Pics of my Cars

It has been awhile since last I posted anything about my car collection. I’ve been a little too busy to work on them, but thankfully they’re all running at the moment. Sure, some need a little tuning, but as long as I can get to the grocery store and back, I’m not worried. They’re never-ending projects. Driving them *should* be an adventure. (Like the time my ‘68 Mustang fastback caught on fire on the way to the grocery store. Yeah, that was fun! No major damage. I only had to replace a couple wires under the dash.)

Speaking of my ‘68 Mustang fastback…my pride and joy…

She was born a plain jane, but I assure you, she’s never been plain during the 15 years I’ve owned her. She always keeps me on my toes and will always be with me.

The ‘83 Trans Am in the previous pic used to be mine as well. Had to sell it, but I don’t really miss it that much. It was a nifty neat car and I wish I could’ve kept it, but I’m glad to’ve owned it for a time and gotten to drive it in a few television shows.

Notice the difference in engine compartment between the previous pic and the following one? The one below was taken in 1998… A few things have changed during that time, huh? And more have changed since that pic, too!

‘66 Corvette convertible… Yes, that’s a 427/435 under that hood. I’ll admit that this is more Jason’s car than mine, but I do tinker on it from time to time and of course, I do drive it. Yes, it’s a very loud beast. I’ve even used it in a few television shows and feature films.

What can I say, I like ‘68 Mustangs. Here’s my Convertible cruiser. He’s not fast, but he sure does look and drive great. Finally got an AOD in him, too, after the engine swap I covered in the car section of this blog.

I told my hubby I was gonna do ‘a little tinkering on the car’. He came out and this is what he found!

Here’s my project car–’69 Corvette–when we bought it. Finding it, involved my best friend Eddie (he helped with the last engine swap) and a pair of binoculars…over a period of about 15 years.

When Eddie and Jason lifted the hood, this is what they found. Nice, huh? Just start ‘er up. NOT!

Eddie and I particularly enjoyed this detail… Yeah, that’s a wasp nest on that rotor… I saved it, too, just ‘cuz I’m weird like that.

My ‘03 Viper is quite a fun ride…

Last, but certainly not least, my ‘00 Prowler… (I really need to take more pics of it, but this pic is good enough.) Really, really fun to drive.

I also have an ‘08 Saturn Sky Redline, but I haven’t taken any pics of it yet.

My Shoe Chronicles — Black Funky Boots

I’d never seen another pair of shoes quite this odd yet simple. I’ve got a few wild pairs, but this one, well, this one threw me for a loop. They’re simple black, but shaped so strangely I had to have them.

When I first saw them at at Goodwill while on vacation in my hometown, I almost didn’t buy them. They were almost a little too strange. Yeah, that’s strange in itself: the fact that I wouldn’t get a pair of shoes because they were too weird. But that’s one of the reasons I knew I had to get them. They were my size, weird and $10 or less, therefore I must own them.

And, y’know, they’re just right for spunking up a boring outfit. The picture doesn’t really do them justice. I’ve never seen another pair quite like them. I get stopped by complete strangers asking where in the world I got them. I have no idea what year they are from, either. I suppose they’re timeless!

Repairing an Antique Doll part 3

To fix the hips, I stuffed more sawdust in…until it was fully packed and would hold no more. Also, I started on the inside where the holes were smaller.

Using an old ruined pair of kid leather gloves, I cut off a rectangle and then rounded the corners so that they wouldn’t catch on anything.

Using white glue, I smeared the whole back side of the patch and then applied it to the doll.

And did the same for the outside…although that took a lot longer. So much so that I took a few breaks because I was getting horribly impatient.

Sure, stuffing sawdust is easy, but back in the day, these dolls were packed so tight they were solid. If I’m going to repair a doll, I have to follow that same standard. That’s what she deserves. So I stuffed and stuffed and stuffed and stuffed and packed and stuffed until her hips were packed and then I patched them up.

My Shoe Chronicles — Olive Leather

I’ve gotten more compliments on these shoes than many others in my collection and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s that they look as comfy as they feel and they’re a little odd. I really don’t know, but I love ‘em!

They’re also a unique color for my wardrobe. I don’t have any other pairs in this shade or shades near them. They’re one of very few pairs that I bought new simply for that reason: I don’t have another pair like them.

It’s uncommon for me to buy anything new. It’s gotta be truly unique and awfully cheap. The way I see it is that if I can go to a thrift store and buy four pairs or more for the price of those shoes, they better be totally awesome! In the case of these, I think they were somewhere around $25 in a quirky little shoe store in Chinatown of all places. It was definitely money well spent.

Repairing an Antique Doll part 2

For the record, I’m not a doll doctor. Not at all. I’ve never watched someone else repair a doll. I’ve never even asked someone about doing it. I’ve read a couple of books on the subject, but that’s it. Everything I know about doll repair is from what I’ve done and what I’ve seen on the dolls as they come into my collection. I could be totally off my rocker on how I work on them, but I care immensely. I once overheard an old school mechanic tell a young man that “What you lack in experience, you make up for in caring.” I like to think that rings true here, too.

I’ve blogged some of my doll repair work previously, too. Click here to read about the celluloid doll I fixed.

All right, continuing on my AM 1897…

I wasn’t offended by the double-stick tape under the wig. I don’t use it, but that’s just because my dolls don’t get moved around and their hair stays on just fine without the need for anything sticky to keep it there. The only thing that bothers me about double-stick tape is that it does dry out and become ineffective. This stuff was still super-gooey, though.

However, I am offended by synthetic wigs on antique dolls. When I get a chance, I’ll swap this doll’s synthetic wig for either a human hair one or perhaps one made from mohair. I’m leaning more toward human hair because that’ll look the closest to how the doll came into my collection and still be correct for the time period.

Okay, here I am looking at the task at hand. Both legs need work below the knee. The leather on one side was marginal.

The leather on the other side…well…it was very loose under the sock.

Okay, time to dig in for real. Since I needed to work on the hips and the legs themselves, I figured the best thing to do would be to remove the legs first. I straightened the end of the wire (which went through the right kind of metal buttons at each hip, but they were mismatched in size) and removed it.

Only to discover that the hip damage on the torso was even worse than I’d thought. That hole is huge.

And the hole on the other side is even bigger…and stuffed with polyester fiberfill…grrrrrr…

Time to get out the bag of sawdust I keep handy… and the old kid leather gloves to use as patching.

In my next post, I’ll detail how I did the hip repair.

Contest! Handmade Prizes!

So, I’ve mentioned time and time again that I also write romance novels as half of the Ashleigh Raine writing team. Our next book is coming out in April and we wanted to do a contest/giveaway in celebration. Whenever we decide to do a contest, the next question is always what will the prizes be.

We both had a ‘like duh’ moment. My handmade stuff would be perfect. It’s all 100% original, unique and will never be duplicated, so why not? Plus, since our next novel is Forsaken Talisman, book two of our Talisman Bay series and in that series Twyla Emerson is a bead-oholic (gee, where’d we get that inspiration? Hmmm…?) it makes sense that the prizes are from as close to Talisman Bay as anyone can get.

So, if you’d like a chance to win one of seven different prizes, head on over to the Contest page at AshleighRaine.com for complete details.

In the mean time, I’m going to immerse back into Twyla’s “damn bead room”–as she so affectionately calls it–and have her help me make some more Twilight’s Fancy necklaces. Good luck on your contest entry!

Blissful

When I began designing this necklace, I got a little interrupted for a great reason: Inspiration.

I haven’t listed the other necklace just yet, so look for it within the coming weeks, but as I was working, I saw some beads in my collection and thought they wouldn’t work for the necklace I was working on, but they’d be great in their own. And when inspiration happens, I run with it!

So this was the first time in years that I worked on two necklaces concurrently. It seemed like I’d place a bead on one and then place a few on the other. I just kept on going because both necklaces seemed to be playing off of each other. Like, one could not have happened without the other even though they don’t rely on the same beads.

I don’t know if this will be a common occurrence, but I most certainly welcome it if it happens again! I already love designing and building Twilight’s Fancy necklaces, but when they come together the ways these two did, it’s like opening a whole new world for me in a way because I didn’t know it was possible.

I’ve designed more than one necklace at the same time, but never quite like this. The others came together more linear, one after the other with only a few beads overlap. These were together. I’d laid out a few beads on one and then a few on the other and they both finished at the same time. I actually had to pay attention that I didn’t mix the two up when I assembled them!

Or perhaps the following three would interest you:

My Shoe Chronicles — Black and White Striped

I love these quirky shoes. They’re strangely shaped yet still comfortable. I’ve worn them to concerts and the grocery store and they just seem to go with everything.

However, they just don’t seem to break in. That’s most likely why they landed at the thrift store I bought them from. Standing in them is fine, but walking around the block? No thanks. Socks seem to help, but not much. I wear ‘em because they’re funky, but if I know I’ll be walking a lot, I opt for one of my other black and white pairs. There’s only so much torture I’ll put my feet through!

Midnight Grace

Every now and then things come together so easily, I declare it graceful. That’s what happened with this necklace. It. Just. Came. Together. Yeah, it designed itself. I hardly had to do anything but make sure the beads were in the right place.

Like, I’m betting that it still would’ve come together if I’d tripped and dropped the bead tray all over my table. I almost didn’t list this one, too, because I don’t have my own blue one. After all, in Lover’s Talisman, it’s a blue Twilight’s Fancy necklace that is the talisman.

Notice how in the picture there isn’t a huge pile of beads in cups around the necklace. It’s just right there, ready to be assembled. Yeah, that’s seriously how easily this thing came together. Sometimes I agonize over where the beads go, which ones I want to use, how to embellish, how many dangles, etc. Not this time. I think that’s one of the reasons I want to keep it for myself.

Then again, if someone else buys it, they’ll collect the good karma that is flowing through it and I’d rather spread that kind of joy. I’m sure there’ll be others for me. Plus, being the master of all I survey in my craft room, there’s no reason I can’t just design and build one for myself. Like, duh.

Which reminds me, if you want me to build you a custom necklace, all ya gotta do is contact me through my Twilight’s Fancy shop and let me know what color(s), etc. you’re looking for. My bead collection is monstrous. I bet I can put something together for you in no time flat!

Repairing an Antique Doll part 1

Meet my AM 1897. She was made some time around 1897, but not necessarily that year, by Armand Marseille, a German doll maker…probably the most popular doll maker. Sure, she displays well:

However, under that white dress, she’s falling apart. I’ve been in denial for about a decade now. This doll came into my possession in 1999 or so. I’d put her on layaway at an online doll seller, made a few payments and forgot about her. About eight months later, the shop sent me a beautiful doll greeting card reminding me about her. Whoops! Anyway, I’ve displayed her for all these years, but I knew I’d have to get down to business and see what was really wrong with her hips. She’d been leaking a little sawdust when I first got her, but that was back when I was still afraid to dive in and do repairs.

These days, well, to prevent the damage from getting worse, I took her into my craft room:

I removed her clothing so that I could get the real story…well, almost all of her clothing. When I got to the sock, I had to stop because a bunch more sawdust spilled out.

While the rest of her clothes were off, I inspected the earlier repairs that had been done. They really seemed to have been done real quick just to resell the doll or something. Yeah, some of the holes were covered up, but not very well…or at least not with a whole lot of care, I guess. I don’t know how else to describe the job that was done.

I was optimistic about the hip joints after seeing the large patches. Sadly, the outside of the hips didn’t really need patching. The inside, on the doll torso, was where the problems were and those weren’t worked on except to stuff some polyester fiberfill in there and hope for the best. I was not thrilled.

To me, repairs should be reversible for one thing. They should also use period correct materials. In other words, polyester fiberfill does not belong anywhere near antique dolls. Old rags, sawdust, sure, but not fiberfill. It just doesn’t belong. That was another clue that whoever did the repairs was just trying to get the doll out the door. The person didn’t really care what the doll was supposed to be stuffed with. At least the last doctor had used kid leather to cover the holes…I just really wish she’d done a neater job. There were two kinds of glue and the only areas that were covered were the unnecessary hip joint pieces. The other glued pieces were very sloppy. That’s why the leg was leaking so badly.

Store not available