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.

Making Aspen the Dryad, part 2

This is a kind of post-dated post. A lot's been happening in my life and I've gone Pro as an artist so things have been rather hectic for 2017! But I did finish Aspen and she's such fun to play with!
Here's how it went.

After my thumb healed I was able to finally do her blushing. I went for a very simple and dramatic faceup, with greys and browns. He skin has been painted and blushed, with those little marks on it that birches and aspens get. I made those dimensional by using a little grainy acrylic texturing gel.

Then it was just a question of popping her wig on... and she was done! She's a ton of fun to photograph and her body takes some getting used to in the posing department but I love her expression.

I probably won't bother making clothes for her. Trees don't wear clothes! With Autumn coming up, I will need to finish her other wig- the golden Aspen in full glory!

Dolly GOALS for 2017

- Launch the Shop!

- Finish making Aspen, my Wol dryad on a Doll Chateau body, and Shade, my dark starry art doll.

- Do lots more photoshoots. The Shop may kind of force me to do that.

-whip up a batch of petal pink dye and finally just gradient dye the tips of most of my dolls' fingers so their darn blushing will quit just wearing off the hands.

- Finish  "Project Noggin" and get resin duplicates made. Probably by Haru Casting, they seem to be wonderful.  It's a secret, you will see... Stay tuned!

-Give Lir, Donovan and Kitso the Hob their makeovers. Kevya too. My dolls have been neglected and I want to give them better faceups and new hardcap wigs. Lir hasn't had work done since 2009!

-keep making tunics and shoes. lots and lots of shoes. Possibly dabble is a few fancy fullsets, props and furniture pieces, but the demand is for fantasy basics and shoes!

PSA- why you NEED a proper respirator when spraying Sealants or paints.

Dear friends, Let me show you guys why respirators are VITAL no matter what you are spraying.

I have a shop where I do my spraying work. It has a filter and a fan that sucks the air out of the spray chamber, filtering as it goes.




This is a few sprays of a paint onto some doll parts. You see that square in the wall? That is the filter. It was white when I started this. That is what was pulled out of the air while I sprayed, the can was never aimed at the filter. 

That's what ends up in your lungs when you inhale aerosols. it just shows up here because I was using a paint which has a strong color.

Please, PLEASE use a properly fitted and rated respirator. You only get one set of lungs.

Amadi gets Aesthetics

Remember my Simply Divine Harlequin, cast for me in Cinnamon? I showed you pics when he arrived, and I put him onto a Pale Tan Dollstown 18 male body. The combo is beautiful. Such amazing artistry in both sculpts and the styles complement each other perfectly!

So I finally found some days in late summer that weren't humid...Sort of. The American Rockies are really dry year round, but get thunderstorms out of nowhere in the afternoons of August. Humidity can really ruin your day when you're spraying aerosols, especially any kind of sealant. It can really cause problems working on Tan resin, because if humidity causes the sealant to lighten at all, it shows up amazingly well against the darker color of the resin.

The first time I tried to seal the body for blushing, I was using Citadel Purity Seal, and I did not know that outside my shop, a humid front was moving in ahead of some clouds while I worked. Rocky Mountain storms are notorious for stealing a march on you. They can come out of nowhere in less than a couple of hours. I am a Native Californian, and still not used to this! You'd think living here in the Rockies for four, almost five years now would have taught me to never trust the radically changeable weather. I need to check outside every hour or so when I work with Sealants in the Rockies. I know this now. I learned it the hard way when the Citadel clouded up on me. It looked like powdered sugar sprayed across the resin. I ended up having to scrub it off the resin.

That took me the help of another doll-hobbyist, many ounces of Windsor-Newton Brush Cleaner, and several DAYS of hard, hard scrubbing. Citadel does not let go in a hurry. Be warned. Ugh. It does Not like humidity At All, and will not be removed without a fight.

So when I came back to try sealing this doll again, I brought back my old favorite, Testor's Model Master Flat lacquer. It's comparatively cheap, it comes in adorable little bitty cans, it was the first faceup sealant I ever used, and it hasn't failed me yet! It also seems to tolerate a smidgen of humidity better than Citadel did, 'cuz I used to use this stuff in a coastal California town, and it has to be practically raining outside for humidity to affect it.

After a wall of text like that, you didn't think I'd leave you without pics, did you? Here he is!

Aneirin- Saint to Monster, part V

It's been a long term project, but we're almost there!

 (This post and the links below are likely to contain Anatomically Correct Doll Nudity- NSFW or for especially shy people) 


This is part 5 of an ongoing project.
See Part 4
See Part 3
See Part 2
See Part 1

I've been very busy but I've had snippets of time here and there to work on my dolls as art therapy against depression. It helps. 

Here's what Aneirin's leggies look like now!

They've been  bulked up with Apoxie Sculpt, sealed, and sprayed with Tamiya paints. His hip sockets, which were prone in testing to chipping, have been sueded with actual leather pliver suede. This helps him to stand pretty well by himself.

Next he'll need body blushing. I was gonna do some of that today but the weather turned out too cold.

I also made him a raggedy lil' skirt cloth thing to wear. He's not big into bothering about his clothes.

I remade his wig, because the poofiness was bothering me. This time I made a "hard" style cap and applied the little yarn dredlocks to that.

His new hairstyle is a lot of dreds with the top half of them tied back. I also started his faceup in this shot. Just some basic contouring and color. His ears will get done when I do his body blushing. He looks weird without his eyebrows. So:

All that's left to do is a few more touchups and then to get this boy body-blushed!

Next part! 

Part VI

White Faun- Fayeth has a face

I’m pretty proud of myself for dragging my fancy camera out and making myself remember how to use it. 

We got a snap of warm weather here in the mountains today so I was finally able to get a faceup on this little darling. Now all she needs is white eyelashes.

Some hobbyists claim that people have looked down on them for owning ResinSoul dolls. (i’ve never seen it meself.) Ju has actually been on my list of Grail-ness for years, in spite of her low price. I just had to figure out what I wanted her to be. 

Fayeth here is a ResinSoul Ju in white on a hooved Soom Adamelli/Shale body. She’s been made to match it by some creative blushing, as the resins do not normally match at all. I made her wig of Tibetan sheepskin, but her eyes are from evilBay.

Mod Project- Minifee Muscular Girl, Part III

 Doll Nudity Ahoy! NSFW.



This is part III of a project. 
Part II is here. 
Part I is here.

Now that I have moved into a place with a yard, I can spray sealant whenever the weather permits. This let me get on with my Minifee mod project.

(Good News: Gradually I will be moving my studio operations here to my home, and when I have an In-House studio I get a LOT more work done.)

 I was able to blush Moira and give her the scars appropriate to someone who fights. I got her a head set at last, and those got faceupped to match. She is a Minifee Mirwen sculpt. (In this pic her chest piece looks like it really doesn't match the rest of her, but that's an optical illusion- only her bust does not match, and it'll be under clothes.)

 Here's a close look at that faceup and her hand with all the little scars and nicks on it.
The only thing I've left undone is to give a touch of satin gloss to her fingernails and lips, and that's because I don't have gloss here. I'll have to fetch it from my downtown studio.

 Here's the full effect of head finally on shoulders! I am so excited to finally have her in one piece! I was worried the head wouldn't match the dynamism of the body, but I think the Mirwen sculpt's strong brows and resolute expression make it work.
(Yes, I know her breasts don't match the resin- I got it as close as I could, and gave her a hint of nipples so she wouldn't look too weird to me, but she's never gonna be in shoots fully topless so it doesn't matter that the paint is not perfect.)

 Here's how she looks so far! I've made her a burnt orange tunic and these little cropped short pants. I tried to make her some shoes but I am not happy with the results yet. Besides, she needs boots. I'll have to make them myself because no one sells what I want her to wear. Sigh, story of almost all my dolly wardrobes. I think this here is what she'd wear while she's working out- just pants and her 'bra' top.

Annnnnd that's as far as we've gotten! I got her sword from eb@y, if anyone is looking for similar.

So far she lacks eyes and wig, but there's a Doll Fair coming to my area soon, and while it's mostly traditional vinyl and china dollies, in the last few years there have been a few people selling BJD things and supplies as well. I'll take her to the Doll Fair with me and get her some eyes and hair. I love the thought of being able to try wigs on her before I buy them. Some looks will just not work for her. I am imagining her with probably brown hair, but we'll see.


Update!

 I made these shoes a few years back for my Medieval Reenactment hobby, and I wear them all the time for comfort. Since they are quite simple in structure, I opted to duplicate them for Moira to have some casual footwear. (*history soapbox* These are often called Ghillie Brogues or "bog" shoes, and are a very simple shoe of a type worn in many parts of Northwestern Europe, from the early Dark Ages all the way into the mid- and even late- Medieval period.)

 Here they are on her feet. I took Moira with me to a local Doll Fair to get her a wig and some eyes, and our matching shoes amused several people.

And here she is! I did not expect her to end up with this hairstyle but I tried the wig on her and it was just right. It's a Monique "Alexis", and I think it's a 6-7, snug fit. It needs some product on it to smooth flyaways but I do like it. Her eyes are glass 12mm Greens of an unknown brand, I think the dealer said something like "Anna Tina"?


 

 That completes her modification! Someday I'll do another Project post set when I make her some armor.

Not Ded. And some New Stuff.

So... whatever it was I was sick with was mostly brought on by a stress reaction. Hopefully if I take things easy and work on being calmer I can recover. I'm doing much better now, so I've been able to work more on Dolly Things, hence we have Updates!

Tiarnach (my Soom Chrom/Granado Nuevo body hybrid Elf Prince) is finally Blushed and Faceupped! (Yes, that's a word now.) The resin match of Granado's Pinky NS to this Soom NS is pretty good, blushably close. (There's another new word I may use again- Blushably.)

Racing the Year Wheel

I am working on several dolly projects that I must complete before the end of this month. By that time it will be Late Autumn/Early Winter here, and I will have no more warm sunny dry days good for spraying sealant.

I'm used to SoCal, where Summer doesn't end until after October, and November is our entire Autumn. Winter doesn't arrive until Late November or December, and only brings frost and rain. Here in the Rocky Mountains it's different. Sometime in Sept. it was as if someone hit a switch and said, "Let There Be Fall!" and lo, it was Fall indeed, verily. The trees on the mountains are all turning reds and yellows and oranges, vivid blazing colors. It's a new experience for me.

I have so much to blog about but my hands are hurting, so I'll be more eloquent later. You will see my Massive Makeover for Khorae; my new Littlefee, Farron; Don's new outfit; Lir's new boots; and you will meet Tiarnach, Prince of the Wild Wood. Also WIP pics of Stella's Makeover.