Finishing Touches

Today was a spray painting day! I spent the better part of the week just working with the rotary tool and sanding, so it was a nice change of pace. The armor is painted and awaiting a full dry cycle. Tomorrow, I'll glue the hip guards to the belt and then that will have to dry 24 hours too. While that is setting though, I'll be working with the odds and ends--small chains, rhinestones and wire--to create the fabric and armor designs. No plans for that, just doing it on the fly, so I'm not sure what I'll come up with yet.

Another reason I've been holding off on taking pictures. The last of the pieces will fall together all at once practically so... I'm hoping by Sunday, I'll have a finished doll to show off.

Just glad the weekend is finally here. I spend all week fantasizing about the extra time to finish some projects and then the time comes that I actually get to do them. It's almost magical. 

Anyway, it's back to crocheting for now. Watching paint dry, literally, is futile and not my idea of a good time, so it's best to jump over and get busy elsewhere. I should have quite a bit to do for the winter months so I'm looking forward to staying productive.

Lazy Day

Didn't sleep well last night so I'm not terribly motivated today. Got my dremel/rotary tool in the mail, as well as the silver spray paint, but while waiting for it to come, I made a belt to later glue the hip guards to. Then I just started feeling sluggish, so... it'll be a crochet in bed day.

One of the hip guards could go an extra day of drying anyway, so no big deal. Hopefully I'm up for sanding and sculpting tomorrow. Today, I'm up for yawning and coffee. A little sad that I need coffee to stay awake until bedtime, but there are much sadder truths.

So... if I do get sleep tonight, I'll probably have some progress and pics to share. I do look forward to the distinct possibility of finishing the doll in the next couple of weeks. There's still a sword to carve, pieces to paint, jewels and accents to add, before it is complete, so even two weeks might be stretching it. I don't want to rush the last few steps out of excitement for completion.

Onto crochet then!

More Stuff

Did some sanding and magnet glueing today for the breastplates on the doll project, but found a dremel tool on Amazon for only $20 so I nabbed that so I can do some finer detailing and smoothing. Also bought some metallic spray paint for when it comes time to do that too. So far so good. No big expenses at least.

Might do some detailing to the fabrics as well as start carving the sword. It's the carving that makes me the most nervous since I've never done anything like it before. The closest thing to it was carving a design in a rubber stamp and that was a little project from wood shop, you know, that class where I mostly wandered around and did etchings, if anything. Ah, those days when female students were kind of ignored... But that won't deter me these days!

Can't wait to get to a point where I can take some progress pics! I'll take pics of the rough parts of the armor sculpts tomorrow. I did the second hip guard today so it's drying. The clay I used today was wetter than my first batch, making it a pain to roll flat but much easier to mold the pieces together. Where's the happy medium? Can't have it all, I guess.

About to hop off and draw the sword on my wood pieces, so see ya!

Much to Do!

Looking forward to sanding the breastplates for the doll project today, as well as the one hip guard. I made one to test the shape and placement before committing to another. Plus I laid the doll sideways so gravity might help the drying process so only one hip was available.

Also looking forward to some writing! I've finally joined up with the draft with the added scenes so I'm reading and altering with the new information. Much will change for the better.

I'm also getting a large-ish yarn delivery today to work on some crochet projects for friends. Crafting seems to be where my head and heart are lately so I'm rolling with it. Drawing always comes back like a tsunami when it's ready so I'll look forward to that crazy muse in the future too.

For now, I'm getting ready for a nice little shift at Sports Page! I never thought I'd enjoy working in a restaurant as much as I do now, but Sports Page is a mom and pop op, so it's cozier, friendlier and easier to manage than what might go on in a corporate or franchise deal. I've worked both of those, pizza places and Subway, and neither lasted more than a couple months.

See you with more progress pics! I always look forward to sharing!

Super Clay!

I mean, I'm working with normal clay and all, but I have my doll lying in a Superman pose while the breast pieces are drying. I'm hoping the magnets will work out between the front and back and that I can get the joins to line up, but I've got them sculpted and drying at least.

I've been using my nephew's cat-free room to lay the doll for drying since my little heathens would find some way to either knock it down or get cat hair all over it... I'm sure he's glad when the weird headless doll isn't in his room though...

So I did the cuffs at least:

I may do the hip guards today but I've yet to plan that on card stock so I'll have to get to it.

I got some writing done at least too. So it's been a productive weekend. Can't say that about all of them.

More on Doll Customizing

Bit of a headache going on today, but I have more pics!

First, the pinning and gluing of the soles to disguise the seams...

Then, a shot of them finished...

I did the arm guards today as well, though they'll get a few more finishing touches as well...

Lastly, the doll is able to stand on its own still, so the soles are well balanced!

So I'm pretty happy with what I've been able to do. Hoping to work on the cuffs for the boots and arm guards as well as the breastplate tomorrow. A lot of problem solving still to be done. Might have to hit up the craft store in the next week or so, see what might be worth picking up. Silver spray paint is on the list, maybe look at some fasteners for the breastplate. I was thinking magnets but not 100% sure yet.

About to rest this headache off, maybe do some more planning. Writing is in the cards for the weekend too, so we'll see.

Omg, shoes

Yes, I did more work on the doll boots today. Today, I painted and glued the cork to the base of the feet today. There are some visible seams, which I'll probably just clean up with more glue and silver paint once this glue cures. For now:

So they're coming along well enough...

I've ordered a cutting board for my Xacto knife since I kinda sorta left a couple of gashes on my dad's kitchen table when I cut the clay for the shoulder piece. Oops. But the board is coming and I'll be laying down Saran Wrap over it to work on the breastpiece. I need to roll it pretty thin so I don't want to stretch it when I peel it up. Not too thin, just not as thick as I did for the shoulder guards. Yeah, I can sand everything down as needed, but I don't want to spend hours drying and sanding clay because I was *too* careful. I have plenty of the clay in case I need to redo anything.

Hoping to work on more doll stuff over the weekend. I'd also like to cut and sew the boot cuffs, get the boots done this weekend if possible. I don't have a plan for the hip guards yet, so that part will probably wait yet another weekend, but I might be tempted to at least try an idea or two. Once everything is all painted up in the armor department, I'd like to start bejeweling those.

The sword is what I'm least confident about. I have two blocks of wood to carve, fit and paint into what I hope resembles a fitting sword. I've never done wood carving so I might be chipping away at it for longer than the rest.

Oh! I need to do the arm bands too so that might get done when I'm doing cuffs. It will use the same fabrics I've used for the boots anyway. That covers most of it. There will also be small details like her barrette, a pouch and some buckles but I'll be planning those after the big pieces are done. Sometimes, you just have to see the big picture before the details make sense.

So this weekend: boots (with cuffs), arm guards, breastplate. A good mix of waiting for clay to dry while sewing. See how that goes and do more if there's time.

Now, this girl needs sleep. Keeping busy is tiresome work!