Photography Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Ruffing’s Artist Dolls and Toys

Posted on November 16, 2011July 30, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Photographing art dolls

Yesterday, in addition to photographing fleece bunnies and my sock kitten, we also photographed nine new original, one-of-a-kind cat art dolls by Max Bailey. I was in charge of ironing their outfits, and putting the right outfits with the right dolls.

I thought I had it all right, but I switched one dress with another. I thought the one dress looked especially pretty on the doll I accidentally dressed in it, and so we went with the dress exchange.

I then ironed our backdrop, which is quilting cotton, a blend of pink, blue, and yellow.

We set up foam core, on a box, on a table, to get the dolls the right height compared to the camera and tripod.

We take our photos outside on our porch, to get natural light. We always have to wait for the direct sunlight to pass over the house, so we don’t get harsh shadows. I’m trying out my new micro lens for these. The photos look good so far, but it will take me a while to get them all edited and posted. We’ll be posting our new original one-of-a-kind cat art dolls, and stuffed animal toys, in our Ruffing’s shop.

The kittens have been loose in the house during the day. We round them up at night, for bedtime in the laundry room. In the morning, they are raring to go, and start meowing to let us know it is time for them to come play.

Josephine has been very happy to have the girls to play with her. They are closer to her own age than her other friends.

Phoebe doesn’t want any people touching her, but she is the more adventurous of the two kittens. I find her watching me, and hanging out around me too, even though she will still hiss or scoot if I try to pet her. I can tell she likes me, in spite of that. She just wants to set her own rules about people.

Phoebe was the first to try out the cat gym. Josephine is showing her around. Bertie joined them later, but Bertie likes to relax in the bedrooms more, trying out the fuzzy blankets.

They are both settling in very well. They’ll have their spay day soon, and get their microchips, which is good, because they probably will start refusing to go to bed in the laundry room. Already, bedtime keeps getting bumped up until later because they want to keep playing and running around.

Posted on August 17, 2011July 31, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing — 1 Comment

Purple Hug Me Slug Wednesday and more kittens, including one named Wednesday

I finished two new purple Hug Me Slugs this afternoon. One is purple with a soft yellow heart,

and the other is dark purple with a light turquoise heart. Both are made of fleece. I am continuing on my mission to keep adding art toys to our shop. I will be posting my new handmade stuffed animal toys in our Ruffing’s shop.

I took a field trip to Marie’s house this weekend to take some photos of her foster kittens. Marie trapped and rescued these babies. These are the Addams Family kittens, Gomez,

Pugsley,

Wednesday,

and Morticia.

Gomez is looking particularly angelic here. All four are super friendly and playful, and obviously, very cute.

The rescue, Alley Cats and Angels of NC, also took in this beautiful tabby kitten. She was found in a feral colony, as were all of the kittens in this blog post, but she had a congenital deformity in her back leg, which needed to be amputated. This hasn’t seemed to phase her. She is happy and sweet. You would never know she came from a feral colony.

Siren is a special-needs kitten, in that she has Cerebellar Hypoplasia (CH), which also happened before birth. She is healthy and loving and adorable. She just has some tremors which make her unsteady. She is still able to climb in your lap though, which she loves to do. She needs a home that doesn’t have any big cat trees like we have here, or anything too high to climb on, to make sure she doesn’t fall. Otherwise, she should have a normal life like any other cat, with the same life expectancy. I have photos of her brother, Sasquatch to edit. He is amazingly cute too.

Posted on March 17, 2011August 5, 2019 by Elizabeth Ruffing

Camo Bunny! Camouflage Hug Me Bunny stuffed animal rabbit toy

Friends have been encouraging me to make camouflage Hug Me Slugs. My friend Marie suggested they would make great gifts for people in the military and their families, who could use an extra hug, and everyone who was chatting about the Camo Slug idea agreed. I was working on them today. Suddenly, I had to take a detour. It may be Saint Patrick’s Day today, but that only made me think of Easter, my favorite holiday. And Easter made think of bunnies. I stopped sewing, drew a little picture, and then drafted a pattern. Within an hour or two, Camo Bunny was born!

Camo Slug will join Camo Bunny. I am making some custom Hug Me Bunny stuffed toy animals too. I can make them in any other fleece color that I have on hand as well. I’ll be adding more ready-made toys. I have a pile of them that I am working on. I will be adding my new handmade stuffed animal toys to our Ruffing’s shop.

Camouflage fleece makes a great cat bed, apparently. My assistant settled right in while my back was turned for a few minutes. Perhaps he was hoping I wouldn’t see him, surrounded by camouflage. He was cooperative about getting back into his own bed, but the fleece won the cuddly contest.

One of the ducks was missing this weekend, and I was very worried until my mom found her…sitting on about twelve eggs! She built her nest, hidden behind a group of trees. I’m so glad she is okay. I was certain she was a he, and so that was an extra surprise. The other boy ducks tried to chase her off last year, when she was less than a year old. The one that is the dad used to snap at her when they came for corn snacks. He’s the big duck we brought to the vet, to have a fish hook removed. They are both survivors, and so we all hope their ducklings will be too.

Speaking of survivors, and hiding, this is Frosty. Frosty came from a feral colony and is very shy. She is staying with Marie, but she has to have one of her canine teeth removed. One is growing straight out. That’s what gives her lip a slight curl in the corner of her mouth. We’re going to visit with her for a little while after her dental, while she recovers, before Marie gets back home from work. She is such a beautiful girl.

I tagged along with Marie again, on a trip back to Rochelle’s house, to pick up some more cats to be neutered/spayed and vaccinated. This time it was Gypsy’s turn. He is tame and the others are feral. He stayed with us, in a carrier, so he wouldn’t go eat all the food in the safety traps. We took him to Kentucky Fried Chicken with us, to pick up some smelly chicken. The cats went right in the traps, once the chicken arrived. Gypsy seemed to enjoy the car ride, and the chicken…of course.

The cats stayed in their traps at Marie’s house, the night before their surgeries, and then they went back to Rochelle’s house. Gypsy enjoyed being in the house. The feather toy was new to him. He may stay with Rochelle, or, if someone would like to adopt him, he may go to his own home. He may need a little potty training, since that may be unfamiliar to him too. So, that is a wait-and-see situation. We had a cat who was outside in his early months, who was successfully potty trained, after not knowing about litter boxes, and Gypsy seems like a smart boy. He may take right to the idea, since he’s been neutered, without any training. No one knows yet. I added the rest of my photos to a photo-documentary, if anyone would like to read the rest of the story.

Please join Ruffing’s on Facebook, if you haven’t already, and visit our Ruffing’s shop blog. We will be posting our new creations there.

And Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, everyone! As you now know, I am thinking about Easter instead. I am thinking about Christmas also, stocking up on toys, but I don’t want to miss spring either. Everything is starting to look very pretty.

I took my camera with me on a walk recently. Here is a spectacular forsythia bush, and a yard full of little purple flowers in the grass.

Our peach tree is full of blooms.

The trees are getting their leaves.

And I even saw a dandelion! I don’t care what people say about them. I’m happy to see their bright yellow heads popping up.

I have so much to do. I hope to have more to show you soon.

Posted on January 24, 2011January 11, 2020 by Elizabeth Ruffing

New Art Doll Photo Prints

Opal the Pixie Kitten, Version 1

We just added new photo prints of our original, one-of-a-kind art dolls. Here are the first of the prints. They are made with the same archival cotton art paper and pigment inks as our other prints, and each comes in a protective cello sleeve. They are all made as they are ordered, one at a time, and are each hand signed.

Opal the Pixie Kitten, Version 2