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Loving these "Steampunk in Wonderland" outfits! If I had a minifee girl I'd totally want that dress for her. Or even just the corset. Heck, I want an outfit like that for Momo, and the boy's outfit would look fantastic on Thistle (Piper would be vastly unhappy if I forced her into a dress, though. She'd have to wear the boy's clothes, too).

I also love the more traditional steampunk clothes. Piper is giving me that look. The one she gives me when she WANTS something NOW.

Never mind that she is sitting on a shelf behind a curtain, facing the other end of the room. I can FEEL her staring at me.


I have some stringing questions:

I seriously need to restring Jude. He's my Souldoll Little Kimmy. Poor boy can't stand or even sit up well without wanting to flop over (his arms and legs can get into some pretty good poses, though). I have some new string, but I can't even imagine how I'd get it through those TINY holes! And his knots are all in his head and I don't really want them there, but I'm afraid if I take him apart I'll never get him back together. ;__;

Any ideas on what I should use to pull string through the holes of a 27 scale body? I dunno if my usual method of ribbon-pullers will work, 'cause I'm not sure even the ribbon would go through without a lot of fuss, catching on rough resin inside and all.

I also need to restring Momo because her knots are in her head, too, so I can't change her eyes or even take her head off because the knots are too big to fit through the neck hole. I've never restrung anything smaller than an SD, and even that was a bit traumatizing my first and second times. I can handle it now, but I dread the day my Fairyland Feeple65s will need restrung. So many pieces! So easy to lose a finger (either mine or theirs)! O__o Still, I managed to get my Centaur boy strung together without too much bloodshed. If I can string hooves onto a horse I might be able to manage an MSD. ^^;

Tinies, though ... they're another story entirely. Hopefully none of the others will need strung for a long, long time. ^^;

 

That's Jerrica and her little brother Dorien -- Jerri is my steampunk engineer. Her outfit is mostly one Dollheart, except for the cap and the leggings -- got the cap on the MP, & I made the leggings -- old sock FTW! And she does have tools in that bag; American Girl makes a set of hand tools that are close enough to MSD size. Couldn't find yo-size goggles anywhere, though, so I made Dorien's out of some thin leather left over from my model horse showing days & used a couple of the plastic "bubbles" from watch battery packaging for the lenses. Here's another pic of him wearing them:


IMG_0062 by nezumichan, on Flickr

The copper trim on both sets of goggles is something my husband found at Hobby Lobby ( or as we call it, El Lobby del Hobby). It's copper foil tape for stained glass crafts -- comes on a roll & is adhesive backed. Great stuff to play with!

 

Very nice dolls Mousethatroars ! I particularly like the tiny

I'm getting excited because today is my first ever dollmeet! We are meeting at a local park and doing photos. I am bringing charcoal and hot dogs for Pettook and myself, and anyone else who wants one. It is a little strange that I was the one who organized it (with help from Kobbi) and I've never attended one before.

I think I'm packed. I was going to take the whole gang with me but decided in the end to just take Piper and Callum this time. I still haven't got Dru strung to my liking yet and the tinies went everywhere with me on vacation. Other than food, the dolls and their clothes is there anything else I need to take with me?

 

Have lots of fun, Kolombe! Hope you have a good turn out. Don't forget your camera!

Argg, I just got a nasty papercut on my sewing finger!!!! I hate papercuts.... I don't even know how I got it, I just noticed it was bleeding.... Might have been a sharp crystal edge, I don't know. The point is that it's one of my sewing-needle holding fingers! Curses, foiled again.

 

Geeehhhhh, spent two hours restringing Momo. She's a Dollmore Paran. What an ordeal! O___x

Dollmore strings their dolls so weird! At least their MSDs. Are their SDs strung the same way? I've never tried to restring Ash, and Gabby is new so she won't need it (although she has a hard time sitting up by herself, so maybe she does).

The elastic is strung through both legs and back up into the torso. Can't tell if there are two loops of it or just one really long one, but one loop is strung through both the legs. It isn't possible to pull the string out without cutting it, and I don't have any replacement string the right thickness, so I couldn't cut it. The S-hooks on the feet are actually embedded into the resin, and the hook end is too small to take the elastic off, so I couldn't unstring her that way, either. On one hand, it's nice I don't have to worry about the feet falling off. On the other hand, I couldn't remove the legs from the lower torso at all. And because the elastic is strung through both legs, shifting it around to get the knots down into the torso was almost impossible. Somehow, though, I managed to get them down there. Didn't even break anything in the process. ^^;

Anyway, now I can take her head off and change her eyes! And it's a good thing, too, 'cause when I took out her pink acrylics, I realized they were cracked straight through. O_o Dunno how that happened or how I didn't notice the big crack running through half the pupil before! But the eyes were too small, anyway. 12mm, I think. They made her look very fish-eyed. Well, I stuck her in a pair of bright blue 16mm glass, and I have to say she looks so much better now.



She totally needs a teddy bear. Or a stuffed rabbit. Or something to complete her Little Miss Priss look. XD

 

Cymorill: the secret to accessorizing that darling set is to make it scaled down properly...and to do that you really need THIN leather. Vinyls are going to be too bulky. With a thin leather you can do straps and such without hiding the costume. Also, don't forget the awesome micro buckles you can get from Rio Rondo...

http://www.riorondo.com/hardware/buckles.html

These, along with the really fine leathers, will let you get the Steamy look without the bulk.

 

I gotta say, I have learned more useful stuff and found more interesting links just following dhawktx on this thread.

I have the opportunity to go to my first doll meet up in my area, work willing, next month. Being the noob that I am, I don't really know what to expect. I feel a little awkward about it actually. I want to meet other collectors that are near me, but I have reservations. I think it is my age. Like I just started collecting dolls at 40+... Can anyone chime in on this?

 

erellor, Darlin'! I started two years ago...when I was only 54! You're never too old to enjoy these BJDs. I never played with dolls, even as a kid. I got my BJDs initially because it's a lot easier (AND cheaper) to costume THEM than it is ME these days, and I love all the stuff that comes along with collecting them - the props, accessories, etc. I've met some of the most generous and interesting people since I started (as well as some peeps who REALLY should check their meds, just sayin'!), And I wouldn't have gotten to do ANY of it if I held myself back just because I was 'old'.

If you're feeling like you may be considered too OLD, come join us at the Over 55 thread. You can be a member of the Youngsters Auxiliary!

 

Thanks dhawktx, I guess I just needed to hear it from someone. I have never been shy but I could just not figure out what the heck my problem was. I don't know if it's feeling 'old' as much as that the last few years I have lost so much of my spark. I guess that's what brought me to dolls. Looking at them made me feel rekindled. Actually buying one and sewing for it has been a wonder. I'm working thru a difficult time so being able to come here and share with like minded folks is a blessing. Thanks a bunch

 

Thanks for the link! I've got a few little buckles and I've been playing with making some hammered wire ones, but I'm running out fast! I do have really thin leather -- mostly in strips -- and most of it in black. I have to use vinyl for the shoes because I didn't have any thin brown that wasn't a 1/2" suede thong (not that kind).

That is weird. Could you pull the elastic out of the s-hooks if it's stretched so that it's thinner? Maybe you could open them up with pliers a bit. She looks great with her new eyes, though! They look like they're just the right size and very natural. And a stuffed octopus would be cute!

I'll second that! I don't think there's anything she can't explain, link, or youtube. My hero!

 

(dances on scene, twirling around and collapsing on the couch wit a contented sigh) The meet-up was so fun! There ended up being nine of us there. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and one special person brought mini cheesecakes that were to die for! It was great to see all the other dolls people had and the neat ways they have them dressed! We didn't do much photography but talked, played and even hula hooped until well past the "end time".

 

Well here's my Anne MacCaffrey's Acorna doll for the Dragon*Con Charity auction

 

Sounds like you had a great time, Kolombe! Get lots of ideas and inspiration, too, I hope! It's always fun to meet new people.

So, I have a question for anyone who might have an idea..... I need to make Rylin, my Shiwoo/KDF MSD hybrid a tarot deck. The mini decks are all way too big, already looked into that. I want to make him a really tiny version of the Tarot of White Cats. Usually, because lining things up front ot back on a home printed is almost impossible, I print one side on card stock and the other on label paper and stick them together. Before cutting them, I give them a coat of clear nail polish because it seals them nicely for handling and stiffens them up like real cards. It works great for SD sized.... So here's the problem: In MSD size, this method (while easy and effective) is too thick. A full deck would be about 1.25 inches thick! I don't want to limit it to just the Major Arcana (22 cards) and want the full 78 card deck. So I was thinking of fiddling with my printer to get it lined up double-sided and using Presentation Paper, which is thin like regular paper and can be printed in color on both sides. My question is this: what kind of sealant (spray or brush-on) would be best to give it a nice semi-gloss coat and stiffen the paper without making it as thick as cardstock? I'm not making these to sell, just for personal use and maybe the occasional photostory. Believe me if I could buy them in the size I need, I would.

 

Oh, wait.... Can I just use Mod Podge? I've never used it before, but would love an excuse to try it!

 

Paper arts fanatic here -- Mod Podge would work, but my personal preference is for acrylic medium. Flows better and dries faster, less likely to crack and yes, you can even use it to glue paper items to card.
You might want give the printed images a spray of fixative before you cover them, to keep the printer ink from smearing when the liquid medium is brushed on. HTH!

 

Good tip. I've never had is smear with clear nail polish brushed on (not sure why I even tried that... must've been out of sealant).

 

Acrylic medium is a carrier for pigment, so I shouldn't have been surprised the first time I tried brushing it over an image from my printer and had the ink smear:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nezumichan/7062418385/in/set-72157629780329445
( and I was so upset that I didn't smooth out the layer of gloss medium, hence the bubbles... oh, well.)
But you can get some really nice effects with it -- these backgrounds are crumpled tissue paper painted with goache, then covered with gloss medium:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nezumichan/6916335444/in/set-72157629780329445

 

I love my Golden Paints for many reasons, one of the is the variety of mediums they have available! A problem with Mod Podge has always been the 'sticky' quality of the cured skin. Laying a stack of paper on a Mod Podge finished box for more than a day or so was just asking for disaster. Now, Mod Podge HAS since come out with a product that has a tougher final film, but I prefer my GAC 200...

http://www.goldenpaints.com/justpaint/jp12article3.php

 

Steampunk FTW!
The stained glass craft is actually called copperfoiling (well here in Australia anyway)... We did an introduction to it when I did a leadlighting class a few years ago. I bought loads of books with fairy patterns and haven't touched them since.

Cymorill if you hate papercuts, you get teeny fine glass cuts when you do leadlighting and copperfoiling... ow

I like you and others am a secret (or not so) dhawtx groupie and was so surprised when I heard that it was only 2 years ago she started amassing this enormous amount of dolly knowledge (even if some of the knowledge came from previous experiences)

I'm 37, and started last year and my friend (EmeraldRain) who introduced me to the hobby is in her early 50s and is also newish to the hobby. I bought my first doll from someone near us and she is retired but has loads of dolls and dolly props in her home. So the bug definitely bites regardless of age (or any other grouping you can fit people into actually)

I think the most important thing is that it makes us all happy, and happy people hanging out together can only make more happy people

see Kolombe can be exhibit A about happy people hanging out! - Very exciting, you have made me want our own dolly meet here in Adelaide *sigh*

She is stunning! Love the outfit, even if I don't know anything about the books.

oooo... or a little anthro pet??

Still no sign of my QBerry, but I have had mail take around the 3.5 weeks mark so that would make it early in Sept, so hopefully she gets home by then.

My awesome exciting news is OT (but I will bring it back OnT) we put a deposit down yesterday on a wonderfully adorable female british blue kitten who is 4 weeks old. She will be named Arya (after Arya Stark in Game of Thrones) and I can't wait till she is old enough to come home in October!

So tips on making my dollies kitty safe, and making my kitty dolly safe would be really appreciated!

 

Okay, all 'groupies' can hush now! I started amassing all that stuff in my head back in the 60's. Since I'm a poster child for the classic ADHD artist, it makes sense that I've dabbled in just about everything that's come along since then. I love sharing so y'all benefit!