DollsArtCats

Every now and then I find a wonderful book at Barnes and Noble. I had never heard of Ed Org before, and I am glad I found out about him. He's a wizard with a pencil. While this is a perfectly good how-to book, it's an even better gallery of his art. He shows the original photos and the final art is oh so much better than the reference, as it should be. Lots of amazing art noveau curlies everywhere. Most pencil work just looks "medium grey". His drawing have the full range of values, though my photo doesn't give you the full effect. When I grow up I want to draw like that!

K went to Japan in early August. August is not the best time to visit Osaka, because it is..hot. I got a phone call on the first Tuesday of K's visit and K said that the visit had included a stay at the Kinki University Hospital for heatstroke. K said the hospital was "the nicest K had ever seen", and blocks of ice and gatorade-like substances were provided. K was embarrassed about the incident but then Shuto, one of the other Kinki University students, had to spend a whole day in the hospital as a result of an allergic reaction to mosquito bites and the bamboo they were sanding for a sculpture, so K felt less self-conscious. K had an amazing time and wants to go back. Candy was also brought back from Japan for J and I. The candy is gorgeous, even if it is not technically candy-as-we-know-it. It's much less sweet. The little package above is a small meal of rice flour with a bean paste center, like biscuit dough and jam. The ones I liked best were some kind of cl...

Courtesy of Irene. The hurricane was not much of a problem here, just a lot of steady rain. We'll have toadstools again by Wednesday.

I like the older Luts.com dolls, the ones designed by Cerberus Productions. When I started buying dolls in 2007 they were the "hot dolls" at the time and I couldn't afford them. But as time has passed they are considered old and busted, and they are inexpensive now on the secondary market; especially the Moon sculpt, who was almost as popular as the Lishe and El in '07 and '08. The first one I got was a Redemption the Moon, just his chipped little head, no splendid costume or even a body. He's still one of my favorites. And a couple of months ago I bought a Fairyland Vamp Moon that had his teeth sanded off by someone, for the price of a decent dinner. All told, I have 5 of these guys, with various mismatching bodies. Here's Vittorio (He was Viktor at his last house, and as I had no name for him I kept it as close as possible while making him a brunette instead of a blonde.) I wonder why they took his teeth off? They are so tiny, like cat teeth. This is...

I have made my hurricane preparations.

A present from the cats. I have no idea what kind of grasshopper this is, but he was released back out into the night after I got him off the drapes. (Click for full-size).

For no reason except I like it. If you "Center" it, it should leave a margin for your icons. (Click for full version).

One of my very first ball-jointed dolls was just a head. A free head, that a friend got as a freebie with another doll order. He looked sort of anime, with big ears--he was a Dream of Doll Tender Lahoo, and he went through a whole progression of ridiculous bodies, from a cloth one I put together: to a two-toned thing (note the blue wig, and Delf hands): To a tall, lanky Resinsoul body with a regular, if used Lahoo head: To finally, a splendid and hard-to-find Immortality of Soul "G", that I stumbled upon on the secondary market at 4 AM one morning, before anyone else saw it. He's painted now, not very well, but close to what I wanted. He just needs all new clothes, since he's a very different size and shape from the Resinsoul version. I will say this about the cloth body--it was easy to pose. This version needs his arms restrung and wired, as they are far too tight! I'm still very, very happy with this version!