Paper BJDs?

I have been massively busy since Thursday.

First, Thursday, Ghost finally showed up!!

 

Ghost is the Dollzone Carter my best friend ordered in February for my Birthday in April. Lol. Happy Birthday to meeeee! Late! But still awesome!

I love him. He's adorable and weird, which is how I like my dolls. He's keeping the grey hair, and will wear mostly black, white, grey and natural colors (cause he's a ghost). I want to order him a couple more wigs - and then for now that's it. I have 4 dolls that I need to faceup at the same time, him, the two Boo's and my DZ Star. None of that will happen until after Dollism.

 

 Speaking of Star, I bought the 5Star Tong Tong from DDE. It came Monday and now my little "dragon" has a body again! Only this time he's a demon. The horns that came with Tong Tong are perfect for him. I'm going to glue them to his head. I'm not kidding.
He looks fantastic right now. All the clothes that are too big for Chibs are going to him.

I worked on Alex III like a fiend all weekend, but he's not close to finished and the weather has been HORRIBLE. Hot and so humid you can't breath. I'm not taking the chance....he can wait. Not for long, but at least until this weekend. I have to finish him, he can't go out in the public half-done!!

I also cleaned my room. This doesn't sound impressive, but if you'd seen it, you'd know....I can walk in there now. I'm doing another wardrobe purge, along with some hats, shoes and other crap I don't need. Then a rearrange of everything so hopefully everything will actually have a place for a change.

Now for the fun part.

I woke up Friday morning to this. I'm not really sure why, but I became obsessed. I must have looked at all those examples for hours, no joke. I decided I wanted to enter, if only to make one, not really to win (though I'd take the prizes lol)...I was thinking of how I'd do Alex when I remembered I couldn't mess with him - III is apart, I is modeling, and the others aren't in a state to even look at atm.

Then it hit me. Skullface!!! I dragged him to work and took a million pictures of him Friday. Of the shots, these are the ones that turned out.

 

and

  

Which I thought were decent photos, but don't help when trying to make paper dolls :\

Because I was busy with a million other things over the weekend I didn't touch it again until yesterday (I was also busy Monday) when I took a million more photos.

Then it got hard. I went through all my pictures and pulled out the best ones of each part. For real, most all his parts are from separate pictures. I cut out the parts, sized and resized, and placed them all together in Photoshop. Some parts, like his head and bottom torso, are made of several photos.

This is the shot I used of his head

 

Part of his hair, and the hat are cropped out. I took both of them from another photo and merged. I also had to do that with his pants a lot. He's pieced together like a patchwork doll lol more than a paper one.

This is what I ended up with

  

 Each part is in it's own PS layer. This file is massive. You can tell he's made up of all different photos because each part is a different color XDDDD *fail*

Then I had to take him apart for the "layout"

Not too bad. But again, massive. I had this one merged to two layers, which was a good thing, because I couldn't print this on a regular printer. My intention was to split it onto two 11x17 sheets, but it was too big for that, and laid out wrong. SO I had to make yet another layout, or, 3 layouts, all 11x17 so I could place and print.

tada!!

 

 I think it worked!!

Here he is, all assembled, and giantly huge! PaperSkullface!

 

normalish, 

and not...so...

  

 lol

I almost wish I had done crazier poses to show how jointy he is. I used 19 brad-things to fasten him, and he's so tall the hat goes nearly to my hip when I hold him up. He's like, twice the size of the real Skullface. He's taped to the wall (you can see the tape on his foot. I'm pissed. I wish I'd seen it before I took the pictures). I put packing tape on him on the backside so I could stick masking tape to him and not damage him. I printed 4 out total, one on regular paper by accident, then three on card-stock. This one is just the card-stock version. The other two I laminated! When I get home tonight I'll start cutting and assembling. I didn't want to laminate the one I entered because I thought he'd be too shiny to photograph.

It's kind of dumb how much fun this thing is. I want to make more. I want to make even better ones! I have a list of things I'd have done better:

Make the black outline better, more consistent and on everything.
Make sure I know how all the joints will work, not just the last half (I got better as I went)
Add dots where the brads will go.
Cleaner pieces.
Better hair. And jointed.
Removable and jointed hat.
Better photos to start with.

It was always my intention to joint the hair, but my photos didn't match up in color or resolution, so I gave up. I think he's fine without. If he was even bigger I could joint the fingers and toes!! *dies*

I am really happy with how he turned out, regardless of what I'd do better. I'd love to make some of my drawings that I could sell at craftshows and stuff. That would be really awesome (guessing it wouldn't be quite legal to sell the ones of the dolls? Since I didn't make the dolls..?).

Anyway, I will call my first paper doll a wild success, whether I win anything or not, I'm thrilled.
Which is one of the reasons I used Skullface, since he was "born" for a DOA contest last year...and even though I didn't win he's been so awesome I'm thrilled. I never would have done that if not for the contest, and I love him! He still needs his one hand finished >.< but I think he looks good <3

Last one

 

Hee hee

Well now that that's done, I may have some time to sued and glue tonight, and maybe I'll get some pics of Star on his new body tomorrow. Or more of Ghost. He pretty cutes right now. I've got faceups and tatts to be doing...and can't do any of it due to weather....so might as well work on non-weather dependent things.

Have a great week!!

The Stars are aligned.

Cheesetastic title is cheesy.

SO I picked up a few things on Etsy I'm excited about. An outfit that will probably be for Macchi (I sort of bought it without thinking of who I own who would actually wear it XD), and a shirt hopefully for Chibs (it's a slim mini shirt....yeah.), and two hats that were sort of impulse buys. I've been wanting to shop for clothes lately, but I really can't find what I want anywhere....so it's been hard. I want to give people money!! No one wants it!!

I was thinking of my "wish list" the other day. Doll Chateau....it's like death. Every other doll they release is something I think I want...but the latest -- Matthew and Isabella(?) got me thinking. I first thought it would be cool to get a Matthew head (I'm in love with his face) to either replace my Colin (Mini-Alex) or to be an extra head...but I'm really attached to Colin. I might get Matthew's head anyway...but I won't sell the Colin head. He's got to stay Alex.

I then thought about putting the whole doll on layaway next year, and he could be mini-Azrael.

Somehow that got me thinking about my poor Moon, who, along with her vine arms, has been in a box since last year when I gave Boo her body.

And I got an idea.

Yeah. Never good.

I have a definite plan now.

Part of the reason I never bought her a new body was because DC keeps coming out with newer, better ones. The other reason, they keep getting more and more expensive. And really I have no need for that Moon. She's gorgeous, but not a character, or even a personality, and I have a hard time spending the $$ on a doll I'm not emotionally involved in.

Well, as of yesterday when I was wandering around campus listing to my iPod, she's got a place in my collection. As does Star, the other head I sold the body out from under. I will wiping and completely redoing my Moon in a different color palate and getting her the new body with the bone wings (yay!). Star is going to be her "master" of sorts, and will be getting a 5star 1\6 child body...hopefully as soon as next week. I wasn't going to buy anything else for a while but this poor head has been hanging around for a few years now, and I have the $$. I've pulled him out already and I'm working on his look which I can hopefully iron out soon. I never knew what to do with him before...now I do and I'm so excited.

In other news, Carter is...not here yet. Omg seriously. The shipping part is taking forever! He may be here tomorrow, he was out of customs early this morning....

And, some of the new Boo!

 He's so cute!! He's killing me!

 

I can't even express how happy I am with him. Still with the default and everything. I want to wait for Carter to get here and do his face, Carter (who will be named Ghost) and Star (who may be Damien) all at once with Little Boo. they're all kind of...creepy, so they'll work at the same time.

LOL for whatever reason I just looked up the over-a-year-ago graveyarded sales thread on DOA of Chibi Alex. From his previous owner...when he was a girl XDDD 

Fun times. 

Chibs! He blond now.

 

 Hope everyone is having a good night (or day, if that's when you are now <3)

What's Up, Monday?

Not a lot. Lol it is early.

Commissions out the door (mostly -- still have a non-doll one, but hopefully it's just changing some text at this point) which means I have more time to work on my dolls again....and it's humid, rainy and gross. No sun, you can see the haze of humidity just hanging around -- not exactly ideal doll-working weather.

I have a head to photograph for a contest -- It's not in the rules that I can't talk about it, but you never know, so I won't. But I entered last year (and lost!) with one of my Kara Klums.....

My Dollzone Carter was finally FINALLY shipped last week, but tracking hasn't moved :P so god knows when it's going to get here. No rush. If I was in any kind of rush, I'd have been doomed XD
Other than being a ghost, and probably getting named Ghost, I don't have a set plan for this guy. I would like a silver or grey wig, but since I only own one that's not SD sized, that might not happen. I could go with fur for temps, but I'd prefer fiber for this one.....He'll get the dual colored eyes the Volks Midori was going to get when she was a ghost for all of five minutes. That poor doll. Someone needs to buy her.

Speaking of sales, another doll is headed out the door! I am hugely tempted to use it to reshell Mini Isis, but I think I'll wait. I've had a few new dolls (ok, mostly heads) come in recently and I'd like to not have any for a while -- at least until Dollism is over.

I was thinking of giving Chibi Alex (SQ-Labs Chibi Tsubaki) a weekly feature. I had this idea last week but didn't do it for one reason or another....
A little background:
I tend to photograph my dolls at work for various reason. My apartment is dark, with almost no natural light. The fixtures are older than I am so the artificial light is awful. My roommate and I are crafty, and artistic and both of us collect BJDs so the whole apt is our "craft room" so there's very little space for me to set up lights and props if I had any...and since I work the main part of the day there's not time for me to take pics outdoors....I have white walls and lots of light (artificial, but at least it's light) in my office at work so it's just easier. Not too creative, but someday I'll find a better way and maybe they will start to get better. Right now it's work pics or nuthin, lol so I figure what I've got is ok for now.

Friday's however, I don't bring the dolls in because I have to shuttle from an off-site parking lot.
This means maneuvering onto a bus with other employees, so I don't bring the big diaper bag I use to haul dolls and my camera around. It's too cumbersome to have on a bus full of people. So no dolls Fridays (this is also why I can't ship things Friday - the back-and-forth from work to parking lot takes so much times I can't make it to the PO before it closes).

I do sometimes toss Chibs into my purse since he's travel-sized. He doesn't really do anything but stand around looking cool (since he's adult-Alex he can't be cute. He gets angry at cute), but with no camera there are never pictures.

Last week I thought I should just snap a few with my phone (iphone 4S -- worst camera ever. I hate it.) and call it Friday Phone Photos with Chibs. But I never got around to it. I thought about it over the weekend and thought it might be a good idea to have a weekly feature -- if only to guarantee at least one entry a week XD

My best friend and I are going to Disney World next year in the spring, and a while back she mentioned I should bring Baby Alex to photograph around the park. I sort of dismissed the idea -- Originally when I bought him, Baby Alex was supposed to be my Travel-Alex, a mini version of him that could go everywhere and I wouldn't have to drag around the bigger version. But he was too tiny and cute and baby-like, so that didn't really happen. I adore Baby Alex - he's my favorite tiny - but Adult Alex is who I'm most attached too...and I wanted the fabulous outfits he'd wear in tiny-size XD A couple of those Another Space outfits, tiny hoodies....all this stuff I got and hung on too for years that no one wore because all my tinies are children and wear lace and fluff.

When I got Chibi Alex last year he was perfect. The tiny version of Alex I had wanted that could be tossed in a bag and brought anywhere.

The best part about him is that I see him as a total independent in my collection. He can be alone, I don't even have the desire to own other characters around him as I normally do (in Puki and Mini size), which is awesome. I don't even really see him chained to his own continuity like I do the rest of them (which is why he's not even listed as being in the same universe as the others are on my Doll List) so I feel a little more free to "play" with him than I do the others who are locked into character in my eyes.

So Chibs will be going to Disney World, he'll be going as a tourist, bringing along a camera and the worst touristy shirt I can dig up for him and looking like a big dork. My goal (hopefully it will happen) is to take pictures of him on his vacation and post it for his feature -- which I will have to have established by then lol

I figured I'll do a trial at Dollism. He'd be going anyway, so I'll just make sure I have him on me the whole time and try really hard to do the photo thing. I usually forget to take pictures -- I get to into whatever I'm doing and just don't. This might motivate me.

I want to get him his own carrier, one that a smaller digital camera (I've been wanting to buy one for years, and I wanted one before Dollism anyway) could go in also, so it would be easier to get him out and stand him somewhere -- but YOsd sized carriers are hard to find. I have no idea what would work! I ordered him a camera and couple other things of ebay yesterday and I've been looking for more clothes for him, but it's also hard to find "adult" tiny clothes. Everything is for children :P

In preparation for his new feature, I tightened his strings last night and holy crap. He needs to be the poster-doll for restringing. He was a hot mess, so kicky I could barely get him to stand anymore. Now he's a rock!! He stands great, no kickiness at all! :D

Old picture of Chibs, just so it's not a text post only

 

I need to make a list of stuff I want for him. He'll need supplies if he's going to hang out in hotel rooms all the time. Or once or twice a year when I go on vacations XD

My friend also bought an SQ-Labs Chibi so hers can go along too. Chibs might get a friend! :D
Or at least a travel acquaintance lol

I love those eyes!! *flails*

Updates of the BJD kind

Long time no post. I was doing good for awhile there....then died. lol. Not literally...

So what's been happening? Not a lot. I started the open-mouth mod. I'll post pics of that when I get them situated. I want to start a project journal on DOA for my 7th Kara Klum, and these open-mouth guys are part of that....so when I get more photos I may do that.

I did a faceup for a contest. I doubt I have chance, but here's hoping.

I redid Isis's faceup while doing some commissions. Then it rained for a week so nothing else got done.

Alex III had some damage to his faceup -- somehow. I took him to Texas for Doll-A-Kon, he survived all that traveling, got back and unpacked perfectly fine....and then proceed to chip his face sitting on a shelf. I swear to god, if those Kara Klums were any more like Alex they'd get off the shelf and come after me in my sleep.

I fixed his faceup and kind of.....fixed it better? I like it more now. Isis's new faceup is kind of like her old, first faceup lol. She's regressed. I decided she could wear makeup again.

I sold my AOD body I've had for years....this was Sage's other old body (she's goin' thru 'em). Haven't done anything with the $$ yet, I might actually save it for Dollism. :O Right??! Crazy.

I put MIni-Isis up for sale as a full doll. I think I'd like to try her out as a Dollmore Judith - which I was contemplating before I got the Souldoll Janne. My dream would be for enough stuff to sell so I could maybe buy one at Dollism if they had one. If they don't, or I don't have the $$ I'm not getting other dolls.....for real. I won't be able to travel back with them lol.

I was tooling around in the MP last week looking at Dollzone and Doll Chateau heads to replace Boo's Ro head with, and I found DZ Reiko. The sales photos weren't great, so I looked it up on MOC (which is what I do with all the dolls they sell lol). I did a mock-up and liked it, then realized that they not only had a WS one instock, but it was the last one, as it's one of the molds DZ has discontinued. I went on and bought it, cause I didn't want to take the chance of missing out. It finally came today (they took their time shipping!). It has a default faceup I'll be wiping, but since I had no choice...well, I had no choice lol.

Say hi to the new Boo.

 Here are my thoughts on Boo.

Boo was a concept I came up with years ago for Baby Alex - the doll. I took him to work one day to sit on my desk and be cutes, and for the first time ever, I had the thought that he must be lonely, as I had no other dolls his size. I don't generally think that about my dolls, but I did then.

In the history of Alex and his character, he didn't have friends growing up....so I couldn't justify getting another YO sized doll to relate to him. But he did have that white, plush bunny from Dollheart...and for some reason I thought of Soom's Ai, recently arriving to owners and something I kind of regretted not getting. I thought Ai would make a good bunny, and Boo was born. I drew him, named him, and new I wanted Soom Ai's head on a LTF body. I had a back-up plan if I couldn't get Ai, but I did (for pretty cheap!), so it was a pointless plan.

 Several years went by, and I liked having little Boo, and decided to "grow" Boo up.

I started looking at Dollzone because that was the aesthetic I wanted, and loved Ro -- the blank head pictures were perfect. Unfortunately, the real Ro didn't look like that.

The Boo "character" was a formless thing that fed on the lifeforce or essence of Alex when he was a baby...it used that to create itself a body based off Alex (which is why they had to have the same body as children) and the stuffed bunny he had with him. It was supposed to "grow" with him, though not exact -- I didn't want another Pado, I wanted Boo to be his own self, but similar in ages.

The actual Ro had a longer, narrower face than depicted in the blank head shots, which actually made me think either they were accidentally photoshopped or even that wasn't the "final" head - like it was a prototype or something.

Needless to say I had issues with him from day 1 - from him being too big, to too mature. The too big thing I solved by switching bodies so he was on the girl body. I tried to get over the too mature thing, but finally gave up. I tried for over a year....I love that Ro, but it's not what I wanted.

Reiko is way more what I wanted. I think with a Boo faceup it'll be even better. The eyes aren't narrow like the Ai eyes (which is one of the features I was looking for) but I think the wider eyes helps it to have a less-human appearance and it looks younger. I can't wait to get him home next to Little Alex. And to wipe that faceup and give it a new one -- I wiped little Boo's face and body too so I'll do them both together so they look the same for a change.

Little Boo....ugh. I swear Soom has the worst resin. It's SO yellow! That head and body started off identical - and they're the same age - now the head is lemon-yellow and the body is still white (and it's Fairyland! I used to think they yellowed fast...). And it's not like I took him out in the sun a lot or it's dirty or the sealant....it's yellowed all the way through, evenly, and I have cleaned him off....so sad. I'll have to do a lot of whitening to get him close to his body...

A few more pictures just cause.

 

Lol my tracking said Boo's new head wouldn't arrive until tomorrow, I had Macchi and Mini-Alex at work with me when I ran home to grab the package....so now I have three dolls on my desk at work >.<

  

The first pic was better but Macchi and Mini wanted to be in focus too...


and
Mini has had too much caffeine?

 

 lol

Up Next, on Chopped

EDIT: WOOT all of them are up for sale. Here and on DOA. Here still needs more info, but I have no time atm


I doubt anyone has ever noticed this about me, but I have definite patterns when it comes to dolls. One of them is, when I get a doll (or dolls) I am very happy with, and works out well, I tend to look at my collection and start re-evaluating what I want, what works and what just doesn't.

I got Java and that sort of completed that little group of dolls. I'm happy with them, I love them, other than giving them all a body blushing I think they're perfect. I want to spoil them and make them pretty and buy things for them.

So I started looking at some of the others I have sitting around and thinking "I do nothing with you and you're not what I want anymore"...

It happens.

This weekend I'm going to drag out all the resin bits and dolls that giving me not-so-great feelings and put them all up for sale. Some of them, again.

This post is mostly for me, as I officially gave up on all these things last night, and want an official record of what I want to do so I remember lol.

Also becuase for some reason I feel like I have to explain why I'm selling some of them. I don't know why.....I have guilt or something.

Heads
Dollzone Mo B SD head
Dollzone Fei
CP Luts Delf Dark Elf Soo with Art Delf default faceup
Dollzone Ro

Body
AOD 1/3 Girl NSP

Dolls
Dollzone Cosmo on Mirodoll 60cm boy
ON HOLD Latidoll Rei on AOD 1/4 girl WS damaged
Volks Midori custom
Souldoll Janne

This makes me feel better, it doesn't seem like as much all laid out in front of me!
Some of the dolls either getting reshelled or just given up on.

Big Boo
Dollzone Ro. I can't make him work. I've tried and tried and it's just not happening. His face is too mature and he's not what I wanted....the pictures of the blank head on Dollzone don't look like the head does in person, I've struggled with him enough, and I'm going to try and replace him with something else. Either a Dollzone Rafael, or one of four or five DC heads.

Mini Isis
I just don't think that the Janne head is a believable Isis. She needs to be older-looking or something. And not look so much like Mini-Alex. That freaks me out. She will also just be getting replaced with another SD head or a MNF Mirwen or Celine, possibly something I haven't thought of yet....I'm actually debating selling the whole doll, as I am not a fan of the back-breaking boob size, but so far Souldoll is the tallest girl body I have found...

Jubilee and Wolverine
For now, I'm giving up on them. I honestly think the Cosmo head isn't going to work, it's a hair too big and the proportions bother me. I am going to sell the whole doll (minus the jointed hands which I'll keep) because I can always get another Mirodoll body if I decide to try again, and right now I'm pretty happy with just having Gambit and Jean.

Jubilee is only being sold as a head because last night I gave her body to Sage. I like the AOD body, but I think I like the Delf one better XD
Sage won out, I put the F60 neck part on the Delf girl bod and now she's a whole CP girl. I'm so proud of her! lol So the DES head is going, because I'll probably not use it for anything else, and Sageypoo gets to look fabulous, and have interchangeable-with-two-other-dolls hands, since two more of my girls have Delf hands.

As for Gambit, I am very much set on that River head being him, IF he looks ok with Jean. If not, he gets the Heath head again, and I'll do something else with River. If he does look good with her, Heath goes up for sale again, probably at a lower price.....which sucks.

Same for the Volks Midori......I've had her for sale a couple times now, hopefully this will be the last time.

Y'know what's sad? If I update my profile to reflect this list, I won't own anymore Dollzone dolls. I went from 4, to none (though I still have four bodies XD). Someday Carter will get here and I'll have one again!! And maybe Rafael will work ok as Boo.