Still alive...

Yes, despite of my very long silence I am still alive and kicking. I have so much to show and tell but I won´t be sharing it all in this one post. More updates will follow if my computer will cooperate with me (still in the process of getting a new one!). The biggest news is that I sold Nekome. As much as I love the sculpt, I came to the conclusion that the SD-size is not for me. They are way too big and heavy for my hands and for that reason it was off-putting to even look at her. I am more comfortable with the smaller dolls and from now on anything bigger than 40 cm is definitely a no-no.

The next thing is that I have put Mimi - Pipos Baha cat - for sale. If you are interested in her, just send me a message to buttonsandpastel@gmail.com and I will give you further details.

FOR SALE!

I am also considering selling my Blythe Pumpkin. She is nice, but I am not doing much with her after all. Not sure about what to do yet but my main focus and interest at the moment is the greenhouse diorama. My hands are perfectly full with that and after it´s finished, I can start learning how to take pretty pictures of Lyra in her own environment.
However, I do have plans on getting one new doll as a combined Christmas/ birthday present for myself. Again, I will not tell you what it might be but it´s a doll I have loved from the first days of my doll hobby.

Some random updates: I re-did Stella´s faceup and she got an exquisite knitted wool cardigan from Junipa.

Stella´s new faceup

Cardigan made by Junipa

A new year and some dolly thoughts

Picture: morguefile.com

Christmas was and went, the year 2015 has turned into 2016 and I´ve not updated anything since our little Christmas dolly meeting. Time goes by so fast! Of course I was going to do a Christmas photoshoot, but something always came and interrupted my plans, so - no pictures. Also sadly the darkness, the rain and the lack of snow stole my entire Christmas spirit away anyway. I had a nice time, but something was definitely missing. :/

Anyhow since it is a whole new year now, I want to wrap the old up and tell about my future plans.
The year 2015 was my first doll year after my 5 year brake within this hobby. I was very surprised how hard the excitement and inspiration hit me again after such a long time!

Things I achieved:
* I bought two dolls and sold one.
* I started making the diorama + crafted little things in it.
* Purchased new clothes and shoes.
* Commissioned a clothing set for Lyra from Etsy (still under making).
* Purchased doll stands for all of my bigger dolls (review coming soon).
* Made my first faceups for others than my own dolls and did my first customisations/ repairs for a BJD (more about those later on!).
* Made many new doll friends and participated on several meetings.
* Purchased a light tent for photographing. It´s been on my wish list ever since I purchased my first digital camera back in 2010. The tent has been ordered and still on delivery, but hopefully coming soon.

My future plans for the year 2016 are:
* To continue and finish the diorama.
* Learn to take better photos and generally be more active on that area.
* Purchase a doll I´ve been drooling (still on the desk of the doll artist, but according to her, soon to be ready for a perorder!).
* Get to know my only SD girl better and create her more complete personality.

...And the biggest plan of the year is:

* To participate the Ldoll festival on Lyon, France.
Nothing is certain yet but I would really, really like to go there. I have never visited any BJD convention before and it makes it even more tempting that it´s inside EU and not too far away from Finland either. I wouln´t dare to travel alone but we have already had some discussions about going there as a group with some doll people on Facebook. Let´s see how the things turn out.

Overall I´d say 2015 was a pretty good and productive year. The new plans are pretty exciting too and I hope you all will have just as exciting times ahead as I do.

Some unfinished things waiting for inspiration

I am now also @ Instagram!

Photo: Instagram

Just a little announcement: I have created an account on Instagram and the user name is buttons_and_pastels. I`ll be posting there everything related to BJD´s, and will be showing more work-in-progress -pictures of my crafts. You are welcome to join me there too, just hit the follow button. :)

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!

The first posting and Welcome!

For a very long time have I been about to publish this new dolly blog of mine but because I am such a perfectionist, I didn`t want to do it before I had actually something to show about. But now I do - and quite a lot in fact - so let`s get started shall we!

Okay, so first of all a little about my dolly history:
I started the doll hobby in 2006 and was very active for a couple of years. My first doll was Angelregion Littlefair Ren girl (MSD) called "Lumia" . Little less than a year from that I bought my second doll, an SD sized woman Luts Delf Soony, "Nekome". She was the first and the biggest dolly-crush I had, I could say my Grail Doll, so I was thrilled when I found her from the DOA`s marketplace with a very good price. My third doll, and the first from the Tiny category, was Pipos Baha cat, "Mimi". The fourth doll was Fairyland`s Minifee Ryeon, "Coraline", being the last one before my doll hobby break due to my studies. I didn`t do anything with my dolls for about six years but then again in the December 2014 it hit me again and I discovered the joy of dolls once again.

Back then, I hadn`t really bonded properly with Nekome nor Coraline, and I lost the interest on child-like MSD which Lumia was. So although Lumia was my first doll and had been very dear to me, I sold her away. I was also bothered by the amount of dolls I had since I`v always felt that quality is more important than quantity. I`d say that dolls more than five or six is too much for me. But anyways, because I still loved Nekome and Coraline, I decided to re-create them both. I kept the name of Nekome but change Coraline`s to Stella. The transformation is still on progress but I am very happy to see how they are slowly getting new personalities and distinctive styles (more of them and pictures later).

Mimi the cat on the other hand has been a bit of a mystery to me. Why? Because although she is cute (that as the only reason I bought her in the first place), I am not sure do I have a place for her in my group anymore. I have been thinking of selling her but haven`t decided anything yet. Let`s see.

Despite of my rule for not having too many dolls, I have ordered two more (eeeek!). BUT remember that I sold one and might be selling another, so all in all the head number won`t actually increase. What dolls the new ones are? That`s a secret for now but will introduce them as soon as they are ready for their blog debut.

So, that was shortly the background of my hobby. Now I have lots of new plans and I am bursting to let them out for you to see. As I LOVE crafting, I am constantly searching for new things to create along with new technigues and materials to use. I tend to be a bit slow sometimes, so bare with me, but I hope that the results will be worth the wait. ;)

Welcome on board!