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I would actually wear [most of] this.

I would actually wear [most of] this. published on No Comments on I would actually wear [most of] this.

Digital me returns, now upgraded to a Genesis base.

Head is from is Daz3D’s Victoria 4.2 base, with V4 Morphs ++. Head morphs are from V4 Morphs ++ and Capsces’ Morphia. Skin texture is rebelmommy and shellyw’s RBSD V4 MerchantBase. Hair is freebie Boy Hair for V4 by 3Dream. 

Body is Daz’ freebie Genesis base figure, shaped with basic included morphs, as well as Jabba’s freebie Pinup Girl and freebie Junk in the Trunk, some of DieTrying’s 182 freebie morphs ported from V4, a few of RAMWolff’s copious freebie Genesis morph package, all topped off with some manual scaling of body parts by me. Skin texture is rebelmommy and shellyw’s RBSD V4 MerchantBase. 

From top to bottom, the outfit consists of Eden Evergreen’s freebie Tie-on Fantasy Sleeves for Genesis, Richabri’s freebie V4 Corset [the red bodice], the corset from SickleYield’s freebie Impractical Rogue [the black cincher], the short shorts from Daz’ Magus and dx30’s Thick Sole Boots 3. Background by propschick. Pose from Schlabber and cascarda’s eXpression for V3.

I would wear this all [and fuckin’ ROCK it! :p], except for the shoes, in which I would turn my ankles and fall over. High heels and I have never gotten along, which is why they go on digital me and not actual me.
Continue reading I would actually wear [most of] this.

50 Shades of Infelicity of Style

50 Shades of Infelicity of Style published on No Comments on 50 Shades of Infelicity of Style

Hey, kids! I’ve progressed up to chapter 5, so I have a significant commentary to write on the pages I have spanned since my last rant. However, I do not have time for full-length vituperation, so I will just make a single comment: E.L. James needs to find another way of describing things besides the "it’s all x, y and z" model. Here’s a random example on page 56, where Ana is observing her so-called "friend" Kate’s outfit:

"She’s all tiny camisole, tight jeans and high heels, her hair piled high with tendrils hanging softly down around her face, her usual stunning self."

I have no intrinsic problem with this phrase; in fact, I like to use it myself on occasion because it gives a sense of a person fascinated by the details and yet also overwhelmed by the overall effect of something. But I only use it on occasion. James, on the other hand, finds a phrase she likes [q.v. "fair point well made"], beats it till it dies, waits till it resurrects as a zombie, then beats it to death again. I repeatedly felt impelled to throw the book across the room, but then I realized I was on a bus, and none of the other passengers would appreciate being bombed with a bomb of a book.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1622097.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Jareth in drag

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Here’s digital Jareth in drag — that is to say, an outfit that is very far from what he regularly wears. His hair’s usually down, so now it’s up. He usually wears short, informal, fetishy stuff, so here he is in something rectilinear and formal. He usually goes femmey, so here he is butching it up.

Jareth’s head is a Daz Michael 3 base with a combination of M3 head/body morphs and Capsces’ Brom head/body morphs. Skin texture base and most of the make-up is from kaiZ’s V3 Beauty Kit, with eyeliner elements from etomchek and PureEnergy’s Stardust. Hair is Mylochka’s freebie Palamas.

His body is the Daz Genesis base. Body shape is a combination of basic Genesis morphs, including Standard Male, Thin and WaistWidth, as well as DieTrying’s BackUndefine and BladeboneDefine morphs from his 182 morphs for V4 [converted by SickleYield for Genesis]. Jabba’s Junk in the Trunk morph rounds things out [har har]. Genesis base and all morphs mentioned are free downloads!

Jareth is wearing Slosh’s SPEX for Genesis, as well as Wilmap’s Pinstripe Suit for Genesis [shirt, tie, jacket and pants] and her Genesis Buckle Heeled Boots. Spex aren’t free, but the clothes and boots are. Not visible under his clothes are the ball joints and the corresponding limb morphs from SickleYield and Fuseling’s Ball Joint Doll for Genesis package.

Pose is from Schlabber and cascarda’s eXpression for V3 pose pack, and the background is a png I made myself.

And, now that I’ve catalogued all the sources of the elements of this picture, I’m exhausted. :p

Continue reading Jareth in drag

All Genesis, all the time!

All Genesis, all the time! published on No Comments on All Genesis, all the time!

I moved my digital me and my digital Jareth over to Genesis base figures [basically by making only their heads visible and parenting each original figure to the Genesis base] because I wanted to use Ball Joint Doll for Genesis’ conforming ball joints to make digital versions of doll likenesses.

Jareth: "For God’s sake, why are you making dolls you can’t touch? I’m right here! You made me in Daz Studio and then had me actualized in resin precisely so you could play with me. So why are you reverting to intangible representations?"

Me: "The digital models have more clothes than you do."

Jareth: "Is that sooooo? Let me see."

Me: "STEP AWAY FROM THE LAPTOP. I don’t need you pestering me for more expensive commissions."

While purchasing the aforesaid digital BJD parts yesterday, I also dug around online and found a crapload [that’s the technical term] of absolutely free Genesis clothing. Wilmap has a beautiful and ever-growing wardrobe of clothes for the figures, most of which are modern and generically historical, pertinent to Western history back to about the 1780s. Lots of high heels too, which Genesis apparently has a tragic lack of. Over on the silly side of things, Ghastly has a comprehensive array of skimpy/fetishy/costumey stuff. I must say — the man is a genius at modeling ruffles.

On the same site [sharecg.com], I also dug up a lot of free morphs for the figure. DieTrying did 184 morphs for V4, and SickleYield has converted them to Genesis. RAMWolff also has a bunch of free morphs for Genesis all nicely packaged. Anyway, the sheer volume of free morphs available for Genesis motivates me to possibly attempt to convert my likeness morphs over to that figure base…possibly…when I have some free time in between all the other projects I have running.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1621605.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

*plotz*

*plotz* published on No Comments on *plotz*

 So apparently the latest version of Daz, which I have on my computer, does what Wardrobe Wizard does, but on a more limited scale — it has a plugin, Autofit, that automatically fits clothes from Victoria 4 and other figures in the same generation to the Genesis and Genesis 2 figures. This reduces immeasurably the time I need to spend on clothing conversions.

Before I discovered Autofit, this is what I was [not] looking forward to:

  1. Go out of Daz, my preferred program, and into Poser [not my preferred program].
  2. Load model [either V4 Morphia for digital me or M3 Brom for digital Jareth].
  3. Open Wardrobe Wizard and analyze morphs on source figure. Wait a while. Save morphs. Close source figure.
  4. Open clothing to be converted. Add source figure morphs to conversion. Wait a while.
  5. Tinker with the fit in Poser, especially the joint parameters.
  6. Go back into Daz for final fitting, posing and futzing.

Morph analyses of the source figures need to be performed only once in Wardrobe Wizard, but the last three steps listed need to be done for every article of clothing per source figure. For example, if I have a corset that I want to use on both digital me and digital Jareth, I need to run two conversions on it, ending up with two separate instances and a whole bunch of large, associated files. No thanks.

Now, with Autofit in the mix, my workflow looks like this:

  1. Preserve custom head morphs the lazy way [make only head and eyes of custom figure visible and parent custom figure to Genesis’ head]. Make Genesis’ head and children invisible, of course!
  2. Use built-in Genesis body morphs [and DieTrying’s free ones] to approximate in Genesis original body shapes of custom characters.
  3. Approximately match textures of Genesis body with custom head [mostly a challenge for digital Jareth, whose Brom M3 UVs do not play well at all with UVs from any more recent generation].
  4. Going over to Poser, use Wardrobe Wizard to convert any pre-V4 content to V4. [No morph analyses or transfers needed, just a simple conversion and some post-conversion futzing in Poser.]
  5. Returning to Daz, load desired Genesis character and desired converted pre-V4 content. Let Autofit do the rest.

I save a heck of a lot of time by not transferring custom shaping morphs to the clothes and also by not creating separate instances of each conversion for each new model I want to fit it to. Saves hard disk space too.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1621269.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Reconceptualizing the Library of Intellectum’s book wyrm

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 The book wyrm’s original appearance was that of Daz3D’s Eastern Dragon, which was offered for free a few years ago. I used this figure out of my available draconic options because its long, snaky form evoked the wyrminess I wanted in my book wyrm — plus I found it more aesthetically pleasing than the others. That said, I recognize that it would be cultural appropriation to insert a Chinese dragon in a story where it would have no context, so the book wyrm will no longer be a Chinese dragon. 

Instead, there are many options for more European dragons in wired and felted versions on Etsy. This stuffed felt dragon, made by TheUselessCupboard, for example, is adorably pissy. I like the long serpentine body and the slim clawed legs, though I would ask for a wire armature, delete the wings and make the eyes half-closed.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1621245.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

I NEED A BALL-JOINTED DRAGON!

I NEED A BALL-JOINTED DRAGON! published on No Comments on I NEED A BALL-JOINTED DRAGON!

It curls up in your hand! Just like a kitty cat! Cuarto, another genius Russian BJD artist from the same country that gave the world Muggins and friends, has put out Darkhorn, a BJD [Ball-Jointed Dragon]. White dragons are $300.00 + s/h, while colored dragons are $400.00. They are adorable!

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1620746.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Heyyyyyy!

Heyyyyyy! published on No Comments on Heyyyyyy!

Xandy shipped! [That’s the Playtoy Purple Girl, a very obvious unlicensed reproduction of Chloe Moretz from Hit Girl 2.] She should be here by the end of the week! 

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1620671.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Graveyard elements: plaster pedestals

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Ooooh, I think that the graveyard in Zombieville could use some plaster pedestals to suggest mausoleums! Here is a nice plain pillar, needing only some weathering, for $29.99. This Ionic one, at $14.99, is a bit cheaper, though. And here’s a Roman one for the same price. But maybe this column wall mirror would work [$19.99] too.

I’m a big fan of this curved Roman capital bench too…perfect for contemplating my grieving angel statue…

Perhaps I could get away not with some columns, but with some silly cherub statue from this category, as long as it looks suitably depressed.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1620473.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Intellectum on my mind

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Since I’ve been dinking around with Daz recently, my thoughts turn to one of my most cherished digital projects, the Library of Intellectum. This was a fantastical library that I created in August, 2010, full of book wyrms, ghosts, ILL teleports, librarians with brains jacked into the catalog, etc., etc. I developed a core cast, as well as some key settings, but never started tying things together with a story. Nevertheless, I have periodically thought about which 1:6 scale dolls would embody which characters and also how I would make the sets. Recently I’ve updated those thoughts [last draft was in 2011]…

Our protagonist was originally a library assistant, but now I’m thinking that she’s a library volunteer [like me!]. That would give her much more of an excuse to wander, poke, get lost and go on tangents. I’m still hung up on the idea of getting a Dollmore Melissa Hon for her, although I don’t know how I’d do that, as I can’t support them as a cheatin’ BJD co.

The head librarian, originally the protagonist’s ultimate supervisor, was, in last iteration, a Lumedoll Lucas head on a masectomized Lumedoll female body. Now I’m thinking of an Obitsu Slender Male body and any old female action figure head — because I can mod it with Sculpey.

The special collections assistant, the protagonist’s friend, remains a Lumedoll Koit — with eyes modded to be larger.

The ghost, another of the protagonist’s friends, remains an Elfdoll Doona Ryung head, but now on an Alchemic Lab Unoa Light Azurite body.

The book wyrm is still a felted Chinese dragon with wire inside for posing.

Scanty Sophie is [given the unavailability of silver Takara Cy Girls] any old female action figure spray painted silver.

The "little fucker" is [given the unavailability of DreamHigh Squee] whatever goblinish limited edition BJD from DreamHigh I can get my hands on at that point. 

The doll is a Takara MicroLady Material Force figure in white with microscopically painted features.

Sets have changed a bit too:

Stacks are still bookshelves facing each other, making a corridor. I’m thinking at least four bamboo silverware drawer dividers would make good shelves, two to a corridor side.

Any places needing pillars can be provided with some from the wedding cake supply section of the craft store. Resin columns are also available in craft stores and the like as planter stands or just decorative elements.

EDIT: I just discovered that battery-powered tabletop fountains can be had for under $25.00. Thus I think that the Pierian Spring should be played by one with a simple design.

EDIT 2: I have decided that the reading tables in the stacks are lit by miniature lava lamps — USB power optional — and little articulated lamps [available under "Tiny Tim book light" search terms].


This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1619994.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Little cat furniture for 1:6 scale BJCs [= Muggins!]

Little cat furniture for 1:6 scale BJCs [= Muggins!] published on No Comments on Little cat furniture for 1:6 scale BJCs [= Muggins!]

Look at this beautiful small-scale cat furniture created by an owner of an Evethecat BJC. It’s accurately constructed and appropriately scaled, and the BJC appears to be having fun with it. Clearly Muggins needs at least a scratching post….

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1619516.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

I’ll take this in 1:3 scale please.

I’ll take this in 1:3 scale please. published on No Comments on I’ll take this in 1:3 scale please.

The outfit, not the dude, as much as I think he’s hot. My Jareth doll would rock these duds.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1619296.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

50 Shades of Bilge: part deux

50 Shades of Bilge: part deux published on No Comments on 50 Shades of Bilge: part deux

All right, individuals, it’s time for another installment in 50 Shades of Meh!

When we last left off, I was on page 11. Let’s see how far I get today…

P. 12: "You sound like the ultimate consumer."

Anna makes this observation after a string of control freaky observations on Christian’s part. I think she’s onto something here.

Christian is an extremely materialist individual who wishes to possess the newest, latest, most expensive objects. He also believes that he can possess people by controlling their finances, as he does with his ex-domme [owning a stake in her salon chain] and ex-sub [bankrolling her therapy]. If he can’t control people financially, he attempts to create bonds of obligation between them and him with extravagant gifts — he gives Ana first editions of Tess of the d’Urbervilles, as well as a phone, a computer, a few cars, etc., etc.

Do we notice a pattern here? Christian substitutes economic transactions for emotional intimacy. Everything has a price, and he’s willing to pay it to create attachments between him and other people. He really doesn’t know about the giving and receiving of oneself that forms a non-obligatory, mutually enjoyable, emotionally based relationship.

In other words, this interview that Ana’s conducting gives Christian opportunity after opportunity to advertise his complete unsuitability as a romantic partner. But who cares? He’s hot!

P. 13: "’Are you gay, Mr. Grey?’ … How can I tell him I’m just reading the questions? Damn Kate and her curiosity!"

Again, Ana — you chose to ask this question. Kate did not force you. You are not being impelled by forces outside of your control, but by your own damn self. Stop  having an external locus of control.

…Okay, I got up to page 19.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1618947.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Digital me

Digital me published on No Comments on Digital me

Here’s my digital model of me.

Sources: Base figure is Daz3D’s Victoria 4.2 base, with V4 Morphs ++. Head morphs are from V4 Morphs ++ and Capsces’ Morphia. Skin texture is rebelmommy and shellyw’s RBSD V4 MerchantBase. Hair is Boy Hair for V4 by 3Dream. Outfit is Daz3D and Lourdes’ Shadow Dancer for V4 with custom D-forms by me to make the shirt and pants fit a bit better. Shirt texture is a seamless tile freebie from nikitanights’ Sequence Sparkle Texture Tiles. Gaiter and leg wrap textures are freebies from RachealMarie’s 80 Seamless Cloth Tiles. Collar is from MAB and WillDupre’s Cat Girl for A4/V4. Pose is one of V4’s defaults, tweaked slightly by me. Background is by propschick.

Continue reading Digital me

Yes! Wardrobe Wizard 2 is back!

Yes! Wardrobe Wizard 2 is back! published on No Comments on Yes! Wardrobe Wizard 2 is back!

I just resuscitated my downloads of Wardrobe Wizard 2 and the various expansion packs I bought in January, 2008. Jareth can finally get some fabulous dresses and platform stilettos… 😀 😀

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1618500.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Puritan virtue names do not fare well these days.

Puritan virtue names do not fare well these days. published on No Comments on Puritan virtue names do not fare well these days.

The Puritans used to bestow upon their daughters nouns and verbs for names in the hopes that their children would embody these traits. Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence and Chastity are a few of these virtue names that have survived to the modern era. Others of them have died out, including Obedience, Abstinence, Humiliation…and Submit.

The only reason that I’m familiar with Submit as a name is that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother on my dad’s side was named Submit. I’ve always thought that was really cool, so I named one of my dolls Submit. This sometimes leads to confusion when my other dolls are surfing the Web….

Continue reading Puritan virtue names do not fare well these days.

Really sarcastic dolls continue Valentine’s Day adventures.

Really sarcastic dolls continue Valentine’s Day adventures. published on No Comments on Really sarcastic dolls continue Valentine’s Day adventures.

This time it’s Jareth and Submit [with me talking off-screen in the first panel]. They’re so cute together!

Continue reading Really sarcastic dolls continue Valentine’s Day adventures.

Slightly updated digital Jareth

Slightly updated digital Jareth published on No Comments on Slightly updated digital Jareth

Changes from last render, in no particular order:

  • Different glasses, actually cat’s-eye this time
  • Added custom morph for bulge in pants [I made it with a D-Form/magnet]
  • Added collar
  • Added boots
  • Made hair lie more realistically

The collar should just be plain leather with a padlock, and the boots should have exceptionally high heels and platforms. [I’m waiting to see if I can resuscitate my clothing conversion utilities to make him appropriate outfits.] But I guess you can’t always get what you want…

Sources: Jareth is a Daz Michael 3 base with a combination of M3 head/body morphs and Capsces’ Brom head/body morphs [and a morph for the pants bulge that I did myself]. Skin texture base and most of the make-up is from kaiZ’s V3 Beauty Kit, with eyeliner elements from etomchek and PureEnergy’s Stardust. Second skin outfit is generated from zew3D’s Clother for V3, specifically Naughty Pack 2 [harnesses], Casual Pack 4 [jeans] and Casuals Pack 3 [camisole]. Boots are from Uzilite’s Sade. Hair is Daz/AprilYSH’s Amarseda. Glasses are Slosh’s SPEX for Genesis. Collar is a freebie from 3-d-c. Background is a freebie by propschick. Poses is one of Victoria 4’s defaults, tweaked slightly by me.

Continue reading Slightly updated digital Jareth

List of therianthropes that are forbidden from the house

List of therianthropes that are forbidden from the house published on No Comments on List of therianthropes that are forbidden from the house

As I may have mentioned earlier, certain types of therianthropic dolls are not allowed in the house. Janna has an aversion to some animals, and I do not want to upset her with hybrids containing features of these non-human animals. The list of prohibited creatures is as follows:

  • arachnids [both spiders and scorpions]
  • snakes
  • insects

Of all the off-limits animals, I most regret the absence of arachnid therianthropes amongst my small populations. Soom has a scorpion therianthrope, Vesuvia, with a lovely pointy and pouty face, platform stiletto heels with stingers and articulated scorpion tail. I’ve also previously lusted after Doll Chateau’s recent release, Elizabeth, a spider girl. But these are not to be.

That said, all other therianthropic dolls are welcome. I even checked with Janna to see if my latest concept for Tonsil Hockey Part Two, the Medusa raver girl, would be objectionably snaky. She said that snakes on a doll’s head do not bother her as much as a doll with the lower half of a snake. So…assuming I have the funds next week after my pay check, I hope to purchase Tonsil Hockey The Sequel and work her up into my kinky snaky raver.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1617638.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Things I have to do before I start shooting Zombieville

Things I have to do before I start shooting Zombieville published on No Comments on Things I have to do before I start shooting Zombieville

 In order of priority, according to when they appear in the story, they are:

1. Cemetery

  • weather angel
  • weather stones

2. Muggins

  • string
  • wire
  • faceup

3. Doctor Z

  • remove hair
  • remove paint
  • resculpt
  • repaint
  • style hair
  • body

Muggins ain’t here for another 1.5 months, so that leaves me with the cemetery and Doctor Z. Weathering the plastic gravestones requires warm weather in which to coat them with primer, so that’s out. My angel, though, is made of resin, meaning that she would probably respond very well to acrylic paint and chalk pastel without primer. [Anything to get rid of her current jaundiced hue.] I can therefore get started on her. And poor Doctor Z just needs a complete revamp…

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1617196.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Reconceptualizing Tonsil Hockey Part Two

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I have come to the conclusion that it would be a trespass of cultural appropriation to make an IOS Infernale/Angelsdoll massive girl body hybrid into a manananggal just because I think it’s cool. So no Cory in resin for me.

That said, I’m still very keen on Tonsil Hockey Two. I might recycle my Medusa raver concept for her and throw in an excessive amount of piercings and a ball gag. Neon fetishy Medusa raver…

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1616835.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Ringdoll US BJD meetups

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Just learned today from DOA/Facebook that Ringdoll is planning a series of sponsored meetups across the US in celebration of its 5th anniversary. First one’s in Los Angeles [bleh!], but a future one might be in Edison, NJ, which is just outside of New York City and therefore eminently accessible by plane. I really hope that one of the meetups comes to some city nearby — I’m sure I can scrounge the cash for a quick jaunt.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1616511.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Merry-go-round mecha mannequin

Merry-go-round mecha mannequin published on No Comments on Merry-go-round mecha mannequin

This digital dress and prop combo for V4, Amusement, just gave me the best idea for a doll. I would love to make a 1:6 scale ‘bash of a mannequin with a merry-go-round for her skirt. I could use a Harumika mannequin head [or any head really, spray painted white] and a Spin Master Liv Doll mannequin for the body. She could have Harlequin make-up and a tail coat and top hat like a ringmaster, with a huge balloon skirt in alternating panels of, say, red and gold to connote a circus. The only challenge is to find a miniature merry-go-round  that actually goes ’round. Bonus if it plays music…

Maybe Isabel needs a merry-go-round mecha mannequin in her house?

EDIT: Well, apparently, merry-go-round music box ornaments are a thing…and they’re the perfect size!

 

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1616137.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

50 Shades of Bilge: the redux

50 Shades of Bilge: the redux published on No Comments on 50 Shades of Bilge: the redux

Gather ’round, folks. I couldn’t wait for my own copy of 50 Shades to materialize, so I borrowed one from the library. I’m working my way through from the beginning, commenting on whatever catches my eye, until I become bored.

P. 3: "Damn my hair — it just won’t behave, and damn Katherine Kavanaugh for being ill and subjecting me to this ordeal."

Look, readers — it’s our first glimpse of our endearing Everywoman protagonist, and what’s she doing? Whingeing about her appearance and cursing her so-called best friend for having the temerity — the utter chutzpah! — to come down with a cold. Though Ana insists that she feels sympathy for Kate, she cusses her out an awful lot in the first few pages.

Ana, you stinkin’ pushover — it’s not Kate’s fault that you blew off your senior finals and essays to do a favor for her — i.e., interviewing Christian Grey. It’s your own dang fault for having all the gumption of a doormat. Try developing some assertiveness and the skills of saying no effectively. Establishing and maintaining personal limits and boundaries proves essential in all relationships, whether with so-called friends, family or BDSM play partners.

P. 5: "It’s a stunning vista, and I’m momentarily paralyzed by the view. Wow." 

The first of many examples in which Ana’s interior monologue adds nothing whatsoever to her narration.

P. 6: "I know nothing about the man I’m about to interview. He could be ninety or he could be thirty. The uncertainty is galling, and my nerves resurface, making me fidget."

Christian bankrolls Ana’s university, but she doesn’t even know that he’s in her age bracket?! Wouldn’t news of him being not only rich, but also young and handsome, travel generally around the campus? ["Yeah, that CEO — you know, the one who’s like 27 and looks like a movie star — he just endowed another building. I’d like to see his endowments, if you know what I mean, nudge nudge, wink wink."] Ana’s so completely clueless that it hurts.

P. 7: "I push open the door and stumble through, tripping over my own feet and falling headfirst into the office. Double crap — me and my two left feet!"

Seriously — who says "double crap?" Who?!

P. 11: "Well, to ‘chill out,’ as you put it — I sail, I fly, I indulge in various physical pursuits. … I’m a very wealthy man, Miss Steele, and I have expensive and absorbing hobbies."

Whoop de doo, Christian. You do realize that you’ve just said the equivalent of, ‘I like to do things when I’m not at work. Some of the things involve vehicles, and some of them don’t. All of them cost money and take up time’? In other words, you took a whole bunch of breath to say nothing.

Okay, that’s enough for tonight. I’m going to work on something more entertaining.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1615953.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

glitteryshittest4.jpg

glitteryshittest4.jpg published on No Comments on glitteryshittest4.jpg

I have really creative file names, as you can tell.

Remember how I said I was working with Daz for makeup concepts, among other things? Well, I’ve accomplished some Daz kinky stuff already, and the therianthropes are in the offing. Most recently I subdued Daz successfully enough to force it to yield the first of many representations of Jareth’s makeup, creatively entitled glitteryshittest4.jpg. Behold! This is the sort of stuff he actually wears in my head, but the doll doesn’t because I wanted to paint the doll with something simple that I stood a chance of executing well. There should be more blush, more eyeliner all around, heavy mascara, possibly some lip liner and definitely some saucer-size chandelier hoop earrings [!!!], but I’m not there yet.

Continue reading glitteryshittest4.jpg

Sleepy Hollow throws all its balls in the air…

Sleepy Hollow throws all its balls in the air… published on No Comments on Sleepy Hollow throws all its balls in the air…

…and goes, "Hah hah, see ya ’round, suckaaaaaaaahs!" C’est a dire que, at the end of the 1.5-hour season finale, the arrangement looks something like this:

  • Abby’s in purgatory.
  • Ichabod’s in a coffin.
  • Katrina’s in the Headless Horseman’s possession.
  • Irving’s in police custody.
  • Jenny’s in a car wreck.
  • Andy’s in the remains of Washington’s real tomb.
  • The Horseman of War is in the world.
  • Mick Jagger is in the last 50 seconds of the episode. 

And we have resolved precisely nothing while setting up the second season in a most tantalizing fashion.

This show has really grown on me since the first episode or two. It has the escalating weirdness of Haven, in which the supernatural freakery surrounding a single town ends up piling deeper and threatening the very fabric of reality. But it’s much better than Haven because Abby has a family in the form of Jenny and female allies in the form of Jenny and Katrina as well. It’s also playfully self-aware and silly, which makes it more enjoyable to watch.

Regarding the presence of Mick Jagger in the tail end of the ep, I refer of course to a clip from Sympathy for the Devil, which has always been one of my favorite songs. I personally have memorized the damn thing in several different versions and let it strongly inflect my narrative imagination, so, because of my unreasoning affection for it, it looms large in my consciousness. I always knew that, as an iconic tune by the Stones, it has also infiltrated the popular consciousness to a certain degree. However, I didn’t realize how widely known it was until Sleepy Hollow closed out the last ep of season 1 with the first two lines from the song:

Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste

Though there’s nothing in them to suggest that a diabolical autobiography ensues, these lines, of course, introduce a first-person retrospective by the Devil on all the chaos and cruelty he has caused throughout history. The showrunners thus depend on the viewers’ familiarity with the song to make the connection between it and Sleepy Hollow, a TV show about protagonists trying to prevent Hell on Earth. I never knew that Sympathy for the Devil was such a part of modern ambient cultural knowledge that two lines from it — neither of which mention sympathy or the Devil — would be sufficient to evoke a realm of gloating catastrophe perfect for the cliffhanger end of Sleepy Hollow.

In other news, Mick Jagger claims that Sympathy for Devil has its origins partly in the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, who is apparently leaving his fingerprints all over my life. Wikipedia, the infallible source of all, says:

In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger said, "I think that was taken from an old idea of Baudelaire’s, I think, but I could be wrong. Sometimes when I look at my Baudelaire books, I can’t see it in there. But it was an idea I got from French writing. And I just took a couple of lines and expanded on it. I wrote it as sort of like a Bob Dylan song."

Maybe he’s thinking of Les Litanies de Satan?


This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1615598.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Parce que je suis masochiste, je l’ai acheté encore une fois.

Parce que je suis masochiste, je l’ai acheté encore une fois. published on No Comments on Parce que je suis masochiste, je l’ai acheté encore une fois.

The subject is, of course, French for "Because I am a masochist, I bought it yet again." "It," of course, is the shit heap known as 50 Shades of Grey, which I read about 1.5 years ago and made the mistake of donating to the library when I was done. I don’t regret donating it to the library as much as I regret letting it out of my possession. It’s now returning to my personal library to hang out with Warrior’s Woman, which I assume will just point, laugh and mock 50 Shades mercilessly for being such a repository of incompetence. [One of these days I need to write an essay about Warrior’s Woman and its influence on my narrative imagination.]

As soon as 50 Shades comes, analysis, sarcasm, incredulity and other fun stuff will no doubt ensue. Watch this space! I also foresee some photostories involving my eminently sardonic dolls [Submit: "What’s this about?" / Jareth: "Pain. Acute, chronic, unremitting, agonizing pain. Give me that."] and possibly a book smackdown or two. [50 Shades goes up against a variety of rivals and gets trounced.]

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1615197.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Araminthe tries on Jareth’s boots.

Araminthe tries on Jareth’s boots. published on No Comments on Araminthe tries on Jareth’s boots.

They’re actually thigh-high on her, while they reach only over his knees, much to my eternal disappointment. :'( Araminthe looks rather uncomfortable in footwear that doesn’t conform to her usual style.
Continue reading Araminthe tries on Jareth’s boots.

Legs and no legs?!

Legs and no legs?! published on No Comments on Legs and no legs?!

I’ve been thinking… Perhaps it would be possible to mod Cory so that she has both her daytime form and her nighttime form. Her daytime form would be her with a full body, her hummingbird tongues and her bat wings. Her nighttime form would be her detached at the lower torso with exposed viscera. The Angelsdoll body I have has a torso joint just above the waist, so it would be very easy to detach her at that point — I’d just have to worry about keeping her head on in nighttime form. As a bonus, she would have legs for her hardcore outfit!

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1614527.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Hardcore mananaggal?

Hardcore mananaggal? published on No Comments on Hardcore mananaggal?

I’m not sure if my original concept for Cory — someone with lots of piercings and predilection for fetishwear — will translate over to 1:3 scale successfully.  I keep thinking of silly outfits that require legs to wear — legs that Cory would not have.

That said, I found this completely hilarious bustier with collar and wrist cuffs on the Iplehouse site. It would definitely work for her! It even stops at about where her torso is supposed to end.

In other news, I think I might be able to make a really simple ball gag out of a squeezy ball and a strap.

EDIT: This lingerie set with a corset top is also nice.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1613870.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Latest Daz dinking around: the CynBot

Latest Daz dinking around: the CynBot published on No Comments on Latest Daz dinking around: the CynBot

As I previously mentioned, I have put Daz and various stuff back on my computer for the purpose of goofing off. No therianthropes have been generated, but I have been making some fetish pin-ups. Today’s silly effort is the CynBot.

Cynthia 1.2 base, ASP bracers, Sisters of War gas mask and Bootylicious boots by bvh3d.com. V-BORG042V-1 and -2 by Reika-Kano. Background by propschick. Minor adjustment morphs to Cynthia and V-BORG parts by me.

This picture started with the Bootylicious boots, which are pretty much the Platonic Form of fetish footwear, as far as I’m concerned. They did not fit my go-to model, Daz Victoria 4, so I had to download the Cynthia 1.2 base just to have someone to put the shoes on. Fortunately, bvh3d also provides several extravagantly silly sets of fetish armor/underwear for Cynthia, pieces of which I used to make my bot.

The core of this picture depends, of course, on the lovely robo-parts made by Reika-Kano. These are not figures, meaning that they lack articulation. They are simple props that can be parented to the chest [the top part] and the hips [the bottom part] so that they will follow the poses that the body is put into [within reason]. For simple props, these parts feature stupendously detailed sculpting and many different material areas, meaning that the color, texture, reflectivity and opacity of pretty much every part can be adjusted. You don’t have to be a technosexual or an agalmatophile to appreciate the love and care that went into the development of these models.

Oh yeah, and the aforesaid robo-parts, as well as a bunch of other related stuff by Reika-Kano, can be downloaded for free from sharecg.com. Not only has this person put immense amounts of time and skill into creating these models, but they have done so for free! In fact, I constituted this render entirely from free items, from Daz Studio itself to all the elements of the picture.

Hilarious cyborg with silly gas mask and meretricious boots ahoy!

Continue reading Latest Daz dinking around: the CynBot

Chittenden County Doll Club, 01/11/2014

Chittenden County Doll Club, 01/11/2014 published on No Comments on Chittenden County Doll Club, 01/11/2014

The first meetup of 2014 saw me, Lyrajean, goldi and vermont chick braving the torrential downpours to converge upon the Koolvord Room in Brownell Library, Essex Junction, VT because we are hardcore devotees who must have our regular dolly fix. 😀

Continue reading Chittenden County Doll Club, 01/11/2014

Squeezy organs!

Squeezy organs! published on No Comments on Squeezy organs!

For all your stress-relieving organ replica needs!

My favorite is the intestines. I wonder if that would be the right scale for Cory…

Brain http://www.ideastage.com/Medical-Series-Brain-Stress-Reliever-781900998

Heart http://www.ideastage.com/Anatomical-Heart-Squeezies-Stress-Reliever-35916274

Heart http://www.ideastage.com/Anatomical-Heart-Stress-Toy-183854566

Lungs http://www.ideastage.com/Lungs-Squeezies-Stress-Reliever-17916298

Liver http://www.ideastage.com/Liver-Squeezies-Stress-Reliever-30916328

Kidney http://www.ideastage.com/Kidney-Squeezies-Stress-Reliever-94916316

Kidney http://www.ideastage.com/Medical-Series-Kidney-Stress-Reliever-Toys-333403564

Kidney gel ball http://www.ideastage.com/Kidney-Gel-Ball-572023685

Intestines http://www.ideastage.com/Medical-Series-Intestine-Stress-Reliever-Toys-793403580


This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1613194.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Couldn’t find my guts — had to make a doll instead.

Couldn’t find my guts — had to make a doll instead. published on No Comments on Couldn’t find my guts — had to make a doll instead.

One of the digital models I regret deleting from my hard drive was the viscera. They came both as a unit appropriate for attaching to the lower end of a severed torso and as separate bloody giblets. I sought them out back in my LHF days so that I could create a manananggal.

A manananggal is a Filipina vampire. She detaches from her lower body at night and, sprouting bat-like wings, flies around, using her hummingbird-like tongue to consume human flesh and blood, particularly that of fetuses and/or pregnant women. During the day, she reunites with the rest of her body and seems in every way to be a regular human being. Though an etymological and folkloric cousin of the penanggalan, the manananggal differs from the penanggalan because the latter has a Malay origin and also detaches at the neck, rather than the base of the torso.

Continue reading Couldn’t find my guts — had to make a doll instead.

“Hello Poser my old friend…”

“Hello Poser my old friend…” published on No Comments on “Hello Poser my old friend…”

I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

Apologies to Simon & Garfunkel. Ever since I abandoned Daz and digital 3-D models for use in my comics and went back to dolls, I have installed and uninstalled Daz, Poser and much of my purchased content more times than I can count. I keep jettisoning it because it’s a huge space and memory hog, but then I keep recalling it because I wish to execute projects that I can only do in Daz/Poser. Most recently it was Jareth’s custom head that needed Daz/Poser. Previous projects include the Library of Intellectum and copious use of all the digital kinky accessories available for free online if you know where to look. >:}

Daz/Poser returns to my hard drive this time for a few reasons. 1) Therianthropes! I get on therianthrope kicks occasionally, and I’m on one now. I have all the tools required to make kick-ass therianthropes. 2) Make-up concepts. I still have the files that I developed for Jareth’s head, as well as a bunch of texture kits for doing custom make-up on characters. Since his make-up changes every single time I imagine him, it would be lots of fun to replicate this outside of my head, if only in digital. 3) Copious use of all the digital kinky accessories available for free online if you know where to look.

Some of my digital experiments might make the leap from digital to doll in the future. I’ve been thinking, for example, that it’s time to let Juniper out of my head, where she has been pacing restlessly for about 4 years, rolling her eyes, sticking out her tongue, fluttering her ears, sticking up her middle fingers and generally making an adorable nuisance of herself. Anyway, watch this space!

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1612437.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Ohhhhh — THAT guy! With bonus double crap.

Ohhhhh — THAT guy! With bonus double crap. published on No Comments on Ohhhhh — THAT guy! With bonus double crap.

I know very little about the impending 50 Shades movie, currently slated to come out February 15th, 2015, just in time for Valentine’s Day — because nothing says commercialized heteronormativity than a grade-Z flick glorifying abusive relationships! Anyway, the only person attached to the movie that I’m remotely familiar with is Jamie Dornan. He played the sheriff of Storybrooke, Graham, for the first few episodes of season 1 of Once Upon A Time and died before he did anything interesting. Anyway, in 50 Shades, he has the role of Christian Lead Fit-Thrower. My official reaction is "Meh."

This movie is going to be such double crap… :p

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1612229.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

I don’t think this book was supposed to provoke that particular reaction.

I don’t think this book was supposed to provoke that particular reaction. published on No Comments on I don’t think this book was supposed to provoke that particular reaction.

One of the many reasons I enjoy my new avatar photo is that Jareth looks both considering and on the verge of laughter. In other words, he has on his face the same expression that I had on mine when I was reading Flush Blush Crush Rush by Maya Banks. Well, at least I exhibited aforesaid expression up till page 33, which I just lost it and cracked up.

Rush is not written as a comedy, however. It’s the first in a trilogy of novels about a young, inexperienced ingenue hired to work for an older, richer, wiser dude who overmasters her with his sexy sexiness and seduces her into the thrilling, glamorous world of BDSM, where he dominates and she submits and — hey wait — where have we heard this before? Oh right, in E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Tedium Grey, Sylvia Day’s Bared to Complementary Neuroses You and the herd of other BDSM lust novels that have sprouted like post-rain mushrooms since about 2011. For Pete’s sakes, people — find a new template!

Anyway, at first I thought that Flush might prove better than 50 Shades, as it’s written by an experienced, prolific author. Well, no dice. Bank writes in generic statements and superficial vagueness. A paragraph on page 29, wherein the ingenue eyeballs the rich dude’s office, epitomizes this flaccid style:

[The office] screamed classy and expensive. Rich mahogany wood, polished marble floor that was partly covered with an elegant oriental rug. The furniture was dark leather with an antique, old-world look. Paintings adorned three walls while the last wall was all built-in bookcases filled with an eclectic mixture of works.

As anyone with a modicum of real-life and/or reading experience knows, looking into someone’s personal space — bedroom, study, den, boudoir, office, etc. — provides a wealth of information about their activities, routines, interests, preoccupations and general character. The paragraph above, full of missed opportunities, demonstrates Banks’ generic, inexpensive style because it, technically speaking, contains detail, but doesn’t really communicate anything. The mahogany, marble, oriental [sic] rug, leather furniture, paintings and stocked bookshelves stereotypically signify wealth. Without any further modification to particularize them so that they reveal the character of the rich dude, the stereotypical signifiers just lie there limply like the authorial equivalent of spaghetti flung against the wall in a test to determine its adhesive properties.

As I intimated, Banks passes up a huge chance for the reader to get to know the dominant dude. If she would just give us more specifics, we might ground the story and the characters a little bit more. What’s the design on the rug? What figures, palettes and styles appear in the paintings? What subject matter fills the books? How is everything arranged within the room? Are there focal points or salient details and, if so, what? Music, traffic noise, computer keys clicking? Garish fluorescent lighting, natural light from huge windows, cave-like dimness? The smell of carpet shampoo, dried spooge, expensive cigars, floral perfume? We’ll never know. In paragraph after paragraph like this, Banks builds empty edifices of stereotypical tropes that may seem to evoke certain worlds, personalities and feelings, but which ultimately leave the subjects that they describe mysterious and cipher-like.

The gummy, rubbery prose, impervious to all attempts at the incision of fine detail, does this book in. I bravely put up with it until the ingenue’s discussion of her impending BDSM contract with the rich dude on pages 32 and 33:

"And this relationship you propose. What exactly do you mean by nontraditional?"

…"I’ll own you. Body, soul. You’ll belong to me."

Whoa. That sounded so…heavy.

Right there was where I bust out laughing. The 24-year-old ingenue has evinced no particular idiolect up until this point, except for a distressingly ableist propensity to describe stuff that she thinks is pathetic as "lame." Suddenly, for no reason that I can discern, she sounds like a mash-up of Neo from the Matrix and Marty from Back to the Future. The odd combination of two elements totally anachronistic for this character’s generation struck such resoundingly wrong notes that I just had to give up. When the supposedly steamy and erotic BDSM novel has me snorting and rolling my eyes at the glaring infelicities of style, it ain’t really having its desired effect.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1611917.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Dollism Plus 2014 has a Web site!

Dollism Plus 2014 has a Web site! published on No Comments on Dollism Plus 2014 has a Web site!

Right here! Registration is open [$95.00 a person], and so is a block of rooms in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo [$139.00 a night]. I need two registrations for me and Janna, then two nights in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo, so that’s a significant chunk of change right there. And we haven’t even touched food, gas, Railroads on Parade admission and lodging for Thursday night. This trip is gonna be so expensive, but so much fun!!!! GO DOLLS & TRAINS ROAD SHOW 2014!!!!!

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1611633.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Everyone needs a little Peter Dinklage in their life.

Everyone needs a little Peter Dinklage in their life. published on No Comments on Everyone needs a little Peter Dinklage in their life.

ThreeZero is doing Game of Thrones 1:6 scale dolls, and they just released a prototype headsculpt of Peter Dinklage’s character Tyrion Lannister. I don’t care about the show or the character; I just think Peter Dinklage is amazingly hot and smart and funny and warm and talented. I would love to have a 1:6 scale version of him, as long as ThreeZero accurately renders him in all his 4′ 5" glory with his distinctive body shape.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1611364.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

New avatars across the Internetz!

New avatars across the Internetz! published on No Comments on New avatars across the Internetz!

I’ve had three avatars in my history online. The first was a picture of a contemplative cherub that I took in a Boston-area cemetery. The second was a screencap from Labyrinth, showing the Goblin King in "Oh shit!" mode during Within You. The third and current one comes from a photo session this morning with Jareth and my new 60mm macro lens.

I’m so pleased with the clarity and detail that my new lens picks up! In fact, I shot all of Me and My Muses E.2 with it. Given how many medium-length and close-up shots of small populations that I do, this could be my new default lens.

Continue reading New avatars across the Internetz!

“Butch please!”

“Butch please!” published on No Comments on “Butch please!”

I’ve been thinking that Boys Keep Swinging [discussed previously in relation to how much I was salivating over David Bowie] is obviously about butches cruising for femmes. It just makes so much sense! Butch power!!

When you’re a butch
You can wear a uniform
When you’re a butch
Other butches check you out
You get a girl
These are your favorite things
When you’re a butch

I think this music video needs to be redone with a femme lead vocalist and butch backup singers. How awesome would that be?

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1610684.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Muggins is going to be THIS big.

Muggins is going to be THIS big. published on No Comments on Muggins is going to be THIS big.

Evethecat [whence Muggins] has diagrams that prospective owners can print to see how various sizes of ball-jointed cats scale out in real life. I printed a diagram for Muggins’ size, that is, 4cm at withers, and posed Isabel with it. Look! A 1:6 scale articulated kitty cat!!!

Now that I see how small all the tail sections actually are, I can’t say I’m looking forward to their assembly. I’m seriously considering sculpting a solid tail, jointed only at the base, myself.

Continue reading Muggins is going to be THIS big.

More initial impressions of Dollmore Trinity Klaire

More initial impressions of Dollmore Trinity Klaire published on 1 Comment on More initial impressions of Dollmore Trinity Klaire

Irritated by the bias against "masculine" features that I detected in some DOAers’ comments on Dollmore Trinity Klaire, I have looked more closely at the remarks. A sampling are shown below:

Kitty Blue: "Not certain how I feel about her…she has some striking features but her face seems rather large compared to the others, love the make up, but the LE outfit is the same as Elysia."

Teddy: "Nice, but there’s something about her eyes that doesn’t appeal to me – I much prefer Elysia and Lumie."

Shawnee: "Funny, I love her eyes. It’s her mouth I really don’t like. It just seems too big for her face. Like kitty blue said, everything combined, her face looks too…large? for her head/body."

Stella Maris: "She looks very masculine, nope, not for me. … Beat hard with the man stick I’d say."

nancy_schroeder_ca: "I’m not sure about the new Klaire, but I don’t have room for another Trinity anyway! Maybe the next version will be better. She might look better with a different wig and faceup."

Stormlight: "Oh, the new girl is gorgeous! I think she looks a lot older than the other three. Like someone in her 20s rather than her teens."

bronzephoenix: "Oh dear, she looks so masculine to me!"

thothep: "I like all of Jude except her mouth feels too small, and now I like all of Klaire except her mouth is a little large…"

polyhymnia: "I think Klaire‘s face is pretty cool."

Jisatsu: "I was thinking Klaire looked so much like the first run of Narin 60."

monkeycancer: "RE the new Klaire doll, my first thought was ‘guy in very convincing drag,’ so I’m glad other people are thinking ‘masculine.’"

jemmilly: "I like Klaire, but not Dollmore’s face-up."

Despite gender policing from Stella Maris, bronze phoenix and monkeycancer, remarks seem overall more positive than I initially thought. I find it interesting that, even in a hobby where the dominant aesthetic for Asian BJDs is one of androgyny in facial features, people have limits to how much androgyny they can handle. I also find it interesting that DOAers are referring to "large," "masculine" and/or "strong" features as if they’re bad things. I myself actually prefer facial features with those traits, but then again I am known for my affinity for stylized, almost caricatured headsculpts.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1610174.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Glamazon thoughts

Glamazon thoughts published on No Comments on Glamazon thoughts

The more I ponder, the more I realize that the Playtoy torso will not work out. Research on One Sixth Warriors shows that other nerds have had the squishy parts on their Playtoys wrinkle, warp, rip and/or crack. If I’m spending a ridiculous amount of money to make a highly specific body type, I do not wish to use expendable squishy parts in its construction!

I may be able to salvage at least the shape of the Playtoy bust, though, by making a cast or mold of it. Or I could just use it as a guideline for additive sculpting of my own on an undetermined base.

The Glamazon now has the following designated parts: Obitsu Regular Male arms, Takara CG hands, Original Effect legs and feet/shoes and custom scratch-sculpted head [to be made eventually].

What about a base? I could use the Original Effect body, depending on its level of torso articulation and its skintone. I could scrounge a Takara Cy Girl 2.0 from my raw dolls bin. I suppose I could even use a Takara CG 1.0, but I don’t like the single torso joint.

I really wish that the OE would come so I could see what I have to work with….

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1609836.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Another beautiful Dollmore Trinity: Klaire

Another beautiful Dollmore Trinity: Klaire published on No Comments on Another beautiful Dollmore Trinity: Klaire

I’ve been lusting after the Dollmore Trinity Elysia for a while now, but I think I just found a new lust object in their latest Trinity sculpt Klaire. Here are some blank pictures for comparison from the sculptor’s Flickr. DOA’s consensus is that she’s unattractive, with features that are too large, strong and "masculine," but those traits are exactly the ones that attract her to me. She also has an amazing skijump nose! Elysia looks like she’s dreaming, but Klaire looks like she’s plotting. >_>

In good news, DOA says that Fabric Friends and Dolls allows year-long layaways [which, for a $3K doll, means $250.00 a month], but that still doesn’t overcome my moral objections to direct purchase from Dollmore. GRRRARGH.

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1609524.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Fireplace!

Fireplace! published on No Comments on Fireplace!

After pining for one for quite a while, I finally found one on the DOA marketplace for $23.00 shipped, which is about how much I’m willing to pay for one. Woo hoo!

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1609291.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Each character moves differently.

Each character moves differently. published on No Comments on Each character moves differently.

That’s what I like in this Boys Keep Swinging [David Bowie] music video. Posture, gait, the size and shape of gestures — all these little details develop different personalities.

I wish I could make my dolls move differently, but they don’t move. Guess they’ll just have to stand and sit and be still differently, which they do. Examples abound in the latest survey of small populations, where especially those in the "dolls who bug me" and "Zombieville" categories evince their personalities through their posture.

Judging from their body language, an inordinate number of my dolls appear to think that they’re fabulous: Anneka, Frank 1:6, Jareth 1:6, Will, Jareth regular, Peekaboo, Lucian, Béatrice, Isabel, AJ regular. Out of all the postures in the "all my dolls" series, I most like Janvier Jett’s [because she looks like she’s about to speaek], Jareth’s [because he looks like he’s up to something, which he always is], Sardonix’ [because she just looks so completely unimpressed with anyone’s bullshit], Dillon [because he’s just chillin’ casually] and Steampink AJ’s [because she just looks so serenely superior].

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1609023.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

Glamazon needs Obitsu Regular Male arms

Glamazon needs Obitsu Regular Male arms published on No Comments on Glamazon needs Obitsu Regular Male arms

I just pried one of Will’s arms out of his dress so I could check the look of an Obitsu Regular Male arm with the Playtoy XL torso. Yup, that’s exactly the robust muscularity I’m going for! The jointing on these arms provides a full range of motion at the elbow, which can truly fold the arms double so that wrist touches shoulder, so that’s also good. As an added bonus, these arms easily fit Takara CG hands [my favorites] with just a little taping of the wrist pegs. Now Will has his arm back, and I have another item to purchase for my Glamazon: Obitsu Regular Male body to supply arms.

Notice how even the excessively orange tones in the Obitsu arm still look more realistic than the "I have no blood" Playtoy?
Continue reading Glamazon needs Obitsu Regular Male arms

Glamazon now double-ganged, but not that muscular

Glamazon now double-ganged, but not that muscular published on No Comments on Glamazon now double-ganged, but not that muscular

I recently did a trade with fellow Figurvore member Silent G/Will, who was kind enough to provide me with a pair of double-ganged Hot Toy fem arms to sub in for the Playtoy XL’s single-jointed ones.

As the shoulder balls on the HT arms were smaller than the Playtoy sockets, he also nicely suggested that I should coat the HT balls in petroleum jelly, squirt hot glue in the Playtoy sockets, then stick the HT balls in the sockets, squiggling them around till the glue dried. The petroleum jelly would then prohibit the balls from sticking to the glue, and the glue layer would fill the extra space in the sockets, making a snug fit for the balls! I’ve been using hot glue as a filler/tightener for years, but I never thought to add petroleum jelly to prevent the insertions from adhering to the holes in which they are inserted.

Anyway, the Glamazon now has double-ganged arms!
Continue reading Glamazon now double-ganged, but not that muscular

“Reblogging for Elizabeth Sr.”

“Reblogging for Elizabeth Sr.” published on No Comments on “Reblogging for Elizabeth Sr.”

Isn’t Andrea nice? She reblogged this for me:


Why can’t I find the video for this???

"She’s so swishy in her satin and tat, / In her frock coat and bipperty bopperty hat / Oh God, I could do better than that…"

This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1608196.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.

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