craft, Doll, monster high

Beast Boys

Have I made Beast Boy (the doll) his action suit?

No.

Have I made two Beast Boy animal figures?

Yes.

I saw this derpy doggie at the 100¥ shop.

One Apoxie Sculpt collar and paint job later

Beast Dog!

My MH haul came with these plastic cats.

I cut one head open and drilled some drainage holes.

Then I primed and painted.

It’s rough but it’s Beast Cat Planter!

It’s these little projects that give me the sense I’m accomplishing something creative when my schedule gets busy.

Should my self worth be tied to my productivity? No.

Is it?

Hmmmmmm.

craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

Teen Titans Terra: I shrink a head

The new job kicked in hard and fast. I’m doing the work that, at my last company, would be done by 1.5 people. Suffice to say there is a learning curve. This, plus a new commute plus teaching my dance partner’s classes as well as my own, has given me a head cold and my tendonitis is flaring up.

The mixed good news is I have time to recover. It’s an unprecedented TEN DAY Golden week here in Japan. Emperor Akihito is abdicating without the usual obligatory death and his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, will ascend. The new era of Reiwa starts on Wednesday.

Y’all will be in 2019 and I’ll be starting Reiwa year one. Not kidding.

Golden Week involves a lot of people traveling and extra crowds. I’m taking my cold to be a sign that it’s time for me to practice for the 2020 Olympics…wherein I avoid any extra trips into Tokyo until bullshit is settled. My new commute already involves trains where there are train workers on the platforms pushing more people in. Adding GW or Olympics to that? NOPE.

So, what have I been making? Well shortly after things got crazy, it was my birthday…so there is NO SHORTAGE OF DOLLS.

Time to make Terra

But before all the dolls arrived I’d picked up two EAH dolls at Hobby Off. I have become resigned to the fact that if an EAH doll is given to HobbyOff, it will probably have glue seepage.

For Terra I’d use Ashlynn Ella. She doesn’t have yellow-blond hair but she does have sort of a dirty blond tan Malibu Barbie vibe that I thought would work for Terra.

I scrapped out as much extra glue as I could without losing hair and then set about to shrink her head. I figured tighter hair openings would counter balance the decrease in glue…but I also hoped I removed enough glue that the head wouldn’t rip if it tried to shrink smaller than the glue inside.

Shrinking uses acetone to eat away at the plastisizer in the doll’s head, ultimately making it smaller, and less maliable. There are risks.

As friends sent me texts in this time period I’d sometimes reply with pictures like this “I’m drinking to forget”

I used Dirili Dolls videos and blog as a guide.

I intended to do a slow shrink, where a ratio of water to acetone makes it a slower, more controlled process with less ballooning and contracting of the doll’s head over 48 hours of soaking. But I never quite found the sweet spot of a good ratio. After two tries I went for a fast shrink:100% Acetone over 2-3 hours.

MAN DOES THE HEAD BALLOON BEFORE IT SHRINKS.

I waited for it to dry and shrink down, then repeated the process one more time.

Final head next to an unshrunk EAH head.

Then to decorate!

Little by little I’m getting a handle on this scale.

I whipped up a quick outfit. In the future I think I’ll use something other than felt for her belt/pouches and gloves…but I really wanted to get this done RIGHT before my schedule got crazy.

I’ll be painting her boots later.

Here she is with the squad.

Now I just have to tackle Rose Wilson for the Girls Night Out to be complete…and I know who she’ll be made from!

Yup, from the Thrift Shop Haul that is my Father and Step-mother’s contribution to my birthday emerged two Elsas.

And this is just part of the birthday doll haul. SO MANY DOLLS.

Such a head cold.

Updates will be coming daily for a bit.

craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

Chibi and M size Raven

This morning my friend Emily and I were talking about the traumas of the past year and Teen Titans Go, as 40something young women are wont to do.

It’s our habit to try and schedule a good face-time session each week.

She’s now watching Teen Titans Go, which excites me more than it probably should. She now gets why I find it utterly relaxing and mind releasing…and enjoys facetime displays of the dolls I’m working on even more.

We dig Raven. She’s got some anger issues but being the daughter of a demon will do that. She often just wants to be able to escape into a book or watch Pretty Pretty Pegasus. She cracks lame jokes and laughs at them. She has a deadpan delivery…and she doesn’t suffer fools/foolishness.

Emily and I discussed “What Would Raven Do?” regarding dates that waste our time or continue to push boundaries we’ve set.

“Raven would totally give a look, make the pound fist if she had to, and go read a book. She knows that sometimes being alone is better company than being with someone who exhausts you and doesn’t replenish that energy for you. If you get home feeling exhausted and not in a good way…Don’t. Do. That. Again.”

We also discussed how the Pokemon character of Dugtrio BETTER not wait after a week or more of chatting on a dating app where you’ve explicitly said “Not into polygamous relationships” to disclose his other heads.

This of course brings me to Chibi-Raven. She’s DONE!

WHAAAAAAAT’S This? Two Ravens?

Yup.

As I was working on Chibi-Raven I also completed the faceup on an Ever After High doll I bought at Hobby-Off. Faybelle Thorn, except without wings, earrings, stand, or handbag.

I previously explained that her hair is a mix of three different colors that I rerooted when I wrote about the meditative nature of hair reroots.

While doing her face-up I did play around with both Ravens.

This is the first Raven I’ve made that doesn’t cheat and give her bangs to avoid sculpting or rerooting.

I’ve sewn her basic body suit/leotard.

My goal is to finish her outfit and accessories in the next week so I can take the girls out and try photographing them during cherry blossom season.

But as for today they are all wrapped up and packed, along with Beast Boy and Cyborg’s head, to travel to Ueno.

A friend of mine, who I know from my first years here on the Chiba-Wisconsin Sister City program, is currently in Japan with his whole family. The last time I saw him I dressed like a cow and helped out for a day at his cheese-related-booth at an international trade thingie.

This time I’ll be meeting his daughter Sara, who is 8 and a BIG fan of my Teen Titans Go dolls. Her father has shown her pictures, she’s used his FB messenger to chat to me about my dolls, and she is REALLY excited to see them.

We are ready.

craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

JINX!

I just can’t stop making Teen Titans Go dolls.

This should be no surprise to anyone who knew me shortly after college when I started to amass a collection of female action figures. It seemed like a hobby that had limits because action figures were even worse back then about not producing or short packing female figures.

I moved away from my collection and, behold, 16 years later realized I COULD MAKE MY ARMY MYSELF.

JINX in the works!

I mean, Starfire and Raven need to have a (woot woot) GIRLS NIGHT OUT.

I found this used, bagged, Monster High Doll, Operetta, at Dollyteria when I went in last week to cash in my point card before it expired. She was stuck into one of the bins as I was browsing.

And her previous owner had melted some of her hair, so I knew I’d be rerooting her.

I wrote about her hair rerooting in “Hair Meditation”

Does Jinx have pink skin? Not really. It’s kind of a dusty gray/purple but when you put SHOCKING PINK hair on her it bumps the skin tone down a notch.

Does Jinx have swirls carved into part of her face and arms? Not to my knowledge but it didn’t seem it’d be that odd for her to have some sort of “jinxing” marks. Jinx in animation like Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go is WORLDS away from her original character…who was a cancer-bald badass Indian super villain in a loin cloth…and serves more as a naughty super powered teen who has moments of just fun.

She’s generally Perky Goth to Raven’s more classic goth…but you know when Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round’ drops they both can’t resist dancing…and that’s what I’m going for.

Again I used photoshop express to mirror flip images to get symmetry close.

I still struggle working on this scale. I used to draw on huge rolls of paper and work much looser.

Close to finished.

I also noticed the neck peg was showing signs of wear so I put a layer of Tamiya Epoxy Putty on it. Don’t want the peg to snap after I’ve worked hard.

And this brings us to the hair. How was I going to shape Jinx’s hair? Well, I decided to make soft horns out of felt and stuffing. I wrapped and stitched down some of the shed acrylic fuzz left after brushing out her yarn (SO MUCH OF THAT).

I left a patch of scalp un-rooted on both sides of the head.

I coated the patch, and the felt base of the horns with liquid fusion and allowed to dry. I wanted to build up that glue base on the horn a bit.

This horn will later be attached to the remaining horn-hole, pinned until the bond is formed, and the hair will be shapped around it and joined with elastic. I’m still figuring out if I want to color a band of hair black between the holders or use an elastic black band for the area near her hair point. It’s temporarily elasticed on one side to keep it out of the way but I have bang/trim shaping to tidy up and some last minute face touches to apply.

But now I rest and let things dry.

craft, Doll, sewing

Diana Prince pt 2

I’m doing fairly well with the “finish it” goal of February and so-so on the frugal one.

Diana Prince, the groovy boutique owning super spy WW with no powers, is almost finished. Removed the Barbie lining of her jacket and I relined with leftover kimono silk from my own jacket re-lining project last year.

She still needs jewelry and boots, because this Diana Prince understands the essential nature of good accessories.

Alas it seems to be hard to get a good even white on her existing boots.

I may need to make her a pair. Making shoes/boots is probably in my future. The “Bratzilla” doll I remade has irregular sized feet (for a doll). Unlike the snap-off shoe-feet of Bratz, Brazilla have feet-feet…but larger than your average fashion doll.

Same for the DC Superhero girls dolls. I love the fact they have more realistically proportioned feet but am sad that this means a dearth of ready-to-wear shoes. These dolls can wear other doll’s clothing but it’s mighty hard for Wonder Woman to find civilian clothes that work with her red boots with WW gold accents. How’s she supposed to have a secret identity once she gets her super powers back?

Bruce Wayne doesn’t have to wear Batboots in the boardroom. It’d make things obvious.

Bruce Wayne, I imagine, has to be mighty good with makeup/concealer. That cowl doesn’t protect his whole face from bruises. Does he send Alfred to buy it? “It’s for Master Bruce’s….mistress”

That’s a montage I want. Superhero dudes learning bruise concealing makeup techniques.

And I want more doll shoes.

And if I want either of those things, I’ll need to pay someone or make them myself.

craft, Doll

Color Blocked to fight crime: Diana Prince part 1

The day after I wrote about craft as meditation the world decided to throw me a curve. Someone I had once been friends with has done something I can’t stomach and legal action against him has thus been thwarted.

I blocked him. I posted the information and screenshots I’d received as proof of his actions. I took a tea cup he’d once given me outside and smashed it with a broom and then swept up the shards.

I went inside and worked on Diana Prince.

In the 70’s, after Wonder Woman’s original creator had passed away, her readership had been flagging. Then Wonder Woman became the New Wonder Woman for a while. She gave up her super powers and became Diana Prince who ran a mod clothing shop, was a martial arts expert, and a ass kicking super spy who’d get dropped into any 70’s issue or fad: cults, biker gangs, occult witches, drug running, violent hippies and more.

And she might have been stripped of her powers but, damn, she embraced color blocked fashion and was styling. The look of these issues were lush, blending true romance comic art, 70’s ads, up to date fashion, and ass kickings

More info on this run.

I once bought a 1970’s chiffon dress in pink and yellow because it reminded me of her outfits.

In early December when my Step mother sent me three random used dolls, and one of them was a DC superhero girl Wonder Woman I knew I wanted to make Groovy and Hip Diana Prince.

She’s not my favourite version of WW but she’s the most visually compelling for me.

First I cleaned up her hair and gave it some curl.

I removed her face with Acetone and adjusted a Barbie jacket and dress to better fit her. I still need to reline the jacket in something without a Barbie print.

I’m still getting used to working this small and getting the eyes smooth (without some lumpiness of the white acrylics) is alluding me. Still, each time gets better.

To troubleshoot wonky symmetry I’ve been taking photos and mirror flipping them to better see shape differences.

And I added false 3-D lashes because if ever there was a Diana who was lashtastic it’s Romantic Spy Boutique Diana.

At a friend’s suggestion I used a black pipe cleaner as a “bump it” to increase hair volume. I realized my previous hair curling wouldn’t quite work for the new “bumped” style so she’s been gently boil permed again and is now waiting for everything to dry.

Which is fine because tonight and tomorrow I’m at live music and dance rehearsals where I am feeling imposter syndrome revving up as nervousness starts to shut down my second language skills.

I’m in a coffee shop on break to get some food and caffeine in me before I go back.

But, when I finish tonight, and spend an hour on the train getting home, I know the dolls in doll spa, like Diana, will be happy to see me.

blythe, Doll, sewing

Aggretsuko!

Let’s move along to finished projects I should have told you about ages ago.

My Aggretsuko Blythe! Just in time for the Netflix Christmas Special!!

Her face just wasn’t right last time. I realized that it was because I’d given her lips. Red pandas have mouths that pop out from under white fur.

That issue solved:

Eyes I ordered locally:

Hearts and skulls!

I also used a pattern book to make that tiny shirt. I drafted the skirt myself.

Local wig! I decided to trim it after this picture. I made the ears out of white fake fur and orange felt. They are lightly stuffed and stitched to the wig.

Hair cut! Fake beer from a Gotchapon

Machine.

I used a pattern book again but altered a jacket pattern into a vest pattern.

With leftover white fake fur (I painted with watered-down acrylics and brushed between colors to prevent clumping) I created her tail.

I also drew one pair of her eyes and glued them to 14cm glass cabochons.

And printed out the last pair and glued them similarly

Tada!!!

Happy Holidays, Y’all.

craft, monster high, tutorial

Starfire 1.0 Finished

Because I had left over air-dry polymer resin clay I decided to make Starfire her own Silky.

To color the clear/white clay I had I added a little acrylic to a blob of clay and rolled/kneaded it until the pigment was evenly distributed.

And I set to work rolling, pinching, and sculpting.

The Silkie I’m showing you I originally considered a failure, because it kept falling forward onto its face. Then I decided to use a toothpick to make a simple hole in it so a wooden rod could be attached to it later.

After a few days of air drying I primed it with Mr. Superclear and powdered it with chalk pastel pigment to make it less glossy. After fixing it once more with Superclear I painted it with acrylic paints.

The Silkie!

Then I set about making a base for Starfire and Silkie.

I found a star-shaped wooden dish for 150¥. I turned it upside down and drilled a hole into it and inserted a wooden dowel into the hole.

I then used purple wire from the 100¥ shop to make little….body prongs. Not perfect but ok for my first try.

I then drilled a tiny hole and inserted Silkie’s toothpick base…and painted everything with the purple paint I’d used for Starfire’s boots.

And my first Starfire was finished.

The second, 17” Starfire will get the second Silkie.

craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

Starfire: it starts

Me (watching YouTube videos): wow, but who has the patience for that? That’s too finicky for me.

Me (months later): Well, I guess now I do this too.

And so it was with rerooting doll hair.

I’ve been on the lookout for a “Clawdeen Wolf” 17inch tall Monster High doll to make into a Teen Titans Go Starfire to pair with the Raven I made.

While in America, shopping at Tuesday Morning for random dolls, I bought a regular sized version of Clawdeen as a test doll. I also thought, “Cool! Her hair is kinda the right color!”

Silly me. I didn’t realize the need to make Starfire would lead me to learning how to plunge needles into a doll’s naked head, sowing rows of synthetic hair.

Once back in Japan I realized some obvious issues.

Starfire doesn’t have wolf ears on top of her head.

Starfire does have noticeable ears though, in a location Clawdeen doesn’t.

Even if I remove Clawdeen’s ears, fill the existing holes, and reattach those ears lower as Starfire ears….Clawdeen is going to have bald head spots.

I think this is where normal people decide that 8$USD spent on a doll is no great loss. It is where >I< decided to learn how to fill skull holes, move ears, and reroot a whole head.

Time to Google things!

What did I do before I learned to teach myself from the wisdom of the internet?

Libraries. I know I taught myself interior faux finishes from library books. Just as my mother learned she could check out books on refinishing floors….and rent heavy duty tools.

In my day the neck of a Barbie or similar doll was a simple affair with a simple nodule the head would fit onto. If that nodule broke, or the neck hole in the head suffered structural damage, you had a head that popped off easily and needed to be shoved so far onto the neck as to be absurd.

Now Barbie and similar fashion dolls have a more complex plastic inner head rack that is less likely to be damaged by ill meaning playmates and bad choices.

It reminds me of an IUD.

Game on.

I cut off Clawdeen’s perfectly crimped hair, warmed her head, and eased her off her skull hooks.

Then I took tweezers and a needle nosed pliers to remove the remaining hair plugs from the inside and outside of her head.

Then, it was time for a setback.

The internet recommends a non-toxic glue called Liquid Fusion for plugging the holes left behind when cutting off the doll’s ears. Liquid Fusion would have been easy to buy in America but I was back in Japan.

I was able, with much google power, to find in available in a Japanese online store dedicated to fly-fishing. They didn’t have an online checkout but I emailed them for an invoice, transferred the money, and would soon be back in business.

craft, Doll, sewing, Uncategorized

For Rookling: The Secret Project.

Let’s meet the girl behind the project I’ve been keeping secret. She’s my favorite corvid-human hybrid, Rookling. Her project happened simultaneously alongside Archie.

Does she look surprised? She was!

Rookling, her polychrome hair mushrooming around her face, thick lashes and extra lashes on top of that, the eyes of Liza Minnelli, and such aptitude, y’all…such aptitudes…such a mind for images and words.

I met her when we were 20 or 21 when we both frequented Anime conventions.

She was somewhere between here and here.  I would have had short black chopped hair, making us quite the Liza Minelle cover duo.

It’s been at least 20 years. We kept in touch, although there were large gaps. We’ve seen and heard each other break open. There have been times when we fell prey to young insecurities, jealousy, and confusion…but we got through that. A series of crying exchanges and a few FaceTimes about 7-9 years ago bonded us back into what we are to each other today, so far away.

As did proper medications and self-knowledge.

Rookling has health problems that limit her body from doing what her dynamic spirit desires. I’m glad that the internet has expanded to the world it is today and is there for her to travel, research, find inspiration, and connect with others where she is and when she is able. Before? well, she would have found a way to hold salon discussions at her place somehow but this is easier.

You may actually know her, her social presence is that vast. We often find ourselves with mutual online friends who marvel that we go back to what the fussy-daddies call Real Life. That should have read Fuddy-Duddies but I’ll keep the auto correct.

It’s been haaaaaaaard keeping this doll a secret. Even secret groups I’m in for shouting these sorts of secrets in, she’s there. I whispered it to people in private messages when I needed a boost.

I found Barbie in a bin at a Hobby Off around Christmas. I wasn’t looking for a Barbie but there she was, in a baggie, with dark hair only slightly longer than Rookling’s was when we first met. She had boots and, goddamn it is fate, ROOTED LASHES.

I knew what I had to do. I had to make my girl an action figure.

This Barbie has some serious posing limits, her legs don’t really move, action figure is pushing it…but she had the look. I had to.

Rookling loves having blue hair above all colors. She’s always been unable to resist dolls with blue hair but I wasn’t about to learn re-rooting hair for my first Barbie repaint. I have limits. Besides, this was Rookling as she’d first imprinted on me.

First I cut her hair so it was a less severe bob and more like a, well, a fluffy head cap

I wrapped her body and hair in protective fabric and set to work with fixative and pigment.

I had no idea what I was doing. I made mistakes. I got frustrated. It’s not as clean as I’d like…but it is her. Her dimples, her makeup, and her dreamy eyes.

This was when I learned how fussy fashion doll clothing is.

I messaged Rookling asking what she’s wearing nowadays. Most of her photos of herself, and there are many, only show her face.

It’s a testament to the more random exchanges we have that she never asked me why I wanted this, she just told me she’s opting for soft and comfy. I guess she figured I wanted to update to my mental imaginings. As much as she posts lovely blue gowns and mod dresses she finds online, I wanted this doll to be the practical Rookling as she is.

I started with the sweatshirt. I didn’t have black sweatshirt material so I used what I had…grey material cut from my Wonder Woman /Hello Kitty crossover sweatshirt. I’d cropped it for teaching belly dance while also staying warm.

Then came those TINY DENIM JEANS.I now know that you can replace the needle plate on your machine for one with a smaller hole that won’t swallow delicate fabrics when you start stitching.

I’d had this fake fur (purple leopard print) laying around. I’ve had it for 8 or more years always knowing it would go into a project for Rookling. I made her a fake fur jacket she’d love and lined it with skeletons because I gotta be me.

I cut the grey boots she’d come with to a more combat boot length and primed, painted, and finished them.

I then sent it to her, with tracking, and obsessively followed its progress.when tracking alerted me it had arrived to her parents (who can better pick up missed deliveries than she can) I messaged her.

Specifically:
I THINK YOUR PARENTS HAVE IT.

She assured me they did and she’d get it the following day. I replied, “I’m not good with delayed gratification!”

I’m not.

And then she had it.

And there were tears.

” I cried! I’m in awe and…well, hit me up when you’re up and free! She’s perfect, perfect, beyond perfect, and her lipstick even exactly matches one I frequently wear and have since before we met, Revlon’s Blackberry. Her hair is exactly mine when you and I saw one another in the 90s. And those perfect jeans! To see what you said was so hard to do, and it’s for me?! I’m so moved. Oh, the boots! Her eye makeup. Dimples! Oh, I’m crying again about the beautiful, beautiful Rook doll! “

Tears on both sides. As I type, tears.

We haven’t always been the best friends we could be at all times but we’re trying… you know? And when we do it, when we are the friend the other deserves, it’s overwhelming, I tell you, overwhelming.

There will be pictures of her and the doll later but this, for now, is what I have to share.

Do It Yourself: WFU

The dolls and art of a woman in Japan trying to be better.

Tag Archives: geekgirl

Beast Boys

Teen Titans Terra: I shrink a head

Chibi and M size Raven

JINX!

Diana Prince pt 2

Color Blocked to fight crime: Diana Prince part 1

Aggretsuko!

Starfire 1.0 Finished

Starfire: it starts

For Rookling: The Secret Project.