Resin Kamikaze

I've been working on updating Infin8World lately, particularly since that's really the main "way" that I "play" with my dolls. I love building the site, and it requires so many pictures, stories, and other ideas that I feel like I manage just fine when it comes to getting the most out of interacting with my collection. I really enjoy it! The characters are coming together so beautifully, and I can't wait to write a bit more about their exploits. Hopefully, there will be actual photo-shoots in the future, but somehow I just don't know if I'll ever get to that point.

I've been debating about whether or not to build this massive set that I had been planning, and I have to say I really don't know if it's even worth it. What would I do with it afterwards? Where would I keep it? And what the heck am I going to do next year? I think the fun of it would be in the building of it, getting the right materials and making all the little furniture pieces. After that, I seriously doubt that I'll really be much into photographing the dolls in it. The quest for brilliant photography is one thing, but all this roleplay and what not is another all together. I love miniatures, and I want to make them, but I can't really see the point at the end of the tunnel: what do I do with it all? And more importantly, where do I store it? I won't have my own place for awhile, a long while thanks to my mounting student loan debt. Chances are, I'll be mainly confined to one room and one closet for some years to come, and I just don't think I'm able to collect all that stuff without a plan to sell it or something.

As much as I love my dolls and making things for them, realistically speaking, I just don't see myself being able to sacrifice the space and the time really to getting it all done if I take on furniture and sets on top of clothes and face-ups and props. As it is, I think I'm happy with doing the clothes and face-ups, and hopefully I'll be able to take some pretty pictures as I finish each one. I'm quite happy writing about them, and I love to take a 'candid' photo or two, but they're not my main hobby and I just can't afford to be drowning myself in junk thanks to my doll collecting. I spend enough on it as it is. This all makes me quite sad. When I first started in this hobby I was so much more engaged- I think BJDs really were my main hobby at the time. Now, not so much. There's hair, youtube videos, sewing for myself, drawing, buying new clothes and expensive make up, fashion blogging, collecting DVDs, reading and buying new books, exercising, keeping up my notebooks, learning to play piano and a host of other things that just don't leave as much room (or money) for them. 

I'm feeling this urge to *finish* my collection... 

Just lately I've wanted nothing more than to get face-ups done for everyone that I can actually be happy with, and then go ahead and get started on outfits and clothes... 

I finally purchased the correct eyes for G... I've been debating changing her name since before she arrived, and I think I've pretty much got a reason do it now that she's got new eyes. I want a new wig to go with her to make it official... 

I'm working slowly through my big list of doll plans. Min Yeong got his new wig ages ago and I never really got any good pictures. He's definitely looking nice and moody... 

I need to either modify or purchase a new wig for Peitan, and Naiiam definitely needs a new one. Her old one just doesn't work at all. I want her to look like Maxxie's little sister and she really doesn't look related to him at all right now. (He is blank though.) *sigh* I'm debating that as well. Maybe I'll re-name her as well and slap another character on her. 

I've joined a GO for 2073 Realms or whatever it's called. It's going to take forever to close, which is why I joined in the first place. It'll give me lots of time to rationalize the $35 I'm spending to buy around 5 pairs of shoes which should give me enough pairs (at long last) to give everyone one (I hope.)

Money concerns mean that I'm going to do a HUGE wig clean out very soon- and Cass' school uniform from Dollmore may just have to go. *NOT happy*

This hobby is so subjective that sometimes it's hard to figure out what I even like. Hence, I've developed a pretty solid criteria to help me weed out sculpts that just don't and won't work for me. 

I find, that if a sculpt doesn't meet it, no matter how pretty the official website pictures are, or how lovely the owner's pictures might be, the sculpt is structurally just not one that I can work with. 

My criteria is quite specific on the following:

Resin: good quality, good detail, preference given to a rich, realistic "tan"

Eyes: not O.O sized. I don't particularly love small eyes either, but eyes must be well proportioned with the other features of the face.

Lips: not -___- style. I prefer lips that can actually be seen to be lips, nice and full! In fact, I haven't yet seen a sculpt with lips I thought were too big... but I also like lips that fit the face, adding something to it. As long as they're not thin. I can't abide thin lips. (Particularly the duck-like pucker on the Volks Lucai molds...)

Nose: I don't like the thin bladed nose. I'll go for a big-nosed sculpt over a tiny bump in the middle of the face though. I want a doll with a nose that looks like a real person might be able to breathe through it. 

Overall: I'll take uniqueness over realism to a certain extent. I love sculpts that sort of... sing if you will, you lay eyes on it and it starts telling you a story. Any sculpt that I look at and can't immediately get some kind of image for is not for me. 


so pretty much every doll on my wish-list fits these criteria in at least 4 out of 5. My favourites pass all 5. 

DIM, Dollmore and Dollstown produce some of my all time favourite sculpts, as does Iplehouse, and Musedoll. 

It's a motley crew, and there's not a ton of cohesion between all those styles, (in fact there really isn't any) but I love the structural aspect of 99% of the molds those companies produce. 

This is the longest I've gone without buying a doll in about 2 years. I got my last doll related item in February I think- my Lola (Another Secret Gerda) who was actually ordered back in January. Thus, I've officially gone almost 4 months without any sort of order, purchase or layaway. *sigh* 

I don't know whether or not to be happy about that. On the one hand, it proves that I do in fact have some modicum of self control. On the other hand, I apparently developed this quite suddenly this year. 

On the bright side, the long drought should be up as soon as I've settled down with my job... in London... in about 6 months give or take a bit. And I know I'll be super proud of myself that I abstained from adding any new resin when I knew for a fact that I couldn't afford it. Financially, I'm doing a lot better right now than I thought I would be. Emotionally, same. 

+1 for good behaviour. 

As a special treat to myself for being a good girl and saving my pennies for my education, I'm going to allow myself to mod and paint happily this summer whenever work permits. Work that I do not yet have. Still, I will persist. And if I get the scholarships I want for my programme, I don't care where when or why- I'm buying myself one of the Iplehouse JIDs on my wish list to celebrate. 

I've found the perfect head to be Garion- and I do mean PERFECT if the photos are to be believed. I've always pictured him as a masculine character, boyish, and handsome but not girly or effeminate. Increasingly, I don't like effeminate men. In fact, I don't think I ever have liked a boy who's prettier then I am, because I'm a very effeminate girl. That said, this head is lovely! So handsome and slightly innocent looking which sits well for Garion's character I think. And I ordered it. And now I have to cancel the order (I haven't paid yet.). 

It is sad that it's come to this, but sacrifices have to be made. He'd cost me nearly $200 with all the shipping etc, (no face-up of course), and I just thought to myself: for that much money, I could buy SO many clothes... 

I don't think this is really common in dollydom, but I suppose I've always gone my own way in pretty much everything. I love clothes. I love makeup. I love hair accessories, and bags, and shoes. I really love shoes. And this weekend, I spent $90 and had a beautiful time in Forever 21 and JC Penny (<-- shock of shocks! I usually don't shop in JC Penny anymore, because it's all hipster now, and my style really isn't hipster anymore, it's a bit hipster influenced, but that's only because hipster chic is on all the runways this year.) and I thought to myself, I really want some oxfords... and some combat boots to go with my bandage skirt... and I'd love to get a pair of strappy black sandals, a maxi skirt, and some more floral print for my wardrobe. And I also want some more of that lovely mint green colour that's this season's shade of choice... 

So that's it. 

I'm not buying this head because I want to buy clothes and shoes. LOL I know people in this hobby who'd think I must have broken myself somehow to give up a perfect head for a bunch of clothes. But it's all about priorities. 

So. 

There will be no more new dolls this year. 

Now that that's sunk in, I've begun taking the necessary precautions. No more randomly browsing DoA's MP.

No more reading News posts talking about new dolls.

No more trolling through the BJD database eyeballing sculpts I like in Owner's photos.

I have to have money to live on for Grad school, particularly if I go where I want to go, so since BJDs still aren't a food group, this isn't up for debate. I've finally gotten a commission thread up and running, and I need to start turning out my best work so that I can keep getting commissioned (hopefully for a fee eventually) and save up money from that as well. 

I also need to repaint my own dolls to be honest. I've sadly neglected the crew. And I just got my last new head for awhile-  Another Secret Gerda. She looks EXACTLY like Elian, so she's going to be his sister Lola. I was going to have a Notdoll Peru as Lola, but I can't afford to be picky. And I really like Gerda (probably because she looks so much like Eli.) 

I'll work on my resin hoard over the summer, and hopefully I'll have a job as well- and every penny will go into savings. 

Here goes nothing. 

Aside: I decided to call my Lati Rei Hybrid Shelbey. And I found the PERFECT Crobidoll wig for him. *Sigh* I'll need to wait until someone does a group order first anyway, so I'll be saving up the $30 it'll take to get it + shipping in the meantime. =__=

I do actually play with my dolls- but not the same way I did when I was child. 

Mostly, I write about them, plan photo-shoots, sew, and now I also make miniatures and props for them. I realize though that it's all too easy to get caught up in the collecting part of this hobby. It's been a long time since I've just stopped and enjoyed my dolls as much as I am right now. I've finished modifying Elian's body, so he looks a good deal more boyish and is ready for clothes. The mods aren't perfect, but I can always go over them later and fix the parts I don't like. I'm working on fixing his hands, and finishing up the body blush. His torso looks awfully nice though. 

I'm now in the clothing stage with him. I've decided on a look: he's going to be a Kandi Kid! I think it suits him. He always seems to be smiling slightly, and he's mysterious, but adorable, and very social. The bright colours will really suit him, and I get to make tons of mini kandi for him! Yaaay! :D 

This has been talked about on DoA a lot in the past, but I felt the need to bring it up here because I'm planning to work on my collection quite a bit this year. 

For me, there is most definitely a "finished" point, a point at which the doll and character are both fully realized. I don't yet have any dolls that I would call definitively "finished", but most of them are sort of edging towards it. In my collection being finished requires the following:

Eyes: eye colour must fit the character and suit the doll. I don't change eyes when I've found the right pair because I don't believe it's necessary. I like that to be quite permanent. 

Wig: wig style and colour must suit both doll and character. I do make an exception here though, because sometimes the wigs get old or damaged (usually because I give out free haircuts =__=) and they need to be replaced. However, I stick to a range of colours for each doll. Maika's a redhead for example, and although his last wig is quite different to the one he has now, both were majority red. 

Clothes: I consider a doll finished when they have at least one, preferably two complete, signature outfits. Not a single doll  has this yet. I make the clothes myself, so I guess my standards are a little high on that score, but I want two fully realized outfits for each doll. 

Shoes: I want shoes for each one too- preferably ones that suit the outfits. 

Face-up: I like changing face-ups, particularly when I feel like it wasn't done perfectly. (And I always feel like I've got room to improve) so I don't expect those to last forever, but I do expect that the style of the face won't change much no matter how many times I redo it. Ed's had more face-ups than anyone, and his face always pretty much looks the same when he's done, because I know what I want him to look like and that doesn't change. 

A number of my dolls are 75% there, most are around 50%. I might make a list or a chart later... 

I'm planning my first photo-shoot of 2012, and it'll probably be completed just in time for Valentines day! Since I have Elian up here with me, I've decided to have him star in it. Hopefully it'll be very cute and sweet. I want it to be a surprise, so I'm not going to give away the concept here, but I'll leave a hint! Hooray for feeling hobbyish at last! Let the Art In Dolls Mission commence! :D

Hint: definitely sweet!

This year's hobby plans! I thought I'd post this here for more privacy and control. 

So. 

I feel like I've spent too much time in my hobbies just doing things I felt like I *had* to do, and not doing enough that I just wanted to do for my own personal enjoyment. Because my nature is to dive into everything head first, make a big splash, freak out, climb out of the pool, sulk by the snack bar, buy a floatie and then tentatively return to the water, I occasionally miss out on simple things like making stuff just for the sake of making it. 

My plans are as follows:

- Repaint Peitan, sort out how to style that wig of hers into some semblance of order. Probably going to require trimming. 
- Paint Eric, develop his personality
- Finish modding Elian's body so he doesn't look so girlish. *Sigh*  He's going to be a big project.
- Re-paint and assemble poor Cassidhe. He's been sitting in my closet blank and in pieces =_=;; for like 6 months...
- Make more miniature foods and do at least one episode of Cooking With Cass 
- Bodies for floating heads as and when they become available
- Sell off all superfluous heads 
- Repaint and Reassemble Morgan, finish his body a little (seam sanding)
- Good Photoshoots- high quality pictures with beautiful handmade props (this will require planning.)
- Update doll website more regularly. 
- Attach Dakini's wig properly and repaint her
- Repaint Maxxie to match Naiam and take "family" photos (the first ones!)
- Buy new eyes for Gabrielle
- Replace Naiam's wig
- Repaint Min Yeong
- Make clothing for the entire 14 doll group *sigh* (more planning)
- Shoes for the Gang- eventually
- Show off finished* dollies on DoA


*Finished meaning, acceptable face-up that correctly captures the character, at least one decent pair of shoes, at least two decent outfits, proper eyes, and proper wig.