DollsArtCats

And she has new Romantic eyes and a Tawny option . If I had room for her I would buy her--she is a "human" version with a standard body and the option Scorpion Heels, as well as the long nailed hands, and she is on the new 2012 body. This makes her head a little big, but not so much that it's a problem--you can see by doing a Google image search for Garnet to see the head/body proportions. I did order the sparkle eyes and the wig, because my Garnet can use them. I liked the outfit as well-- but it doesn't really fit anyone's character here: I told myself the only doll I would get this year would be if Soom issued a Beryl in some ridiculous color like Ice Blue or Red or Migma Purple. :D

After a lot of dithering, I listed my Garnet head on Den of Angels--I would like to get a body for Neptune soon while Granado still has the matching resin and the molds for the Evol are still ok, and that means someone here has to be the patron of Neptune's body. While I think Garnet is gorgeous, I was a little disappointed to discover she was actually the Vesuvia mold, redone; especially since the new body Cyborg is a little smaller and more compact than the larger old body Vesuvia was designed to go on. I hesitated for a while too, thinking I didn't want to break up the set; but I did buy the body and head separately (the body I have is from the Free Choice, not the original Borg) and the resin between Garnet's head and the cyborg isn't a perfect match. It does match my Breccia head perfectly in size and color. If no one buys her, I will be glad to keep her, but of the two "Vesuvia" heads here, there is one that is my clear favorite--and that is Selket: ...

I have made it ..different, if not maybe better, by adding some fluff to cover the bald spots. On the upside, the bangs now stay out of her eyes. Also, I still love the color and the texture of the fiber..it might be soy? Its smooth and shiny. It also looks good with an adorable little gift Pegapup sent me, a Hello Kitty Mermaid: I think Selket is less enthusiastic about the merthing than I am. :D It's so cute. Perfect for pestering all the dolls!

I rolled some more eyes last night, and figured out a way to make the pupils separately but not have them fall off later--I would run a pin behind them to go through the center of the eye and form a stem, since I am finding the half-rounds a little hard to adjust in the eyes. I know the stems can foul up with the s hook in small heads, but a tiny stem might be ok. But that is for the next batch. These were really just to give Vivian, Cat's Vesuvia, some pupilled eyes to wear until Ersa Flora comes back from vacation and re-stocks her glitter eyes. Here's another pair: These are the closest to what Cat is looking for in glitter eyes, and these would be perfect but the gloss lenses didn't settle perfectly, so they are a bit wavy. I need to rummage around for a better way to make the lens--I also have no idea what the acrylic gloss will do in hot sticky weather, but I suspect it will be weird. I have some translucent Sculpey, but it's intended for "skin" (I t...

Rajendora (Sewing Box Designs) made me some custom kimono so that Selket could have some easy-to-put on tops that wouldn't hang up on her tail. This was the problem: And Rajendora carefully crafted the solution: All the kimonos have a center back split that falls where the tail emerges. She worked without a tail in hand, so I was impressed that the split hit precisely where it was supposed to. For some of these I want to make full trousers, and for a couple of others, ruffly steampunky skirts. Here are more of the pieces Rajendora created: This one is a heavy brocade (I supplied all the fabrics, not really keeping in mind the scale of the garments in the case of this one!) so instead of using an obi, I think I will put some frogs at the top and make it a more Chinese style garment with gold "silk" trousers. Selket is just glad to no longer be living in a pink cheerleader outfit (one of the few items I had that someone had customized to fit her tail). The workmanship...

And there it is, pants, skirt, top and necklace! All of the pieces have their weirdnesses, partly because I was trying to make it something easy to get on and something that will mix and match with Cat's own pieces, which have a lot of tulle, sparkle and pink incorporated in them. Also Selket is painted more like the "Scorpion-Girl-Next-Door" rather than Violet's exotic lavender skin and fairy-like faceup, so I think Vi will look a lot more at home in these fantasy pieces than Selket does. Although the top is really cute on Selket, and I think I will make more using that pattern. It's a flat piece shaped like a fat, very open "V", gathered at the top and the bottom into a bias-cut band, and then with just a ribbon tie at the bottom and two strap-and-snap "sleeves" attached to the upper corners. It's super easy to get on. The pants were a different story. I should have just put some elastic around the bottom cuffs, but they open up wide n...

I am working on something for Cat , and since we had a rare moment of sunshine I took some photos so she would know how the pieces are supposed to go together. Cat has one of the rare purple Vesuvias (I think the Vesuvia's name is Violet) and like all Vesuvias, the tail is a problem for clothes. I made a little pair of pink satin pants that snap in the back (not quite done yet) and the skirt that just ties in the back, and a little tube top that still needs it's strap sleeves, and a chunky bead necklace, all in pink since I know Cat likes pink. The necklace was so much fun to make, I think Selket will get her own version of it in green and gold. It also just ties in the back right now , but I may make the next one with a bead-and-loop closure; something that isn't scratchy for the resin. I have more embroidered net to make something but I discovered that net is just gawdaful to sew. It sticks to everything but itself. Now if I was just good at shoes, I'd make Viol...

Yes, this is Sarqq's Soom Vesuvia, Torukia again--Torukia is one of the original, rare lavender Vesuvias. I think this might be one of my all-time favorite doll photos ever--I love the colors and the composition. Sarqq also put up a little still life in her Deviant Art gallery titled "Waiting for a Doll", and I think if I was a doll and I saw that, I would be writing out fake sales invoices so I could go live in Finland. All the Soom girls would be standing at the airport, trying to thumb a ride. :D Here is Sarqq's Gallery

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

I am just getting ready to go to the post office (I found a home for the Iplehouse NYID body, and will be getting a Soom London (with a head!) in return. A great trade!) Anyway, I thought I would take a minute before I left, and peek through Sarqq's deviant art gallery: http://sarqq.deviantart.com/gallery/ Sarqq made Torukia the most tasty-looking little loli hat! (heart icon). I think one of the reasons I like Torukia so much is that she has that scorpion tail and loves princess ruffles. And chocolate.

I thought the older Soom Vesuvia (from 2008) and the newer Soom Gneiss (2012) didn't look much alike, until they were sitting together on my bureau--and now I can see a kind of "family resemblance" between them. The original Vesuvia was a slow seller, probably because she was a bit expensive compared to the base dolls people were used to, but I think partly because of the outfit...Soom makes wonderful clothes but this one wasn't quite in their style: http://dollsoom.com/eng/shop/item.php?it_id=1249033324 My friend Laura called it "the Goth Hooker outfit", which didn't quite fit the shaping of the doll herself or the sparkly purple surface (which I don't think they have done again, though they have done non-sparkling purple resin dolls since then). But Beryl also had a ridiculous outfit and people bought her like crazy. The clothing design in 2012 was great though--I loved all the concepts for that line-- and of course didn't buy any of the o...

And a tail, still unpainted. We have not gone up to 50 degrees F yet.

Along with the No Tinies rule, there is another rule about dolls here (that does not always get enforced) is that if someone comes to town, someone has to leave town. My Angel of Dream Qi left so that Benmore could come, and then most of Melchior was sent out with the Benmore Pointy Ears head in order to bring in this lady. Selket is not an original Vesuvia, but a normal-skinned Free Choice reissue so she was not quite so apallingly expensive, or rare. ( Sarqq has Torukia, one of the original lavender releases; I think Torukia previously belonged to Puno in Russia--the originals are so rare I can only think of three, including Tygati's .) I was a little nervous that I loved the sculpt only because I loved how Torukia looks, and that is 90% because of the artistry that Sarqq puts into her--I think Torukia also gets new flowers and ornaments once a month. Visit Torukia (and Sarqq ) here : But now that Selket is here, I am completely delighted with her, even though she will be r...

I'm a big fan of HerrZog's work, and this is why--this doll head is about the size of the palm of your hand, and look at the incredibly delicate patterns painted around the eyes. The skin is "bronze" and when Soom released it I was curious how easy or difficult it would be to paint on it (and have it look nice). It looks very nice. Vesuvia is a beautiful sculpt to start with, but HerrZog also chose amazing eyes to go with the red wig and the bronze skin. Even the eyelashes are carefully selected to go with the rest of the painting. I decided to rehost the image rather than link directly--it's always a question of which is more polite, taking bandwidth or lifting images :o HerrZog's Flickr