Introducing Irma

This is Irma, the newest addition to the AmandaMay paper doll collection:



She is just a little shy, but has a vast imagination and can actually be pretty silly.

I am having so much fun making these dolls, especially deciding on fun clothes for them. Irma has a raincoat and a red umbrella, a pink snowsuit (a la A Christmas Story), a fabulous dress up costume, and a couple more...

Next on the drawing board, some more historical style dolls - I'm thinking Renaissance would be really fun - and maybe some fairy tale characters.

Cover Art

Quite some time ago, someone contacted me through flickr and asked about using one of my Bread and Puppet photos ona book cover he was designing. I said sure, as long as B & P was ok with it - I just snapped the shot, they built the costumes after all! Then I sort of forgot about the whole thing.

When I walked into Borders last week, this was front and center on their "don't miss these titles" table!



That's my picture! And my name is on the back!

It was sort of exciting. And it looks like a good book, too.

Lightbox Revisited

There is lots of talk on etsy about the proper way to photograph - those pictures, after all, must take the place of any and all tactile experience a buyer would have with the items in questions. The one thing that usually comes up is using a lightbox, and from there it is a short step to the questions of making said lightbox at home. Not too hard, actually, that part.

I made one, from a tutorial on Strobist, some time ago and used it for a while until the box started getting in the way too often and the tissue paper got punctured and the whole deal went into the recycling. With a new paper doll ready to be photographed in all her finery, I decided to try the light box once again. This time I was inspired by this post from another etsy seller to make a collapsible version of the box.



You will notice that the current back drop is a placemat. Not a great option, as it turns out. Maybe wallpaper would work better? And my lighting situation is not working out quite right either. It seems that although making a lightbox is a piece of cake, actually using it requires a bit more effort.

Happy Love Day!

(My real-life valentines are still in progress; I think extending the love-holiday is ok, don't you?)