Thursday, January 2, 2014

Dresden Ballerinas and a New Camera






I've been taking photos with the same little point-and-shoot since beginning this blog. Unfortunately, that camera is now a bit outdated, and it has been steadily getting more complicated to upload the photos. Recently, it's become almost impossible to use.  I'd been waffling on whether to upgrade to a better camera anyways, so it's definitely time to retire my old camera. I know almost nothing about photography, but my brother offered to loan me his camera so I can learn a bit before I purchase. If any of you have recommendations for cameras, photography tutorials, etc. I'd love for you to pass them along.
This old photo shows the "Dresden dancer" made by Goebel. She's made of cast bronze and is beautifully detailed, but she's never quite looked like the ballerinas I love. It's also always bothered me that her skirt doesn't look appropriately lacy. Real Dresden figurines (especially ballerinas) often have porcelain lace details, made by dipping real lace in liquid porcelain. When the porcelain is fired, the lace burns off, leaving the porcelain behind.  In the background, you can see my real life Dresden ballerina lamp. Her skirt is entirely covered in porcelain lace, though unfortunately it's quite damaged.

These are my two attempts at making Dresden ballerinas. The pink one on the left was one I made several years ago, using a metal dollhouse figurine covered in cheap lace, painted, then "glazed" with clear nail polish. I was pretty disappointed in the way it came out, so I never shared it. The one on the right I made tonight, and am much happier with it. I used a better quality metal charm for the figurine and raided mom's doll-making supplies for delicate lace in order to make the skirt. I used a gold paint pen to add details around the base, and glued tiny pink roses to her skirt and base. The final step was to glaze her with gloss acrylic.
Now that I have a working camera again, I have quite a few "backlogged" projects to share over the next few weeks, including a new 1/144th scale house. Stay tuned!

7 comments:

  1. They're fabulous!
    Greetings, Faby

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  2. I like it, it's very well done

    Happy New Year
    Marisa :)

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  3. Es tan tan diminuto!!! Me encanta.
    Un abrazo.
    Yolanda

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  4. I think both your Dresden ballerinas are just fabulous - so delicate, especially your last one.

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  5. You make the most Amazing tiny things!!! Your Dresden ballerina looks gorgeous!
    Happy New Year!

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  6. Hi Eliza! I hit a wrong button and wiped out my comment so if you see in there please return to sender! Hah! I love Both of your Dresden figurines! The one on the left looks just like the Real McCoy! Well Done! :D

    elizabeth

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  7. I like the Panasonic Lumix cameras. They are very easy to use. They work nicely for quick photos.
    Tip one they have a function called "white set". To use it you place a piece of bright white paper where you are going to be photographing. Then using the white set function point the camera at the paper and click. That will help give you true color every time.
    Tip 2 but even with the advantage of white set try not to have mixed sources of lighting where you are photographing such as sunlight plus incandescent light. That does lead to weird looking colors in your photos.
    Tip 3. Don't ever use the macro function. The new digital cameras are high resolution. Just back up until you are in focus. Don't worry how much surrounding stuff you have showing because you can crop in a photo editing program afterwards. Macro does a couple of bad things, you will have no realistic depth of field and you get a lot of out of focus areas along with other areas where a tiny speck of dust takes on the look of a mountain in the foreground.

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