DollsArtCats

Yes, that is K. This is my friend Tery, the Steampunk Witch: I have to say it's pretty much Halloween here all year, to be honest. :D

This is actually Cat's birthday present--she was born on Halloween! How cool is that? Anyway, it came from Target but I felt it had insufficient bling and I underestimated how long it would take to bling it and line it. Since I have been working, the cat twice now has brought me lunch at the computer: She comes down the hall, drops it in the studio, and leaves. I always thank her. Mostly for not dropping them off alive! She was not willing to pose in the recent Iplehouse box, btw: Fall has come and there are a million mice and voles on the march out there--it is a pretty time of year, though. And finally, today's Hat, with the proudest Raven in the land: The front with the veil, which IMO needs a little tweaking:

Uh oh... doll-granado.com

But wait-- there is more, on Bored Panda Freddy Fabris is the photographer and his site has a number of gorgeous photos, even beyond the mechanics series. Many thanks to Andy, who sent me the link just as I tossed out the day's work on a gold net veil for the hat--I figure out how to make it gold and sparkly and have sequins-- but the basic netting was a hot mess and I will have to do it again tomorrow. I hate repeating designs, even though I have the "grid" displayed in photoshop and copy and paste is my friend. (I tried to scan some fabric and use that but it was not square enough).

Raj did a couple of sets of shirts and jeans for Eric and his David and Venitu guys, and I was so pleased to see them on the Dollshe site in the Gallery ! I really liked this shirt because I remember seeing one in an old magazine that had similar colors and patterns--I think the original was from some Navajo-woven cotton and I wish I could remember the exact source. Rajendora is an amazing tailor!

This is the Tiger Eye hat, but with Andy's cat "George" added--Andy helped me fix my copy of Daz Studio and she's a peach :D.

So I was dragging around the web looking for reference for a tiger eye stone, and I came across Jain Ceramics . I was intrigued because I thought maybe they had glazed tiles that looked like faux gemstones, but no, they take the real stuff and make your bathroom or kitchen out of them. The website does not have enough pictures, but the photos they have are splendid. Sadly they are based in India and the product is heavy for shipping, but if you are a Romney you could probably have them fly out and install a tiger-eye half bath for you. Or perhaps a mosiac pool. In any case, if you are a artist who needs some gem refs, they have some nice ones. It turns out that I can paint faked gems like a boss, which is a lot of fun, but I wish the art fairy had given me the ability to draw engine cutaways or architectural elevations, which have more of a income-producing possibility. :D

She came yesterday and I took some time away from virtual hats to open her box and take a look at her. She is only the second Iplehouse doll that I have ordered with a faceup-- and I am so glad I did! I even got the little heart; I thought that was a custom makeup item! The boxes for the NYID girls are new too: First look at a startled doll in the box :D : Here is where I lifted her out and saw the heart: The best part is that she is a reshell of an old Delf Miyu that I had called Corazon (Corazon was a former Arcadia Circus girl that had gotten very yellowed, I think she lives in New Jersey now after a serious de-yellowing session in Oxy Clean). If you have old Haute Doll magazines you can see the Miyu modelling some of the Arcadia Circus clothing. Bjd owners just pass these dolls around all over the world. Anyway, THIS version of Corazon is delightful--I have Cora's old wig on the Rexy, and I think I want to swap it for a softer mohair, but the color is perfect: The Ipleho...

This is one of Gypsyangel's upcoming Terrible Twins, either Malice or Mayhem...I can't tell them apart;) . I have been on the computer for hours without getting around to actually posting on the blog, though stuff is going on--last weekend Jon went outside and came in and said the lamppost in the back yard had fallen over...but not the huge copper-lamped monstrosity by the pergola, but a semi-useful one in the back by the shed. Dry rot had apparently chewed through the base, despite the original owner's hopeful placement of plastic around the base. The worst part is that it landed on my wind chimes. :o The wind chimes in happer times: I did save the unbroken suns and I will restring them with another half set I have in a box. Chicago is hard on wind chimes--I've learned to keep them away from windows so that the wind doesn't yank them off the holder and toss them through the window. I did have these briefly on the enclosed porch but then I would hit my head on ...

I'm excited to announce some upcoming public appearances. They're all gatherings that I would recommend, so come on by, say hello, and get your book signed. *October 29, 2015: University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA.* In connection with the museum exhibition, "The Art of James Gurney," I'll come to Philadelphia for a digital slide lecture, booksigning, and reception. Public Presentation: Thursday, October 29: 1 - 2:30 pm, Levitt Auditorium Reception: Thursday, October 29: 3 - 4 pm, at the Von Hess Gallery, Anderson Hall, 333 S Broad StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19107 K, go see him!

Mostly I reorganized files, learned how to install things in Daz Studio, cleaned the gutters, and worked a bit on the bow (part of it is wrong, I will fix it tomorrow).

This is a Poser Elf named Ahruna by Maddelirium, wearing todays hat--which mysteriously has the specularity messed up so that the opals are all blown out. Also the hat band is once more in the wrong place--I forgot that it is "upside down" on the template. :p Here is the "Mof" if you need one:

I managed to fix the scrollwork on the brim of this version of the hat, and P3DArt shared the templates! Woot! I sat down and added notes to myself on it, so when I come back to it later I can remember what was going on with this hat. Since mostly this was a well-behaved model, the notes are pretty mellow: Only the hat band has been difficult--the sides are especially easy to paint: I have to go look and see what else is in P3DArt's Renderosity store --I just fell in love with the hat and ran off with it without looking around much. I love the Loli style anyway, I don't wear it myself--because I would look like this-- (so kawaii) but I think it is adorable and creative. OK I went back to P3dArt's Virtual Store and she has at least three things I will go later and get. :D

It doesn't look all that impressive, but most of it is hand drawn, including the rough "linen" base texture... AND that checkerboard is over a seam. Also the inside of the brim is textured. :D

Our birthday celebration is coming to end, so we kindly inform you that there is still one day to get 10% discouunt to any of our outfit! Authentic kosovorotka shirts, sarafan dresses, valenki and Russian shawls - great outfit to spice up your wardrobe. Your coupon: RCBD2015 Kind regards, Olga RusClothing.com I bought a gorgeous artist's scarf from them, and it came fine; in about a month, in a soft padded envelope. I'm tempted to get something-- but I am also poor right now. You should go visit the site just to see the blurb on the felt boots..which come January, I will wish I had bought for myself!

When they say "diamonds are forever" they really mean how long it takes to add highlights to a little cell of diamonds. I took a photo of a dress I have with diamond trim, picked out one of the "diamonds", cleaned it up a little, made it a little black and white drawing and then made a "brush" of it in photoshop, which works just like a stamp. The problem was that you can't make all the highlights the same, or it looks cheesy. I also did several ways of filling the ovals up there and then decided the 3rd from the left looked the best, and slapped it on today's version of The Hat. And yes, I tried to put the trim on the hat band and once more it didn't fit properly. I hate that hat band. The top of the brim is getting a redo, too, but the seams in the back are now fixed.

So this is the Zombie version of the Loli Hat. Almost everything on the hat, including the fabrics, exist as real objects in my house, (including the eyeball), and if I hadn't had so much trouble with the band around the base of the crown, it would have been done yesterday. So here is the story of the pumpkin--we bought a huge pumpkin at a "Farmers Market" at the York Mall--about 20 pounds of it and really round, like a Cinderella coach. In past years we have always put them outside until we were ready to carve them, and now and then a squirrel would decide to get creative and do a little carving on their own--usually they make a hole, get inside and eat the seeds. So J came home, day before yesterday, and said "Where is the pumpkin?" Of course I had no idea. This what was what was left when I went to look at the place where the pumpkin had been, on the edge of the front steps: (Please note that we have a Halloween-appropriate "headless cat" here....

I spent way too long on these, and then the new hat pattern I am painting didn't need them either--instead a scan of a part of one of Sicktress' doll prop staffs worked much better (a bunch of green metallic rings packed together). You never know what will work. In other news, our (very large) pumpkin tried to run away off our porch. I have photos I will put up tomorrow.

This is something I did a couple of weeks ago--the final will have different type (this publisher doesn't like script fonts on the basis that they don't thumbnail well, and I haven't persuaded them otherwise). The file title made me laugh..there are various versions of it in the folder, including THEVERYLASTGRIFFINwtype.jpg. Usually I have Monday_title, Tuesday_title, Wednesday_title, (skip Thursday because of sulking over much needed changes) and then the Final_title, then ReallyFinal, and then ReallyFinal_goodtext. This last week I have been texturing the Loli Hat, and once I figure out what was what on the template, it went a lot faster. (I found a quick way to do it--I slapped a page of text down for the texture map, rendered it and then I could see where the edges of the pieces were). There is a real way to extract the UV's from Poser, but I haven't found the right tutorial for it, and so far my bootleg methods work ok.(the professional way to check textures...

I bought this Loli Hat today thinking it would be an easy retexturing project. I was wrong. That 3d hair, by the way, is by FK Designs and is awesome. I have had a couple of versions of it and it fits everyone and looks great. Fabiana is also a sweetie so you should buy her 3d stuff. :)

The weather was insanely great here today--low humidity, 80 degrees, and sunny--so off came Perdita's head and I painted her up. It went pretty well for me and an Iplehouse head (I always have trouble painting realistic heads). Then I tried to put microglitter on her eyelids. Don't do that. The Perfect Pearl shimmer powders are a lot more the right scale for shiny things on a small head. I sort of papered over my mistake with some Jaquard duotone purple/gold shimmer paint, put in some of the sculpey eyes (her "proper" eyes are drying still) and took her out for a photo or two. It was super windy by then and after a couple of photos the wind blew her wig off--but I am so happy with her. She is the first cheerful Bianca I have ever seen! I may still put in eyelashes but I have to order some special ones from Mint on Card for her. I also did some more eyes because I wanted to try the Modge Podge Dimensional Magic on the eyes I had made before, and you need low humidit...