DollsArtCats

It's a bit loose around the waist, now that I added the side slits. The back has hooks this time instead of snaps, and I think that is a better solution to closing this shirt--they are easier to put on, for one thing. Here's another pic: That stitch around the bottom is sort of a fishbone pattern--it holds the hem up, looks interesting and is stretchy, which is great for this fabric. Now he needs pants and to have the back of his wig fixed--it was a size 7 and was way too small until I split it. The color is so nice! The horns keeping it on are from Dika Doll, and not expensive--something like 30-40 as I recall. The shipping is the hard part, like all doll things from Asia.

I want to take a group photo in a couple of weeks, but some of the guys need clothes. Probably pants, too, but I am not great at drafting pants, so I am putting it off. This is a Soom Sphaler, on the old Supergem male body, and he's nice to sew for--he sits and stands well. This is Balthazar (he has a nice but fading faceup by Davinurinvega, and he's stolen his brother FuBai's wig for these photos.) He's actually getting a different shirt, but he was handy as a fit model. The sleeve fabric is basically cheesecloth, so it was Not Fun to sew with. Here is the inside of the shirt: I had to whipstitch around the edges of the sleeve fabric just so fingers wouldn't catch in it. The next one I am working on right now has a couple of things different--side slits, for one thing, so it won't bunch up when the doll sits, and a sleeve with less gathers at the cap. I do like this way of doing the hem, though--it lays more flat than turning up the hem and slip-stichi...

Souldoll Shiva Knitting wizard Girrl has knit several items for me in the past, and this time I have 4 wonderful little hats from her! I had plans for who was supposed to get the hats, and of course then the dolls themselves had no use for my plans. This is why a Mesopotamian reed goddess is up there looking adorable in a little knit cap. I guess it makes sense if you are living in Chicago in the fall. Below is Android Mei, who apparently is a supporter of human rights even though she isn't completely human--she has a tiny Pussy Hat. It's actually a nice pink but the photo is a bit dark. Phoenix Dolls Android Mei I'm really looking forward to getting her own, properly colored body and getting her finished up--she is such a wonderful sculpt!  Next below we have a Lord of the Forest, imaginatively named Forrest, who for the last two years has been content to sit on the shelf and play cards with the ship's crew, bothering no one, but when he saw this blue-green...

So Sicktress took this Sphaler head , and redid him to look IMO younger and very handsome; if you didn't know it was a Sphaler you might say "Who is he???" (And where can I buy him?) But no, he lives at Sicktress' place and hopefully we will get to see more photos as he is finished and painted. I love Sicktress' art!

Angela here looks pretty much like I did this morning..sweats and a dressing gown, with her own doll (a very messed-up Liliana Vess I got off a sale table). If you buy your own Liliana, be sure that she is Removed From Box and that she is functionally movable. We are all recovered from last week's food poisoning episode, but I'm still tired--I did manage to do the floors and the kitchen, and do a few hours of actual work on the computer: but I didn't get around to dyeing a doll body, finishing a wig I am working on, or either painting Snow White/Ashley or sewing a overdress for Deesse, Sicktress' girl, who might be here Wednesday. J did finish the blanket chest, aka The Ark of the Covenant: It should hold most of our blankets over the summer--I need to get some more lavender bags to throw in there as well. I also got some fun mail--a box of wonder from Chalyss, full of gorgeous batik clothing (!) and a box from Pegapup, containing a doll that we have been passin...

Balthazar is a survivor from when I had "Eight Tiny Reindeer" , aka Sphaler heads, in time for Christmas 2012. I still have 3 of them, Balthazar, Fu Bai (because he has a yellowing problem and no one would want him but me) and Zinnober, the ginger kirin nerd. (I also had Caspar and Melchior, in keeping with the Christmas theme). The Sphaler thing happened because I just liked the sculpt, there were a lot of them, and because I was graphing a "price vs time" for Soom releases so I could see when the optimum time and place was to buy Soom parts on the secondary market. The answer seems to be "wait two years and buy it from someone in Texas". The price of a limited Soom (and maybe a Volks, I have no idea) climbs up steeply after it's release, then gradually sinks down to a low after two years, and then levels off; or if it's a very pretty but rare sculpt, climbs back up. (This also is influenced by Soom's re-releases, which can depress the price...

Saturday we drove to Schaumberg, just because we hadn't been there before--among other things there is a large enclosed mall, and a Japanese/Asian supermarket with a food court. The Mitsuwa Marketplace is pretty cool, though not an easy ride from our house--my car won't make it up there, since it requires freeway driving and I am not sure the squirrels propelling my car can run that fast. It's also further than I can walk back. On the other hand, Mitsuwa has ingredients that are interesting to J to cook with, so we may get up there occasionally. I did find something that I was interested in--rice cakes with bean paste! This was lunch for me--I ordered something unfortunate from the dim sum place and while the bok choy garnish was great, the main dish was not. But I made a serious dent in the rice cakes :D This expedition took up most of the day, so there was only just time for a couple of photos of Fu Bai, one of the Soom Sphalers here. This is the one I liked the best: ...

The days are getting shorter so it's harder to get out of bed in the morning!

In the pond behind Balthazar (the Soom Sphaler with the Simply Divine Hooves), there are no fish. Now it is faintly possible they are under the filter, still too cold to swim around, but even when there was ice on the top of the pond, I could look down and occasionally see a nose or a tail, and I haven't seen anything for more than a week, in spite of dipping algae out of the pond and adding new bacteria, and taking the filter out, cleaning it, and putting it back in. So I suspect that Mr. Raccoon sometime in the past two weeks had himself a meal of little princess fish, or as I started calling them "Benjamins with Fins" after I looked at the electrical usage for February. I hope I am wrong. But here is a video of a raccoon actually being cute, though also involved in home burglary. J said that the raccoon was thinking "This will look GREAT in the culvert!" Raccoon Reaches in Cat Door

I'm finally getting down to the last few dolls--I still have two that need to be swapped onto other people's bodies, and one that needs to be completely strung, but that is it. Here's who is left--above is "Dawn", my Dollzone Shengxi, who is my internet avatar everywhere but here for some reason :D. Then there is my avatar here,"Jade" a Luts Lishe (type 1): Then there is a not-great photo of my Impldoll Christopher, imaginatively named "Crystal": Then there is "Brisbane," another Soom Sphaler who wasn't really feeling being photographed: And my Iplehouse Jessica, "Marilyn" who seems a lot more excited about her purse from Swazini on Den of Angels than the crown on her head: And a film noir photo of "Melchior", the last Soom Sphaler (yes, I do have the 3 wise men in Sphalers, though Kaspar is actually "Sensei Fuzzy"): . Extra Mel Cuprit Feet photo; his yukata is by Xtal: And finally for ...

(Click to enlarge photos) AnitaS wanted me to show an older Soom head on the new body. On the left is Sensei Fuzzy, Soom MD Sphaler; on the right Bird, Soom Tremo. The inside of Bird's faceplate. You lift off the magnetic backplate, then hold the faceplate (very important) before you lift the banana. Otherwise the faceplate just falls off. Trust me. The "banana" on the neck. I slipped a ribbon under it and tied together the two loops of elastic so I could pull on them. I was unwilling to use the resin banana for a puller. Comparing the two heads--the Sphaler head is smaller than the Tremo head, but not by much. Both wear 8-9 wigs, though Tremo does better with a stretchy wig. Comparing torsos--Tremo's is much thicker in the chest and upper arms, but the neck dimensions are almost the same. Sphaler on the new body. I think it looks fine, if silly here.;) Banana on the old body; fits fine. Faceplate, then headcap, and the two guys are swapped. I think Tr...

From Bass Pro Shops..antler tips, apparently are the decorating hotness--the front of the store is covered with them, and yes, we went back there last week to buy doll hair, aka fly tying fur. Around here, Fu Bai the Sphaler is in fashion with his gold-tipped antlers:

I found a file photo of an unpainted, just delivered Cuprit--this one belongs to Arianne02 and was before Arianne painted her up--I think she is "Queen Mab" now. This dress in the photo isn't the default Soom outfit, I think this one was made by Phantom Creations, (I like it better than the default outfit). Default Outfit Here As for the rest of the doll, you can see her crown, her horns (held in with neodymium magnets), what her face looks like unpainted, and her hooves. I have a pair of the hooves for Winter here, but I am missing the connecting shin part--since I bought them for Mel (a Sphaler) to wear, he's got them held on with a pair of Heliot knees to bridge the gap between the male Soom SuperGem body and the female cuprit hooves, which at the time I thought was a stroke of pure geenius. And I just traded off Mel's own human lower legs to get, in return, a female Breccia torso, because pendrithgirl in the UK needed some legs for her Sphaler, ...

Cecil is a Soom Sphaler that belongs to Xtal on Den of Angels. He is my second favorite Sphaler, after my own Zinnober. Cecil also is perfectly painted--xtal is an artist who does watercolor paintings, and I think with Cecil she created what "should have been" the default Sphaler at Soom. He's just beautiful. Photos copyright xtal, 2012

I have no clothes for the Birdman coming in August, so I thought it would be a good idea to start sewing,and use up some of the fabric that I have stored in the basement. Since I am not sure of his exact measurements, I decided to start with something that didn't need to fit, like a cloak. This is just some net cut out in a D shape and edged with a small feather boa from JoAnn's Fabrics, with some sequins and beads. I will need to line it --if Bird has no clothes, this would be a little drafty. While I was taking this picture I put Stripey Cat outside, so she would not sit on the drape or the doll. She came in only a minute later carrying a fledgling robin. I picked up the robin and carried it back out to it's very angry robin parents, and shut the door with Stripey inside. So she went and sat on the doll instead.