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.

sweater!

I haven't gotten any good pictures of the newly assembled body/head combo in the previous posts. I don't have any proper clothes for her yet so she's just wearing this black coat that obscures any sense of figure for the most part so it really doesn't look any different at the moment from the original pictures.

However, my Unoa Xyle (mentioned two posts ago) arrived and I set about giving him a face up and making him some properly fitting clothes.

I was doing such a good job of avoiding oddly sized dolls despite multiple temptations in the 51cm range. Alas, Unoas are my weakness.

Here he is in his new sweater. I need to see about styling his wig so it doesn't cover half his face. Or making him another wig. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with him yet. But I did make myself sell some things to make up for my impulse buy and I've decided I cannot get any new dolls until all of the ones I currently own have clothes and names.

mods, cont...

A couple days ago I finally decided to do some additive work on the mod project. And then I let it sit a while longer because I used the cheap epoxy (I wasn't sure I wanted to waste a bunch of the good stuff on something that not only might not be permanent but also might end up a horrible abomination).

Well anyway between the cheap epoxy which doesn't match the body at all and the horrific uneven mess that was my dremel work I just wasn't sure this was going anywhere.

But I finally decided to do some sanding work and here are some pictures of the results:

So here you can see what I meant about the epoxy not matching the body at all. The sanding job is not at all perfect but I felt it was good enough for the time being. I wanted to paint over it and do a trial run with the head to see how things were coming along. Also the heat was brutal and I was dying. 

So at this point I took the body over to the airbrushing and face up station and made a rough attempt at color matching.

Behold the truly horrendous fruits of my labor! I felt like it looked better prior to the paint job when I saw how these pictures turned out but as it sits here on my desk with a fan blowing on it to dry the paint, I'm less distressed. I think it was just the sub par lighting combined with the paint still being all shiny making it look terrible.

As soon as I'm sure the paint is dry I am going to give it a few coats of sealant and try the head with it and see how things look.