playing with dolls

i finally got my fakie Blythe this weekend and started working on her immediately...i carved her face a bit, took out all her old eye chips, pulled out her old hair and sewed in new hair wefts, and spray painted her head and body and eyelids.

i'm really pleased with the paint job; it came out beautifully! i used SEM spray paint in bluebird brown, and i'm so impressed. i heard stories of modders having trouble with the paint remaining sticky on the body/legs, but i had no such problem. even though i sprayed it on a little too thick at times, she still came out perfectly even and dry! and i love the color. i was afraid it might look too unnatural, like grey-black, but it's a warm, rich brown, like chocolate.

her hair is what's giving me the biggest problem. i did the lock and loop method for making hair plugs on my first custom, Vi, but i did a few too many so her hair is unmanageably thick, not to mention the process takes forever. so i decided to try using hair wefts as they're "meant" to be used, and sew them directly on the scalp...it did save a lot of time, but maybe i didn't do the rows close enough together, because the hair is very thin and no matter how i comb it, you can always see the tracks of the wefts/scalp through the hair somewhere. sigh. i'm not sure what to do to fix it...i guess i'll have to order some more hair and try filling in the gaps, being careful not to make it too thick, like Vi's.

speaking of Vi, after getting frustrated and having to stop working on nameless new doll's hair, i was inspired to go through with my original idea and cut Vi's hair into an asymmetrical bob with some side bangs, and i flat-ironed the crap out of it so it doesn't have those annoying little plugs poking up like before.

i think it suits her a lot better. for a while i was really unhappy with her, after learning so much more about modding, that i thought about taking her apart and starting from scratch (but that would be almost impossible, since i glued her scalp on), or even selling her, but after giving her this little hair cut, i'm satisfied. i think next i might replace her eyelashes, and i'll be content. she's not bad for a very first mod, i think. ;)

Vi with my toki doki Kaiju plushie Rob got me for xmas

i got a bunch of new clothes recently too, hence Vi's awesome new dress, so i decided to stop neglecting Astrid and dress her up too.

i love this sweater on her! i wish i had one like it in real life, heheh. Astrid is so elegant and perfect the way she is, i don't think i could ever bring myself to mod her.<3

so, now i have all three kinds of dolls - a real, authentic Blythe (Astrid), a Basaak knock-off (Vi), and a Color Change Eye Doll knock-off (new nameless doll). Blythes are of course amazing, the quality is so astounding and impressive, but they're so perfect that it's hard to bring myself to think about modding them, unless it were a bait Blythe or something. especially with how expensive they are. so for modding purposes, i plan on sticking to the knock-offs. most fake Blythe enthusiasts seem to prefer Basaaks, i guess because their mold and bodies are most similar to real Blythes. but after working with both, i think i actually prefer the CCE doll. she may not be as close to the real thing, but i actually find her slightly different body shape cuter. i like that her arms are ball-jointed, and it doesn't bother me that the waist doesn't turn. it seems a lot easier to open her head and take apart her eye mechanism; in fact, the plastic for the CCE dolls seems way more pliable and forgiving than the rigid plastic of the Basaak. i also love how breezey it is getting her eye chips out compared to Basaaks - just pop 'em out with a melted glue stick, instead of having to drill into the chips with a hot screw, then work on trying to get all the eye chip shrapnel out of the socket...ugh, what a nightmare that was!

i also got a bunch of dolls (mostly Maxies), some clothes, some Littlest Pet Shops, and a Fantasy Filly from my parents' house that i need to go through. sigh. almost thirty, and i'd still rather just sit at home by myself and play with toys. and watch Jem.

pardon me

last weekend we had a little holiday party/get together thing, and this is the outfit i wore:

i've thought about making an outfit of the day blog type of thing, it's fun, but i don't really wear that many cute outfits, mainly just boring office clothes. but maybe i'll post it here whenever i particularly like an outfit...it's my blog, why not.

i spent a lot of money i don't really have on getting a new fakie Blythe an supplies to mod her. i haven't really been feeling drawing and comics lately, but i miss doing something creative...i've been thinking about maybe sewing or knitting again too, but i'm really bad at knitting because i can't count the stitches easily...i think i might have a learning disability that was never addressed when i was younger, because i catch myself trying to read things backwards a lot, and i really struggle with basic arithmetic that doesn't phase other people...whenever i have to count wads of cash at work i start hyperventilating and my face gets all hot because i'm worried i'll count wrong, or the person watching me will realize i'm having real difficulty counting it, heh.

i want to make a dark-skinned Blythe with bright orange hair...i learned a lot from my first mod, so i hope she comes out okay. i'm excited to get started on her.

i know you want to be in my bed

i finally finished my first custom on my fakey Blythe today! it was a lot of work and it taught me a lot. here's what she looked like before i got my hands on her:

pretty awful, right? but here she is after, as of today.

 her name's Vickie Venom, or Vi for short,  and she's the lead singer/guitarist of her band, St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

she's not perfect, but i'm really happy with the way she came out. originally i had planned to give her an asymmetrical bob, but i kind of like her with the long hair, so it stays for now. i was also worried that maybe i carved her smile too wide and it would give her a creepy Cheshire cat sort of quality, but i think it looks all right, kind of mischievous. it was quite a headache working on her (my god, her EYES!), but i'm happy now. i like her.<3

my next project when i can afford it is to make a dark-skinned doll, which involves spray paint since the manufacturors of blythes and blythe knock-offs don't produce dolls of color, which is really bogus. but where there is a will, there is a way.

platinum soul

FINALLY got my first real Blythe in the mail today! so excited! She's a Kiss Me True. here's what she looked like in her pretty box.

comparing her with my fakey Blybe, i can see why a lot of Blythe devotees are so obsessed with having a "real" Blythe. i didn't really get it, i've never been a "brand name" girl when it comes to much of anything, but after getting one myself, i understand. She feels heavier, sturdier, more substantial, and just overall better-made. i really like her make up (especially her pearl pink lips!) and that her face has a slight shine, but isn't too shiny. her hair--WOW! this might be the best quality hair i've ever seen on a doll. it's very silky and long, but doesn't tangle. it doesn't feel quite as nice as real human hair natch, but it also doesn't feel like a plastic wig like the fakey. it does seem to take quite a bit more effort than i expected to pull her string and change her eyes, though.

i already took a couple pictures of her today. XD

i'm pleased with how photogenic she is. i'm trying to think of a backstory for her...i know "model" is dumb and predictable, but it seems pretty appropriate...

...or maybe  a motocross champ with a shadowy past...

...i think i'm naming her Astrid.

no one else is the same

just beat Fable 3...kinda obsessed with it for a bit, but not so much the gameplay itself, it sucks much worse than Fable 2 in a lot of ways, but i do really like a lot of the characters and character designs.

i love that in this game they made Reaver all Oscar Wilde-fabulous with his top hat and fur coat and cane. they even gave him a tiny heart tattoo on his cheek over his beauty mark so he's the ultimate fop now, haha.<3 a lot of girls/players seem to REALLY hate Elliot for some reason (your character's childhood sweetheart if you play a female character/the character you're "supposed" to marry), i guess because he's not a bad boy/pretty boy like Reaver and Ben Finn, but i think he's sweet. i love his Justin Beber hair, haha. a lot of their ire seems to come from the fact that the programming prohibits gender-specific interactions with him--like when you're a female hero, you pretty much can't help but be taller than all the guys in the game, and when you do interactions like kissing, you dip Elliot in your arms. XD i kinda love it though. i like that when i come home from adventuring he's always cleaning or in the kitchen, mwahaha. and i like that when you become queen he doesn't become your king or anything, he's just your consort or concubine or whatever, haha.

okay, i'm done geeking out. about that dumb game, anyway.

i finally got my fakey Blythe in the mail!! she's really cool, but i hate her hair so i tried to cut it and dye it, but i think it's hopeless. her hair won't take the dye at all, so i'm thinking i'm going to have to resort to rerooting her scalp, which i really didn't want to have to do. i'm also terrified of trying to get her eyechips out, Basaaks are notorious, but i'll worry about that when the time comes. i've made her a couple of cool pieces of clothes, though. and i dyed my fingers pink trying to dye her hair!

it fades fast, but it looked really cool and vibrant when i first did it. it made me start thinking about doing it on purpose all the time, like Henna, heheh.

i'm getting a Jem doll, too! i'm excited. i'm still kinda mad at my mom for selling all my Jem dolls in a garage sale without asking me. i really wanna get the Misfits, they're the best, but they're so expensive/hard to find!