DollsArtCats

I admit it, I am weak. I sent off Original Bliss to ATYL, who gave her an astonishingly beautiful and detailed faceup ...but then I realized I didn't have an NYID body here for a fit model and comparison photos. Boo. So I looked at what was available as a Basic on the Iplehouse site, and I am pretty meh about their standard NYID girls, but I saw there was a Light Brown Isis NYID in the auction for half of what she would be full price! Oh boy! I could finally get my little Egyptian Princess that I had decided was way too expensive to get through Doll Choice. So I bid on it, and then no one else bid. The day before the auction ended, I actually went and bought two wigs, some eyes and the wrap dress Felicity is wearing up there. And I actually got up at 2:30 in the morning to keep an eye on the bid. Welllll it turns out this is not exactly Ebay, but run by humans, because when the auction ended, it still had 3 minutes on the clock and some other person, probably more awake than I w...

I am going to stop buying Iplehouse dolls. I get sucked into the fabulous quality and the fact that they can send them out in less than 2 months..and then they just sit on the shelf. I think the problem is that they look like the characters that are set for them at Iplehouse, and not my characters; and I also am bad at painting super realistic sculpts.  So I listed Bliss for sale, and almost instantly a local collector asked about her--I was so grateful because the shipping was SO CHEAP and I also managed to find all the parts that were supposed to be included--after four hours of rummaging. But I also found a lot of other small lost things, so it's all good.   Bliss might even get some clothes, now at her new place :D (This dress was taken off a porcelain doll) I will admit that if I found a NS Iplehouse Rebecca head, I would probably buy it. (Looks shifty)

Iplehouse Carina So Fabric Friends and Dolls  just got in an order of Oscar Eyes, and there were lots in the 12mm and 14mm size I use the most. I also had money in the PayPal, which is always dangerous. :D These are 12mm Silver Galaxy, and in person they are so sparkly and wonderful; I will try to take more photos during the day to see if I can capture how bright they are. They also fit well in the difficult Iplehouse eyes--Hecate has slightly larger than most eyes, so some 12 mm still gap. The Oscars fit perfectly. They are nice and heavy flat-backed resin, with lots of detail you can't see in this light. Here is another shot, still pretty murky: These have pupils, too--just a lot of glitter in front of them! I also did something different with her eyelashes--normally I glue them in with Aleen's Clear Tacky Glue like a responsible adult, but I was lazy and took tape and taped in the lashes. This is pretty easy to do--you still need tweezers to get them placed correct...

She is an Iplehouse Bliss that I have had for a year or so--she is NS, not Peach Gold--it's just the light. She had a sort of purple gothy faceup that I decided I just didn't like, so I took it off and started a bit of a new one before it got too dark to see or spray any more (I have to work on the unheated porch, and while the temperature was fine today, the sun still goes down pretty early.) Anyway, you can see Bliss blank here. She's really cute! I hope the next faceup I do comes out--I never know ahead of time if it will be good or meh. Here is another photo closer to her "real" color, with an Impldoll Chapman in the back: I need to figure out how to do nice, even strokes on eyebrows.

I almost forgot to put this up--I made some feather eyelashes from black craft feathers; the look is very dense and like false eyelashes, it works ok for Lenore (Iplehouse Bliss) because she is supposed to be a goth chick, but they are fussy to make and tend to flop and shed. (Ignote the purple makeup, I need to adjust it a little. The eyebrows are just what they are, too. I also took an hour last night to mess with my translucent "effect" Fimo and some opalescent special effect Sculpey. The opal looks the most convincing if you can roll it thin, and use a push mold to make it smooth. A top coat of the Sculpey glaze looks good too. I made some eyes with the translucent Fimo and you need to cook it at 250, not 265 on my Black and Decker toaster oven, for 18 minutes. Longer and it turns yellow. The Fimo cookable glaze is still a fail, and I am about to give up on it. The transucent eye whites turn out to look too dark in eyewells, because it's dark in the heads. XD How...

I always try to check Iplehouse and Soom every day, because they tend to pop up interesting things without telling me ahead of time ;) And I had to laugh when I saw this cute little denim dress--it sort of sums up the popular view of the US Midwest: "Corn and Demons" as a Tumblr post put it-- denim with a goth lining, on a girl with Swedish/Polish/German ancestry. Even the curtains are right ;) I'm very fond of denim--where I grew up in California jeans are what you wear; and later when I lived in the Pacific Northwest, jeans, a denim jacket and a Pendleton wool shirt are the clothes that fit the climate the best. (If you add a denim vest you have a "Canadian tuxedo", which I actually owned when I lived in Seattle, right down to the Frye boots). Lightweight cotton denim is wonderful to sew with, too.  So here are the two denim outfits Iple has together--I think the other SID girl is Aria, but I am not used to seeing her as a blonde, so I am not sure: This...

I am not even a real "dog person" but these guys are so cute! Whoever paints them is a genius--go look at the sales page and scroll down to see the different colors. I am not sure what eyes they are using--they look "right" for the dogs and a little unusual for people eyes. They are 273.00 with painting (and I think painting is really part of the charm here), not counting the EMS shipping. Here are some of the dogs with pet-lover Bliss: Bliss' pet food bill must be staggering :D Look how great the dog on her lap is posed! Like the cats, whoever designed these photoshoots understands how the dogs move and interact. Here's another photo for scale--the Puma is the size of a domestic housecat. I would get one, but I am still trying to get a lawnmower...I need the PayPal refund so I can go back out and get the lawnmower I want, instead of the 500.00 lawnmower from Costco. I refuse to pay most of a Soom doll for a mower, especially when I have a functi...

Although it looks like Bliss has just discovered a bottle of Maybelline, I am really happy with her as both a sculpt and a cast--it was a beautiful, clean cast and apparently just sitting on the shelf, because the time between when Iplehouse received her money, and she arrived on my doorstep was..5 days. So of course I had nothing for her, though Marcia of Facets by Marcia was able to get me her wig in 3 days. (I have to always recommend Marcia for Monique wigs, she is wonderful). Homemade eyes and cut down "people eyelashes" really don't show how very cute and expressive this sculpt is. :D

Mine will come blank and eyeless, I hope to paint it up like this: And in case you were wondering about the size of the Cat, Iplehouse has a handy photo: Also here is NYID Bliss being an adorable "Cat Lady":

...at Iplehouse as part of the NYID Bliss set, or I should say "a sword"--it doesn't have the heavy blade or the slight curve of a cutlass, this one looks more like a "Gentleman's Sword" which makes sense for the smallish character. Who is adorable.