craft, Doll, monster high, sewing, Uncategorized

Sally and the bumpy ride.

Oh. Oh. It’s just so hard to know where to start.

As an elementary school English teacher employed by a dispatch company in Japan, March always involves a dip in work and pay for me.

This year has been a whole ‘nother experience.

My contract year and the days I had to show up to school ended March 10th, although my actual classes ended in February 28 due to Covid19. A few days before the contract ended I learned that the company I work for had lost the contract for the city I worked in..and didn’t have any cities near me they could shift me into.

Next school year starts April 1st. Japan is still planning on it starting…but then again in Japan people are still going to cherry blossom parties and Prime Minister Abe is JUUUST starting to admit that maaaaaaaybe the Olympics won’t happen this year…but the Gov. of Tokyo wants to declare a lock down. It’s all complicated. I think Japan is in denial.

I’ve had the insanity of being an asthmatic social distancing myself when it feels like so few other in this country are people are… while also making sure I’m employed the next coming school year…even though I think that the school year maybe shouldn’t start.

All while trying to get more organized through the filter of knowing I have ADHD and need new skills, at a time my days and nights all blend together in mostly emptiness.

My family back home is taking precautions. I would often travel to see them this time of year but..well..I can’t do that during a job hunt and the end of the world. I worry about them. I really do.

In the last 48 hours I’ve turned down a job, thought I had another job, lost that job, applied for different jobs, and accepted a job offer from my previous company now that they’ve had an opening that’s…not near me but not worse than last year?

And there have been tears.

My friend Ebony works in a preschool. Her school isn’t public so she’s been at work this whole time. Things have been rough on her. We have texted dailyl

One thing I’ve been able to feel great about is that I finished a surprise gift for Ebony and sent it to her home..and she got it and cried.

This is what we do now, we cry. We all cry a lot because there’s just so much to be overwhelmed by.

This is what she opened:

sallllllllly

 

I didn’t take enough in progress photos, sorry.

That’s a Frankie Stien Monster High doll as Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas…but I think you knew that.

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The process started before I had an airbrush so I had to sand and build up the color of the doll (Frankie is more light greenish blue than blue) with chalk pastels and layers of fixative. And then I had to pencil in her seams.

You can see the color difference clearing in this shot of the finished body and the head (uncolored) after I’d rooted it with brushed acrylic yarn.

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But this time I had an airbrush to get the base color down for the face before painting.

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With the dress, this was my first time using acrylic paints, thinned with a textile medium, to create the whole dress pattern.

I made a base dress from white cotton. Then I painted in the color patches. Once dried I used a permanent fine-line marker for details. Finally I over-stitched sections with black thread and added a stitched on patch for depth.

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For all the turmoil…and stillness…the last few weeks have contained…I have brought some joy to someone.

I have also been making progress in organizing my projects, tasks, life and daily needs in a bullet journal….figuring that a system developed by a designer with ADHD might be a good fit for me, and so far it is.

Tonight, I get to rest. Knowing that I do have a job come April…I really do..so long as school is a thing. If school isn’t a thing for a while, I have a safety net.

There is much to worry about…but I’m getting out of bed everyday and doing…somethings. I hope you are too.

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craft, Disney, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

New Hands Are Here!

Right now it’s hard to prioritize things. I get home and everything shouts for attention: my bed, my need for nourishing food, my need to make that food, my crafts, the things I need to do for dance and the studio…

Before I know it it’s past my bedtime, way past, and I feel like nothing got done but a mess was made. I know that’s in part the depression talking but it’s also true that my focus feels fragmented.

I did manage to get the studio website updated to the best of my ability tonight.  Unfortunately I had some questions about some class description titles not matching the names of the classes on our schedule.

This is all compounded by the fact that I can read (almost) all the home page and promotional copy I get from my dance partner, in my second language, but I can’t always trust my second language for generating new copy when something is lacking or contradicting itself.

My dance partner also just had a baby. It’s a fresh baby…like 3 months fresh..so text replies to my questions to her might come at once or at 4 am. I’m closing LINE/Instagram and the studio homepage editor for the night and just being glad I started the process and have made headway into new classes and the 2019 schedule.

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You say new baby, I say napping partner. This was at his 2 month mark. I’m going to be doing a lot of baby duty while she gets back into classes at the studio in the new year.

The good news is…I can feel like I did much more tonight because my replacement hands arrived in the mail.

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I found replacement hands for my Sally Doll in progress. Shipping from America isn’t always cheap but…I wasn’t looking forward to hand sculpting hands with a wrist joint and arm pegs.

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…and I can send more goofy text photos to friends here.

 

 

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craft, Doll, monster high, Uncategorized

Sculpting Sally

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Sally has little boots and slumpy striped socks.

My Freaky Friend doesn’t have real shoes. She has red shoe-shapes covering wide, triangular leg ends. Nothing foot-like under the shoes.

Like Bratz before them, oversized shoes are a HUGE part of the Monster high look. Doll Sally won’t have the tiny little feetzies of film Sally.

It’s not like a Sally doll is going to wear other outfits or need to change her shoes. I’ve decided to sculpt her socks and shoes right on her.

I’m learning to sculpt with Tamiya epoxy putty. It comes in two different colored sticks, like flat gum, and you mix two equal parts together to create the chemical reaction needed for the epoxy to airdry. I picked up two small packets of Tamiya Epoxy Putty (Smooth type and quick type) at Yellow Submarine  for about 500yen each on Monday.

Last night I tried the quick type, without familiarizing myself with epoxy and how you need to keep your fingers and surfaces wet, and wasted about  250 yen worth last evening. not much but still…meh

Moral of the story: When you take the Ambien… GET IN BED.

When I got home today I tried the Smooth Type.

I figured I’d build the socks and the tongue of the boot first.  Tomorrow I teach dance after work and Friday and Saturday are restaurant gigs after work so I probably won’t be able to do a thing until Sunday…but smooth type sometimes needs a full day to cure.

After that dries I’ll fashion the body of the boot (cant make heels, alas, due to her foot wedges). Then I’ll sand a bit and add the laces. Everything will be painted later.

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craft, Disney, Doll, Uncategorized

Monster High Gore-geous Ghoul Beast Freaky Friend: Sally

I thought the 17″ (38cm) Frightfully Tall Ghoul line of Monster High dolls were the tallest Monster High dolls. I was wrong.

I am new to dolls and much of what I know comes from getting a doll that’s been through some rough time and then Googling to figure out WTF I have.

I know that the Monster High Voltageous dolls are 28″ (71cm) because I have one now. It came in THE BOX OF DOLLS.

Meet my new Gore-geous Ghoul Beast Freaky Friend (Green).

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She originally came with attachable wings, extra webbed hands, shoe covers, multiple glasses and headbands, a dress, and…AN EXTRA FLESH FACE SHE CAN WEAR OVER HER ORIGINAL FACE.

It just pops right on!

Thanks to Gina, I now have:
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Her. She comes with shoes that are not meant to come off, a dress, and no hands.

Her eye gimick works, you click a button on the back of her head and her eyes change to three different options. The white is “in between”

A child has also added glitter to her eyelids.

Her hair was a little sparse but I couldn’t get the scalp off and it was the right color for…SALLY

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No hands was a drawback but I figured I could hunt for some or sculpt my own…because WHY NOT sculpt jointed hands.

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In removing her face I came close to destroying her. I started with Acetone (which melts this sort of plastic) and then caught my error and continued with paint thinner and sand paper.

I also started experimenting with carving.

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And then her eyes rolled back into her skull. A section of old plastic snapped…rollllll.

I was unable to get to her eyes. The plastic held a section of the gimick in place inside her skull.

So….with a thin hacksaw and some prying I TOOK HER SKULL OFF.

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My reasoning being that:

  • I could always re-attach it.
  • I could widen her eye holes more for better Sally proportions.
  • I could add hair to the scalp before replacing it.
  • It was free.
  • Why not?

 

Tonight I’ll experiment with carving her body and preparing to add resin epoxy strings.

New Normal, folks

 

 

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