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



( blueberry tart )

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.

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. ^^;

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~!

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.

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!