Yamarrah has hung around without a faceup or a creemee because I’ve been trying to think of the best method to match her light brown head with her yellowy body. See the mismatch?
Continue reading Stalling on Yamarrah’s completion
Posts authored by ModernWizard
Shirley Bassey covers Get This Party Started
She makes me actually like the song. I always thought that the lyrics were, "I’m coming out, so you’d better get this party started."
The mist, masks and mirrors are making me think that someone needs to mash this cover up with images from the ballroom scene in Labyrinth.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1580781.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Smores for Gloravnia
Sure, I could purchase the Rement Mini Sweets Smores set, but I think I could also make smores pretty easily to satisfy Gloravnia’s craving.
To make them, I need:
- marshmallows: untoasted, toasted, package
- chocolate squares: in package, out of package
- graham crackers: in package, out of package
- finished smores
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1580383.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Northeast Street Rod Nationals, 09/21/2013: cars!!!!!
I hewed down my ~200 photos from that day to my favorites below.
Continue reading Northeast Street Rod Nationals, 09/21/2013: cars!!!!!
Sleepy Hollow has improved infinitesimally.
The second episode addresses two of my criticisms that I leveled at the show based on the pilot.
In one of my complaints, I pointed out that Abbie [I was misspelling it in my initial entry] has no family, friends or support system. This episode builds up her social circle a bit, providing her with an ex, an Army vet also on the force and, more excitingly, her sister Jenny. The ghost of Abbie’s mentor shows up and tells her to "remember number 49," where she won’t be alone. The scene then switches to Jenny’s room, number 49, at a psychiatric institution, where she only pretends to take her meds and, though haunted by [actual] demons, adheres to a strict physical training regimen. The show thus clearly sets up Jenny as Abbie and Ichabod’s future ally.
I would dearly love for Jenny to join Abbie and Ichabod in their campaign against the Horsemen. Abbie and Jenny, having been estranged during Jenny’s institutionalization, could forge a relationship, dealing with the messes of their past: the pain of being disbelieved when they saw a demon in high school, Abbie’s guilt when Jenny was sent to an institution, Jenny’s jealousy over Abbie’s occupational achievements in the police force, their awkwardness over not having seen each other for years. But Jenny is not an important character; if she was, we would have seen her in the pilot and actually had a conversation or two, at least in flashback, between Abbie and Jenny. Thus the show will not explore the fascinating theme of a sisterly bond forged in the crucible of the supernatural. In fact, Jenny is probably going to die in a episode or two. That said, I will keep watching the show to see where it’s going with Jenny, at least until the showrunners kill her off.
In another of my complaints, I noted that the showrunners completely wasted John Cho by killing off his character at the end of the pilot. The showrunners are slightly forgiven for this because John Cho’s character is back from the dead, doing the evil’s dirty work. I’m glad that he’s back, but I am unhappy that a character of color has been reduced to grunt work for white dudes.
The microscopic improvements have me hooked for at least a few more episodes, but the show is still very stupid overall. Apparently Ichabod’s wife Katrina was burned at the stake in 1782. HAH HAH HAH HAH that’s about a century too late for death due to witchcraft, and, again, I’m going to scream at the TV, "No one was burned for witchcraft in this country goddammit!" In other historical inaccuracies, all the witches in the Revolutionary-era flashbacks have their hair down and loose, an egregious error, especially for the married Katrina, who should have her hair up and covered. Etc., etc., etc.
Speaking of stupid shows, I wonder when Grimm is back?
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1579938.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Northeast Street Rod Nationals, 09/21/2013: customized scooters!!!!!
We attended the Northeast Street Rod Nationals at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex Junction, VT on Saturday. I took ~200 pictures, mostly for Janna, all of which I will not reproduce here. Instead, I will focus on my favorite part of the show: customized scooters by AK Rods & Customs of Londonderry, NH, run by Andy and Keith Lefebvre.
Continue reading Northeast Street Rod Nationals, 09/21/2013: customized scooters!!!!!
Fire elemental + sprite of tears
What would happen if Yamarrah, fire elemental, and Gloravnia, sprite of tears, became friends? I dunno, but it sure would be entertaining!
As a side note, I’m thinking that Gloravnia wears a cropped T-shirt, bellbottom pants and little hightops. She has different stripes of blues in her hair, double ponytails and little cat’s-eye glasses. Not sure where to get little cat’s-eye glasses…
Gloravnia likes toasted marshmallows. [Excuse to get Rement s’mores set.] Maybe she can cook them on Yamarrah’s hair. :p
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1579291.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Me and My Muses 7.6: “Ellery’s Monologue”
Ellery tells her sister Avery about the marvelous Mackenzie.
Yamarrah’s wig, part ?
I tacked some more around her scalp and a lot on her sideburns, trying to make them less voluminous. I also put some Mod Podge in her bangs so that they appear to be affected by gravity. She has no clothes on because I took them off to wire her from her torso all the way down each of her legs and also through each arm.
I think her forelock needs tacking.
Continue reading Yamarrah’s wig, part ?
1:6 scale upright vacuum and handheld vacuum
As much as I enjoy constructing or customizing many of my 1:6 scale dolls, set pieces and accessories, I always appreciate an accurate, detailed, appropriately scaled piece that looks and functions great straight out of the package. Sometimes I just don’t want to invest hours of work into everything.
Continue reading 1:6 scale upright vacuum and handheld vacuum
Gloravnia?
I think my incoming Soom Mini Gem Garam might be Gloravnia, sprite of tears, in cool tones, blue and purple.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1578311.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
The thrill of the chase
I just started a 90-day layaway for a 1:6 scale BJD on my want list [previously mentioned in "Oooh oooh!"]. Now that I have reserved her, I can be less cryptic about her identity. She is a Soom Mini Gem Garam, one of the rarest Mini Gems. As I may have mentioned, I have seen no owner pictures of her up until now, and this is the first time I’ve seen her available on the secondary market. I don’t think she sold very well.
Anyway, I have no idea yet what I will do with her, but I have been toying with the thought of adding her to my pests fairies. She has an interesting face. She looks like she’s on the verge of tears.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1578203.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
How not to write, part seven zillion and two in an infinitely extensible series
How not to write, part seven zillion and two in an infinitely extensible series published on Read more posts by the author of How not to write, part seven zillion and two in an infinitely extensible series, ModernWizardNo Comments on How not to write, part seven zillion and two in an infinitely extensible series
Today we’re examining The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker. I picked this up because it looked to be in a similar vein as Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, a silly but agreeably diverting series with occasional intelligent grace notes. In fact, Harkness endorsed Barker’s debut novel as "a marvelous plot [with] clever dialogue [and] complex characters…a perfect escape from humdrum reality." I mentally translated this as "fun, shallow escapism" and settled in for some entertainment.
I have not been entertained. Instead, Barker has been providing object lessons in how not to write, here presented for your delectation in no particular order:
1) Spend a significant portion of the book having the protagonist raped and brainwashed, and then forget about it. Nora, a 30-year-old unhappy grad student in English literature, somehow accidentally pierces from this world into the realm of Ye Olde Standarde Faeries: that is, supernatural assholes who appear like beautiful humans but really look disgusting and who enjoy kidnapping humans and messing with their minds. The first 80 pages of the novel detail her transformation into a thoughtless automaton, coerced into a muzzy-headed state of permanent compliance. She is essentially drugged, threatened, gaslighted, forcibly married to Raclin, a draconic fairy prince, raped by Raclin, beaten by Raclin and, finally, terrorized by Raclin’s mom Ilissa until she miscarries. By this point, the reader just wants the torture to end, but no such luck. Aruendiel, a human, male magician, rescues Nora, and we still have about four-fifths of the book left to go.
The remainder of the book, however, doesn’t adequately address the aftermath of Nora’s ordeal. Barker discusses Nora’s physical healing from Raclin’s assault, as well as the disconcerting experience of having a huge amount of fairy glamour lifted from her. We also get a little bit of ambivalence from Nora about having a miscarriage, but that’s about it. We don’t, for example, see Nora angry or ashamed at her seduction, regretful that she has left behind the lap of luxury for a hardscrabble life with Aruendiel, proud that she managed to get out or even frightened that the fairies might come after her. She does not appear to have been emotionally affected by her torture at all. For God’s sake, she shows more impassioned feeling in her discussion with Aruendiel of his language’s sexist deployment of gendered conjugations and declensions than she does about her repeated mental and physical violation at the hands of the fairies.
2) Fail to establish credible antagonists. Of course, the fairies do indeed come after Nora once Aruendiel rescues her; Raclin, in the form of a dragon, chases her on a few separate occasions, but is thwarted when Aruendiel a) pop-flies him into the stratosphere, b) leaves him with a much larger and very pissy lake monster and c) turns him into a rock. Aruendiel’s casual [and silly — seriously, pop-flying him into the stratosphere?] dispatches of Raclin make the prince seem less like a truly threatening abuser and more like an annoying bug. Because Nora and Aruendiel always repulse the fairies, the fairies fail come across as creakingly obvious devices with which to move the plot [such as there is] forward.
3) Use ableist and racist stereotypes in place of character development. In the ableism department, Aruendiel represents one of the most tedious types, the Aloof And Commanding Cripple With A Broken Body, But A Restless Mind, Whose Rudeness And Grimness May Be Excused By His Secret Tragic Past [But It Wasn’t His Fault]. In Aruendiel’s case, he killed his wife because [somehow] he thought this would free her from an enchantment that Ilissa had put on her. Then he was fighting in some war with Ilissa, and he fell out of the sky, broke lots of bones and died, but his friends brought him back to life. He does not, however, think that he was worth reviving. Why are the Tragic Cripples always so whiny and self-pitying?
In the racism department, one of the most interesting characters unfortunately ends up being the most exoticized. Hirizjahkinis, Aruendiel’s friend, is the only female magician in a book where the main culture’s characters think of female magicians as highly improbable, if not impossible. Hirizjahkinis skirts the sexist restrictions of Aruendiel’s society by being a foreigner from some hot, jungle-covered, southerly place [lazy Africa equivalent] with a tradition of female witches. Physically, she is dark-skinned — the only non-white character in the entire book [a fact noted by the white characters] — with her black hair in cornrows. When Nora first meets her, Hirizjahkinis is so exotic and foreign that she wears both a kimono-like robe and a leopard skin over her shoulders. Yes, folks, a leopard skin: the stereotypical sign of a comic-book "jungle girl" or "savage!" Oh yeah, and she’s bisexual — the only non-hetero person in the entire book [also noted by the characters]. Even though she is warm, friendly, patient, competent, unflappable, sexy, badass and clearly the most lively and engaging character in the whole book, Hirizjahkinis suffers from intersectional objectification because, for some reason, Barker thought it acceptable to turn her into an egregious token, the embodiment of all that is different from the straight, white majority in the book.
4) Focus on a vacuous protagonist. I have no idea why Harkness thinks that this book involves "complex characters." They are the least complex I have come across in a long time. The protagonist Nora has no personality whatsoever, and the structure of the book, in which events happen to Nora through no agency of her own, certainly doesn’t help matters. Nora is stalled in her dissertation by her advisor, dumped by her boyfriend, accidentally sucked into another world, abducted and raped by fairies, rescued and healed by Aruendiel, etc., etc., etc., shuttling from one event to another like a pinball being smacked by paddles of plot. It is possible to write a fascinating story about a protagonist who experiences dramatic changes in her life that are outside her control, but this is not that story. Said hypothetical fascinating story requires a protagonist with an interesting inner life whose interpretation of events offers counterpoint and/or insight into the whole structure of the plot. Nora, who apparently has no phenomenological experience whatsoever [see her lack of reaction to her rape], is not that protagonist.
Barker does Nora no favors on the development front by depriving her of a history. Sure, she’s got an ex-boyfriend and a female friend, but we quickly breeze past these people so that Nora may be brainwashed and raped by the fairies. Quick summaries of Nora’s relationship with her ex or an explanation of her friend’s personality provide no revealing details about Nora as a person.
And what about Nora’s family? Heck, it’s not until two-thirds of the way through the book, when she visits her 10-year-old sister through a two-way scrying spell, that we see that her sister has a shrine to their dead brother and that it now includes a photo of presumed-dead Nora as well. Why didn’t we hear about her little sister and dead brother earlier? Why does Barker pass up a chance to forge significant relationships and thus a bit of individuality for her main character? Why does she withhold such important information about Nora’s dead brother until practically the end of the book, when the reader is so stultified by the pointless plotlessness that they have no energy left to give a shit? The poignant conversation between Nora and her sister, who thinks she might be a ghost, contains more emotional heft than all the pages before it, but apparently leaves no lasting effect. In conclusion, Nora, a character apparently impervious to the effects of life, bores the poop out of me.
4) Tell the wrong story. Barker spends most of her time on a) Nora’s torture in fairyland, b) Nora’s physical recovery from her assault, during which she does a large amount of chores with Aruendiel’s housekeeper, c) Nora’s failed attempts to learn magic and d) her increasing, inexplicable infatuation with Aruendiel. To this, Barker tosses in interminable discussions of human/fairy politics that never seem to impinge upon the plot, scads of silly made-up names ["Hirgus Ext" being a typical example] with no logic behind them [she seems to think that telling the name of everything constitutes convincing worldcraft] and Nora’s continual frustration over the sexism in Aruendiel’s society. If there’s a plot or anything of consequence going on in there, I missed it in the wash of extraneous details.
Meanwhile, there’s a much more interesting thread running through the story: that of the conjunction between magic and death, fairyland and the afterlife. Nora enters fairyland through an abandoned cemetery, and it’s mentioned that she has always liked old graveyards [a fact that’s never enlarged upon]. When she determines how much time has passed in the magic world, she figures that her family must think that she is dead. In her adventures with Aruendiel, she encourages him to bring back to life a young girl. Her interest in life and death takes on new significance when she converses with her little sister and sees herself in the same category as her dead brother: enshrined in absence. Nora has a cautious, curious, mournful relationship with death, which is probably the only interesting thing about her.
Aruendiel does his own dance with death. As a magician, he has used magic enough so that his life has been extended to a few centuries, time enough to see generations of friends and family grow old and die. He has killed a bunch of people, including his own wife, which seems to affect him less than his own death and revivification. Part of him kind of wishes his friends had just let him stay dead, but part of him clearly wishes to keep on living.
I’d like to hear that story — the tale of how two people so personally invested in death navigate the trials of life — but no. Instead we get the housekeeper teaching Nora how to chop up apples. I stayed up way too late last night, reading this book, waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1577869.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Oh, Sleepy Hollow. You are so stupid.
Just watched the pilot for Fox’s new Sleepy Hollow, which involves Ichabod Crane pulling a Rip Van Winkle, sleeping for 250 years, then teaming up with a WOC police lieutenant, Abby Mills, to stop the Headless Horseman, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. [Previous comments on the trailer here.]
I don’t know where to start on the stupidity, so I’ll just make a list of things that pissed me off, in no particular order:
- When discussing slavery with Abby, Ichabod gets all huffy and says that he was an early abolitionist. Abby says that slavery has been abolished for 150 years, and Ichabod remarks, “Yet here I am in shackles [= handcuffs].” His defensive comment about his progressive abolitionism and his turning of the entire history of enslaved Africans into a comment on his momentarily restrained state both serve as a perfect example of privileged white people appropriating the marginalization of oppressed people for their own whiny rhetorical purposes.
- No one seems particularly fussed about Ichabod’s claim that he was alive during the Revolutionary War. The dude giving Ichabod the polygraph test [hi there, Nestor Serrano — nice to see you!] listens to Ichabod’s comments about “the American colonies,” “the Revolution” and “General Washington” and, noting that none of these trigger the polygraph, therefore instantly concludes that Ichabod is from 250 years in the past. Or, you know, he could be a) drugged, b) delusional, c) lying, d) several of the above. A, B, C and D represent much more logical conclusions than a 250-year sleep, but this show clearly demonstrates that it has no use for logic.
- Ichabod’s wife, Katrina, was burnt at the stake as a witch shortly after the Revolution. This inaccurate bit of backstory, along with the egregiously stupid detail that witches were burnt in Sleepy Hollow up through the 1830s, makes me want to throw things at the TV. Nobody was killed for witchcraft around here after the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692, and no one was ever burned at the stake for witchcraft in this country. I can’t stand it when ignorant people try to drag witchcraft trials into centuries where they don’t belong.
- Abby, like most female protagonists in police procedurals, is an Exceptional Woman with no family, no friends, no colleagues and no support system. Her mentor, Sheriff I-Forget-His-Name, is decapitated within the first third of the pilot. Apparently she grew up in Sleepy Hollow, as she mentions a supernatural experience she had in town with her sister in high school, but we never hear about any family or friends she might have in the area. Characterized as a mentally ill failure who bounces in and out of institutions, Abby’s sister is dismissed by the plot as a useless, unreliable failure. The story thus sets Abby up as isolated and in a perfect position to become dependent on Ichabod, the only person who believes her. I bet they’re going to pair off and fall in love VOMIT VOMIT VOMIT.
- On a related note, Sleepy Hollow is apparently a single-sex town. The only woman besides Abby with more than two lines is Katrina, a dead damsel in distress who needs Ichabod’s help to be liberated from a dreamland where the antagonists have imprisoned her.
- As the pilot starts, Abby plans to leave her Sleepy Hollow job for the FBI in a week. She really wants to go, and she claims that she does not want to mess up this opportunity. Her actions, however, tell a different story. Throughout the pilot, she defies her captain’s orders: interrogating Ichabod, bringing him to a crime scene, releasing him from the mental institution under false pretenses, snooping in the sheriff’s office, etc., etc., etc. The captain responds by talking tough and then doing absolutely nothing about Abby’s infractions. At first, I hoped that his de facto leniency would lead to a rare instance in which a police department actually supports a TV character’s investigation of supernatural phenomena, but nah. It’s just sloppy writing, in yet another pointless sacrifice of logic.
- Could the show have picked a more boring villain? The Four Horsemen are a fine choice, but the show really hampers itself with the decision to amputate the head of one of them. The Headless Horseman literally has no expression, which means he just stomps around, either axing things or shooting things. If the showrunners wanted to show a modicum of inventiveness, they could have employed body language to communicate personality: a raised fist when victory seems imminent, a jaunty twirl of the axe after a successful kill, even an alteration of the gait depending on the circumstances. But no, the Headless Horseman just plods around, hacking things. Booooooooorrrrrrriiiiiiing.
- The show commits the unforgivable crime of bringing in John Cho to play one of Abby’s fellow officers and a secret agent on the side of the Horseman…and then killing him off at the end of the pilot. This is a multipart offense, consisting of a) gratuitous bumping off of a POC, b) lost opportunity for a cool storyline in which Abby and Ichabod’s efforts are thwarted internally by pro-Horseman forces on the force and c) horrible waste of a talented actor.
So there you go…racism, historical inaccuracy, illogical plot holes, lazy sexist characterization, dull antagonists and more racism. Awesome!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1577538.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Further work on Yamarrah’s wig
Tacked more flyaways down. Combed out the spikes for more of a blended look. Glued in some red bangs, then pulled down some orange pieces for further bangs. Still need to sculpt the bangs a bit and, of course, the widow’s peak and sideburns will lie flat against Yamarrah’s skull when I’m done; I’ll either glue them or use sticky tack on them after I do her faceup. Still, it’s looking good!
Continue reading Further work on Yamarrah’s wig
Updated Yamarrah’s wig
Last night I added a bit of bulk to one of the sideburns and stitched some flyaway locks to her wig cap so that they pointed upward. Still need to tame some errant strands, but it’s looking much better now.
Standing tall
My crotch stand for Jareth from Mint on Card arrived today, so here he is getting a wedgie and showing just how long his legs are. It’s 17 inches or 43cm from crotch to ground when he’s wearing those shoes. In other words, his legs are as long as a standard 1:4 scale BJD is high. 0_0
Cool graphic freebies
From Media Militia. Nice skull photos!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1576460.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Makin’ tails on speech bubbles
Balloon Tales has an Adobe Illustrator tutorial. There’s also some detail here.
I keep running up against the limitations of Elements. I can’t justify ~$700.00 for Photoshop, though.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1576317.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Six-armed robot dragon dolls!
Souldoll puts out some amazing stuff these days. Their Souloid line, a series BJDs with robotic elements in their design, is especially cool. It started off about two years ago with Iraki, a 43cm male doll with robotic lower torso, pelvis, legs and feet. All Souloid releases have been in this scale until now, with the introduction of Kowalski and Billian, 70cm males.
The larger Souloids’ design represents an imaginative departure from the usual. These dudes have full robo-bodies [except their human heads], as well as tails, vespertilian wings and three sets of arms apiece with articulated fingers. With all that weight up top, I’m surprised that they can stand alone, but their tails are probably acting as struts. :p Given the extra resin in the multiple arms, it’s no wonder that they cost $1,200.00 naked and unpainted. [With all options and s/h to the US, you could be paying ~$2,100.00!]
Kowalski and Billian amaze me. Their concepts take two popular design elements — therianthropes and cyborgs — and merge them successfully. Their detailed body sculpting accurately suggests mechanical components, while their unusual bodies are feats of successful engineering. Their angular headsculpts effectively combine an angular, robotic look with the expressive humanity shown in so much of Souldoll’s work.
I used to think that Soom innovated the most in BJD concepts and design, but, of the major companies, I now see that the title of most creative must be given to Souldoll. I love Soom. However, their Monthly Dolls now contain a dull, repetitive succession of therianthropic features. Even the Faery Legend line, which, I think, hit a peak around Azur, Aenigma, Kremer, Cylin and possibly Metato, has been really uneven lately. By contrast, Souldoll continues to add [and then retire] a variety of sculpts, as well as a variety of androgynous, frilly, over-the-top outfits. Their Tarot line, though uneven, deserves credit for an original concept and some truly cool executions, and their Souloids are just plain awesome! Go Souldoll!
I really wish they’d bring back their 1:6 scale Soul Littles, though. :'(
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1576141.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Me and My Muses 7.5: “Mackenzie’s Thesis”
Shockingly enough, Ellery and Mackenzie talk about something besides sex.
Yamarrah’s wig construction [with bonus Jareth!]
Made another draft wig this morning out of pink fibers, cutting them with the grain so that the hair pointed down. I rolled under less of the edges so that this one was a bit bigger than the first draft, but still snug. Yamarrah models in the first picture, Jareth in the second.
Confident that my pattern would fit Yamarrah, I cut out her final wig from the yellow base fur with red and orange spikes. The third picture shows her hair before styling. I then saw that her hair sat high on her forehead, so I experimented with the addition of a widow’s peak. The last picture shows her current hair after the addition of Mod Podge and widow’s peak, a separate triangular piece of fur that I stitched in.
I still want to give her little pieces of loose hair hanging in front of her ears. I am satisfied with progress so far, though.
Continue reading Yamarrah’s wig construction [with bonus Jareth!]
Yamarrah’s wig: cutting against the grain
I made my first 1:3 scale faux fur wig tonight! To create a pattern for Yamarrah’s wig, I used Janvier Jett’s wig, made by Akasarushi. I flipped it inside out, traced one half and reverse-engineered a simple pattern based on two semicircles side by side. Then I hot glued the edges under and stitched the center part. Had to rip out a stitch or two from the part at the back edge to make it fit, but otherwise it was the correct size. A successful first draft!
I noticed when I turned the wig right-side out that I had cut the draft wig against the grain of the fur, meaning that the hair was pointing up instead of down. Since I want Yamarrah to be a fire sprite, the resultant messy, anti-gravity look is actually pretty cool. It also adds to the 1980s air she has, I think.
Chittenden County Doll Club, 09/13/13: everyone’s dolls!
Lorraine [vermont chick], Megan and I gathered for a meetup this afternoon at the usual place and usual time.
Continue reading Chittenden County Doll Club, 09/13/13: everyone’s dolls!
No-sew wefts for wigs
I’ve been puzzling over how to make wefts from the loose hair that I acquired from Georgia Landau in June. My uncertainty about how to make wefts explains why Alabama has been bald for months.
Oooh oooh!
A 1:6 scale BJD on my want list has appeared on the DOA marketplace. She’s in the You Wish! category of relative rarity, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen her for sale on the secondary market. I would like to get her right now, but the price is a little steep.
Furthermore, I have a drawer full of 1:6 scale BJD parts that I have acquired, but not done anything with…like that second Soom Aenigma head. Hell, I completely forgot I had that. I am not quite sure why I purchased it in the first place. Anyway, I feel slightly guilty getting someone else when I have little populations lying in wait, unused.
Obviously not that guilty, though… :p
While my idea for a 1:6 scale dryad BJD has fallen by the wayside, I’ve recently been thinking about a concept for a Lumedoll Lumelight Mini Zero that I had back in June. [I initially called him Silencio, but I think that a gender-neutral abstract noun might be better: Infinity.] I find the half-finished facial features on Mini Zero very cool and evocative. I think a truly black version of him with stark white robes would be fucking amazing. I would need to paint his body…
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1574490.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
More salvaged and improved wigs for Isabel
I have finished salvaging all those earlier wigs that I could, cutting out the hot glue center parts and stitching in hand sewn ones. I have taken the opportunity to try various hairstyles. Some of them even came out looking good!
Continue reading More salvaged and improved wigs for Isabel
Adapting Sylvia’s arms
I just figured out how to shorten Sylvia’s upper arms, while retaining the swivel motion. Basically I will be fusing the upper arm swivel joint and transferring the swivel to the elbow joint.
Illusion Spirit Teresa!!
While I wasn’t looking, Illusion Spirit issued a new 1:6 scale mature BJD. I’ve already noted the existence of the sculpt named Spirit, who looks really blocky and amateurish. I am now reporting on the newest sculpt, Teresa, who looks much, much better than Spirit. For $165.00 excluding s/h, she’s a tempting prospect to purchase for some interesting mods.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1573878.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Tonight’s work on Sylvia
I took out about 1cm of height from her thighs right below the swivels and about 1.5cm of height from her ankles right above the swivels. I hot glued her together at the thighs, thus sacrificing the swivels there, but I preserved the ankle swivels. She’s now about 10 inches tall, excluding some molded hair spikes.
Continue reading Tonight’s work on Sylvia
Base for Sylvia
Here’s the base for Sylvia, also known as Andrew 2.0.Continue reading Base for Sylvia
Sylvia changed forms again.
I don’t want to rehab the Pocahontas doll from scratch for such a minor character. I got the idea this morning, though, to recycle LHFer Andrew into Sylvia.
Winner of the Ms. Appropriation 2013 contest
Sylvia Blomqvist, Zombieville denizen, PWS and one of the people in charge of the Lakeside Community Co-op. New Agey syncretist par excellence and embodiment of the worst of cultural appropriation.
- Pissed off Prunella, who was out from the shop, lobbying in Montpelier for state recognition of the Abenaki tribe, by saying, "Indians are so spiritual!"
- Pissed off Peter, who was interested in dating her, until she started treating him like a "gay best friend accessory. And I’m not even gay!"
- Has a tattoo that she says is "Chinese for ‘life force,’" but Barrett says it’s gibberish.
I think I’m going to embody her in the Pocahontas doll that I got from Andrea, shown at left in the photo below. That doll needs some serious rehab.
Continue reading Winner of the Ms. Appropriation 2013 contest
Me and My Muses 7.4: “Misinterpretation”
Ellery flirts with someone who is also not into dudes.
Les yeux de Yamarrah
Her current pink eyes do her no favors, so I’m getting some 14mm low-dome Captured in Glass ET11s, with yellow irises and red pupils.
I Kickstarted.
…for the Scary Godmother doll by Jill Thompson because she is pointy [the doll, not the creator]. Also I like the artist’s style enough to purchase a book of postcards. Hmmm…
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Wig improvements for Isabel
I have been improving some of Isabel’s wigs this afternoon by trimming off the hot glued center parts, tracing the remainder on my Isabel-specific pattern and hand sewing them instead.
Further wig experiments for Isabel
I have refined my wig making procedure. I used to hot-glue both the hairline edges and the center part. Hot glue, however, is not that flexible, so it often rendered the center part blocky and unrealistic. I changed from gluing the center part to hand sewing it. The results are more flexible, and they curve around the head naturalistically. I’m still hot gluing the hairline, though.
Continue reading Further wig experiments for Isabel
The Excessive school of decoration
This is how Jareth thinks:
If pink hair is good, fluorescent pink hair is better!
If two leather collars are good, two leather collars and a locking bolero/pauldron thing with chains and dangly accents is better!
If calf-high platform heels are good, knee-high platform stiletto heels are better!
If a black cape is good, a sparkly black cape is better!
[P.S. I’m not really sure what’s up with the glasses, but he seems pretty attached to them. :p ]
Behold him below in more clothes created by the inimitable, fastidious and brilliant Brenda/Isabeau/Pansy Fashions:
[incoherent jubilation]
Jareth’s body and his ridiculous clothes have come home from Brenda/Isabeau/Pansy Fashions! I prepared tools and camera for the happy event, but neglected to bring wire so that I could string his legs. 🙁 Mr. Demandypants is temporarily Mr. Demandynopants.
How to Live with Introverts
Cyborgology posted an interesting essay by Whitney Boesel about the pop cultural popularity of introverts, and one of the illustrations was from a cartoon, How to Live with Introverts, by Schroeder Jones. The panel in which the grabby extrovert penetrates the introvert’s hamster ball, saying, "Come out! Come out!" and the introvert goes, "Hissssss!" is cracking my shit up.
Okay, gonna read the rest of that essay now…
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Jareth’s body is on its way home, with clothes!
Jareth and his new wardrobe of gloriously silly clothes are en route from Brenda/Isabeau/Pansy Fashions and scheduled to land on Friday. Then I can put him back together and have him resume his usual post on the shelf next to my end of the sofa. Huzzah!
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Me and My Muses 7.3: “Recognition”
Ellery chats with someone who is interested in her sex toys.
Stocking Isabel’s mess: art supplies
One Zombieville set that I will greatly enjoy making is Isabel’s room, including her mess where she customizes dolls. The accessories for this set will be easy to furnish since I can use many of my own supplies for Isabel’s. See:
Continue reading Stocking Isabel’s mess: art supplies
The neverending story of Peter’s walker
I’m going to ditch my current attempt at Peter’s walker. I need to start all over again with another folding chair. This time, I will do the following differently:
I will not cut down the seat depth.
I will use coat hangers as a source of wire for the frame, rather than 10 gauge solid core copper, which bends very hard.
I will not use Aves Apoxie Sculpt to adhere the pieces of the frame together, as it destroys the sleek lines I’m going for.
Bllllah. This project has caused me nothing but frustration. However, I am determined to try once more, given what I have learned from my initial mistakes. If this doesn’t work, I’ll commission someone to make one. However, it’s much cheaper and easier to make my own.
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Wig success for Isabel!
I created a workable pattern for Isabel’s wigs! This is the second one that I made with the pattern. Shockingly enough, I got tired of plain ol’ magenta, so I added a purple understory for variety. Came out well!
I see that I need to even out the pink highlights on Isabel’s lips. Will she ever be done?!
Moriendi, Isabel’s mannequin [formerly Bering Lusk]
My Harumika mannequin has changed looks and hands a few times before settling down.
Continue reading Moriendi, Isabel’s mannequin [formerly Bering Lusk]
Araminthe and I investigate a little house in Winooski, VT.
Araminthe and I went to a small park in Winooski this morning.
Continue reading Araminthe and I investigate a little house in Winooski, VT.
New set piece: double-hung window
I acquired an unfinished double-hung window for a playscale dollhouse from Ebay. It came with a removable plastic pane. I took out the pane and spray painted the frame white.
I then measured two pieces of fabric the size of the pane from my backdrops collection. I ironed each piece of fabric and used Mod Podge to adhere it to a slightly stiff sheet of watercolor paper.
When I get some adhesive magnetic strips, I will put some on the back of the window frame. I can then pin the pieces of fabric between the frame and my magnetic backdrop so that the scene appears to be either day or night.
Page updates to my inbox!
Sometimes I like to keep my eye on updates to pages that are rather quiet, say, for example, a particularly interesting subforum of a small message board. I dislike checking the page incessantly on the off chance that there might be new content. FollowThatPage automates this process by checking certain URLs regularly [20 once a day, 1 once an hour for free accounts] and then sending the results to one’s inbox. This is an extremely useful time saver.
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Isabel’s cat Muggins
When I have the funds, I want to get an Oleum 1:6 scale BJC [ball-jointed cat] [link to order form]. She is going to be polyamide [3-D printing, cheaper than resin casting], with the Oriental sculpt [i.e., Siamese-shaped], unassembled [cheaper than assembled], 5cm at withers, open eyes, solid black body, no snout airbrushing, emerald eyes with oval pupil, for a total of ~$260.00, s/h from Russia not included. SO DAMN CUTE!!!!!
Muggins talks in brackets to illustrate that all her words are translated. Thus she will not say, "Prrrrrp?" She will say, "[Chicken? For me?]" Nor will she say, "Mrrooooowr!" Instead that will be, "[Fuck off. This is MY spot!]"
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I would rather have polyamide, British sculpt, regular ears, unassembled, solid black body, no snout airbrushing, emerald eyes with round pupil. The stylization of the BJC makes them unusually slender, so the rotund, short-limbed British sculpt will look less strangely elongated and more realistically feline. Eyes with round pupils make the sculpt look younger, friendlier and more open.
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Need another mannequin
I have decided that Rumpy Pumpy needs a mannequin. A wooden artist’s mannequin should serve adequately.
I’d also like to paint Bering Lusk’s head like that of the dead version of Isabel.
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Succumbing to the fireplace
I’ve tried very hard not to want a 1:6 scale fireplace, but my irrational lust has not abated. When I have the money, then, I will get one from Mini Chair and then repaint it a flat white. Fake "distressed" paint jobs distress me. :p
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Isabel with pink hair
I’m in the midst of making a wig pattern specifically for Isabel’s oddly shaped head. Here’s the latest iteration of the pattern, almost there, but with too much bulk and height in the front hairline. Isabel looks great with 3" magenta shag as hair, though!
Me and My Muses 7.2: “Slightly More Fun”
Ellery, trying to sell T-shirts, gets a customer!
Continue reading Me and My Muses 7.2: “Slightly More Fun”
Thumbtack.com is helpful!
Both care.com and thumbtack.com allow people to search for local household services professionals. People can post their jobs, looking for quotes, or they can post their services, looking for customers. Unlike care.com, which requires people to pony up if they way to get contact information, thumbtack.com does not cost anything. Posting a want ad and soliciting quotes is free! I used it successfully to procure move-out cleaning services for an apartment on very short notice. Why did I not know about this sooner?
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Purple Girl has been ordered!
\o/ I just preordered Play Toy’s Purple Girl from SMcG Customs for $145.69 shipped, which is the lowest price I have found anywhere. I toyed with the idea of naming her Violet, but she has informed me that her name is actually Xandy.
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All my sets and medium-size things, 08/24/2013
Updates to the inventory.
Continue reading All my sets and medium-size things, 08/24/2013
All my dolls, 08/24/2013
Dolls at work.
Continue reading All my dolls, 08/24/2013
Custom dolls for dolls
Over the past week or so, I’ve been customizing dolls for Isabel with the aim of creating as many articulated dolls for her as possible. Like me, she works quickly and rather messily, using a lot of hot glue and not worrying too much about matching skin tones. :p
Play Toy Purple Girl preorders
I checked a few Web sites, and Play Toy’s Purple Girl [Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl from Kick Ass 2] is going for ~$150.00 including s/h. I hope that a few more preorders will pop up in the coming weeks so I can shop around.
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Me and My Muses 7.1: “No Fun”
Back from hiatus! Ellery tries to sell T-shirts.
Shelburne Museum Variety Unit, 08/18/2013: dolls!!!!!!
While Janna took a nap in the shade after playing with the trains in the Toy Shop, I ventured into the Variety Unit, where the museum stuffs all its small collections that don’t really fit anywhere else. I avoided that which did not interest me and made a beeline for the dolls.
I could have spent all day in there, trying to get good shots of the diversity of small populations. However, I photoed selectively, trying to achieve focused, detailed pictures of the ones I thought most intriguing. I came out about 40 minutes later with ~150 photos, which I whittled down to the results below.
Continue reading Shelburne Museum Variety Unit, 08/18/2013: dolls!!!!!!
Shelburne Museum Toy Shop, 08/18/2013: trains!!!!!
We attended the Shelburne Museum’s opening ceremonies for the new Pizzagalli Educational Center today. Taking advantage of the free admission [!!], we also hit the Toy Shop, where Janna admired the Radio Flyer layout. Though behind glass, the layout has buttons at kid level that start and stop the two trains and allow visitors to control sound effects as well.
Continue reading Shelburne Museum Toy Shop, 08/18/2013: trains!!!!!
Wait — this one looks better!
Play Toy is doing a Purple Girl that’s obviously Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl with the serial numbers filed off. Preview pictures show a realistic likeness and successfully done rooted hair, and it’s guaranteed to be much, much, much cheaper than the Medicom Toys official one that I drooled over earlier this week. I’m guessing ~$125.00. I wish preorders would go up somewhere because I want this one even more than the Medicom. With a little repaint, Play Toy’s smirk could be smirkier!!!
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Béatrice’s makeover and some 1:6 scale candles!
I redid Béatrice’s faceup over the past few days, as well as her hair. She used to have a faceup in unsealed Prismacolor colored pencil and no hair at all. Her faceup wore away with handling, however. I also found her blindingly white skin difficult to photograph. To cut down on the amount of blindingly white skin she shows, I made her a coordinating wig when I redid her faceup.
Faceup consists of the following: brown watercolor pencil for eyebrows, lashes and shading around nose, neon purple over neon pink acrylic for eyeshadow, neon pink with neon purple line for mouth, pink colored pencil for blush. Wig is faux fur with a blue 1" base, originally with 3" pink and purple spikes. I trimmed the spikes down to 1" as well and gave Béatrice bangs.
Everyone in Zombieville achieves a minimum level of loud tackiness, but Béatrice is especially loud and flamboyant. I mean, she wears neon lipstick, for shit’s sake! She also chooses, as a cancer survivor who has lost her hair to radiation, to wear a tricolor wig. Plus she is actually really loud and pushy, in part because she is used to being literally overlooked.
She still needs her chandelier earrings.
Continue reading Béatrice’s makeover and some 1:6 scale candles!
MERMAID MERMAID MERMAID!!!
Soom is having another one of its lottery sales for stock that was ordered, but never fully paid off. One of the items you can put in for is a Faery Legend Azur Big Sea Sprite, siren version, which means he has a mertail. Gonna put in for him and make him a mermaid because I’ve long wanted a 1:6 scale one. ^_^
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Pearlene all done!
Here’s Pearlene with skull, hair and full outfit.
Continue reading Pearlene all done!
Smirk became smirkier.
I redid Isabel’s mouth and eyelids last night. This is what she looked like before:Continue reading Smirk became smirkier.
Elizabeth A. Allen’s Writing Portfolio
- United Parenting Publications/parenthood.com: "A Sensational ‘Seussentennial!’" Published March, 2004.
- Out in the Mountains: "Pulp Fiction and Lesbian Rights." Published October, 2004.
- Tangent Online: The Fair Folk, edited by Marvin Kaye. Reviewed August 17, 2006.
- Trends: "Alternatives to Fossil Fuels." Published January, 2008.
- The Fix Online: The Duke in His Castle, by Vera Nazarian. Reviewed June 15, 2008.
- Sociological Images: "Only Hearts Club Dolls: Alternatives to Barbie and Bratz." Published December 30, 2008.
- hasbro shoezies: the definitive resource. Published February, 2010.
- The Portal: "An Interview with Lavie Tidhar." Published September 15, 2011.
- Mary’s Diary: Courting, Schooling, and Skating in Mid-Victorian Plattsburgh, New York. 2011. Available in print and online in the Feinburg Library Special Collections at SUNY Plattsburgh.
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Things to do with my fat dolls
Take final pictures of Pearlene with skull, hair and full outfit.Redo Béatrice’s faceup.Possibly give Béatrice some hair.Sculpt breasts for Isabel and Carter.- Cut down Deedee’s base body.
- Take naked comparison shots of all fat dolls.
- Do something with that other 5StarDoll tiny body I have lying around.
I can’t believe that I only have 4 completed fat dolls. Seems like I should have more… Well, Deedee will be another one, and whoever I decide to stick on that other 5StarDoll tiny body will be another.
MORE FAT DOLLS!!!!!!!
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Sucker for a smirk
Medicom is releasing a doll of Kick Ass’ Hit Girl [played by Chloe Moretz, who is clearly going places!], ETA Q1 2014. Pictures here courtesy of Sideshow Toy. Because we all know I’m a sucker for smirks, I really want her. She has a beautiful mouth. Sigh…
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Success with poodle shag wigs!
Making wigs out of poodle shag faux fur requires more patience than making fur wigs out of regular faux fur. I finally achieved acceptable results for Chaz [top] and Doctor Z [bottom].
To work with the poodle shag, I marked the pattern with lightly sketched pen, which did not bleed through the backing as much as my usual marker, a Sharpie permanent. I also cut large to compensate for the poodle shag backing’s lack of stretch. I also glued in small pieces to the finished wigs to fill in any bare areas, which appear more readily with poodle shag, as it is sparser than straight fur fibers. Finally, in Chaz’ case, I quickly whipped a light application of diluted Mod Podge through her hair so that it kept its loft and kink, but maintained more of a definite shape. I left Doctor Z’s hair loose, as I’m going for an Einsteinian air with her.
I’m very pleased with the poodle shag wigs I’ve made. The kinky fibers work well for in-scale, small, tight curls. I accomplished what I wanted to do — make wild hair for Doctor Z — and now I have little incentive to work with the remaining scraps, especially since they’re so difficult.
Flower as Mackenzie
I’ve wanted to redo Flower’s default faceup for a long time. When the occasion rolled around to create Mackenzie, Ellery’s new love interest, I took the opportunity to wipe Flower and repaint him temporarily to be Mackenzie. Faceup is unsealed, mostly watercolor pencil, with some black acrylic for eyelashes and brown acrylic for eyebrows. Beard shadow was achieved with brown dashes of watercolor pencil, shaded darker with black watercolor pencil where she has the densest facial hair. She’s wearing FR Homme clothes, mostly from London Crossing Kyu [Barrett]. The sweater vest, however, comes from London Crossing Cruz, and it looks gloriously meretricious!
I’m having a really, really hard time referring to Flower as Mackenzie, even though he really looks very different as Mackenzie than he does as himself. :p
Chaz lookin’ more haggard
I darkened the shadows around Chaz’ eyes today. I also tried to make her a wig of some of the poodle shag swatches, but I found it too difficult to work with. It has a more slippery, stretchy backing than regular faux fur, so it’s hard to measure and cut. >:(
Me, almost a decade ago: “BJDs are weird and disturbing, but fascinating.”
While I was finishing up the Great Diary Scanning Project, I discovered a diary entry from April 29, 2004, when I was first learning about and coveting BJDs:
April 19, 2004
I spent much of the weekend on the ‘Net, paging through sites of BJDs. I reconfirmed that CH [CustomHouse] Gene is the most beautiful doll in the world and that I really want it. I also finally articulated what makes me uncomfortable about BJDs….
Physically, BJDs [speaking about the majority here] look prepubescent. Their heads take up a large part of their body proportions similar to the way that a baby’s proportions do. They also have eyes that are large for their faces the way that a child’s eyes are. Finally, the girls have no breast development, the boys comically small dicks. They look like kid dolls.
At the same time, BJDs also seem adolescent and adult. They have luxuriant wigs, the hair on which could never be so thick or full on an actual child. Only a teenager has time to grow the waist-length hair popular with these dolls. BJDs’ swappable eyes recall vanity contact lenses that teens or young adults use to look cool. As the final point, every BJD’s facial paint scheme — called by the age-neutral term "paint ops" when discussing action figs, is called "makeup" or "faceup." Makeup is associated with teens and adults more than children. Hmm, maybe they’re teenaged dolls. [Volks actually has a line of Super Dollfies called SD13 which is supposed to have a "more mature body," but that just convinces me that the default bodies were LESS mature and therefore childlike.]
The same ambiguity about how to relate to BJDs as characters appears among BJD owners. Lots of them refer to the arrival of the doll as its "birthday," giving the impression that it was born recently and is therefore a young child. And then you even get a few people calling their BJDs [as the Volks Web site — "Choose what kind of daughter you would like to have" — encourages] their kids. That’s just too weird for me.
The overwhelming majority of BJD owners put their BJDs’ ages in the mid- to late teens and have them act selfish, willful, mischievous — like very stereotypical teenagers. BJD owners also usually sexualize their dolls with fetish wear, shirtless modelling and/or photostories about lust, infatuation and sex. Since the dolls are objects and they are frequently endowed with sexual meanings, I think they’re sex objects.
Here is my problem — it’s a child-shaped sex object. I don’t care if you say that it houses a teenaged character. It’s still a child-shaped sex object that exaggerates and stylizes the youth-like features of the object [big eyes, "pure skin" — actually a type of Volks resin for the BJDs, lack of secondary sex characteristics], so that the youth-like features become salient and attractive. There’s a pederastic tinge to BJD ownership when I think of it this way.
…
I love the ambiguity of the dolls, even though it makes me uncomfortable. They have human-like shapes, but their huge eyes and overall small size make them seem like stereotypical faeries or some sort of non-human creatures. Due to purposely ill-defined sex characteristics, they look very ambiguous and androgynous. Their pre- to post-adolescent age range somehow unfixes them from the aging process so they seem outside of time or age, therefore assignable to any time or age one wants to assign them to.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1561830.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
SyFy continues its campaign against WOC…
…by writing all two regular WOC out of Warehouse 13 in season 4. In 4.10, Artie murders Leena, proprietor of the B&B where Warehouse agents stay. In 4.20, the season finale, Claudia severs the connection between the Warehouse and Mrs. Frederic, the erstwhile caretaker of the Warehouse. Now a normal human being without superpowers, Mrs. Frederic has no plot function, which means that she will not appear in the truncated and final fifth season. Goodbye, token attempts at diversity. Been nice knowin’ ya.
I notice that both black women in Warehouse 13 a) were defined largely by their roles as glorified housekeepers [Mammy alert! Mammy alert!] and b) deprived of their power by white people. I can’t believe that no one involved with the show said, "Hey, why are we deleting all the WOC? What’s wrong with us? Let’s examine our show for some fucking racism!"
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1561487.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Chaz’ new chair
Today I also got some sort of salon chair that will serve as the base for Chaz’ electric wheelchair. Finally she can get out of the manual!
I think I need to darken Chaz’ faceup some more. It keeps washing out.
Rumpy Pumpy now stocked with bags
I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to fill the Rement Beauty Counter with bags. I have very few purses and such.
I am thinking of making Rumpy Pumpy a general secondhand store selling cool stuff. Then I could use some of my interesting accessories that otherwise would never appear.
In any case, I have to change the title of the Beauty Counter.
Yamarrah’s hair
Look what I got today! Faux fur for Yamarrah’s hair! Initially she was going to have black/red/purple zigzag hair, but, as I decided she is a fire elemental, I wanted to continue the orange coloration beginning on her semi-transparent hands. Incidentally, I wanted this to be the material for Mellifer’s wig, but it was sold out when I was ready to buy, so he got a purple base with orange and yellow spikes instead.
My other favorite angel
Besides the Angel of Grief, my favorite angel is the one in Abbott Thayer’s painting Stevenson Memorial, which he painted in 1903 to commemorate Robert Louis Stevenson. Most of my comments about the Angel of Grief’s earthy, mortal, emotional nature also apply to the Stevenson Memorial angel. I love her bulk, her weight, her solidity. I love how the browns and greens in her hair, wings and robe reflect the browns and greens of the swallowing background, making her organic, natural and concrete. I love how the background is so dark that she appears to be glowing in the night. I love her melancholy, thoughtful expression, her eyes turned down in contemplation, the fact that she’s almost pouting. I love how she’s not really an angel after all, no diaphanous light-made being with fearsome tidings from God, but an actual, fleshly person bearing the weight of symbolism on her shoulders and the weight of grief in her heart.
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Further refining of Pearlene’s neck and faceup draft
Bulked out her neck more and sanded it, while also carving out neck hole in bottom of her head. For her faceup, narrowed her eyes, lowered her eyebrows and added shadows. Glossed eyes and lips. As usual, black acrylic and brown watercolor pencil.
Continue reading Further refining of Pearlene’s neck and faceup draft
Refining Pearlene’s neck
Head didn’t rotate on previous draft of neck, so I thinned and lengthened neck. Head now rotates.
Pearlene’s eyes need to be narrower and her eyebrows lower.
Roughing in Pearlene’s neck
Sculpted some additional thickness onto the core of her neck tonight. I’m not going for anatomical accuracy here, but for serviceability.
Timonium is a pain.
Ever since I decided to clean up his lips, I have faced challenges in repainting them satisfactorily. Here’s the latest iteration:
Yamarrah’s earrings
I pierced her ears today by putting a drill bit in my Dremel and using a very low speed. Success!
Pearlene’s neck and shoulders
Roughing in shoulders and neck this morning.
Yamarrah’s sports bra and sweatshirt
Commissioned from violetheavensky on Etsy, these meticulous, affordable items arrived today.
Continue reading Yamarrah’s sports bra and sweatshirt
Theophany’s back!
Here’s what Theophany looked like before zingor on DOA [Robin Garcia] touched her up:
Continue reading Theophany’s back!
Isabel’s mess
Well, technically, it’s Isabel’s doll studio, but it’s a barely organized heap of several projects in progress, so it’s pretty messy. I should start making this. I’ve been amassing dolls, doll parts, shelves and tables for her for quite some time, and I think I need to just dive right in and do it. The huge list of supplies I want to stock her with looks daunting, but, as much of it is either easily made or cut down from my own supplies, I should be able to quickly generate it.
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Clothes for fat dolls
I realize that bodysuits made for male action figures should fit well on all the fat female figures I’m making. They would make easy bases for outfits that would also showcase the shapely figures I have been adding to!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1557321.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Pearlene’s framework for neck and shoulders
Made Pearlene an internal framework of wooden coffee stirrers and hot glue for her neck and shoulders.
Continue reading Pearlene’s framework for neck and shoulders
Update to Perdita
Redid Perdita’s eyebrows and controlled her hair with Mod Podge tonight. Now waiting for her oxygen mask…and some hands.
You never forget your first Jareth.
I mark the beginning of my doll customizing career with my first 1:6 scale Jareth doll, which I created in November and December of 2001 as an Xmas present for Jill. [After all these years, she still has him! He hangs out with her 1:6 scale dolls who use wheelchairs.] Let’s see how far I’ve come….
TRAIN SHOW ROAD TRIP THIS OCTOBER!
Feeling a desolate lack of train shows in my life [last one we went to was in March 🙁 ], I checked the online calendars for local upcoming events. Sure, there’s the annual show in Rutland the last weekend in September, but I hear that’s the smallest of the Vermont shows. Why go to Rutland [at all] when we can go to the annual Southern New England O Scale Model Train Show in Gardner, MA, a week later? It’s an entire day devoted to Janna’s favorite scale! Also the ads say there will be homemade pie and "other goodies."
Gardner is about 3.5 hours away by car, eminently doable. We could travel down Friday, spend the night locally, enjoy trains on Saturday, then travel back Saturday afternoon or evening.
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Pearlene: arms and mockup
Tonight I set Pearlene’s arms back in their sockets and secured the other half of the sockets to them.
Cola’s new hair
I made a wig for Cola last night out of my grey faux fur with 3" pile. I accidentally cut it against the grain of the fur so that the hair sticks up straight, but I decided that vertical hair suits Cola’s energetic personality. I also tried shortening her hair with about 85% success. Here’s what a wig made of the uncut 3" grey looks like on Doctor Z [whose hair was also cut from the fur so that it is pointing down]:
Crutches by MyFroggyStuff!
Temporary armpit crutches, not forearm crutches.
Hmmm, maybe I should make Peter forearm crutches instead of a walker. The walker is being a shit.
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Claw machine by MyFroggyStuff!
Hey, about three months after I decided to make a claw machine of my own, MyFroggyStuff posted her own tutorial!! Someday I’m gonna get around to making mine…
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Adding fats, la la la
I have been bulking up Pearlene’s body for the past few days with Apoxie Sculpt. I like her thighs and her butt the best!
The Real Heroes works well as a base body since it’s thick to begin with and sturdy enough to handle weighty additions. Its simple construction allows it to be taken apart with ease, while it provides enough articulation to do the basics.
Cola the Zombie Killer
As much as I think Cola is adorable, I’ve decided that her character is slightly more complex.
Cola [legal name: Nicola] Fiore got her nickname because she is so bubbly. She says hello to everyone and never forgets a name. When she says, "How are you?" people feel like she really cares about the answer, and they end up telling her more than they expected. People describe her as warm, kind, caring and gentle. She is popular and beloved enough that people have suggested more than once that she should run for local office.
Cola runs her own yoga and aerobics studio, CoreWorks, specializing in "adaptive workouts," that is, yoga and aerobics for people with disabilities. She has a low-key teaching style in which she promotes "feeling at home in your body." She comes to Wharf Lane Apartments to teach weekly classes, which Chaz attends and enjoys very much. Chaz encourages Isabel to come with her. After a series of classes, during which Isabel learns that she is more flexible than she expected, she feels proud of herself and less hostile toward her fats.
Of course, Cola has her secrets. When the Cold Choice makes its yearly appearance and PWS have to confront brain shortages, Cola trades in black-market brains of dubious quality and/or provenance, always at a significant markup. She is one of the most successful Killers [black-market dealers] because she presents her illegal options as a favor that she’s doing for you because she doesn’t want to see anyone suffer.
Though Cola is considered one of the most trustworthy Killers, she faces opposition. Firsthand accounts swear up and down that she has passed off expired brains as fresh and pig brains as human. And who knows where she gets her brains anyway? Her supporters insist that she would never dupe PWS that way and, besides, the expired brains were just a few days over anyway. And all her brains are certified cruelty-free. Cola’s reputation mostly protects her, but the rumors never wholly disappear.
Then she is arrested for conspiring to kill people and harvest their brains for resale. She hired nursing staff in elder care facilities who would kill clients in ways that seemed to be of natural causes. She justifies herself by saying, "I offer a painless, compassionate end to people whose time has come. And they get to be useful. Doesn’t everyone want to leave a legacy and do something good for the world?"
During her trial, it comes out that Cola herself has spondis. The press gleefully labels her Cola the Zombie Killer. Her defense tries to argue that her spondis-related brain damage left her unable to tell right from wrong. The PWS community is pissed off by the defense’s insulting and erroneous assumption, "Cola making us look bad," the abnormal public thinking that their stereotypes of PWS as evil, remorseless, grisly murderers are justified, etc.
The opinions of PWS split on Cola. Her supporters can’t really deny that she did it, but they say that she acted out of compassion. Her detractors think that she committed unforgivably revolting crimes. Chaz reacts with anger born out of a sense of personal betrayal, saying that she should be punished harshly because she’s "a bad example and a traitor to her own kind. She took advantage of us all for her own selfish ends!" Anna notices that Cola’s hits out on old and almost always disabled people demonstrate ageism, ableism and an obsession with being "productive" and "useful," with the implication that elderly and/or disabled people aren’t worth living. Isabel feels confused, surprised that Cola has been doing unethical, illegal things and tainted by association because she attended some of Cola’s classes.
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Yamarrah on her body!
I filled in Yamarrah’s deep neck socket with Aves Apoxie Sculpt this weekend. Here she is waiting for her shirt and for some wiring. I think her sculpt is beautiful, even unpainted. I like how rectilinear and smooth it is.
Right now I’m planning to do flames along her neck, flames for eyebrows [!], flames up her forearms and possibly flames on her ears. This may change once I actually start scribbling on her.
Perdita nears completion.
Last night I took off Perdita’s scalp, erased her eyebrows and lips and increased the size of her breasts. I wasn’t planning on adding to her chest size, but I mixed up way too much Aves Apoxie Sculpt for another project, so I decided to slap some on Perdita.
At left, a Disney Pocahontas head on an articulated Barbie body illustrates the splayed thighs that so many doll enthusiasts find "unladylike." At right, Perdita shows her current condition.
Continue reading Perdita nears completion.
Peter modified yet again
Reduced the back of his skull globe and lengthened his legs back to original length.
Peter and Rement Beauty Counter
Here’s Peter with the Rement Beauty Counter that I got in the mail yesterday. It’s too short to be set on the floor as is.
Continue reading Peter and Rement Beauty Counter
Aren’t you a cute little AAAH WHERE’D YOUR HANDS GO?!
Janna alerted me to a box of cheap Barbies at the ReSource resale shop on Thursday. Because I need more dolls, I checked them out. Though they had haircuts, they were all in good condition, with the slight smudges of definite love and wear. Surprisingly, most were Fashionistas, which made them a real temptation, since they were $3.00 apiece. However, I have three Fashionistas [Shopping While Constipated and two Dream House friends — I sold the other two] that I have yet to do anything with, so I didn’t want to stock up on them just for the sake of cheapness.
I could not, however, resist the one below. She had ridiculously loose joints, several pinpricks in her face and, most glaringly, no hands. For these reasons, I only paid a buck for her. In my current hacking and slashing mood, I thought I could experiment on her with body mods. For easy reference, I have named her Perdita, which means "the lost one" in Latin, in keeping with her neglected, salvaged state. I have a feeling that I may end up more attached to her than some of my much more expensive dolls.
Continue reading Aren’t you a cute little AAAH WHERE’D YOUR HANDS GO?!
BJD jargon, as used on DOA
An incomplete glossary of selected terms from the BJD subculture, assuming that the reader at least knows what a BJD is:
Suwarikko
Sanding
DOA
Eye putty
Restringing
Adoption: the process of buying a BJD on the secondary market. Some people use an extended metaphor of their BJDs as children.
Blushing/Brushing: application of chalk pastels and/or acrylic paint to a BJD’s body to represent variations in skin tone. Called "blushing" when applied to a doll’s head, but "body blushing" when applied elsewhere.
Bonding: emotional attachment that an owner ostensibly develops to a BJD.
Boy/Girl: a BJD, depending on the assigned sex of the doll, almost always used with possessive pronouns [e.g., "My girl looks so cute holding your boy!"] as part of the BJD:child metaphor.
Dolly diet: restriction of BJD-related purchases, usually because one has recently overspent.
Event head: a limited edition head issued by a BJD company as part of a sales event.
Faceup: hand-painted blushing, eyebrows and lips on a BJD’s head. Term seems to be a combination of "face" + "makeup."
Fullset: a limited edition BJD sold with a particular faceup, eyes, wig, outfit and sometimes accessories. Also used as an adjective, as in, "I’m selling her with the fullset dress and bonnet, but keeping the shoes."
Group order: a business transaction headed by an organizer who combines many small orders into a single large one, takes orders for participants, then submits all the orders as a single large purchase to the doll company. Item prices factor in a base price, a percentage of shipping from the doll company to the organizer, then shipping and handling from organizer to partner. The organizer collects payment, places the order, receives the items, then ships them to participants.
Grail doll: the one particular BJD that someone really wants, but often has difficulty acquiring because of limited edition, scarcity, expense, etc.
Heel feet: BJD feet sculpted with toes flexed up so that a doll can wear high heels. Sometimes sculpted as a single piece with the calf to eschew ankle joints and add stability.
KIPS: small silicone discs used by Volks in a BJD’s joint sockets to help the doll pose better. A type of sueding.
Mod: either a truncation of "modify" or "modification." To make change to a BJD, usually through the addition of sculpting epoxy putty or through the use of sandpaper and other subtractive tools, or the change itself.
MSC: Mister Super Clear, a Japanese spray used to seal a faceup or body blushing.
MSD: Mini Super Dollfie, the line of ~40cm, 1:4 scale BJDs created by Volks. As the first commercially available BJDs of this size, they have also become the standard by which other dolls are measured. Thus MSD also refers more generically to the size of the doll, i.e., 40cm and 1:4 scale. Sellers of BJD clothes, accessories or props may refer to things as "MSD" or "MSD size," which does not necessarily imply any association with Volks MSDs.
NSFW/NWS: not safe for work/not work safe. These labels appear on shots of BJDs with visible nipples and/or genitalia that, it is assumed, may not be prudent to view at one’s workplace.
OC: original character or a BJD representation thereof, in implicit contrast to the many BJD representations of fictional characters from other media.
Recast: an illegally duplicated BJD, often much lower in price than the legitimate original. Recasts may be literal recasts, i.e., products of unauthorized use of official molds, or copies achieved by reverse-engineering a mold from an existing legitimate BJD.
Reshelling: deciding that a different type of BJD would make a better representation of a character [often an OC] than the doll one currently has, selling the current shell and buying a new one.
SD: Super Dollfie, the line of 60cm, 1:3 scale BJDs created by Volks. As the first commercially available BJDs of this size, they have also become the standard by which other dolls are measured. Thus SD also refers more generically to the size of the doll, i.e., 60cm and 1:3 scale. Sellers of BJD clothes, accessories or props may refer to things as "SD" or "SD size," which does not necessarily imply any association with Volks SDs.
Shell: a BJD representation of a fictional character, often an OC.
Sleeping head: a BJD head with fully or partly closed eyes. Fully closed eyes do not require the use of eyeballs and may not even have sockets, while partly closed eyes have sockets and can use eyeballs. There is no standard terminology for sleeping heads. One company’s "sleeping" [e.g., Fairyland] is another company’s "romantic" [Soom], "reminisce" [Elfdoll], "slack afternoon" [Dollshe], etc.
Split: a type of group order where an organizer advertises that they want to buy a doll, but only for certain parts. The remaining parts are then available for split partners to purchase. Group order procedures then follow. Also the act of selling parts of a doll separately on the secondary market.
Sueding: the addition of some type of grippy material to a BJD’s joint balls and/or sockets to help the doll hold poses better. Materials include suede, hot glue and KIPS discs.
Yellowing: the discoloration of a resin BJD when exposed to sunlight. May be counteracted to some degree by stabilizers that keep the resin pigmentation from changing too much, the addition of UV resistance to resin, coating the BJD with MSC or another sealant or just keeping the doll in the dark, but is ultimately inevitable.
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Workin’ on Barrett
I erased Barrett’s default eyebrows and sheared his default hair this evening. Amazing how much younger he looks! I also changed his shirt, since I decided he was too uninterested in his looks to wear a snazzy red button-down. He got the puke sweater instead.
Whoo hoo!
Just came across a picture of Timonium on the BJD Showcase Tumblr, a collection of messily done BJDs. That makes…hmmm, let’s see…how many BJDs of mine that have been mocked on various boards and blogs?
- Jareth 1.0 for looking deformed
- Frank for being a defacement of a Volks LE
- Sardonix 2.0 for having a schematic, indestructible faceup made of undiluted acrylic paint
- Timonium for being messy
In a special subcategory is Araminthe. When B&G Dolls put out their LE Burrysa with neutral and snarling heads, a thread started on Den of Demons mocking the crabby expression on her snarling head. I didn’t even know this doll existed until I saw the DoD thread, which inspired me to purchase Araminthe. No one has specifically mocked Araminthe, but her sculpt has been made fun of.
I’m quite sure that someone out there is heaving their guts out over photos of Jareth 2.0, but I haven’t found proof of that yet.
Man! Just wait till I puke all over my color-mismatching hybrid between a super-expensive LE Iplehouse head and a mechanically recalcitrant, cheapo body! [That’s Yamarrah, folks.] Maybe I can make the BJD Showcase again!
Actually, you know what annoys me the most about Timonium’s appearance on that Tumblr? My photo was used without attribution. I told the blogger to either put a source link or take down the photo. Otherwise, how are Showcase readers gonna know where to fling their poo, huh?!?!?!?!?
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Oh Dollmore, should I ever forgive you?
Dollmore, the dirty rotten cheatin’ BJD co. that recast its 70cm Model Doll male sculpts from Dollshe’s sculpts of the same size, continues to piss me off. They keep making dolls that I want, but cannot buy on the primary market because that would mean supporting a dirty rotten cheatin’ BJD co. Unfortunately, the Dollmore dolls I want never materialize on the secondary market.
The first Dollmore BJD I lust after is the 1:6 scale Melissa Hon, who first entered my field of vision about three years ago as the inresination of the protagonist of Intellectum, the doll-based series I never did, about a magical library, its employees, patrons and denizens. I have never seen owner pictures or sales posts for her on DOA or Ebay, and I only found someone who owned her a few months ago, but she has not procured pictures for me because she has been too busy. My desire for this particular doll has only increased over time because I have never seen her for sale outside of Dollmore, where I cannot bring myself to purchase her. In short, I want her because I haven’t been able to obtain her.
The second Dollmore BJD I lust after is the latest sculpt in their Dollmore Trinity series, Elysia. She’s 105cm tall, which is about 41 1/3 inches. That’s 1:2 scale — child size! To compare this with dolls with which I’m familiar, the length from her shoulder to the lower edge of her wrist ball joint is 30.5cm, just a smidgen taller than any of my male Soom Faery Legends. From hip to floor, she’s 54cm, which is on the smallish side for the total height of a 1:3 scale female BJD. She weighs 7.15kg, which is nearly 16 lbs.! The fullset version I linked to contains doll, faceup, wig, eyes, dress and shoes for $2780.00. $140.00 EMS s/h to US is extra.
I love her because her full features suggest childhood, but, despite her childlike size, she is generic enough to represent other older ages. Her open mouth makes her look pensive, wondering, speaking or stupefied, depending on the angle, so I like its multitude of interpretations. I like her because she is so big…not as unwieldy as a mannequin, but as big as I always think 1:3 scale BJDs should be when I see glamour shots of them: large enough to enter the uncanny valley, but small enough to remain obviously unhuman. I also like the fact that her joints are simple and almost perfectly spherical where possible, giving her the air of an antique doll.
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Yogurt
I just ate a yogurt that supposedly expired at the beginning of May. Not dead yet!
Babycat cracks me up. Whenever she sees us opening up the little Greek yogurt containers, she goes O_O and parks at our feet, licking her little chops. If we give her the peach or strawberry yogurt, she sticks her little face in the container and licks out all the leavings. She refuses to do the same with the blueberry, though.
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Score!: a new addition to my set pieces
I love the Doll Page Show and Sell Site. It’s an online marketplace where people post free ads for their doll stuff, mostly FRs [Fashion Royalties] and high-end Barbies, though 1:4 scale Tonners and BJDs of all sizes form a steady minority. There’s also a small, but steady, minority of naked rescue dolls that I’d expect to find at a thrift store or garage sale. Prices are pretty reasonable for the secondary market, and, if you stalk the new ads, you can find some exceptional deals. The only thing I dislike about the site is that sold items do not automatically disappear from the search results, which means they keep hanging around to taunt me. :p
Anyway, I have sold a few items on the Doll Page and purchased even more. I got a kitchen hutch with crockery for $30.00 shipped, which was just about what I was willing to pay. The seller actually refunded me s/h [$15.00], as one of the crocks broke in transit, so the hutch ended up being just $15.00.
Some aforementioned cheap nudes also came from the Doll Page.
FR London Calling Kyu Barrett also came from the Doll Page. Just to give you an idea of the low prices you can find there, I bought Barrett for $75.00 shipped because the seller wanted to clear him out so she could buy someone else. :p Other MIB dolls of his type are asking $100.00, $115.00, $116.00 and $215.00 shipped. Asking prices are higher on Ebay.
My most recent Doll Page score is a MIB Rement Beauty Counter for $55.00 shipped. I had never heard of this piece before last week because it’s really rare and from the early days of Rement [2005, according to HLJ]. The most recent one that sold on Ebay went for $74.98 shipped, while there are a few that remain up for between $135.99 and $189.00 shipped, both of which are ridiculous prices.
Anyway, here’s a box photo by seller kari. Accessories not included. This set piece will show up in Rumpy Pumpy to display either jewelry or bags and other accessories.
All the 1:6 scale BJDs: who I’ve got
In reference to my running list of all the 1:6 scale BJDs, this is who I’ve got:
- Alchemic Lab Unoa Light Azurite
- Batchix Nan Sook
- Elfdoll Kathlen [head only], Doona Ryung [head only]
- Lumedoll Lumelight Arine x2 [+ 1 head only], Blaze [head only], Elin, Lucas, elf Koit [head only]
- Soom Mini Gem Garam, Uyoo, Romantic Uyoo; Faery Legend Aenigma [+ 1 head only], Auber, Kremer, Metato.
- Souldoll Soul Little Metel
- Tinybear Bonbon
I would love to acquire the following:
- Dollmore Kidult Melissa Hon
- Elfdoll Devil
- Limhwa/Eosdoll Mari/Sara
- Notdoll Symposion of any sculpt
- Soom Mini Gem
Garam and/orSosle
Melissa Hon is because she looks like the protagonist of Intellectum. The Devil is because she was the sculpt of Submit 1.0. Mari/Sara is because I would like to rescue that sculpt from its associations with the odious Kristin. The Notdolls are just because I want one and regret getting rid of my tanned Lucy. Garam and/or Sosle are is because they replicate the big-eyed charms of my favorite Mini Gem Uyoo. EDIT: Now that I’ve got Garam and Romantic Uyoo, the other two discontinued Mini Gems, I kind of want Sosle just to have a complete set.
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Rumpy Pumpy and the Body Shop
Both of these are significant places in Zombieville, in Burlington’s South End, right next door. Rumpy Pumpy is at 402 Pine Street, while the Body Shop is in the same building at 404.
Rumpy Pumpy is, of course, Peter Paxton’s store. It’s a resale and consignment shop for vintage and funky shoes, bags and accessories. Because he lives off a trust fund that his rich parents provided him, he runs the store as a hobby. It never seems to do lots of business, but it has a reputation as the coolest outpost of fashion in Vermont. It supports local artists by displaying their work on its walls. It also participates in the yearly South End Art Hop and First Friday Art Walks.
The Body Shop is owned by Pearlene Eustis [see P. Bo hacking posts], a PWS and militant Z Pride activist. There’s another owner too, as yet undefined. The Body Shop is a cafe and community center. While Rumpy Pumpy welcomes PWS and works hard to support the city’s arts community in general, the Body Shop explicitly welcomes and supports PWS. The owner hires PWS and offers menu items that contain fresh human brains. The walls showcase art by PWS, while a small stage in the back hosts bands, speeches and rallies by/for the PWS community.
The Body Shop welcomes Toxic Waste denizens hanging out, using the toilet and/or wireless connection, charging their phones, receiving mail c/o the Body Shop, pretty much everything except for taking baths in the bathroom. In return, the Body Shop asks for some contribution from the Toxic Waste denizens. There are a few designated places where PWS can make contributions: washing dishes, maintaining Web site, bookkeeping, transporting day-old food to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, arranging art exhibits, arranging bands, speakers and other events. Toxic Waste denizens regularly volunteer at the Body Shop, then end up working there part-time.
The Body Shop has a back corner, kind of behind the stage, for the Brain Trust. They hold their weekly meetings in this semi-private location, as well as any ad hoc subcommittee meetings. Anyone can sit there, but, if the Brain Trust shows up, people in their spot have to move.
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Head slicing on Pearlene
I decided that I could not save Pearlene’s lovely russet hair, as my resizing goals require me to actually see the full size and shape of her head, so I gave her a very bad haircut. I then did some more experimenting with photos of her in Photoshop.
Was I the only one…
…who liked the Mattel Flavas dolls? Leaving aside the bobbleheads on the girls and the lack of jointed knees [WHY?!?!], I liked them because they looked and dressed most like people I was likely to encounter everyday. Denim jackets, low-riding jeans, baggy windpants and warmup jackets, hightops, loose T-shirts, midriff-baring tops, baseball caps to wear backwards — these appeal to me much more than the ensembles provided with Integrity Fashion Royalties.
Apropos of everyday clothes for dolls, I think it would be fucking hilarious and also awesome if some company did a series of college student outfits:
- "8 AM Classes." Worn, faded T-shirt with university logo, plaid pajama pants, Ugg boots or slip-on sandals, notebook, pen, coffee cup, banana [for breakfast]. Female figures have loose ponytails; male figures have hair sticking up.
- "Go Sports Team!" Sweatshirt with university sports team logo, optional baseball cap with same, pennants and/or signs, air horn [hahahahahah!], little stuffed mascot, concession snack [hot dog or pretzel]. Facial screening includes face paint in school colors.
- "Exam Jam." T-shirt, jeans, socks, no shoes, laptop, notebook, pen, highlighter, stack of textbooks. Facial screening includes furrowed brows, bags under eyes and worried frowns.
- "Blind Date." Dressy clothes, flatter hair for male figures, more complicated updos and more makeup for female figures, cologne bottle for male figures, perfume bottle for female figures, wallets, smart phones and How To Ace Your First Date guidebook for both.
- "Senioritis." Tank tops, shorts, sneakers, baseball caps, shades, bikini top options for female figures, messy hair, books and magazines for pleasure reading, Frisbee, water bottle, sunbathing towel. Headsculpts have big smiles.
- "Now What?" Graduation gown, cap with tassel, diploma, congratulatory bouquet, yearbook, clothes and hairstyles a la "Blind Date." Headsculpts look like O_O.
I crack me up!
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Reproportioning Pearlene
I did some digital manipulations of Pearlene, and I think I can salvage her without the risky use of acetone. For example, just a small reduction of the size of her face on her head [i.e. reducing height of eyebrows, eyes and lips] makes her look so much better. I think I can get away with a repaint, a scalp reduction and a custom fat body [a modded male action figure?] to balance out the width of her head.
Continue reading Reproportioning Pearlene
Prunella, Deedee, Pearlene and the salvage dolls
Another lot of cheap nudes came today, the aforementioned Liv, P. Bo and Jazzie.
First, the Liv sacrificed her hands to Prunella. I cut open the Liv’s forearms at the wrist seams as unobtrusively as I could manage so that the body is available, albeit handless, for further experiments.
Continue reading Prunella, Deedee, Pearlene and the salvage dolls
Shrine to Andrea
As the Andrea tag indicates, I’ve had countless clothes made by her, dolls customized her and trades done with her. I’m amused because I’ve just looked around me and discovered how many dolls of mine she has a hand in:
At work:
- She
rerooted,made clothes for and enhanced the faceup of Steampink AJ. - She did body mods for, airbrushed the body of, repainted and made clothes for Peekaboo.
- She made the peach-colored faux snakeskin sofa that Peekaboo is sitting on.
At home, out and about:
- She rebodied, repainted, rerooted and made clothes for Prunella.
- She sold me Theophany.
- She made parts of the following people’s outfits: Isabel, Carter, Novella, Brandeis, Béatrice and Chaz.
- She repainted, rebodied, repaired and redressed a High School Musical Sharpay head on an articulated Barbie body, which I am in the process of acquiring.
At home, in storage:
- She head swapped and did body mods for Andrew.
- She repainted and rehaired Rori.
- She repainted and rerooted Dom.
- She made parts of the following people’s outfits: Janet, Davry, Marabou, AJ regular.
In sets and medium-size things:
- I sold her Bering Lusk, who she then eventually gave back to me. She also made most of the clothes Bering is wearing.
- She sold me the yellow mini Panton chair.
- She made many of the book dummies.
- She sold me the microwave.
And I haven’t even tried to encompass other clothes or Rements from her that are currently in storage. And I would be foolish to essay a full accounting of all those things from her I used to have, but no longer do.
^_^ ^_^ ^_^
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Yamarrah blank
A calculating cutie, deliberating on how to acquire her next creemee. She is not shown on her body yet because the neck is horribly short, so I have to fill in some of her neck socket at the bottom of her head.
I really like the clean, rectangular lines of her face. The curled tip on her tongue is my favorite detail, and I also appreciate her stupendously wide earspan.
Hackin’ up Barrett
Continued to work on him tonight.Continue reading Hackin’ up Barrett
Life in the Dream House Barbies!
My Shopping While Constipated Raquelle [and friends] arrived today! Here’s the first thing Raquelle did upon deboxing:Continue reading Life in the Dream House Barbies!
Yamarrah is here!
She’s wonderful! She has a little tongue! And little teefs! Iplehouse "real skin" is a nice light tan with a brown base.
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Improvement on Timonium’s lips
Darkened them with some wet black watercolor pencil, hit ’em with a few coats of satin varnish and erased some of the blurry dots around his lower lip. He’s ridiculously photogenic, I think, especially in stark lighting conditions.
Cutting Barrett down to size
I’ve been hacking away at Barrett today…
Chittenden County Doll Club, 07/13/13
On Saturday, Lyrajean, goldi, vermont chick and I gathered at the usual place at the usual time for the usual shenanigans. Photos ensued.
Timonium needs cleanup.
While taking pics of him at today’s CCDC meetup, I noticed that the borders of his bottom lip are hazy. Pebeo to the rescue [eventually]!!!!!
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Yamarrah shipped!
Seller PacificBlue [Maria] just alerted me that she has sent my Iplehouse Doria vampire head from Quincy, MA to my workplace by priority insured. She should arrive on Monday!!
Also scheduled to arrive Monday [to my house] is Barrett, my FR London Calling Kyu, who is apparently coming MIB. I can always use a nice, sturdy doll box for something….
My package containing the tan Liv, P. Bo and Jazzie has also left the building, but I’m not sure about the location from which it was sent or the shipping method.
No word on the progress of Shopping While Constipated Raquelle and friends, although I do have someone interested in one of the Dream House dolls coming with Raquelle.
It’s raining dolls!
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“1 month, 1 city, 1K books!”
Awwww, I love the Winooski Library. They just started a campaign to get the library patrons to collectively read a total of 1,000 books between July 15th and August 15th. If we hit that goal, we get an ice cream party!! Books and ice cream! What could be better?! Of course I’m going to pitch in by letting them know of all the books I read.
I wonder if there’s any capacity in which they need volunteers? I would love to regularly scan the stacks for books to sign out shelve books, for example.
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Just about the only FR I like
Integrity Toys’ current Fashion Royalty dolls because they’re mostly dolls with dour headsculpts, who can’t stand alone or hold items, wearing very femmey high fashion of a type that I never encounter in my daily life, for sale at a price that equals or exceeds the average Hot Toys licensed action figure. I’m not saying that I inherently dislike these traits; in fact, a quick glance at the small populations will show that plenty of them are dour and/or possessed of the inability to stand alone or hold item and/or very femmey and/or really expensive. I’m just saying that the FR line, in which the dolls consistently display all of these traits, bores the poop out of me. Obviously I am not the target audience.
That’s why, when I do happen upon an FR that I like, it’s cause for a blog post. Case in point: Simply Simpatico Darla Daley, from a 2011 Integrity convention giftset featuring Poppy Parker [the main doll in the eponymous line] and her friend, the aforesaid Darla, wearing coordinating and interchangeable outfit pieces. I give exactly zero shits about Poppy, who has a blond flip and a floral blazer and skirt, reserving all my admiration for Darla, who has a short, severe bob, a lilac dress shirt, floral cravat, fitted grey vest and fitted grey trousers.
Continue reading Just about the only FR I like
New naked little populations
Scored a bunch of cheap nudes from the Doll Page today. Continue reading New naked little populations
Mackenzie!!!
I finally, finally, finally hit that point in Me and My Muses where Mackenzie shows up!
I don’t have a doll of her yet, and I’m still considering how to do two aspects of her physical appearance that I’ve never done before on dolls. She has a receding hairline. I actually accidentally made a receding hairline for Mellifer in one of his early wigs because it wasn’t deep enough, so I think I can duplicate that.
She also has either a beard shadow [difference in facial pigmentation following areas of facial hair growth] or a five o’clock shadow [actual stubble], depending on how recently she has shaved. I’m probably going to go with a five o’clock shadow because it will be easy to create with watercolor pencil dots, as opposed to beard shadow, which is more subtle and requires too much effort to reproduce. :p
I’ve gotta check my drawer of available bodies to see what her choices are. I suppose that, if all else fails, she can always borrow Flower’s [WS] or Mellifer’s [NS] body. That may be the best course of action…depending, of course, on the selected head.
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Theophany needs help.
Just for reference, here is a closeup of Theophany’s current faceup in its worn-down state. She is an NS Soom Uyoo with default faceup.
Her eyebrows remain fine, and I’ve sealed the shit out of them so that they are impregnable.
However, her eyelid creases and eyelashes are rubbing away, particularly around her right eye.
Her lips have suffered the worst, with small rubs on the upper and large, obvious rubs on the lower.
I’m seeking faceup enhancement in the same style to restore her to a reasonable facsimile of her default, which I will then seal to hell so that it does not move.
FR Homme clothes?
I wonder if Barrett’s default outfit would fit Isabel. It’s incredibly LOUD and not really suitable for Barrett at all, except the jeans, socks and shoes.
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Do I know you?
I occasionally get requests to connect on LinkedIn from complete strangers. They include no messages indicating why they want to connect to me. Some of them appear to be indiscriminate spam generated by people somehow pestering vast swathes of people to connect with them, while others make me think that the sender actually sent me them for some reason [i.e., I just got one from someone who worked in my current city in 2011-2012], but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.
Why do people do this? It’s like walking up to someone on the street and saying, "Let’s exchange business cards!" Why? Who are you? Why should I trust you?
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Forest will soon have vines!
I have collected a sample from the woods near my work. It is most likely some kind of grape vine. I’m either going to use the sample itself in the set or make smaller models from it.
This 1909 pamphlet on the state’s shrubs and woody vines might help me identify it.
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The only straight guy in Zombieville
I just scored a fullset Fashion Royalty London Calling Kyu for $75.00 shipped! He looks like this [picture by AddisonDewitt on the Doll Page]:
Growth of the 1:6 scale forest
My forest set has been months in the making.
Back in November, 2012, I planned to get appropriate backdrops, including a sky, a deciduous forest in spring/summer and a deciduous forest in fall.
At that time, I also decided that I needed some 3D foreground trees, to be played by actual sticks.
Not until March, 2013, though, did I get around to beginning its construction. At this time, the forest was an extremely simple deciduous backdrop with a ground made of moss glued to foamcore. Trees were sticks with stands made out of nails.
I soon added another color of moss and brown crinkle paper to the humus on the ground. My first underbrush made of plastic greenery also appeared.
Next I made Aves Apoxie Sculpt bases, covered with moss and crinkle paper, for my trees. I added a few stands of slender trunks to the thicker ones.
The forest still looked sparse, so I added some sprays of plastic leaves to pass as young trees.
I tried putting down loose green crinkle paper for additional ground cover, but it was the wrong shade.
However, I eventually discovered the right shade of green.
Then I added stands of plastic ferns.
I am probably not finished with this set. I’d like to have the option of a stump or log, a conifer or two and maybe a rock.
EDIT: The pictures were not hiding behind the cut, so I removed them. >:(
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Having a tough time…
…determining the type of hijab my Bantu girl character would wear. Shayla? Al-amira? Khimar? I’m having better luck determining what it’s NOT [abaya, niqab, chador, burqa].
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She did it to offend YOU personally.
Yes, fashion blogger and nitpicker extraordinaire Mary Fischer. Sarah Jessica Parker wore sandals and socks the other day just to make YOU barf. She knows that your delicate constitution can’t handle such sins against fashion, and she maliciously plotted to upset your stomach. She’s evil. So am I.
Regards,
someone who won’t wear sandals WITHOUT socks
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Shopping While Constipated and other doll notes
- Béatrice’s faceup, especially her mouth, is rubbing off. [Maybe I forgot to seal it?] She needs redoing. She also needs her ridiculously large chandelier earrings…and maybe a hat. Her blindingly white skull makes her difficult to photograph.
- Theophany’s faceup is also wearing away, about which I’m very sad, since I bought her in part for the delicate default Soom faceup. I don’t do this light, layered type of look, so I suppose I’ll have to commission someone on DOA to replicate the same style.
- I really, really, REALLY want a Life in the Dream House Raquelle. All the dolls in the Dream House series have a high level of articulation and, more excitingly, as far as I’m concerned, expressive, slightly cartoony headsculpts that reflect their computer-animated inspirations. The Dream House Raquelle first came to my attention when someone on Figurvore characterized her as the "Shopping While Constipated Raquelle." I immediately loved her smirk, wrinkled eyebrows and asymmetrical features. Picture below the cut.
Continue reading Shopping While Constipated and other doll notes
Dollism Plus US 2014 now has an official date and place!
September 12th, 13th and 14th! At the Hyatt Regency in Buffalo, NY! We’re going to make a road trip of it, visiting Railroads on Parade in Pottersville, NY, on the way there. I’m thinking 1 to 1.5 days to get from here to RROP and thence to Buffalo, 1.5 to 2 days at the convention, then 1 day to drive back.
Hmmm…looks like about 2 hours from here to RROP. We could drive down in the morning, have lunch and spend the afternoon at RROP. We could either spend the night locally or drive a bit father and spend the night closer to Buffalo. The route from RROP to Buffalo goes right through the Adirondacks, so there are plenty of small hotels and B&Bs to choose from.
The next day we could drive the rest of the way to Buffalo, arriving mid- to late afternoon, in time for any late afternoon or evening convention events. The next day would be all convention, and the day following would be all the return trip.
Possible itinerary
Day 1 [Thursday]: Drive to RROP. See RROP. Option #1: Spend night in Pottersville. Option #2: Spend night in some place between Pottersville and Utica [2 hours from Pottersville]. Option #3: Spend night in Utica.
Day 2 [Friday]: Drive rest of way to Buffalo. Attend convention in later afternoon and/or early evening. Spend night in Buffalo.
Day 3 [Saturday]: Attend convention. Option #1: After full day at convention, spend night in Buffalo. Option #2: After partial day at convention, leave in late afternoon and spend night in Rochester [1.25 hours from Buffalo]. Option #3: After partial day at convention, leave in late afternoon and spend night in Syracuse [2.75 hours from Buffalo].
Day 4 [Sunday]: Drive home.
Day 5 [Monday]: Collapse.
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Now the forest set has ferns!
I found some sprays of plastic ferns in the clearance section at Michael’s last week and couldn’t pass them up. Tonight I broke out the ferns, some leftover dried moss and the Aves Apoxie Sculpt to make some more ground cover.
Continue reading Now the forest set has ferns!
Slight progress on the walker
I raised it up higher by not gluing the wheels so far up the chair legs. I also removed the default plastic front cross brace and added double front wheels. Walker is now about 1cm taller [and so is Peter, for that matter, making him more proportional, thank God!].
This project is giving me so much grief. -_-
Jareth’s latest faceup
Erased the watercolor pencil lips and redid them in paint. Bottom lip is tomato red acrylic. Top lip is same, darkened with a bit of black. Also went over his eyebrows with black paint. Sealed the shit out of his mouth with satin varnish and eyebrows with matte.
Here he is borrowing Yamarrah’s body. The bad proportions make me twitch.
Shortening Prunella
Hacked off a centimeter from each of her ankles, pried open hack-offs to rescue ankle pins, drilled out new ankle holes and jammed ankle pins up there, tightening with hot glue. Gotta do something with her hands next. I like them, but they are way out of scale.
Continue reading Shortening Prunella
All my dolls, 07/07/2013
It’s been about a month and a half since my last census, and things have changed yet again, mostly in the active populations at my house. I’m reusing photos from the last census for everyone except the "out and about" crew at home.
Continue reading All my dolls, 07/07/2013
Prunella the slightly unhinged
I got a package from Andrea yesterday [the first at my new address, yay!] containing, among other things, Prunella Jones. She came to me under the name Gavali, a repainted, rerooted High School Musical Gabriella head on an articulated Ballerina Barbie body drilled to accept action figure hands. Naturally, Andrea did the reroot and repaint, as well as the custom zip-up jumpsuit.
Continue reading Prunella the slightly unhinged
Yamarrah’s body has arrived!
I’m surprised the package didn’t disintegrate on the way from Sweden, however, given that it was a mere shoebox secured with Scotch tape, with the address label on a single sheet of wrapping paper poorly adhered to the box. >_>
Fortunately, however, the contents arrived intact, though fully strung. I expected an unstrung doll, so was actually disappointed that I did not have to reassemble her.
Though renowned for its poor posing abilities, the Domuya Flexi body is much more than I expected. Mine, at least, is strung with just the right tension, and it’s balanced, engineered and weighted well enough to stand on high-pile carpeting right out of the box. There are indeed lots of joints, making the body better suited to sitting, lying, slouching and curling up, rather than standing. However, nearly every single joint has locks so that limbs and torso segments can keep their position. Thus the body is pretty solid, even without wiring, though I am gonna wire the arms.
Anyway, here’s Yamarrah’s body and outfit as it stands. The sweatshirt fits, but it rides up on her shoulders whenever I move her arms, so I will not be using it. Instead I will go with an oversize, lightweight T-shirt of the same color with a boat neck and raglan sleeves [yeah, 1980s!!!]. I just have to commission that. The sweatshirt will do for now, though. Besides the shirt, I’m very pleased with the results. I look forward to painting flames up her forearms and neck to disguise some of the resin difference.
Got some swatches this week for Jareth’s Outfit of Amazingness #1!
Whhhaaa, the neck is too short and wide! *twitch twitch*
Sticking Jareth’s head temporarily on Janvier Jett’s body gives me conniptions of wrongness. Nevertheless, I redid his lips in crimson red watercolor pencil, outlined with dark brown watercolor pencil, and managed to see that it was a great improvement over that previous vile orangey shit before I succumbed to the distraction of HORRIBLY WRONG PROPORTIONS GAAAAAHHHHH.
Continue reading Whhhaaa, the neck is too short and wide! *twitch twitch*
Animated kitty cat parade!
This never fails to cheer me up!
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I miss Jareth :(
I mean, I miss my Jareth BJD, whose body is out at the tailor’s. He used to sit right next to my living room chair so that I could enjoy his gleeful fabulosity merely by looking over to the side. Now he’s temporarily gone. I hope he’ll be back soon!
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My CG body with the huge boobs
Ever since one of its legs broke off, I’ve been saving both the body and the leg, primarily because a body with that size tits is pretty rare.
Now that I have grown much more proficient in drilling, hacking and Apoxie Sculpting things, I think that I could reattach its leg using a long pin through the top of the thigh and anchored into the crotch. This fix would prohibit rotation at the thigh, but would allow swinging back and forth. That’s good enough for me. Then Anneka, even though she is now in storage, could have her body back.
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Now with bonus fetus accessory!
As I have previously noted, Ringdoll does wonderfully gross things with their BJD concepts. Their reissue of Frankenstein [sic] is no exception. The reissue comes out in the beginning of August along with his bride Eva. The basic Eva comes with the following, a direct quote from the sales promo:
- New grey body
- High-heeled feet
- Fetus
- Wig
- Eyes
Hah hah hah hah, that’s amazing! I wonder what a BJD fetus looks like. Does it have eyes and/or joints? Does it come with a ball-jointed placenta and optional bloodstains? Can we pop it in and out of Eva’s uterine cavity?
Just to be clear, I do not think fetuses are gross. In the context of Frankenstein and Eva, however, who are corpse-based cyborgs, a dead fetus accessory for Eva is pretty revolting. Also awesome.
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Me and My Muses 6.9: “Who Am I?”
Ellery talks to her muse[s], and the ambiguity rises. Thus ends season 6, and we’re going on hiatus again while I, uh, write the rest of the story…
NOPE! Not working.
I decided to improve Jareth’s faceup today. Since his body is out being fitted for fabulous clothes beyond imagination [!!!!!!!], Janvier Jett allowed him to borrow hers. First he borrowed her wig and glasses too. He has rocked her wig and a pair of the orange spectacles before, but him on her body with all her gear just strikes me as jarringly wrong. [I wonder what he’ll look like on Yamarrah’s Domuya Flexi body when it comes?]
Dead version of Isabel’s improved skirt
I made two changes to the dead version of Isabel this weekend. I lengthened her neck prong so that her head stays on more firmly. I also made her an overskirt out of the sparkly purple fabric I got from Georgia Landau.
Originally I wanted the overskirt to be a subdued addition of color to the dead version’s flat black velvet skirt. So I made the skirt wrong way out, showing a predominantly black field with occasional pieces of purple glitter. I liked the effect, but thought that the hems were too even. I then cut strips into both her underskirt and overskirt to suggest shredding after years in the ground. She now has voluminous rags with regular black velvet nap, slightly shiny black velvet "wrong side," sparkly purple and only slightly sparkly "wrong side," all of which are showing, as the rags twist in various directions. I really like the effect!
Anna’s improved electric wheelchair
Anna’s wheelchair finally fits her. I lengthened the foot rest bar, which was originally too short. I also adjusted the joybox so that it extends out from the end of the armrest so that she can reach it with her left arm in a natural, relaxed position.
Before I did 1:6 scale action figures and BJDs…
…I did 1:6 scale paper dolls. In the fall of 1997, I drew several of Jareth [much to my frustration, he never came out right], myself and various fictional characters. I’ve selected my two favorites for exhibition today.
Continue reading Before I did 1:6 scale action figures and BJDs…
Somali Bantu minor character
Given that I see resettled Somali Bantu people everywhere around Winooski, especially kids, I think Zombieville needs at least one, a young woman, who was moved here with her family at a very young age.
EDIT: The Somali Bantu Community Organization of Vermont [which is in Winooski] estimates that there are about 600 Somali Bantu people in Chittenden County. As far as I can tell, the highest concentrations are in the Old North End of Burlington and in Winooski.
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No tonsil hockey :(
Iplehouse just released another doll in the Addiction special edition: a version of nYID Bianca. Like Aaliyah and Doria [whence Yamarrah], she has a fantasy head with fangs, pointy ears and optional horns. Unlike those dolls, though, Bianca’s fantasy head suffers from Sabertooth Fang Disorder, wherein the teeth are sculpted to hang outside of the mouth in a silly manner. [See also anything in the Dollpire line by DollMore.]
I’m surprised that Iplehouse, which does all of its sculpting digitally, did not choose to rework the lower half of Bianca’s face to accommodate a more open mouth and more realistic teefs. She doesn’t look like she has fangs; she just looks like she has two slightly raised triangles resting on her lower lip. Too bad, as I love everything else about the concept, including the outfit, the grey resin option and the flamboyantly large, oar-like ears with multiple piercings.
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Not bad.
I just read through the entire archive of Me and My Muses. It’s not bad, several typos and blurry photos notwithstanding. The typos irritate me more than anything.
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DOMA has fucked off and died!
Implications to follow. Ruling here to be read at my leisure.
EDIT: The fucking off of DOMA does not apparently entail the fucking off of anti-marriage state-level biases.
EDIT: Proposition 8 has fucked off too!
EDIT: The fuck off of Prop 8 only addresses the constitutionality of marriage in California, not the whole country in general. Meanwhile, the fuck off of DOMA addresses only those same-sex marriages that already exist, not, as I mentioned above, states without marriage equality.
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Improved Brandeis
This version is slightly different from the previous. She has adjusted nasal bridge lines and neatened mouth with satin varnish.
Fuck off, Bathroom Police!
Colorado’s civil rights division has determined that Coy Mathis, prohibited from using her school’s bathroom, has been unfairly discriminated against for being told to hold it all damn day just because she has a penis. She will now be able to take a shit on school premises again. Why we needed to go all the way up to the state judiciary to determine that taking a crap is an inalienable right is beyond me. But at least now the Bathroom Police Department in Colorado Springs, Colorado can fuck right the fuck off.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1536415.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Brandeis redux
Her outfit and her hair weren’t doing her any favors, so I improved them. Her faceup also needs refinement. I like the features, but the coloring is a little messy. I need to touch up her lips and the lines around her nose. Her eyebrows and eye bags, however, are perfect! She’s so cute.
Doctor Z redux
Her shiny purple face made her really difficult to photograph, so I wiped it this weekend and redid her. The darkness of her complexion, again, makes it hard for me to photograph her, but some highlighting helps pick out her features.
She also got new hair, the volume of which I reduced by flattening it with some Mod Podge. I also gave her a different top so she’s showing a little more skin.
Me and My Muses 6.8: “Who Are You?”
Ellery is trying to tell her muse Jamisia to shut up.
The walker now fits Peter.
More correctly, I should say that Peter has been altered to fit the walker. I took at least 2cm, possibly a bit more, out of both his thighs and his ankles. Yes, I am aware that he now looks ungainly, with long arms, massive hands and short legs. I’m okay with that. Very few people have idealized proportions. ^_^
Walker is too short :(
Here’s Peter with the latest iteration of the walker in progress. I added a front cross brace and handlebars this weekend. They are made out of 8 gauge solid copper, which I bent with the help of a hammer and lots of cursing.
As you can see, the walker is too short. The handles should be as high as the creases in his wrists. I have spent so much time on this damn thing that, at this point, it will be easier to make Peter shorter than to reconfigure his walker. >:[
Lesley Gore
I have developed a HUGE crush on Lesley Gore. I could watch her sing all day, even if it’s heteronormative bullshit. She sings with such power and force, propelling the words out from inside her with irresistible potency. That voice could knock down walls. She’s amazing!
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OMG new Lumedoll Lumelights!
There are three completely new sculpts: Fionn [sleeping dude], Kiran [awake dude], Helena [open-mouthed fem]. There’s also Mini Zero, a smaller version of Zero, a sold-out 1:3 scale Lumedoll notable for his inchoate, in-progress face.
There are also some new resin colors available: ebony [a darker, more intense brown than the very light tan], bronze [a deep brown with gold undertones] and, finally and most amusingly, "zombie" [a greenish grey that I cannot distinguish from the regular grey Lumedoll offers].
Now I regret ordering a bunch of Lumedoll heads before these new sculpts came out! I especially like Helena and Mini Zero, who would be great as some disturbing, lurking embodiment of silence or something. I wish I could get him in completely black resin. Then I would dress him in ridiculously long white linen robes and a white fur wig and call him Silencio. He would stand around freaking out all my fairies. :p Ebony would also work as a resin color for him, just as long as there was a stark contrast between his skin color and hair/clothing color.
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Obnoxious shoes on parade
I just scored duplicates of the Hasbro Shoezies L and N as shown in my inventory of bootfeet. Color combos are going to be lime/lemon and orange/magenta! \o/ I might also repaint M if I can get the feets out of the Shoezies. I need to get at least some gold and silver paint. Not sure if I need some orange.
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All my bootfeet, 06/19/2013
Now that I have decided to modify Isabel’s legs so that they have action figure ankle cups, thus allowing her to use my collection of bootfeet, I decided to take an inventory of what options for footwear she has:Continue reading All my bootfeet, 06/19/2013
She’s still got it…
Here’s Lesley Gore doing You Don’t Own Me in 1989 with the same expressive passion that she imbued the performance I recently mentioned. I love the way she bounces on her toes, as if the force of her voice is going to sweep her off her feet. She looks so grounded and so powerful.
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Ankle sockets for Isabel
I just got the best idea…I have lots of action figure bootfeet, especially from all my Cy Girls and from my modified Hasbro Shoezies. To expand Isabel’s wardrobe [and to make her more stable], I should remove her feet and somehow string her with action fig ankle cups so that she can wear all those shoes!!!
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Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual
Interactive and/or serialized and/or illustrated sci fi/fantasy stories decorated with a mid-century pulpy flair appear to contain actual women and people of color!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1533105.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Yamarrah gets a body!
I just scored Yamarrah a Domuya Flexi Perennial body off the DOA marketplace for $145.00 shipped, which is less than I paid for her head. O_O Known for their high level of articulation and concomitant difficulty in posing, the Domuya Flexi bodies have a distinctly segmented, mechanical look to their sculpt [in contrast to the Shinydoll Thaasa bodies, which represent a beautiful marriage of engineering, aesthetics and poseability — yes, it’s a menage a trois!].
Ever since I restrung August last summer, I have grown increasingly confident about customizing my BJDs more intensively. I’ve improved my subtractive mods, such as sanding Novella’s head, removing Béatrice’s pointy ears, modding Isabel and Carter’s necks, etc. I’ve even ventured into additive mods with an Aves Apoxie Sculpt headback for the dead version of Isabel. I’ve developed my own fur wig pattern and gained enough skill with faux fur so that I am ready to branch out into the wool that I got from Georgia Landau. In conclusion, I’m ready to take on a challenge like Yamarrah’s new body.
The Domuya Flexi will need significant wiring in order to hold poses, I think. I may also need to fuse the hip balls to the thighs and perhaps one of the torso joints to the other to prevent parts spinning around. Furthermore, since the resin of the body, which has pink undertones, will not match Yamarrah’s head, which has brown undertones, I will be painting [or scribbling] stylized flames on her upper breast and neck, as well as her wrists and forearms. Yippee!!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1532856.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Lesley Gore’s You Don’t Own Me live
This video of Lesley Gore, most likely around 17 or 18, singing You Don’t Own Me live, fascinates me. She sings with such joy and passion and expressiveness; she clearly loves to sing! Plus she’s hot; I love her baggy eyes and her long straight nose and her rectangular face and those amazing flickery eyebrows. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s one of us. 😀
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1532604.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
For 1:6 scale walker parts…
…take the damn thing to the store and look at solid-core electrical wire in appropriate gauge!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1532206.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
New TV I am interested in
- Defiance. SyFy. Humans and aliens try to coexist in future terraformed St. Louis. Actually all on Hulu right now for free!
- Dracula. NBC. Vampires, reincarnation, elaborate dresses and British accents abound.
- Sleepy Hollow. Fox. Ichabod Crane pulls a Rip Van Winkle and pursues supernatural criminals with modern detective partner, a WOC.
And already-running TV:
- Colbert Report. Comedy Central. Colbert satirizes current events and is frequently funny about it.
- Grimm. NBC. Supernatural procedural stupidity slogs on without character development.
- Haven. SyFy. An Exceptional Woman investigates something rotten in the state of Maine.
- Warehouse 13. SyFy. Fantasy MacGuffins cause wacky highjinks!
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Thinking about Yamarrah’s body
Note to self: The DOA marketplace contains many cheap, aesthetically acceptable bodies by Fantasy Doll. Searching under "fantasydoll," "fdoll" or "fantasy doll" finds them.
Further Yamarrah concept: Fire elemental with flames up her forearms and on her breast, up her neck, to incorporate cool translucent hands and to cover mismatch in skintone. Possibly also flames on ears and cheeks.
Yamarrah: "Hey little dude! I’m a fire spirit too!"
Mellifer: O_O
Hee hee hee.
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Yamarrah ships next month!
Remember her? I did a split for her along with a person who wanted the human head and a person who wanted the body. I have already paid off Yamarrah’s head [good thing too, as expenses in our new place are really draining me], but I am waiting for the other two split partners to finish the 3-month layaway. The final payment for that is due at the end of June, so Yamarrah should ship to the buyer of the body sometime in July!
I already have the following pieces of her:
- hands [Soom Topaz fairy hands]
- shoes [Leekeworld]
- eyes
- creemee earrings
- faux fur for wig
- black stretch pants
- pink oversize sweatshirt + red legwarmers [custom items]
- sparkly creemee appliques
I should lay all these pieces out and take a few photos.
Of course, she needs a body. Given that her hands are translucent yellow and obviously not matching the rest of her and also that most of her except neck and part of shoulders will be covered, I wonder if I can find a cheap body on the DOA marketplace and paint the exposed parts to match? I’ve done it with 1:6ers…
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1531429.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Zombieville title typeface test
Here’s a possibility for the Zombieville title. Font is Ebenezer with large caps and small caps.
Grit Primer: gravestone font????
Based on the typeface in olden primers, but also suitable for 18th and 19th century epitaphs.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1531080.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
The investigation of Timonium
Remember last month, when my BJDs were discussing the taciturn newcomer Timonium? I shot the continuation of that completely trivial and banal saga almost a month ago, but have not gotten around to posting it until now. Since Jareth has gone off to a tailor’s to acquire some bespoke couture, who will be the voice of reason in his stead??? Who cares?
Continue reading The investigation of Timonium
Peter’s hands
I swapped them out for the Sideshow Dead Punk’s. I have yet to paint his skull ring because I don’t have any silver paint.
Wonder if I can…
…put Peter’s original knobby, beringed hands on his new body? His current hands, Obitsu slender male defaults, are tubular, lacking in detail and completely flat. They have about as much individuality as hot dogs. :[
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Peter’s progress
It’s like Pilgrim’s Progress, only less allegorical and more tedious.
Now he’s starting to look like Peter!
Painted skull globe and mouth corner, refined faceup around eyes and nose, started doing faceup around mouth. I especially like his genial smile.
Mr. Very Very Close Head
Filled in the crease at right of lower lip, sanded out divot in chin, added height to skull globe, started faceup. If you refer back to the faceup concept from a few days ago, you can see that he’s looking similar, with allowance for added scribbling.
Mr. Almost There Head
Filled in more divots around skull, blended brow ridge further into forehead, smoothed out eye sockets, narrowed nasal bridge, added and refined nostril wings. Area where bottom lip meets chin and area around tip of chin still need work. Almost there!
Continue reading Mr. Almost There Head
Working on Alabama’s hair
Because all the fibers in my haul from Georgia Landau contained dust and stink, they required lengthy preparations before use. First, I picked out all the stray threads, vegetable matter and pieces of fabric. Then I gave them a quick wash in lukewarm water with some dish soap. Finally I aired out the hanks on my clothesline [a very useful addition to our new apartment!] for several hours. Though I still need to comb out the fibers I intend to use, I can now work with them without sneezing my head off.Continue reading Working on Alabama’s hair
Got my Angel of Grief today!
Even though she’s yellow and averagely sculpted, I really like her. So does Isabel. Now I just need to remove that embossed doggerel on the front and repaint her a marble or granite color, including some bird shit stains.
More E-Z Cacti [tm] and other plants
Following the principles in my June 12th entry, I made more 1:6 scale plants for the Figurvore Custom Challenge. Here’s the whole set:
All my sets and medium-size things, 06/15/2013
Whiny voice a la Sarah from Labyrinth: "It keeps changing! What am I supposed to do?"
Continue reading All my sets and medium-size things, 06/15/2013
ModernWizard = dude
Way back in the early days of the millennium, I chose ModernWizard as a screen name, a practice that I have continued over the past 10+ years to create a coherent online identity. I specifically chose it because it combines connotations of magic and fantasy with a more up-to-date sensibility. I also specifically chose it because it’s not gender-marked, although, now that I think about it, most people think "wizard" to be a gender-marked word, the male equivalent to "witch." Also informing my choice was a T-shirt I had at that time with glow-in-the-dark constellations, which, I decided, would be appropriate for a modern wizard’s garb, as opposed to the stylized astronomical symbols of yore. ^_^
Anyway, people who don’t know me continually assume that I’m a guy. Well, let me rephrase that — straight cis white dudes continually assume I’m one of them by using masculine pronouns on trade references or calling me sir. It is interesting that women do not do this.
I could go off onto a whole tangent about the gendered ways in which people write only and how people interpret other people’s gender from what they write [For example, I very rarely see masculine-identified people use ^_^. :), 🙁 and :p, yes, but ^_^, no. :p ] and what happens when one reads "conflicting" cues. I don’t wanna, though. The end.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1527439.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Go dryad go!
At the end of last month, I lusted over Soom Faery Legend Boehm and thought that the concept of a dryad would put his pale green resin to good use. I’m on the verge of purchasing another magenta Soom Faery Legend Aenigma head [why I don’t know], and I remembered my dryad concept and thought that perhaps she could be a dryad.
Then I realized that I have bunches of BJD parts hanging around in my "raw dolls" drawer and, in fact, a better choice for a dryad would be my tan Lumedoll Koit head on a chocolate Hujoo body. Behold Verdure! She is a shy little dryad, much younger than all the other fairies, maybe 10 or 11? She is also trans.
Hmmm, I really hate the Hujoo hands and feet. I should swap those out for the Lumedoll hands and feet that I have bonking around in my "raw dolls" drawer.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1527174.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Cruel dad wants to burn daughter’s gift-from-mom blankie.
In today’s Dear Prudence, a letter writer wonders how to deal with her husband, who cannot handle the fact that one of his kids is really attached to her transitional object. He has even confiscated it from her!
Great move, genius. Now you have a crying kid who worries that her blankie is gonna die, and it’s all because you’re a miserable, insecure control freak at best and an abusive asshole at worst.
Try developing a functional sense of empathy, and give the kid back her blankie! This could end up being one of those memorable experiences that she’ll always, on some level, feel upset about. I’m not sure you can comprehend, though, how you may have justifiably earned your child’s lifelong mistrust and hostility because your head is jammed way too far up your own rectum for you to see anything but your own navel.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1526840.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
HaaaaaaaaaCHOOOOOOO!
The wools I got from Georgia Landau have been sitting in dusty bags for untold years, so they have dust on them, as well as a musty smell. I have removed them from the bags I bought them in, but I still want to wash them before use. After some online research, I have decided that a quick dunk and swish in hot water with dish soap would be most effective, followed by drying on my drying rack.
Also in doll-related news, I discovered that I can hasten the 24-hour curing time of Aves Apoxie Sculpt by sticking my items in the oven on 200 degrees for, say, 15 minutes!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1526436.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Mr. Slightly Less Lumpy Head
Filled in the deep creases on forehead and cheeks, as well as where jaw joins neck under ears [not shown in this photo]. Cheeks and jaw/neck joins actually look pretty good. Forehead still needs some filling in, and I haven’t even gotten to the nasal bridge yet. I’m pleased with the progress, however.
Continue reading Mr. Slightly Less Lumpy Head
E-Z Cacti [TM]
Figurvore’s first custom challenge is to make a 1:6 scale plant. I toyed with the idea of making a bonsai tree with some of my various wire for a skeleton and possibly some fauxliage as leaves, but that looked like it would require hours, rather than minutes, of effort, so I scaled back. I made an E-Z Cactus, as previously mentioned in an entry in December, 2012, but with some improvements.
I made the cactus by twisting together two shades of green pipe cleaners. Then I formed the pipe cleaners into a club shape with a projection on the bottom to stick into the soil unit. To help the cactus stand upright, I rammed a slender piece of bronze wire up inside it.
To make the soil unit, I filled a 1.5" diameter terra cotta pot with Aves Apoxie Sculpt most of the way. I snipped off small shreds of brown crinkle paper and stuck them to the top of the Aves Apoxie Sculpt to look like wood chips. Then I stuck the wire on the bottom of the cactus into the soil unit. When the Aves Apoxie Sculpt dried, I used hot glue and more "wood chips" to cover the areas where the soil unit showed.
Continue reading E-Z Cacti [TM]
FUCK YOU GRAIN BUGS
GO AWAY STOP MAKING ME THROW OUT ALL MY BREAD AND RICE AND PASTA AND PANCAKE MIX I’M TRYING TO SAVE MONEY HERE BY BUYING IN BULK AND YOU LITTLE SHITS AREN’T HELPING
I HATE YOU GUYS YOU’RE SO ANNOYING AND BESIDES YOU ARE FUCKING UP OUR FRESHLY PAINTED WALLS BECAUSE I HAVE TO PASTE YOU WITH A PACK OF PHOTO PAPER AND THEN HALF THE TIME AFTER I SCORE A DIRECT HIT YOU’RE STILL FUCKING ALIVE AND WHEN I DO GET YOU YOU LEAVE BUG GUTS ALL OVER THE WALL
THE PANTRY LOOKS LIKE AN INSECT CHARNEL HOUSE ALL BECAUSE OF YOU
WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU LAYING YOUR FUCKING EGGS ANYWAY WE ALREADY GOT RID OF ALL THE OPEN BULK PACKAGES AND SEALED EVERYTHING IN PLASTIC STORAGE SO ARE YOU INCUBATING INSIDE THE STORAGE AND THEN MAGICALLY TELEPORTING THROUGH THE PLASTIC OR SOMETHING
STOP HAVING CONVENTIONS IN OUR PANTRY GO BOTHER THE UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS WHO COULD THEN DO SOMETHING USEFUL WITH ALL THEIR ELEPHANT STOMPING AND SQUASH THE SHIT OUT OF YOU
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Mr. Lumpy Head
Here’s Peter after I bulked out his chin more last night, then painted him all the same color so I could more easily see what work needs to be done.
Yes, the forehead clearly needs work!!!
Before sanding:
Breyer Stablemates: more dolls for dolls?
Breyer, purveyor of plastic horses, has a 1:32 scale line of horses [obviously] that occasionally includes human figures in the playsets. It’s very hard to find pictures of them. However, they appear to be articulated at the shoulders, hips and knees at the least. I think they are about the size of my Hasbro Human Alliance Mikaela doll. They’re wayyyyyy cheaper though!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1525114.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Ravishing Rachel Life Size Sculpture from Design Toscano
I kind of pity the copywriters for Design Toscano. They have to make all that tacky shit sound alluring and justifiably high-priced. Look DT — you either want things like a suit of armor t.p. holder or you don’t. You’re preaching to the choir. Don’t waste your limited stock of two-bit adjectives on us.
Take, for example, a sentence from their copy for Ravishing Rachel [who’s in the Sexy Temptresses category, along with the ass-flaunting Temptress Witch Christmas Ornament]:
"Cast in quality designer resin, this large-scale, display-quality indoor sculpture transforms any home bar, entertainment area or recreation room into something truly magnificent!"
"Quality designer resin": as opposed, I guess, to all that shitty, no-name resin that floods the market these days?
"Large-scale": Isn’t that redundant, given that the title indicates that it’s "Life Size"?
"Display-quality": Seriously…why would you buy a Technicolor rendition of a very stiff, cartoony woman flashing her tits if not to display it?
"Transforms any home bar, entertainment area or recreation room": So you’re admitting that your target consumers for these are sleazy misogynist straight white cis dudes who throw around obscene sums of money in an attempt to compensate for their utter lack of redeeming traits? Superb! I’ll take 10!!!
"Truly magnficent": I don’t think that is the word you’re looking for. May I humbly suggest "alarming"?
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1524968.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Aged Anna
Anna, Zombieville denizen and Isabel’s close friend, used to look like this:
New and improved Megan, now with increased wrinkles and bags!
Megan Meehan, Zombieville denizen and Doctor Z.’s assistant, used to look like this:
Continue reading New and improved Megan, now with increased wrinkles and bags!
Me and My Muses 6.6: “Why Are We Here?”
Ellery is pestered by new muse Jamisia in the cemetery.
Poor Peter
He’s undergone so many permutations, none of which have satisfied me. Friday night I had the sad epiphany that he needed a resculpt. I’ve tried a bazillion times to work with the Sideshow The Dead Punk headsculpt, and it continues to fail me.
I decided to try one last time, though, and strip the paint off his head, hands and torso. After untold hours and repeated applications of Pebeo, he was mostly paint-free. I then realized with dismay that the head’s built-in woeful expression will never accurately capture Peter, who is friendly, even-tempered and relatively content.
Looked online briefly to find a bald male head with a neutral expression. Unfortunately, most male action figures look grim and constipated [grim because constipated?] and they have hair, so I could only find ones that were either bald/constipated or hairy/neutral, not bald/neutral. I gave up.
I looked through my drawer of extra bodies and heads. I procured a Triad Lola head, which I originally bought in 2009 for its "sarcastic expression," and plopped it on an Obitsu Slim Male body. I really like the sharp features here, as well as the deep-set, baggy eyes and the creases between the corners of the nose and lips.
Continue reading Poor Peter
Alabama and the rest of my haul from Georgia Landau’s castoffs
Out of the blue, earlier this month, I received an E-mail from figural sculptor Georgia Landau, asking me if I wished to buy some of her dollmaking supplies. After decades of making dolls, primarily in porcelain, she has moved onto clay, leaving behind wool and other fibers, fabrics, furniture and other odds and ends. Unable to make her official Saturday moving sale, I trekked to Montpelier Friday after work in driving rain to examine the goods.Continue reading Alabama and the rest of my haul from Georgia Landau’s castoffs
Pieces of new graveyard
Here is the dead version of Isabel showing off the hollow plastic gravestones I got at the end of last week. As you can see, the fronts are, like most Halloween decorations, bullshit in terms of cemetery iconography, but the backs are fine!
Medicom Kira Yoshikage
The character designs for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure are just so much fun! As all 3 of my regular readers know, I originally succumbed to the temptations of the Medicom dolls of this series when I got Anna, who started off life as a Jolyne. I have now found another Medicom doll from the same line whose awesomeness nearly equals that of Jolyne’s: Kira Yoshikage. He comes with two heads — one with wavy hair and the other with spiky hair — and a fucking purple tuxedo. He’d make a great butch dyke, especially with the spiky hair!
He’s not so awesome that he’s writing himself into Zombieville, though.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1523017.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Light box lite
I think I’m going to use some of my self-standing display boards to make a partial light box. I’m going to cut out frames from the side panels and then put white pillowcases in the holes for added light filtering.
For easy reference, here’s a link to the first light box I made.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1522845.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Isabel: the quick and the dead
Just a comparison shot.Continue reading Isabel: the quick and the dead
Carter now has the right hat
His shirt and vest do not fit well, but they do represent the type of clothes he should be wearing. Why do I get the feeling that Isabel is snickering to herself over Carter’s style choices?
Continue reading Carter now has the right hat
Whoa! A fashion doll collector/seller in Vermont!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1522073.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Proof of concept and the challenge of scratch-built 1:6 scale stuff
I have recently developed the useful and somewhat surprising facility for making my own serviceable 1:6 scale stuff. I go through the following process, demonstrated for example’s sake with an electric wheelchair:
- I want a 1:6 scale electric wheelchair.
- Let me search for a commercially produced one.
- There are no commercially produced ones, or they are too expensive.
- I’ll have to make one.
- Let’s break down the electric wheelchair into its simplest components, which I may be more likely to find in 1:6 scale.
- An electric wheelchair looks like an office chair on top of a lawn mower.
- I have procured an office chair, but I can’t find a lawn mower.
- I will have to use a 1:18 scale ForTwo Smart Car instead.
- [Construction ensues.]
The key steps, I think, are 5 and 6. I’m currently planning to scratch-build two 1:6 scale things, not necessarily because I need them, but because I want to see if I can.
The first is a tape dispenser, which is basically a block with a channel down the center and a roll of tape half-submerged in the channel. I know exactly how I want to make this; I just need to sit down and actually do it.
The second is a grandfather clock. I started coveting a functioning 1:6 scale grandfather clock on the Doll Page Show and Sell site, but $33.00 for something I don’t really neeeeeeed seemed too rich to me. Even when I got the idea that the dead version of Isabel could come and go in Isabel’s room through the door in the clock, I still couldn’t bring myself to spend north of $30.00 for one.
I’m perfectly willing to make one, however. A grandfather clock is basically a clock face on top of a locker, so, once I find the appropriate 1:6 scale locker/narrow cupboard with working door, I have the base for a modern grandfather clock!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1521675.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Warehouse 13 continues to hate characters of color.
In The Ones You Love, Artie, while split into Good and Evil Artie, kills Leena, a WOC and series regular who, though having been around for 3.5 seasons, has yet to receive a last name or any other characterization beyond "B&B owner" and "tool of McPherson."
Two episodes later, in The Living and the Dead, despite the existence of multiple artifacts that can bring people back to life, Leena is still dead. However, no one gives a shit, except insofar as her death causes angst to a white man [Artie]. In fact, she appears in Artie’s subconscious as an essentially vacuous prop to demonstrate the painful reality from which he’s shielding himself. Claudia and Steve exercise themselves mightily over drawing Artie out from his subconscious, paying no attention to Leena except as a tragic figment of his imagination. Who cares about the black woman?
In the next episode, Parks and Rehabilitation, Artie stands on tribunal in front of the Regents, who decide to reinstate him as head of Warehouse 13 because Saul Rubinek has an ongoing contract with the SyFy network the plot must go on. The head Regent explains that Artie was kind of possessed by an evil version of himself, so he’s morally blameless. He also says that "Leena was a valued member of the team" and that "she knew the risks."
I buy neither statement. First, Evil Artie was in fact Artie, just a concentrated version of those thoughts and feelings that he censors in his attempt to be a good, kind person. As a part of Artie, Evil Artie is indeed under Artie’s jurisdiction and part of his responsibility. No matter what the show wants me to believe, Artie willingly, knowingly and with malice aforethought murdered Leena.
Second, if Leena was such a "valued member of the team," why the hell do we never see her doing anything but being victimized and keeping house in the background? And why the hell couldn’t the Regents refer to her by her full name?
Oh right, it’s because she’s a cardboard Mammy. :[
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1521532.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Does James Marsters…
…have some clause in his contracts that stipulates that, when he guest stars on a fantasy TV show, he has to be A) an exceptionally long-lived character and/or B) one that explicitly tells our protagonists that vampires are bullshit?
In Smallville’s Thirst, he played Milton Fine/Brainiac, who fulfilled the B role.
In Supernatural’s Shut Up, Dr. Phil, he played Don Stark, a witch with a greatly extended lifespan.
In Warehouse 13’s The Living and the Dead, he played Professor Sutton/the Count of St. Germain, a 500-year-old charlatan who, he emphasized, was not a vampire. A + B!
I must say, though, that it’s always a pleasure to see him guest star, especially when he plays a charming rogue, which he does with relish [mmmmmm, relish!] and playfulness.
Also he is hot.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1521310.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Dolls for dolls: articulated exemplars
Here’s a selection of my miniature dolls that are articulated:
Dead version of Isabel’s improved hands
I tossed the dead version of Isabel’s default hands. Even after I repositioned them, I still disliked them. I made her a new set out of a pair of white Takara CG gloved hands. I carved them out, gave them a dry brush of light grey, drew in wrist bones and phalanges with permanent marker, added white highlights with white out and sealed them. Wheeee.
Voici Dillon!
I did Dillon — Isabel’s ex, coworker, purchaser of her car and carpooler, not to mention Carter’s friend and representative of stupid shit people say about PWS — for once and for all tonight. He started off as an AA Hasbro GI Jane Vietnam Nurse, who is quite possibly one of the sweetest, cutest, most adorable dolls ever. Don’t you just want to be her friend?
Continue reading Voici Dillon!
Advice column: “Saddest Song, Smallest Violin” version
In answer to someone who is extremely bothered by the fact that their wife enthusiastically enjoys YA fiction: "Gift her a nice Franzen box set, a fresh copy of Infinite Jest or the complete works of Dave Eggers, so that she may better learn to center her recreational reading around fictional middle-aged white men instead of fictional people who aren’t as important and interesting as they are."
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1520334.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Doll to-dos
- Make tape dispenser
Photo articulated dolls for dollsRedo dead version’s hands- Measure walker for handlebars
- Decide what neutral clothes Isabel needs
- Ship Skelita to Andrea
- Unstring, pack, ship Jareth’s body [minus head and hands]
Redo Dillon’s faceup: new eyebrows and lips + shading
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1520102.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Kinda freaky looking
I have finished the dead version of Isabel tonight. Last night I broke lots of her fingers and repositioned them in less tense, claw-shaped configurations. I also made her a skirt by hacking out a circle of black velvet with a 9-inch radius, snipping a hole in the center, pulling it over her pelvis, then sewing it closed around her spine with embroidery thread. That’s as far as my tailoring skills go.
Today her shirt came, so I lettered it first with watercolor pencil, then with white paint. The blotchiness of the paint and the smears from the watercolor pencil both worked in my favor, creating the effect of worn screenprinting. I also hacked out the hems on the sleeves and neckline.
Finally I gave the exposed portions of her body [neck, arms, hands, lower legs, feet] a wash and dry brush of light grey to a) disguise the fact that I had reshaped her hands and filled in gaps with hot glue and b) make her body match her head better. I am aware that her left hand especially looks like shit. I may improve her hands later; I’m not sure.
Here she is. She looks sad.
Modern cemetery coming up!
I already have the supplies for a 17th/18th century cemetery in the form of these stupendous little magnets from Della’Morte:
“Interesting idea for an old woman sculpt”
Andrea sent me a link to the following Flickr photo, where a user rehaired a Mattel Mad Hatter [not Johnny Depp] and used it as an old woman. I clearly need to do this, only with a bulkier articulated body for the figure and a repaint for the head. There may also be fats involved….
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Me and My Muses 6.5: “Jamisia’s Dolls”
Ellery sees the dolls of her new muse Jamisia.
Zoloworld/Day2Day Grim Reaper pictorial review and mods
I acquired a Zoloworld/Day2day 1:6 scale Grim Reaper action figure to use its skeletal body as a dead version of the protagonist of my upcoming series Zombieville. I have heard nothing about this figure, so I am providing a detailed review as a public service.
Continue reading Zoloworld/Day2Day Grim Reaper pictorial review and mods
Isabel got more dolls today!
One was Bering Lusk, my Harumika mannequin who went to visit Andrea a while, then came back when I decided that Isabel needed a lifesize doll. I discovered that Bering’s arms popped out of their sockets, so I was able to dress her in actual clothes, as opposed to the strange tuck-and-wrap fabrics she was sold with.Continue reading Isabel got more dolls today!
Latest bookshelf
New things since last time, going L to R, top shelf to bottom: Rement mushroom container with frog, 1:6 scale Vermont bicentennial license plate [scanned from personal collection], Rement vase of flowers, Rement orange pen [below vase], Mattel watch, Rement magnetic paperclip holder, Kitchen Littles mug with Rement utensil sticking out.
All my sets and medium-size things, 06/01/2013
The first survey since moving!
Continue reading All my sets and medium-size things, 06/01/2013
Dillon: built for comfort, rather than style
Dillon has gone through several permutations since his original conception. He was going to be the doll that ended up being Brandeis. As shown in various census pictures, he is now a Phicen Hindu head on a Takara Cy Girl AA body, wearing jeans, a white button-down shirt and a green vest with cartoon aliens on it.
I have decided that this is not actually what Dillon looks like. Dillon is moving to my incoming Hasbro AA GI Jane Vietnam Nurse [the cute one]. Jeans will stay, but top will be replaced by plaid shirt with hooded sweatshirt over it. He now strikes me as the sort of person who accidentally wears pajamas to work and has to be reminded by his loved ones that he’s already worn those pants 4 days in a row. ["What? Damn…these are my favorite jeans."] I’m not quite clear on what he’s thinking about instead, but it’s clearly not clothes.
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Where is the mystery package? Who knows?
Last Friday, May 24th, I ordered and paid for a 1:6 scale Grim Reaper to furnish the dead version of Isabel’s body. Later that day, I received notice that the seller had marked my order as shipped and provided tracking information.
Given that it can take up to 2 business days for tracking information to hit the USPS Web site and that there was a holiday Monday, the tracking information didn’t yield anything until May 28th. Fine.
Not fine, however, is that the tracking has been saying "Status of your item: shipping information received" since May 28th, when it first appeared on USPS’ radar.
What’s it doing? Taking a nap? Picking its nose? Enjoying a transcontinental tour? I wish that the tracking would actually tell me.
For some reason, I think the obtuse tracking information is a function of the shipping service used by the seller [toynk], which sends all their packages to a third party [OSM Worldwide] to take care of shipping. In contrast, another package that I ordered last Friday [Willy and some black T-shirts from Cotswold Collectibles!] went directly to UPS, so, even though it’s not scheduled to arrive until next Monday [June 3rd], I’ve been able to follow its progress. In further contrast, another package that I ordered yesterday [Carter’s driving cap, also a plaid shirt and a hooded sweatshirt for anyone who needs them from Black Ops Toys] shipped directly through USPS has also appeared on USPS’ Web site [also scheduled to arrive on June 3rd]. I blame the shipping company. Argh!
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Continuing to work on the bookcase
I’ve gone off on a bookcase tangent. I’m trying to make its contents a little more interesting than just books, but generic enough so that the bookcase can be used as a general backdrop. I added three things today:Continue reading Continuing to work on the bookcase
Thoughts on filling a 1:6 scale bookcase
As I’ve mentioned before, bamboo drawer organizers make wonderful bookcases with little to no modification.
Make page blocks for dummy books by hot-gluing together "signatures" of balsa, foamcore or craft foam cut to size.
Don’t forget to vary the dimensions of the dummy books. No one’s library contains uniform volumes of all the same size.
Use scraps of paper sticking out from between "signatures" for bookmarks.
Create the impression of a diverse library by binding your dummy books in a variety of papers. Magazine pages and origami paper provide aesthetically pleasing patterns. Used cheap self-adhesive gift tags for trim, stripes and further differentiation.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to distribute colors and patterns randomly amongt the stacks. Very few people shelve according to the color spectrum. :p
For added realism, make it messy. [Tip for the lazy: Falling-over books take up more room than neatly stuffed shelves!] Have some books stick out further than others. A pile of books can act as a makeshift bookend. Try shelving some books on top of other books.
Use some sort of adhesive to keep the books on the shelves, particularly those that are falling over or leaning precariously.
See these principles in practice below.
1:6 scale BJC [ball-jointed cat]
Here kitty kitty! These are amazing! I would love to get one just to see if it can do the same positions that Babycat does: loaf cat, extend-o-feets, retract-o-feets, circle and florb.
EDIT: The artist also has an entry showing her 3-D digital models of the cats, as well as other headsculpts.
I was just thinking that it would be pretty funny to have a cat in one of my stories that talks, but only in phrases that are obviously translatable from the sounds cats make. I.e., the cat would never say, "I think it looks like rain" or "What’s the meaning of life?" Instead, you’d get a lot of "Is that food for me?", "Can I have some?", "I love you Mom!", "I’m bored," "I’m hungry," "Fuck off — I’m napping," "No, I don’t wanna move," "It hurts," "I’m scared," "Pet me," "Do not pet me," etc. ^_^
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Gah! What is this shit?
"The abyss, with gulfy maw, / Thirsts on unsated…"
That’s Roy Campbell, trying to translate part of Baudelaire’s Horloge and, tripping on the hurdles of redundant froufrou, failing miserably.
The sentence in question is, "Le gouffre a toujours soif." Literally, that’s, "The pit is always thirsty." But nah…let’s go with a "translation" that basically says, "The abyss, with an abyssal abyss, abysses abysmally."
Baudelaire tends not to fare well in translation…
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Dead version of Isabel’s head done!
The dead version of Isabel started off as a neutral Elfdoll Doona Ryung faceplate, shown here stripped of the default faceup.
In case you didn’t suspect…
…Poorly Dressed is racist. Also classist and sexist. It’s a site on the Cheezburger network that mocks “seriously questionable style moments.” They derive a lot of their mockery from the fantastic things that women of color do with their hair.
In a textbook example, a WOC who sculpted an Easter basket out of her hair + weave got trashed. She [or her hairdresser] demonstrated amazing creativity and ingenuity to create an eye-catching work of art that then got shit on by the Intertubez, where commenters characterized her as a cheap, tacky, “ghetto” person with no sense of style. Basically she was vilified for being a WOC whose hairstyle [e.g., using a weave] is associated with poor and working class women.
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New, improved Novella
When we last saw Novella, she looked like this. I made some changes today.
1. I wired from her neck down through her thighs to reduce her floppiness.
2. While I liked the flamboyance of her outfit, I never liked her bikini top, which seemed way too casual for her personal style and for her job as receptionist, bookkeeper and Webmaster at Champlain Valley Body Art. One of my improvements was therefore covering up her midsection with a red tank, a skull tank and then the nubby pink overshirt.
3. Her pale resin made her nose seem undefined, so I gave her some nasal shading.
I’m pleased with the results, which make her look more proportional. Uyoo’s headsculpt has eyes, nose and lips much too big for the small skull, so the temptation is to balance out the large face by adding a high-volume wig. I did that, and the results only accentuated that Uyoo’s head is way out of proportion to her narrow, flat body. By giving her a few layers of clothes up top, I gave her some bulk, which makes her look less cartoony and more realistic. Her proportions are much more stylized than the other regular issue Minigem girls, all because of her huge facial features on a small head.
The new, improved Brandeis
When we last saw Brandeis, she had no faceup, a different wig and a different outfit. Now she has a faceup [all brown and a little pink for the lips], a black-based wig instead of a white-based one and a different outfit. I ditched her hat and changed her pants and shoes. She’s adorable! Love her little legwarmers with hearts. <3 <3 The simplicity of her faceup brings out the lively detail in her sculpt.
Painted a line between Isabel’s lips tonight.
Now her smirk is smirkier!
Continue reading Painted a line between Isabel’s lips tonight.
Yamarrah’s hands!
While not a fan of Soom’s 1:3 scale bodies, which I find rather stiff and unyielding, I love their fem hands [ref. Jareth’s]. I just scored a set of Soom Topaz’ translucent yellow hands off the DOA marketplace, for no other reason than the fact that they look really cool. They have the same sculpt as Jareth’s, only with shorter nails. I really like the expressive positioning of the fingers on Jareth’s hands, so I’m pleased to get a similar set for Yamarrah.
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Carter painted
Here’s Carter with his faceup done. The hat is definitely getting replaced, and I’m not a fan of the shirt either. But this is what his face looks like. Colors used were white, black, grey and brown.
Lightning-shaped sideburns are the awesomest awesome that ever awesomed!
Cat OKCupid personal
This is cracking my shit up right now. "Chicken from larger animals like beef." HAH!
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Chthonic Jareth
I love this piece of fan art, Evil King 2, by MarylinFill on DeviantArt. She accurately captures the menacing underworldly power that emanates from him when he first appears. Reminds me of the Major Arcanum the Magician. Also the kind of air I was trying to evoke with Timonium.
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I found Willy!
My drag king, previously mentioned here and shown here. This is a pretty rare doll, so I’m quite excited. I love you, Willy! Come back to me!
Dammit…I have all these dolls I want to get RIGHT NOW: Soom Faery Legend Boehm, a 1:6 scale Grim Reaper action figure for the dead version of Isabel…and now Willy. Plus some black T-shirts to make gravestone designs on for Isabel and the dead version of Isabel. Whhhhaaaaaaa!
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