Is anyone still reading this? XD; I keep not posting here, so I should probably direct anyone still interested to check out what used to be my personal journal, ruviela.

This is the second time I've taken a dremel to this boy. > >; It's his fourth faceup (hence the .5?), since I'd redone his face once before round two of the dremeling -- it was so hideous, there are no pictures. This time, I've opened his eyes up a little more as well as sanded the tip of his nose to be less pointy. My intent with his faceup was to make him look more mischievous to counterpoint Mikan's softness.



( progression map )
Sometime, I'll do a progression map for Mikan, too! Right now, I'm waiting on a Yeon-ho head from a group order, and contemplating selling my Kd Karon head. Bonding isn't working out as well as it could be, as I can't even settle on a name for him. x x;

It's been a while since I've taken pictures of these two guys. > >;



( blueberry tart )

I gave Mikan a new faceup a few days ago, but didn't get the chance to take pictures 'till today. So, here he is. XD;



( +3 big pictures under the cut! )

Oh man, he looks different because his eyebrows are lower and a little thicker above his eyes. I meant to make him look more gentle than mischievous this time, but it looks like his lips turned out a little more red than I'd like. > >;

Also, I don't think I updated about it here, but the third doll's name is Aiza. He's gone through a few changes himself since he first arrived -- he looks a lot less like a certain surly swordsman, which is a good thing. XD;

waffling

I still haven't decided which wig will be this doll's default, nor have I decided what his name should be. > >; 'Karon' does seem like a good name for him, since it's a little less of a mouthful than 'Kagami.' Bwah, I'll see if the incoming wig gives me hints.



Because this wig, though pretty and soft and silky makes me inclined to call him something I shouldn't because there's absolutely no way I could do that character justice. > >; He is really good-looking, though, so I suppose I can't be blamed if that's my idea of beauty~?

Rabi + tentacles

Also, I went to Berkeley with the family today! We walked around on Telegraph and Durant a while. Got some lunch at the Sweetheart Cafe -- their crispy pepper tentacles squids are made of win. :D



I...brought pinky!Rabi along. XD; I've had that Yuki Nagato hair painted to suit him for over a month now. Just forgot to take pictures for posting here. The paint I used was Tamiya arylic gloss, which sticks and covers much better than the Winton I was using before.

This one has yet to whisper his name. Looks like I'm the type who has the doll before a character, ehe. Though... I'm still sorely tempted to model him after a certain someone, but that wouldn't do that someone justice at all! Anyway, here're some faceup photos while I work on cleaning off his unstrung body~

Materials: Liquitex soft body acrylic, Liquitex acrylic gloss medium & varnish, Alphacolor soft pastels, Derwent watercolor pencils, Prismacolor watercolor pencil

Raw. After wiping his previous faceup.



( color correction, & faceup v1 )

The only thing that bothers me is probably his nipples. They're like... in the wrong place on his pecs. I'm considering sanding those off and just blushing the details on. *cough* All in all, I'm very pleased with him! Compared to Mikan and Renato, he has a nice weight and sturdiness to him. I really love his articulation, too -- so much potential for interesting poses once he's sueded and strung again. Aside from that, I'm expecting everything but his clothes to arrive within a day or so.

Oh crap. My sister just said he looks like grown-up Mikan. XD;

It's the new guy. > > The wig, and maybe even his eyes are temporary, since I'm still waiting on the ones I ordered for him. I got his faceup done today, only to realize that I'd overdone the blushing on his face and his head still doesn't exactly match his body. Ehehe, uh, I was meaning to take him apart for restringing, hot glue sueding, and blushing anyway.



I still haven't broken away from doing super plain faceups, but this one's a smidge darker than normal. We'll see how this experiment goes!

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 r727, 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.