Disney, Doll, Uncategorized

Build me up, Buttercup

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When Powerpuff Girls hit big time in 1998 it made and impact on me and my female friends.

We were recently out of college or finishing up. You can’t tell me that we WEREN’T the key demographic…I know that we were in my heart and because by the time it was on video I worked at an independent video store and had seen the promotional goods and screeners and the info that went with them.

Kick-ass female cartoon characters were still few and far between. We had to make do with a single female ass-kicker in a group of men OR turn to Japanese Anime. Three powerful little girls? YES, PLEASE. Did we discuss the dynamics of which character we strongly identified with? YES.

I was Buttercup. It wasn’t up for debate. I didn’t have to argue for it. It was known.

Strong temper? Not a morning person? Blunt? Not the best impulse control?  Somehow loved despite that?

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Me in the late 90’s. SEE?

While I am now more of a Buttercup/Blossom hybrid, I didn’t see that shift coming. Shout-out to medications that help me be more level-headed and not ALL id.

Last year I completed Blossom and Buttercup’s faces and hair. I realized today that I’d not shown you that. Last I shared Ariel and Snow White were still detached heads, getting bangs and the start of the Blossoming.

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And this is Blossom now:

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Buttercup has also finished with her face-up,this is an in-progress shot to show the lip-scar. I figured she’d be the one most likely to have split a lip or sport bruises.

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And her head returned to her body.

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I’m a little nonplussed with the dresses I made. I think they need to be cuter with fuller skirts.

And that has left Bubbles…in the corner.

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I’d picked an Aurora doll…but her hair part wasn’t right. I figured I’d make her a wig, but hand sewing a wig is something I haven’t found a great tutorial on. Progress has been spotty. The wig shown was a Mercari buy so I could harvest cheap wefts.

In the interest of tackling unfinished projects instead of starting new ones, I’ve decided to go another direction with her. Stay tuned.

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craft, Doll, pullip, Uncategorized

This doll will have everything

More than a year ago, my friend Ebony sent me a LINE message from a Hobby-Off. It included a picture of a baggie doll.

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It was a “Alfred” TaeYang. TaeYang is Pullip’s boyfriend…her second boyfriend actually because Namu was her first and wasn’t popular. Namu is no more. Goodnight Namu.

Of course, the TaeYang Ebony mailed me about was naked, in a baggie, with some sort of glitter-gel caked in his wig for about 3,000¥

So, of course, I was all:

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I DOOOOOOOO!

And then he sat around until I realized who he needed to be…

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I’m a Bill Hader fan girl. Stefon, I love. In an alternate universe John Mulaney and I are a power couple so I feel like Bill’s part of the family.  The series Barry is bloody brilliant (but only NoHo Hank is really a viable doll). AND I appreciate that Bill Hader has been open about his issues with anxiety.

I’ve now spent a LOT of time googling him and studying his face…he’s hot.  This is the hottest photo of him. I just needed to share this image. Take. It. All. In.img_2547

So, as usually I removed TaeYangs face with rubbing alcohol and fine sandpaper.

This time, because TaeYang is smooth and nearly nose-less and Bill is NOT, I had to start carving. More nose, smile lines, and after this…and this feels weird to say, opening up one eye slightly larger than the other because Bill Hader has a slight muscle issue in one eye so when he’s not actively making a face one eyelid hangs slightly lower.

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And I began drawing in his face.

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I feel like a creeper who is way too familiar with Bill Hader’s eyebrows.

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I feel like a creeper a lot of the time, only partly because of the dolls. Recently Ebony and I split cheese sticks at a TGIFridays. Ebony and I both noticed how attractive our server was….but how I reacted was by telling Ebony “Her lips would look amazing on a doll. I couldn’t stop staring at them”  and Ebony was more human in noting “She’s very attractive”

We later told the server she was pretty and I refrained from saying YOUR FACE WOULD LOOK GREAT ON A DOLL.

So, Stefon’s face is now mostly finished….although I’ll be smoothing those lip colors a bit later.img_0150

This has brought us to the stage I’m now on, building a wig.

I’ve only made one yarn wig thus far. Smaller and more conceptual.

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TaeYang’s head is MUCH bigger than a Monster High doll so it’s slow going, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to find a perfect wig for Stefon.

Here is an in-process shot of it looking like the dude you liked 30 years ago and have just looked up on Facebook.

Trying on the wig midway to make sure I’m not crazy.  With styling and some razor trimming this should eventually work…

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And then will come the most absurd part of this process….

Tiny. Ed. Hardy. Shirt. for Stefon Zelesky. Yes, he has a last name.

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Until then, New York’s hottest club is Wesh. Nine-year-old Tokyo pimp Ichiaku Guru is back with an all-new hot spot that answers the question What?!? This place has everything: trance, stilts, throw-up music, an albino that looks like Susan Powter, Teddy Graham people…

 

 

 

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craft, Doll, Uncategorized

Seeepage.

My Raven Queen from Ever After High is kinda nasty. She’s introduced me to a new doll ailment: glue seepage.

I should probably avoid negative terms like “nasty”. Getting glue seepage isn’t a reflection on a doll’s character, it’s just something that can happen.

The first time I wrote about her I noted that her hair was oily and oddly sticky.

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Well, I boil washed it. Greasy. I washed it with dish soap and hot water…and it was still greasy.

I felt like a fool googling “why does my doll has greasy hair?” because my dolls are not…I repeat NOT…alive. They don’t have skin and scalps and oils like we do.

Apparently there can be a build up of glue that starts to breakdown. Maybe something is off in the glue head ratio…I’m wondering if it’s a chemical thing that can happen like plastic melt…and that excess glue breakdown runoff ends up coming out of the scalp holes via the hair. My hot water and boiling water was just telling that breakdown “get excited and do more!”

If you get rid of all the glue inside the head…that’s what’s holding the hair in place…although I fear if other methods don’t work I will eventually have to remove her hair, remove all the glue somehow. Shame, I like her hair.

I removed her head from her neck peg. Indeed, the neck peg was coated in greasy sticky blobs. I tried to scrub the inside of the head with a paste of baking soda/tea tree oil/coconut oil (diy Goo Gone as goo gone isn’t sold here…I also wanted to use up my tea tree oil. Hedgehogs can’t handle tea tree oil so I can never use it for house stuff) to get larger clumps of glue out. Then I washed the inside a few times with a toothbrush and dish detergent.

I hung it to dry.

Now I’m soaking up excess oil by throwing the head in a baggie with some cornstarch and doing a shake/no bake and comb out process.

Doll heads in white baggies is my new kitchen decor. My friends love my random texts now…

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But, as I’m combing it out…it still feels greasy.

I may have a solution. I’ve been thinking about what sort of figures these big moon-faced dolls would work for…

Edward. Goddamned. Gorey.

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If I just cut the hair off and scrape out her head….His women are fond of short bobs (doll wig) and…turbans.

yeessssssss

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