another update! this time with torso joints!

i took these pics a couple days ago, but now i have time to upload them ^^ i’ve cut apart venus’ torso and have started on the jointing for it.

and a shot with my other dolls in progress -

a birthday update!

yep, my birthday is tomorrow and i’ve got an update ^^

i spent the weekend cutting apart venus’ body to start the jointing ^^ (i know, i know! i’m avoiding xolotl and cooper…. )

but i wanted to share some pics - i’ve also cut out the parts of her arms and the boy torso.

and my work “room” (the living room *cough cough* of course most of the clutter on the coffee table is my mom’s )

my box o’ pieces *^^*

hoping to get more time -

i have about 4 weeks left in school so things are getting hectic - more than i thought.

but, it also means once i finish up with school in mid may i will have a lot more time to be sculpting and working on my own dolls - which i’m really looking forward to since i’m nearly 6 months late compared to my original deadline estimate ><;;;;;

a minor, but important update -

no, i haven’t got any new pictures - for that i apologize! 

but i’m thinking that i will only make 10 xolotl’s total, and 5 of them are already taken.

i plan on finishing her up this month (i just have her lower leg, arm, ears, and head cap to finish - they’re all at least 50% there) and then i get to start the molding process. my goal is to have them done by my birthday in may (the 26th to be precise)while i would love to do each of them a different breed, i understand that the 5 lucky people to purchase the other xolotls might not want them to be pre-customized.

so, what i’m thinking is that i’ll take a list of people who are interested (first come, first serve) and will let them choose from two different options. a 450$ doll, which is just the doll, a simple faux fur wig, eyes, and shipping (absolutely no customization at all) or a 550$ doll, which will include the doll, either faux fur or mohair(lambskin) wig, full face up and body blushing to the new owner’s specifics.  

AND!

i plan on sculpting a cat head to go on the body, and maybe a fox head later on. these will also be in limited numbers (between 5 and 10) and will be sold through the same process. pierrot (both old and new) is a different matter, and i haven’t decided yet how i will be dealing with her - but i know i want to sell a couple of her.

i am not ready to sell yet (obviously) but people who are interested can let me know, and i will start taking names probably beginning of may. when i’m ready to sell, i will ask for a deposit at that time (depends on cost of materials) and the the rest would be due when the doll is ready.

now, for cooper - i’m thinking of doing something similar.

he is in the final stages of having his pieces smoothed and finished for the final casting.

however, i think i will do a run of around 20 for him, and will take batches of names (probably 4 or 5 batches of 5 names) for him, i am thinking possibly 250 or 275 for the basic doll (with faux fur wig and eyes) and maybe 300 or 325 for the customized doll.

i am hopefully going to be sculpting a rabbit eared head for the body, and will do a similar run with him.

i will post an announcement on my webpage when i’m ready to start taking names, as well as posting pages devoted to each doll (so you can easily see their pictures and progress)these will be the ONLY ones that i sell.

i am working on my own dolls at a larger scale, and these will not be for sale. i hope to have venus and two special boys finished by the end of the year.

ha! you only thought i forgot ;)

i’ve actually been working a lot here and there when i have time (mostly on venus and my large girl body)

here are a couple quick pictures - i was messing with venus’ face and have added in a groove that will define her face plate, but her head needs to be resanded now.

the bodies are both still rough and a bit blobby right now too because i haven’t sanded them yet. in case you hadn’t figured it out, i hate sanding ><;;;;;; but at least it's easier on the paper clay and resin than it is on the sculpy....

so here she is - shown with my yugiri/fantasy doll hybrid who's about 60cm tall - as you can see, venus is larger than her and she doesn't even have feet yet! i planned for the body to be around 65cm and it looks like i'm right on target ^^

on the full sized body -

in a wig, please ignore the markings on her face ^^;;;;

on the start of her halfdoll body -

looking back -

as i was going through and looking back at old posts to add tags to make them searchable, i realized…

i still really love classic pierrot and beatrix…

so i’m going be pulling out their face plates, dusting them off, and seeing if i can’t upgrade them to the body. they’ll be cleaned up and refined, but i love their dolly-ness and i know they had some fans in other people as well.

i’m not giving up on the upgraded pierrot (who i had called 2.0 but then looking back i realized i already had a 2.0… so maybe she’s 3.0 ><;;;; )

just to let you know -

i took a short(ish) break and am now back in the swing of things thanks to spending some time on my big girl venus.   i am working on sanding all of cooper’s pieces and patching up the last few spots for the *hopefully* final molding/casting - but the weather hasn’t been very good.i’m about 1/3-1/2 way done with sanding cooper then it’s the patch work and another sanding, so i’ve got about another week’s worth of work on him. i then hope to finish xolotl, who has a lot more work to be done on her (patching her leg, refining her upper leg, ears, and headcap and then sanding all over and primering - which since that has to be done in a lot of layers can take a couple days by itself)i’ve come to the realization that i will never produce a doll as finished and refined as a professional company, and i’m okay with that as long as i produce the best doll i can, and i think i’m really close to it.

want to apologize…

i can’t seem to keep my own deadlines ><;;;;school and my internship have started so i haven’t really had energy to work on my dolls… and i’ll be picking up more hours at my internship as well, so….yeah, it’s no real excuse as i really want to work on my dolls - i plan on making myself work on either cooper or xolotl for at least an hour tomorrow as i have a lot of pieces to get ready to be molded and cast.i really want to get them ready to go so i can also start on new dolls as i have so many ideas!but have no fear, i’m not abandoning my projects! they’re just… taking longer than expected ^^;;;;;

*sobs*

well - first off den of angels is getting rid of their artist subform - NOOOO!!!   and then i had xolotl’s lower leg nearly done and baked it - only to have it warp!!! i tried to straighten it while it was still warm and it snapped!!! *cries*so now i’m trying to figure out how to put the leg back together at the right angle - the glue didn’t work the first time so my mom is going to try and help me….i hope to start making the molds for cooper over the next few days - i started school a couple weeks ago and am starting an internship this week so my time has really been cut down, but i still have friday-sunday completely open - and with no wig commissions to occupy me ( ) i have a lot of time to work on my dollies.i’m hoping once i get cooper finished i can make a new head - a rabbit - based on one of my ultimate favorite children’s book characters - MAX THE RABBIT *^^*this is the expression i would love to capture - http://www.infrench.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/max.jpg - and would love to try and do jointed rabbit ears (jointed along the ear, not just at the base)with xolotl, i have pierrot to finish and then i want to do a cat/ lioness head to go on the xolotl body.and once those two heads are done, i’m going to focus on my one of a kind dolls for myself and friends. of course i plan on selling coopers, xolotls (limited), pierrots, and the cat/lioness (limited as well) - but i have so many ideas in my head that i want to give birth to and over the last year i have learned that i really can bring them to life and it’s so much fun!i’ve found that i want to buy fewer and fewer company dolls when i can make them myself and have them closer to what i want.okay… i think i’ve blathered on long enough ^^;;;;; off to work on dolls!

triple update - AGAIN!

what’s that? i have an update again! on three dolls nonetheless!yep - though they’re not all necessarily big updates ^^;;;;cooper’s head has been molded only to find more flaws so i’m still cleaning up his head - also am not satisfied with his mouth anymore, so i got a second cast of the head to play around with the mouth and eventually i want to do a partially or mostly closed eyed version of him too, so i’ll have to cast another head for that.with the other cast and the fixed up head -then i have a little bit more finishing done on pierrotv2.0 - i love her ear! now i’m dreading having to repeat it ><;;;;and lastly - after numerous tries i decided to do the lower third of xolotl’s leg in polymer clay to be easier to change and what not - however it’s taking FOREVER and a day…. after about an hour i have this much of her lower leg fur (fetlock? ) finished - it’s going to be another 3 - 4 hours before it’s done (including smoothing out all the crumbles and what not… )