Where Were You on 9/11?

I hate to day but the whole 'always remember, never forget' parade that occurs every time this day rolls around each year have always been irritating. There are now legal adults who weren't even born or were just born when the tragedy happened.

Believe me, no one has forgotten who was old enough to witness it, but the nose in the air clouding the sentiment is stale.

But where was I? My mom woke me up with a phone call just before 9 AM, crying her eyes out and telling me to turn it on Channel 19. This was back before digital channels and the local stations were 5, 9, 12, 19 and 64. Seconds after I did, I saw, on live TV, people on fire leaping to their death from the Twin Tower windows. Fuck's sake, it was nothing like the movies and I felt the piercing shock and disgust that someone was standing there filming this real-life horror, these last desperate moments of civilians.

It was visceral, it was terrifying. No, we'll never forget, but at the same time, I kind of wish people would stop the posturing and dick-measuring as to how much more it affected this person or that and how remembering stops these things from happening.

It doesn't. At least have the decency to admit you're just parading this shit show of humanity.

Because some people watched it and felt what I felt. I didn't feel it more or less. Some people watched it and were probably cheering or masturbating, etc. Yeah, that's absolutely terrible, but that's the price we pay to be human. What religion touts as free will, what psychology calls a spectrum, what scientists understand as our inherent nature. It's not always pretty and we're not so enlightened that large groups of us don't still get together and do terrible things. Some people live through terrible things and want to do terrible things to others. Some people live through terrible things and decide they want to protect others from ever going through that or at least be there to help them recover.

I don't know where you were, or if you were alive yet, for that horrible day. But I hope you look at history and decide to be on better side of it. I hope that you can even be ignorant of history and still know that harming others is always on the wrong side of humanity. If you remember anything, then don't forget to treat your fellow humans like they are capable of feeling and desiring just as deeply as you. Strive for virtue on your own quests for happiness.

BJD Clothes: Swimsuit Part 1

This one might get broken up over time a bit, but I'll keep the tags going so they can be found easily.

For this one, I just took a PDF of a bathing suit I found and put it together in Illustrator then modified it. Rienna's body piece has three panels, dark blue on the sides of her body, light blue in the middle. The pattern I found only did the split panel in the front so I took the back pieces, split them and redrew them as separate pieces. It ended up looking something like this:

This, but with the right piece split.

Insofar, I've only cut the pattern pieces, pinned the pattern to the fabric and cut the pieces, so I can't show a finished product just yet. What comes next is a matter of fussing and altering to get the benefit of the stretchy fabric I'm using, as well as any difference between a doll's torso and the design being made for an actual person. I edited out the chest lining and I'm not using the piece at the top of the pattern either, the bottom lining, since a lining in a doll bathing suit is both way too extra and would deform the streamlined look I'm going for. The fabric I'm using is semi-transparent so if there's too much show-through, I do have a solid suit pattern and can reinforce it with a different fabric.

I guess, just in review, I can at least list off what else I have planned for the outfit. Plan may change but for now, the shoulder guards, breastplate, and hip plates will be modeled out of clay (trying both baking and air dry varieties). The sword may similarly be a clay sculpt, but I have decided on that yet. A cape with neck draping is probably the simplest element, to be done with blue velvet. I'm also making thigh high boots with rubber soles. As for the adornments to her outfit, I have an assortment of rhinestones and pearls so that part will just be on a whim. Also, still working on the wig, but I need to order more glue.

I'm also planning Talia, but so far, I've only planned her scarves, leotard and hair. Her design is meant to be simple but stunning, all fiery colors with only her eyes the hottest part of the flame- blue! I'm anxious to see it done, but in no hurry to throw it together since patience and precision is far more important than haste.

Will I be selling these? I've already been asked, but no, not my 'prototypes'. Once I'm confident in the build, I may be up for selling some customs, but for now, call this one purely a hobby. I tried to rush into making a business out of crochet and it nearly crushed my love for it. Having people back out and haggle and nag has made me seriously think out how I will sell my art and to whom. I keep my selling circle very small, limited to those who truly appreciate and understand the time and talent that goes into a great piece. I earned the right to call my work professional and one can call it arrogance, but let them. Hand-crafted pieces are treasures and the prices are a motivation to treat them all the more irreplaceable. Expect to pay a living wage for any craft you obtain.

In any case, I'll get to more blogging as I get it done. Hope you'll find it helpful or just enjoy the updates to the process!

Doll Addiction

It's pretty clear I have a doll addiction. Although I also have a miniature addiction, the doll part runs big and small; I love the potential in all of them!

This is just a quick post to share my latest acquisition; a customizable Nendoroid!

She came with the name Emily, but she'll likely take on a lot of names as I vary the outfits and look. For now, welcome 'Emily' to my collection!

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.

Making BJD Wigs Part 2

I'll be adding pictures later, so if you're reading this early, you'll see some placeholders instead.

First off, my favorite of the wig cap experiments is... Power mesh with tacky glue and a layer of silicone sealant underneath. It's this wig cap that I started my first foray into hair wefting.

I used these premade synthetic hair wefts:

Aliexpress.com

Along with Saran Wrap, rubber bands and tacky glue. I also had a pair of bent tip tweezers to do some holding of the wefts.

But I'm already telling you; I'm going to do hot glue for the next one because the tacky glue just didn't hold the wefts very quickly so I did a lot of holding them into place until I was sure they'd hold enough to move to the next row.

Although I cut the long weft as I went, you may find it easier to precut the pieces ahead of time. For this wig, I did straight rows that began a gradual curve as they neared the crown. The rough edges meet where the bangs end and, to cover that, I am gluing in a braid over those edges (with hot glue).

To start, it's the regular drill of securing Saran Wrap to the base or head you're using. The wig cap goes over that.

The easiest way to describe the wefting is with a diagram I drew. The wavy lines are the row I built from the base of the neck to the crown. The jagged lines are the top head fillers. The dots are rows for bangs. The number of rows isn't a precise count but it gives you an idea of how the wefts were paid to build shape and cover the head.

I squeezed the glue in lines directly onto the cap and just laying the wefts carefully in place and holding them as needed...

So far I've only gotten everything glued down. I placed another piece of Saran Wrap, secured with a rubber band to both secure the last rows and keep anything from sticking to it while drying. We'll see if that was a good idea or not when it comes time to remove it and secure the braid. More pictures to come as I finish it up and see what I end up with. I don't expect a first try to be stellar but I've been open to the learning process coming with a few failures.

Be back with the results!

Making BJD Wigs Part 1.5?

While digging through some craft bins, I came across what was left of some GE Clear Silicone Sealant and some cheap nylon wig caps so I'm running some more experiments. I used one of my smaller, much cheaper heads to lay out some of the sealant on power mesh. Not only did it only take a few hours to dry completely, but it peeled right off of the Saran Wrap and doesn't slide around on the head. However it is stretchy, which may or may not be ideal for all styles and I don't know if other glue will adhere to silicone. The package makes it clear that you can't paint on the sealant. It may be possible to use more of the sealant to weft hair, but it's very thick and could get messy. Silicone tends to only adhere to other silicone, if that, but more experiments to come...

Currently waiting for the nylon stocking/silicone one to dry to see how it holds up with material even thinner than power mesh. Even if these don't work well for working with wefts, they look like they might be a cheap fix for non-skid caps under the wig anyway.

This isn't a formal addition to the tutorials, just some brain-picking thoughts since it's always good to look for alternatives that can be used for a multitude of projects. 

That being said, the power mesh/tacky glue ones turned out great. I slipped a silicone cap onto the head and the wig cap I made was able to fit on snugly over that. Which looks like it would be the best solution for a heavier updo wig since it doesn't slide around easily once settled on. Next up will be some wefting tests on the silicone, see if we can get it to cooperate as a wig or not.

Making BJD Wigs Part One

It's been a while since I've blogged; not for any particular reason, just work and the boys starting school and time slipping by. But today, I started the process of making doll wigs so, as promised, I wanted to share the process.

I began making wig caps for my 1/3 Bomelon heads. This will work for any size head, but let's start with the supplies I'm using.

• Power mesh fabric (white or the skin tone of the head--you'll find this at craft stores and it's basically the stretchy material you find in swimsuits)
• Aleene's Turbo Tacky glue (you can use silicone based glues to make a nonskid wig, but I have silicone wig caps to do that. Wig caps are available on AliExpress)
• Rubber bands (any size is fine but make sure they fit snugly without over or under stretching)
• Popsicle sticks (some people like to use a throwaway paint brush, but I'll get into why I prefer these instead)
• Saran Wrap (you can use cheaper plastic wrap but I like the self stick properties of this brand)
• Doll head on the body or wig stand with the right dimensions

To start, tear off a piece of Saran Wrap large enough to cover the entire head. Drape it on as close to the head as possible, pulling it to the back and twisting it. You may choose to secure it further with a rubber band around the neck. 

Pull the power mesh fabric over the protected head or stand and secure with a rubber band from the base of the head to just over the bridge of the nose. Pull it as tautly as possible under the band. If there are any wrinkles, try to pull them towards the back of the head. Even with very strong glue, lumps at the hairline are difficult to disguise but usually unnoticeable at the back.

Begin spreading the glue liberally but not so thick that it starts to run. I like to use a Popsicle stick because it doesn't pull glue out of the fine mesh holes and I make about a one inch line on the stick, which covers more area. You'll want the glue to cover at least an inch past where you think you might draw the hairline.

Let dry overnight. Some impatient people attempt it 'when it dries' only to discover the underside near the plastic is sopping wet. You won't want to compromise the shape by peeling it off when not completely dry.

So I'll have to let it dry overnight. once it does, I'll peel it away from the plastic. Then, I'll place new plastic over the doll heads, replacing the cap and drawing the hair line with a fabric marker (otherwise known as a dressmaker's pen). The cap will be removed and I'll trim the wig into shape with fabric scissors.

After that, the fun will begin with wefting! For the first wig I'm doing, I'll be using synthetic wavy medium brown hair, about 15 cm in length, with a center part. I buy the wefts from AliExpress. It is recommended to use 3 100cm sets for a 1/3 head, so you'll likely only need two for a 1/4 head and one for 1/6 heads. That one is a bit tricky to simply describe so I'll try to take photos for example when I begin wefting.

The other wig I'm doing will be long, flaming red hair that will both have bangs and a ponytail, so I've had to research styling on those. Some people weft it for permanence, but I'd like a wig with more flexibility.

For gluing wigs, you can use the tacky glue or go with hot glue. You may not want to do hot gluing directly on your doll head without first protecting it with heat absorbent material or making sure the amount of heat can't warp or distort it. I'll be sticking with the tacky glue.

I'm not rushing into this project, so I can't promise daily posts, but they'll be properly tagged to find them easily when they're up. 

For those wondering why you might DIY wig caps rather than buy them pre made, I'll just add this. Unless you want a very standard shape, you need a nonstandard cap and a DIY lets you control features like mohawks, widow's peaks, sideburns etc. Depending on how complex the style, you'll want to work out which wefting techniques will let you hide how and where the hair is rooted.

See you on the next installment!