DollsArtCats

This guy's feet have arrived! Now I have 3 sets of "fancy feet" and no time to hook them up. Balthazar is another Soom Sphaler, and he has a cheaper Impldoll body. I have been assured that hot glue shaped to fill any gaps, will make the Impl legs compatible with the Sphaler dragon legs. After next Wednesday, I'll sit and take a look at how it all works. Here are the feet: Aaand here are his hands! (he needs a manicure).

No cats are supposed to be on the table, ever. But the old workbench used to be in this exact spot, and the cat brain is tiny. And it's too hot to fuss about it. And he's pretty darn cute there.

K has some friends that lived in a haunted apartment in Philly. Derek, and yes, Shaggy shared an apartment, so it seems inevitable they would have a ghost :0. Anyway, they kept hearing noises at night. Little scufflings and shufflings, not like rats (all too common in Philly). They were somewhat chemically enhanced while they were "at home" so they never investigated..until one of the ghosts stole Derek's comforter. (K said "Presumably so that the ghosts could cut eyeholes out of it and put it over their heads and float around). That was a bridge too far, so Derek armed himself with a baseball bat and went up the attic stairs. He reached the top of the stairs, kicked open the door..and screamed. The two crack addicts bunked down in Derek's comforter there also screamed, jumped up and raced for the door, past Derek and down the stairs, and out into the street. (I presume Shaggy downstairs was screaming too, but K didn't know.) Derek got the lock fixed on th...

J and I went to Atlantic City Sunday. Not to gamble, but to go to an anniversary dinner at Carmine's, which is part of the Tropicana Casino/Mall. The mall is like Disneyland, with an indoor courtyard and a painted ceiling made to look just like the twilight outside, a fountain, and outside Cuba Libre, a big statue of Lenin,( who would no doubt hate the fact he was now a Capitalist Tool.) There is also an awesome ceiling as you go out towards the casino: a steampunk version of palm-leaf ceiling fans, about 50 all arrayed together, turning slowly. I haven't seen a casino since the 1960's, and the modern one was a grave disappointment. It looked like a New Jersey scratch-off lotto card, with lights. Slot machines no longer take or deliver coins. Everyone looks like a Hooter's customer. I did see a mermaid, though--she was wearing a tail and a bra of turquoise sequins and was talking languidly with a handsome young man, which seemed in character. I assume two big guys ca...

it's hot enough to make a doll cranky, though I shouldn't complain--I have enough AC to not be miserable. Mostly it's everything outside that is cranky, and tomorrow I need to get up early enough to paint the back steps before it's hot enough I can't spread the paint. I was having a little bit of that problem inside doing trim, and had to put the can in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Citrine is a Luts Lishe and painted by Laura Buff, and someday will have more than one dress and the loaner kimono.

I went out in the backyard this morning to look for the cat, since he missed breakfast. I saw something that looked like a wild turkey sitting in the meadow next door, and walked over to see it was in fact a turkey vulture, eating half a squirrel. I know who ate the first half, and later the grey cat showed up for lunch. The Vultures are as big as turkeys, and go "fwap, fwap" when they fly. They also grumble--they grumbled at me when I walked up to see what they were eating, and they didn't look like they would share. They are used to people, they like to sit on a house a block from mine. It looks like the owner would pay to have vultures sit on the roof, they look so perfect. (You have to click on the small image to get the larger view of the vultures).

Denzel is a doll that Iplehouse put out a year or so ago. In his first incarnation, he was a suave black guy with a pencil mustache. Now he has been reissued in a more Asian shade of Realskin, and is now perfect for a webcomic character of mine (including the guyliner) Mine will have normal brown eyes, though. I've been expecting Iplehouse to eventually make the doll I had in mind, because they kept coming so close, but with the wrong nose tip, or lips too thin, or looking too serious. (This character is not all that serious in appearance). This is the first (and possibly the only) time I have enough free money to buy a doll directly from a company, so I was stupidly excited to click my way through their shopping cart and payPal. It turns out to be as easy to buy from them as it is from PC Connection, and about the same price as if I had wanted a new computer. This is probably not something I should have learned. ;) Shipping was a big deal, though--so if I do this again, I will ...

Like bobbles, sequins mean a party. Cathy Cara made this dress, and Raveena the Iplehouse Yur is modelling it--it has little gold silk ribbons in the back.

I've been busy trying to get the house ready for Friday's re-assessment. So far the biggest headache has been the old metal windows. I put putty on them yesterday since they leaked Friday in the downpour we had (the basement flooded a little, and one basement window looked like an aquarium and had to be bailed out). Applying putty requires digging out a handful of Dap33 glazing out of the tub and hand-rolling it into a greasy, disgusting snake, and then pressing it around the edges of the glass. Metal frame windows don't use glazier's points, but something like a mutant paperclip. I haven't figured out how to set those correctly so the newest pane may pop out if someone kicks it, so I am hoping no one does. K went to a couple of parties on Saturday night. The second one was a graduation party with a pirate theme, with a ton of friends and family. K was put out that the invitation did not specify pirate dress, as K owns a splendid pirate hat. The guests included...