Work It, Girl!

Who doesn't love words of encouragement?

So today, I worked on my male doll's bodysuit. Took a couple of tries to take it in about where I want it, but the belt ought to solve his little ghetto booty issues, where it sticks out a bit between the shoulder blades and booty at the small of the back. I've got the zipper on and started the sleeves, but I'll finish those up tomorrow. I sit like a mountain troll when I'm hand sewing so my back could use a break. After I've got the sleeves on and he's all fitted, I'll glue some nifty appliqués to the upper thigh and put his boots on. Then it will be a matter of doing the armor pieces and embellishments to get the outfit finished up. Easier said than done. It'll take some time. 

Aside from that, I did some writing today, but I'm still a couple of scenes shy of finishing Part II, if only because they are large definitive scenes. A lot to tie up before I clear the way for the plots of Part III.

I haven't yet worked on the cover art this week, but I'm hoping to get to that tomorrow and Friday, if not through the weekend. My dad's birthday is coming up so I have a few surprises for him coming in the mail, so I'll be on edge, waiting for those to arrive, trying to work on things, but likely jumping up every time I hear anything resembling a truck outside.

lol My dad doesn't read my blog, so I can spoil it here: I got him a new barbecue grill with a smoker. My sister also bought some grilling tools and smoker accessories; rubs, different kinds of wood, etc. that will leave him with everything he needs but the meats/veggies. He retires on his birthday too, so we wanted to set him up nicely for this one!

Well, I'm all caught up on my work for today, so I promised my nephews I'd play video games with them. I'll catch you later with more updates and, hopefully, some pics of the finished bodysuit.

See ya!

Dolly Days

So I wrote a bit on the Coronavirus, but I also wanted to post a little update on some of my projects.

UnHeard editing is at a go again. The word count is at about 100K and I'm sweeping through to look for factual and grammatical errors before I continue writing. There is still much original writing and plotting to be done, but I wanted to get my ducks in order before I went ahead with it. There are a few parts nagging me to rearrange and rewrite before proceeding.

Dolls! Dolls, dolls, dolls. I rearranged myself because not one, but two dolls are going to be getting here in the next month. The Hyperon sculpt that will become Maxim from UnHeard, for one, but I also found the perfect sculpt (which I sadly don't know the name for) for his stubborn counterpart, Princess Endramena ir Hyaren. Although I had been debating getting the Iplehouse Aria sculpt for her, I stumbled on her in a wider search and she more resembled my drawings. Although I do think Aria needs to be in my collection someday, I haven't yet found a project for her, so that will wait. It's most important for me to work on the projects that align with the materials I already have. My craft bins are quite full to near overflowing, so I'm working on making rooms and completion rather than collection of more materials!

My dolls do all have faceups now. The Hyperon sculpt will come with one, but I ordered Mena's sculpt without one, really wanting to do a resin face-up for a change and the different challenges that come with it. I'll get to break out my airbrush and sealant I bought for that purpose as well as play with gouache and acrylics for her eyes and lips. I've done most of my previous faceups with watercolor pencils and chalk pastels (which will still be used for blushing and lashes), so paints are both bane and curiosity.

Now, I don't expect mine to look exactly like the wonderful pictures, but I'll share Maxim and Mena's sculpts here:

Maxim

Endramena

So Maxim will actually have dark hair and lighter eyes and I've gotten the tan skin option for both of them, since they come from an island nation (doesn't make much sense to be pale there). His look will feature a lot of black and gold, leather and embroidery and armor. The sculpt here is a bit softer a look than I'm going for. Maxim is a bit of a hardened character.

As for Mena/Endramena, her very turquoise eyes will be the change since the tan skin option is shown here. I may do her lips in more of a red color, but I do like the coral/peach look here too. Again, she'll have dark hair like Maxim and she's getting an impressively long black wig that will be a blast to style. I see a lot of turquoise and golds for her, though I'm trying to steer clear of the whole Princess Jasmine look... It's probably still going to resemble her anyway.

So, I have plans, but things might turn out vastly different, depending on where my whims take me.

Although Rienna is mostly finished, I removed the teardrop from her belt and replaced it with a shell button that looks more like the source material. I put her wild hair back to try to train the curls not to take over her face. Eventually I'll style the wig or make a new one, but I'm moving on.

Talia, my fire dancer, also mostly done, still needs scarves and a headdress, but I've since bought some large beads and jump-rings that I need to complete those. Ordered by mail so when they get here is integral to when they'll be finished. I have specific plans for how those will be finished.

So, without further ado, I'm hopping back over to editing. Again, be safe with all the crazy going on out there, and I hope you're inspired to do some projects of your own!

Slow Start

As it turns out, I haven't *yet* gotten going on NaNoWriMo and it's Day 7. On previous years, I was pretty much halfway done or more by this point, but life got in the way. November 1st, work. November 2nd, a wonderful wine tasting trip with dear friends Erika and Phil. November 3rd until now? Bad cold. I'm taking antibiotics and steroids but I'm still not quite human. I worked today and I work tomorrow, so it's looking like Saturday is where I stumble to the starting line in Heelies and dangling from the bumper of a drag-racing jalopy.

But I'll get there, armed with a Slender Blush wine from Country Heritage Winery in LaOtto, Indiana. Going to have to order some more of it too, since they do ship to Ohio now, but my humble bottle will get me toasty and raring to go for an awesome word sprint.

I do this while juggling time with my nephews, school, work, life, so it's a challenge but I'm not panicking. The 50K words is a chip in the full demand of this story anyway so even if the goal is made, there's much more to do. I may be throwing out a short story anthology, continuations of both of my series, come my mother's birthday, just so I can put out something then. Neither rushing UnHeard too much nor unable to put out something worthwhile.

I only plan on working at Sports Page until the Christmas break before I crack down on my projects full time again. Money is nice, but passion isn't something I find worthwhile to ignore. I don't mind being less affluent in order to delve into my projects fully again.

Ah, as for doll projects, those are being chipped away at, if not in actual work then in acquiring more pieces to make the work possible. I've been, er, collecting more dolls at that. I have three tinies, one medium girl, three large girls and a large boy now, some with plans, some just keeping me salivating with possibilities. I also have a cinnamon toned Nendoroid that I plan on modding to become Dinsch, my rabbit hybrid (Bryfolk) character. I have most of the parts. Just waiting on some gouache paints to start some of these faceups. I was going to do acrylic but I've seen a lot of advice that gouache is a lot easier to work with for a beginner and I am, unquestionably, a beginner in the doll world.

Rienna, the first of them, currently has her garters, dyed bathing suit/leotard and wig done. I have yet to sculpt her armor, make her boots and carve her sword, but I'm being rather fiddly with these parts since I keep looking for advice before diving in, making sure I'm investing in the best pieces before diving in. I have several clays, fabrics, and woods to work with, so if one isn't going well, I'll be able to minimize frustration by hopping to another option.

In any case, I'm off to start an adventure with Linux for a friend, so do wish me luck, if you have it in you. I'm a very busy woman and wouldn't have it any other way!

Full Size to Doll Size

The pattern for the catsuit came today, so it seems like a great time to go into details again...

First, I had to scan the pieces on my office printer which is the equivalent of trying to scan tablecloths made of tissue paper. About 25 pieces. Twice. There were two. The catsuit makes sizes 16-24 in women's sizes so a bit on the larger side of things as well. So once that's done comes the piecing together. I saved them as jobs and the next step is simpler than it could be. Because I've set up my Actions for this in a prior project.

From Actions, I made a set that turns sketches into transparencies, leaving only the lines. From there, I'll command-T the pieces to drag and turn them into the completed pattern. Then will come the basic resizing and printing to cut the pieces.

I'm going to see them as is then take them in on the doll. Loose baste with a temporary thread, flip through, sew, liberate the temporary threads, cut excess fabric and it should be good to go.

Hours and hours of work but I'm eager to see how I do with the plan. I have plenty of fabric to make mistakes with so no worries. Just frustration and eventually triumph. 

One can hope.

Wig Sadomasochism

So I finished one wild woman's wig...

Though it's longer than the source pic, the color and style are absolutely perfect, so I'm thrilled it turned out so well.

But it didn't end there...

Oh no.

Because I wasn't done punishing synthetic hair wefts while being beaten by glue. So I started another. This time, I have sewn the first row underneath and around. Many finger stabs. Then I coated the top with silicone and spun the hair wefts onto the silicone like a pottery wheel.

I have no actual clue how it will turn out. Once it dries, I'm poking a hole in the leftover space, jamming hair through to iron down and cover the remaining wefts, and beseeching the universe to reward my insanity. Will it work?

Pics or it didn't happen! Stay tuned!

Making a BJD Wig Part 3

Forgive my lackluster picture taking skill on this gloomy day, but let's start with where I ended up on the last wig...

As you can see, there's still some work to do to finish the braids and style, but it did hold together. I ended up hot-gluing the braids but tacky glue would have driven me up a wall...

But enough about that one!

I've started doing the first of the big ones. This time around, I'm actually sewing in the first row on the underside of the cap. This will make it so if the hair is gathered, there won't be any visible hair around the cap edges.

So for this one you need:

• Sharp scissors
• Synthetic wefts
• Saran wrap
• Clover Black and Gold needles
• Thread (go with either white or one to match the hair)
• Glue (tacky or hot glue or whatever you prefer)
• Rubber bands
• Wig cap

This is assuming you have a wig cap made from before. I'm using the harder tacky glue one I made since it's much easier to pierce a needle through it.

I specified Clover Black and Gold needles for a reason. These tiny evil samurai swords will pierce through anything. And yes, they slip through skin like it's made of Jello so be careful.

Cut the first weft the length of the bottom neck base to start.

You don't have to be a seamstress and no one is going to see these stitches so just line the weft up, about 1\8 from the bottom on the underside and do a running stitch into the area between the two stitches anchoring the hairs in the weft. Running is a simple through the front to back, back to front stitch.

Now because I'm doing an off center part, I'm going to use a diagram to show how i mapped the head for this one. The hair will be glued on accordingly, but I think I'm going to go for the E6000 on this one. I didn't mention it before but it's an industrial glue that I'm familiar with so I know how it works out. What makes it a favorite is that it's a quick grip but a slow cure. So it holds on contact but you can nudge things around. It doesn't fully cure for 24 hours, but it does hold tight about an hour or less after setting. It's a bit messy, like hot glue, but you can touch it and it does wipe right off of skin. You can always opt to use a paint brush or wooden stick to smear it on like tacky glue though.

I'm going to have to treat you to yet another of my diagrams to kind of explain how the off-center wig will work.

It's very similar to the braid wig at first, just laying down rows of wefts until you reach the crown. On the crown, you'll have made a cut line, which I wouldn't bother actually cutting until the bottom hair is dry and you can lift the wig off of the head/stand again. Go ahead and lay out vertical rows that radiate away from the cut line, but leave about a 1/8" edge away from it. Once those are dry, go ahead and lift the wig from the base and carefully make the cut.

You're actually going to lay the next wefts with the sewn edge on the inside with the hair radiating outside the wig. Hot glue might be a bit too puffy, but if you want the quick glue, you can go for it, just carefully smear it down with a wooden stick. When you're ready to seal it back, the best solution is to use a piece of power mesh made the same way as the wig, one large enough to cover the hair and affix to the underside of the wig there and glue it in securely to hold the part together.

Since this is just a play by play that I haven't finished yet, there isn't a picture to go with it (yet), but I'll be back once that's done to say how it went. I'm nervous because I've actually got to cut/style this one, since the hair I'm going for is short and wavy, but I'll study up on that before I take the plunge.

I hope you found this helpful! Stay tuned for pics and possibly a start on the next wig, which will involve a ponytail and bangs.