Faceup for succubus

My friend ordered a new doll from Impldoll: the Loss Of Brilliant -series`s grey skinned Azalea. She wanted to shell a character of hers, which is a succubus but to save money, she ordered the doll blank. She bemoaned that her face painting skills were poor and she needed to find someone to do it for her. As I heard that, of course I wanted to help and offered to make it for her just to get more experience for myself.

As the succubus is a winged man-chasing female demon, my friend wanted the faceup to be strong, seductive and above all: have red lips. Here is what I achieved:

I put her super long eyelashes intentionally to highlight her femininity.

This was my first time ever to paint a grey resin but it was no harder than normal skin resin. For the first time I also used Army Painter as a sealant and to be honest, I do like Testors more. T gives better tooth for pastels to stick on but on the other hand, maybe it`s just because I haven`t used to AP. Anyhow, I´m sure I will get used to AP as soon as I get work with it more. I have one bottle of Testors still left but as it runs out, I have to start using AP instead since in Finland Testors is no longer available.

My friend liked the finished face-up and I was very happy to see her approval. I already took her another doll to my "spa" so more faceups to come later.

Too Spooky Halloween Monster Tag

Photo: morguefile.com

There is a BJD tag going on in the blogs so I decided to join the fun! Let`s start:

Werewolf - How has the hobby "transformed" you?

I´d say the biggest transformation has happened to my general interest of dolls. Usually as a child, I wasn`t very fond of dolls but more of plushies and soft animal toys. Only dolls I liked were some barbies and some other cartoonish-/ fantasy type ones which had some magical elements like wings etc. But the day I saw my first pictures of BJD`s I immediately thought they were something unbelievable beautiful and so the seed was sown. After a few years I came across with BJD`s again realizing that these dolls actually existed and it was possible to buy them. The difference between Barbies was so big that I wanted to know more. The first doll meet I joined was the last seal for my decision to get a BJD.

Other major change has happened to my perspective towards money: now a doll with 300 $ price tag is considered as cheap, while back then I´d have been astonished and devastated. Not sure is that a good or a bad thing, though. ;) Also the hobby has given me a new channel to use my crafting skills.

Vampire - The dreaded sun! How do you feel about and cope with yellowing, or more generally the aging of these dolls?

I am not afraid of yellowing or aging. I do not expose my dolls on direct sunlight nor store them on their boxes or dark rooms either. Aging and changing of the colour is just the nature of resin and just like everything on this planet gets old, so does the dolls. In my mind these are items that must be seen and put on displays. I very much enjoy just to look at them even if I didn`t do anything else. To me, dolls are eye candy! If I paid 500 $ on a doll, only that is a reason big enough to look, play, and handle it like all the time, otherwise it would be a waste of money, wouldn`t it? I would never buy a doll just to bury it in the darkest corner of my house and dig it out just a few times of the year to quickly look at or to sew a dress. That is not who I am and how I act. Like old teddybears, also old and much-loved BJD´s are beautiful, yellowed or not.

Frankenstein`s Monster - Have you ever modded a doll? Tell us about it! If you could magically try any mod without fear of failure, what would you like to try?

I have done only one modding on my first doll, which was MSD sized Angelregion`s Littlefair Ren girl. Her nose and chin were very sharp and pointy, so I sanded them a little bit down to give her softer features. Other than that and seam sandings, I haven`t done more.

If I had the chance to make any kind of mod I desired, I´d like to do some sort of fantasy creature with big wings. Thing that I have been really thinking has been finding and hybriding heel feet for my Nekome. Older Delf bodies never came with the heel feet option but the new Senior Delf´s heel feet are interchangeable with their new Delf´s. However, since my Nekome is so old and yellowed already, the new resin would never match hers.

Zombie - Have you ever caught the Marketplace virus? Name some unplanned purchases that jumped out and "infected" you?

My second doll, which was LUTS´s Delf Soony, was sort of an unplanned purchase. I had craved for Soony since the first days of my BJD journey, but never before had money or courage to buy her (I was just a teenage back then). Then I saw her on sale at DOA and since the price was so good and I luckily had some spare money in my pockets, I decided to go for it. I justified my whim by referring it as a birthday present from me to myself.

Actually all of my dolls have been purchased without any specific or detailed background or thought. I have mainly just bought dolls that have been pleasing to my eye really.

Photo: morguefile.com

Skeleton - What`s your favourite body sculpt? Forget heads!

This is a tough question because I have so little experience of different doll bodies. I like the look of the Fairyland´s and LUTS´s doll bodies and I love Atelier Momoni´s Nena body. It would be easier for me to say which bodies I do not like (aesthetically) but I´d need more real-life experience to tell what would be my ultimate favourite.

Witch - Name some dolls that are magical! Seeing them on your dashboard inspires you! Can be general sculpts or specific dolls owned by talented friends.

I love Unoa Lusis and once I had her, but sold very quickly due the need of money for other interests at that time. I probably will get her again sometimes and been lately thinking that repeatedly. I have always loved that face! There are so many talented hobbyists that I don`t want to point out any specific. Everybody has their own charm.

Ghost - The one that got away. Do any limited or rare dolls "haunt" you to this day?

The doll that I have always liked and wanted was the Angelregion Fair girl Diana. When I purchased the Little Fair Ren, I would have chosen Diana if I had the money. So, she haunts me every now and then, just like the Unoa Lusis does too. Luckily I have been safe from the bigger ghosts.

Freddy Krueger - What is your worst doll nightmare? Has it happened or not?

My worst nightmare have probably been something to do with shipping like where I get a package with completely distroyed doll etc. That has never happened  - and hopefully will ever happen!

Jason Voorhees - If you were gonna make Halloween costumes for your dolls (or if you plan to!) what costumes would you make?

It´s a pitty we don`t celebrate Halloween here in Finland so I haven`t actually really thought about any costumes. But now when the cat´s on the table, I might want to do something to do with spiders. Not meaning just clothes with spider patterns but actually making a doll look (figuratively speaking) like the real insect. My vision is too complicated to describe, though.

Chucky (possessed doll) - Have you ever been scared of dolls or a certain doll? Be honest!

Yes, by Chucky himself. I was something like five when I saw the Child`s Play movie poster with Chucky on it and man that doll creeped the hell out of me! If I ever see that picture again, I still got the same horrible feeling that took me over then.
Same thing with antique dolls. To me, there is always something very disturbing about them. Maybe it´s their eyes which usually stares glazed to nowhere and they look like they had just seen a ghost. Old dolls are used so many times in horror movies so I tend to get a bit alert every time I see them.

Photo: morguefile.com

If you want to participate to this tag, feel free to copy the questions:
* Werewolf - How has the hobby "transformed" you?
* Vampire - The dreaded sun! How do you feel about and cope with yellowing, or more generally the aging of these dolls?
* Frankenstein`s Monster - Have you ever modded a doll? Tell us about it! If you could magically try any mod without fear of failure, what would you like to try?
* Zombie - Have you ever caught the Markatplace virus? Name some unplanned purchases that jumped out and "infected" you?
* Skeleton - What`s your favourite body sculpt? Forget heads!
* Witch - Name some dolls that are magical! Seeing them on your dashboard inspires you! Can be general sculpts or specific dolls owned by talented friends.
* Ghost - The one that got away. Do any limited or rare dolls "haunt" you to this day?
* Freddy Krueger - What is your worst doll nightmare? Has it happened or not?
* Jason Voorhees - If you were gonna make Halloween costumes for your dolls (or if you plan to!) what costumes would you make?
* Chucky (possessed doll) - Have you ever been scared of dolls or a certain doll? Be honest!

Fauna has born

Usually it takes quite a long time for me to finish a faceup, but with Fauna I broke my record and finished the painting in a day. Yay! I enjoyed the painting a lot and I think I managed to achieve the realistic deer look on her. I used pastels, watercolour pencils and acrylics. The pictures can speak to themselves:

Closeup of her faceup. Taken with flash.

I am still thinking should I add some eyelashes, though. Deers do have huge eyes and usually very long, black lashes so it might look good on her. Oh well, I can add them any time if I feel like it but that`ll do, at least for a while anyways.

PS. She is such a tricky poser! She tends to kick a lot so I have to study more about her anatomy. Maybe I´ll find some tips and tricks to get it easier.

Project Diorama: the flooring

The diorama is slowly progressing. After considering different flooring options from real mosaic, faux tiling made from egg cartons, painting marbling effects, etc. I decided to go the easy way and chose to checker the whole area with matt white and glossy grey paint. It was easy yes, but turned out very time consuming while painting the squares even (and my perfectionism didn`t help either, lol!).

First I drew the lines, then I covered half of them with tape to make the checkering.

This is how it turned out.

I am pleased with the result. At first I was a bit skeptical about whether it would look cheap or too flat, but gladly it created a nice texture on the surface since the paints I used were quite thick. When the whole set is finished, I will batten the raw edges from both the floor and the wall so that they will be much neater.

Box opening: companion for Lyra

Hello everybody!
Today I got the long waited package from mail. I usually consider about purchasing a doll quite a long time, but with this particular doll, I didn`t ponder too long. Especially when I got an e-mail from the artist herself where she asked was I still interested in pre-order one of her dolls, I just went with the flow. I had asked about the dolls from her earlier, so she knew I was interested in having one. As far as I remember it was June when I placed and paid the order and the waiting time was estimated to be three months, but the process time took a bit longer than what was expected. Anyhow, that was not surprise at all, as we all dolly enthusiasts well know. ;)

Can you guess from what company this doll is?

I was a bit worried to see the box crushed like that!

Despite the dent, everything was fine at least so far...

...digging deeper and for my relief nothing seemed to be broken. Phew!
I also got a beautiful shopping bag with Nympheas Dolls art on it.

The doll was wrapped inside a cushion and tied on its place for secure shipping.

And there she is!

The eyes were included in the price but the others came as extras.
The chicken is a small ring.

So the new little fawn is a Fanny from Nympheas Dolls and she will be as a companion for Lyra. There were three colours to choose from: chocolate, strawberry tan and butter. Mine is butter, since I felt it would be the most realistic looking and hence that, I wished for brown eyes. Isn`t she just darling? The little deer is so delicate and detailed. The artist - Sophie by name - apologized that the factory which does the casting is slow, but the resin quality is superb and I can do nothing but agree on that. Just lovely!

I have already decided her name and she will be Fauna. Next I`ll do the faceup and paint some flecks on her back. I am so excited about this new little creature, so more of her soon as I start the painting.

Photo from: morguefile.com