I went ahead and bought it anyway. Seeing the head in person may help me figure out if I've done the eye mods correctly since it's hard to figure out based on photos.
I'm still not 100% sure this head will work the way I want it to or even that I like it enough to use for someone else if it doesn't work for Orkas... but here's a progress update anyway.
Last night I finished sanding epoxy and prepping the head for its first face up. I had this really stupid idea that I should wait until after the face up and see if I liked it before carving in eyelids. I don't even begin to know what I was thinking. Under what circumstances would not having eyelids be beneficial? I don't know.
So I gave it a face up. Hated it. My best friend pointed out that the eyelid area (where they SHOULD have been) needed some color or he needed eyelashes or something. So I wiped the head and left it alone for the night. Then today I went and carved in eyelids and decided to do attempt #2.
I can't decide if I just hate this thing because I did the mods poorly. Or because the wig just isn't doing it for me (I tried on a couple other wigs and liked it a lot better...). Or if it's the eyes I constructed for it (I say constructed because I didn't make the irises. I just assembled a base for them). The eyes are very bright. But they were what I had around that would work because regular 12mm eyes had irises that took up almost the whole eye socket.
I went ahead and re-did Avignon's face up because I really want to like her and I've just struggled so much with managing to make her look like her character and look good at the same time. I tried on the first wig I bought for her after redoing her face up and didn't immediately hate it so that's something.
I am considering getting her a mohair wig or something because I just can't find a fiber wig that I'm happy with for her. It's just really hard to find the right color in any kind of wig though. I want something sort of like what she's wearing here but with slightly more red undertones. It kind of photographs like the color I want but in real life it's a more dull brown.
It's been a rather frustrating last few days on the doll front. Still haven't managed to fix Elaria's hair. I'm not sure this wig is even worth the trouble.
Omg I can't even....OF COURSE they have one, magically, after you go through all that trouble!! It's how the world works. You check a million times and nothing, the it materializes after you stop checking after it's too late. I'm happy you got it though. There is that if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteI still can't see the bad in the mod, I think it looks good, in that pic at least. I don't have the same vision of the character however so I totally get if you think it's off. And I can see how the eye-well being off would be a problem (I will swear that my MD Ryu's eyes are off. I can never position them right, and the left is always off.).
I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with some of them! I hate when that happens. It's always a lot of things at once too. This is when I usually give up and do something easy and brainless like redress some of them lol
Or run around screaming.
I really like how Avignon came out. Her faceup is gorgeous and I love the mold - what is she?
I also like Orkas's faceup....he kind of looks real.
Good luck with them! Try not to get too frustrated <3
Yep yep. Of course! It would just be silly for them to have it in stock at a time when it would have saved me money and effort!
DeleteThank you though! I think a lot of it is just that I'm not quite capturing what I want to with the face ups I've attempted. Possibly my obsession with eyebrow arches is undermining my ability to create the expression I want..
I"ve gotten other dolls before where positioning eyes was a nightmare. I'm sorry about your Ryu. That sort of thing always drives me insane and I can never tell if it's just me or if it's the sculpt or if I'm just suddenly losing my ability to put eyes in correctly.
I should do something like that. Or redo more face ups on the ones who are severely out of date. That way there's no possible way I can make it worse. (I say that and then I'll come back in an hour posting about how I managed to drop it off the balcony or something...)
Thank you though! I'm much happier with her than I was before! She's a Souldoll Ignis. :)
I've been trying to be less stressed about the whole situation. XD My best friend says I shouldn't let something that's supposed to make me happy stress me out so much. I've just been a bit hyper-critical of myself lately and have been putting a lot of pressure on myself to have just one thing turn out right.
I am a bit more calm though now that I know that I will be able to verify for certain whether I would be happier with the official open eyed version of the head. I think it was always going to bug me a bit if I didn't know for sure.
Uh, I hear you on the eyebrow arch thing. I have to force myself not to do it these days. Alex has naturally arched eyebrows, everyone else doesn't need them!! But I've done them so many times I just can't stop. And then my default "non-arched" eyebrow is, like, sad or something. There has to be an in-between somewhere I'm missing XD
DeleteEye posistioning has been driving me nuts lately as well. Tweens eyes are especially bad, because for some reason they fall back into his head, so every time I touch him I'm pulling his wig and head off to fix his damn eyes. He has normal glass eyes (the "Alex" eyes almost all my Alexes have), why don't they stay put?! I need to find a better putty alternative I think. I use ticky-tack but I think it's getting crappier or something...
Hum. Maybe you're goal should be "do anything BUT drop the heads off the balcony" and then you'll succeed no matter what! Just stay off the balcony with dolls lol
Srsly.
XD
I actually thought about saying that exact thing, because I also believe that dolls should not bring stress, but happiness. I didn't because I thought it would make me a huge hypocrite to say that when they stress me out sometimes too XD
Blogging about it helps most times though. It's like complaining, but people like to read about it XD I guess they do anyway ^^'
That's actually a big reason why I don't bother with opening eyes. I would usually rather have the original eye shape and I'd be afraid I wouldn't be able to get it, or even something close. I'll keep my fingers crossed that one of the heads will work out for you!
Yes yes. I am quite the same. If I need a non-arched eyebrow I have to specifically remind myself of it and then half the time mid-face up I just kind of end up doing it anyway?? I'll think "well I know it's not technically supposed to be arched but it's just a LITTLE one..." and then I look at it later and regret everything.
DeleteSorry to hear about Tween's eyes! I use ticky-tack a lot as well but certain types seem to hold better than others. The last one I got was not very sticky at all. And the most recent one I got (and just opened a couple days ago) is so sticky I almost broke one of the eyes trying to get it out..
I went with your plan of "do anything but drop the heads off the balcony" and succeeded marvelously in that endeavor! Go me! XD
Well I think it doesn't hurt to get a reminder of that sometimes. I can be a bit prone to forgetting that it's okay to just enjoy things sometimes! And yes, blogging about it is a great way to vent in a slightly more productive and enjoyable way!
Me too on the eye front. If I had realized I'd be able to get the open eyed version if I just waited a little longer I would have gone for that. Though... what I have is starting to grow on me. Of course, right after I manage to snag the head I originally wanted. I think my brain just likes to be difficult.