3d modeling [new doll projects]

I've been on and off working on trying to make a custom head in zbrush. 

I got it in my head that I wanted dolls for my FFXIV version of Aura, Aurelien, who is at this point pretty much his own character who just happens to have a very similar name to Auralion. I shipped him with Varis, so I wanted a Varis as well. 

As Garleans are just OUTRAGEOUSLY tall, I decided on a 75cm body for Varis. I've commissioned a custom head for Varis from an artist I found on Etsy. I gave her his in game model, some reference pics, and the measurements I needed. And she added details and made things appropriate for a bjd body. 

I'm pretty stoked about it! But it'll be a while before the body I've chosen is here, so this will be more of a long term project. 

I'm not sure why I didn't go the same route with Aure. I guess because I didn't have any solid references in 3d and I wasn't confident that I could really get across what I needed to just with my drawings. Most of the facial structure info on him is tucked away in my head. 

So I downloaded Zbrush Core Mini (their free, very limited version of Zbrush) and set to work. 

This was what I came up with in there. I couldn't do certain things like add some nice spheres to help me plot out the eye shape properly, so I decided to get a more proper version when possible. Sold some things and used the proceeds to get the full version of Zbrush Core. (Wasn't quite ready to shell out for full Zbrush just yet) 

So I spent more time on the head, added some proper eye spheres to work around, and this is roughly where I'm at now: 

I need to redo the ears, and I've been putting that off because it's proving to be rather challenging. I've figured out a reasonably good method in blender, but not in Zbrush. I also need to give him teeth so he can do the sexy rabbit dentures face. 

In order to get him the right height compared to Varis, he can probably be around 50cm at max. I've considered just saying 'screw it' and making him larger just to make my life easier in terms of finding a body and not having to worry about him looking wildly out of proportion with everyone else, but I don't know. It's a bit difficult since I don't have a body the right size to test him out on. And I'm not sure my 3d printer will do a good enough job of capturing the details I need. 

A small part of me is also contemplating attempting to sculpt a body for him as well, since finding something that works perfectly for him does not seem possible. I want something lean and very androgynous. A lot of 50cm bodies are either very masculine or very feminine from what I've seen. the body I'm most leaning toward, Dream Valley's 50cm body, is pretty good in that it's not overly masculine. It also appears to have a reasonably good butt (very important). I'm just not sure how the head would work with it proportionally without having it in hand.

I have a new plan for how I might want to fix up the head for printing though. I may see about acquiring a body before I spend too much time on that so I don't have to waste too many prints if I can avoid it. We shall see. 

I'm also planning to attempt to redo regular Auralion's face up today. I wiped it the other day and used windsor and newton brush cleaner for the first time. SO MUCH EASIER than alcohol and a magic eraser. 

I mocked up what I might want his face to look like so that I'll have a reference and I'm not just making things up as I go (which is what I normally do, with very mixed results). 

Here is kind of what I am thinking. But with more gradient on the upper lip so it doesn't look so solid. The mockup looks kind of dumb, but I tested putting on hair and I think it should look pretty okay? Hopefully. Can always try again if it does not.

Custom eyes + Vaith

 Finally got around to redoing Doppelganger's eyes for the 5th? 6th? time. I have no idea what happened this time, but somehow the glittery bits moved around when I went to UV cure the eyes and they ended up mostly covering the pupils... I left them to dry for TWO DAYS. 

Oh well. We're just gonna call it 'good enough' for now. The color is good. The size is good. Who needs pupils? 

In other news, after I think 4ish years, I finally got around to giving my Twigling Elbe head a face up. I'd always planned to make this head into Vaith. I'm not entirely sure if this plan is working yet.

I feel like the overall structure is very much like how I imagine his face looking, but I may have gone a bit too wacky experimental with the face up. I don't know. I have confused feelings about this. I attempted to color match to the body but my efforts were foiled by the excessive amount of stuff I did to the face. Luckily Vaith is fully clothed like a thousand percent of the time, so when I eventually make him an outfit, that won't be much of an issue. 

Aaaand I gave Ezsphrein new eyes. I had gotten him custom eyes before but then when I switched heaads they didn't fit right anymore, so I had him in eyes that fit but were completely wrong and then I completely forgot about it. 

So here he is in some new black sclera eyes I made. I could have taken this picture outdoors and gotten a maybe halfway decent shot, but if I go out the dogs will want to go out (as seen in the first picture of Doppelganger) and then herding them back indoors while holding dolls can be a bit of a pain. 

At some point I should consider getting him a higher quality wig. This one doesn't entirely fit his head. I got it in MSD size like ... years and years and years ago, for my Latidoll Chaim (who was at the time portraying Esphrein). And his head was a lot shorter, so it fit well. Now that he is portrayed by a Souldoll Chiron, it fits but not well. I kind of have to choose between having it reach the right length in the back or the front, so I usually opt for like a middle ground so his hairline recedes on both sides. The style also doesn't work as well this way, so ... at some point. I should really upgrade. A lot of my older wigs are really frizzy and no longer very smooth looking either. 

I should make a list of people who need new wigs so I can start looking into that before I find too many new dolls to acquire. 

New wigs needed: 

1. Orkas
2. Eskilys
3. Ezsphrein
4. Anna
5. Aura (all sizes)  

I think that's it. Should add to the projects page. 

Doppelganger

 I did a partial trade on DoA and ended up with most of the Ringdoll Pan fullset outfit. I thought it would be a good fit for Doppelganger and he hasn't changed clothes in probably 10 years. 

I decided on a whim to try to swap out his eyes because his huuuuuge irises seemed off to me suddenly. I've been experimenting with 3d printing eyes, so I thought I'd make him a new pair. 

The first pair (top) came out with very large pupils and the dome was too low. The second pair (middle) got messed up because I was too impatient. And the third pair (bottom) turned out reasonably okay. But I still probably will go back in and increase the dome height again. I've been scaling it up proportionally but I think I need to make it come to more of a point in the middle. 

But for now, I am too tired to do another pair. So here he is in his new outfit and new eyes. I need to make some sort of lower arm cuffs/warmers to complete the ensemble. That was the only part missing from the outfit (there is also a hat but I'm not sure he can pull it off). 

I still need to finish giving him his scar on his face. Maybe this weekend.

Muse mockup

 

Ignore the odd angle on the hair compared to the face. I just wanted to see if it could work. I do think that this might actually work better than the Saka head, because it will be larger and a bit more mature. I already have a modded Shinydoll Thaasa body I can steal for the head (if I get the head separately). 

I actually just went searching for height comparisons between Shinydoll and Zaoll, only to realize I have access to both in person and had actually answered a request for that comparison myself at one point. XD 

After seeing my own results, I do think ideally I would like the Zaoll body at some point. I'd need to mod it, but almost all of the bodies that all of my iterations of Aura use are modded girl bodies (he's much more soft and androgynous than most male bodies I can find are). 

--

Going to attempt to redo or modify mini Aura's faceup later. I'm a bit intimidated because I have not been having great luck with using the 70% alcohol for faceup wiping, and I cannot find 90% anywhere...

more clothing stuff and a possible new doll project

 I decided to try redoing the robes for mini Aura's outfit. The red felt too overpowering, so I decided I'd try it in white. I have a moderate to severe fascination with brocades, so it is not a solid white (like perhaps it should have been).

He is super not-photogenic right now. I'm hoping the wig and eyelashes help, but I may have to give the face up another go. The outfit is pretty much done though. Except now I'm debating if the collar/tabard needs to be another color to stand out more. Or maybe have a border color. 

I think I also need to stop attempting blonde eyebrows. They just don't photograph well, and poor Aura looks like a ghost. 

I'm really excited for him to get a proper wig, though. I think that will help a lot. 

In other news, I've decided I want dolls for Aurelien (my FFXIV version of Aura, who has developed into his own character) and Varis. In order to get the height difference correct, Varis probably needs to be like 75cm and Aure needs to be like 50cm. 

After searching for a couple days, I mocked up a potential faceup on Souldolls' Saka. 

I'm still debating on if he looks tooooo young. But I think it could work? The other strong contender was Zaoll Muse.

Here is an image of what I have drawn him looking like. ^  

Perhaps I'll test a mock faceup on Muse tomorrow to see if that looks closer. My last resort is making an attempt at modding/sculpting/3d modeling something that is closer to how he looks. That is the route I will likely go for Varis since I have not been able to find something that I feel works right for him.

an attempt at mini Aura's clothes

 I'm pretty bad at getting dolls, giving them a face up and getting them their proper hair and then letting them sit around in half-done clothes for all eternity. I have a few with proper outfits, but they're usually the ones where I was able to find something for sale that matched what I was going for. If I have to make something, there are about 1 of 3 ways it tends to go: 

1) I am too intimidated by the very idea to even get started. 

2) I make an attempt and end up hating it. 

3) I get a couple parts of the outfit done and run out of steam. 

Part of the problem is that I design things that are way beyond my skill level, so when I decided to make clothes for teen Aura, I set about designing something a little more simple. 

It's already a bit of a struggle to sew in 1/3 scale, but I figured it was worth a shot. I actually made patterns for once. I'm really bad about just eyeballing something and winging it with my sewing. 

Anyway, I wasn't careful enough to make muslin prototypes or anything, but I did try to be careful about my measurements and sew slowly. And it's not perfect, but here is what I have so far: 

 And here is a detail shot of the middle part: 

I'll probably redo the collar/tabard part because that part I did not measure and I ended up with some frayed edges because I didn't leave enough seam allowance. Other than that, it came out reasonably well, I think. There were a few parts I had to sew by hand, because they were just too small for me to feel confident doing them on the machine. 

I'm also considering doing the outer robe layer in another color, because I'm not sure about it. But we shall see. Thinking about maybe swapping to a white main robe and red accents. 

It is also a possibility that I'll be happier with this ensemble once he has proper hair. 

I still need to finish the edges on the red robe. I'm not sure if I want some trim on that or not, so I'm leaving it for now. It doesn't seem to be in any rush to fray, so that's good at least. 

Since I actually made a pattern for this, I'll likely do something similar in a different color scheme when I get a body for teen Cail.

Body Mods

It's been a very long time and I've started doing some stuff again. 

Can't recall if I mentioned this but I decided a long long time ago that MyDolling Heeah would be a great teen Aura but they didn't sell the heads separately. And then when they did their discontinuation sale they did sell them separately so I grabbed two so I could make Aura and Cail. 

 I got my skin tones confused and ordered them in a light tan instead of what I thought would be the more translucent resin, so I was a bit frustrated and put them in the head cabinet for years. 

 And then a couple weeks ago I threw one of the heads on my Dollzone Annie's body to test the fit and gave mini Aura a faceup. 

 

I went searching for a body I would like for him and ended up rather impulsively deciding that the Unoa Elder body was what I wanted. So I acquired an Unoa Elder Belia. It's been a long time since I've seen my Unoa Xyle's neck joint so I forgot that they had WACKY necks that don't work like normal bjd necks, so I was struggling for a few days with what to do. 

I wasn't sure I wanted to mod the neck because if this plan didn't work out I'd have messed up the body. And I also didn't want the Belia head to not be able to attach to anything. 

So I spent 3 days or so trying to mod the Heeah head to fit on the Unoa head back. And I FINALLY got the fit just right, only to discover I hadn't mixed my epoxy properly and it was all mushy and just oozed off. 

I wasn't enjoying the process anymore and didn't want to keep trying to make the head fit right when it clearly just did not want to cooperate, so I broke down and decided to do some neck mods after all. I decided to cut the neck off just below the weird flanged part at the top where the Belia head back fits and turn that into an adapter piece for the Belia head to fit on other bodies. And then I cut off the top half of the Dollzone neck to turn that into the new top of the Unoa body's neck. 

This is the Belia head and head back on the Dollzone body. If I decide she will stay on this body long term I will likely epoxy the neck piece in place. I'm still debating. It's an older body and not the most aesthetically appealing to me, but it poses well and is still quite functional. It will largely depend on how much clothing she ends up wearing, I suppose. 

And this is the upper part of the Unoa body with the Dollzone upper neck attached. The epoxy is still hardening, but afterward I will sand it smooth and blush it to match. It is just a little bit longer than I wanted it to be, so the Heeah head sits higher on it than is probably ideal. I'll test the fit with clothes before I do more mod work though, since Aura tends to wear high collars and it might end up being handy that his neck is overly long. 

It seems I never posted this but I started it last week.

Trying to sell things

I started a new job last August and ever since then I haven't had nearly as much time for doll stuff as before. So I'm trying to make myself sell a bunch of things. It's hard because I'm not sure how much is stuff I'm not using because I've been busy and adapting to a new routine and how much is stuff I just don't have any interest in anymore.

I did manage to list a few things for sale. Some of the things I did not manage to list that I think maybe I should were my Unoa Xyle and my Cerisedolls Lyse. I haven't really properly named either of them, given them any sort of story, or done much with them. Have made them clothes but that's about it.

Instead of taking sales pics I somehow just ended up taking silly pictures of Lyse and editing them. Fun times. Not super productive but oh well.

I should make myself choose one of them to keep and list the other (or list enough other comparable items).

New Wig for Aura (test)

I really liked Aura's old wig but unfortunately the colors were not accurate to my mental image of his character. And since I had some spare golden blonde colored yarn lying around from making a wig for Ezreal, I've been toying with the idea of making a new wig for Aura.

Yesterday I decided to go ahead and go for it.

The major downside of not being able to find the right color in the same brand I was using before is that this brand doesn't allow me to make my strands as long. It's an acceptable length but not quite as long as I really wanted. The other down side is that it's not as smooth. It has a little bit more of a frizzy appearance, which isn't bad. It's just not quite as silky smooth and shiny as the old wig was.

But the color is more accurate. And it was either this or start seriously considering making the mixed yellow-blonde and white his canon hair color. Which could have had interesting melodramatic backstory stuff to go along with it, but I just wasn't sure I wanted to go that route.

I had to use the cap from a spritzer bottle dealy and glue strands onto that in order to get Aura's hair even close to long enough in the back. I've considered having him cut his hair shorter in Legion but it's not set in stone yet and  I think I'd still prefer that doll Aura have his traditional hair even if I did go that route.

This is how he looks right now. I do really like the color. I'm still debating on things like the length and less shiny aspect. One thing I definitely do like better is that it looks more finished in the back. No one ever really saw the back of the other wig, but there was a large amount of wig cap showing as well as the seams on the bottom length of hair. That always bugged me and was a large part of my motivation to remake the wig, actually.

face up time continues

I finally gave my Steve/Vince hybridbomination a face up. Which is not all that stellar because my airbrush was being a dick and his head is so small compared to what I'm used to but hey. It's something.

I wanted to take pictures but then he was naked and I own nothing that would fit him so I was going to throw him in the Bane coat I made ages ago but it's for SD size people and it was huuuuuge on him. So I decided to just make a smaller one. Cuz that's the only possible solution right? The temp outfit you're going to use is too big. Don't grab a different one. MAKE a new temporary outfit. So I threw one together and made 900 mistakes along the way but it functions so yay. It's a bit baggy because I'm lazy and don't like actually measuring or making patterns or even rudimentary markings on fabric so I just cut haphazardly in shapes that look right and start sewing.

And here is the result!

As an added bonus, you can see my oh-so-beatiful work area! Hooray!

He needs smaller eyes but I didn't have any. 

Aura gets a new face up and I really need to work on naming.

Let me start by saying I did nothing from my previous to-do post.

Sometimes when life gets into the sub-optimal range, I focus more intently on my 'productive hobbies' as I'll call them. Things like drawing, writing, sewing, customizing bjds, etc. Creative endeavors with lasting results.

Sometimes I dive into fluff hobbies, like MMORPGs or regular RPGs or other games.

And then sometimes I just do nothing even remotely worth talking about for ages on end.

That last one has been me for the better part of the last few months.

The seemingly neverending hunt for a job that is both long-term and pays well keeps me semi-permanently in this annoying mental state where it feels like something is just ever-so-slightly off. Even when things are going well, I can't quite feel settled.

There are lots of things I feel like I should be doing that it just feels so impossible to actually get around to. We're getting to the part where this is relevant to this blog. Bear with me. Or skip ahead. I'll start the relevant stuff with a picture.

Actually, I'll save the other stuff for my personal blog. Let's move along.

After the stuff that didn't get mentioned happened, I decided to shut down my computer for a while and do something productive because it's just way too hot in my room and I thought some time away from the computer would cool things down.

I decided to start by giving Aura a new face up. After drawing a picture of him (or starting to) that I was relatively happy with, I felt like his face up was just a little too subtle. It made him look a bit washed out. I usually avoid redoing anyone with facial mods because color-matching can be a pain and sometimes the paint doesn't dry evenly and I have to start over a zillion times. Fun stuff like that.

But I decided to do it anyway.

I mixed up a color that was just completely wrong at first. It looked purpley and weird. So I started mixing another color and this one came out too yellow. And then another came out way too dark. And so finally I decided to throw down some vague contours with the too-dark color and then do a very transparent layer of light pink over it. A questionable choice for resin-matching but I think it makes him look much more 'alive'.

Anyway did the regular stuff from there. Very out of practice so there were a few places where I went in the wrong direction color-wise, but I was being very subtle with my starting shades while I got back in the swing of things, so it was nothing I couldn't cover up or tone down with a different color.

He now does not match his body at all. But he never really did anyway. Luckily the only part of his body that shows is his hands. Well, feet too but only until I get him proper shoes or make some.

I photoshopped his eyes so they would be visible and then decided "what the heck? I'll just make them glowy too." I had some nice natural lighting and the stupid preview pics on the camera made everything look good and then I get them on the computer and the whole thing is bright orange and ridiculous. And color correcting is murder on eyes that are already barely visible anyway.

This picture gives a vague idea of how his face has changed. Tragically my camera was not cooperating well enough for details so yay grainy mess.

I also made pants for another one of my dudes. Who needs a name. I feel like I have something on the tip of my ... brain(?) but it just won't quite get out there. Sometimes I think I just like creating new characters more than I like fleshing them out...

Conveniently, none of the pictures showing his pants came out! But it's all just black, black, and more black anyway. So you aren't missing much. But I'm happier now. Because before he was wearing the rest of this ensemble with no pants. And it looked completely ridiculous.

I should really go through and sell more things. But I might wait until this WoW kick settles itself out. I'm not even playing the game or anything but all I want to do lately is work on characters from it. Don't want to sell off everything not WoW-related and regret it horribly later.

a list of things to do

Been trying to sell some stuff on DoA that I just don't do anything with anymore. I've somehow accumulated a mess of bodies and heads that aren't seeing any use and that I have no plans for...

Anyway, I'm a sucker for trades so when someone offered me a trade for an old Domuya Flexi-body I couldn't say no. I got some jointed hands and a Little Monica head out of the deal. The hands were mainly what I wanted, but they offered the head to avoid adding any extra funds on their part and I accepted. The head is actually really cute in person. I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with it, but for now it's on a spare body looking pretty cute.

The jointed hands are in a light tan color so my best options for usage were Orkas and Shinozaki. Orkas wears gloves so it felt like a waste, but they fit well on Shino and the color is actually a decent enough match to the tan I dyed him.

It's dark out today so my natural lighting shots actually came out worse than my indoor lighting ones. Lame.

Anyway... I wanted to make a list for myself of things to do.

SO!

Firstly, I need to update my doll list with some new pictures for some people and some first time pictures for others who aren't listed there. I removed some who are no longer with me already.

-Id needs a new photo. He is currently being portrayed by a Dollsbe Raspberry.
-Defliel needs a new photo. He has gotten a new face up since the last one. 
-Statik needs a new photo. He has had mods done and gotten a new face up since the last one.
-Loren needs a new photo and some proper clothes. Has had a complete mold switch since last one.
-all the tinies need profile photos (Aura, Cail, Theo, Liss, Vaith)
-Ezreal needs a profile photo.
-my as-yet-unnamed Unoa Xyle needs a profile photo and new face up.
-my as-yet-unnamed Batchix Dark Elf needs a profile photo and pants.
-my as-yet-unnamed Bishonenhouse Vince/Steve hybrid needs a face up, clothes, and profile photo.
-my Elfdoll Tasha (tentatively named Ellana) needs a profile photo and pants.
-my Cerisedolls Lyse (tentatively named Clarice) needs a profile photo that isn't naked.
-my as-yet-unnamed Soom Amber needs clothing and a profile photo.

And as I mentioned in a previous post, I really need to get around to giving people names and characters.

I live!

I went a little mad with power and set up a domain name and wordpress sites for all my blogs (including this one) but after getting the others formatted the way I wanted I haven't had the energy to get around to working on Mein Kohl 2.0 just yet. So I'll just go ahead and post here for now.

I haven't done a whole lot in recent history. I went through a brief period where I was very tempted to just sell pretty much all but a few especially emotionally significant dolls and just be done with the hobby. I was not in an especially great place emotionally. Also I just haven't really had a proper fandom in ages to inspire me to do things.

But um... despite being really inactive and unmotivated in the hobby, I kept having people wanting to buy things I hadn't bumped in ages. Or do trades.

And then Selly got me to try playing League of Legends. And it was fun to have something new to do that had all kinds of cool character art and I sort of got hooked. In a fit of insanity, I decided to make my Unoa Xyle into one of the characters. But then, as I thought about it, I realized he just didn't have the right expression or posture or anything.

But one of the heads I'd been trying to sell for ages did so I gave it a new face up and a custom wig and after a few days of being unsure if I could get used to the head having a new character, I officially took down my sales thread. I have no pictures of that, sadly. Well I do but they're bad so we're moving on.

I also ended up with another Elfdoll Tasha. I had one years ago and sold it after deciding I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. So this time I thought I'd just avoid the issue I had before (which was that I didn't feel like it was pulling off a feminine enough look) and make the head a boy. Well, I messed up when painting around the eyes and rather than redo the face up, I just did some weird eyeliner stuff and ... long story short, I sat the head on a male body for like... a day maybe and didn't like it. And I tried it on a female body and felt like it fit so much better.

So she got a custom wig (I decided on electric blue for some reason) and I also made her some eyes because I didn't have any in the right size and color.

Right now all she has is an outfit I threw together from spare pieces. I don't have any spare girl clothes really. I need to start naming people and not just making up parts of looks for dolls that are just hanging around. I don't know why I keep doing this. XD

making wigs

I cannot recall if I mentioned my horrifying attempts at making little Theo a mohair wig. But it was horrible and I decided not to make any wigs for tinies again as a result.

And then the other night I decided to give it another shot since I had bought enough for several wigs and it felt like a waste not to use it.

This time I took into account what direction the hair was going when I cut my pieces, and it turned out much better.

I kept meaning to get better pictures of this in the day time and then it never happened so I've given up on waiting to be un-busy while the sun is up and have decided to just go ahead and do the entry before it's old news.

I originally intended this to be for Aura but it came out so fluffy that I just had to try it on Liss and I ended up liking it much better than the previous wig I made her.

So I ended up making Aura a different wig and giving Cail the one Aura was using previously.

Here is another one of my lovely post-sundown photos! I mainly switched their wigs because Aura previously had the wig on the right and it was darker than his skin, but Cail's head is blushed darker to match the body I put him on so if I'd given him the new wig (left) it would have been much paler than his skin. This way they both end up with wigs that are just slightly lighter than their skin, so it's more cohesive since they're twins. Ideally I will one day be able to get another body that matches the default skin tone but for now this will do!

I just need to make little Cail some appropriate clothes, finish Liss' dress, and then get everyone shoes and the little crew will be complete! Big first for me. I never finish any of my doll projects! Or... barely ever. I have a few that I consider completed.

On that note, I should update my projects list because I believe some of my projects are done and some of them are no longer relevant as key elements may have been sold or scrapped.

trying to get back in the swing of things

I haven't really been feeling the bjd hobby for the past few months. Well... I haven't really been into any of my hobbies. Been sort of a job-hunting zombie.

And I've also just been busy.

But the other day I did my first face up in ages. I got a Twigling Eloy a few months back and he's just been sitting there on a spare body (I have a few of those now thanks to some head sales...) being all blank and stuff.

I considered just selling him because I wasn't sure I'd find the motivation to do anything with him, but then I got it in my head that I should give him a face up first to see if that helped.

So I dusted off my face up supplies and set to work.

Here is a terrible picture of him in the obligatory temp wig that half of all newbies wear at some point. My original idea (and like 90% of the reason I ended up buying him) was to have him be an older brother for my Lyse because I felt like they had similar features (particularly in the nose and eyes).

"But Lyse doesn't even have a name yet. What are you doing buying other dolls to be her siblings?" you might ask.

Well, you'd have a fair point and I can't say that I can fault your logic. I'm not sure my head was on right when I made this decision. It might help if I had an idea for a specific look for him. Not sure the fur wig is really doing him any favors. Also he's borrowing Kael's clothes cuz that's the body he's on and I don't currently have a head for Kael.

I should really sell some of the spare bodies though. That would be the smart thing to do.

memes and new stuff!

1. Do you collect anything other than dolls? 
Sort of. I have a bit of a fabric and yarn hoard. I also collected figures for a while but once I got into bjds that sort of tapered off.

2. Why did you start a doll blog?
I like to ramble about things I like. I used to do this on Livejournal but then pretty much everyone I know stopped using LJ and I decided it would be nice to have a set theme to make it easier to look back over what I've done and when. (Rather than browsing through entries on every topic under the sun on LJ)
3. Do you have one particular doll that is the favourite in your collection? 
It's hard to choose just one but I'd have to say my top favorite is probably Auralion.
 
4. Your favourite doll accessory? 
Wigs! (Does that count?) I love hair. It's probably the first thing I notice about just about anyone. I feel like having the right wig on a doll is the most important part of making sure they work for me. Even if the wig is exactly what I want for the character I have in mind, sometimes it just refuses to work with the mold I want and that just ruins the whole thing for me. Sometimes the wig is actually more important than the mold and I will sell it and start over if it won't work with the hair I want.

5. Do you know exactly how many dolls you have in your collection (you don't have to tell the number of course)? 
Not off the top of my head. I used to have close to 40 SDs I think. I've downsized a fair bit but the tinies are starting to take over.

6. Do you play any instruments and if so, what? 
I briefly played piano as a small child. I am trying to teach myself how to play the violin.

7. Where is your most favourite place you've ever been? 
I visited Greece a few years back and it was amazing.

8. What is your most favourite thing about yourself? 
This is a question only a sadist would ask. I guess I'd say my hair.

9. Favourite book or movie? 
This has always been a question I've struggled with. My favorites really change with my moods. I certainly do have particular ones I come back to again and again but it's often more that certain movies or books relax me because I'm so familiar with them.

10. If you could design your own doll, what would it look like? 
It would most likely be an elf. Everything else would really depend on my mood. 


As for the other stuff mentioned in the title: today baby Cail's head arrived and now he and Aura can be proper twins! I must try to give him a face up either tomorrow or sunday. 

Aaaand I did a trade with someone on DoA and their half of the trade arrived today! I now have a Soom Amber from one of those full choice events, so she's in NS with Cuprit hooves. (Though she does still have the long finger hands and the antlers from Amber's fantasy parts) 

 
I got her right before I had to run out to work so I wasn't able to get pics in natural lighting. 

I'm quite happy with her though! Amber was one of those dolls I always really liked the look of, but I was never willing to pay after market prices for her. Not without having a character in mind. But with trades I tend to ask myself two questions: "is this a fair trade?" and "do I want what I'm being offered?"

And whether or not I actually have anything in mind doesn't really come up in my inner dialogue. I figure that the worst case scenario involves me selling whatever I got in the trade. 

I'm really tired and kind of half dozing off between sentences so I think it's time to bring this to a close!  

New Lyric

I just haven't felt the same attachment to some of my dolls for a while and often that happens when I'm not actively in the hobby for a while so I gave it some time to see if it would pass. And for some of them it did but for others I just realized I wasn't really regaining interest.

So I started listing things for sale and considering options for replacing some of them (though others may not end up being replaced. We'll see). Anyway, after seeing someone's posts on tumblr, I fell for Or-doll's Orlando. I considered buying one but the wait time was off-putting so I decided I'd just put that on the back burner.

Well then a couple days later I saw one for sale on DoA for what I felt was a very good price and that eliminated the idea of wait times, so I bought it and decided I was going to make it my new Lyric. He's one of the ones I've been less than completely sold on lately, so I decided to rehome him.

Anyway, I wasn't really feeling it when the new head arrived so I let it sit in the head cabinet for about a week before touching it. Yesterday I finally decided to pull it out and give it a face up.

 I'm still deciding if it's quite working out like I wanted. I've already sold his previous head so there's really no turning back. I like the head. Something just feels slightly off. I think it might perhaps be the eyes or maybe the stronger jawline. Could also be the mouth. I'm so sensitive to the way the corners of mouths look. They have to be pretty much curved completely downward for me to even perceive them as neutral. Otherwise all I can see is a smile.

I suspect he'll grow on me. It's just going to be a bit of an adjustment.

I used to get so worked up about selling things I didn't think I'd ever be able to get back. Lyric's head (a Soom Olivine) and my former Ezsphrein's head (a Latidoll  Chaim) among other things. But I can't think of a single sale I've ever truly regretted and I just didn't see myself getting them new bodies or characters and if I did win the lottery and get them new bodies I didn't see myself doing much with them.

I also got a DBDoll Ronger in a trade recently. I'm about 90% sure I'm going to make him a mini Iltheridas. I haven't given him a face up yet because I haven't decided if he's going to be a living version of Ilthy or his undead self. Vaith is sort of an amalgamation of his living and dead traits so maybe I'll do something similar with mini Iltheridas. I'm sort of hoping inspiration will just strike me and I won't have to really sit down and think hard about it.

Maybe I'll just get out the face up supplies and just go nuts and see what happens. If I hate it I can always try again. I would like to get a feel for what he'd be like all properly put together. He has the most fantastic ears!

tiny sewing projects

I decided to make little Aura some clothes. Only I couldn't find the material I had initially intended to use so I decided to use this scrap of red velvet. I always tell myself "you should draft a pattern and make a mock up" and then I always shoosh myself and say "nah we got this!"

I didn't really think through how I wanted it to attach in the front so the buttons are primarily there to hide the stitching on the snaps. My initial plan was those enclosures like duffle coats have but I thought maybe that was a bit weird for velvet. So snaps happened. somehow. So much more classy, right?

projects and things

My ongoing project lately is shelling cast of Selly's and my WoW characters as tinies. We've talked about things like this before but never really got around to making it happen. But this time it is looking like it actually will.

My Soom Keny is little Vaith, and then I got a Souldoll Frith in a trade to make into Selly's little Theo. She also got another doll from a company called Kids-Sky that I had never heard of before and that one is little Ivalise.

Which brings us to the first topic I wanted to talk about. I've been working on some sort of temporary outfit for little Liss and the first one turned out terrible so I decided to start over. I made decent progress on my new outfit last night and then today I messed up the next part but I think I know how to make it better when I do it again. After work I shall give it another go.

I also bought a couple dolls to be Aura and Cail to finish out the group a little over a month ago but then I saw this listing on DoA for a doll I'd never noticed before. An Aileen Doll Cedric. Apparently the initial release had him with both a cyclops head and an elfy sort of head but i'd only ever seen the cyclops head and wasn't interested. However, the elf head looked perfect for little Aura.

Because I had already gotten another doll to be Aura, I ignored the sales thread for close to two months. Or I tried to. I checked in on it regularly, vaguely hoping that someone else would snatch him up so I would no longer be tempted. Finally, I decided that Aura was too important a character for me to settle for anything less than what I considered perfect for him, so when I sold a head for enough money to buy Cedric I went for it.

He arrived today and he is so perfect for little Aura. He has such uniquely posed hands and his little non-jointed torso makes him sit and stand up so straight, which is wonderful for wee nobility. And his facial features look very much like he could grow up into my adult Aura.

I will be slightly disappointed if this means that he doesn't look enough like my potential Cailath but I will live.

Edit:

little Aura has a face up. I am not yet sure how I feel about it yet.

dressmaking and that's about it

We'll start with the lighthearted stuff.

I felt bad that my Cerisedolls Lyse (who is still sadly nameless because I keep prioritizing other things) was still sitting around in a baggy plaid shirt while other people had gotten custom clothes.

So I threw together a quick dress for her.

 I'm not sure any of these really showcase how the dress looks/functions but they were the ones that came out okay so that's what we're going with for now.

I could not locate much in the way of white fabric so the bottom is sheer. I will make a proper lining for it when I locate my material. I know I have some somewhere. I really wanted to make her something in light blue, but I have no light blue at all. Only dark blue.

It's a bit later than I thought so we'll skip the rambling for now and save it for another time.