Creative Chaos
I have missed being online and on-board with all you doll lovers. As some of you may know my beloved partner David of almost 29 years has taken a turn for the worse and time is of the essence.
I can’t begin to express how grateful I am to all who have written letters, posts, comments, and well wishes for both myself and for David. My promise to him just a month or so ago was to have all of my Sybarite’s displayed for everyone to see. He had noticed just before he got ill package after package though small was still arriving.
He knows they were not Sybarite dolls but he was smart enough to clock the FBR couture could be in these packages. He said to me you know Thom don’t you think it is getting a little ridiculous as you have collected your “JUST ONE” doll sarcastically speaking as well as have three custom made cabinets just for Sybarites to be displayed in your friend Jim (OKCJimbo thank you always) gave you yet still they are empty.
At first I wanted to scream at him but then I calmly said to him you don’t know anything about collecting, it takes planning and besides my diorama idea is not yet complete as I am…”COLLECTING” he shouts with a playful tone whereas I was going to say “WAITING” on a few items to arrive.
He then said with nothing but love behind it as he know my addictive personality by saying “you know I support you in every way, but wouldn’t it make better sense to enjoy them. I would like to see them after listening to you the last two years about how GRAND the outfit is, or how rare this piece is, or there is only 75 in the world”
It was right then I promised him and myself I would have them up before my parents came to visit us last month on June 19th. This conversation we had took place around the 1st of June. So I started at the top with PEEP and took her out of her box as she was a NRFB doll I had bought and one of my Holy Grail Sybarites.
After spending the entire day trying to decide what accessories and backgrounds etc to use. When I was finally done and ready to pose Peep in her new home I tried to use the saddle stand but just couldn’t do it. I ended up using one of my Innoquii stands for secure holding. So happy I got one done knew I had allot of work to do as there were 5 more spots to go and 8 dolls to display yet still.
The very next day David was rushed to the hospital and was released just 5 days before my parents arrived. We are now in our third week in hospice care. David is in a hospital bed to my left as I type this in my doll room ( was a dining room).
After 3 hours of extracting each doll from her casing including my brand NEW SLIPPER which arrived 3 days ago and just opened (thanks Karin) as the finale’ of a glorious morning. Now as some are nude and others are in the Original SuperFrock best I have them situated deciding who goes where and with what.
Once again I find myself stressing out and pondering what props and backdrops etc. I should use. Upon seeing Jim’s displayed Sybarites in the very same cabinets he gave me I wanted them to be just as glorious as he made his. But lets face it, merchandising, composition, window dressing, diorama whatever you want to call it is an art or God given Talent.
I am one of those poor gay guys who missed the class on Interior decorating but in my High School days took Home economics two years. Anyway aside from the stereotypes lets just say I doubt myself more than I should.
So I remembered my trusty book on photography called IN FOCUS by FDQ and there was something about keeping it simple, stupid. I even think Terri Gold said this in her coverage on setting up.
Well, I may not be taking photos of them every minute of the day but the same rule applies I would assume. This being said under the circumstances decided the Sybarites look even better as they stand alone.
In other words they look great with or without props if lit and posed the right way and as a former model I know how to “VOGUE” if you catch my drift.
Well I don’t know when the next time I will be updating this page but if you follow me on facebook or want to you can friend request me or just go to the page I have dedicated to David with updates and information called HIV/AIDS survival bible.
Again thanks for all the support and look forward to sharing the final images with you sooner than later.
The Sybarites 