Small Life Stories

Notes on the Making

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

  • Backstory: My Doll Adventure 03 – Rosie’s Adventure Begins

    Go here to read this episode: MDA 03: Rosie’s adventure begins Rosie is my one “kid” doll, and she’ll have more kid-like adventures than my other dolls. That means both that I won’t put her in danger (no ocean journeys for Rosie) and that many of her adventures are pure flights of fancy. This one,…

  • Fashion dolls just want to have fun

    It seems like Barbie should be having more fun. She’s got mountains of stuff – accessories, vehicles, and-oh-that-closet. But, it all feels a little empty. Take these photos of Barbie in Paris, for example. The team at Barbie Style puts a ton of effort into their setups – it’s not photo shopped, they’re actually on…

  • On not knowing anything

    I learn for a living. I used to learn how to use software, and then write about it. More recently, I learn how other people use hardware and then report on it. I’ve become comfortable with not being an expert. But I’ve never been such a novice in so many areas at once. When I…

  • Dolls have destroyed my dining room

    I used to have a dining room. You know, one of those standard rooms with a big dining room table, 6 or so chairs, and a low hanging lamp. None of that is left – the dolls took it. At first, they only had the tiered shelves (to the left of the desk) which I…

  • Finding a boat for Camellia

    I started searching for a boat for Camellia as soon as I realized she was going to reach the island under her own steam, and not simply wash up on shore. It turns out, there aren’t a lot of boats in 1/6 scale (the scale of a Barbie doll). Aside from a few fantastic-but-way-too-pricey sailboats,…

  • A sense of place

    It turns out, from my cursory research, that the Isla la Tortuga is one of the few uninhabited tropical islands where my Camellia character can have her adventure. Tropical? Check (unlike just about any land mass off the US or Europe). Interesting animals? Check – capybara, coatis, even a jaguar which could be the source…

  • Backstory: My Doll Adventure 02 – Camellia’s Journey Begins

    Go here to read this episode: MDA 02: Camellia’s journey begins Camellia’s story starts mid-adventure, with a dark backstory that I don’t think I’ll ever  fully reveal. What lies in her future, only Camellia can say. While I create the storyline for the rest of my dolls, Camellia negotiates her own. She wasn’t even supposed…

  • Daisy gets a dog

    Each of the dolls has a pet, as well as a medium. For Daisy, it’s a dog and photography. I spent most of my evenings for a month finding the right dog for Daisy. First, she borrowed a beagle from my Lottie dolls The beagle is cute, but it looks like a cartoon, while Daisy…

  • Daisy goes for a bike ride

    For a project built on the premise that dolls can have adventures, the difficulty of taking great shots of dolls “in the wild” is a huge roadblock. Either I use one of my studio shots (on the top) where I’m able to capture a sense of motion, and then merge it completely unartfully into the…

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