower.

The original tower looked better.

2014 version

I think the new platform is an improvement.

I usually don't have much success when I attempt to reconstruct old projects.

8 May - A Doll A Day 2023

[Alliecat]

If you put all these projects together -- this, the beach house, etc. ... you could have your own Marwen

[davidd]

If you put all these projects together -- this, the beach house, etc. ... you could have your own Marwen 

Yeah, pretty much!

Dunno what that suggests about my mental state.  

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9 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

Castle Stairs

At least these diorama pieces aren't buried in junk! These are my two spiral staircases, sitting inside a basic "corner room box" that I constructed to use for "quick" photo set-ups.
Of course, now that the stairs and box are sitting on a high shelf in the storage shed that requires a ladder to reach, they don't see much action anymore.

[Alliecat]

Dunno what that suggests about my mental state.  

LOL. Well, creative things as therapy ... that's valid for many reasons, for many people, me included.

There's sure a lot of work in all these projects. I'm impressed at the time you must've spent on them.

[davidd]

There's sure a lot of work in all these projects.  I'm impressed at the time you must've spent on them.

I get kind of DE-pressed thinking about the amount of time I've put in to projects that went nowhere or were forgotten or abandoned.

That said, all is not entirely hopeless... maybe:

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10 May - A Doll A Day 2023:

Derelict Tiki Bar

The 1/6-scale tiki bar project was initiated in June 2018, but promptly fell in to development limbo. I realized rather quickly that the walls were not tall enough for photo purposes, so I set everything aside until I "had time" to address the shortcoming.

Eleven months later, May 2019, I resumed work on the project, extending the walls upward and outward to create a setting more amenable to a variety of camera angles. Again, however, the project soon stalled, and has been sitting more or less ignored for the last four years.

Four years! For four years, the tiki bar room box project has been little more than a box full of random craft supplies.

Could there, however, be a "Flickr" of life in this interminably delayed project?

Emmy Sneaks a Peek

Emmy (Chocolate Cigarette Momoko), herself recently unearthed from beneath the clutter in the storage shed (I honestly had forgotten all about her), is amazed to discover what appears to be another effort to revisit this project. Indeed, it looks to be a serious effort, once again involving a major rebuild and ex-pansion of the original structure: raising the wall height even further, and nearly doubling the original floor length, necessitating the construction of additional floors and walls.

The View from Emmy's Perspective

Will the current attempt prove any more successful than previous efforts? Or will an initial flurry of enthusiasm and effort quickly fade as more pressing "real world" issues and events take priority?

I don't know, but... say, is that a piano in the back corner? Could it be the same piano that was recently rediscovered in another abandoned (and since disassembled and discarded) room box diorama? Is progress being made in consolidation, prioritization, and actual action?

Watch This Space!

[Alliecat]

It’s horrifying how fast time passes while we are busy not getting things done. Looks like that could be a fun project. Cute photo of Emmy peering through the door.