The Cat Who Ate Bag End

[lavendertook]

For the wonderful melyanna_65, who asked for more pics of the Bag End set, and who I know likes kitties with her hobbits:


Mr. Frodo, you look different, and no mistake! Still, you have the biggest blue eyes I have ever seen, me dear next to Stinkers, that is.




Saki figures that if her name is Murasaki Took, then she has a right to be on this set, and I agree. She's 4 hobbits rolled into one, because though she is totally my loyal Sam-cat, always sitting guard, she has Frolijah's eyes, she's a fool of a Took, because what siamese isn't, and she could be called Murry/Merry as well as Saki. If I had met her after the FotR film came out when I was reacquainted with the Tolkien love, I bet I would have named her Smeagol. The first thing she did when she invaded the set is run her cheek all over Sam doll--she is definitely a Sam identified cat.

I named her after Murasaki Shikibu, both because it's the name of a cool early woman writer I had just read, and because Murasaki means "Lavender" in Japanese. I thought of Saki's coloring as lilac point siamese mix, and lavender is close to lilac, so that was what was relevant. I've since learned its more accurate to call Saki a tortie point, as delux_vivens first pointed out to me. I didn't give her the Took part until the FoTR film came out, though. So anyway, I kind of share my LJ name with my cat, though inadvertently.



As you can see, this is the coffee table in the middle of my living room, where I've been doing all my shoots for Bingo that I've posted thus far. This and a couple of the pics I posted yesterday are with my new camera. I took cyloran's advice, read up a little more, and got a Nikon S52 at a really good sale price at Ritz Camera, and I'm delighted with Ritz Camera right now, because they threw in some great freebies I had no idea about--the best being several free classes on digital photography at times and places I can get to--way cool.

This is a very, basic minimum Bag End set I wanted to throw together for the birthday toast, even though I didn't get back from taking shots in DC until 7:30 and had to eat supper. These are some of the props I collected over the last couple of years for my plan to build a Bag End for my 6" action figures--hat box lids, a glass and metal candle stand as the window, little silk flowers, and the bench, plus a bunch of green bath mats. That plan may be scrapped now that the 12" Sideshow dolls have taken over my life and think anything I make should be for them instead. I have been feeling like I can't reveal the Sam doll until he enters the story line and he should be in his box, but he and Bingo doll have other ideas, and use adorableness as an effective weapon. So they get "off the set" time together for now. Same with introducing the Bilbo doll, who is a Toy Biz figure my brother ordered for me for Xmas/Chanukah. I will do some more detailed Bag End sets when it suits story lines later. I'll have to take this set down this week to do some other shots, let alone having the use of my coffee table ever, but for now, Saki thinks it's pretty comfortable.

Comments

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

LOL! 'Off the set' time! Boy, you are so creative! It's so hard to do props for the 12" figures since the standard doll house supplies (at least the ones I've seen) are mostly a smaller scale. I'm glad you got a good deal on the Nikon. How much of a zoom does it have?

ETA: Doh, forgot to mention how beautiful Saki is! (And dredging up literature I read in high school, was she the author of the 'Pillow Book'?) We had Siamese cats when I was growing up.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna have to share those off the set pics. (-; Awww, thank you! Yeah, all the good stuff comes in 6" action figure size (which I thought was marvelous luck with all my 6" hobbits . . . until Sideshow Bingo arrived.)--sigh. But there are things around for the 12" size --you just have to scavenge for them. Since that's standard Barbie doll size, there's always some craftsperson who has marketed pieces of furniture for them--there's just not a concentrated market like there is for standard dollhouse size. I'm blessed with a really good chain of thrift shops around here, and just always have my eye open for little wooden things that could be turned into hobbit furniture and smial fixtures and such.

This Nikon is just a standard 3x zoom. As I understand it (and maybe I'm wrong), the zoom is for shooting distance, and not really relevant to the shooting of small close things, so I felt I didn't need more than standard. What I like with this camera is that the macro mode allows you to get as close as 4 cm. The other big features for me were the size of the LCD screen, and the fact that the telescoping lens is internal--it doesn't go in and out--so that's one less part I can get sand in and ruin (which I think is what happened to my old non-digital Canon Sureshot during Bingo's beach photo shoot.)

We thank you. She's sitting on the ottoman in front of me guarding me right now. Yay--you are also raised by meezers! That makes 3 of us in this corner of LotR fandom --mechtild has also been owned life long by meezers. Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji, though she knew and was a court rival, supposedly, of your author, whom I haven't read yet. Pretty cool that your high school gave you an early modern woman writer to read! Go them!