A Nice Surprise

About two years ago I placed an order online from Jennifers of Walsall. I really can't remember exactly what was on the order, but it arrived all present and correct except for one item. I'd included with the order a "doll wig making pack". I had just started wigging my own dolls at the time and was using whatever I could get my hands on that might work to do so and making up the method to do it as I went. This is my normal approach to miniaturing, but it was only 0.99p (a bit under $2 in my language) and I thought that a proper "pack" would have better materials and a few hints on how one should wig a doll. Silly me, I didn't notice that it was out of stock. So when the rest of the order arrived without the wigging pack I just shrugged and didn't really worry about it. It was after all only $2, these days a bar of chocolate or a cup of coffee costs more than that.

So I forgot all about it for two years . . . until . . .

Completely unexpectedly I received a very small package in this morning's mail. First I thought: "It must be my bones" (they're the only small thing I have on order - I thought they'd make nice scraps for the castle kitchen) then thought "You only paid for them yesterday idiot, how could they possibly be here already?". When I spotted the Jennifer's of Walsall label, it still took me a moment or two to realise what it must be: the wigging pack! What a surprise!

When I opened the package I was a little disapointed as the "wigging pack" consisted of a hank of hair and nothing else. The word "pack" had suggested it would have some extra bits and bobs as well. Still, this is the first time I've seen proper dollshouse doll wigging material. Turns out it is a lot like the wool I've mainly been using in the past in texture and feel, but it has a sheen to it that the wool doesn't. Overall, I'd say it was $2 well spent and a nice surprise given I'm almost up to the stage of starting to dress and wig some dolls to live in the castle.

Oddly enough it was only yesterday I was poking about online and stumbled accross a store selling dolls wigging and thought I really ought to buy some proper wigging for all those bald dolls! At the time I was actually looking for some fabric I liked for the bedroom, or some ribbon that I could use as a table runner in the Great Hall, so I decided to save my money for what I was actually looking for. As it turns out, there is no fabric anywhere that I like for the bed, or jacquard ribbon or woven rug that is what I have in mind for the table. For the table I'm currently planning that is, the one I made already is going to been pulled apart and forgotten because it turns out I don't like it! I was also looking for some mini straw braid (for hat making) so I could try making some straw rugs for the castle (and my next project). Turns out actual straw coloured straw is very rare at the moment - as rare in fact as trying to find hens' teeth. Oh, I could buy white, or vivid orange, but not natural straw coloured straw. So although I passed by the dolls wigging site, when I later arrived at Silly Sisters I did spend money I didn't set out to from sheer frustration. I bought some of their brick impress moulds, one brick, one herringbone brick and one roof tile. There's no where to use them in the castle (I think) but they will be useful for the next project I'm planning and probably many other future dollshouses.

Then to top off yesterday's exercises in futility, I received an email from Janine at dollhousesandmore.com. Back in February I placed an order with her for various items for the castle but the one item I really wanted was some very ornamental wooden trim that is very rare. This order arrived in early March, but the wrong trim had been sent by mistake. So I sent an email just to check that the mistake was that the wrong trim had been packed rather than the trim having the wrong picture listed online. I wasn't complaining, just cheecking I'd get what I wanted if I placed another order (I'll find a use for the incorrect trim sometime), but I promptly got a refund for the cost of the trim anyway. So very pleased with the service I'd received, I placed a second order for the trim. Let's just say that I hope the folks who dwell in the nether region of the Lost (where the other half of the pair of socks, that nik-nak you know should be right there and all those packages that disappear in the mail all end up) really enjoy adding that trim to their own netherworld dollshouse. After waiting and waiting to give the package plenty of time to show up (it's really annoying when you get an order re-sent, then the original shows up and you have to send one back), we finally decided that Janine would re-send the trim. The email she sent most recently was to tell me that when she went to prepare the order, she discovered that she had run out of this particular trim and that the supplier wouldn't have any more until the end of May. Sometimes all there is to say is "bugger". I wanted that trim. I really wanted that trim. I was going to embellish the furniture in the castle with it. I'm already making that furniture and don't want to wait until the middle of June at the earliest to add the trim to it. In fact the furniture I've already made, I've simply designed not to include the trim or found alternatives so I could keep going without it.

So playing with dolls hair was a nice change from just banging my head against the nearest convienent hard surface.