DollsArtCats

Calum's "Samaira" clothing figure (from Renderosity.com) comes with a mask and a staff (I forgot to look in the "Props" folder included with the figure), so once I found it, I took the mask and put in on Pixeluna's Ooga, who has custom features that are a lot different from the default Victoria4. I still got the mask to fit by using the built-in adjustments. :D

Here's a better version of Cal's angel, I like this pose and format more, because you can see the clothing figure better. Poser and Art Rage. I may still work on the wings later when I have more time.

20 cm long, and yes, it lives in Australia. Read about it here: giant-pink-cannibal-slug-discovered-australia

Yesterday I had fun looking at the comments on Ilsonya's blog; Russian birthdays seem to be an occasion to make and consume jam, so here is a photo of my favorite jam and a small virtual cup of tea. Happy Birthday, Ilsonya! I would never know what was happening in the dollie world without you and your friends! :D

Calum5 (who has art in 3d World, among other places) made this little clothing set and to my astonishment, gave it to me yesterday. I did this test render with it and I am not quite satisfied with it--I am not sure the mood of the piece matches the more gothy mood of the clothing figure, so I might give it another go tomorrow if I have time. We had a guest for dinner today and I had to rework a render for some web channel that MSN owns, so it was a full day.

Luts has decided that Soom should not make all the fantasy creatures, so they popped Kid Delf Bory onto a unicorn frame. Kid Delves are about 42 cm tall, so he's not huge. I haven't looked at Luts for ages--I don't much like the head sculpts since they split with Cerberus Productions (who went on to start Fairyland), but the styling of the dolls is very nice. I'm just not a fan of that round, wide-eyed look they have going, though I would have been tempted by Kid Delf Lolly's wig, wings and outfit. Moonlit Song's Sales Page (not live yet, but you can see the photo and details)

Now that would be a "box opening." Stolen from Reddit, as I have to rework a cover... And by coincidence, Impldoll has looked at Mirodoll's new colors, and raced ahead to issue colorful, manageable crocodiles of their own. I don't need crocodiles, large or small, but Impl is obviously having fun with these--"Colby" also comes with a tiny Crocodile Dundee outfit. Crocodile Sales Page

(This was before laser pointers). I have toured the Olympia and it's a fun visit. You can tell it was the Admiral's flagship because of the mahogany details (even in the crew areas) and the general spaciousness of the ship. On the other hand, I walked around it after spending 45 minutes crawling through the Becuna, a WW2 era sub. The Becuna gives you a great idea of what being in a space capsule would be like, if it was diesel-powered. More cats here: http://www.usni.org/news-and-features/cats-and-the-sea-services This one was stolen from tkohl on Reddit.

Elvellin visited my blog a while back to check out the Super Gem Stringing Guide, so every now and then I go visit her blog: http://www.diary.ru/~Elvellin/ Since I read it in translation, Google doesn't include text embedded in jpegs, and Elvellin mentioned she was going to the hospital this weekend, and then added a photo panel from House (thereby confirming that I like Elvellin) to explain why. Even if it's for removing earwax, a trip to the hospital is no fun; so I poked around in my files looking for a flower photo that I hadn't put up yet. I did find a good one of roses and lilacs, but on close examination I realized that the flowers were looking a little sad and droopy, so I fixed them up in Art Rage. Here is the original photo before the paint-over: I'm not sure Elvellin will even see the flowers unless someone from bjdclub.ru stops by, but you never know when a good thought helps. :)

Aaliyah is shipping now from Iplehouse (Iplehouse is fast!) and Sarqq has already sat down and painted her up...and I like hers better than the default! It was a bit of genius to add the cyborg eye, I think--it would not have occurred to me to make her a SF character but she looks incredible. Also, it make me perfectly happy that I didn't order her--whenever I want to see the best Aaliyah ever, I can just go to Sarqq's Deviant Art page and see her: http://sarqq.deviantart.com/ Sarqq has some other new photos up too--it's worth a visit, always!

Another Poser doll, this one made by fu-minn ("Will for M4" at Renderosity), dressed by Powerage (The Freelance for M4) and again using coflek-gnorg's handy Cockpit, though with some Photoshop alterations. The background is Terragen and some photos stitched together. "It's just a minor fix, really!"

A pepper inside a pepper, discovered at lunch on Saturday. Also, the Strategic Wreath Supply is uncovered in Downers Grove: And this is what I was wearing on May 25th: Yes, I always dress like that..when it's cold! Even the Farmer's Market vendor at Our Lady of Fattening Baked Goods was wearing wool robes. I didn't take a photo because my hands were full of a hot pretzel.

(This is only funny if you have fed baby food to small, unwilling children). This was K's reaction to Gerber Plums:

Leningrad's Fish (Ленинград — Рыба ) on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-CnWwbeetE (I want the drummers's hat!) part I I caught a lot of different fish I know the cool places. Where the sea of girls' smiles, Catch a something like a bush. (just one time, then the same, sounds like "NO TOLKO TY, RYBA MOEI MECHTY") But just you, the fish of my dreams! The fish of my dreams, the fish of my dreams! But just you, the fish of my dreams! The fish of my dreams, the fish of my dreams! part II When it bites, then fifty I can coach you for the night. From Leningradki (the city of Moscow street) and to Kapotnya (city) Walk flocks and Tanya and Katya (girl's names). I caught a lot, I often caught, I caught piranhas too. And once with a huge mouth Crocodile caught directly.

It's been only 59 out today, which sounds pretty nice...unless it's freakin' Memorial Day Weekend! I had put away all my sweaters and my heavy blankets and socks and gloves and wooly scarves. It will be in the low 40's tonight and I refuse to turn on the heater.

Just a test of Zyanya's "Tiger" makeup--Gypsyangel has her almost done, she will be for sale as a Victoria4 add-on at www.Daz3d.com ...pretty soon now! Cockpit is by Coflek-gnorg (Renderosity.com) suit is by Powerage, "Liquid Switch", also at Renderosity.com.

I miss her... and the shore, too!

A year or so ago, Soom did a female version of La Fee Verte, the Absynthe Fairy; and while her wings were fabulous, she really didn't look old enough to drink herself, or like she had any interest in the bohemian life at all..she looked like a refugee from the Garden Fairy series that had accidentally fallen into rough company. But here Soom has revisted Bohemia with Boehm, The Smoke Fairy. Boehm should probably come with a surgeon general's warning, but he is quite handsome and also comes with Mighty Fine wings. Luckily for me he is too small to even be a cabin boy, though I like his face a lot--he looks a bit like a mini Sphaler cousin. His sales page is here: Soom Boehm

A few weeks ago I bought a Migma Lavender Vampire head from Sarqq , figuring I would make a fun steampunk electrical vampire out of her. I have painted her face (with rather goofy eyebrows, but it's not the worst faceup I have done, so it will do for now) and I had a wig for her. For some reason I thought the wig that I scissored up for Lt. Coppersmith was hers, but no, I was tidying up today and opened her shoe box--and there, neatly wrapped in tissue and labelled, was her own wig. So after sitting around sulking, bald and cranky and no doubt causing my lightbulbs to fail daily (I have over 50 over the whole house, so one is always out), now she can sit around and drain the juice out of my AA batteries. And here she is, sizing up her next victim, the Home Depot Floor Lamp:

J doesn't always have time to make things; but when he does, they come out nice. :D I think these are for fishing for small bass.

Flickr has redone it's layout, and if you have a slow computer you may want to not visit for a few days until they adjust the display--it loads up a huge page of border-reduced photos all at once if you go look at someone's Photostream--and if you have a slow computer it will freeze. It's also not good if you are looking on a smart phone and your plan charges you for data transfers! If you scroll down to the bottom it suddenly looks more familiar--the photo information is there, and you can even figure out where you are in the stream (most recent images are still on the left of the slideshow). When I did a search for HerrZog I got put on the page I am linking to below--it may be an older set or a sub-album (navigation is now a little unfamiliar to me on Flickr) However, the photos are gorgeous (as usual) and HerrZog also has some seriously cute kitten photos in there. :D HerrZog's (sub album?) Flickr

This beautiful watercolor was painted by an ancestor of James Gurney's, 2nd Lt. Samuel Gurney Cresswell of the HMS Investigator . Real life is way cooler than novels sometimes. Read about the Investigator here: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/05/samuel-gurney-cresswell.html

I spent the day waiting for cover feedback; so I did some planting, cleaned the pond filter (I removed most of the barley pellets, which were now looking a lot like wet plywood), swept up maple seeds, put the netting back on the pond, did laundry, dishes, mopped, changed the shower curtain, wrote a rather anxious note to a friend who lives in Oklahoma City, and took some photos. This is Sirius, the Doll in Mind Event Elf on the DollZone 72 body, and if you look, you can see a blue spot in the back, by the fence. That is the deadly Land Shark: It likes to attack children on the trampoline, usually with some help from one of the middle siblings of the 7 kids. The older girls jump and talk on the cell phone at the same time. (The kids make me laugh almost every day.) The cats amuse me too--here my grey cat has discovered that he has a tail:

He's not really my frog, but he lives either in or around the pond. I have startled him once or twice into jumping into the pond (I won't see anything, but I will walk up to the pond with fish food or dechlorinator or one of the hundred other things-in-bottles that have to be measured into the pond, and I will hear a splash and see something frog-kicking it's way down to the bottom of the rock pile.) We spent most of the weekend outside, me planting plants and J working in the shed, and that is how I happened to walk by the pond and saw the frog sunning himself on one of the rocks on the side. He stayed long enough to get his picture taken. I don't know what he's eating, but I hope he stays..and maybe invites a couple of friends over as well.

Every now and then I find these on the web, usually reddit. Apparently since there has been photography, there have been LOL cats. The second photo is from 1905, by Harry Whittier Frees.And then there is this: That is going to be a BIG LOL cat someday.

And still no shirt yet, though I am working on it. I need some 1700's backgrounds, too!

For some reason (more water than usual, maybe) the dandelions this year have been amazing. Anyplace that doesn't get mowed is growing a huge, dense crop of puffballs. I'm tempted to ask my neighbor Pat if I can come over and lay on my stomach in her yard to take a closeup, but by the time I see her they may already have blown away.

In a fabulous hat, too. I should remember this doll's name, considering how often I go look at her photos! Also I need to sew faster..everyone here needs hats. One of the other Den of Angels members filled out the Soom Survey and asked for "A tan Migma" and I was thinking "Noooo...my bank account!" Because it would be very hard to resist that combination. BTW I think the doll's name is "Karmina" after poking about on the 'net.

Even after dealing with the mice in the house, this makes me laugh. From Reddit.

So you thought the NS tattooed version of Nayuta Kenzo was cool? Feast your eyes on this ! (And there are only ten). As usual, I got this news from Ilsonya's blog; and along with new doll news there is something today on her blog about how the South Korean servers seem to be blocking a lot of Russian service providers. The complaints and the cures (putting in a spoofing dns address) are too technical for me and Google translate to follow; but on top of the EMS problem, now the Russian collectors can't even easily check their order status. On the other hand, PayPal is now active in Russia after putting up a sizeable bond, so there is good news along with the bad news.

From Ilsonya's blog, and Soom: Dear SoOm fans, Thank you for your interest and support for our Mecha Angel dolls over many years. Unfortunately, we have the sorrow to announce that the Mecha Angel website will be closed on October 20th of 2013. However, dolls on this website will make a comeback on our'' The Gem'' website in the next future. Please be looking forward the new face of Mecha Angel dolls soon. ^ ^ Also, FFD sales will be maintained until complete closure of the website (June, August, October). Again, we deeply thank you for all the love you gave to our Mecha Angel dolls, and we hope that you will fall in love with their new faces as well ~ SoOM team Ermagherd, that means a Bellatrix is coming, in 65 cm!

Random tulip is there just because they look great today...all the bother of planting them is so worth it. (I usually get a bag of 50 in the fall, thinking I LOVE tulips...until I am on my hands and knees, trying to push number 20 down into a rocky hole as it rains on my back.) Anyway, the big news is that my neighbor put up a bird feeder. Normally my gray cat ignores birds--he's not a "leaper", he likes to either wait by a hole or race like a cheetah after rabbits. But it looks like he has plans here. I may have to ask the neighbors to move the feeder up a little. On the other hand, the gray cat will grab all the squirrels and mice that come to share in the seeds. In the evenings, I have been working on a shirt for my Granado Xavier, and there was a miracle and the collar doesn't look too bad (so far). It's been slow going since I have had so much work.