Adela's Hair - Part 2

Things have been a little crazy lately. Ivy is crawling and getting into everything and consequently has become very accident-prone. I have to keep an eye on her constantly or she's pulling something on her head or falling over when she pulls herself up to stand at the couch. Crazy girl.

I have scored some really nice items lately - I will do a separate post on them sometime soon. I have also been doing a ton of sewing lately and have made a couple of things I'm really proud of.

Here is the update on Adela's hair, I finally got around to styling it how I wanted it to be. Gen has the thick spiral curls, so I wanted something pretty and natural.

Seraphina and Eden's hair is on it's way (finally). So I will be working on those roots soon. I also have a boy of Liz's that needs a re-root but I have to wait for her to order that hair! So expect more hair from me soon!

Celebrity Newsflash! Rin Darktree and Marquis Drake spotted together in public!!

BREAKING NEWS: Rin Darktree and Marquis Drake were spotted together in a cafe near Circe Cosmetics headquarters. They were seen sitting very close to one another and whispering while enjoying cake, tea, and coffee. This only adds fuel to the fire that the two are romantically involved.

Adela's New Hair - Part 1

Here is Adela's new ringlets. I haven't styled them up too much yet so they are a little frizzy. I think I'm going to make her a barrette and pin the longer side of her hair back a little. I think she is looking much more like herself.

Diorama Ideas...

Things have been rather hectic around here as Ivy is starting to crawl. Not just started, but now is the Queen of Crawling. I walked away for thirty seconds and she sped into the bathroom (20 feet away) and was sitting in the damp shower playing with a loofah innocently.

I've been thinking alot about my diorama ideas and what is feasible and what is not feasible currently. Right now I have an old nice kitchen table I have been using a work table and for my diorama's to sit on. If I want more room for crafting/dioramas in the upstairs, I'm going to have to do some rearranging I think.

One project I really want to get started on sometime soon is the Circe "boutique". Originally it was going to be a salon/makeup/perfume store. Now I'd like them to sell some accessories/jewelry/handbags too. What in the world would you call a shop like that... is that just too much for one shop?

These are my potential diorama candidates to start on. Is there any that people are particularly excited to see? 

- Circe Boutique
- Villa Bathroom
- Adela's Office
- Villa Bedroom

Another thing I am mulling around is a sort of old-style castle sitting room. Hekate is demanding she have a place that is suitable for her to sit and sew and entertain her "company".

I got some new things I'll need to take pictures of soon so I can show everybody. Hekate got a new dress and I'm getting ready to start some major costuming projects underway.


My list of things I would like to get done this month:
- Get Seraphina's head rooted
- Get Eden's head rerooted
- Get some museum putty so I can get the fiddly things in the kitchen put up
- Work on Hekate's underpinnings
- Get solid plans for the next diorama room I want to do

I am also glad to say that I won the lottery for the new Giselle that Integrity has put out. I entered the contest for Liz who really, really wanted her. She didn't win her on her membership but my membership was drawn as a winner! It's always great to help people out ;)

Adela and her Hair - Ponderings

I am not sure I want to keep Adela's hair as she came with it. I do love the sleek little do, but Adela's character is supposed to have curly hair. I am thinking of curling her hair and seeing how it looks down and then maybe design an updo for it.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Camera Frustrations...

So.. before I stopped taking doll photos and went on a long hiatus, my camera worked really well and did a great job taking pictures of fiddly little things. Lately, it's been pissing me off to no end because it doesn't seem to be doing as good of a job as it used to.

I keep thinking: "Is there a setting I had it on that I don't have it on anymore?" The answer is no. Then I realized something. I hadn't taken doll pictures since I moved into my house. I have a serious suspicion that maybe my lighting is the reason why my pictures are not turning out as good as they used to.

So, I was wondering if any of you knew or could point me in the direction of set-ups for lighting that aren't terribly complicated. I hate using flash because it's blows out alot of my details and just doesn't look very natural.

In return for the advice here are some pictures of Hyori I took trying to figure out if there was a setting on my camera that I was missing out on.

A Little Bit About Me...

I really don't have too much going on doll-related today - I have been waiting for the baby to go to sleep for like an hour now so I could head off and do some sewing. But she is pretty insistent that it's Saturday so she gets to stay up late! Well I suppose that's fair enough.

So today's blog is just going to be a little about me and my history with collecting dolls...

When I was just a kid Barbies and baby dolls were pretty much my major "things". The more realistic life I could give my Barbies the better it was. I remember my Barbie So-Much-To-Do Supermarket, Bank, and Post Office were my absolute favorite play sets (I have since gotten myself the Supermarket from Ebay but the Post Office and Bank are just a little ridiculously expensive these days). I remember using masking tape and creating roads on the carpet of my bedroom and setting up different houses and stores on my bedroom floor and leaving them there for days, until my mom came through and cleaned up my room again.

When I was about 10, I started to feel societal pressure that I was too old to play with dolls. I would go into the Barbie section of KB Toys, with a story in my head to tell any of my classmates if they walked in that I was "shopping for my cousin's birthday". I eventually grew so ashamed.. I remember the last birthday I had any kind of presents of dolls for.. I got a Dentist Barbie that had a Kelly sitting in the dentist chair. I swore to myself that I was just too old to still be playing with Barbies, and that I would just have to get interested in what everyone else my age was interested in.

But still it couldn't keep me away for long, I got into Sailor Moon during middle school and high school and started to collect the Irwin Sailor Moon dolls. I would dress them in regular outfits before school every morning and when I got home I'd put them in their sailor fukus. I'd make them interact with each other. I figured this was justified because it was being interested in anime, not in dolls and so I wasn't being "uncool".

I moved away to college and got married. I saw a picture of a Momoko one day online and I got re-interested. I discovered Junkyspot and Obitsus. That was it - that was the end. I was no longer going to be in denial.. who cares if my hobbies were weird or uncool. I was an adult and I would damn well play with barbies and dolls if I wanted to.

I met Liz, I got interested in BJD's. Eventually as our "characters" were interacting, a story began to form. Years later we are still revising things, adding and subtracting. We ran a photostory for a long time, then the forum it was on went down. Liz is an artist, so we decided we would do a graphic novel style format (the beginnings of which you can see on her blog). Our dolls still serve as our muses, our inspiration, and having them and places and things for them to interact with is extremely satisfying for us. After having Ivy, BJDs are just too expensive for such a massive cast, so I went back to my first passion - 1/6th scale. I dragged Liz into it and we are absolutely thrilled we've decided to make the change. It's just so much more available.

I am lucky because I have a husband who is really supportive of my hobby. As he tells me, "I can't get into it the same way you do, it doesn't do anything for me but I like them". And I always remind him it's way better then antiquing! When I quit my job as a child welfare caseworker to stay home with the baby, I really worried that my wanting to buy dolls or do doll relating things (which of course always involves money) would make him unhappy. But he is more then happy to discuss doll related purchases with me and give me an allowance! I always think I could never divorce him, because explaining this hobby is a very difficult sell to a lot of men!

So that's it.. a little bit about me and where I've been and am now on my doll journey!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

This was us at Hubby's parents at Christmas 2011

Liz and I at Ren Faire in 2010

Song Hyori is here!

My Ayumi arrived!! I am in love..

 

 

 

She has decided her name is Song Hyori. Hyori-ssi is a native of South Korea and had success as an actress in Korean dramas before coming to the US. Right now she is an in-house model for Circe Cosmetics and is in charge of hiring new models. Hyori does seem to have a side job though... nobody is sure what it is but she keeps very weird hours. It seems she may be searching for someone..

With so many of Adela's employees showing up, I really should probably make plans for her office space. I know Adela needs an office but I'm trying to come up with ideas - help me out guys!! Tell me what you'd like to see :)

Some thoughts and planning...

First I wanted to say - I think the format of my blog has screwed up where I can leave direct replies to people who are commenting. I almost always comment back - but now I am having to hit it as a general reply instead of a specialized reply. I just wanted everyone to know that kind of weird thing, so nobody thinks I'm ignoring them! I love all the comments so much..!

So onto dolls, my Ayumi has shipped and I expect she may be here tomorrow or Saturday!! I'm very excited. I am calling her my Valentine's Day present and Hubby seems to be happy with that label (it makes it so much easier when I buy my own presents!)

Something that's really been bothering me a lot lately, is that I keep stumbling onto a certain blog (not anyone who has subscribed to me or that I've subscribed to, just a blog that seems to always pop up on google searches for me). Not naming names, I find this person's negative comments about dolls or doll community really harsh and grating. This is a community that is built on mutual love.. and to argue with your readers or post comments continually on how "ugly" some dolls are seems counter-intuitive to me.

Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinion, but to harp on the sculpt of dolls, people's choices of fashion for their dolls, etc, seems to just want to breed drama and contempt. I am proud to say that I am not affiliated with those types of people, and the doll blogs I read are INCREDIBLY respectful in their opinions. I may not like the way a doll looks (for example I have no love for Tonner dolls) but I can appreciate people that do, and I see a lot of great inspiration and beauty that comes out of that realm.

I just find unnecessary hatefulness and stirring of drama to be really juvenile. I will never subscribe to a blog that feels that way, and I feel a lot of pity for the people that keep that kind of mindset because really they must be so bored or miserable with their own lives.

Anyway - onto chipper things... I've got some more organizing boxes and things. I really want to start on the Villa Bathroom and get decorations for the kitchen.. but I'll be darned if I'm not out of my dolly allowance for the month!! So I've been trying to figure out cheap ways to get the kitchen decorated and am open to ideas. I could sent along a file of printies to Hubby to get printed out for me.. but I guess i'm not sure what will look good as a printie and what won't!

I really need to allocate some money for spray paint, I could get a lot of spray painting done and feel accomplished without having to spend too much.

Anyway for all my bitching, I present you with some cute baby pictures. Ivy really enjoys dolls as young as she is (she just barely turned nine months old!). Her favorite doll is an Artsy head on a model muse body (the other parts made up Daniella!). But in these picures she's playing with this odd looking thrift store doll that I got some time ago because she had jointed arms and I thought she was interesting looking.

Man am I glad I had a little girl first!!

Maven and Daniella

Just a couple of my Barbie girls tonight.

Daniella Bingham is a sassy and talented cosmetologist at the Circe Cosmetics boutique. She can do hair, nails, makeup, you name it. She's been asked several times to be promoted to manager but she turns it down. She just loves what she does too much to move up! Right now she's really favoring the hairstyling side of the boutique.

When the 2.0 Basics came out, #8 was the first girl I knew i absolutely had to have. I think she is terribly under-rated and I don't see her very often. I unstiffened her hair to give it some more body.. I am thinking of giving her some highlights or something. I wish I had a body that matched her better then this fashionista one..

Maven is kind of an enigma. Nobody knows her very well and she just kind of comes and goes. She loves to make trouble and is terribly mischievous.

I hated the hair on #4. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, so I did this and I absolutely love it!!


I've been debating the past few days on my next projects.. so my next few blogs are probably going to be musing on what I want to do next (and less pictures). I am thinking probably the bathroom because I really have everything for it right now (besides foamboard and spraypaint).

The Villa Kitchen

I want to thank everyone for their compliments on my kitchen. I have another diorama for a Japanese house (may be turned into a restaurant) but it's down in the basement (it's made of fiber board so it's really heavy and unwieldy) so I really count this as my only diorama at this point. I am debating on whether or not to do the living room or the bathroom next.

This is the kitchen for The Villa. Why the Villa and not the Manor? Well to be honest - the Manor as a huge gothic mansion is way too much work for me to undertake. With my limited space, it's smallest neighbor in it's shabby chic style is going to be way easier for me to do. I do plan on doing rooms out of the Manor, but as far as completed buildings, the Villa makes the most sense.

So here are some pictures of what I've gotten done on it this far. I am in desperate need of some decorations.

My to-do list for the kitchen:

- backsplashes
- inside cabinets
- print out doors and windows
- decorate!

Here are some pictures of Hekate enjoying some oysters and white wine. She really doesn't need to eat but she still enjoys the taste.

"*Sigh* Where is my male company?"

 

Watch for the Bitchitude

First - I hope everyone is enjoying the new layout! The banner graphic was drawn by Liz and it's from the graphic novel we are making The Manor. Check out her blog and click on the "Graphic Novel" tag to see what we've done so far!

When I first started looking at Fashion Royalty, Agnes hit me hard. I knew immediately she was perfect for my character Adela Darktree, the queen bitch CEO of Circe Cosmetics. Adela has a personal hand in every aspect of her business which is growing into a major corporation. Circe Cosmetics work and Adela has even been called "some kind of sorceress" by her competitors that can't seem to figure out why her products really do exactly what they say they do.

Adela recently hired Marquis Drake as the face of her new line of male cosmetic products. She also has recently employed her little sister Rin as a model of her line that is supposed to target the 18-25 age group. She is a shrewd businesswoman and really doesn't have a lot of time for men though her father is pressuring her to hurry up and get married (as you'll soon find out they are a very.. old fashioned.. family).

Adela is a Head for Glamour Agnes. I am thinking of unstiffening her hair (maybe even restyling) but I'm not sure if I want to do that. What do you guys think?

I made her shirt and it was my first shirt that turned out really nicely! I'm kind of proud.. haha.

As you'll see the name "Erin" settled on my Barbie Basics Teresa, she's a student working in the coffeeshop and is trying to get her fledgling fashion magazine off the ground.

 

 

Erin: Please check out the prototype for my fashion magazine! I think its' going to be a big hit!!
Adela: if you want an appointment you need to contact my assistant.. *grumble*

Melusina, the Siren

When I first saw Fashion Royalty dolls, the first doll that immediately drew my eye was Kyori. I absolutely love the way she looks and the shape of her face, everything. So when I decided to get my first Fashion Royalty, I knew I wanted to go after Kyori.

I first got a nude Something Hot Kyori on a short old FR body who is in need of a reroot badly at an extremely wonderful price ($35!!). As soon as she arrived I was in love, and began to look at Kyori's on Flickr, I immediately fell in love with Glam Slam Kyori, and I found someone who sold me to her NRFB at a great price.

I really wanted a white haired Kyori.. so I got some hair and rerooted her, it was much sparklier hair then I expect, but still, I like the result.

This is Melusina, the Siren.. not exactly human and her unearthly enchanting beauty captures those around her without them even realizing it. She is the mother of Seraphina, who owns the Villa.

"There are even stranger creatures in the world then me.. in fact, a whole other world co-exists with yours... but you will learn that in time."

 

1/3rd Fun.. Dr. and Mrs. Alvarado

So here are a couple of my 1/3rd scale dolls.. Dr. Alvarado and his wife Arcadia. Probably the oldest characters I have that are existing in any doll form right now. The Doctor (haha!.. not that Doctor!) and his wife life in The Alhambra... the closest neighbor the The Manor before The Villa was built (a complete map is coming). They live there together with their daughter and a great deal of female servants. Arcadia insists that all her servant are female and she worships a strange goddess in her rather strange chapel... as for Dr. Alvarado.. he dabbles in all sorts of things that are strange and mystical in nature. They are dressed rather old-fashioned and for as long as they've lived in the Alhambra they seem to have retained their youth... hmm..!

Their love story is a very great one. Needless to say they are hopefully devoted and loyal to one another.

Arcadia - Iplehouse Gentle Freezia WS, Faceup by Liz
Dr. Alvarado - Soom Spinel NS, Default Faceup

I apologize for Arcadia's wig.. it's made out of a really difficult fiber and I haven't had any time to really work with it lately.

And here is how they normally are on the shelf in the living room... quietly plotting and enjoying one another's company.

Dr Alvarado: "Shall we dine with the rest of the household or take our dinner privately, my dear?"

Arcadia: "Well when you put it that way.. it doesn't seem like I really have much of a choice~"