Happy New Year ~ 2017 Plans ~ Experiments

It's New Year's Eve and I still can't wrap my head around the fact tomorrow will be the first day of a brand new year. 2016 has been such a whirlwind of activity for me. I had a long lull then after I got the new job, I got suddenly busy. It's almost as if my motivation came back and I went into full gear again. Which is nice. Instead of 'goals', I opted to go with plans for the coming year.

In no particular order;
* More customisation, practice, practice practice
* Finish Shiva and Lara Croft
* Create more dioramas
* Start learning how to sew medieval dresses for the dolls
* Try to use acrylic more in my face ups
* Attempt to paint Barbie faces (Yikes, so small!)
* Paint the DF practice head I still have blank
* Paint the extra Obitsu head I have
* Try and upgrade my camera

HAPPY NEW YEAR! BEST WISHES FOR 2017! 

Thank you everyone for all your support, encouragement and kindness throughout 2016. 

Two Little Adventurers

I have a few posts lined up over the next few weeks (another unexpected, random purchase and the mystery Pureneemo has shipped). But this post is about my two little adventurers.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that Rune is actually my game character from Fantasy Life (for the Nintendo 3DS). In the game she is primarily a combat class Mage (but I also have her learning the Paladin class at the moment).

In my game, she has light blue hair. So I decided to try Isabelle's wig on her just to see what it would look like. And I love it on her. She finally looks like the Rune from my game. The fringe needs a trim but other than that, I think the colour is perfect for her. Lucky, I had ordered a pink wig which Isabelle can wear when the order comes in from Luts. I still need to make her a dress befitting a mage at some stage.

Where the wind blows...

I hope everyone had a great New Year! I still can't believe it is 2015 already. It all seems so surreal at the moment. I am still recovering from Christmas!

I have been sucked into the "Fantasy Life" game since I got it at Christmas and it got me thinking that I want to really make some big changes this year to the doll collection. Sentimentality aside, sometimes you just have to let things go. I have been struggling with the three minifees I currently have and I am beginning to accept that maybe they just don't work for me. So the plan is to hopefully move them on. And the big massive 68cm Popodoll body I have (what was I thinking?) could do with moving on as well. I can handle Saint's body but only because it's so thin and lanky.

So that's the plan so far, well part of the plan for this year. I wouldn't mind trying to move on at least one of my Monster High dolls as well and possibly two of my Fashion Royalty dolls.

The other plan (courtesy of Chibi Maker 1.1 by gen8 at deviantART) is to shell my avatar in Fantasy Life in her two aspects: that of a mage and that of an alchemist. Her name is familiar (that name used to belong to MYD Heeah).

I'm thinking I'd love to shell these characters in the 27cm bjd size. At the moment, I think Luts Honey Delf is most likely the way to go but I am still investigating other companies. I'm also going to choose different sculpts for each character. And I want to try to see if I can figure out how to cobble together these outfits  or as close as I can get to them by either seeing what bits and pieces I can find already made or sew them myself (a big ask!)

What has been on my my mind a lot lately though is how much more I prefer the smaller sizes these days to the bigger sizes. I really barely touch my bigger dolls anymore. They all have their pros and cons but the smaller dolls for me at least, seem easier to handle and photograph more and more. So that just leaves one question ... what happens with the bigger dolls in my collection?

2015 Plans

After doing the Wishlist meme, it got me thinking about my plans for the coming year. If you remember the blog post, Return of Tobias, I introduce the revamped character for my AOD Gu. I've decided to turn that character into a fantasy character. You see, the primary reason I started on this unpredictable BJD journey was to bring to life some of the fantasy characters I have written about in my various stories and roleplays. The problem was, back then, it was hard as heck to find fantasy style clothing (and it's still not getting easier these days) but at least now, there are options. I can also attempt to sew some myself if I can just get over the "I can't." mind frame.

And if you've been following me from the very beginning of my journey, you will remember the much loved character (and its doll counterpart), Maeryn Grey. Incidentally, Tobias has the same last name as Maeryn, her head sculpt was sold a long time ago (something I actually do regret doing now but that is how it goes.) So I started to piece together a rough history for him and made him the son of Maeryn Grey, deceased mother, and vanished father, Gideon (my first BJD DF Lyre, also sold). You might also remember that Gideon was a scholar of ancient texts who was later possessed by the soul of a demon when he accidentally released it from its prison.

Tobias was raised by his Aunt, Maeryn's sister, Meoryn after his mother passed away from an illness that attacked and shut down all her vital organs. By this stage, his father, Gideon had vanished without a trace. When Tobias was a young boy, he unwittingly encountered a magical being of the land and forged a bond with the creature. This bond gave him a long life, longer than most humans ever had and awakened his dormant 'Talent'.

Thus, the doll I am now searching for is the character of Ari (Ariadne). She is of a much smaller size than all of my dolls and fae-like in appearance. I have decided that Iplehouse Pixxie Pylia would be the perfect incarnation of this character (that is, if Iplehouse decides to re-release her. I'm waiting for a response to that very question.)

Photos by Iplehouse and Luts

As for the Luts TinyDelf20 Mytyl, she is Scylla, the Sidhe who has attached herself to Deirdre Quinn after being rescued by said human from the Pooka.

~A conversation between Scylla and her rescuer~

Scylla: I could have taken them.
Deirdre: I could see that. You do realise you were losing?
Scylla: Nonsense. That wasn't losing. That was lulling them into a false sense of security. Or attacking backwards.
Deirdre: If it makes you feel better about being rescued by a human, then you just keep telling yourself that.
Scylla: I may be small but I'm not entirely powerless.
Deirdre: A simple thank you would suffice.

Here we go again

This year has truly been the year of culling for me. At the start of the year, I sold off about eight dolls and a couple of heads and here I am again, in November, selling off more dolls. In hindsight, I wish I had gone slower with the acquiring aspect of the hobby. However, given how jobs can come and go so easily these days and disposable income is not always available for one's hobby, I guess I got a little too carried away. Thus the sudden chaos of selling dolls.

Next year will be a bit of an uncertain year for me and I really want to downsize my collection to something a bit more manageable. This is a good thing. It's spring cleaning and it is good for the soul.

At the moment, the dolls that are listed are:
Angel of Dream Qian
Angel of Dream Gu
Resinsoul Song
Resinsoul Mei

I have still to list the following:
Popodoll Bomu Head
Dollshe Saint Head (modded)

I hadn't really decided on the two heads until today when I tried my Lumedoll Saiph on the Popodoll body. I don't know why I didn't try this before. I guess as his original body is meant to be 63cm, I figured his head would be too small for a 68cm body. Turns out, he has a big noggin. And I've waited for over a year now for Lumedoll to re-release those SD bodies but doesn't look like that will happen for a long time so this will be his body now.

Although the head is NS-Y, Lumedoll's resin is quite pale so appears close to cream white and much lighter than Dollshe's Fresh Skin. There is a resin mismatch but it's not completely horrible and doesn't show in photos so I think it'll do. I may end up sharing that body with a Dollstown Hwan head if I end up buying one but first, I would need to hunt down owner photos and there aren't a lot around of that sculpt. Story of my life.

Let me introduce Ralnor Avalon. He is a time traveller from the far future where humankind has interbred with other alien races in order to prevent their own extinction. This explains Ralnor's rather pale complexion and elf-like ears and his unusual height. Technically, he only time travels to observe events in history, usually for verification of the archives. But every now and then, things happen and Ralnor just can't help himself. At the point in my story where we meet him, he has unwittingly created a divergent timeline, a crime that has branded him as an outlaw. He's hiding from the Keepers, the future arm of the law, not exactly the benevolent types.
 

Full Circle

I really hate having to sell resin. It's so stressful especially with the way shipping prices are in this country since they made those changes in April. Hopefully though, someone, somewhere will take pity on them and give them a new home.

I have created a page here with a link to the sales thread on DoA as well as a way to contact me if you are not a member there but are interested in one of the dolls.

I have also decided to keep my Popodoll body. It's by far the best engineered body I own right now and seems to hyrbid well with a few different heads so officially, it'll be my floating body. Right now, I have my first Saint head (Alaric) on it. And with that, I have a hybrid again. Probably not his permanent hair. I haven't decided what I want yet.

I love making these cute paper cranes. This one I made out of some scrapbooking Christmas paper that I tend to use for my homemade Christmas cards.

It's good to be free

I've updated my BJD crew page with a change of names for my crew. I guess I've been feeling like I have to keep "settling" for how I want them to look because the style and clothing I want just isn't readily available. Now, I've decided to go back to my "roots" and go ahead with my original plan of what I wanted. These dolls are supposed to be representations of characters from various random stories so why try to force them into one storyline?

Unfortunately, that means my still blank Dollshe Saint Head #2 will have to wait even longer for a face up as the first two to have their faces redone will be my Shushu twins. Currently they are sporting a face up by Andreja. The face ups are lovely but no longer suit the character I envision of Myst and Ophelia. (Those wigs are for show only, not meant to be the actual wig style for the characters).

I feel a whole lot better about the collection now that I've decided to go with my gut and have been able to incorporate the three dolls that had been on my "possible adoption" list. This has the added benefit of now giving me a very clear idea of how I want these characters styled.
 

Scarfing Around

 

Last year, I made a swirly scarf for my sister for Christmas and decided it'd be neat to alter this pattern for dolls. I underestimated the time this would take to make but in the end, I didn't mind the results. 

The scarf is being modeled by the lovely Kendra.

Mood Music: Blue ~ Jurian

Small Things

A few posts back, I posted a wishlist that I was compiling in preparation for choosing a doll for this year's Christmas present from the hubby. After some more thought on the matter, I decided to go with a YO-SD size instead.

I have a good number of MSDs right now and a good number of SDs and Tinies; what I don't have is any dolls in the YO-SD size and I wouldn't mind at least having a collection that incorporated all the major sizes in this hobby. That and I am not sure if I really want to add another MSD unless I decide to sell on one of the ones I currently have (a possibility as I am still debating on whether or not I want to keep my Dollzone Hid.)

My Dollzone Cosmo head is already up for sale on DoA although I am not too confident he will actually sell. The MP is very sluggish at the moment.

The front runner for the possible "Christmas" doll is Bluefairy Shiny May.

 

I've been researching some owner photos of this sculpt and so far, I have seen a lot that I like but I won't know for certain until it gets closer. I'm keeping my options open and remaining flexible.



Gone like the wind

Inspiration is lacking over this way. Could be due to high levels of frustration. I cannot seem to find the things I want for my dolls so that I can say that they are complete. And if I do find it, it's either in the wrong size or outside of my budget range. Aren't hobbies supposed to be fun?

Update on the photo blog idea, I binned it. Too much fiddling around. Back to square one.

I did manage to take a photo today of my Resinsoul Song. I am still not happy with how he looks so I've ordered a custom wig for him and I will have to think more on what I want him to wear.

Small World

I am getting down to the nitty gritty of the wishlist and don't have a lot more dolls to get now. Next up to bring home are Sugarble Hellena and Pukifee Vanilla. I've been debating over Hellena for quite some time and I almost got her back in December.

I'm glad I waited because I would have made the wrong colour choice back then. I would have got her in grey skin but I rather like her in the normal skin after seeing some really lovely owner photos of her.

* Photos are from the company websites.

 

Fairyland Pukifee Vanilla  |  Sugarble Hellena

In other news ... I've been doing some research about sealants other than MSC. So far, Vallejo seems to only be available in liquid form rather than spray form here, at least from the Australian distributors I contacted earlier in the week. The liquid form is designed for use with airbrushes. And as it is not really feasible for me to purchase one when I wouldn't be using it for anything else or using it a lot, I've had to stick with spray sealants.

Liquitex however have released a spray sealant and that brand is more easily found here. Unfortunately it isn't the non-toxic spray I was hoping for but it is rumoured to be slightly less toxic than MSC which is something I guess. I am not sure on the confirmation of this as it's relatively new and not many people have it yet or have used it yet.

 

I'm hoping I will be able to source this spray in Australia and try it out on some of my practice heads. Since I already have the respirator mask from when I was using MSC, I might as well make use of it.

 

I don't foresee doing an awful lot of face ups realistically. If this ever changes, I would definitely look into the non-toxic airbrush method as an alternative but for now, I will have to stick with the spray versions.