Patience Brewster makes decorative elements like candle holders, trick or treat bowls and Xmas ornaments. Some of them are clever and funny, while others are just disturbing. Here's one of the latter. I don't understand why the alligator is wearing four heels?!

MOC nicely shot some actual pictures of IS Spirit from their stock, comparing her to another in-stock 1:6 scale bjds, Xagadoll Lara.

Continue reading In-hand pictures of Illusion Spirit Spirit from Mint on Card

There are very few 1:6 scale BJDs out there, as I have been pissing and moaning about in the past. I have decided, therefore, to create the most comprehensive list of these hard-to-find specimens, which I will add to and update as necessary.

First, a BJD is defined as a ball-jointed doll. For the purposes of this list, a BJD is a highly articulated doll made entirely of resin and strung with elastic through hollow body parts. It comes without rooted hair, so that wigs can be used. It also comes without painted eyes; instead, eyes must be bought separately and inserted in the eyewells. A BJD can be customized through the addition of faceup/body blushing, eyes, wig and clothing. A BJD’s resin body can also be modified subtractively by sanding/carving and additively with sculpting compounds.

Second, 1:6 scale is defined as the scale in which dolls are one-sixth of life-size, which means that an average adult male fig is ~30cm, an average adult female fig ~27cm.

Third, 1:6 scale means something very specific to me. It means that the BJD’s head and body represent realistic human proportions, which scales down to a 3 to 4inch head circumference and 6 to 8mm eyes. My criteria thus exclude BJDs like Tiny Bear’s Mini Moona and Planetdoll Riz, both of which have disproportionately large heads.

Fourth, I’m only interested in certain types of 1:6 scale. I am not interested in 1:6 scale toddler and very young child dolls, like Fairyland Pukipukis and Pukifees. There are scads of those running around. I’m interested in BJDs representing kids older than 6 or 8, teenagers, young adults, etc.: the more mature end of 1:6 scale. Anything 20cm and taller is fair game.

And now…the list. I’m going alphabetically by company, with information about sculpts, availability and links where possible.

Alchemic Labo used to make Unoa Light Azurite [male] and Fluorite [female], both double-jointed BJDs. Azurite was 27cm, Fluorite 25cm. No longer available.

Batchix used to make Nan Sook, a double-jointed 25cm female. No longer available.

Dollmore sells 30cm Kidult dolls: Adela, Celia, Irina, Melissa Hon and Yeon [all female]. Currently available.

Dollmore also has Cute Dolls: Cossette, Dona and Lulu [all female]. I’m not sure if they’re part of the Kidult line, but they are the same size. Currently available.

Elfdoll used to make a line of 20cm kids with expressive faceplates. The first were Hana Angel and Devil, genderless sculpts, who also came in Halloween versions. They were followed by Doona Ryung and Doona Soah, as well as a Dolls and Friends exclusive, Kathlen [all female]. No longer available. [I have a Kathlen awake and a Kathlen sleeping on a Uyoo body.]

Illusion Spirit makes a single-jointed 27cm female doll, Spirit. Currently available.

JAMIEshow makes 30cm female bodies with double-jointed elbows and single-jointed knees. I'm not counting the heads made for these bodies because the heads have painted eyes. Currently available.

Limhwa/Eosdoll used to make the single-jointed 27cm ToYou [female]. They also make Mari and Sara [both female], who are the same size as ToYou and currently available. [I have a Sara.]

Leekeworld used to have a K series of dolls, 18 to 19cm high and single-jointed. There were Jiny and Lani, both female. No longer available.

Lumedoll makes the single-jointed Lumelights, 30cm males and 28cm females. Blaze, Koit and Lucas, the males, have slim and muscular options.  Arine and Elin, the females, have small and large bust options. Currently available. [I have two Arines, Elin and Lucas.]

Notdoll used to make the Symposion dolls. First there was a 20cm Becy, followed by the 20cm Lucy [both female]. There was also the 25cm Miriam and Pandora, both female, as well as the 27cm Yohimbin [male]. All Symposion dolls had double-jointed elbows and single-jointed knees. No longer available.

Orientdoll used to make the 20cm, single-jointed Joong Wol [male or female]. No longer available.

Soom makes the single-jointed, 29cm Minigems. Of the unlimited models [all female], only Aren, Uyoo and Uyoo Elf are still available. Garam is sold out, while Sosle and Romantic Uyoo no longer appear on the site. [I have two regular Uyoos and a Romantic Uyoo.]

Soom also makes the limited Faery Legends. Males to date are, in chronological order of release, Auber, Azur, Kremer, Metato and Labas. Females to date are, in chronological order of release, Nenad, Mixi, Idrial, Haidi, Nelen, Rose, Aenigma, Cylin, Absynthe and Asis. Males are 30cm. Currently available. [I have Kremer, Metato, Rose and Aenigma.]

Souldoll used to make 27cm+ Soul Littles. Kimmy [male] and Metel [female] were the single-jointed first releases. They were followed by the double-jointed Jandi and Vivi [both female]. No longer available.

Souldoll also used to make a 20cm Soul Dinky, Licht [male], but I can’t even find him on their site. No longer available.

Tiny Bear makes the single-jointed Bonbon and Coco [both female], with short, fat bodies. Even though they are only 15cm tall, I'm including them because their heads [4 inches] and eyes [8mm] are in true 1:6 scale, so I interpret them as 1:6 scale women with dwarfism. Currently available.

Xagadoll makes a 27cm double-jointed female, Lara. Currently available.

NotDoll, purveyors of especially delicate and weird BJDs, including several in 1:6 scale, has up and disappeared. Its Web site no longer works, and DOAers have reported that they ordered from NotDoll months ago, but never heard anything and didn't receive any items. That's really disappointing and also shocking, especially since they used to be a long-established company with a sterling reputation. Damn.

…layaway is an evil genius!

…pay the shit out of my auto loan!!

When I bought the FLE car last summer, I got a small loan through the credit union which, with my regular monthly payments, is due to be paid off fully at the end of June, 2013. That's also right around when we're planning to move and incur all sorts of related expenses. Therefore, I'm very motivated to pay off the loan much sooner.

If I make principal payments every month equal to my regular monthly payment, I can halve the time in which I will pay off the loan. I'd really like to get rid of it by the end of the year, though. Then I can have more money to do fun stuff with!

Commence aggressive repayment!

A raver Medusa girl with neon snakes in ponytails for hair! She'd have glittery makeup and a pacifier around her neck and tinted goggles and a rainbow gas mask and long fuzzy legwarmers and platform shoes and rainbow-striped tights and armwarmers and black vinyl short shorts and a tulle overskirt and a cropped tank top and general awesomeness!!!

I think I just got my concept for Novella.

This may seem incredibly obvious, but I have recently concluded that 1:3 is not my scale. Even though I have several 1:3 scale BJDs, they represent a deviation from my true interest, which is 1:6 scale.

I should just stop buying 1:3 scale BJDs.

Anyway, my interest in 1:6 scale BJDs conveniently reduces the scope of BJDs I'm interested in to just a few types of dolls by a few companies, including, but not limited to, the following: Soom Minigems and Faery Legends, Dollmore Kidults, Lumedoll Lumelights, Souldoll Soul Littles and Dinkies, Elfdoll Hanas and Doonas, Unoa Lights, Notdoll Yohimbin, Miriam and Lucy, Xagadoll Lara, Illusion Spirit Spirit, et hoc genus omne. Of course, said interest also frustrates me, as most of the companies in this sub-realm offer female dolls, but not male ones. [I love you, Lumedoll!]

As far as I'm concerned, 1:6 scale is superior to 1:3 scale because there's so much more available in terms of clothing, furniture, accessories, sets and stuff. It's also less expensive on the whole and much less of a space hog, so I can cram way more 1:6ers into the same shelf space that would only fit a few 1:3ers. 

I found a place that has an Elfdoll Doona Ryung with four faceplates in stock, even though she's long since sold out on Elfdoll's official site. I've been lusting after the Ryung sculpt since 2005, when she was only available in 1:3 scale. And I've been lusting after the Doona version for years as well. I'd love to swap her head onto a 27cm body.

I picked up Jareth's head[s] at the Pine Street carrier station just now. From what I can tell, he conforms exactly to the pictures and measurements given in the final photos. He also has a magnetic headcap, which is very convenient. The Volks compatible white has a yellow undertone which the Doll Chateau white body does not. Who cares?

I notice that he has very deep ear canals and nostril passages. He also has some pretty thin resin around his upper and lower eyelids. I attribute that to Angelsdoll's addition of the eyewells.

I'm preliminarily very pleased, but I won't be fully pleased until I stick him on his body and confirm that he looks like he belongs there.

Ellery's girlfriend Kristin wants her to get rid of her muse Lucian.
Continue reading Me and My Muses 4.3: “Ultimatum”

Wear the clothes you have, ingrate!

Check out this stunning outfit from Souldoll: Layers of floofy shit! Tulle! Laceups! Corsetry!

I saw; I bought; I came.

Wait…that's not how it's supposed to go.

Illusion Spirit Spirit body @ $140.00 + IS translucent green wings @ $25.00 + IS Erica head for 12cm doll @ $30.00 + $17.46 s/h from Mint on Card = $212.46 for a customized 1:6 scale fairy BJD. Bite me Soom!

Speaking of 1:6 scale fairies, I discovered today that Illusion Spirit offers what is essentially a cut-rate, unlimited Soom Faery Legend equivalent: a 27cm single-jointed mature girl with optional magnetic wings in regular or translucent green resin. Just to make matters even more confusing, her sculpt name is Spirit.

Anyway, blank full doll is $165.00 from Mint on Card [+ $25.00 for translucent wings] excluding shipping, and head and body can be purchased separately. Compare to $300.00 for a blank version of Soom's current Faery Legend, Asis. Sure, she comes with faery legs and heel feet, but those aren't worth tacking $110.00 to the price of the doll + wings.

I'm keen on the affordable IS body + wings, so I'm currently rolling around the idea of getting an IS body + wings, then finding a head of a 12cm doll [wig and eye size for which tend to be the same as for 27cm matures] and modding it to make my own damn fairy. Hmmm…

Fuck you Soom.

[But Asis is so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!]

Just for my information, Dikadoll jointed hands for 60cm girls would be the best in terms of size for Mr. McDemandypants.

Ooooh, they're only $65.00 at Alice's Collections till October 20th!

Lumedoll will sell its 1:6 scale BJD bodies without heads for $205.00. Good to know.

Mint on Card very nicely provided me with some pictures of a blank in-stock Xagadoll Lara. They said I could use them as long as I credited the pictures to MOC.
Continue reading Actual unofficial pics of Xagadoll Lara

The USPS attempted delivery this morning to my work address, but it couldn't be delivered because I wasn't at work. [Imagine that…on a Saturday!] I'll have to pick him up from the carrier station Monday morning.

Now he's in Essex Junction! He'll definitely be delivered on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now he’s laying over at JFK!

I've been paying her off since September 17th, which is ages ago, as far as my impatient self is concerned. I have two $35.00 installments left, and I so want to pay her off early and get her here, but I've already promised a portion of tomorrow's paycheck to Theophany, the other incoming Uyoo [from Andrea], as well as some other stuff from Andrea that just had to come home with me.

This is the dance of excitement + antici…PATION!

Jareth has left South Korea!

Apparently some people on BJD Text Confessions are laboring under the delusion that we're living in a meritocracy, wherein the quality of BJD art is directly proportional to the amount of time one spends on something and the "best" BJD art automatically garners power, prestige and popularity because of its instantly recognizable awesomeness.

Hmm, by that "logic," my Jareth doll should rule the BJD universe. And yet it doesn't. It's almost like the submitter has no handle on how reality actually works.

Way to go, submitter. Take that ahistorical, non-contextual, oblivious-to-privilege-and-structural-inequality perspective and shove it up your nose. I bet you don't believe in institutional sexism, preferring instead to tell yourself the lie that "women keep themselves down," huh? Bigot.

In light of several impending 1:6 scale BJDs [Novella, Theophany, possibly Soom Asis], I'm again examining my list of 1:6ers in storage to see if I can detach from a few. I have listed 3 that might go: AJ Regular [as opposed to Steampink AJ], Michaela, Tituba and Sarah.

AJ Regular [last photo] and Tituba [the one with the bonnet] are hanging around mostly because I love the CG02 headsculpt best of all. I also have a sentimental attachment to AJ specifically, as she was my first Cy Girl, and she reminds me of Sarah from Labyrinth. I already have another AJ, Steampink, so I could let AJ Regular go, but then I wouldn't have AJ in a form reminiscent of the one that inspires such nostalgia. Sigh. I guess AJ Regular is staying after all.

As for Tituba, she's also a CG02, but not AJ. She's a Destiny [light tan headsculpt and short hair, as opposed to slightly darker tan and long red hair a la Blaze] on a modded articulated Barbie body. Bye bye!

And Sarah…she's such a cutie [I use this phrase so much that it has probably been evacuated of meaning], and I really enjoyed making her and sticking her in LHF. I do not, however, have as much of an attachment to her as to other members of the Pink Squad [LHFers with pink hair]. Bye, Sarah.

As for Michaela [on the right], she just bugs me. I keep her because she was important in an earlier iteration of LHF, but I liked that version better. Her current head has a washed-out faceup, and she's on an irritatingly floppy Volks Dollfie Plus body. Bye, Michaela.

Working tracking number for Jareth's head has been obtained from Angelsdoll! Now trying to find out estimated delivery date.

EDIT: ETA in "2-4 days." Friday, Monday or Tuesday, I guess, since he's going to work.

I finally found some owner pictures of Lara, their 1:6er. She looks adorable, but her skull globe is way too tall, even for the exaggerated proportions of BJDs. If I got her, I'd remove a chunk out of her head so that her skull globe did not project back so far.

I thought it was about time for Soom to release a new Faery Legend…. The latest is Asis, the Moonlight Sprite. According to her backstory, she turns into a were-troll with infectious saliva who bites small animals and turns them into were-trolls too. Wow, that's silly.

Holy crud, she is so incredibly cute. Maybe I could just get her head…or the human doll?

Asis is sold as is, with no guarantees of quality. :p

EDIT: If I just got her head, I could get her a Xagadoll Lara body from Mint on Card for $234.31 shipped. Cheaaaaap.

Ellery follows up on girlfriend Kristin's vaguely suicidal E-mail.
Continue reading Me and My Muses 4.2: “Ominous Conversation”

I used to have three knit tops with three-quarters sleeves and V necks, all in the same style, one cranberry, one pumpkin, one black. They have all disappeared from my closet. I have no idea where they went. I can't have gotten rid of them, since they're my favorite shirts. Where could they have gone? I really don't want to have to buy three more shirts. >_>

So some 1:6ers are getting updated eyeballs. Mellifer is getting DD-Anne 8mm yellow imperfect glass eyes. Jamisia is getting the same in light blue, not shown on the site. Both of these are coming in trade from Kattunge on DOA. All I had to do was send her a bunch of Rements I never use! [We both think we're getting the better end of the deal. ^_^]

Meanwhile, Ginevra is giving her current Dreaming Tree silver 8mms to Lucian. Since she needs replacement eyes, I got her DD-Anne 8mm imperfect glass ones in light purple and also in red glitter. I couldn't decide which ones would look better, so, since I cold afford it, I sprang for both.

I had just enough $$$ in my PayPal account to cover Ginevra's two pairs of eyes and an improved wig for Mellifer. He's getting a long, straight, center-part maroon wig in size 4. I wanted a brighter red, but the maroon is close enough.

Anyway, since they're coming from China, God knows when they'll arrive. For example, I ordered Jareth's Captured in Glass eyes recently from Hong Kong. They were mailed on September 27th, and they arrived on October 2nd, which is truly impressive, especially since they were sent registered airmail across the ocean, as opposed to first-class mail across the country. It's even more impressive when you consider that, if you're sending registered airmail from the US, the USPS won't even give you an estimated ETA. It "varies according to location," which means that it usually ends up taking 1-3 weeks. I have problems with the USPS… >_>

When we last left Ellery, her long-distance girlfriend Kristin was growing jealous of Ellery's muse Lucian. Ellery's sister Avery warned Ellery not to do anything rash where Kristin was concerned.

Now Ellery gets a portentous message from Kristin.

Continue reading Me and My Muses 4.1: “Ominous E-mail”

The original prospective buyer for Cyril's head dropped out, but I just received money for him today from another person and shipped him out moments ago. I'm $120.87 richer!

That's my favorite DOA icon, by the way!

Monkey Depot has them [for when my Selina Kyle comes avec stupid gloved hands]. Yay Monkey Depot!

One of Jareth's outfits, the Ringdoll Frankenstein default, which I previously discussed, arrived today. These are its parts:

one pair of black vinyl hotpants with swallowtails and a long, layered train of some tattered diaphanous material and various chains and pendants

one pair of tattered black fishnets that attach with snapping front garters to the hotpants

one pair of stretchy black armwarmers with various holes

one hooded black robe with long, loose sleeves, open in the front

one small key pendant on a choker-length cord of medium thickness

one black bowtie with strings on it to fasten around the neck

It's even more hilarious in person than in photos. I love how the train doesn't represent the rags worn by a feral creation, but instead a meticulously constructed set of layers that were purposely made long enough to trip over. I love how they aren't just slipshod socks, but gartered fishnets. What really cracks me up is the bowtie, since it really doesn't go conceptually with the rest of the outfit. Most of all, I appreciate how this outfit clearly communicates Ringdoll's concept of its Frankenstein [sic] doll as broody, kinky sex object and fashion plate. He works hard to look this good, people!

Now that I have the outfit in my hot little hands, I want to modify it before I pass it along to Mr. McDemandypants. I need to abandon the bowtie. I also need to improve the cape by removing the sleeves and adding some sort of clasp [which, knowing my caliber of tailoring, will probably be a safety pin]. Finally, of course, I at least need to get a locking leather collar, if not a collar and a corset.

If the thigh-high platform heels and the buckle-studded calf-high platform heels ever come, either pair would look very nice with the whole ensemble. I have no idea what's going on with this package, however, since it's apparently still running around the state of New York, being "processed" through "sort facilities."

I've got to take some detailed photos of the pieces this weekend…if I can ever stop laughing at it.

…that the Chittenden County Doll Club needs a Web site. A blog would be fine. I would love to be covered by the search engines so that any lonely doll enthusiasts in the area might find us and say hello!

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

This is what she said:

The basic dolll's price doesn't include emotions, but you can order
all of them with the basic doll. Each emotion faceplate comes with
make up (you can say your wishes about it) and each costs about 160-170$.
So you can decide do you want all of them or only some. The cost of
all emotion set is about 1700$. The basic doll price (include doll
with make up of your wish, wig you prefer and nails coloring) is 900$.

Isn't this nice? Soom is rereleasing some of their Super Mega Gem [65cm] and Idealian [72cm] male sculpts. Included in the list of options is Photon, who I'm attracted to because he just needs a little sharpening to be a good Jareth. Well, the head does. Unfortunately, the Idealian body is extremely muscular, thick and heavy. It's a well executed sculpt, but I really dislike that body type.

It would be very cool to put a Photon head on a slenderer [and lighter!] body, but Idealians are really big. Photon's head circumference is 24cm, his neck circumference 13.5cm. For comparison, Dollshe's "old" [original, ~2006] sculpts have a head circumference of 23.5cm, a neck circumference of 11.2cm. Like I said, they have really big heads and really thick limbs. The Super Gem body offered in this rerelease has a neck circumference of 10.5cm, so I'm not sure a Photon head would look good on a Super Gem body. Blaaaah.

I'm not getting a Photon anyway. My Jareth doll is much closer to what I want, and I made it, so I'm much more attached to it.

EDIT: Not Super Gem, Mega Gem. Mega Gems are apparently ripped like the Idealians. Siiiiiigh.

I've been a dollmaker for years already. I just haven't made any in a while.

I've actually scratch-built a doll before…in summer, 1998. Frustrated with the lack of figures of Frank from Rocky Horror, I decided to make a 1:6 scale version of my own.

I made the head and neck out of peach Super Sculpey, sculpted on top of a dowel for the spine. Of course I sculpted a smirk! I colored the head with ballpoint pen [!] and glued curly black doll hair on it with regular white glue [!].

I created a simple wire armature for the arms and legs, probably gluing them in the appropriate positions on the spine. I think I somehow stuck polyfill onto the armature, then cut body shapes out of pantyhose [!!] and glued them over the stuffing to create skin. I used mitten-shaped sandwiches of peach felt with finger demarcations drawn on in ballpoint pen [!] for hands.

I distinctly remember cutting up an old magenta bathing suit of mine for his outfit. Some sort of black material made his underwear and shoes [which had cardboard soles], and there was black tulle for his fishnets. I procured little plastic pearl beads for his necklace and some cheap expandable rings for his anklet. Finally, I noted the date of his creation and stuck a label on the bottom of his shoe.

The end result did not accord with my grandiose, movie-accurate visions. I created a microcephalic, flat-faced doll with disturbingly thick, tubular limbs and, despite the wire armature, negligible articulation. Glue featured prominently in his overall look. Come to think of it, I constructed him primarily of glue and swear words.

Nevertheless, I was so damn proud of that doll. I displayed him on my shelf for a while, and he appeared on my RHPS site in the fan art category. And I still have him, after all these years. I'll have to dig up a picture or two of him.

Kinda surprised that my first doll wasn't a Jareth. Then again, in my mind, Jareth and Frank are two aspects of the same character, so it's all the same.

It comes with a calendar and a clock. Why not a timer?

Anyway, I just found SnapTimer, a simple, self-contained, low-memory .exe that's intuitive to use and customize. It even displays custom popup messages when the time is up. Mine is "Get off the Internet now!"

I should make my alarm sound a .wav file of Jareth saying "Time is short." ^_^

…that dances by bouncing up and down while moving its fists to the left and to the right. I'll have to download it and stick it here because that's about how I feel right now. One of Jareth's outfits and two pairs of Jareth's shoes are arriving this week! Right now I'll settle for raising my arms in victory: \o/.

K.C.Doll makes a 21cm mature female BJD [RBJD? — made in Russia] Katyusha with multiple faceplates of all different expressions! Winking! Sticking out tongue! Sly! Surprised! Smiling! Sleeping! Kissing! Pissed off! Skeptical! I must find out how much she is!

I must also remember that, the last time I had a little BJD with faceplates, Petula, she sat around doing nothing. >:|

EDIT: Without s/h, a basic Katyusha is 25,000 rubles. According to xe.com, at today’s exchange rates, that’s about $801.50. Not sure if that includes faceplates. O_O

This morning I was all excited about Word's Compare function making my job much easier. I shared the good news with my supervisor, who seemed unfamiliar with the function, and my coworker. Apparently my coworker has been using the Compare function since she was trained on manuscript processing last summer. In all the intensive training that I had with her in recent months, she never passed this information along to me. So very frustrated.

One of the most tedious, nitpicky and all-around wretched parts of my job is to compare the clean revised manuscript files to the annotated manuscript files [where the authors explicitly show what has been changed]. In particular, we compare the figure legends in the clean to the figure legends in the annotated. Sometimes authors will make changes in one document, but not the other, and we need to know which is the correct version.

As it currently stands, we open up the clean and annotated legends in side-by-side windows in Word and read them, looking for differences. You can imagine the potential for human error that creeps in. You can also imagine how much time this takes if the average manuscript has maybe 45 images, each with a legend. You can imagine how much I hate doing this.

So, when I don't like doing something, I look for a way around it, either by delegating it to someone else or automating it. In this case, I can't delegate the cross-checking, and I don't want to, because then I'd have to cross-check the delegate's work, which would waste more time.

Automation it is! I said to myself, "MS Word is a bloated and hugely overpowered program. It's got to have some feature that can compare documents and compile a list of changes, right?" Why yes, yes it does.

I quickly Googled the topic and came up with several sites, most of which didn't help me because they talked about merging the documents into one, which I do not wish to do. Eventually I discovered this series of instructions, and I made two files, one of the clean legends and one of the annotated legends. Then I compared them.

Less than 5 seconds later, I had a list of differences between the documents. It was mind-blowingly simple. It saved me so much time! I need to research this more, but soon I shall tell my coworkers, and we can institute this procedure and become much more efficient.

I'm mostly excited because I think I've found a way to accomplish the same results as the human-powered cross-checking, but without any of the tedium and error.

I may have a buyer for Cyril's head!

Andrea is selling me Eudora, her NS Uyoo with a default faceup. I regret getting rid of my own NS Uyoo with default faceup some time ago, so this one is a substitute, and I will not let her go. Her name will be Theophany [thee OFF a nee], which I much prefer over the English bastardization, Tiffany.

I'm purchasing on layway a WS Soom Romantic Uyoo. I've always loved Uyoo, but I've especially hankered after the "romantic" version with partly closed eyes. I've wanted her for 6 years, ever since her debut, but I never got around to ordering her promptly. By the time I was able to, she had been discontinued. Evidently, she was not very popular, which explains why I had never seen owner pictures of her until recently, when I came across one for sale on the Den of Iniquitous Temptation DOA marketplace.

Anyway, here's my incoming Uyoo, Novella, as she looks now. She's from an LE, Black Rose Again, and she comes with the LE faceup, which is horrible, smeary, dark and unflattering. Rest assured that I will be repainting her in a paler palette with a much lighter touch. I'm also removing those wretched eyelashes. Photos by Mandragore.
Continue reading Please welcome Novella [eventually]!

I called Artists' Mediums in Williston and priced the Pan Pastels I had selected: 1 set of 5 tints and 7 miscellaneous. Total damage without tax would have been $78.92. Not ready to drop that kind of money on glorified chalk :p that I do not plan to use regularly, I reduced my choices to 7 assorted single pans, a more manageable $48.93 without tax. They are marked with red checks below.

I got raw umber and burnt sienna for shading and lines, red and purple tints for lips. I got grey tint, pure white and pure black for cutting and blending colors. I did not choose yellow, blue or green because I never use those colors in faceups. Hmmmm.

Continue reading Pan Pastels II: The Revenge

I like dolls that show teeth in an expressive manner, as opposed to just having their mouths open and showing teeth because…uh… they're breathing or something. On that note, I must compliment AOD's Huixiang for having the most naturalistic of wide smiles I've ever seen on a sculpted doll. She looks so joyful!
Continue reading I may be slightly excited about my discovery of AOD’s new 1:3 girl, Huixiang.

Continue reading FS: Volks Emma with original faceup, eyes, wig, outfit, box, papers — $650.00

I was hunting around on DOA for information about faceup pastels, and I discovered the glory that is Pan Pastels. According to the collective brains of DOA, Pan Pastels are smoother, brighter, thicker and more adhesive to resin than the average chalk pastels. Since I'm not particularly thrilled with my current set of chalk pastels, I've been investigating Pan Pastels for Jareth's faceup.

I considered ordering them from an online dealer, but the shipping costs would have cancelled out any discounts. Therefore, I thought to buy them in person from a local art supply store. I ran into difficulty when I realized that most of the stores around here that carry art supplies provide inexpensive, middle-grade supplies for the casual artist, as opposed to the more expensive supplies of higher quality preferred by the devoted and/or picky and/or professional. I could have easily hopped on the T and gone into "the city" to find Pan Pastels if I still lived around Boston, but I don't, and, surprisingly enough, "the city" [=Burlington] does not have a store for high-grade artist's supplies. I found one nearby in Williston, however, Artists' Mediums, which does special orders and which I will probably patronize, even if they are confused on the correct plural of "medium."

Since Pan Pastels cost an arm, a leg and three vertebrae, I've been deliberating over which to order. There are sets of 5 or 10, but I won't necessarily use all the colors in a set. But single colors are more expensive per pan than the same number of pans purchased as a set. So far I'm thinking of the following:

P.S. While I'm at it, I should get some Winsor & Newton brush cleaner.
Continue reading Stalking the elusive Pan Pastels

Terry Zigmund at Burlington Community Glass Studio does beautiful large rectangular stained-glass panels of skies in dark tints with a tree in the center made of twisted gold wire. One day, when I have the room [and the ca$h], I'm gonna get one and admire it for the rest of my life.

I wrote from 1.1 through 6.3 of Me and My Muses in a rush of inspiration last fall and then hit a complete and utter WALL. I had absolutely no idea what Ellery and Jamisia were going to do together. Since I knew that I would take months to even get to season 6, I figured I had nothing immediate to worry about, so I began to post eps weekly.

As soon as I got into the swing of Me and My Muses, I loved it. More specifically, I loved Ellery and Lucian. So did the readers [all 6 of you]. I received many compliments about Ellery and Lucian's character development, the exploration of imagination and reality and Ellery's sexual experimentation. Mostly, though, people really enjoyed Ellery and Lucian's snarky banter. It amused them and made them feel closer to the characters. Hey, it did the same for me too!

Season 3 ended on August 19th, almost a month ago. First, I needed a break from 8 months of weekly eps. Second, I was creeping closer to the WALL, still lacking in ideas of how to surmount it. I decided to seriously address the WALL by devoting the hiatus to overcoming it, first by thinking about it constantly in the back of my mind, finally by brainstorming my way over it.

I have spent the past month contemplating the WALL and not gaining any brilliant ideas as to its circumvention. I have, however, crystallized an important realization: I originally planned Me and My Muses as the story of Ellery's serial monogamy with three muses: Lucian, Mazzy and Jamisia. However, despite my initial plans, the heart of the story lies between Ellery and Lucian. Not only do I love them, the readers do too. Most importantly, they are the strongest characters. They have lives of their own in a way that none of the others do, and they're compelling me to tell their story, rather than the story of Ellery and Lucian and Mazzy and Jamisia.

In deference to my incredibly pushy, stubborn and demanding characters, I've given up telling the story I want to tell. Instead, I'm telling the story they want me to tell. I have changed my perspective from that of an architect following a meticulous blueprint to that of a hiker following more experienced guides on an unknown trail. Stupendously enough, the WALL has disappeared. It was a trompe l'oeil barrier erected mainly by my narrow perspective.

All of this is to say that I know where I'm going now…or, more precisely, I do not know exactly where I'm going, but I trust Ellery and Lucian to take me there. We're over the WALL and out of the hole, and regular eps of Me and My Muses will be back in early October! \o/

These 1:6 scale porcelain ball-jointed mermaids by Orenda Doll are very engaging. Since Soom does not seem to be releasing a 1:6 scale Faery Legend mermaid any time soon, these look reallllly tempting.

After way too much contemplation over such a seemingly sinple subject, I purchased Jareth 14mm, low-dome Captured in Glass eyes in ET59, as shown in this previous entry. As much as I wanted to get him super-accurate, specially made Enchanted Doll eyes, I didn't want the ED eyes to be so dark that they swallowed light. Therefore, I chose an approximate color and light reflectivity over verisimilitude.

Continue reading FS: Doll Chateau Cyril head + eyes [WS]

Jareth's body [with non-Jareth head attached] and shoes arrived today from Mint on Card! By the time I collected Cyril [the name of the head] from the office, deboxed him and shoved him in some of Jareth's clothes, it was too dark to take pictures, so I'll provide some tomorrow.

In the interim, I have a few comments.

1) Doll Chateau's adult male bodies are freakin' scrawny. The limb circumferences, hands and feet are more in line with the proportions of a ~45cm "mature mini," or 1:4 scale BJD. The arms and legs look especially delicate, so I'm taking extra care when bending them. The DC adult male body looks stunning and also kind of ridiculous when naked, while the addition of clothing changes its bulk to that of an appealing gauntness.

2) Cyril [so named because he's currently a full doll] is strung a little tightly, but keeps all his limbs straight, without any snapping into hunched, praying mantis positions. The wrists and ankles flex and lock at a variety of angles, while the head has a nice range of movement up, down and to either side. I hope Jareth's head moves equally well on this body!

3) Bastard demands more shoes. The ones I got with Cyril, unlike most BJD boots, DO NOT zip up the back. Therefore I must rely on the stretch in the vinyl to accommodate his feet. When trying to tug the boots on over Jareth's socks + pants, I encountered a lot of resistance. I don't want to tug too hard and chip one of his delicate limbs, so I'm saving these boots for use over just, say, fishnets and springing for some with zippers from Alice's Collections after all.

4) Cyril's a beautiful sculpt. He's got a narrow face, a long and prominent nose, a wide mouth. Mint on Card threw in some nice silver eyes for him that really add to his air of Ultimate Bishounen. He kinda reminds me of Ivan Doroschuk…. <3 <3 Too bad he's going away.

Well, I don't exactly want that, but a commissioned approximation thereof, custom fit for Jareth and constructed of alternating panels of black and hot pink four-way stretch vinyl, coming to just under the nipples. HAWT DAMN. :p

Just heard back from Angelsdoll. I asked them about an estimated date by which Jareth's head[s] would ship. They said:

Thank you very much^^~.

I'm beginning to think they just sit around all day, waiting for my messages. >_>

In response to my query about measurements, Angelsdoll provided the following pictures and legends:
Continue reading Jareth’s measurements

Jareth's body [extra head attached >_> ] and boots shipped TODAY! I wonder if I will have them by this weekend. [They're coming to work.] FedEx estimates that Ground delivery should take 2 business days. I wonder if that means it will arrive on the end of the second business day [=Friday] or the beginning of the third [=Monday].

\o\ /o/ \o\

That's me doing the Wave with excitement!

I just sent the following message to Angelsdoll:

Hi, I approve of the headsculpt as shown in the pictures you just attached. Can you please confirm the measurements?

Head circumference: 20.5cm

Width of head at the middle of the eyes: 5-6cm

Height of head from crown to where it joins the neck: 13cm

Neck circumference: 9cm

If those will indeed be the measurements of the actual heads, please go ahead and have the manufacturing process begin. Do you have an estimate for when the heads will be shipped to me? Thank you.

—

Here are the pictures of the final headsculpt.
Continue reading My Jareth: off to manufacturing!

Not satisfied with the CheeryDoll regalia that I purchased him earlier, Mr. Demandy McDemandypants got all excited when he saw someone offering the Ringdoll Frankenstein outfit on the DOA marketplace. It is a floofy black layered outfit that is gloriously silly and therefore stupendously awesome.

It's very hard to see in the official pictures, but it includes a hooded robe, a shredded overskirt with a train and various chains hanging off it, hot pants, garters, fishnets and armwarmers. It's goth + emo by way of fetish. I'm kind of surprised that it doesn't come with a spiked collar and a corset. I'll just have to supply those myself. [Jareth: "Aw yeah."]

I really like Ringdoll. They do macabre very well. Besides their hilarious Frankenstein [sic] with black toenail polish, they've also done Jessica, a murderous young woman issued with a leather apron and a blood-spattered chainsaw, among other things. They've issued Norman Dark Side, an arsonist orphanage director with optional nightmare-styled marionette doll Quiz. Currently on sale is Zombie Sol, with a gloriously decaying headsculpt, as well as Welcome, a religious fanatic clown who starves people to death with evil hamburgers. [For real! 1:3 scale hamburger included!] I thnk that's about it, which is good because now I'm queasy.

I do kind of want a 1:3 chainsaw, though…purely for the novelty value. I don't want it $89.00 + EMS shipping much, however.

Because I am incredibly impatient and possessed of a credit card, I decided not to preorder a Doll Chateau adult male body in white resin, but instead get a whole doll, Cyril, in stock from Mint on Card. That was $100.00 more than I planned because the body comes with a head, but it also comes next week, as opposed to 2.333333 months from now.

While I was there, I checked for appropriate shoes and, lo and behold, they had the exact type of shoes I was looking for: calf-length black pleather platform high-heeled boots by Yuhao for $15.00! Great! Now I don't need to settle for approximately what I was looking for from Alice's Collections. I can get exactly what I'm looking for.

\o/ \o/ Cyril can be my clothing model while I wait for Jareth's head and eyes. Then I can sell him [Cyril's head]. Anyone want a Doll Chateau Cyril head, blank, in white resin?

EDIT: Looks like FedEx Ground [how the package is coming] takes 2-3 business days to get from there to here.

Once upon a time, my sister and I created a paracosm centered around the Kings, a family consisting of the most powerful, magical and 51% evil individual in the universe and his three half-alien, half-Earthling daughters, the younger of which were a set of Mary Sue self-insert identical twins. The Kings regularly traveled through space and/or time, meeting fictional characters, ridding the world of menaces and going on sarcastic, parodic tangents.

Back in 1996, we did an adventure for them called Operation WAWBAB. An egregiously obnoxious family, the Wallis-Budges, moved across the street from the Kings. Offended by their egregious obnoxiousness, the Kings employed many creative, non-magical devices to evict the Wallis-Budges from their neighborhood. The Wallis-Budges did not budge…

…Until the Kings threw a dinner party on par with that of the Rocky Horror Picture Show [which, incidentally, we didn't know about at that time]. Each of the Kings decided to embody the stereotypical fashions and mannerisms of a different late 20th century decade. The patriarch, for some reason, targeted the 1960s, as interpreted by New Age sensibilities. To complete the characterization, he included in the driveway a VW MicroBus and a Hillman Minx, both decked out in, uh, weird paraphernalia.

Now, as far as my sister and I were concerned, the Hillman Minx was the funniest car in existence, thanks to its immortalization in a Dave Barry column as "a wart-shaped British car with the same rakish, sporty appeal as a municipal parking garage but with not as much pickup." Therefore, at some point, I decided to make a custom scale model of it. Since I could not find a small-scale Hillman Minx, I had to make do with a Volkswagen Beetle. Just pretend it's a Hillman Minx, okay?

Continue reading Also from my closet: my custom hippy-dippy, New Agey Hillman Minx

I'm a little worried about Angelsdoll. I sent them revisions at 10:30 AM EST, and they incorporated the changes and sent them back to me by 8:30 PM EST the same day.

Why are they so damn prompt? Are they just sitting around at their computers, waiting expectantly for my messages? Don't they have other things to do?

I greatly appreciate their rapid turnaround time; it certainly flatters me and makes me slightly less impatient. However, it's pretty much unprecedented, which leaves me a bit suspicious…. >_> :p
Continue reading My Jareth: back from Angelsdoll [already!!] with revisions

Piposdoll pioneered the development of anthro [bipedal non-human animal] BJDs with a bunch of cats a few years ago. I’m really not interested in most anthro BJDs, as they tend to look way too cute to be easily identifiable as their source animal. I must admit, however, that Pipos’ ball-jointed frogs are pretty neat. In a divergence from the roly-poly & fuzzy features of most anthro BJDs, Pipos BJFs :p have the bug-eyed, lumpy heads and suction-cup digits associated with frogs. I also like the fact that they don’t look particularly thrilled.

I’d be way more interested in anthro BJDs if we got more non-fuzzy, non-roly-poly anthros. I’m talking birds, lizards, dinosaurs, arachnids, insects, amphibians. A little red spotted salamander, for instance, would be awesome.

Jareth went back for round 2 just now. I E-mailed Angelsdoll with all my diagrams in the previous entry detailing changes to make. Turns out that I didn't need a profile pic of a DC Cyril, as the proportions of Jareth's head on the z scale are actually fine. The globe of his skull just needs to be much taller.

Now I just have to figure out some way to WAIT until I get revised pics back from them. Argh. I hate waiting. I'm horribly impatient.

Bastard doesn't even have a head or eyes or a body, and he's already demanding more clothes. Apparently the best of the best [CheeryDoll] isn't good enough. >_>

I've spent all weekend detailing the changes that I would like made in Angelsdoll's first draft of my Jareth headsculpt. I don't want to give them information solely in text because there's too much room for misinterpretation. Instead, I have attempted to convey all the changes in annotated diagrams.

Continue reading My Jareth: revisions to go to Angelsdoll

Lura's custom Spite & Malice fur wig came earlier this week, but I didn't get to photo it till now. She is going to be the most adorable mecha siren ever. ^_^

Continue reading The Lura Project: Spite & Malice custom fur wig

The BJD world has the annoying habit of calling 60-70cm dolls 1:3 scale, ~40cm dolls 1:4 scale and ~30cm dolls 1:6 scale, even though this is not necessarily the case. Most often, a company will create a 60-70cm line, a ~40cm line and a ~30cm line that are all in relative scale to each other. This means that the 60-70cms represent 1:3 scale adults, the ~40cms 1:3 scale children and the ~30cms 1:3 scale toddlers. It's all 1:3 scale.

Just to complicate matters, a company usually also creates ~40cms that represent adults, meaning that they are true 1:4 scale. There may also be ~30cms that represent adults, which are, of course, true 1:6 scale. But the BJD labeling conventions don't truly refer to scale; they refer instead to average absolute size, which irritates me to no end because scales are ratios and relative measurements. Plus it's really annoying to see a category for "1/6th scale" on a BJD Web site and get all excited for 1:6 scale adults, then end up finding a bunch of ~30cm babies instead. >:(

Anyway, when I refer to 1:6 scale, I am referring correctly to the category of dolls, clothes, accessories, props, etc. that is 16.67% life size, also known as playscale. As 1:6 scale is my favorite scale, I'm always on the lookout for 1:6 scale BJDs because they go so well with my existing craploads of clothes, Rements, furniture and sets, not to mention all the other 1:6 scale denizens I already have.

The whole point of this entry is to note that I think I have discovered another 1:6 scale BJD, Xagadoll Lara. She has a robust, attractive body sculpt and, unusually for 1:6 scale BJDs, double joints! She's very cute, but, then again, BJDs, especially Asian ones, are designed to be cute. I found her at Mint on Card, a US dealer, but not on Xagadoll's company site, which is strange. Anyway, I don't "need" any 1:6 scale BJDs, so stay away from my wallet, Lara!

P.S. Apparently no one has Lara yet, or no one who has her has posted pictures online. I just did a search for her and was disappointed to see this very entry rank high in the Google results, which means there's nothing out there about her.

While I was poking around online, trying to settle the Mask Question, I thoroughly examined Sideshow Toy's sales site and their official fan message board, Sideshow Freaks. I found the main discussion thread about Hot Toys' Selina Kyle and searched it for information on said Mask Question.

I did not find any information. I did, however, find a 250-page thread with scores of posts pissing and moaning about all aspects of the Mask Question, including those I'd never even considered.

Her mask should come off because [reasons].

Her mask shouldn't come off because [reasons].

There should be a separate headsculpt without the mask.

Mask off isn't movie accurate.

Mask off is preferable for kitbashers.

It's still in prototype, so Hot Toys has a chance to change the figure, possibly making a non-removable mask removable.

And on and on and on. Just in case you didn't notice, 1:6 scale action figure nerds are some of the pickiest people on the planet, especially when they have audiovisual source material to compare the figs to.

I noticed that, in 250 pages of pissing and moaning, no one thought to ask customer service to settle the Mask Question. In my mind, that's the logical next step, since Sideshow is the official US distributor for Hot Toys and therefore communicates closely with them. If I can pry the answer to the Mask Question out of anyone, it would be out of customer service. Therefore, being an eminently sensible individual, I asked Sideshow customer service, received a response and posted the response [mask = removable] on MWD and Sideshow Collectors.

MWD said thank you. Sideshow Collectors was unimpressed. One poster actually disagreed with me, saying that Hot Toys, experiencing a language barrier, probably got confused by the term "mask" and was instead talking about her goggles, which do come off. Plus wouldn't they have shown the doll with her mask off if her mask came off? Another poster rebutted by saying that she never took her mask off when she was wearing that outfit in the movie, so why would the promo pics show her maskless? And they were off and running again.

Seriously, people? Seriously? This is how you get off? I have never experienced such a community that was so pissy about their creative pursuits. I'm not talking about being judgmental the way that BJD communities can be; I'm talking about sustained, pointless hostility toward the very thing that the community is supposed to value and enjoy. It's so weird.

Delivered just moments ago, these jpgs show my digital sculpted altered for 3-D printing as a hollow BJD head with eyewells. I think I'm going to mull over this for at least the weekend before getting back to them. Preliminarily, I think it looks good. Gotta check if the proportions are correct, though. I already see some stuff I need to change, but he's 90% there!!!
Continue reading Prototype pics of Jareth’s head from Angelsdoll

I wrote to Sideshow's customer service last week, asking them to ask Hot Toys if their Selina Kyle's stupid mask comes off. Sideshow got back to me today, saying that, YES, HER STOOPID MASK COMES OFF!! O frabjous day!

After making a detailed spreadsheet listing about 8 online vendors, their price, s/h fees and grand totals for Hot Toys Selina Kyle, I went with Sideshow. [Besides making figures, they also distribute for Hot Toys.] They were selling her for $194.99, s/h included, but I ended up getting her for $184.99 because I got a $10.00 discount on my first order. $184.99 ended up being the lowest shipped price I found, with the exception of an Indonesian comic store that had her for $150.00 [MSRP: $200.00], but they wouldn't ship to the US, so they're irrelevant.

My Selina Kyle is coming with a Batman mask. I've seen other people who really like Hot Toys' Dark Knight dolls get all excited about this, but I'm not sure why because it's just a mask, and it doesn't even go on the fig it comes with. Kinda stupid.

Speaking of accessories, Selina Kyle has very few. Besides the doll, the costume and a variety of hands, she has her mask, her goggles and a pistol. That's it? That's it??? Look — I have some great alternatives for accessories [or additional parts] right off the top of my head:

1. second headsculpt with "hostess" makeup and hairstyle from when she's infiltrating Bruce Wayne's party

2. hostess outfit

3. safe and pearl necklace

4. her girlfriend [we can only dream :p]

Anyway, further bulletins as events warrant. Maybe, if people complain enough, Hot Toys will give her more accessories. There's still time for them to finalize the product. Whingeing Mode Activated!

P.S. I notice that Sideshow discontinued the 1:6 scale figures in its original The Dead line. I'm very disappointed. I really liked that line, from concept to execution to detailing to packaging to backstory…except for the fact that apparently only one woman was ever zombified out of a dozen 1:6 scale zombies: the Babysitter. Whose incredibly stupid idea was that? I have gazillions of ideas for female zombie characters: elementary school teacher, nurse, exotic dancer [this would be really popular], cheerleader [also would be really popular], barista, cashier, businesswoman/secretary, soccer mom :p, grandmother, dominatrix, librarian, combat medic, combat helicopter pilot, EMT/ambulance driver, feminist :p :p, et hoc genus omne. There should also have been some kid zombies and zombie pets, but apparently Sideshow's imagination isn't that expansive, and, for some reason, nobody consulted me. 

The surface is "breaking" at a certain location. I have no idea why!

EDIT: Well, I guess they fixed the problem. Huzzah [for now]!

Just got this from Angelsdoll:

Hi^^. Okay^^.

I will make oder item and e-mail you for purchasing head-making service. then you can use your points.

And I will do inner part modeling.

Thank you very much^^~.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!

I just got some measurements for the Doll Chateau adult male head so that I can ensure that Jareth's head will be in proportion to the DC adult male body. I sent the following to AD just now. We'll see what happens!

Hi Angelsdoll.

A few days ago, I sent you an .obj file for a custom head. I have some more measurements and final specifications for you:

The specifications for the custom head are as follows:

Head circumference: 20.5cm

Width of head at the middle of the eyes: 5-6cm

Height of head from crown to where it joins the neck: 13cm

Neck circumference: 9cm

[Please see the attached pictures for measurements.]

Continue reading Updated Jareth head specs

They'll be going along, issuing their standard, run-of-the-mill, ugly dolls [discussion here], and then, all of a sudden, they'll come out with something cool. Today's deviation from their usual mediocrity is Impl Young Adela. She's an engaging little girl with a slight smile and a relaxed, open mouth that makes her look very lively. She also has heavily styled wingy ears. Her body is actually a pretty good double-jointed sculpt with pleasing proportions and graceful articulation. Tragically, however, she has a forehead tumor in the shape of an orange and purple turd. She's the sort of BJD that just calls out for some minor modding to reach her full glory. Too bad she's in 1:4 scale, a scale I refuse to get into.

I've always found it very odd that people congratulate each other on the purchase of a new BJD, as if it's some great accomplishment. I understand that it may take a lot of blood, sweat and tears to save up for the doll, as well as a lot of patience to wait for the doll. However, buying a doll does necessarily require lots of hard work, skill and talent, in the way that, for example, writing the Great American Novel does or learning to ride a unicycle does. Neither is buying a doll a milestone like graduation or moving to a new house. The actual purchase of a BJD does not require any great exertion of admirable character traits; any fool with a credit card can buy a doll. So why do we act like it's so impressive?

My clothes and stuff are ganging up on me. One of my favorite T-shirts was ignominiously slain by an oil-based dressing stain 2 weeks ago, so I replaced it at Goodwill this weekend [$5.00].

My favorite shorts expired last week, so I got some more off Ebay [~$22.00].

Then one of my pillows died, so I replaced it [$18.00]. While I was at it, I purchased some towels that actually covered me up [$25.00].

Then I discovered holes in my pajama top and [where else?] the crotch of pajama pants #2. Since I use a special type of long underwear as pajamas, it's costing me $140.00 for 2 replacement sets.

I have to get some new bottom fitted sheets for my bed this week. I only have 1, and it's stained as heck. I also need some new pillowcases. I'd rather not buy sheet sets, though, because I never use the top sheets, so they just stay in storage, using up valuable space.

While I'm at it, I could probably use another winter coat: one with a waterproof outer layer and an insulated inner layer. I've been using my current one so long that it's fraying at the cuffs, and it has permanent smudges all over it from dirt and/or the strap of my previous purse, which leaked dye whenever it got wet. >: Also it has some unpleasant history attached to it, so it really should go away.

And yeah, a second fleece jacket would be a wise investment. I spent pretty much the entire period from October of last year to April of this year wearing my current fleece jacket. I originally bought it to be the first layer of winter clothes, over which I would put my outer winter jacket to constitute an entire coat. Then, because I'm hypersensitive to temperature and would rather be slightly hot than slightly cold, I ended up never taking it off. I wore it in the office every single day. I wore it when I got home from work. I wore it on the weekends. I wore it on quick trips outside [like to and from the laundry shed]. I wore it when I took naps. I wore it when I did pretty much everything except sleeping, and, even then, I wore it on especially cold nights. :p I lived in that thing. I should get another, just to distribute the wear.

Does anything else want to wear out, while I'm spending money??? :p

Jareth's shirt and coat from CheeryDoll left South Korea on August 31st. As of September 1st, there were in New York City. They should be arriving to me within the next 2 or 3 days. EMS is fast.

Angelsdoll successfully read my .obj file! \o/ \o/ \o/ I just have to get them the width across the eyes of a DC adult male head, as well as the height of such a head from crown to chin, so that I can insure that Jareth will be in scale to my chosen body. I should also reiterate head circumference, neck circumference and eye size in that message.

Oh yeah, and they quoted me a price of ~$740.00 for 2 heads, including s/h. But they also said earlier that I could use my Angelsdoll points toward the cost of custom head services, so I think it'll be more like $660.00.

I am preliminarily hopeful!

P.S. I'm awake right now because I made the mistake yesterday of laundering one of my pillows. Naturally, the cleaning process destroyed the perfect head groove that I had worn into it, and it was rendered chunky and extra thick by its trip through the washer and dryer. I have to hit the mall later today [hah!] to get another one [and some new sheets and some new towels]…if only I can figure out when the stores open on Labor Day. I foresee several naps in my future. 🙁

I just sent off the .obj file of Jareth to Angelsdoll with the following note:

Hi Angelsdoll. I am inquiring about a custom BJD head sculpt. I am attaching an .obj file for the custom head that I would like made, as well as the .mtl file. Please let me know if you can open them.

The specifications for the custom head are as follows:

Head circumference: 20.5cm

Neck circumference: 9cm

Eye size: 14-16mm

Resin color: Volks compatible white

The head is going on a Doll Chateau adult male body. [Shoulders are 13.8cm wide.] Please refer to the following pictures of the body + blank head for proportions: http://www.doll-chateau.com/pro_detail.asp?id=206

Please note that the .obj file shows the head with realistic human proportions, instead of BJD proportions. Please adjust the size of the skull and face to fit BJD proportions, but do not change the relative sizes and positions of the facial features.

Can you give me an estimate for how much it would be to have 2 or 3 custom heads sculpted and shipped to me? I'm in the USA.

When you have a 3-D model of the head ready, please send back an .obj file so I can look at it. Thank you.

Let's see what happens!!

Hot Toys is doing a 1:6 scale version of Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, as she appears in The Dark Knight Rises, played by Anne Hathaway. I'm getting her! Well…I'm getting the whole doll, then selling everything but her head, as Hathaway has always reminded me of Frank [my version!]. ^_^

And look! Her stupid mask is removable! You would not believe how long it took me to discover this information. In a spectacular failure of communication, both the Hot Toys official site and the Sideshow Toys official site [= official US dealer for Hot Toys] showed the doll only with her mask on and no indication whatsoever of whether the damn thing was permanently attached to her face. No one wants a doll with something permanently attached to its face [well, unless it's Bane — that's okay because we never see him without his mask]. That just reduces the versatility of the fig drastically.

P.S. The movie was all right, but there were only 2 female characters, Selina Kyle and Thalia Al-Ghul. Otherwise, Gotham was made up entirely of men. How boring, not to mention unrealistic. I also could have gone for at least 15 minutes more of Anne Hathaway. The screen lit up whenever she appeared!

EDIT: The picture I got was not actually of the doll. Still not sure if her stoooooopid mask comes off. Have asked Sideshow Toy.

I left my headsculpt of my Jareth alone for 5 days so that I wouldn't be tempted to fiddle with him and ruin the great likeness I had captured so far. This evening, I went back to him with fresh eyes.

I tinkered with various values, deleting them completely, then putting them at high, low and medium levels, just to see their effects. In the end, the only changes for this round were slightly increasing the x axis width of the face from 95% to 97.5%, lightening the creases at the ends of his smile and lowering his eyelids marginally to give him a more relaxed look. And that was it. I was done with my part of the sculpting.

I exported him to an .obj file, and now I'm waiting to work with Angelsdoll on getting them the file, making sure it's readable and making sure that they are going to adhere to my requested measurements and my digital sculpt as closely as possible.

Here he is!
Continue reading My Jareth: render 7, ready for Angelsdoll!!!

On the DOA marketplace, huge sums of money regularly change hands. With that in mind, I do not understand how anyone would put "concealed cash" as an acceptable method of payment. "La la la, I just committed to buying a $650.00 doll. I'll just stick some bills in a padded mailer and send 'em first class." Who thinks that is a good idea?

…is that, when I'm going to the bathroom at work, I'll be staring at my shorts, and then I'll suddenly realize that they have a hole in the crotch. A big one. Right where the 4 seams join too! :p

There's a person on the DOA marketplace who has an Elfdoll June for sale. She's a 58cm, single-jointed BJD from 2009, "no damage," coming with default faceup, wig, eyes, box, earrings. As you can see, she originally sold for $500.00 + s/h, but the seller has listed her for $180.00 + s/h.

That's the first thing I don't understand. The secondary market for Elfdolls is pretty soft in general, especially compared to, say, that of Volks or Soom, but other Junes have gone or are going for at least $350.00, more like in the $400s. Why is this one so cheap?

And then there's the shipping quote. The seller says that priority shipping in the US will be "approximately $85.00."

That's the second thing I don't understand. "Approximately $85.00" for shipping a BJD by priority mail in the US is patently false. For one thing, you could unstring her and stick her in a large flat rate priority box, which, with insurance for $200.00 and delivery confirmation, would come to a total of $19.10. For another thing, even if her box were oversized [say, 36"x12"x12"] and 8 pounds [which is overestimating everything], priority shipping from California to Vermont with $200.00 of insurance and delivery confirmation would come to a total of $70.20. $70.20 =/= "approximately $85.00."

It's kind of despicious. >_> I suddenly feel a great desire to rescue this doll from her current owner.

I just paid off my estate planning! Now to get the FLE car its well-car checkup, and then I'm off to JARETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah yeah, late to the party, but apparently Hasbro and Integrity Toys are doing high-end, articulated, fashion-doll remakes of Jem and the Holograms. I wonder if they'll do the rival band too? I never got into the dolls the first time around, but I'm curious to see what the remakes look like. If they are 1:6 scale [as opposed to the original dolls, which were more like 13"] with articulated elbows [as opposed to the original dolls, who had articulated wrists, but no articulated elbows, for mysterious reasons], they could be interesting.

EDIT: Holy crap! 1:6 scale! Articulated elbows! Pink hair! Of course, this particular doll was one of those super-duper special editions available only at the 2012 Comicon, therefore now available on Ebay for $gazillion. Well, there'll be more of them in the future.

I don't care what it is — a doll, a dress, a lamp shade, a cell phone, anything — but putting Swarovski crystals on it makes it neither more attractive nor more desirable.

…on the occasion of your new job. Look…even David Bowie is happy for you!
Continue reading This is a present for melopoeia…

It looks exactly like a fashion illustration featuring a scrawny, elongated model who's about 11 heads high. It's like someone took your average BJD, reduced the x axis to 75% and increased the y axis to 125%. In a marketplace full of rounded, blocky, childlike dolls, Doll Chateau's gravity-defying aesthetic really stands out. I dig it.

"Wait a minute…I have to call the underwriters."

Lola Paprika and Dorothy have turned into MONEY!!!!!

I'm that much closer to affording Jareth's head and body….

If this is going to be the Best Jareth Doll Ever [TM], I should invest in accurate eyes: 14mm low-dome blue/grey eyes with medium-sized pupils and darker rings at edges of irises in glass, urethane or silicone. In other words, artistic representations of my own eyeballs. o_o

Eyeco's Ultra series might work.

8 x 8 x 8 box is $1.74 at UPS Store.

Dorothy in box weighs 12.4 oz.

Noodge in box weighs 11.4 oz.

Lola Paprika in box weighs 4 lbs, 11.1 oz.

I'm trying to get an accurate shipping quote to send Noodge in her box to Australia, and USPS will not give me the exact type of shipping I want. What I want is something relatively inexpensive with insurance.

Let's say it's a 2.5 pound package [probably overkill, but let's just be safe]. Where insurance is noted, it's for $195.00.

I could do express mail in a flat rate box with insurance for $75.80, HAH HAH HAH.

I could do international priority in a medium flat rate box with insurance for $52.70, HAH HAH HAH.

I could do international priority in my own packaging with insurance for $47.00, HAH HAH HAH.

And that is the cheapest that USPS goes for insured shipping.

I could do a first class international parcel in my own packaging with registered mail for $32.77, but there's no insurance. Apparently you can't put insurance on first class international parcels. WHY NOT?

His head looked too wide, so I reduced the x scale to 95%. The latest iteration is on the bottom.

Continue reading My Jareth: render 6b and all the others so far

Put ears more flush with head, gave more depth to philtrum and shape to upper lip, narrowed lower face a bit, pinched outer corners of lower lip a bit, narrowed full dorsal plane of nose a bit, dropped outer corners of eyes down a bit, narrowed top of head to more realistic proportions, erased forehead folds, narrowed width of back of head.

Continue reading My Jareth: render 6

I gave her some hair clips today so that it's easier to see her face, especially her adorable winking eye. While taking pictures of her, I got distracted by the beauty of her hand sculpts. They're so elongated and delicate!

Continue reading August has the most beautiful hands!

I would make some Labyrinthian crack about "downloads untold and .objs unnumbered," but I'm way too tired. All told, I spent maybe 6 hours finding the correct program, downloading it, installing it and then beating it into submission. At long last, however, I have finally achieved an .obj file that hopefully will be useable by the Angelsdoll team when they are sculpting Jareth. Behold — I have finally figured out how to remove the eyebrows and eyelashes from the .obj!

Continue reading You do not know how long it took me to do this.

Reduced the width and overall size of the eyes, set them a bit father from each other, relaxed the left brow.
Continue reading My Jareth: render 5

I currently have four dolls on the marketplace: Lola Paprika, Dorothy, Noodge and Sarah. I'm not in dire need of funds, but I would like them to sell off expeditiously so that I have have the money to pay for a) the rest of estate planning fees, b) the FLE car's well-car checkup and then c) JARETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…PAINT REMOVER. I've been using the same bottle for about 10 years. I think it's dead.

I had a buyer lined up for one of my dolls that I'm selling…a real live buyer, not someone who wanted a split or a trade, but someone who was willing to pay me money for my doll.

Then she just changed her mind. >_< Blaaaaaahhhhh. That's the first time this has happened to me, in my many transactions on the forum. So irritating!

I was exporting Jareth's head to an .obj file last night, and these stupid extra polys from the eyelashes and eyebrows kept coming with the basic headsculpt. After asking around on the Daz forums, I learned that I will have to take the .obj into a modeling program, remove the offending polys, resave and re-export to a new .obj.

Therefore, I have to download another huge, bloated memory hog [even if it is free] and figure out how to use it well enough to achieve the desired results. Argh.

I'm doing this because I love you, you pain in the ass. You hear me? Because I love you. :p

EDIT: Here's the salient piece of advice from chohole in my thread on the Daz forums: "[W]hen I export an obj into Bryce I can select the eyebrows and lashes as separate meshes and remove them."

And advice from JimmyC_2009 for Hexagon: "[Y]ou can do it in Hexagon too.  The head comes into Hex as one mesh, but you can select a poly in the eyebrow, grow the Selection, and then delete it, same with the eyelashes."

Regarding Poser, chohole says, "In Poser I would go to the hierarchy editor and turn the eyebrows and eye lashes off before exporting."

EDIT 2: And an archive thread from Runtime DNA on the same topic.

EDIT 3: BrowsGone and LashesGone morphs???

I'm doing the faceup on Jareth 2.0 myself. I'll have no problem with the eyes; those shapes are pretty flat, so they're easy to deal with. I will, however, have problems with all the nooks and crannies of the mouth. I hate painting mouths.

I've decided to go for the "nude lips" look, in which the lips are exactly the same or almost the same color as the surrounding skin, differentiated mainly by high gloss varnish. I thought it might be as easy as just glossing the lip area repeatedly until it really shone, but I asked Andrea, more experienced in doll painting, if she had any tips. She said:

"Put lots of high gloss varnish on it!  Oh, wait…  Another thing I've done is to use paint that's almost the same color as the skin.  John (kd_230692) will paint the lips, then wipe away all but the paint that's deepest in the line between the lips (usually he'll do that because he's not happy with the lips he painted, then likes the look of the line alone…)

"I've also used a bit of pastel on the lips, then glossed over that (but I've done that only once, for Gretchen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollsahoy/6076359350/  –a color closer to the skin tone would make the effect more subtle, of course. )"

I think I'm going with the paint-and-wipe effect. It ends up looking pretty good, actually.

It has 2 swappable skirts, a separate bodice and separate sleeves, so the fashion possibilities are endless slightly less limited than they would be if it was all one piece. It's stupendous in its commitment to pinkitude, and, because it's made by CheeryDoll, you know it's high quality.

It is very beautiful, but I am never, ever, ever getting it because it costs ~$390.00 excluding shipping. I've bought whole dolls for less money than that. The entire cast of Me and My Muses cost ~$260.00 a piece, while Lola Paprika, Janvier Jett and August were all around $300.00. I am willing to drop loads of money on dolls [see cost projections for Jareth 2.0, for example], but this is where I draw the line: buying clothes that cost more than your average BJD. $200.00 for a BJD outfit? Fine. Double that? No.

Soom's monthly doll in the Mega Gem size is Quartz the Ice Dragon, your standard cute, androgynous guy with fantasy parts. Nice dolly, but why are his wings made out of tinsel and cubic zirconium? Is there a resin shortage in South Korea? If I'm buying a doll that starts at $750.00 [which I'm not], excluding options and shipping, I expect wings of a better quality than those I could get off an Xmas ornament from the dollar store.

EDIT: Fixed the link.

I get so irritated when I post dolls for sale on DOA, and then people try to trade me their dolls for mine when I have explicitly stated that I'm not open to trades. No! I don't want your f'in' doll!

Loosened the crease between eyebrows, exaggerated the arch in the brows, made the lower lip smaller.
Continue reading My Jareth: render 4

I think I just bought Jareth's shirt and jacket. I was trying to just figure out shipping and handling, but I seem to have finalized a purchase instead. I detest online ordering systems that hide shipping and handling fees at some obscure point in the checkout process. And I really detest online ordering systems that calculate shipping after you place your order. [I'm looking at you, Denver Doll. >_> ]

Angelsdoll custom headsculpts [2] in white resin: ~$600.00-800.00 ended up being $717.80

Doll Chateau adult male body in white resin from Denver Doll:  $480.00 with est. s/h

Mid-calf laceup black platform-heeled boots and thigh-high black regular-heeled boots with buckles from Alice's Collections: $47.79 turned out to be Doll Chateau adult male Cyril whole doll and and Yuhao black platform high-heeled boots from Mint on Card for $597.19 with s/h MINUS $120.87 from sale of Cyril head = $476.32 

Faceup: $0 [will do myself] gonna end up getting some expensive Pan Pastels

Pants: $0 [already have]

Red frilly blouse and long black tailcoat from CheeryDoll: $156.11 with est. s/h turned out to be $150.11

Calf-high black platform heeled boots and thigh-high black platform heeled boots = $45.98

Ringdoll Frankenstein outfit = $124.00

Eyes: Y10 [Normal Eyes set] 14mm and ET59 [Special Eyes set] 14mm, both low dome, from Captured in Glass: $16.38 ended up being ET59, 14mm, low dome: $10.38 with s/h

Wig: wavy long blond 7-8inch from LeekeWorld: $49.00 with est. s/h turned out to be a Monique Ginger wig in blond from the DOA marketplace: $22.00 with s/h

Total: $1549.28 [assuming $800.00 for the custom heads]

It would be really nice if the custom heads cost on the lower end of what I've projected.

…Mainly because of my Jareth 2.0 project. Jareth is my most important character ever, and rendering his likeness in 3-D physicality has also been extremely important to me, ever since I first saw Labyrinth, then became extremely frustrated that there were no Jareth dolls. In pursuing this project, I respect the importance of my creative life by freeing it from arbitrary moratoriums.

Now that I think about it, I have no good reason to constrain my artistic expression in such a way. My interest in dolls brings me joy, intellectual excitement and challenge. It helps to give my life some balance. I can afford my interest as well; more to the point, I am able to save for moving and purchase things related to my dolls, so dolls are not really taking money from the moving fund. I could always, I suppose, save for moving all the money that I spend on dolls; that was my reasoning behind my expired resolution. However, the enforced misery that would result would not be worth it.

All this being said, I was motivated to make my expired resolution because of many impulse purchases in the past few months. For example, I got Nathaniel and August because they look cool, not because they represent characters that I love. I do not wish to continue purchasing dolls on impulse, especially when I have to move them all in less that a year! Therefore, my resolution should more specifically be that I will not get any impulse dolls till next summer. That I can live with.

Anyway, I have two major expenditures barring me from dropping major moolah on any doll project. First I have to pay the fees for my estate planning; I just made a down payment of 50% today. \o/ Then the FLE car needs its well-car checkup. Then the fun can begin.

Hmmm, I wonder if I have enough $$$ to get the FLE car's well-car checkup out of the way this week.

[All of this still does not address the subject of that Soom Auber, who, as far as I can tell, is still on the marketplace for a very reasonable price. Does he count as an impulse doll? I've been wanting him since last spring. Should I jump on him because I might not be able to find another at such a price? Or should I pursue 2.0 with the money I could have spent on Auber? Maybe someone will purchase the doll and render my decision irrelevant. :p ]

I decided that Lura needs goggles to protect her eyes during her flights, so I'm commissioning Eileen at Silverbeam on Etsy to design a pair of 3-D printed, nylon plastic goggles to my specs. I gave her necessary measurements today, as well as pictures relating to my concept:
Continue reading The Lura Project: custom goggles

I love Sarah and August, but I'm very irritated by their inflexible wrists. They don't cock more than a few degrees. I'd love to get 90 degrees forward and 90 degrees back out of both of their wrists.

twigling says in an old DOA thread,

I think you can drill/cut the slot in the wrist ball so it is deeper and comes further down on both sides towards
the palm of the hand to increase the range of motion.

I wonder if I can do that with a craft blade? I'd certainly play with them more if they could move their damn hands more realistically.

EDIT: The problem may also be that the wrist balls are set too far in the sockets, in which case a thick layer of hot glue could push them out and make them more flexible.

EDIT 2: Tutorial to increase wrist mobility.

I just asked Angelsdoll if they accept .obj files as reference material for their custom headsculpts. Will update with response.

EDIT: THEY DO!!! That increases my confidence in their head-making abilities exponentially!

I found this Tumblr dedicated to a Spanish collector's memorabilia hoard. As I page through the photos, what most strikes me is all the candids of Jennifer Connelly with a beautiful grin on her face. I've been ragging on her for years because she portrayed Sarah in a near-constant state of open-mouthed stupefaction, to the point where I thought she was seriously incapable of other expressions. Now I realize that she made a conscious choice to hang her mouth open all the time. What a pity, as Jareth would say; I think the movie would be vastly improved if she had just presented a neutral face with closed lips.

Archaia will release a manga about Jareth's backstory. Meh. Just because you can write sequels/prequels doesn't mean you should. Please refer to the wretched Return to Labyrinth manga series for a case in point.

I have a "to read" tag. I should probably have a "not to read" tag. :p

Ellery gets advice from sister Avery about jealous muse Lucian.

And, with that, we're on hiatus for a while till I figure out where the story wants to take me.

Continue reading Me and My Muses 3.8: “Sisterly Advice 2”

I have a pair of rather lightweight black leggings from Jareth 1.0 that 2.0 can use, but I've been recently poking around for a default outfit for 2.0.

I love this CheeryDoll shirt in red ["maroon"]. It looks delectable with this CheeryDoll long coat in black.

I also found some nice boots on Alice's Collections: mid-calf laceup platform heels in black, mid-thigh laceup regular heels in black or red, mid-thigh regular heels with buckles in black. I'm sure that the last linked pair would inhibit poseability, but I kind of want them for the LOLs. Naturally, I would have to swap out heeled feet from one of my 60cm girl dolls to 2.0 for these to fit.

DollHeart has a lovely outfit for male 70cms, My Mother Has Killed Me. [Thank you, bonus fairy tale reference!] I especially like the ruffles and flounces on the jacket and the pleather corset.

Here's a Flickr photo of a Doll Chateau 70cm male body [left] compared to a Dollshe male body [right]. In other words, it's a comparison of the body that I'd like to get for my "my Jareth" BJD to the body for my Jareth 1.0 BJD.

Wow, the more I look at it, the more I like the Doll Chateau male adult body. It's almost inhuman in its slenderness, very appropriate for an imaginary, mostly human character. :p

P.S. I could order a DC male adult body from my favorite US dealer, Denver Doll Emporium, and save a bunch on shipping.

P.P.S. Doll Chateau head measurements for the adult male body are as follows:

Head circumference: 20.5cm

Neck circumference: 9cm

Eye size: 18mm [probably could go down to 16mm]

P.P.P.S. This CheeryDoll shirt in red ["maroon"] would look great on Jareth 2.0!

As previously noted, I found a YouTube tutorial about sculpting feathers which I thought would work for my sculpture of Lura's wingy ears. Unfortunately, you can't hear squat because the sound quality is so poor. I have therefore decided to adapt Kriddles Couture's tutorial to still photos with text instructions.
Continue reading The Lura Project: practicing the sculpture of feathers

You may recall that I recently purchased a Phicen Military Fun action figure, with which I was pretty disappointed because it was neither military nor fun. I therefore decided to make her into a bash that, for me, would actually connote "military" and "fun." [Please note: No actual military facts were used in the making of this kitbash. Please don't tell me that anything is inaccurate. :p ] Here she is! [Yes, indeed, she does owe a great debt of inspiration to Takara CG Kat!]

Millie is a Phicen Military Fun head on a Takara CG 1.0 body with Phicen Military Fun hands on Takara CG 2.0 wrist pegs. She is wearing a Takara CG Aska fishnet bodysuit with a Takara CG Kat camo vest over that. Her shorts are custom from SithLord McGyver. Her boots are from the Phicen Military Fun figure, while her garrison cover is from Hot Toys' Sucker Punch Amber. Her ridiculously large gun is courtesy of Ronnie of fuzzheadquarters.
Continue reading Millie finally gets to have some “military fun!”

Widened the jaw a bit, lowered the eyes slightly, removed sculpted bags underneath eyes. He's pretty much there! I should just leave him alone for a while….
Continue reading My Jareth: render 3

After deciding that a shoulder-length bob did not suit Lura at all for hair, I poked around on DOA for a wig maker that I could commission to create a fur wig of my design. I had forgotten who did the wonderful custom three-tone fur wig for Lola Paprika [and then Janvier Jett]; it was Akasarushi, which I highly recommend. Anyway, since I hadn't logged the maker of Lola Paprika's/Janvier Jett's wig, I looked for another maker.

I found Spite and Malice, and the wig maker was open to custom orders! \o/ I liked the blue/pink mix of the bobbed wig, so I went for a pale pink/pale blue combo for the new one, but a completely different style: a mohawk! The sticky-uppy part [that's the techncial term :p] will be light pink, the "shaved" sides light blue. Awesome!

I'm very pleased with my experience with S&M so far. She responds to inquiries in a fast, friendly manner, and she also focuses on details [like the hairline and the shape of the back of your doll's head] in a way that bodes well for the final product.

Make Millie's hair lie flat!

Pin her stupid little hat to her head.

Buy sticky tack — a LOT.

Get more 20 gauge [?] wire.

Wire MacKenzie's legs.

Wire Janvier Jett's articulated hands!

Buy Play-Doh.

Practice sculpting feathers for Lura's wingy ears!

Take a picture of Lura's profile for S&M.

Figure out how to create a wire frame on which to sculpt additive mods.

Post extra eyes for sale.

Post Flower's Faery feets for sale.

Post Lura's old wig for sale.

Uh oh…from what I hear, Nobility Doll's custom sculpting service has a poor track record of wretched communication and quality control. If I'm trying to get a sculpt made of a character that means a lot to me, I'd rather spend more $$$ to go with a company that I know makes good stuff.

Angelsdoll offers a custom sculpting service that looks like it could meet my needs. I really like that you can specify head circumference, neck circumference and eye size, and I think it's cool that they do their sculpting with a 3-D modeling program. [I wonder if they would accept OBJ files as source material?] I am also familiar with Angelsdolls' beautiful non-custom headsculpts, their prompt communication and their great customer service.

The only catch is that the minimum order is 10 heads. I have no desire or need for 10 heads…2 maybe, 10 NO! I also have no desire to go through all the work of setting up a group order to order 10 heads and distribute them all. I have therefore asked if I can get just 2 heads for the price of 10. Yes, that's $500.00 a head. No, I don't really care that I'd be overpaying. My Jareth short-circuits logic!

EDIT: Angelsdoll got back to me, saying that they would be willing to work with me on the price, which they are thinking about lowering anyway. \o/

Even though I may not be actually getting my "my Jareth" doll until some time next year, I've been thinking about bodies for such a custom head.

At first, I was thinking about a Dollshe body, as that was the body that my first Jareth BJD had. Dollshe no longer makes the exact type of body that Jareth BJD 1.0 had, but it was something like this. Unfortunately, Dollshe's bodies are just really aesthetically unappealing and clunky, even though they may have fixed that stomach popping out problem endemic to the first release of bodies. Jareth 1.0 always felt like he was top heavy.

Then I discovered Doll Chateau's Adult male body, which could best be described as elongated. It is the scrawniest male BJD body I've ever seen. It's also a beautiful piece of sculpture, much more simple and much less fussy than Dollshe's. I actually really love it, especially because that's the shape that I'm looking for for my Jareth BJD.

The only thing with the DC body is that it's really easy to mess up the proportions. It needs a tall, narrow head to go with the tall, narrow body so that it doesn't look bobble-headed. If I were to go with the DC body, I would have to give the custom sculptors specifc instructions to make the head a certain size [height, width, depth] so that it fit the body's aesthetic.

Holy crap, that is a skinny body!

EDIT: Dollshe heads actually work pretty well on the Doll Chateau Adult male body.

I was originally rerendering my Jareth on my old compooper, on which was installed Daz Studio 3. The compooper moved very slowly because most of its memory was used up. While I was trying to get to sleep last night, I thought that, if my Jareth is going to be a long-term project [which he is], I should probably move him to my new, current compooper so I can easily futz with him.

And so began the Epic Trek. I thought that I could [relatively easily] port him over by saving his morphs as a Daz character preset [or a pose preset — not clear on the difference]. Then I could install the latest version of Daz on my current compooper, as well as the files needed to build my Jareth. Then I could load the appropriate raw Jareth materials, then apply the presets, and voila! Insta-Jareth [TM]!

Insta-Jareth [TM] took about 5 hours because Daz Studio 4 is, as the kids are calling it these days, a horrid piece of shit. First I downloaded the raw Jareth materials, which took about an hour [huge files]. Then I downloaded Daz Studio 4, which took about another hour. Then I installed it, which took a ridiculously long time because it wanted to add all sorts of slick starter content and fancy plugins that I did not want. Then I spent some time swearing at the new interface until I beat it into intelligible submission. I installed all the raw Jareth materials and sent up a raw Jareth-to-be figure, downloaded my presets, tried to apply them and…

And nothing. Daz Studio 4 could not, for some reason, read my preset files from Studio 3. I'm not sure why. I ended up taking screenshots of my morph settings on my old compooper, saving them, then referring to them on my new compooper as I transferred the values by hand. Yeah, that took a little bit of time. >_>

Anyway, my Jareth model is now on my new compooper, along with a whole bunch of other starter content crapola that I have no use for. I may try uninstalling Daz Studio 4 and seeing if I can redo a custom installation. I don't need your freebies, Daz!

I don't understand how anyone can use Daz Studio for more than either amateur futzing and/or digital porn. It's a bloated, jerry-built piece of software with a non-intuitive user interface and way too many bells and whistles. Did I mention it was also a memory hog? Its documentation remains incomplete, woefully behind the times and obscure.  I only know how to use it because I climbed its steep learning curve several years ago, and I'm only using it now because I bought a lot of content threw a lot of $$$ in the Daz toilet, and it's perfect for this particular case.

What's that? Oh yeah, I did futz with my Jareth today. Here he is with a much less pointy nose, although it's probably almost impossible to tell from this angle.
Continue reading My Jareth: render 2 [and some comments about Daz Studio 4]

After getting all excited about commissioning a BJD that looks like my version of Jareth, I decided to recreate, to the best of my ability, the Daz render I did about 3 years ago that looked as much like my version of Jareth as I could get.

To do this, I had to go back to my old compooper where Daz Studio still lives. Then I had to download Michael 3 [the Daz male base figure], all his Daz morphs [so I could change his shape], plus Capsces Digital Ink's super awesome custom morphs for M3 called Brom. I have probably previously sung the praises of these morph packages, which she releases for every major Daz base figure, but I'll sing them again. Capsces' morphs add so much more customizability to the models, and they come with handy-dandy face and body presets that fit my preferred aesthetic: stylized, exaggerated and full of character.

Anyway, I dumped all that onto my compooper and slowly fired up Daz. When I last modeled my Jareth, I worked off a preset Brom face, which is the digital equivalent to a headsculpt. If you'd like to see what I started with, you can go to the Brom page and click the first thumbnail under the main product picture. I started with the pink elf guy in the center of the second row, though, of course, he had a different texture when I was using him.

I futzed around for a few hours, pushing sliders to distort specific areas of the digital model in specific ways; in essence, I was digitally sculpting. Here's my rough draft. The hair and complexion are just placeholders; they don't really matter for sculpting purposes. It will be further futzed with later to increase its accuracy [to the character in my head]. Wheeee!

Continue reading My Jareth: initial rendering

Corresponding author: Here is a submission that we hope will be published in your journal.

Me: No thanks. [supplies rejection letter]

[Ten months go by.]

Same corresponding author: Here is a new submission that we hope will be published in your journal.

Me: No thanks. This is the exact same thing that you gave us [some time] ago. We actually rejected this before, under [date] and [manuscript number], so we cannot consider it again.

Sometimes authors submit the exact same thing again because they forgot that they submitted it the first time. And sometimes authors try to sneak stuff by us. >_>

Now that I have made my solemn vow to myself not to get any more dolls until next summer, the temptations are cropping up.

1. There's a grey Soom Faery Legend Auber on the DOA marketplace for a very reasonable price. I have really liked this little dude from the moment he debuted in 2011, because he reminds me of Jareth. ["It looks like Jareth" is sufficient justification for anything in my book.]

2. Someone is soliciting participation in a group order for a custom BJD head from Nobility Doll ["press papilla good feel!"]. She wants to commission a sculpt of DAVID BOWIE from the Ziggy Stardust era.

EDIT: Never mind…she's commissioning it from DIM's MiniMee service. From what I've seen, DIM tends to make their headsculpts way too big, so I'm not sure if I would want to pursue such an order.

Well, anyway, now that I'm thinking about it, I see that I could use Nobility Doll's custom sculpting service my own self and get a doll that looks like my version of Jareth. Reference pictures below:

May 26, 2009: From mind to pen: did it work?

May 26, 2009: "Print to action figure."

June 17, 2009: Some guy I know.

Sigh…I've been pursuing the Ultimate Jareth Doll [TM] for years now. I will probably never quit this quest, in part because my version of Jareth does not have a fully fixed physical appearance.

EDIT: I no longer have the particular morph of Jareth linked in those three entries above, as it expired in the Great Hard Drive Expiration of 2010. But I do have Daz on my old compooper. Should fire it up and try to recreate that morph, then actually get it rendered in resin [at some point in the future]…

Lura's head arrived today! Thanks, Laoky.
Continue reading The Lura Project: the Eyes That Can See Forever

Tracking a package online is kind of like watching a pot boil. Nothing happens…nothing happens…the tracking status does update…doesn't update…the water sits there, not bubbling…not bubbling… Then the package moves 1 or 2 steps on its journey; a few bubbles make their way lazily from the bottom of the pan to the top, etc., etc. The more I want the package to arrive or the pot to boil, the slower the process seems to go.

Sometimes the moment right before delivery/boiling seems to last the longest. Currently, Lura's head, coming from Germany, has achieved "arrival at unit" as of Saturday. This sounds great, right, like the package has actually been dropped off at its destination? WRONG. "Unit" = post office. "Arrival at unit" is followed by "out for delivery" and THEN "delivered." The ambiguous wording really irritates me in this case, especially since the "unit" is 5 minutes' walk from my work address, to which the package is being delivered. So close and yet so far.

GIMME ME MY PACKAGE!!! I called the "unit," actually a carrier station, not a full-service PO, and they said that Lura was out for delivery as we speak, so I sure hope she comes today.

It seems like every BJD company has different names for different sizes of BJDs. From largest to smallest, for example, Volks goes SD17, SD16, SD13, SD10, MSD, etc. From largest to smallest, Iplehouse goes Elder, Senior, Youth, Junior, Kid, Baby. From largest to smallest, Souldoll goes Zenith, Double, Vito, Souloid, Kid, Sweet, Little. I'm personally amused by D-Storic's lineup, which starts with God [1:1 scale!], King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Pawn.

Anyway, Fairyland gets my award for most confusing naming system. I'm writing a list of their sizes and names below because there are too many Fees and Pukis running around. And I can never keep LittleFees and MiniFees straight. MiniFees are the mature 40cms, while LittleFees are the child 25cms, but I think that the LittleFees should be larger than the MiniFees. ARGH!

Feeple ~70/65/60cm
MiniFee ~40cm
ChicLine ~40cm
LittleFee ~25cm
PukiFee ~15cm
PukiPuki ~11cm
RealPuki ~10cm

I have acquired a pair of Soom Galena lower legs and talons in grey resin. Thanks, Jess_kane!
Continue reading The Lura Project: progress so far

Angelsdoll Ieseul is on topic, but the same company's Ieseul Cat Avatar [whence Janvier Jett] is off topic. The official reason given by one of the mods is "because of the aesthetics of the doll's face sculpt." I know what those words mean, but they don't make any sense because the aesthetics of the Cat Avatar's sculpt are the same as regular Ieseul's sculpt, and she's allowed.

It is a mystery.

I'm bringing Nathaniel, August, Mellifer, Lura's talons [to see if they fit certain bodies] and Lura's head [if it comes today]. I will also be sure to put in a fresh camera battery so I can get lots of pictures of dolls!! vermont chick, goldi and Lyrajean have confirmed! \o/

A certain amount of stylization is expected in the sculpture of Asian BJDs, especially "anthro" BJDs. Anthro BJDs can best be described as BJDs that combine the bipedal stance of humans with the features of quadruped non-human animals. You know that Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson where all the cows are standing around on their hind legs talking, until one of them sees a car, at which point they go down on all fours? Not only is it pretty much my favorite Far Side cartoon ever, but it also perfectly illustrates the concept of anthros.

Anyway, most anthro dolls look like very cutesified versions of the animals they represent. They have huge eyes, usually in the lower thirds of their faces, small noses and mouths, large ears and foreshortened muzzles. They more closely resemble baby animals, rather than mature animals. Once you accept the aesthetic, though, it's pretty easy to determine which animal an anthro BJD is supposed to be.

…Until I came across this one, a DollZone Ulli. It's supposed to be a sheep.  When I think of a sheep's distinguishing characteristics, I think of a long snout, eyes on the sides of the head [you know, befitting a prey animal] and horns. Ulli has horns, but no long snout or eyes on the sides of the head. The anthro aesthetic's tendency to a) shorten the muzzle and b) move the eyes to the front of the head really work against the "sheep" concept. I don't know about you, but I don't see a sheep in there. Plus it looks drunk.

Continue reading FS: DollMore Doll More Banji Eomji girl + 2 wigs + 2 outfits — $75.00

Lola Paprika is moving on. [Well, I hope she is. I put her on the DOA marketplace today.] She never really turned out to be the doll I wanted anyway.

I first learned of Angelsdoll at doll club back in April of 2011, when I was struck by the beauty of a fellow enthusiast's Ruby on the massive girl body. Such a sweet, soft face. Naturally, I wanted Ruby.

When I hopped over to the AD site to order a Ruby, I saw that they were having a super sale on Hyang. Basically you could get a Hyang with eyes, faceup, outfit and free shipping for the price of a blank Hyang excluding shipping. The cheapo in me won out over the aesthete in me, and I bought Hyang.

While poking through the AD site, I also discovered Cat Avatar Ieseul and her super awesome/obnoxious default faceup. I much preferred it over Hyang's default plaintive, understated look. I therefore expressly ordered my Hyang with the Ieseul Cat Avatar faceup, planning her look and her personality to match.

I'm not sure how this happened, but Lola Paprika came with the default depressed Hyang faceup. She was so beautifully done that I didn't want to have her faceup wiped, so I tried to keep her as she was, with the default faceup and a look for a more obstreperous doll, but she never really worked for me.

Meanwhile, in June, 2011, AD lowered their prices of blank 62cm girls to $220.00 before shipping. I had the extra eyes and outfit that came with Lola Paprika, and I still wanted Ieseul Cat Avatar's faceup, so clearly the logical course of action was to buy a whole Ieseul Cat Avatar. How could I resist?

Janvier Jett became the obstreperous character that Lola Paprika never did. She demanded leg fuzzies, spiky hair, cat's-eye glasses, a guitar, jointed hands, even a brightening of the already loud colors in her faceup. With her cute little smirk, she exuded all the ebullience that I had wished for my anxious introvert Lola Paprika.

Recently I admitted to myself what I'd been thinking all along: Of my 2 Angelsdolls, I liked Janvier Jett more as a character, even though Lola Paprika's outfit was much cooler. Last night, when I was in the midst of wondering what more BJDs I could get rid of, I decided to stick Janvier Jett in Lola Paprika's clothes, hair and eyes; I would then sell Lola Paprika with the clothes and eyes she came with. That way I would have my Flaming Hot Pussy guitarist and the eye-bleeding clothes I'd spent so long carefully mismatching!

Watch for photos of the new, improved Janvier Jett later today!

Soom just issued the latest in their Faery Legend line, a little winged dude in brick red resin: Labas the Weaponsmith Sprite. This is the first time in a long time, but I think Labas is just mediocre.

I love the concept of a fiery fairy, but Soom did not execute it well. Some parts of the sculpting work, while others fail. I love  the sculpted flames on his Faery legs, but that's about it. His wings look heavy and drippy, rather than light and flame-like. His headsculpt seems mushy and generic, while the default faceup, in colors very similar to his skin tone, doesn't do him any favors either.

I'm also disappointed with the palette used. I like the brick red resin for Labas' body and the transparent red resin for his Faery legs. but nothing else. Labas' brown wig and black outfit really kill the themes of light and fire. I would brighten one or both of these elements with some oranges and yellows. A fur wig would be great, mimicking the tongues of flame. Furthermore, even though Labas' eyes are apparently yellow grey, they don't pop at all. This guy needs neon eyes. O_O

While I'm criticizing Labas harshly, I think that he could be an awesome fire sprite in the right hands, as long as you don't get him with faceup, eyes, wig or outfit and pass on the waterlogged wings. A good customizer with a vision [like me, if I cared to get him] could really improve this doll, but I'm not interested enough in such a bland headsculpt to pursue this project.

Continue reading FS: Angelsdoll Hyang + outfit — $300.00 + shipping

Continue reading FS: Elfdoll Elf Doll Tiny Dodo [14cm mature] (NS) – $300

The credit union E-mailed me that my rent check, which tried to go through today, overdrew my account by ~$150.00. I'm seriously not sure how that happened!

Anyway, once I momentarily stopped panicking, I discovered that I have overdraft protection, so the credit union fronted the money, covering the rent check. Of course, they also assessed me an overdraft fee. And, if any of my other pending charges hit today, they will be covered by overdraft protection [I think] and assessed overdraft fees.

Sigh.

Anyway, I had $200.00 sittin' in my Paypal account, so I moved that over to my checking account ["3-4 business days" to transfer]. More immediately, I called my financial advisor and had her transfer some money from my short-term savings to my sadly denuded checking account. That transfer is either happening today or tomorrow. I had to pay a wire fee to expedite it.

I should be fine for the next 7 days [next payday is the 14th]. My only major expense during that period will be my grocery shopping and maybe some gas. I have gathered together enough funds to cover the -$150.00 and then leave me some extra. I think this will all work out. I'm just trying to clear leftover hyperventilation out of my system.

This weekend, I bought a pound of Aves Studio Apoxie Sculpt, which was recommended on DOA as the best sculpting medium for adding permanent, durable, modifiable mods to BJDs. Tragically, there are no stores in Vermont, New Hampshire or northern New York that sell Aves stuff, so I had to spend $10.20 on shipping for $15.00 worth of Apoxie Sculpt. This is my despicious face: >_>

I also collected reference pictures of possible shapes for wingy ears. I got some owner pics of Soom Clozel's wingy ears, which are long and rectangular. I'd love to get some owner pics of Soom Amphibel's, which are high and rounded. I wouldn't copy either type of ears; I'm mostly curious to see how much detail is sculpted in for them to be recognizable as feathery.

Today I searched online for information on how to sculpt wings. eHow has a whole series of videos on a guy sculpting an angel, and the 2 vids about sculpting wings are somewhat helpful, though the incised detail on every single feather seems like overkill. I think that demarcating the boundaries between feathers is more important when sculpting than trying to engrave all the details of the barbs [the little hair-like things that protrude from the rachis, or "stem," of each feather]. Making the wing forms. Sculpting details in the wings part 1. Sculpting details in the wings part 2.

Anyway…I really love how the woman in this YouTube tutorial shapes each feather. Too bad the light and sound are so poor.

And here's a tutorial [still photos] on sculpting wings for Warhammer 40K miniatures with alternative techniques for detailing feathers.

Hmmm, I should probably post this in the customization section on DOA. You know, for science!

Ellery talks to her sister Avery about her muse Lucian.

Continue reading Me and My Muses 3.7: “Sisterly Advice 1”

I very rarely track all the sources of all the parts for dolls I 'bash, but I've decided to do it for Lura because she comes from so many different places.

Head: Iplehouse Luna Tamer human in rose grey resin

Eye 1: Creamsoda 14mm steampunk factory second

Eye 2: Either Iplehouse 16mm red, Volks Dollfie Animetic 14mm pink or Soom 14mm pink iris/purple pupil

Faceup: Iplehouse Luna Tamer human default

Hair: Currently light blue/light pink mix shoulder-length bob from Andrea

Wing ears: To be sculpted by me out of white Aves Apoxie Sculpt

Body: Mostly likely Illusion Spirit 58cm girl body in grey resin

Right arm: HTTDolls "automail" arm in dark grey resin, to be painted by me

Hands: uncertain — claws? — talons? — transparent resin? — jointed?

Feet: Soom Galena talons in grey resin [may require mods to fit knee sockets]

Current sales list here.

After inveighing against people who buy recast, knockoff, bootleg dolls, I just bought one myself unwittingly. Since Millie's seamless Phicen body broke an arm when I breathed on it, I purchased her a pale TTL large bust body with standard, visible joints, which came yesterday. I was very pleased with it. Then Andrea told me that it was a recast of the CG 2.0. Pooooooooooop. Now I'm back at square one because I have to get rid of this TTL body and find an ethical replacement.

In good news, the guy who sold Millie to me, Sith Lord McGyver, offered to replace her broken body, so I'm trying to find out what that would entail.

I just got a loopy concept for Lura: she could be a cyborg siren! For that, she would need cyborg parts, avian talons and possibly wings. So freakin' awesome!

Now to find sources of wings and talons. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any sources for talons besides Soom fantasy parts.

For wings…

Soom Gneiss fem [head-mounted]

Soom Carbon/Luxulia [Teenie Gem]

Soom Amphibel fem [ears]

Soom Sphaler dude [ears]

Soom Euclase dude [ears]

Oooh…FlightofIcarus on DOA makes 'em!

For talons…

Soom Tremo dude

Soom Arkose dude

Soom Obsidius dude

Soom Migma fem

Soom Bazael dude

Soom Nephelin fem

Soom Monzo dude

Soom Galena fem

Soom Sphaler dude

Soom Euclase dude

The company just contracted with a vendor of online business skills training courses. Subjects offered are as diverse as PivotTables in Excel and anger management.

I have no problem with the hard skills courses, but I feel ambivalent about the soft skills courses. On one hand, I am grateful that such courses exist because their existence implicitly acknowledges that nobody automatically knows how to manage anger effectively, for example. On the other hand, I have deep philosophical discomfort with the way that emotional labor — i.e., soft skills — is demanded by corporate culture, but coded as feminine, demeaned and undervalued in this society. 

There's also the philosophical discomfort created by knowing that the corporations are trying to control what employees feel and how they feel it.

I have no easily summarizable thoughts on these subjects.

bamna has been selling double-jointed grey resin "automail" arms on the DOA marketplace for a while. She halved the price until August 24th; it's now $36.00 per arm + shipping. I think cyborg parts are pretty nifty [and I missed out on Iplehouse's somewhat awesome, somewhat goofy Elemental Guardian Bianca Cyborg], so maybe I should make Lura a cyborg?

Speaking of cyborg dolls or robot dolls or whatever, I actually like something by Impldoll [gasp!]: their LE Robot Heloise. Unlike Iplehouse's Bianca Cyborg, Robot Heloise actually looks like a damn robot, instead of a human woman wearing a metal bikini. She's pretty damn cool, and it's too bad I can't get her because she'll probably be sold out in a year, as there's only 100 of her available.

Maybe Lura could have a cyberdreads wig with plastic and tinsel in it!

Today I discovered, while poking around online, that there are apparently some people who think that it's okay to own recast, bootleg, knockoff BJDs. Really? You think that knowingly supporting plagiarism and intellectual property theft is morally defensible? You're cool being known as a liar, a cheater and a cheapskate? But, hey, fine, it's all good because you saved a buck by supporting a legally dubious business enterprise instead of a legitimate artist and/or company.

Plagiarism: it's wrong. Don't do it.

From Germany! Here in approximately 10 business days!

I cancelled my New York Times online subscription today. The rep recorded my detailed comments about why I was cancelling. I doubt that will make any difference, though. On to slightly less offensive news sources…

Since January, I have acquired the following people [in chronological order]. I'm talking about dolls I purchased this year, not ones that I purchased last year, but finally received this year.

Mellifer [1:6 BJD], purchased in April

Steampink AJ [1:6 action fig], traded for in June

Nathaniel [1:3 BJD], purchased in June/July

Millie [1:6 action fig], purchased in July

August [1:3 BJD], purchased in July

Lura['s head] [1:3 BJD], purchased in July

June and July have been very busy doll-related months for me, what with Too Many Dolls: The Exodus and the purchase of 5 of this year's 6 new dolls. Most of the purchasing frenzy stems from having money available after Too Many Dolls: The Exodus and therefore being able to indulge some 1:6 and 1:3 whims.

I can't keep buying dolls like this, though. I don't have a) the space or b) the money. Well, technically, that's not true. In terms of a), I could always bring some to work to put on my new bookcase, which should be coming any day now. In terms of b), I can pretty much always finagle it so I cover my necessary expenses and then whatever doll-related purchases I want.

But anyway…we are ignoring technicalities! I need to watch my discretionary spending because we are saving up to move next summer. We need to pay for packing supplies, movers and/or truck rental, first + security, pet registration fee [meow!], furniture and all those other things you don't know you need until you get to your new house and realize you don't have them. I've been socking away $$$ steadily for at least 6 months, so I have a nice chunk of change already, but I'd rather have saved too much than too little.

Therefore I have made myself a resolution. I will not purchase any more 1:3 or 1:6 dolls until we move. Getting a body for Lura is fine. Trading for dolls is fine. Buying doll-related things [such as clothes + wig for Lura, 1:3 furniture and 1:6 stands] is acceptable too. Leaching from the bank account to increase the ranks, however, is not.

This way I can settle down and enjoy what I have. I will also ensure that I have plenty of $$$ to cover moving costs. It will be hard, but I can do it!

Are Ellery and Lucian getting it on too much?
Continue reading Me and My Muses 3.6: “Too Much?”

I am in the process of acquiring an Iplehouse Noctarcana Circus Luna Tamer human head in rose grey resin with original faceup and eyes. [I'm also getting the chimera tail, which I have no use for.] Everyone please welcome Lura, who will not be getting a body, hair and clothes any time soon because the FLE car still hasn't had its well-car checkup, and my car is more important than my dolls. 4srs.

…I ended up not needing hemostats after all. I restrung August using a doubled length of 20 gauge wire as a threading tool, jewelry pliers for pulling and pens as cross pieces to keep the elastics from snapping back into the body. She is now strung extremely tightly, so I have to make her do "exercises" the way that Lola Paprika did when her "muscles" were too tight. August also needs wiring in her arms; she also needs underwear. For now, though, some photos of her mostly completed.

It should be illegal to be this cute.
Continue reading The August Project: mostly done!