Post Halloween-y Updates

That's right three more dolls up for sale at the Etsy shop! The Hindi princess Ghoulia repaint, the default repaint Rochelle Goyle, and the succubus Draculaura are up for sale!

For a refresher, here's what the Draculaura looks like:

She has a dress now, that she's totally sewn into. I don't think she'd be able to fit any clothes over the damn wings anyway. In any case, while she's totally neat looking and was a fun project, she gots to go. So I can have room on my damn dresser.

And this is why I don't do customs. I hate hate hate deadlines. And I hate painting for other people. It makes me nervous. Like hella nervous. Nervous enough to use the word hella. BUT my (second?) cousin loves these dolls and she knows I repaint them and it was also her 11th birthday and who am I to deny someone their dream doll? So I painted her a mermaid.

She is totally NOT sewn into her clothes. The tail and bra snap off and I even made her a party dress because sometimes a girl has to walk. I repainted a pair of shoes to go with it because fish need shoes sometimes too. She's bright and cute and colorful and my cousin looooooved her. And I haaaaated doing it. Too much stress. Too many deadlines. I get all wonky when I have to do things and then I just absolutely don't want to do them. This is my hobby, not my job. So I paint what I like and then hope someone else likes it enough to buy the damn thing. If not...then I guess I have a lot of display dolls.

Remember when I said the Rochelle repaint was my favorite? Nope screw her she's up for sale, cute as she is. This is the new favorite:

 My own little repaint of a Lagoona into a beta fish. She has fins glued on and I took that weird paint off her hands so her forearms are transparent because...fish. She's absolutely totally wall-eyed but I have come to the conclusion that I think it's just the damn sculpt. I've repainted two and Jamie's repainted one and they are just wall-eyed. Her eyes are too far apart maybe. Who knows. But she's cute and I love her and she's currently the favorite. So she doesn't get sold. Yet. We'll see. The deal was I got to repaint as many as I wanted as long as I only kept one and sold the others. I have a damn pile of bodies to paint including a Frankie (who is going to be Medusa complete with snakes), a black and white Frankie, a Robecca the steampunk one, an Operetta, another damn Cleo, and I am not sure what else. It's like four or five works in progress. So busy busy busy. In fact, since it is so nice out (albeit cold as a bugger) I am going to work on the Medusa. Hopefully I'll have a pile of more updates for Christmas-time!
Happy modding!
Sam

Things I should not do

I will be the first to admit, I'm kind of dumb. I do lots of things I shouldn't do. I go swimming right after meals, I don't reapply sunscreen, I wash light and dark clothes together. But the big one (for this hobby)? I wasn't spraying sealant with a respirator on.

Yeah I sort of figured since I only paint dolls once in a while and I only spray when I'm painting, if I do it outside and maybe hold my breath I'd totally be ok. Which is wrong. And dumb. Because sometimes when you think, hey this stuff smells like cancer, it's because it is slowly giving you cancer. Or other fun health problems. I am no stranger to health problems, or hospitals, or shit going wrong very quickly, and decided it was something I would like to avoid.

Tadah! Problem solved. No more cancer inhaling sealant spraying for me. I've already done some damage to my lungs from the years where I (infrequently but still dumbly) sprayed MSC or Dullcoat without any protection whatsoever. Hopefully that won't come back to bite me in the ass in 30 years. But for now, with my shiny new respirator in the mail and big plans for doll painting in the future, at least I have ease of mind that I'm not messing up my lungs when I'm working on my hobby. And also it masks the cancer smell. Cause seriously sealant just smells like a whole parade of lung cancer.

Happy (and safe) modding!
Sam

Summer updates

Ok so...I've been slacking. Pretty badly. But I just sold my Amazon Cleo repaint (yay!) and surprisingly found my camera. I was looking for Lego Batman for the DS but camera is also a nice fine. I didn't find the game though, which means I should probably clean. In any case though, here's my (mostly finished) updates!

Yup! Succubus is painted and everything. Sad part is her wings are freaking fragile as shit. There's wire inside them so it helps but when I was shooting her picture she fell backwards and cracked her damn wings. This is like the third time I've had to superglue her ass. So she is a damn display only doll. And I'm going to make her clothes and sell her because I'm done with her and her wings take up too much space on my dresser. They are blushed BUT front only. No 3D view, the back is plain clay. I just need to sew her some hooker clothes now.

 And I got a Rochelle! She's adorable. I didn't even change her styling cause it's so cute. I'm not normally one for big eyes but damnit I couldn't help it. Her eyewells are pretty large and very much indented so either you paint them large or you paint smaller eyes and deal with this weird line crease thing. But I went for big eyes cause she's so cute. And sad. Secretly I love sad dolls and so I exaggerated her furrowed brows and gave her tiny red lips so she's all pouting. She looks worried. I make her sit by my computer cause this one I actually really love and kind of want to keep.

This poor girl looks dead. Dead dead dead. Just so decomposing. But she's a Ghoulia repaint so I guess that works. Or maybe she's narcoleptic. That's probably more PG. Nobody wants corpses around but sleeping people are alright. She is sewn the hell into that damn dress because there is no way I can add a tiny tiny zipper or snaps or whatnot so screw it, she's stuck. She will always be in evening wear. I want to throw her up for sale on Etsy but I have to comb her damn hair first and with the stupid beads in the back it's a pain. I have to take them out, fix her hair, set it, and then stab the metal rods holding the beading back into her head and hope I don't mess her hair up in the process. She's cute, and I'm surprised at how nicely she turned out for my first repaint, but I like the gargoyle girl more so she's got to go. If I ever get unlazy enough to list her on Etsy that is.

New plans: Work on Medusa. Jiggle snakes ahoy I want a neat Medusa monster and Frankie is green so that's my new plan. As soon as I pick up a fancy respirator so I can work with terrible chemicals and not worry about cancer. And then...hm I've got another Cleo, a black and white Frankie, and a roller derby (really? Roller derby?) Operetta that need to get painted. And holy crap does that black and white Frankie's hair need to be washed out. It's a cute black and white bob but it's so stiff with whatever shit they put in it that it's a damn helmet. So gross. Hair shouldn't be crusty. But I haven't got plans for what I want to make them into yet. So I will do Medusa first (slowly) and maybe inspiration will hit.

Happy modding!
Sam

Etsy shop is go!

Hooray!

And first up for sale for a (hopefully good) price is ^ this girl. Yes that is TOTALLY A TOWEL behind her. I'm a terrible, terrible photographer. She's the only one listed now because 1. She was the first in the bag I grabbed, 2. The succubus has no clothing, 3. The Ghoulia needs her hair fixed, 4. I am too lazy to do all these things in one day. Here's to hoping it works!
Happy modding!
Sam

Amazon Warrior Finish (Repainted Cleo)

Ok so I totally redid this whole doll in three days cause that's how I roll. I started with her painted face (the original red facepaint face) and then decided tattoos were necessary cause...I like tattoos. And to suffer mostly because holy crap are those tiny tattoos done in paint this time. Also...she looks crosseyed to me in every damn shot but I can't tell if she is crosseyed, if it's where I put the little light flare thingies, or if she's just got fish eye syndrome. But she was such a damn pain to repaint that I don't wanna do it again so I hid part of her fish eyes with hair. The only thing I like about Cleo I think besides her skin tone is her mouth. Very nicely sculpted. But her eyes (ok no eyes in general) just give me so many problems.

 So what did I do to this one? I repainted her (again), painted the tattoos, sewed her ass into the costume (loincloth), made the wig, glued the damn wig to her big fat head, styled the wig using a bobby pin, three eye needle jewelry things, three actual needles, a shit ton of mousse, and three long beads (the things in the back).

 And a better one at the back of her big fat head. Those are three little...bone-ish style beads that are seriously jammed into her head using pins. And the hair (which I need to hair spray to get it to stick more) is just twisted and then fastened with metal bobby pin...things. For like 15 years I had short hair so my long hair styling experience is like none.

And what could I still possibly have left to do? Paint my damn Draculaura succubus repaint. Well...finish painting. I painted and blushed her wings (finally) now I just gonna finish her stupid face. Ok it isn't stupid it's really adorable but I dropped her ass in water and ruined all the work I had done already once so she's driving me nuts. And...if I were really ambitious, I'd sculpt Amazon hooker here a bow or a sweet spear or something. I am not that ambitious. Yet. But now that I'm done painting and styling her...yeah don't wanna keep her. Putting her ass up for sale. So she really is an Amazon hooker!
Happy modding!
Sam

New Lamp & Cleo Preview

I was having a hard time getting the detail I wanted, so I went out to staples last week and got a magnifying lamp. The lamp itself is an utter piece of crap. It was the cheapest one there, and basically fell to pieces in the box. I would recommend springing for something a little more sturdy as I'm going to need to do eventually.

Despite the quality issues with the lamp, it works AMAZING for getting those tiny details. I don't feel as shaky when painting, and I get a much more confident paint stroke. 

Here's a little demo of the work station. Just a simple fold out table with the magnifying light clipped to one side. I've got my pallet and paints on one side with a wee tiny brush I use for the fine detail painting. It's a 20/0 Liner from Princeton Art & brush company. I use Acrylic Flow release to thin out my acrylics to make them a nice inky consistency, and then build up thin layers slowly. I use Golden brand Acrylics that are already liquid to begin with. That spray can in the back is MSC, (Mr Super Clear) a product used to seal the face and get a nice even coat. 

Here's what I have so far on Cleo. I learned a lot this run, and hope to improve as I paint more MH dolls and BJDs.  Just Ignore the wig for now, she'll be getting a new one soon. I also want to sew her an outfit. I'll post up her finished pics as soon as I get her all together. 

~Jamie

Wigs wigs and more wigs

Ok so Susan who runs http://shop.mohairwig.com/ happens to live literally down the street from me. And, as a doll modder/prospective buyer I totally got to hang out and just chat with her about dolls, wigs, clown hair, and how much stock she has. It's...amazing. So, as I have never made a wig before, I got all kinds of pointers from her. I then made a wrong wig (of course) followed by a more successful try.

First up, you want to plastic wrap your head (if it's expensive) so that you can get it wet. You don't really wanna use a faceuped BJD, or at least I don't, but I had a few blank decapitated Monster High girls wandering around so tadah, perfect models.

What you want is thin linen or muslin, literally like something very loose woven that will lie flat when wet. What I used was jersey. Jersey is the absolute INCORRECT material to use for this. But again, I like to make lots of mistakes and then figure it out after. So, cut a hunk of fabric and literally wet it with a white glue/water mixture. Solid glue is too tacky and straight water won't hold once it dries. You want probably closer to a 60/40 - 70/30 glue to water mixture but I guesstimated and got something around I have no idea. Why is this important? Because if you get it wrong (like I did) it will take at least seven lifetimes to dry.

Alright so, with your wetted glue fabric, drape it over her head and flatten it, folds and everything, to get it to lay flat. And then, just let it dry. I didn't take pictures of this because I got distracted watching terrible reality TV and honestly I take pictures with my iPhone anyway because I'm lazy.

So once it's dry (which I cheated by using a freaking hairdryer because again, don't use jersey) you get a sort of hard cap. And you can cut it to have the right hairline, ear holes, whatever you need. If you need it longer in the back then leave the back longer, however you wanna adjust it.

 She's about ready to play football now. Ok so the next step would be to get it OFF the head which honestly I thought would be harder. I sort of just peeled it off her head and amazingly it was still this kind of hard cap shape.

 Ok so the next step is the important one. You need to cut it to lay flat. And I wrote an F on my pattern for what I THOUGHT was the front but it was a lie. The 3 piece pattern I made actually has a seam in the FRONT and so the F I put down is in fact, the back. Yeah. Guess who didn't figure that out until AFTER the fact. I make mistakes so you don't have to.

Ok so, if you want to make a wig and don't mind that the seam is in the front then you can totally make it into three pieces and it will lay flat and it will be fine as long as you cut precisely sew precisely and do all kinds of things correctly which I did not do. But if you want a wig without a seam in the front then you need to mark what is the front of the cap and then make cuts in it along the sides until you can get it to lie flay without mucking up the front part. Since I have to make ANOTHER wig (for a Medusa project) I intend on trying this again. Hopefully with the right fabric and material and actually paying attention to what the hell I am cutting thsi time.

 

This is where I fucked up. I cut the skin from the back with an exacto (correctly) but I cut the pattern LARGER than my headcap. Yeah. Why I don't know. I thought maybe seam allowance. This is WRONG. Wrong wrong wrong. You want to cut it exactly the same size (except possibly and juuuuuust possibly the very front where you want to fold the flap down and glue it but that makes the wigcap more pleasing to see against the forehead. The important thing however is don't add seam allowances everywhere. In fact, if you're worried, don't add them at all. Or you will do what I did and find out only after you have sewn it that the damn thing is 5 sizes too big for her stupid big head.

Yup. Don't cut it bigger than your pattern. You made a wigcap for a reason. That reason was for the wig to fit her head. Don't then do what I did and TOTALLY IGNORE IT. If you are nervous it will not fit, really quickly sew together your glue fabric wigcap, throw it back on her head, and see if it fits the way you want it to.

Ok so, I have no idea what this stitch is actually called but I wanna go with overhand. In any case, it's easier to hand sew through skin than try to do it on the machine and also, use the proper tools. Which, again, I never do. The correct way to do it would be with a sharp needle and a thimble. I lacked both of these things so it took me ages, but I am noting this so you can avoid my (increasingly numerous) errors.

When you finish sewing it, you can take fabric glue (brand is Fabri-tac I believe, I got this from Susan because I'll be damned if I've ever worked with lambskin before) lay a line down, then fold over your front edge and hold it for a minute. This just makes the front of your wig more aesthetically pleasing and so you don't see the edge of the wigcap being all weird and stuff.

 Tadah! Finished wig. On a head. That is on a pen. Nothing weird about that. This particular fur has been stuck in a bag for awhile and so I need to spritz it with water and brush it out using, oddly enough, a dog brush. And then because it's actually hair you can style it with real hair product.

There is another method of wig making in which you make hair weaves and sew or glue those to the wig cap itself so instead of having to sew a skin you only make the cap and then attach the hair the way you want to. Bit more time consuming but you have muuuuch more control over how poofy/thin/styled you want it to be. I have all the stuff and even instructions on how to do this, I just need to get the drive to actually do it. But when I do (and make a million errors in the process) I will document it and throw it up here.

Now for something completely different: progress pictures of a Cleo head that I am going to turn into an Amazon warrior.

 First layer she gets, and this is in order because I am insane, eyeshape, eyebrows, lip color basics, and the outline shape of her facepaint stripe. How long does it take to do eye shape? Longer than I want to admit. I start with the left side because I am better at the right (counter intuitive right?) because if I get the left side to something I like, then I can generally match it on the right. I can't match worth a damn on the left. Same with eyebrows, I start with the side I am shittier on.

 Second layer gets more lip color. I added too much purple and blue the first time and went more red and brown the second because I dunno, she's an Amazon she doesn't need purple makeup. I also do my liner in black and I tried out eyelashes but decided if I was gonna do Kabuki-style makeup then I wasn't gonna also give her tiny lashes. It seemed like overkill.

 And finished makeup and gloss. Conclusion? Holy crap is it easier to paint dolls with closed eyes. The eyeshape part is fine and the brows are fine but when you get to that pupil shit that's when I muck everything up. I need practice for that. Definitely.

And with a mohair wig that's got some fancy beads thrown into it because again, Amazon warrior. She needs some decoration. Next step? Body tattoos. Because when I say I am done with making tiny tattoos what I actually mean is I think they look really neat and that my dolls look naked without them so OF COURSE I am going to do them again even when I say I am never going to do it again. She'll get tribal ones in black though. No more blue henna. There's a difference...kind of.

Next project slot: body tattoos for the tan warrior woman because I hate myself (apparently), and finish sculpting wings for the succubus. Whether they stay clay or they get casted I am not so sure yet.
Happy modding!
Sam