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!

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.

Waiting for Dolly Weather

I used to live in Southern California, and I never realized until moving to the Rocky Mountains how much I took the frequently nice weather for granted. What, you ask, does this have to do with Ball Jointed Dolls? I shall tell you.

To paint/blush a bjd, you need nice dry weather so that the spray sealant can be used without clouding up or flaking once it's dry. The Rockies have lots of that dry weather, right? In theory.

Yes, it's usually drier than the back of the AA Wagon up here. You can dehydrate things just by leaving them out on a plate for a few hours. I have to buy body lotion as a necessity, like soap and shampoo... BUT the factor that slows me down is that stuff won't quit falling from the sky!





When I got here in late Winter it was snowing, and I knew that would clear up come Spring, so I waited, took pics of the dollies in the snow, and enjoyed the stuff. I never had snow around when I was a kid, so I think it's pretty fun. Now that it's supposed to be Spring, and the temperature is over 50 F outside, so I can go out without freezing- Yes, I'm a Southern Californian- it's quit snowing and started raining... and raining... and raining. People up here call this climate a desert. I call Shenanigans. I'm from SoCal. I know deserts. A desert never has rainfall 5 days out of 7 for nearly 2 months straight. A desert never has steady flooding and dams being stressed and reservoirs filling. "Desert", my little pink foot. Hah.

When it's raining, I cannot go outside to do resin sanding and carving. (Which needs to be done outside, equipped with a respirator, as the resin dust is messy and bad for you) I can't spray any sealant, since with all the moisture currently in the air outdoors, the sealant will cloud and ruin my blushing job. It's dry as ever indoors but you can't use the sealant indoors, obviously- Fumes.

The only thing to do, it seems, is sit back, do dolly sewing and take photos, and wait for the rain to stop and Summer to come.