Ehe, this is late, but I've finished putting Ren together! That includes doing his faceup, being unsatisfied, wiping it, using a dremel to open his eyes, and then doing faceup number two.

( progression shots )

Between now and the last post, I attended a day of Dollectable in Frisco! I got to meet kalenthi, along with her Ysrael and Mathey! XD So much awesome. We'll definitely have to do that again~

Right, so I'm expecting a new boy to arrive next week. He's from the DoA marketplace -- an adoption. XD I'm rather excited. No more dolls for a while though, since I'd better be all saved up when U-noa 1.5 girl preorders roll around!

A happy interruption to my breakfast of instant apple cinnamon oatmeal~



( image-heavy, and with doll nudity for comparison )

It just occurred to me earlier that the sculpt names of these two are the same, spelled backwards. Om. Mo. > >; Interesting. Anyhow, I'll get to work on these two soon -- it looks like with the arrival of another, Mikan will be getting an overhaul himself. Still waiting on ordered eyes, but thinking about getting 12mms for Renato, since even the 14mms look big on him. I'll need two pairs, actually, since the cat also takes 12mms.

Gwahh... I'm kind of tired. I'll rest more before the next post, promise!

Wooooot~! Pinky Yuki came home today, along with two cans of MSC flat. You'd better believe I've got plans for these parts. >D



Let's see if I can make a nice sweater out of that for Kanda, and repaint that hair red for Rabi. It's kind of long around the sides, but the back piece fits him so much better with its mussedness. Is that a real word?

More happy news! I got my shipping notice from hellash of Camellia Dynasty this afternoon, which means Renato will be home in about a week. Oh man, I can hardly wait! Before that, though, I'll have to get through Berkeley orientation this Thursday. ^^;

Still waiting on Om, whose name is Renato. In the meantime though, Mikan's option hands came in~ Wah, this blonde wig meant for that one is starting to look normal on this one. T T;



Hehe, no real shoot with these yet, since I'd like to blush them first. Oh Dollzone, why can't you make more option hands for your 1/4 boys? I wanted the "v" hands, but I don't know if I can get away with those girlish fingers. Anyway, I'm hoping I can take some interesting pictures with these!

I tried to have him poke the dog, but she walked away. ^^;

So for the past two days, I've been working on and off on body blushing and hot glue sueding Mikan. Wanna seeeeee~? :D

( huge-image-for-detail heavy plus doll nudity! )

I plan to re-organize this journal soon, to make finding things easier. There are so many tags for things that could be condensed! In the meantime, I've been working on a garage kit I bought on eBay some time ago:

after sanding


( primed, then painted )

It's only her hair for now, painted using Tamiya color red X-7. After a third coat of that, I'll try adding pastel dust along the tips, too. I keep taking pictures of the Pink Soap because it works so incredibly well. It's really great brush cleaner! But on different note, I'm waiting on another doll. > > I wanted a girl as my second, but this boy proved irresistible to me:

( Camellia Dynasty Om )

He's MSD-sized, double-jointed, limited to 28 in the world, and comes with a kitty doll to boot! *_* I don't know his name yet, but he'll be home in roughly a month. Ee~!

Second attempt at a faceup for my one and only resin doll. This time, I didn't use the watercolor pencils at all -- I can't seem to make them come out smooth enough for my liking. Maybe I need to sharpen them to a super fine point every few strokes? x x; I don't know. Materials used were Alphacolor pastels, MSC flat, and Winton plus Liquitex acrylics.



( side-by-side comparison and detail )

Experiment complete! This didn't turn out too badly, and at least I know what kinds of things to watch out for next time. I got a little too excited checking the fit after the paint was all dry, and I wound up chipping some of the flesh tone around the neck. That could probably have been prevented by a coat of sealant. T T; Anyway, here's how that burnt head turned out:



( crappy photos! )

I'm not even using the oyumaru right now, so I should probably title this entry something else. :D; Project sculpey head? Open to suggestions.

( big for detail )

Note to self: don't watch anime while baking sculpey. T T; Otherwise--

( you get this )

It also didn't help that the oven here tends to get hotter than specified. XD; This didn't happen to the Kanda uniform (should I make a post on that?) because it was built on pvc base pieces I was paranoid about melting -- the thickness of the sculpey wasn't much, so only took a few minutes to set. This copied head, on the other hand, was about 1/2" thick, and the instructions recommend 15 minutes in the oven per 1/4" and didn't have anything in it that might melt, so... I wandered off with the egg timer and watched one episode of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. :D;

Color aside, the head wasn't brittle like I was afraid it'd be -- it's pretty solid, in fact. Tried some hair pieces on it and the forehead turned out to be a little big, so I did some sanding. It's fitting better now (some sets, like the Mon-chan one, fit perfectly) but I forgot to take pictures, so those will come later. After sanding, I painted over the sculpey using some Mr. Surfacer 1000, let dry, sanded again, then filled the bigger holes with tamiya basic putty. When I get the chance to work on this again, I'll give it another round of sanding using something with really fine grit, maybe another coat of surfacer. If all goes well, I'll get to paint afterward~

Also, the oyumaru mold is full of sculpey again. :D; I'll try not to burn the next one.

Woo! Last Friday my boy's wig and clothes came in, so I was able to take some pictures. Just realized I've spammed them everywhere but here, so here are a few of my favorite shots:



( two more behind the cut )

Many, many more pictures here:

dA
flickr

His faceup is okay for now, I think. Planning on using MSC semi-gloss around his eyes and mouth later on. I have some cloth to make into clothes for him, too. The scarf he's wearing in those pictures were just a scrap I cut. ^^;

I'm really very pleased with him.

I got this stuff a while back, but I didn't have the chance to give it a shot 'till now.



Oyumaru molding material. I first read about it over at the pinky:st forum, when someone used it to cast parts for a custom -- there's a tutorial somewhere there too, but I can't find the link to it right now. T T; Anyway, it's rubbery stuff that you soften in hot water and can make negatives with. The best part of it is probably that it's supposed to be reusable.

( misadventure with pictures! XD; )

More on this in a later post!

He still doesn't have a name or any clothes or a wig, but I got overly-excited and went ahead with his first faceup.

( two pictures huge for detail under the cut )

Materials used were Derwent watercolor pencils in venetian red and burnt umber, Liquitex acrylic paint in iridescent white, Winton acrylic paints in cadmium red and titanium white, and Mr. Super Clear Flat. Tools used were cosmetic applicator buds and an 18/0 spotter brush.

First order of business was to spray a protective layer of MSC on the doll, as instructed by bjd_wtf. In the interest of saving sealant, I only covered the feet, calves, and face. First two only 'cause I'm not too keen on having the black from his boots stain him. :D; After letting that dry a little bit, I started with the venetian red pencil and followed up using the burnt umber. What I applied with those were eyebrows, lashes, folds in the lids, and edges of his mouth. More MSC and drying. The next thing I tried to do was to add color in the form of acrylics and chalk pastels. After a little testing on the head cap, I decided not to go on with the acrylics and pastels after all. > >; Omg, I wonder if I stained the resin already? The acrylic burnt umber doesn't seem to want to come off! Even the chalk is being stubborn.

Well, since it's my first, this faceup isn't stunning or anything -- it looks totally unfinished, in fact. I think I'll wait a while before trying to add blush or taking him completely apart for complete sealing. Eventually, I'll need to find some semi-gloss for his lips and around the eyes.

First ever ball-jointed doll box-opening ceremony! This little fella's an NS 44cm Dollzone Mo-wen from junkyspot.com~

( warnings: image-heavy, doll nudity, excessive squeeing )

Dangit, I still don't know how to take good pictures. XD; He looks so much better in person -- I can hardly wait 'till his wig and clothes come in. Maybe then I'll know enough about faceups and maintenance to get down to work. I adore this little guy already, though~

Expect to see more of him in the future. XD;

It was with much excitement and birthday money that I went to Michael's today. XD; I wound up buying four cans of Testor's Dullcote for both Pinky and Obitsu projects, one of which is probably half gone already.



Needless to say, I wasn't satisfied at all with this doll and took him apart for repainting, a better haircut, and a matte spray. This is my second shot at making an obitsu matte, the first one being Ramia (who, for some mysterious reason, has not been featured on this blog). It wasn't too hard to take the doll apart, and I only really needed a phillips screwdriver to undo the joint inside the pelvis piece. After disassembly, I attatched the seven main body pieces to BBQ sticks using HandiTak so I wouldn't have to Dullcote my fingers too. Took him outside to spray just afterward.

While waiting for the first coat of sealant to dry, I scraped off the old faceup on his head with my fingernail and a pair of sharp tweezers. Acrylics probably would have stayed well on the vinyl head if it'd been sealed with something -- I don't think I can use Dullcote though, so it'll probably be done with MSC later. Ugh, it's hard trying to do this guy justice. T T; At the moment I'm about two coats of Dullcote in out of the planned three, but it's getting too dark out to work any more on sealant. > >; Maybe more again tomorrow.

I'm finally posting a picture of Arnval fully-clad in her armor! XD; Took me, what? 4 months? It's a little thing, anyhow, and a little bit lazy since I didn't even set up a decent background.

( two pictures )

These pictures are all old by now because I am a procrastinator. :D; New ones later.



Woo! More progress with this custom! The main thing for now is to actually finish his hammer, which at the moment still looks like a bbq skewer and part of a toilet paper roll. Credit goes to quatrina for the mallet mats~

( OMG PICSPAMAVALANCHE! )

This was an experiment using an acetone and Tamiya basic putty mixture to make the modded pieces smooth. It kind of worked. Still, there are some places the could have used a few more coats -- it makes me wonder about Mr. Surfacer. The mixture smelled awful, but it worked and even kind of served as a primer, as shown here by the second coat of paint.



This is turning out well enough, 'cept for the fact that I broke a dremel bit in the leg piece and it's lodged waaaaaaay up in there. XD; This was my first time pinning a PVC part. I don't think I'll do that again until I get something manual to drill with. :D; The pins are just more 24-gauge jewelry wire.

This is about how far I've gotten with my third (no pictures of the second yet) Obitsu doll. His body is the slim type male body with pale skin. I forget just how tall it's supposed to be, but I did use a female doll head for this since all the man ones scared me. Also, I got that head with long rooted black hair with no part. I trimmed it myself, so if it looks off, you'll know why. :D;

( unsexy obitsu Kanda )

Just like last time, his face was sketched in pencil and then painted with Winton acrylics -- no, there isn't any iridescent white on there. XD; The tattoo on his chest was sketched and painted the same way, but I actually sealed it with Testors Dullcote. That made me pretty nervous, but it worked out well enough since I actually held the can far enough away and didn't stop in the middle. Supposedly Mr. Super Clear is a lot less temperamental, but getting a can of the flat kind... it's like a quest for the holy grail, as one person on the forums put it.

Poor thing, he's wearing barbie fashion fever pants. :D; I need to learn how to sew.

This is my first shot at putting together an Obitsu doll. I bought her body and wig from Mimiwoo on eBay, a natural skin 23cm girl body with magnet feet and a handmade faux fur wig. Her face is painted with Winton acrylics, but not yet sealed. Actually, there is iridescent white Liquitex on her lips and around her eyes -- I was really surprised at the difference it made. The clothes came from a Bratz fashion pack, except for the goggles, which are being borrowed from Pinky:st Aya Natsume. They're not pictured, but she's now wearing black socks under a pair of white slip-ons from a poseable Kotobukiya Rei Ayanami.

( in-progress pics under here )