Playing with dolls: what did you do with your doll today that made you happy? <3

Today I brought a doll out with me for the first time in a long while.

It was hot out so I didn’t leave Gremory, a Rosette Doll Fir out in the car while I had an appointment. Didn’t have her out of the bag during that though lol

I’d brought her with me because I was going to a small fabric store afterwards and I wanted to see the fabric against her. At the fabric store I did have her out, and it didn’t feel too weird since it was probably obvious what I was doing.

After that I went to my mom’s office, again, bringing the doll in with me but leaving her in the bag. One of her staff really likes dolls though and was interested in seeing her, so she was out again for a little bit.

This felt like a nice step towards getting back into this hobby.

It was also nice to find some fabric for Gremory and some of my other dolls. She in particular is lacking in clothes because her body is such an abnormal size for an MSD, it’s the long skinny “Pure” body.

Also picked up some graph paper so I can try to make some patterns.

 

Yesterday I made matcha lattes and jelly parfaits for my dolls. My next project is to create a scrapbook album for wedding photos.

 

Currently deep in faceup painting mode ... I've been working on a floating head, and today I painted the lashes and eyebrows -- the hardest part. It turned out well, I'm very pleased with how the faceup is coming along!

Previously I'd been using Tamiya acrylic paints, they worked for a while but I started struggling to control paint flow, especially when using very fine brushes. This time I switched over to Kuretake watercolours, and man, all those struggles went away. I'm getting more reliable paint consistency, no more worries about clumping or flow issues with my fine brushes, and I feel more in control of my paint strokes. It's also nice to wipe away any mistakes with water! I'm glad I learned how to paint faceups using acrylics (the learning curve was steep but good), but I'll happily jump over to watercolours.

I like to batch my doll painting and now have a bunch of heads and hands/feet on the to-do list, so I'll be at it for a while. I'm enjoying it - more painting practice!

 

I've noticed after many months that I'm starting to have room in my head to think positively about my dolls again. After a lot of this daydreaming I ordered two wigs from DDE this week and yesterday I got some girls out to try them on. Wig results are often not how I expect but this outcome turned out well I think. :3 I felt very happy seeing Omega in the new style I got for someone else (but considered I might prefer for her) and a blank doll who will eventually be whole has hair now too! I left Omega out on the dresser overnight and of course it makes me happy seeing her there. I have moved into a new place this month and definitely still getting settled... Not sure where or if any dolls can sit out most of the time or not, but it does feel good at least thinking about them more, like I used to. Thinking about sewing, buying my little fabrics from work even though I have billions of handmade clothes already... (Which smell bad from my father's house. I feel lighter thinking, hey maybe I'll just start everything over and make clothes fresh) my dolls continue to be like me in this way I suppose. Everything has changed but *I'm* still here!

 

I organized my SD girls wardrobe. I had recently sewn a lot of clothes for them and cleaned out a Disney Princess Wardrobe case that had bought at a thrift store. The girls clothes all fit neatly into this large doll wardrobe case and now all the boys can just have the drawers to themselves.

 

Today I decided to buy (for $2.50) a simple vintage handmade doll dress from the antique mall where I work because I was feeling pretty darn confident it was a standard sd size and I'd gone back to handle it over and over, I was in love with it. I've dressed my Volks girl (Flora) in it now and it really suits her! She's so beautiful in that bright crimson fabric!

 

Today I just took a moment to really look at him. Something about his face seemed different, like he had a more natural expression than usual. I think it's because I turned him to a slightly different angle the other day but maybe he's up to some mischief.

 

I finished repainting Gael today. His original faceup was one of my best work, it's become who he is... but it got worn and chipped over time. I was reluctant to repaint him because I was afraid I wouldn't do him justice and would "lose" his character in a new faceup. But it was getting too damaged! I'm glad I blogged a very detailed faceup journal for him with all the colours I used, so I could paint him like the original.

Still have to spray sealant and do some glossing so Gael isn't back together yet, but I'm really pleased with this second faceup, I think it's an improvement on the original. I think it's still him I feel a lot more confident now repainting my dolls.

Spoiler: old/new faceup comparison

Left is his old faceup when I first painted it. Right is the new one

 

I have been busy repairing a used BJD that I got. I think I'm like his 5th owner? Poor doll has seen some things. I washed him clean. He had terrible rust like stains all over his arms, legs, and body, I'm not even sure how that happened. He also had black clothing stains, but that's an easier fix. He had a broken finger, his head magnets were in backward, and he had yellowed to the color of butter.

It took three washings for the water to be clean. I did get 95% of the stains off of him. There is a stubborn spot on his upper arm where some red stuff soaked into the resin, and light traces of the red slashes that was on his face. I sanded it a little and it's barely noticeable. I spent most of yesterday cleaning him, but he looks great now. I tried to preserve part of his original company faceup, but that was a fail.

I've been fixing him up today, faceup, and some body blush, helped cover a few remaining light stains. He is dressed now and waiting for a wig I ordered for him. The wig should be here within a week. He is wearing a left over borrowed wig for the time being.

When I bought him I thought he was an Only Doll YiFeng, but it turns out he's an Only Doll MoYan. Either way he is adorable. Somehow, his COA managed to travel with him on all of his past adventures.

I am happy with how he is turning out and I think he was originally a white doll, because the break parts are very light. I reduced some of his yellow with a baking soda scrub and light sanding. I also did a light lavender blush on him. This took down the butter yellow quite a bit. I don't mind yellowed dolls anyway, so this is fine with me. I think he's cute.

 

Today I finally spent some time with some of my newer dolls that came in this year. I haven't had time to actually play with them, so it was nice trying on clothes and wigs. It also made me realize I might need to invest in more clothes, as I don't have enough of a variety to choose from. The sun was also out today, so I took some decent photos.

 

I finally took the time to reorganize and dedicate an entire drawer just for all the extra hands and feet I have. It feels so good to have them all in one place and organized so I'm not searching for that one set of hands I can never find in any of the 3-4 boxes I used to use. Those little white gauzy gift pouches are a god-send, just saying.

 

Lately I've changed the way I set up wigs and I'm very happy with it. I'm switching to velcro in the lower back of the head, and putty where the wig's upper edge would be. The velcro hooks the wig in the back and putty keeps the hairline in place and flush against the head. With silicone caps I've always had problems with the cap itself shifting and dragging the wig along; or the wig pulling back from either the top of the bottom, which moved the hairline or billowed the back of the head. This is on wigs which were perfect size-wise. Now all problems are solved. I've done this on Nadia and Candell and I really love it. Mina and Leona have hardcaps that took the head's shape and now fit like a glove so no issue there. I'll do this on all my stretch cap wigs.

 

I’ve been messing with my guys wig all day and I’m finally happy with how it looks
I just need to put in some hairspray tomorrow

 

New first today: I redressed one of my dolls in a new outfit and saw it came with a freebie jewellery set. At first I thought it was for humans, but realised it was doll sized earrings. They fit really well and I'm going to see if I can find some more somewhere.

 

I had a doll stuck on a photoshoot setup for over a week because I had very little time to take pics -- busy life, and winter days are short with not enough time to take pics in daylight. But today I finally got all the pics I wanted. The photoshoot dragged on for so long I was running out of steam and it was in danger of being abandoned, so I'm really happy that it's done now.

I've also been on an art bender lately -- don't want to play with dolls, just wanna draw their characters all day all the time, and the inspiration has been coming thick and fast. Well, if the hyperfocus train is running, I'm gonna ride it and bash out as much art as I can. Playing with dolls is gonna have to wait until the art train reaches the end of the line.

 

tried a swimsuit on Juliet, might take her to the pool for photos later

 

Sat fiddling around dressing one of them up and trying to come up with an idea for a faceup. Been so long here that I've gotten excited to paint one of my dolls, feels nice. Even got plans to take the little one out with me to go shoot some pictures in a nearby forrest when I've finally painted the little face.

 

I recently had a doll meetup at my place, and then changed outfits for several dolls, so my gang ended up all over the home. Today I rounded them all up, got a few ready for photoshoots, and put the rest back in front of the bookshelf. This bookshelf has become the "green room"/waiting room where the "unoccupied" dolls get to hang out and chat...

Spoiler: pic

 

I love Oshidori's outfit in this one @aihre

 

I worked on a wool wig for my new deertaur fawn and now I am very itchy.