Small Life Stories

Notes on the Making

Process, decisions, behind the scenes — how the stories get made.

  • My Doll Adventure 15: Putting the pieces together

    And, with that, Daisy finally has enough information to begin her journey. She has a grandmother, likely in Italy, with what appears to be a flower shop called “The Secret Garden” Speaking of having enough information to make a connection, I’ve dropped a clue into one of these photos indicating that two of these characters…

  • Creating backdrops – a new experiment

    While my indoor rooms have walls, my outside sets need diorama backdrops – the sky, trees, flowers – something that defines their space as existing somewhere other than in my garage workshop. I’ve tried a number of different diorama backdrops in Lily and Camellia’s episodes. The backdrop behind Lily here from from Episode 8 is a…

  • My Doll Adventure 14: Rosie’s fairy adventure

    Another quiet night at home, playing with paper fairy dolls. It’s hard to keep all of my dolls safe. As soon as Camellia safely washes ashore and tames the panther, poor Rosie is kipnapped by fairies. She’s about to enter another painted world – one of the paintings is already outside her window. It’s a…

  • Creating a tropical beach diorama for Camellia

    Here’s a quick tour around Camellia’s topical beach diorama. And that’s it. Camellia will be adding to her set by the time you next meet up with her. Save Save

  • Adding cinemagraphs to doll pictures

    I’m slowly learning to add motion to Camellia’s adventures through cinemagraphs, so I’ll share what I’ve learned so far. Basically, a cinemagraph is a fancy animated GIF. You create a stack of photos where just one element changes, and then merge them together into an animated GIF. Here’s what a real one looks like (not…

  • My Doll Adventure 13: Danger afoot or dolls in danger

    Dolls in danger as Camellia’s story continues, after her storm at sea. So, Camellia has landed safely on shore and continues to draw things towards her – a raven and a panther so far have entered her orbit. I’ll talk a bit Wednesday about adding movement to these photos. I realize, on seeing the photos…

  • Doll adventures need an action stand

    Mid-adventure, I find myself (and my dolls) sorely in need of an action stand. You’ve all seen doll stands. They look something like this: and they hold the doll, upright, around the waist or the legs. Which is great, if your doll is just standing there. But, not so great, if she’s mid-fall, like this…

  • Tumblr, WTF?

    I feel like I’m missing the point on Tumblr – what exactly is it good for? After a few weeks, I’m still struggling to find people who are actually making/doing/saying anything. Instead I’m lost in a bewildering world of reblogs, where I can watch the same damn post spread through my feed, like a contagion.…

  • Dollhouse decorating on the cheap: AliExpress

    Tiny objects are surprisingly expensive. Inch-for-inch, I’d spend far more furnishing a 1/6th scale room then I’d ever spend on a full size one. One way I’ve found to trim the costs is to purchase from AliExpress. The economics of AliExpress are bewildering to me. For less than I’d spend for a few stamps, I…

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