Sunday, September 1, 2024

Dolly state of the Workshop, 2024

 

 The FIFTH year of the Pandemic is almost over. Is the pandemic? No, but people are pretending it is. *RANT*

Double Ugh. I still cannot go out in public much, due to surges. Autumn is my time to go outdoors though, so I can still attend outdoor things. 

I will add pics to this post as I take them- this blog is less for anyone to see nowadays than it is for me to log what I'm working on.

So... I STILL have the Rose of Venice, a restoration project Asleep Eidolon Yara, and she's partly dressed and needs painting. I have made her camicia/chemise. Next is the body of her gown I think. I want to do Documentation on this project and submit it under Arts and Sciences at some SCA Event. If I didn't have other stuff to do, I'd aim to have it done by Toys For Tots Event in November.

The DF-H Xiao Chan in 1/5 size did turn out to be named Clara. I gave her an overall pinky dye job as she was just TOO pale. She has a Snowflake and a Waltz of the Flowers costume from The Nutcracker, made these last two winters. This year I've been doing her Nightgown from the Battle Scene.

I've got a second doll in that size concepted out to be my Alice in Wonderland. I can use Clara as a model to make Alice's clothes and things. I am trying to make her look like the John Tenniel illustrations. I've also got plans for a future Cheshire cat 1/6 companion for her.

The Brother Martin doll head is on the shelf, next to a Saith head (another OC) doll and a Mallory head (another OC) I am keeping them on Bust Stands, along with my Self Portrait Nakana doll Panya head that will be painted to look like me. It's seriously exactly my face! Yves' doll was too tall bodied so I switched him to a Doll Leaves body that isn't here yet. the Volks body went to my Dollshe Aramis who is becoming my RPG character Rosslyn.

I have two Fantasy Minifees waiting their turns. Ondine is a Celine with a Sia seahorse tail I want to make a tailfin for, and Joscelin is a faun Mirwen head. One of my only doubles.

I have this totally odd Cartoony face Ramcube Q-bi doll on a chunkier Myoudoll Anime1/4 body and she's a dyed doll that is nothing like my other dolls... but we'll have to trust the process on her. She's meant to be different. More Western Dolly looking. She keeps getting named Stacey in my head, so that's sticking, and she's the one on the workbench at the moment. I am going to use working on her to get my hand back in for a season of Blushing and Faceups this Fall and Winter.

I also have a couple of other peoples' dolls on the workbench and those take priority over my stuff. I have sculpted and made molds for these doll finger repairs I'm doing, and those are very exciting- going to try casting in resin! Gotta make some fingers for repairs, and then make a headcap to replace a missing one.

...And Barleysugar the Deermouse STILL needs blushing.

Friday, October 1, 2021

Dolly Plans 2021-2022

 The second year of the Pandemic is almost completed. UGH. Dolls are a much nicer thing to think about.

So I have the Rose of Venice, a restoration project, and she's partly dressed and needs painting.

I have DF-H Xiao Chan coming in December, and she will possibly be named Clara. She'll have the company faceup, but will need blushing. Maybe joint dyeing, so she doesn't wear through it as fast.

I have a head for a Brother Martin doll but the trouble there is that it's so big. Maybe too big. I don't want any more dolls 70cm or over, not when I can barely handle them. But I can't find a better face.

I have the body for my Yves doll. Another OC. It is beautiful. Clothes and wig for him will be arriving with his head, also due sometime in December at the earliest.

And Barleysugar the Deermouse needs blushing but I can't seem to decide how to do it.


I also have plans to make that Safavid Persian outfit for Amadi.

There, that's the current list.

Friday, August 20, 2021

Restoration: a Rose of Venice, part 1, the Cleanup


I am nicknaming this restoration project doll Rose, and she's had a journey.

I found her on the Bay of E, and other doll collectors had pointed out the lower price of the listing but no one was sure if she was legitimate. Being 'older' in the hobby than some, I recognized that this doll is an older sculpt from back in 2008-2010 style, when recasts weren't such a terrible problem like they are now. So I gambled on her being legit and my own instincts being correct, snagged the sale and got her to my house. 

Detective work ensued! It too AGES to find her original provenance, but she had marks inside the head that helped. The body was just such an older style it was hard to find. She was an Asleep Eidolon Yara, and was probably made in 2009 or 10! Besides some cosmetic stuff, she was in great shape, no major dents or cracks.

She was clearly someone's special girl, and was very well loved. Don't worry, Rose, we'll have you feeling just as loved again soon!

One other way I found her source company was because her factory faceup was still there, I think, especially those eyebrows. She'd been decorated by whoever used to have her, but some of it was glittery nail polish, which can damage resin sometimes. But as it flaked off, the resin beneath showed no damage! With a wig and a dress we can see she's really quite sweet, she just needs some new faceup and blushwork.

 
Here's her face all scrubbed blank and clean. I even did a little sanding to a level to remove some of her yellowing as well. Her mouth, under the nail polish, was undamaged. She's even got little teefs visible.
 
 
 
 
Here she is in all her scrubbed clean glory! She is gently yellowed, and I might restore the pinks faded out from her resin with a light dye bath, or just with how I blush her.




Saturday, January 9, 2021

How to Fix Dented Doll Nose

 (good grief it's been ages.)


How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.
How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

 How To Fix A Dented Dolly Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two! This can be used to spot-fix any part of a faceup. It's not always guaranteed to work, and depends on your skill as well as dumb luck, YMMV but it's always worth a shot.


1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, stick the eyes back in now, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

 
How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.
How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

How To Fix A Dinged Nose

1. remove eyes, store safely somewhere, don't need those falling out.
2. Cover faceup and head with plastic wrap, ripping the smallest possible jagged hole to expose where the nose damage is. Do this with about three layers of the stuff, the idea is to get a jagged edged hole around the damage.
3. Put on oven mitt. Put the kettle on. As the steam whooshes out when the kettle boils, poke the injured nose into the steam at least two or three inches from the spout. Hold it there for five seconds, remove to check to see if resin has popped back to shape, repeat as needed or until you're not getting any more result.

That's the dings and dents solved. As for the blushing of the nose.
PART two!

1. Remove plastic wrap. Replace with a paper towel, and again tear to expose the nose. This masks off the rest of the face but leaves a soft edge around the nose.
2. Get a melamine sponge, of the mister clean or other type brand. Now what you do with that is DO NOT wet it, but using it dry, treat it like it's a sanding block and gently sand away the damaged blushing, going lighter at the edges of the damaged area. This prevents any sharp edges between blushed and non blushed areas. You'll see as you go that you can "erase" the color in the damaged spot and create a soft airbrushy edge or fading of color from that spot, if that makes sense.
3. Wearing proper respiration protection and under proper conditions, this is when you hit the almost-totally-covered face with a puff of sealant. Our ragged hole paper towel masking technique is what lets this work.
4. Mix a color match for the other blushing visible around the nose, as carefully as you can, using quality pastels. Then blush back the color onto the now sealed nose with a very fine soft brush. Using the best brush you can really makes a difference here for layering on very tiny amounts of color at a time so as to get a smooth match.
5. Seal again, remove the paper towel, admire the flawless repair, and never trust a dolly not to nosedive.

Saturday, December 22, 2018

1/6 world

I've been sucked down the 1/6 rabbithole.
 Luckily I think I am satisfied with my number of character/dolls, so they are now gonna just be an excuse for dioramas and modeling. Rather like my two Azone 1/12 plastic dollies. The 1/6 crew are from the Star Wars galaxy far far away. 

One is a younger version of Kelseph, a former rpg character of mine; one is a Jedi mystic, special Seed Dolls handcast head; and one is this girl I got so there'd be a non-Jedi humanoid in the bunch and she's quickly gaining personality. They've also got a MissMonster HUND as their trusty Droid pal.

This is our Jedi mystic, an alien male who is a very calm sort of person. Sometimes aggravatingly so.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

A few of the Least-Expensive Legit BJDs Rosslyn Could Find

So we know this hobby is expensive. 

It's tough to want a beautiful doll and not be able to afford it.

 We don't want to buy stolen goods so a recast is right out.

Which are the completely least expensive but still beautiful resin ball jointed dolls?
Here's a few lovelies I have hunted up.

Even the famous Fairyland has Littlefees in Boy and Girl versions (the best posers, and YoSD being the most "fun" doll size in the hobby IMHO, so portable) which can run you under $300 and they're absolutely fantastic. If you made me choose one doll to keep out of my collection... I'd hate to pick but let's be honest, it'd be Stella, my Littlefee.

They also sell Pukifees, 18cm little pocket pals in that same choice A La Carte system. Someday we hope they will bring back Pukipukis, which used to go for around $180 each and were great little travel buddies. Mine has a little case I can slip into my purse, and she's been on trips with me like a little travel gnome. 

Fairyland offers their Tan Skin kind of periodically for different size categories, so if you're really set on it, don't fret! They often offer it for Events at Winter holidays, Spring festival, or Halloween. You can buy through dealer Denver Doll Emporium if you're in the USA and don't want to deal with the company, but Fairyland has always been professional with me.

If you like fantasy fairy type dolls, Charm Doll has a cute little succulent plant fairy for $140.


If you like little animal dolls, DollFamily A makes a whole handful of little critters for $100-$120 each, and many other cute dolls besides. Cocotribe's animals are about $135.
Impldoll makes a colorful lil' crocodile at  $145 that would be easy to add horns and wings to for a dragon.

Bobobie has several beautiful tiny dolls for under $100, and you can get them through Denver Doll Emporium or the company's own website.

Doll Leaves sells a lot of lovely tiny dolls for $88!!- $135

They've also got several gorgeous Yo-SD sized (about 12 inches tall) dolls for $160.
Only Doll makes some for $110.

Dollzone has many dolls in the middle size and smaller who cost under $300, down to $175

Dikadoll mid size Kids come with lots of face types including smiling or anime style faces!

Gem of Doll has Yo-SD sized dolls and Tiny sized dolls.

Impldoll has many little fae and fairy style YoSD sized dolls at $145. Their MSDs or 1/4 sized dolls are only $188-$208. They even make 1/3 sized dolls or SD size for less than $300!

Myou Doll has some really gorgeous faces on dolls in many sizes that come in a nice price range.

Asleep Eidolon does really high quality craftsmanship on their stunning dolls, and the mid size or anything smaller are often under $300. Beautiful faces too.

Angel of Dream makes 1/4 or MSD dolls for $165, and a lot of SD or 1/3 size dolls for under $300!

Some of Doll Chateau's etherial waifs go for less than $300

If you're into Chinese fantasy and more mature dolls, Granado's 30cm lads are marvelous little versions of their well known male dolls. 

Resinsoul has so many options and almost all of them are under $300! One of my prettiest dolls is a Resinsoul hybrid. Mature 1/3 SD size men, a Tiefling looking gal you can order in many resin colors, and a lady who can be your Blood or Night Elf from WoW, with a color you choose. THey have satyrs, centaurs, draconic MSDs, and elves galore. They've even been known to swap  heads and bodies for your custom choice, or do clear resin for some parts on request.

And that's just a sampling!

Friday, August 3, 2018

I want to make Food and Props for my Doll!

Polymer clay can have a translucency to it that mimics food really well, and there are some special tricks you can do to get very realistic food. 

I'd recommend youtube Miniatures tutorials by SugarCharmShop, as she does very clear simple tutorials with great results. Her stuff is dollhouse sized but if you do the same things slightly larger you can make treats and accessories for any size of doll.

Here's a link but it autoplays a video with sound so be aware of that.

(She also repaints vinyl dolls and does doll clothing tutorials you can probably use for your BJD.)

Here's her video of polymer clay basics. Here's one for her tools she uses

Here's a second channel where she had a lot of the food videos and they're still there. Sound!



She's just a fantastic resource for anyone who loves dolls.