Jointed Love

Lester Faceup

2012-03-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Face is up! Not quite how I wanted it to turn out, those deep carved eye sockets are a total pain to blush evenly. I wanted him to look much scarier but I really didn't achieve that. I'll probably do him again one day but with the epic situation involving his head removal I'm happy to have him stay like this for quite some time!

I'm not 100% on this oh-so-poofy wig either, it's a little too emo-lame and I want him to look grittier than that. He'll need new eyes eventually too. I might mismatch them and give him a grey blind eye in his scarred eye.

I think I'm going to body blush this guy and give him a chest tattoo. Fun future things to look forward to! I'll do a big post on minifee + Lester next week. I'm super busy all weekend so we'll just have to wait!

Close up of the scars for you.

Souldoll Vito Lester

2012-03-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

He's finally arrived! He's quite lovely, I'm happy to say I really like his face. The heavy eye sockets are just as pronounced as I thought they'd be but they don't bother me nearly as much as I thought they would. So that's a plus. Once I have a face on him it'll be even better.

He doesn't seem too large, I'm happy with his size, it's not over-whelming as I'd feared. I don't have much to say on posing yet, I'll play around with him a bit first before making any set decisions. At the moment there's only one thing that's really annoyed me; he's strung way too tight.

He's strung so tight I can't get his head back on. Seriously. I had trouble getting it off but I absolutely cannot get the stupid thing back on. The pressure is so bad that his S hook was deforming as the elastic dragged it into his neck hole. I managed to pull it up with pliers and right now I've got it cross positioned so it's not getting sucked down but holy crap. Tight elastic.

I'm going to have to re-string him to get his head back on. This really annoys me. No, scratch that, I'm really f*king angry about it. Mostly because I waited 5 months for him to arrive and can't play with him until after I fix him. I know it's not a big deal but I reserve the right to be pissed anyway! It's just ludicrous that I can't get his head back on. I mean seriously? SERIOUSLY? -.-

Anyway, I'm I'm not going to worry about it until I get his facep done. Until then he's in a crouched/kneeling position to help loosen his strings. I'd foetal him if I could but that's not going to happen. His chest piece is refusing to move because of the pressure.

Anyway, on with the pictures!

Love the honey-bee coloured packaging!

Free stuff! Extras are so exciting! Also the cute pinstripe pillows and blue bows are adorable. So manly ;)

His eyes were all wonky from his travels so I took his head off to fix them...

And then the trouble began. Anyway, this is his wig, it's a lot poofier than I expected o.O

Freebie wig and shoes I got! The shoes are awesome and I can't wait to use them; the wig, is...you know...free. Trust me when I tell you it looks a lot worse in person than in the pics.

Free Faceup Questions

2012-02-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who said lovely things about my faceups and my new Mirwen (now named Neave; pronounced neev)! You guys are way too nice to me and I really appreciate the love and encouragement!

And now to answer and address some of the questions and concerns I got in the comments yesterday:

♥ If you had to post as 'Unknown' but left your username in your comment then you are definitely still in the running! If you commented and identified yourself you are good to go :)

♥ You've all probably noticed that something funky was going on with the open ID stuff yesterday, there are loads of multiple comments because of it. But don't worry because even if you commented 30 times I'm only going to write your name down once lol.

♥ This freebie is for international people as well as US people; everyone is welcome to enter!

♥ A few people asked about when they could use the free faceup if they won. They wanted to know if they would be able to wait to use the freebie: the answer is yes, you can wait until you have the doll you're wanting the face for. But the wait must be of a reasonable time. If your doll isn't going to arrive for two months then you've go to be prepared that I might be doing lord only knows what by then and you might miss out, or end up having to wait an extra long time. I don't foresee any problems but life happens, so you wait at your own risk. Also anything over two months isn't really reasonable; going AWOL then popping up in eight months and saying, 'by the way I'm ready now,' isn't cool either.

♥ And lastly, I'll be re-opening for new commissions in late March or early April :)

If I missed anyone's question, or if you sent me a message via some form of social media and I never replied then you have my apologies! Please send your questions again, yesterday was quite crazy for messages. I try to stay on top of them as best I can but if I missed you please contact me again, I swear I'm not ignoring you!

Free Faceup!

2012-02-28T03:30:00.000-08:00

As a re-opening surprise I'm giving away one free faceup! All you have to do to be in the running for a free faceup is leave a comment to this post!

If you get on my commission list today you have the option of using this freebie on one of the heads you're sending, or you can send an additional head. If you miss out on getting a spot today then you'll still be in the running for this freebie spot.

I'll be announcing the lucky winner next Tuesday 6th March! Good luck everyone!

♥ Once I've confirmed everyone on my list I'll be asking you to ship your heads to me, if you want to wait until next Tuesday to see if you won then that's up to you, bear in mind I work on heads in the order they arrive.

Mosaic Monday

2012-02-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

I wish I lived closer to some woods, or perhaps even in them.

1. Fungi, 2. All rutted out, 3. Otter spotted in the wetlands waters, 4. bei Alperbrück - a Sunday walk, 5. in the undergrowth, 6. Your not a Bunny!!!, 7. Tawny Owl, 8. it's cleaning time!, 9. [stretch]

Mirwen and Commissions

2012-02-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I'm on my computer! Yay! It's so nice to use a proper keyboard again.

I finally had a chance to give my Mirwen a faceup yesterday. I don't have any flow aid or gloss so she's not finished, but worse I was too impatient to wait until the weekend to get supplies so I used water instead of flow aid and made a lot of mistakes on her. Without flow aid the paint dried really fast and was always either too wet or too dry. I found it impossible to get the right consistency. Flow aid really is important stuff.

I will eventually start taking proper pics again. With no computer I had no way of uploading pics so it's been down to the trusty iphone for everything. Also I have to fiffle around with the lighting and get my set up right again.

I'll be opening on Tuesday 28th Feb. This time I will be taking international commissions!

There are a few changes this time around. When I confirm your slot I'll also be giving you my shipping address and asking everyone to ship their head/s to me at the beginning of the month. This makes it easier for me to be able to work at my own pace and not have to worry when the next batch of heads will arrive. So if you commission me please have your head/s ready to ship out.

I'll be working on heads in the order they arrive. This means that if your head arrives last then your doll will be chilling out with me for a few weeks while I work through the other heads. Turn around time is now up to one month depending on when your doll's head arrives.

I'll be adjusting the list in the sidebar as heads arrive so that you can see where your doll is on the list and have a general idea of when your turn will be coming up. Remember to fill out the commission form (ont he FAQ page) and include it in your package so I can keep track of your stuff.

I've update the shipping page with international shipping options.

When to message me:
I had a really good question from someone wanting to know what time they should message me regarding international time zones. I'll take messages from 12.00 AM GMT-7 (My time is the second yellow box on this page {LINK}) I don't know what time that will be in your country, I think Google is your friend in this instance. We'll see how it goes and try to work out the kinks for next time!

Almost unpacked

2012-02-22T13:33:00.001-08:00

Almost unpacked, a photo by Xhanthi on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I think we're almost back to normal. Just about got everything unpacked, though we have no computers at the moment, left our modem connected so we have our wi-fi but my computer is still packed up and the hubby's is moving his to a different room. So here I am blogging via Flickr on my ipad.

Had to figure out our new spaces which meant my old mega huge bookshelf is now living in the living room downstairs, and the old mini bookshelf from the guestroom is now in my office. Bonus of that is the dollies get shelf space! How exciting! Everyone is a little messy right now, shoes are still in limbo so everyone's barefoot. Except for Fig, go figure.

The pukifee house has to be re made as I didn't pack their walls, but that's an adventure in new wallpaper :) Anyway, I finally have all my paints and hope to be doing my first North Dakota faceup very soon!

Mosaic Monday

2012-02-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

Redheads; how I love them! I've decided to get a few Unoa faceplates and give each face a different hair colour. Guess what one of those colours will be?

1. ADAD 2011 - 323 : Modest?, 2. Rose Fairy, 3. My lovely girls, 4. redhead, 5. Jenna, 6. Rowan - DOT Shall, 7. Untitled, 8. I found a fwoggy, 9. Untitled

First and Last

2012-02-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

I saw this thread on DoA and I thought it might make for an interesting post. This is one of the first photos I took of my very first doll, a Dollzone Fenyo (this is seriously taken right after I got her out of the box), and the most recent photo I've taken. Both taken with the same camera I'm using now.

I feel like I've made big improvements since my first pics, I don't know if it comes across at all. Learning how to use my camera has been a long and arduous journey, I'm finally at a point where I think me, and Mr Camera are becoming friends.

Then again there are times when I feel Me, and Mr Camera need to have The Talk. You know, the one where I set him down and say, "...it's not you, it's me, I just need to get out and meet other cameras. I'm just not ready to settle down yet. You understand, right? You'll always be my first..."

Aside from cropping and watermarking neither photo has been photoshopped.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here's hoping you all have a great day, whether it's filled with flowers, chocolates, or just good friends! The hubby and I aren't much into Valentine's day so our only plans are to steal into the dormitory down the road and avail ourselves of their washing machine. Ghetto panty washing; so romantic ;) Have a good one guys! :D

"Forget love,

I'd rather fall in chocolate."

- Annonymous

Mosaic Monday

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to host a Mad Hatter's tea party. Of course I'm in a new town and don't know anyone so that plan is on a bit of a hiatus for now. Pity.

1. afternoon tea, 2. Sweet Six Tea Party, 3. `True friendship is like a birthday present always full of happiness and surprises., 4. Curiouser and curiouser, 5. Brush Embroidery Cookies, 6. Tea Party 1, 7. tea party, 8. Tea Party Sweets, 9. A Mad Tea Party Tea Set

Moved; Past Tense!

2012-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Fig checks out the neighbourhood; it's currently -9 Fahrenheit
so way too chilly for an outdoor exploration.

I'm happy to report the epic move of 2011 is officially over! Well, sort of, we're still waiting on our furniture to arrive. The shipment should be here in two weeks, maybe less if we're lucky. I'd love to be lucky, my butt has had about all it can take of sitting on the floor. What I wouldn't give for a soft comfy sofa right about now.

Anyway, I'm really glad to have finished with the stress of moving, I'm glad the cats survived the plane trips in good health (they were flying in temps of less than 20 degrees for a good chunk of one flight), but mostly I'm so happy to finally be reunited with my hubby. It's been a long four months with out my other half.

I wanted to thank everyone for the well wishes about the move and all the support I got from you guys. You rock! I'm feeling very out of the loop right now as I haven't had a whole lot of internet access. It's good to be back in the Matrix again ;) I don't have a computer right now though and am doing everything via my ipad so I'm still not sure how much I'll be online. Also, have discovered I just don't know how to live without Photoshop!

Our on base housing; even get our
names on the front, woot!

A quick word about faceups: I'm hoping to have the house unpacked and in order within the next few weeks so as of now it's looking like I'll be opening in March! When I open I'll be running a giveaway for a free faceup so keep an eye out for that :)

Mosaic Monday

2012-02-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

I find miniature food so inspiring, the care and attention to detail is always impressive. It's also quite addictive and loads of fun to try. Honestly this is the only type of baking I do ;)

1. Miniature Mcdonald's meal - on my hand., 2. 1/12th Scale Miniature - Romantic Strawberry Cupcake, 3. Miniature Food - Dumdidum Donuts!, 4. Miniature Food - Sandwiches, 5. Miniature Toast & Egg - 1.1cm , 6. Cake Collection, 7. Making and Decorating Cupcakes, 8. Miniature Food - Fromages / Cheese, 9. Eve's Pudding Prep Board - 1:12 Scale Dollhouse Miniature Food

Drive by blogging

2012-02-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

I did one of those 'mine versus theirs' memes a little while ago but never got around to uploading it. I always like seeing what people do to make their dolls their own because it's always surprising what a difference a pair of eyes and a wig can make.

Packing

2012-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

I've been packing and sorting and organising my butt off, and I still have a lot more to go *cry* I don't technically have to pack anything as the shippers will do all of that but I do have to sort, itemise, and clean; which in some ways is worse than just packing.

I was doing all the doll stuff yesterday. For insurance purposes I have to estimate the cost of everything, this turned out to be quite the shock let me tell you. A low balled conservative estimate pegs just the wigs at a grand total of $680! Possibly need to curb my wig fetish ;) Although Zadie needs a pink wig, the new Feeple girl will need a few wigs, I'm sort of bored with Elise's wig, and...well you see how it happened.

Apparently this is what $680 worth of wigs looks like...

Mosaic Monday!

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is a little different as it's not a Flickr mosaic it's an instagram mosaic. I came across this woman ad have been obsessed with her adorable IG pics ever since. She's a food blogger, a cartoonist, a writer, a cook, a photographer...she's stuff that's cool. Anyway, go check out her website {LINK} a little forewarning: it's in Italian.

How I paint eyebrows

2012-01-28T09:12:00.001-08:00

How I paint eyebrows, a photo by Xhanthi on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I got asked about how to paint eyebrows on BJD and after waffling for a long time in the message I realised it would be much faster and easier to understand if I showed a basic step by step of what I do. So hopefully this is helpful!

Moving!

2012-01-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

It's finally happening. I'm moving house In February; I'll be on a plane and out of here on either the 9th or the 10th. Flights are being booked, cats are being organised, property managers are being contacted, it's all a-go.

What does this mean for you guys? Well I won't be taking commissions until March at the earliest. It's going to take the movers 2 - 3 weeks to deliver our furniture so it won't be until after than that I start commissions again. But when I do I will be taking international commissions! So exciting!

There will be a few changes next time around. I'm going to ask for all heads be shipped to me at the beginning of the month (or whenever I open) so that I can cut down on the shipping waits. I'll do the heads in the order they arrive. This will mean that if your head arrives first it'll be on it's way back to you in a week, whereas if your head is one of the last to arrive it'll be hanging out with me for the rest of the month. I should be able to get more heads done this way.

The other thing is that I've no idea how the weather up there is going to affect faceups. I'm going to work on my modded Mirwen once I arrive to test it out. I don't think there will be any major problems. If it's too cold in the garage then I'll just spray in the spare bathroom. (Yes, I have respirator mask thing, I'm prepared for both dolls and the apocalypse). We'll have to see how humid it gets during the warmer months too.

Lastly, I'll be running a celebratory giveaway after we get settled into the new house! prize will be a free faceup! But more on that later :)

Down the Rabbit Hole

2012-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well, here we go people. I just ordered my first official SD (Lester is a shorty so he doesn't count plus that boy is taking his sweet freakin time getting here). I'll soon be the proud owner of a Feeple65 Lora! I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit afraid I'll freak out at the size but I think it's time to flap about in the SD pool. I won't really know until I try.

I've met a few Delfs and they don't seem too big, I just don't like their posing, so Feeple65 it is. Anyway my hubby is very keen on the bewbs so far be it for me to come between them. *ahem*

I'm really excited. I love Lora's more androgynous look. I ordered the basic and she'll be coming blank. I did consider getting the fullset and qualifying for the Juri head, but despite making my girl cheaper in the long run it's a lot of kerfuffle I can't be bothered with. I'd rather have the extra money now so that I can start shopping for her wardrobe, wigs, and eyes rather than have to wait until she arrives to sell the extra stuff first. So no Juri head for me.

I'm really excited. Did I say that? Super excited. I get to go buy SDish clothes. That's really something. I can't tell you. The outfits I've seen and loved and not been able to get because they're only available in SDish sizes. I'm giddy with options right now.

I bet that stupid Lester arrives the same time she does. Stupid Souldoll.

Mosaic Monday

2012-01-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

I love these little Sonny Angel dolls. One day I'm going to have a giant collection of these. Actually one day I'm just going to have a shirt-load of toys in general; dunny, momiji, rabbids, danbo, domo...the list is endless. I love toys!

...I'm going to need a bigger house.

1. getting into the xmas spirit, 2. Daffodil, 3. Pink!, 4. sunrise, 5. Umbrella Anyone?, 6. Pandas, 7. Little photographer, 8. Little Lost Tomato, 9. *cute*

Zadie's New Face

2012-01-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got it finished. First attempt went poorly as I was rushing so I could go pretty myself up for Sushi so I had to wipe that disaster off and start again. I was running out of MSC last week and ordered more but it still hasn't arrived so I decided to break out the Purity Seal. Figured it was a good time to do some more experimenting so I did her whole faceup from start to finish in PS. I'm getting much better at using it.

For anyone who remembers I did my Unoa's faceup with Purity Seal and also did a bit of a review which you can see here: {LINK} Now that she's had some time to wear it I can comment on durability and what not. News is good. She's not chipping, she's not yellowing, her faceup looks just as fresh as when I did it. All in all: Purity Seal holds up great. She does have a rougher texture than my MSC girls, the MSC seems to wear down after a while, or smooth out to a softer satiny feel over time.

After I got her faceup finished we put the old brown wig back on and...I don't know. I guess it's ok. Just not feeling it any more. Was quite disappointed. We played musical wigs for a while until eventually I put her in this blonde number. Not sure why I like it so much, I just do. I'm not keen on the style so eventually I'll buy her a new wig, might not even stay platinum blonde, we might go pink because I don't have anyone with pink hair.

BTW, the totally adorable clothes are by Milky Robot!

Constantine and Obmre now available!

2012-01-21T09:02:00.001-08:00

Constantine and Obmre now available!, a photo by Xhanthi on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Lillycat's lovley dolls are now available on the website Cerisedolls

I'm looking to join a split to get one of the heads, either a Constantine or an Ombre, I don't mind. Please let me know if you are willing to split a head with me!

Spacehead

2012-01-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

More giant heads. No line art for a different feel this time.

In dolly related things: if I buy stuff from Luts and they ship it EMS it'll only take about a week to get here right? Or do they take forever to get things into the post?

And then, new Fairyland releases! Not greatly excited, I'm not keen on the new RPs and the more I think about it the less inclined I am to get a Roro; at least for now. The Feeple65 man, Florence is fabulous but, well, dude looks like a lady so that's him knocked off my list. I'm glad I didn't wait and bought the Souldoll Lester instead (if he ever freakin arrives). I will say that I am pretty smitten with the Feeple65 lady, Lora, she has such a nice face. Then again I think I've said that about every Feeple girl so far and I still don't have one :P

I'm very keen to see the Feeple65 event Juri faceplate!

Faceless

2012-01-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some before and after pics of the sanding I did to the MNF Mirwen. You can see she has a rather heavy brow sculpt. I think it gives her a permanent scowl which I don't like so off it went! I might sand the sides of her head a touch more, I'm not sure yet. There are some very slight depressions at her temples that aren't a big deal but may as well go while I have her blank.

I used a 400 grit sandpaper for the bulk of the job and then polished everything up with some ultra-fine 1500 grit. I wet sanded this by the way. Not yet sure of a) when I'll give her a face, or b) what sort of look she's going to get. At least she's prepped and ready!

Minifee Mirwen

2012-01-18T11:31:00.000-08:00

I snagged this minifee Mirwen head with default faceup last week and she arrived today. I'm planning to give her a new faceup as well as sand her brow bone down a bit too. I'm pretty excited about that. She was a bit of an impulse buy so I'm not sure if I'll be keeping her for the long haul, but I've definitely been wanting to paint one for a while. I'm just not a fan of the default faceup. I'm sure that under the jaundiced eye-bags and heavy set brow there lurks a delightful sweetheart.

I'll be working on her on and off this week and will be sure to post updates. I'll do some before and after pics of the sanding whenever that happens.

Mosaic Monday!

2012-01-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

Today is all about lips, luscious lips! My favourite part of a dolls face is often the lips. They're something so very sensual and human about a well painted lip. The eyes might be the window to the soul but we live through our lips, speaking, eating and kissing our way through the world.

1. Untitled, 2. Most beautiful lips?, 3. Doll Lips, 4. Closeup of Liz' Lips, 5. A Little Pale Elf. [101/365], 6. spooky lips, 7. Yes, I love doll lips, 8. Yummy lips, 9. For mydollies4 - chapstick lips

I stumbled across this and thought it was quite fun too. Models from around the world reciting tongue twisters!

New Eyes for Itsy

2012-01-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

I bought some 8mm hand craft glass eyes from Safindoll this week. I was really pleased when I opened up the packed as they were exactly what I was expecting. A great relief considering the previous pair of HGC eyes I bought from Safrindoll were less than impressive.

And then horror struck. Itsy came with 8mm Fairyland acrylics but these new 8mm glass eyes would not fit in her eyewells. The Fairyland eyes are much narrower than the HGC eyes. I was pretty pissed off about this. In comparison to other pukis the Ruby sculpt always struck be as having big googly eyes, that's what I love about her, so I didn't think I'd have a fit issue.

Anyway, after looking inside her head I decided to go at her with an exacto knife and carve some resin away. Her eyes still don't fit properly but at least now I can get them into her head. I'm planning to bevel out her eyes a little more to make them fit better.

Anyway, I figured while I was at it that I'd take a no fuss shot of both pairs of HGC eyes I have from Safrindoll, then a comparison of the default Fairyland eyes versus the HGCs.

Here are my new HGC 8mm next to the default Fairyland 8mm acrylics: you can see the HGC are a little bigger overall
but the iris is about the same, possibly even smaller than the FL eyes.

Also here's a pic of her new faceup, which is much the same as her old faceup only I changed her eyebrows and lips and added the beauty mark. She's holding a quarter so anyone unfamiliar with her size can see how tiny she is.

Feeple65 Autumn Event Sword

2012-01-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

I don't usually do fantasy parts but Napria asked me if I'd be willing to have a go at painting her Feeple65 event sword instead of a second head and I agreed to give it a shot. It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. I don't have have silver and gold paints so I was having to make my own versions out of acrylics and shimmer powder. That was a mostly fine idea except that the sword was rather large and shimmer likes to clump sometimes. So I had one side turn out okay and the other size came out lumpy and the started going everywhere. Very disappointing. Also this thing was a lot bigger than I expected, I grossly underestimated how big it was going to be. I'm not good at painting big things people!

I really wish I'd had some Citadel paints for this as it would have made life a whole lot easier and the result would have been much nicer. For those of you wondering Citadel paints are Warhammer paints for miniatures. They do excellent colours. Lots of metal finishes like gunmetal, tin, burnished gold, mithril silver etc. They have awesome cool names for their other paints like, scab red, vomit brown, rotting flesh, because you know, Warhammer be all about war 'n stuff.

Anyway, here's the good side:

And then here's the crap side that makes me emo to look at:

Mosaic Monday!

2012-01-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Mosaic Mondays! I've decided to try and schedule a few posts so there are specific things happening on specific days. Starting it off with a mosaic on Mondays, just things I find cute, inspirational, or quirky.

Today it's all about pink hair. I love pink hair on dolls and people. I'm not sure what it is about pink hair that makes me like it so much. It's just so pink! I used to have pink hair once upon a time (truth be told there's very few colours I haven't has as hair at least once but my favs were pink and purple) a super cute pink a-line bob, and I loved it. Dying your hair pink is like putting on a popularity hat; everyone wants to talk to the girl with the pink hair.

1. Pink Blythe, 2. pink lady, 3. Bubblegum & Mint Crochet Hair Bow, 4. pink hair, 5. Day 354 of 365 - Year 2, 6. Pink hair comparison, 7. Pink Hair, 8. pink hair, 9. pink

There are times when I really miss it, then I remember that I'm not 23 any more and get over myself. And then I saw these awesome wigs on Etsy! Just a quick flash in the pan day of pink, that's all I need! Then I swear I'll grow up.

photo from Miss Violet Lace on Etsy {SHOP LINK}

Fat Headed Girls

2012-01-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

As you know, I like drawing giant fat headed girls. I love the blythey proportions of the gigundus head and tiny body, usually I don't give them Blythe eyes because, but this time I just went full Blythe. It's a bit rushed so I'm not all that happy with it, but she's still cute and I thought people might like to see her. I really should have made her head bigger. Didn't think this through enough.

Speaking of Blythes I was doing the whole Pullip versus Blythe debate some time ago; I couldn't decide which to get. I've now decided that it's a Blythe year so after we move I'm going to start my custom Blythe adventure! I want my custom girl to have mohair so it looks like a reroot will be on the horizon too. *scary*

Oh, this pic isn't a future plan for my custom girl, it's just random.

Pukipuki Ruby

2012-01-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

This little cutie arrived today and I'm happy to report that she's just as cute as I imagined she would be! She'll eventually get a new face, I like her eyes but her lips are a bit much. Quite a few of my dollies are waiting on new faces. Well, one day.

Right now I'm loving this tiny size. It's going to be super fun putting a room box together seeing as she's 1/12th scale with is standard dollhouse scale from what I understand. It's always difficult to get the right scale stuff for the other dolls. I managed pretty well with the pukifee but even that's tricky.

Looking forward to the new dolly adventure with this adorable dear. First things first though, she needs a name. I might come up with a list of favourites and then make a poll!

Creepy clown box is creepy...

Nekkid puki!

headband doesn't work so well with the floofy wiggy bits lol

have monkey, will pose

How do I make a Unoa minifee hybrid?

2012-01-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

I get asked this a lot so I thought I'd put together a bit of a resource on how to get your minifee hybrid together. I love my hybrid and I'm so glad I worked up the guts to do it. If I can do it, then you can too!

The biggest stumbling block is the minifee neck piece, it's like some mystical contraption designed by otherworldly beings that which mere mortals should not wot of. But really it's just a chunk of plastic with an S hook in it.

Taking the neck piece off isn't nearly as big a deal as it seems. It's really daunting before you do it, but it's one of those things where afterwards you can't believe you were so worried.

That being said, depending on how tightly strung the body is the level of difficulty for removing the neck piece will vary. My girl was tightly strung and it was a total bitch to get the neck piece off. You might want someone around to help, have them hold the body while you wrestle with the neck.

By the way, no you don't need to totally un-string your body to take the neck piece off. To make life easier you could un-string the feet to create a little slack, it's up to you. Either way what you'll need to do is lift the neck piece up and clamp the elastic underneath so you can keep the doll strung but still fiddle with the neck piece. You'll find a hemostat pretty useful here.

This is a hemostat; I got mine from Ace hardware for $2
You could probably order them online; Google is your friend (photo from LINK)

Once you've got the elastic up you'll see the neck piece has a tiny S hook inside it with the fat elastic squished into it. The S hook is pretty small and you'll find you won't be able to just slide the elastic out like a regular S hook. You'll need some pliers to pry the hook open until you can slide the elastic off it. And then viola, neck piece is removed!

All you need to make the headback work is an S hook that fits the head back you have. Or you can do what I did and use a ring, just go with whatever works. This was just a simple jewellery finding that I had kicking around.

I'm using a Buff headback for my girl, but the headback in the picture to the left is my old Amaeta headback. They are both compatible with minifee so no modding is necessary if you have either of those headbacks. Both are good.

By the way I know nothing about any other headback so don't ask lol.

Here's a great wiki on neck pieces that will help you get an idea of how things work {LINK}
And here's a post by Bluoxyde with some pics talking about unoa/minifee hybrids {LINK}
Here's a resin comparison photo by Lisadragon {LINK}

Here's a photo of a Unoa on a whiteskin minifee {LINK}

Quick word on resin matching; all I can tell you is that my lusis faceplate matches very well with my MNF body. Unoa is lighter in colour but I found that with a faceup the difference was negligible and I wasn't blushing to match or anything, it just worked out that way.

She's had a couple of faceups and it's always the same; blank you can see an obvious difference but it's not horrible, with a faceup you just don't notice. It's also probably worth noting the my faceplate was brand spanking new, still in it's packet, and the body she has was also brand spanking new, ordered direct from Fairyland specifically for her (2010).

Photo is a bit crappy, my camera battery is charging so no new pics today, but you can see the resin match between the Amaeta headback, the MNF body, and the faceplate.

Good luck with your hybriding!

Christmas Winner!

2012-01-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

And the winner is Stacy with entry #1! Congratulations! The kids are packing the stuff up as we speak. I want to say thanks to everyone who sent in pics and everyone who voted! Thanks for making this awesome!

The poll will stay open but I took this screenshot when I officially closed voting so any votes after this won't count! It was a close race for a while there, so exciting!

Voting!

2011-12-31T08:44:00.000-08:00

*Update: Entries #1 and #8 are tied for votes1 How dramatic! Who will be victorious!?

Here are the fabulous entries in no particular order. Once again thanks to everyone who participated, I really enjoyed seeing everyone's entries!

This is a blind vote so no names are attached (if you recognise your friends dollies just keep it to yourself lol) instead each picture has an assigned number. Numbers are located below the picture. You can only vote ONCE, so don't mess up! The voting poll can be found under the entries.

**Voting will be open for 3 days! Winner announced on the 4th!

Happy voting everyone!

Christmas Entries Closed!

2011-12-31T08:10:00.000-08:00

I want to start this off with a big thanks to everyone who joined in the fun and sent in an entry, I'm going to get them all set up for voting either this afternoon or tomorrow. I can't wait to share them all with you!

I think I'm becoming addicted to giveaways because I've already got ideas for the next one! But that won't be happening until after I move house.

Breakaway

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

I got this breakaway set when I bought my littlefee Lewi and I was planning to sell it but of course, the more I look at it the more I want to paint it. Look it's already got an eyeball in it. Honestly.

I keep thinking about what a brilliant zombie he'd make, how much fun he'd be to paint, and then I think about getting the other scar arm, a body, and, and...oy.

I'm going to try and hold off until my Lester gets here because I don't want to be sinking my funds into another damn doll this soon after my recent spate of serial dolly shopping o.O Lester had better arrive soon or we're going to have moving issues...

Lastly, entries for the giveaway close tomorrow at midnight so send in your entries!

Closed before Breakfast!

2011-12-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

I just woke up and I'm closed already! I know that was ridiculously fast and I apologise to anyone who missed out. I filled up fast because I'm only taking a limited number of commissions because we'll likely be moving at the end of January and I'll need to start packing at some point. If I get through these commissions quickly and it's looking like I have time I might take one or two people. We'll have to see how things pan out.

The hubby and I get our housing status update on Thursday, in case you were wondering we've been on a list. We started at number 137 and we're now at 46, the list moves at about 5 - 8 slots per week, so at the current rate we should be getting a house in about three or 4 weeks, at which point they'll give us 30 days to relocate. I'm excited to see what our special number is for this week!

FYI: there are some very keen people emailing me at midnight lol ♥

Commission Update and Apologies!

2011-12-26T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'm going to start with a big apology. The other day I said I'd take international commissions but today that's looking like a lie. I'm really sorry about that. I wish I'd know before I made that post but that's military timing for you. We've found we'll be moving a lot sooner than expected, we thought we'd be moving in March but now it looks like we may move as soon as the end of January.

I'm back to sitting around half packed, which means I'm not taking international commissions for fear of bad timing with moving. I'm sure you'll all sick of hearing about the move that never happens, I know I am! I'm also going to take fewer local commissions this month than I normally would.

I'm going to open commissions on Wednesday (28th Dec) to try and get a jump on things. If you commission me this month please have your heads in hand and be ready to ship.

Once again I'm really sorry to everyone outside the US who was hoping to commission me. I had a new bike route picked out for the post office and everything. If I can just move house already then we can finally put this shenanigans behind us!

xox

Insert Appropriate Title Here

2011-12-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

Feeling a little down today; the hubby left this morning to go back up to Minot, it was great having him here but it's hard to have to say goodbye again. Zadie and I are going to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves while we bake some chicken casserole, finish our miniature gingerbread men, and OD on Hulu junk.

I'm looking forward to the xmas giveaway voting, we've got some super cute entires that I can't wait to post!

Also stay tuned for the epic faceup news-dump that will be happening soon. I'll be picking a date and letting you all know when to start messaging me for January slots. Biggest newsflash is that I will be taking international commissions! But you'll have to read all of the small print on that before commissioning me, but more on that later.

I hope everyone is having an awesome Christmas, or just a damn good day if you don't celebrate it! Eat, drink, be merry, and don't forget to stock up on the antacid before the stores shut :P

Finished them!

Zadie

2011-12-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

**mini note: I just extended the xmas giveaway date to Dec 30th - last change I swear!**

She arrived at a bit of a hectic time so I haven't blogged about her much at all except in passing so here's her 'official' post wherein I ramble about how much I adore her and other inane things :)

I got her from DDE last week, she was an in stock Lewi and arrived pretty quickly. I love not having to wait! Anyway I was much swayed by Milky Robot's girl Lewi who is adorable. I've always liked Lewi because his eyes are so different from the other Littlefees and I have such a weakness for dreaming eyes, but they're not quite as dreaming as traditional Fairyland dreaming eyes which can run a little narrow. I never thought about getting him as a girl though; much thanks to Milky Robot for putting that idea in my head!

By the way, yes she is on the Littlefee boy body. Still debating whether I'm going to sand her/his winkie off or not. I'm planning to sand her fingers down a little so that they're not so pointy so we may have a big surgery day.

DDE are also having a Christmas event so any in stock Fairyland doll you buy during December will also come with a past Fairyland event gift item. This worked out really well for me because they sent the 2009(?) minifee scar breakaway head and arm set (lightning I think) and I've been sort of wanting a breakaway for a little while now. So that was a huge bonus!

Anyway, she has some shoes and clothes on the way, she's adorable, she poses brilliantly, and I can't stop carting her around the house with me.

Christmas Giveaway!

2011-12-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season! I know I am! Mostly I've been lounging around with the hubby and playing with my newest family member, Zadie. If you follow me on flickr you'll have seen me spamming the crap out of her. Can't stop lugging her around with me. Love that girl!.

Anyway, I wanted to drop in and let you all know I'm extending the deadline for the xmas giveaway. Entries will close on the 30th Dec now. Why? Because we're all busy doing other things right now lol. This means you've got one week left!

Voting will happen on Jan 1st!

Quid Pro Quo

2011-12-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

**Edit: Apparantly I had extra quotes in my script for my blog button that prevented it from working, that's what happens when you're lazy :P Anyway, it's fixed now :)

I've been wanting to do something to help promote everyone's awesome work. I meet so people who make and craft amazing things. What I love about this hobby is that it's an umbrella for all a bunch of other hobbies and everyone explores their dolly interests in different ways.

Anyway, I know a lot of you have blogs and shops and take commissions for various things so I thought it might be cool to do a badge swap. What I mean is I'll put a clickable link in my sidebar to your shop/website/blog if you put a link to my blog on your page.

If you're interested in doing this with me then send me a message (missanthropics@gmail.com) with your button in the attachment. Your button has to match my sidebar stuff so it should be 200 x 65 pixels. Of course I'll match my button to your stuff so let me know what your size specs are and I'll send you my re-formatted button.

My standard blog button is this one,
same as the one in the sidebar
so that's what I'll be resizing
to fit for your page. There's also the slimmer
no Fig version :)

More food!

2011-12-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have spewed forth a mess of tiny foods, cookies, donuts, macaroons, Fig is really into the tiny food. So far her favourites are the macaroons. It's really hard taking photos of such tiny things o.O I don't have a macro lens or anything spiffy like that. Also I'm so into pastel colours right now!

Unazukin

2011-12-11T07:43:00.001-08:00

I came across these funny little things on instagram the other day. Thought they were pretty cute. They're called Unazukins, supposedly they're small fairies that are often found living under mushrooms, according to the website ;). I think they're based on Russian matryoshka or nesting dolls, they look the same and there even seem to be ones that nest!

There are loads of different types, fruits, flowers, baby, occasion, birthstone, my favourite are the fruits; too cute people, too cute! I think the pukifee might want a strawberry unazukin.

The official website can be found here: {LINK} but if you're wanting to buy them then you're looking at buying through ebay or using a shopping service because there doesn't appear to be any sellers outside of Japan as far as I can see. Anyway, here's an ebay link for you: {LINK}

**EDIT Ha! I just discovered these guys are voice activated. You talk to them and they either nod their head or shake their head. Too adorable.

1. One Egg = One Day by Fran Crawford, 2. fresita y sus amigas, 3. Unazukin, 4. Unazukin, 5. dolly day 7 - yun + unazukin, 6. Unazukin!!, 7. Unazukin Rose & Hydragena, 8. Unazukin walking on a garden, 9. zuki2

Finn meets Miss Kitty

2011-12-10T11:34:00.001-08:00

♥ As an aside, get your xmas entries in! Giveaway closes Dec 20th!♥

♥ Hope you guys are having a great week! I get to spend the next two weeks with the Hubby! Wahoo!♥

Stickers!

2011-12-08T17:10:00.001-08:00

Stickers arrived and I'm pretty pleased with them. Finn thought it best if she modelled things because those other weirdos don't even know how to wear lip gloss is let alone model-face. We now have all the giveaway goodies and Finn is very prepared to steal them all!

Freebies and Discounts!

2011-12-05T14:40:00.001-08:00

December is the month for giving and there are loads of giveaways and sales going on right now. I thought I'd share what I've come across with you. But before I waffle on about that I wanted to mention that the Christmas Momiji for my giveaway arrived the other day! It's totally adorable! I also got a notice that the stickers have shipped so hopefully we'll be able to check those out next week.

Here's some Christmas incentive for you; Miette decided to organise a tree this year and pestered Fig into helping her decorate.

First up, Monstro Designs is having an annual raffle,

lucky winner will get bag full of past and current season items,

including clothing, wigs, and accessories.

Travel here to read all the details {LINK}

Ball Jointed Beatrix is having a sale over at her Etsy shop,

10% off everything until the end of December!

Time to fill up on tasty goodies for your doll's holiday festivities ;)

You can find her shop here {LINK}

Elnuyn is also having a big sale at her Etsy shop, Ace of Spades,

15% of anything purchased with the coupon code.

You also get your items packed in a gift box!

Better hurry on this one though, sale ends Dec 13th.

Here's the {LINK}

Last but not least, Esthy and Lulla are having a giveaway on flickr

You could win an adorable straw hat and necklace set

All you have to do is comment on this photo!

I'm Pointing at You!

2011-12-01T21:02:00.001-08:00

Fig, The Almighty Receiver of Things, got a new set of hands. Dangerous pointing abounds. So much power in such a tiny finger. In other news, I unpacked their furniture and set up their 'house' (read: two cardboard walls and some pink stuff).

Fig Gets Mail!

2011-11-29T10:08:00.001-08:00

Fig was super excited this week, she got fan mail and an awesome monster toy! I wanted to say a big thank you to Americonedream for sending us a brilliant Halloween card with the most hilarious Fig doodle inside. Much LOL was had; made my day that doodle :) Look, she even drew the deer on Fig's dress! And the eyes on the shoes! I think Fig is planning to frame it and hang it on her wall. Thank you!

We also got a new addition to the family cleverly made by Keshi-Chan who also takes commissions, you can see her stuff here: {LINK} He's just so cool. Fig has been dragging him around every where. Literally -.- She's named him Gibbutz, the punishment goblin. Instead of hitting Miette with sticks she's hitting her with Gibbutz. At least no one will loose an eye :P

Mari

2011-11-25T14:39:00.001-08:00

She arrived! She's lovely! Somehow I ended up being a lot less organised about her stuff than I thought. The first wig I bought is too big, the second wig makes it look like she's having a bad hair day, the eyes I bought her haven't arrived, and neither has her dress. I'm hoping the CIG eyes will photograph better, that the next wig will be a winner. I'm not sure. I sort of bought it just because it looked pretty and not because it's at all a colour I thought she'd look good in.

Originally I envisaged her in a mousy brown wig but that's been hard to find. The next incoming wig is white LOL. But look, it's got just as much chance as anything else at looking good. Even when I spend the time faffling over colour and style 75% of the time the thing arrives and looks wrong anyway. I figure not giving a crap will probably offer an equal success rate with the added bonus of being a much faster decision :P

Yep, she's wearing a pukifee dress as a skirt and a pukifee dress as a shirt ;) And pukifee shoes lol

Size comparison; Fig isn't greatly impressed. She's seen bigger ;)

Time for Another Giveaway!

2011-11-25T11:32:00.001-08:00

That's right it's time for another giveaway! Being Christmas it's almost mandatory ;) I'm going to mix it up this time. We're doing a competition and the winner will be voted in by you guys. All you have to do to enter is email me a dolly Christmas themed photo! And if you don't want to take a photo you can draw it. Basically just submit a Christmas image of your doll or dolls (Please read the submission guide below).

I'll collect everyone's pictures and after submissions close I'll choose my top favourites, then set up a voting poll. Then we all vote and the winner brings home the loot! Speaking of loot, up for grabs is a limited edition Momiji Christmas doll Suki, and a super fun sticker book containing 90 stickers featuring my four pukifee girls.

Submissions will close December 26th!

Snipped from LoveMomiji.com

These are just proofs of the stickers, the watermarks won't be there in the final product.
I'll update pics when I get them in my hot little hands!

SUBMISSION RULES & GUIDE:

*one image per entry; you may only enter once
*you must be a subscriber to enter
*All images should be resized to be 650 x 500 pixels
*image can be anything made by you; photo, digital painting, collage, traditional drawing, photomanipulation, anything as long as it features your doll/s and has a Christmas theme.
*please include your blogger username
*international competitors are welcome!
*email images to missanthropics@gmail.com
*Have fun! (most important rule)

♥

Faceup News

2011-11-23T13:44:00.001-08:00

I have a few changes on the way for next year, the biggest being a price increase for faceups. There'll be one price for everything; no separate pricing for fantasy work any more, it's all included. I might possibly stock up eyelashes in a few sizes, probably just light brown and dark brown, then you could choose to get lashes done for an extra $2 or something.

The husband and I are still waiting on a house, we're hoping to have something by March. He's currently living in North Dakota while I'm still here in Arizona. Yes, it's sucks, but that's beside the point. I'm still not taking international commissions because now, instead of being on the verge of moving, I don't have a car and getting to the P.O. is a pain in the butt. I get the postie to come to my door and collect all my outgoing stateside mail but I can't do that for international stuff. The epic wait continues.

Lastly, I'll be closed for December but will likely start taking commissions towards the end of December, just after Christmas.

Lazy day

2011-11-23T13:34:00.001-08:00

New dress and shoes prompted us to wander around outside. I was going for mori style layering the pink dress over the brown skirt but it's not really working as an outfit. What she needs are some white leggings and a cream cardigan. More dolly shopping, gosh how droll ;)

I very rarely ever take pics outside. It's almost always too hot here in Arizona but now that winter has arrived it's a pleasant 75 degrees (23 celsius) outside. Got to love an Arizona winter.

Does anyone else have that hair raising moment right after you set the doll up when you have step back, and she's just out there in the breeze on her own, and you're hoping she makes it through the next few seconds until you can scoop her up again? Or is that just me? Maybe it's my garden. Being a desert it's comprised mostly of rocks so if she's going to face-plant she's going to do it into pointy stuff. *sweat*

One of these days I'm going to fix her lazy eye. How do I keep forgetting about that? You can see it in the last shot, the left one has unstuck itself and is slowly but surely falling back inside her head. It's been doing this for weeks. Have I done anything about it? No. I fail at dolls.

Anyway, I love my Lusis :D

Step by Step

2011-11-21T14:18:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd try to document my faceup progress again seeing as last time it turned out to be so fail. This time I actually remember to stop and take pics. Consequently this faceup to for-freaking-ever LOL. Definitely won't be repeating this again any time soon! She came out lovely though so that's all that matters :) This is a Lumedoll Tania belonging to Kim (aka Sunshinejade).

Basic eyebrow shape added; then basic blushing.

Second and third blushing, separated by a layer of MSC.

Eyebrows and eyelashes added; lashes and eyebrows darkened and eye-liner addded.

Lip lines, teeth, and highlights added; final coats of MSC then glossing happens.
(beauty spot is photoshopped in as it got added afterwards and I'm too lazy to retake the
pics for such a small adjustment).

Oh yeah, and afterwards my hand always looks like this. Sometimes less grumpy ;)

Yet Another One

2011-11-21T07:17:00.001-08:00

I've lurking like crazy over at Junkyspot these last few weeks as I decided I wanted a Limhwa To You Sara or Mari and I'd heard there would be in stock dolls arriving this week. The Limhwa order finally arrived and the dollies went up for sale last night so I snapped myself a Mari just fifteen minutes ago!

I can't say enough good things about Junkyspot; Emory is such a great guy to deal with and I'm so happy they've picked up Limhwa. I ordered my first BJD through Junkyspot :)

Photo from Limhwa/Junkyspot - I bought my girl with a faceup as there were
no blank dolls available. Eventually she'll get a new face but it works for now
as I have way too many dollies waiting for faces at the moment >.<

I've been besotted with these little beauties for some time now but wasn't sure if I'd be quick enough to snag one in stock or if I'd have to pre-order one. I love their size! A mature 27cm (10 1/2 inch) doll! It's like heaven. I love small things. From what I've heard they fit Momoko size clothing, at least on top, and possibly Blythe stuff too. Should be an exciting adventure.

So this week there should be a new arrival! *happy dance*

Poses and Clothes

2011-11-18T12:50:00.001-08:00

This girl poses really well. She has a natural fluidity that makes it really easy to create natural poses. She can stand on one leg, she can do a variety of standing poses unassisted - by that I mean she doesn't need to be propped up against a wall or something - and she seems to be able to hold them pretty well too. And this un sueded so I imagine she'd be doubly as good sueded. She does require a little love to get her to do the things you want, but for a single jointed body she is pretty amazing.

In case anyone has an interest I'll give you a quick run down on what she's wearing. I ransacked my dolly wardrobe to see what fits and what doesn't etc. Both the t-shirt and the capris are from Monstro Designs. The t-shirt runs a tad big in the neck chest but it makes for a really cute off the shoulder shirt.

The pants are a pretty good fit, a little gapey around the waist but you could always pull them lower. Biggest issue was getting them over the hips o.O We got there in the end. These pants aren't as stretchy as they could be. I have some leggings that were made for minifee (I don't know who by or where they're from) but they were super stretchy and went on easily. Because her ass is so big the waist of both pants rides a little lower on the waist which works out well.

The shoes are from Releaserain on Ebay and are Unoa sized. She also fits into my minifees Dale Rae shoes. Actually she fits them better than minifee does because her foot is a little wider.

She can also wear Yosd dresses as cute shirts! I only have the one dress to try but it worked out. It's handmade by someone on DoA, I forget who *facepalm*. I'm going to buy some Yosd stuff to play with, I think t-shirts might make cute crop tops on her.

Miss Kitty

2011-11-17T15:44:00.001-08:00

Gave Miss Kitty a faceup today. I'm quite pleased with it, I think it's very pretty, but I don't know if I'll be keeping it. The plan was to blush her body in the same purples and pinks as her faceup and do a lot of gold patterns over her breasts, legs, back etc. I really don't see that happening any more. The more I look at her the more playful she becomes and the gold swirly stuff is a little too elegant and prim.

I think she's too quirky and cute to be elegant. I want to dress her in playfully odd stuff, strawberry print t-shirts, lollipop skirts, leggings and converse sneakers. She'll keep the face for now, I won't have the time to repaint for a while yet, but when I do I'll keep her looking pretty much the same just without the gold stuff.

Meow!

2011-11-16T13:30:00.001-08:00

She arrived! So exciting! I have no idea what I'll name or how I'm going to style her just yet. I was thinking I'd do a full body paint on her instead of buying clothes but she's really fun to play with so I'm not sure now. Once I paint I won't be able to play with her much. We'll see. Right now I'm just going to get a face on her and play around with her for a while then see how I feel.

Her resin is so fabulous! It's smooth and is such a lovely butter cream colour. She has a great sense of balance and weight to her, she stands very easily and poses very well for a single jointed doll. She really is quite easy to pose and almost wants to just put her self into poses without much effort from me. I love that. Her knees do tend to pop out of the joint a bit but they pop back in just as easily so it's no big deal. her faceplate is brilliant, it just snaps on and off with magnets, holds it's place firmly, and the line between her faceplate and the rest of her heads fits so well that it's virtually invisible. All in all I'm a bit ecstatic! She's everything I hoped she would be.

I can't wait to get a face on her! Anyway, please excuse the crappy lighting but I was a bit too excited to bother much with the camera :)

Box! Zomg!

It's so pretty!

She came with a fabulous little art book full of fun pictures and illustrations, to top it off
there was a personalised sketch just for me on the inside cover. How cool is that!?

Freedom at last!

Curious, aren't they all?

So gorgeous, I love her little hands and tiny waist!

o.O Hallo lady cat! Meow, meow!

Strenuous cat relaxation time

Marcia

2011-11-16T09:16:00.001-08:00

I decided not to go ahead and sell my Marcia. What a debacle. I put the dreaming Marcia head back on the body because she's why I bough her in the first place but she's been living as a floating head for a long time now. I realised that wanting to swap her for a dreaming head in normal skin was probably a bit of pipe dream so I'm keeping her body. I'm thinking I'm still going to sell her open eye head though. Why are dolls so difficult?

Anyway, eventually I'll give her a new faceup, and I think I'm going to keep calling the dreaming head Heather because I like it better than Helena now. I think it's time to send her back to her white haired, deer antler roots as that's when I loved her most. Now where did I put those horns?

Upping the Ante

2011-11-14T13:42:00.001-08:00

I did this faceup for my good friend, Rachel who has been keeping me company and driving me around in the absence of my hubby. This is her first pukifee and first BJD so it's all super exciting! I'm so pleased I got to do the faceup for her, and Fig is ecstatic to have another Ante to hang out with. I can't wait to see her all put together and wigged up :D

I tried to take progress shots of this faceup but after the blushing I totally forgot and just did it. So my step by step goes, 1, 2, opps done. Fail.

Purple Hot Chocolate

2011-11-13T16:21:00.001-08:00

Here it is! Purple Cheshire hot chocolate! It's got bits of blue, and red, and green that swirl around in it. It looks well cool when you poor in the hot water as it lightly streaks into different colours. It doesn't really taste like chocolate though, go figure lol. It tastes like sugary milk, possibly with a tang of purple to it ;) Anyway, me, the book, and the crazy drink are going to spend some quality time on the couch now.

Pukifee Swap!

2011-11-12T17:27:00.001-08:00

Fable and I decided to join our first swap and today we got our goodies in the mail! I've never been so impressed! We got a brilliant collection of Cheshire cat themed stuff from Megdalena! Thanks so much for all your hard work, super sewing skills, and general awesomeness :D

The hat is so amazing, it even has tiny little cat ears on it! I was all :O and then Fable was all :O She wasn't sure what was going on at first, usually Fig gets all the stuff around here. She's never had a Fig-free, gift filled day before.

Also check out the purple hot chocolate! I'm pretty excited to try it out! I'll try to snap a pic when I do. All in all her favourite thing was the shoes. She thinks they're made of cremated pixies.

Prepare yourself for a storm of pictures. They're a tad hastily taken and her eyes were being all kinds of wonky-bad but I just couldn't wait until I had more time!

Spotlight on

2011-11-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people ask me if I do tattoo commissions and I have to tell you, whenever I'm asked this I always think of Hane. In all honesty if you want an awesome tattoo for your dolly then Hane is the best person for the job! Anyway, enough from here, here's Hane.

Hello, my name is Bernadeta Baczynska but most of the people know me as Hane :) I'm a married woman with a master's degree in tourism but I'm also doing an illustration course - just for myself :). I'm a startup freelancer making a lot of different art works, such as tattoo and makeup commissions for Dollfie.

You can see my pictures, photos and commissions on my web site (www.dead--end.com), as well as links to my blog and portfolio (http://hane-deadend.blogspot.com/) Feel free to follow my stuff and write to me.

For tattoo commissions you can travel {HERE} to learn more and find out about when she'll be opening again.

How did you get into BJDs?

That was a long time ago… Around 8 years ago, my Internet friend bought a BJD doll. I saw those dolls many times, but never thought I will have one (they are expensive…especially the molds that I like :P). It was during my second master's when I started working and had a little money. I asked my mom for a loan and I bought MSD Classic Narae, she came to me on 22 December, just before Christmas :D She is my first Dollfie and she's still with me (before I bought her I never saw any of them in real life :P) After that my new hobby has gained momentum :)

What inspires you to be creative?
Well, good question, I guess everything! :) Weather, tea, art, photography, music, a lot of things that I like and that are around me all the time :) I'm sometimes inspired by other people works :)

What are you currently working on?
Currently I'm really busy with my school projects and finally I was able to order my dream doll and I'm thinking about all the stuff for her :) Ordering things, preparing cloths and so on :)

Best doll experience you've had?
Hmmm…I guess my visit in Tenshi no Sato in Kyoto and the fact that I gained more experience in photography :) All thanks to my dolls :)

Worst doll experience you've had?
Sometimes other people (with Dollfie hobby) that are acting like they are the best and everyone else are just like bugs for them to step on…. I guess some people from this hobby are the worst experience ever.

If you were a doll, which sculpt would you be and why?
Ugh, this one is really difficult…it's really hard to say…simple I don't know :P XD Maybe an Unoa Sist XD But why, hmmm I just like this mold and body :>….I like a lot of different molds so it's really hard to choose XD

Mr Winklebutt

2011-11-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, odd title I know. Deal with it! My new pukifee body from the hubby arrived yesterday which spurred me into slapping a face on my sleeping Zoe mod. She's so sweet! She still has no name but apparently the toy is called Mr Winklebutt.

Just love that mint green wig! I'm so glad someone is finally wearing it.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2011-11-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

Firstly I wanted to thank everyone who entered, I wish I had prizes for all of you! You've all made this so much fun! Your comments really made me smile <3 I'm looking forward to doing more giveaways in the future as I had so much fun organizing this one :D

Without further ado I'll pass things on to Fig and Miette so they can announce the lucky winner!

Congratulations Urshula!!!

Please send an email to missanthropics@gmail.com

with your shipping details and I'll get your package ready!

Best Ever!

2011-11-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

I tried to buy a blank PKF Ante that I saw listed as being in stock at DDE but by the time I got my order in she wasn't in stock any more. Why, because my husband secretly bought her when he was driving though Denver last week!

I texted him to tell him about the Ante I was trying to buy and he said, "What, you mean like this?" and sent me a pic of the box. Of course I was all o.O What do you have a pukifee box for? What's going on? He then sent me these next two pictures before explaining :)

The little beanie monkey is named Popo and he's been my hubby's travelling companion on his drive up to Minot. He's been taking pictures of Popo in various locations all the way up there. Popo has even been to Mount Rushmore!

Anyway, I'm so happy and excited and squeeful. I have the best husband ever! <3 Soon I'll have a new body for my Zoe mod and my friend will be nabbing the faceplate :) Happy, happy, happy :D

Last Day

2011-11-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day to get your Ghoulia entry in! You can follow the link in the sidebar to go that post. I'll announce the winner on Friday, November 4th! I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Figmonster!

2011-10-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

I refused to get Fig a Halloween costume so she was forced to make her own. I'm pretty sure this is the laziest costume ever. Well, aside from depriving yourself of sleep for 78 hours and going as a zombie.

Of Dolls and Murder

2011-10-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

I found this film teaser for a documentary called Of Dolls and Murder. I thought it was perfect for Halloween so I thought I'd share all the bits and pieces I found. You can buy the DVD for $24.95 over at the official website where there's various other goodies to sift through just click {HERE}.

"Filmmaker Susan Marks encountered the Nutshells long ago, and years later was still fascinated. Marks decided the best way to get over "that haunting" would be to make a documentary film. 'Of Dolls and Murder', narrated by Baltimore native John Waters, takes the viewer into the real world of forensics starting with the Nutshells and visiting morgues, TV crime drama's, and detective headquarters along the way. The macabre miniatures, however, remain the focus of the film as Waters tells the story of each crime scene." - excerpt snipped from PBS New Hour

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

2011-10-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

I made some Halloween cookies the other day. I was going to do cute Halloween shapes like jack-o-lanterns and ghosts etc, but in the end that seemed a little adventurous for the amount of time I had to do them in. So simple pumpkin spice cookies it was. Fig could care less so that's good ;)

I tried my hand at some macaroons and some other cookies but those are for my Alice in Wonderland swap partner and are consequently TOP SECRET! lol.

I also tried making a slice of vanilla sponge cake but that didn't work out so well. I baked a cake of shame. Woe is me.

In other news, the Ghloulia giveaway closes on Tuesday so don't forget to get your comment in to enter (follow the clickable in the sidebar). Miette has been very busy writing all the names onto paper and putting them into the lucky pot. She's such a good little worker. Unlike Fig.

Ghoulia Giveaway!

2011-10-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

It's time! Time for all sorts of good stuff!

First things first: I'm open for commissions again. Same deal as before, shoot me a message either on DoA, Flickr, or email missanthropics@gmail.com. I'm going to fill up for all of November and some of December after which I'll close up for the holidays while I travel around visiting family.

And now for Ghoulia!

Up for grabs is my custom Ghoulia repaint, plus a set of three magnets featuring my first three fat headed girls! I was pretty excited to get these done and I hope whoever wins enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them. This is the only set I have too.

To enter all you have to do is be a subscriber/follower and leave a comment! Doesn't get much easier than that! I haven't really talked about this giveaway anywhere else so the only people in the running are regular visitors.

Of course if anyone wants to re-blog/tweet this and garner me new minions *ahem* I mean followers, I'd be eternally grateful! So, leave a comment, be a follower, and be in the running to snag a custom Ghoulia and a cute set of magnets! This will be open for one week. The winner will be announced next Tuesday, 1st of November!

Eggy Weggys!

2011-10-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

I was given a gift card for Hobby Lobby for my birthday (I love that place) and decided to spend it on polymer clay so I could try my hand at making some miniature food. I have some polymer clay but I don't have foody colours so that's where it went. I also got tiny pastry cutters, some liquid polymer stuff, and various other misc.

Thought I'd share my first food making attempts. Nothing looks nearly as good as it could. I need to get a miniature cook book! My colours are all a bit off, the bacon is too red, the eggs are too bright, and the pancakes, well, they just came out a bit blah in general. The liquid polymer wasn't translucent like I thought it would be and after baking it had zero shine and I had to hand gloss it. I put way to much colour in the syrup so it doesn't even look like syrup lol. But despite the errors I had fun and Fig is very happy to be having breakfast.

I'm going to try some toast and cookies next. That piece of bread in the picture is part of a rement set. The hubby was not happy with the lack of toast. Apparently it's not a proper breaky if there's no toast ;) Other things that need sorting out is plates. Fig was reduced to eating off a chopping board, not that she's bothered, but I think I'll buy some dinner plates for future use lol.

Don't forget, on Tuesday I'll tell you what to do to enter the Ghoulia Giveaway!

Giveaway!

2011-10-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a giveaway to celebrate my one year bloggiversary and the miraculous achievement of having gotten through my first BJD year with my wallet still intact (only barely). Truth be told I missed the anniversary, it was back in August but better late than never eh?

I really want to thank everyone who has taken the time to visit this blog, and all of the wonderful people who've left comments. I've had a lot of fun with this blog and I hope you guys have been enjoying it too. Without you I'm just writing letters to myself! So thanks for stopping by, thanks for all the comments, and thanks for always giving great advice and support!

I wasn't sure what to do as a gift but I knew I wanted it to be something a little personal. In the end I decided to repaint a Monster High, Ghloulia. There might be a few other goodies as well but more on that later. Next Tuesday I'll announce what you have to do be in the running for this custom Ghoulia so stay tuned for that!

It's a big day next Tuesday as it's also the day I'm going to start taking a new commission list for faceups! 10/25/11

Miette very surprisingly announced that she'd organise and keep track of the list. She's decided that Fig can't be trusted with the serious business side of things so she's got into her head to organise us within an inch of our lives.

Mini Update

2011-10-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have family visiting so I'm a little absent at the moment and won't be opening for faceups until maybe next week. I thought I'd drop in and share this cool steampunk BJD I saw on DA this morning. Lots of cool creations over there. This one was my favourite though. Also I bought another Monster High doll; Ghoulia to be precise, so I'll be repainting her sometime in the next few weeks! My Zoe faceplate arrived as well so I have that adorable cutie to paint too. Can't wait to get started!

Steampunk bjd, work in progres by ~cliodnafae27 on deviantART

Coming Home

2011-10-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

Check out how cute this little tyke is! Ban sent me pics of her fabulous eye opening work on the PKF Zoe head I sent her. I'm so pleased, it's perfect! Looks just as I hoped it would. I've been wanting to have the eyes modded open for such a long time now. I'm so pleased with Ban's work. Seriously chuffed :D. I'll stop gushing now.

I'm really looking forward to getting this cutie home and giving it a face, although I'm feeling a little confused about if it's a boy or a girl. I planned it as a girl, now I'm not sure. It can't be a boy though. I wouldn't know what to do with it o.O I don't have boys...

How good is it? Right? Seriously look how well she bevelled those eyes!

Purity Seal Review

2011-10-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

I bought some purity seal because I've been hearing some good things about it. People have said that it's doesn't ghost as much as MSC which is a great bonus as I get really sick of chasing my own tail in terms of colour payoff when using MSC.

The first big plus is the amount of product you get. A can of Purity Seal is $14.99 for 400ml while a can of MSC is $12.99 for 170ml. Saving money is always a good thing (I got my purity seal from Junky Spot btw).

Today's test victim was, Jasmine, my Unoa Lusis MNF hybrid. I've been on this realism kick lately and wanted to try and give her a more human looking faceup. I also bought some 1500 grit sandpaper because I've been wanting to get rid of those sculpted brows she comes with.

But back to the purity seal; it's not bad. So far. I'm still learning. It's trickier to use than the MSC and right now my biggest gripe is the variation in surface texture when I spray. The first time I held the can way too close as I sprayed and the head became slightly shiny. The surface had almost no tooth which made blushing a pain because the pastels just swooshed all over the place. Worse yet I couldn't paint on the surface. The paint beads up and won't dry properly. It was a total nightmare. TOTAL.

So back to the sink we went. Very frustrated. I've heard both sides of the story regarding the amount of tooth; some people have said it's got more tooth than MSC and ghosts just as much, other people have said it's got a lot less tooth and kinda looks shiny at the end. So I figured I was doing something wrong and the second time I held the can further away and viola; lots of tooth.

So once I got the spray distance right this stuff works exactly the same as MSC. Here's the trick though: you really have to build up a knack for how close/far to spray because that's going to make all the difference to the surface. There seems to be a happy zone where you can get less ghosting then MSC with almost the same tooth. I just need to develop a better knack for it. Right now my judgement is a bit hit or miss. That being said I've got a lot more product to learn with so it works out ;) It does ghost though, again depending on how close/far you are when spraying. I went a bit crazy with the last layer and lost some of her blushing as a result.

Here is the resulting faceup, I'm fairly pleased with how she turned out. I'm trying out a different way of doing eyebrows, lips, and eyelashes. Needs some work but after many hours and already wiping her once she can just live with this for a while lol.

I'm going to go ahead and repaint my Dreaming Marcia head too, and possibly my Luka and modded Miyu head. You know, eventually *huff huff*

Lastly, just so you're all aware all my commissions are being done with MSC and not PS while I figure out my stuff.

Man Meat

2011-10-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the in stock Lester was not actually in stock lol. But after some small flim-flamming I decided to go ahead and order him anyway! It's done! Lester, normal skin, shown joint, no faceup, ordered!

Let the clothes shopping begin. I wonder how long it will be before he arrives. I'm feeling very impatient. This decision has been six months in the making. Epic.

Photo by Souldoll

Cat meets Doll

2011-10-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I leave the office for five minutes to make a cup of tea. The cat decides to nose around in my Fig! She was looking so smooth and lovely when I left. Steps had to be taken. Punishment was doled out. Take no prisoners! Show no mercy! With a Postit note...

Anyway, aside from that silliness I've been mulling over what I am now referring to as, The Great Dolly Dilemma of 2011. The current contenders are: Souldoll Lester, Dollzone Cosmo, and Doll Chateau Bella. By now I'm sure a lot of you sick to the teeth of hearing about my man problems. So am I. It's time. The Ordering is upon me!

I think I'm putting DC Bella aside for now. I don't need another girl. I just don't. So do I go the whole SD or just paddle my feet in the SD pool for now?

Cosmo

Pros: Hawt maness, 65cm has a variety of clothing options, poses well, great price

Cons: I don't like his nipples (LOL at how that sounds; seriously though they're in the wrong place), in general the body could look better, 65cm is quite a jump from 45cm.

Lester

Pros: Hawt maness, only 52cm, good price,

Cons: Will be finicky to dress because of the odd size, has that eye thing I don't like, have no clue how it poses.

This is horrible. I just can't decide. It's too hard, let's look a cute pic instead.

Giant Headed Vishnu dolly

2011-10-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

Giant Headed Vishnu dolly, a photo by Xhanthi on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
More doodles. Maybe I should just buy a Blythe already...I don't think I made her head big enough. Still too small!!!! lol

Freebies, News, And Future Pukifees!

2011-10-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

News!
I'm re-opening for commissions soon, maybe in a week or two. I'm also offering one free faceup for anyone with an Iplehouse SID or EID man. Doesn't matter if I'm open or closed as this offer is in a special category of its own ;)

As for moving the military is sending my hubby up to Minot and not me, so it looks like I'll be staying put for who knows how long. Could be quite a while because of the crap housing situation. The upshot is that I'll be taking commissions through November at least.

Freebies!
Go checkout Borderline for a chance to win some free swag! Immie, aka Clare, runs a great little blog where she talks about everything from BJDs to art, to inspired living and right now she's doing a giveaway. There are loads of ways to enter so get cracking! Giveaway ends 18th October.

Future Pukifee!
I just sent this sleeping Zoe faceplate off to Ban to have its eyes modded open. I'm so excited! I can't wait to meet this new kid and do all that fun character creation stuff. I guess I work a little backwards when it comes to my dolls. I know a lot of people create characters first then seek out the doll. I like to get the doll and let it tell me who it wants to be. Anyway, I can't wait to give it a face!

Feeding the Mices

2011-10-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Still haven't settled on a wig or a set look for this one. Felt like being very girly today so pink it was. She didn't mind ;) I also realsied that I don't have any pink clothing for these littles. It almost feels like a crime! Will have to get my act together and buy more pink. :P

Spotlight on

2011-09-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Photo by Pei

If you're into tiny BJD then you'll be no stranger to the awesome clothing made by Pei, the creator of Lalatroop. The level of detail and workmanship of her clothing is second to none and if you don't have one of those adorable to die for animal hats your tiny kid just hasn't lived!

She has an Etsy store where you can buy ready made items but primarily takes sewing commissions. If you'd like to get on her commission list you can contact her over at flickr {HERE} To view all of her adorable past commission work click {HERE}.

How did you get into dolls and BJDs?
I was first introduced to the dolly world by Blythe. They are plastic dolls with big head and big eyes. I spotted a petite blythe during a trip to Japan and from there, decided to get a neo size one on ebay. My cousin, who heard about my dolly hobby, linked me to a friend of his who plays BJD. The friend is a girl and she owns a SD size BJD(Shiwoo from Luts) and keeps a blog for this doll. I was so entertained and attracted by this whole idea and love the fact that these dolls have moveable joints. I started to look for one on ebay and that was how I got started.

Photo by Pei

What inspires you to be creative?
Hm, this is a tricky question. I think pretty much everything around me that I am in contact with everyday. For example, I display all my blythe dolls on my bookshelves where my work area is at because I like to look at them. Looking at my blythe girls make me happy because I find them cute and inspiring when my mind is going blank. People and kids on the streets can also inspire me because of what they do and wear. I am also a big fan of manga so that is another part where my inspiration comes from. All in all, I like anything and everything that is cute. I've try to put the idea of 'cute' into my work and how I dress my dolls.

Photo by Pei

What are you currently working on?
Gosh, there are so many things I want and need to work on but currently I am trying hard to get through my list of commission orders. I also like to put items on my etsy shop. I see my shop as a mini break from commission orders plus it gives other people who wish to own some of my work a chance to do so. The most common dolly clothes items that I am working on are animal hats and tees.

Best doll experience you've had?

I have to say the best doll experience I've had was getting to meet the real people behind the internet in this community. I was lucky to be able to travel to Singapore and Taiwan and met fellow Blythe and BJD lovers there. I am a pretty anti-social person and am shy most of the time. I am Taiwanese so I guess being in Asia brought a sense of comfort and ease when I was there. I got to meet a group of funny and friendly Singaporeans who also love dolls and took me around the town to have great food and dolly meets. The same happened when I was in Taipei. I had so much fun with them that I forgot how shy I used to be!

Worst doll experience you've had?
Dolly drama. I think this has got to be the worse thing that can happen in this hobby. I had an unhappy experience with another dolly collector who misunderstood me and acted rude when the drama happened. I don't want to go into details of the whole event because it will only create more drama which I don't need.

If you were a doll, which sculpt would you be and why?
Hm, this one is kinda tough. I guess...I would say Lati yellow? To me, lati yellows are little children who worry about nothing and stretch the meaning of fun to its fullest extent. I don't see myself as a grown up person because inside me, there still lives a little kid who just want to play and have fun.

Photo by Pei

Wuthering Heights

2011-09-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

For some reason I felt she looks very Wuthering Heights yesterday, not so much because of the book but because of Kate Bush. I don't know if any of you remember that fabulously crazy lady from back in the 80s, she's likely not even culturally relevant for a lot of you, but to cut a long story short she wrote a song called Wuthering Heights and there's a video clip where she prances about the countryside quite bizarrely.

Regardless I ended up naming my Marcia, Heather because of it. She had that whole crazy, dancy-lady vibe going on. I could imagine her swirling through the heather in her big floofy dress. I'm thinking eventually I'll repaint my dreaming Marcia head to match, and then even further down the line I'll get another white skin body and have Marcia twins. This will be Twin Trial #3.

I'll add the crazy video clip at the end so you can see what I'm talking about and have a giggle :)

Doll Chateau Bella

2011-09-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to order a DC Bella. She's just so alien and lovely. Her body is quite strange looking, she's just as lovely as she is disturbing and there's something I find very appealing about that. She's all bird bones and angles wrapped around this sweet face. If she were real she'd be the stuff of nightmares; dreadful and beautiful. I think I have to have one ;)

There's been a lot of umming and ahhing over what to buy; will I get a littlefee, will I get a pukifee, will I get a lati, maybe a souldoll lester, so on and so forth. I decided to hold of the man dolly until fairyland release their new Feeple65 man whenever that will, next year perhaps? Then I'll decide.

For now I'm not getting anything from FL except new PKF hands. So Bella is looking good. But what skin colour to order? Such a dilemma.

Event Pics!

2011-09-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

The Fairyland event pics are finally out, viewable {HERE}

I have to say, I'm not impressed with any of them. The Rolly vamp face was the one I was most interested in a and now that I've seen I don't think I'll bother getting it. I might see if I can snag it on the MP if my mood changes. Fairyland dreaming eyes always tend to be a bit too slitted. Her mouth looks a little strange to me too though I think that's probably the crappy angle.

That MNF Juri head though. Just wow. That's going to disappoint a lot of people. It's creepy as hell. They keep getting worse. I wasn't a fan of last year's kissy face but at least it was still pretty. Would have been cute to see a wink face rather than this...thing.

That being said you can do a lot with a faceup and I'm sure someone is going to make it fabulous looking. That's one of the things I love about this hobby. I see sculpts I really don't like then someone comes along with just the right sort of face for it and bam, it's lovely.

New Dress

2011-09-26T17:30:00.001-07:00

New Dress, a photo by Xhanthi on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I'm really starting to like this Yosd size. It's a happy medium between the PKF and MSD sizes for taking pics. Sometimes PKF are hard to get close enough to, and sometimes it's difficult to get all of your MSD into the shot, but this Yosd size is magic. It's like Goldilocks.

Niki Doll Creations

2011-09-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Excuse this post if you've seen it before, it's an old post from way back when but I still want one of these spiffy rabbit bags.

In my mind Japan is like a giant Wonderland of crazy awesome. It must be because they have people making these oh so bizarrely adorable dolls n bags. I'm not sure how I ended up here, but I'm glad I did. Shop is called Toffee Dolls you can also visit the blog here: Nikki Doll Creations

Fig's Fashion Show

2011-09-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Fig finally got her package from Nubanded! Everything is adorable but the shoes are especially cute as we're rather lacking in shoes around here. I could get very addicted to this shop. We almost bought an adorable froggy dress as well but decided that even though it was covered in frogs it was altogether too girly looking.

Speaking of frogs, she's named it Philbert. No outfit is complete without it.

To buy or not to buy, that is the question...

2011-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Photo from Fairyland

What they should have done was given people the option of ordering the multihead on either a pukifee body or a pukipuki body. That's the point of the multi-heads after all and I think they'd get more sales that way. I know I'd be far more inclined to get the girl multi-head if I could get her on a pukipuki body instead of a PKF body.

Aside from all the PKF drama I'm very much wanting the littlefee Rolly girl. I wasn't keen on her in the initial release because there was only one pic and it was the side of her face. Now that that she's properly listed I'm quite keen on her. I like her default face, I like her outfit, and I want the vamp face. Trouble.

I'm desperate to see the vamp faceplate gift and I'm hoping they post pics soon!

Photo from Fairyland

The White Room

2011-09-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to wait until after we moved to start making room boxes but I'm getting too impatient. I've made a start on Fable's white room, just gathering the bits and painting them. Previously they had one giant dining room thing but I'm starting to split the furniture now.

I still have to get a bed for Fable and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it myself or just buy it. I'm feeling keen on one of those spiffy wrought iron look a likes. Obviously I still need to get the box she'll live in too. Then hand the picture, install the window and all that jazz. I'm only going to do her room for now.

One more month and the hubby thinks we should have a final answer about the move. We'll officially be at the one year mark of being jerked around and he's confident they'll have to reassign him. Of course he's basing this on nothing but wishful thinking :P

That's a coffin she's using as a coffee table. Doesn't look very coffiny does it? Fail :(

Fig looks a little concerned with Fable's art choices.

Speaking of pukifees Fairyland has announced two new pukifees that will be available when the event starts tomorrow. Here's the twist though; they're not regular pukifee they're multi-heads on pukifee bodies. They're being dubbed 'multi-head fullset' at the moment. You can see pics of them {HERE}. I'm really disappointed because I don't like the proportions of multi-heads on pkf bodies. I'm really not sure why they're done it either. Pukifees are incredibly popular; multi-heads are incredibly not popular. It doesn't make sense to me. Why not just release regular pukifees? That's what everyone wants.

I think the girl head is super cute but if I bought it I'd just put it on a puki body. Also, they'd better be cheaper than pukifee :P

Photo from Fairyland

Spotlight on

2011-09-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first Spotlight! I want start by throwing out a huge thank you to Carrie for agreeing to do this with me. She's incredibly busy and I'm pleased as punch that she was willing to throw a little time my way. Thanks so much Carrie!

Moona and Brier Rose

One person you can't help hearing about in this hobby is Carrie Attwood, aka The Sleeping Elf! She's the creator of those fabulous curly wigs that have become so iconic, as well as the Witley Wood Elves, a brilliant collection of eleven little BJD delights.

If you're after something unique you can't go past a Witley Wood Elf. They're available in a variety of resin colours and sizes. There's Moona, Mina, and Bracken (available in 14cm and 25cm), Bonbon and Coco the tubby elves, Thistledown the baby, and Fallow and Skia. Check out her website for info on sizes and ordering {HERE}

If you haven't seen her custom wigs you've been missing out. This hobby is all about customising and wigs are a big weakness for me. Especially custom wigs. She does great custom dyes and styles and because everything is hand dyed your wig is truly going to be a one of a kind. You can find out more about commissioning her on her website or you can view some of the ooak ready to ship wigs on her Etsy.

Curly wig on Lati Yellow

How did you get into BJDs?
I had visited Japan 99/2000 and saw theseamazing dolls there...but it wasnt until2004 I started collecting. I was after glass eyes and wigs for a doll I wassculpting, I was fascinated by the doll modelling the wig and soon realised itwas one of these BJDs I had seen in Japan! Of course I had to have one. My firstdoll was a 60cm boy...and huge! When I saw the first tiny BJDs I fellin love and became addicted to thetiny BJDs. My first being a Elf doll Sylf and Pocket Fairy Yoko. I stillhave them

What inspires you to be creative?

My customers. They are always pushing meto the limit, every time I think I can't do something, I find a way...

What are you currently working on?

Not too much. My Husband was seriouslyill and subsequently died earlier in theyear. I had to close my on-line shopwhilst I delt with the shock and grief...I couldnt work for months and I'm stillfinding my feet. My customers were amazing. Some of them waited patientlyfor months for their orders to be sent out; I will be forever in their debt. Everyone was great and when I did open my shop again the response wasoverwhelming.

At the moment I'm just concentrating onorders. It's normally a 4-6 week turn around period as I have so many orders and I have just started re-ordering mydolls. I'm slowly getting back on my feet. I would like to do 2 more dolls - I hadthem in the pipe line - but I have had them on hold for a while.

Best doll experience you've had?

The day my Moona arrived from the Factory, it was wonderful seeing her finally made.

Worst doll experience you've had?

Oh yeah...I had a super rare white Unoa with an original Demon face-up. She was a little marked so I cleaned her, touched up the face-up...beautiful. Then sprayed the face with Mr Super Clear and the whole lot bloomed and the face-up was ruined. I was gutted. I am always very carefulnow about the conditions I spray Mr Super Clear in. It can ruin a face-up aswell as protect it.

If you were a doll, which sculpt would you be and why?

Thats a tough one...but it would have tobe Volks Megu. She is beautiful, versatile, a classic LOL.

Chocolate resin Mina

*All images courtesy of the Sleeping Elf, flickr link {HERE}

Body for Beyla

2011-09-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

The Yosd body arrived today. It's an Impldoll baby body and not a Soom body. The resin match isn't perfect but is still very doable. The Impldoll body is a lot creamier than the Soom cream white.

As for posability, well, it's just not Fairyland! But that aside it's not terrible. It has double joints which is great, but there are no groves for locking so though the arms and legs have great movement they don't stay in place because they don't lock. Seems like a waste of time to make a doll double jointed but then not allow it to lock.

Basically you have to treat it as a single joint body and tuck fingers behind ears to get the arms to stay and that sort of thing. I think if it was sueded it would be a pretty decent poser though. I may do that. I don't know. I've never sueded a doll before o.O

Anyway the main reason I got the Impldoll body was because a) it was cheap and b) apparently the Soom fantasy parts fit on it with no modifications needed. I did consider putting her on a littlefee body and trying to get some daisy daye hooves. I may still do that. I just adore FL posing so much.

Forest Spirit

2011-09-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

If you're a Flickr addict like myself you may have noticed that this week the Flickr blog has been featuring Terra Kate. If you didn't check out her photosteam on your way to your usual dolly fix you did yourself a disservice because her work is amazing.

Anyway, after flipping through her stuff wondering how on earth she was managing to get some of these shots I decided it would be fun to try my own 'levitation' photo. With dolls of course. My Chicline Lishe to be precise. And here's the result, the beautiful background is by UmbraDeNaopte-Stock, basic goldfish from the public domain.

This is the cropped for blog version; I'll put the big one up on Flickr soon.
*Now available as a wallpaper over here {LINK}

Beyla

2011-09-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

It finally happened. I broke down and bought a Romatic Beyla unicorn head. I'm officially a Yosd owner (sort of I'm still waiting on her body to arrive).

Never thought it would happen. Was sure it wasn't the size for me. But damnit those Soom teenies look like too much fun. I love all the fantasy parts.

Speaking of which I'm on the look out for a set of hooves so if anyone knows of someone selling some send them this way! Also if anyone wants to split one of those dolls on the MP that would work too.

She originally came with a default faceup which I wiped but I only flinched while once! Fig was so proud.

Speaking of Fig she's quite keen on the new girl. Well, keen on parts of her. A small issue has arisen.

Super Cute Kokeshi

2011-09-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Kokeshi (こけし kokeshi^?), are Japanese dolls, originally from northern Japan. They are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs. The bottom is marked with the signature of the artist. -from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokeshi

I came across these art kokeshi on Etsy the other day and I think they're really amazing. They deviate from the traditional idea of simplicity but quite frankly who cares? They're awesome. The kitty cat is my favourite. If I had the money I'd buy them all! Start a kokeshi doll house; too cool.

These cuties are available from Tough Little Urchins.

In other news we just released this super fun trailer for the All Ghouls School comic. I'm super impressed and thought I'd share the fun.

Closed!

2011-09-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

Depending on how things work out I may open for a few very limited slots towards the end of October. Maybe. If I get thought the current list in a timely fashion. Then again if they tell us we're not moving again I'll take more. We'll see how it goes I guess.

Open for Commissions

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Slight change this round; I'll take up to two heads per person! The usual drill. Email me at Missanthropics@gmail.com or PM me on DoA.

Strings

2011-09-09T12:59:00.001-07:00

Strings, a photo by Xhanthi on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
No more giant heads. Drew my chicline the other day. I love that sexy bish. Obviously took some creative liberties lol. She kinda looks like Venus. Needs a shell or something to stand in lol.

NEWS: I'll be starting a new commission list on Monday! (09/12).

Estella Bunnies

2011-09-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this amazing bunny BJD! Well, doll I should say as I have no idea what joints it's using. Anyway, I went on a look around after posting that bunny poll a few days ago and now I'm having serious bunny want. This site is all in Korean and Google translate is having Google fail so I know nothing about these bunny girls except that I want one. Preferable the Mint one. So cute. Website is called Estella Doll go check it out. And if anyone knows anything about these cuties let me know!

Lati Yellow Mystic Lumi Vampire

2011-09-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

This little dear is now up for sale. She's tired of never fitting in with the rest of pukifee horde and would like a nice relaxing home where she can play with other adorable latis. She doesn't want to be the odd one out any more.

She comes with COA, 2 pairs of extra hands, eyes, extra elastic, and has a custom faceup by me. You can view her sales thread on DoA {HERE}

Shoot me an email if you're adopting orphans and want to pick her up :)

As an aside, it's sort of weird to be selling her. I do absolutely nothing with her, she's my least played with dolly but at the same time I'm going to miss her and kind of don't want to let her go. It's odd. But there's no point in her sitting around doing nothing.