BJD Face ups..Hm...(Part.2)

I finished touching up Ventus' face up a couple days ago, I just didn't upload pictures yet. I think after I finished Zephyria, it was much easier to control the brush strokes. Of course, I didn't have to do as many lashes as I did for her...since he is a boy and I wanted to keep it simple.

I reset his fake lashes, instead of them drooping, I set them to curl up, so then at least when I photograph him, you can kind of sense he has lashes! They're quite short..but now you get the hint of them! I re-painted his lower lashes and added some details to his mouth to define his smile.

The differences are quite subtle right?

While I finished up with Ven, I decided to test out the eyes I recently purchased, I won't show the gold ones, but here are the blue ones. They are really lovely and photograph very well. The ones from Volks (above) are more realistic, and there is a reason I chose these eyes...
But aren't they pretty? I've left them in for now and since Ven and Delilah sit next to each other in my room, their blue eyes compliment each other :)

More random face up things to come! A DD (Dollfie Dream) will be next..once I finish it ^__^'

BJD Face ups..Hm...

I got more mail today! So exciting when I get mail :) 

I purchased a 100/0 Artetje brush from a member on DoA. I love it, it's probably the thinnest brush I've ever used/seen. Thanks to Alice for showing it to me with the comparison to a needle!!

The eyes, that's for a surprise for later. Anyone take a guess for what they are for?

Sorry about the bad lighting...got lazy and decided not to edit the pic in photoshop...

So I decided to test out the new brush! It's pretty amazing, however I found it took me a good 30 mins before I got the hang of doing decent brush stroke for the eyelashes. I've been wanting to fix the face ups on Zephyria and Ventus for awhile...so here's Zephy!

I wanted to fix her lashes and see how it would be if I 'opened' them up. It's quite a different look! I then went in and removed the old lashes and redid them. Took awhile since I don't do face ups a lot. Then added the small points on the mouth to define her smile. I wish I had long luscious lashes like hers... >__<;

On other news, mom bought me a winter jacket today. We've been stalking this particular jacket for weeks now waiting for it to go on sale. LOL I know, so cheap and asian, but I wasn't Dying to have it...so I told mom to wait. After a couple weeks, it got marked down from $149 to $119!! However, they had a size 8 left in the Petite section...

Got it anyways since it should be pretty easy to take it in! The size 6 at the store fit me pretty well before..so a bit of tweaking will be ok. The sales associate there thought I was a size 2 or 4. LOL When I told her I was trying on the 8, her eyes bugged out like this: O__O

Going to be going on a trip soon...I haven't started packing yet :( Nor have I completed the Poring army! Boo!! Gotta get cracking on that...almost there!

Sis got her Volks SD16 Daria a couple days ago! SHE'S HUGE. Towers over my resin children. XD

Ventus barely comes up to her elbow!! And Delilah...ohh so tiny Delilah! She came up to her knee cap...LOL

"Auntie Saber and Auntie Alisanne meet Ventus and Delilah"

Ven: "Is this thing a hat?"

 Photos taken from my sister's Flickr.

That's it for my update today! Hopefully something exciting happens before my trip that I can blog about :)

See ya!

Meet my BJDs

Time to introduce my resin children. Collecting ball jointed dolls is quite a niche hobby, it's expensive and oddly addicting. However, I find making doll clothes a great hobby to pass the time, the fabric it consumes is very little and I can make whatever I want. Some people find it strange that I collect dolls, but I believe we all have our own views of what we find beautiful. Whether you collect BJDs or something else, do it because You love it. To each their own!

Time for me to introduce the dolls I own!

Zephyria

Volks MSDG Myu (Pureskin)

Height: 17"

Face-up: by me

Birthday: May 30

Zephyria is the older of my fraternal twins.

Named after the west wind Zephyr from Greek mythology, I would say she is the most spunky of the trio I have. Something about her face sculpt that's very inviting and demanding at the same time! I bought her on my first trip to Japan in 2008. My sister and I went to the Volks showroom in Akihabara and I bought the MSD kit that I liked most there. She had to swipe her credit card for me cause it was too much for mine to handle! LOL I paid her back a few weeks after though. 

She was bought as a kit from Volks, I had to build and construct her from her parts. She is the model with the S-hook and elastic system in her head, before the company discontinued this mold for the new '08 Renewal, which featured magnets in the head and cap. Stringing was an interesting challenge! I wasn't sure what kind of tension I needed in order for her arms to do some simple posing.

Ventus

Volks MSDB Ken ('10 Renewal)

Height: 17"

Face-up: by me

Birthday: May 30

Ventus is the younger of my fraternal twins.

I knew from a the time I bought Zephy, that I wanted to get a boy too, but I definitely could not afford him then. So, after many years, I finally got him. I asked my sister to get him when she went to Japan in early 2011. He is also another DIY kit from Volks, and I like that they give you the option to build your own doll. You can customize it however you like. I really loved his face when I saw it in person. So adorable! He kind of looks like a girl though, what do you think?

Going with the wind theme as I did with Zephyria, I named him Ventus, which in latin means Wind. Did I name him after Ventus from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep? No. LOL Definitely not, it's just a coincidence.

I would say Ven is shy and sweet. He also has a cute plush chicken that he won't let anyone else have. :)

Delilah

DollnDoll Heart MO ('10 Release)

Height: 10"

Face-up: Default

Birthday: December 29

My sweet Delilah! She was impulse purchase from Den of Angels. I bought her 2nd hand from another member and I really loved her face sculpt, and I definitely thought she was the cutest thing when she arrived! I wanted to get a Tiny..but didn't plan to get one so soon, but the deal was fair and too good to pass up at the time.
She's a bit springy with her stringing, but it's something I'm willing to be patient to fix when I'm posing her. She looks so cute in her ducky suit....it's like she's a stuffed animal I can hug. :) I have a lot of old re-ment sets from the time my sister and I started collecting them...which is the perfect scale for a Tiny.
Delilah is somewhat shy but is curious and loves to go explore.

That concludes my introduction to my small doll family! I've got my sister into collecting dolls now...so my kiddies will have aunties! What have I done? LOL...

Pictures courtesy of Jan.BP. :)

Love getting mail!! Duckie & Delilah are here!!

I received this earlier in the week.

LOL. Some ghetto packaging! It came from Hong Kong...and I find it amusing, cause seriously, who uses twine to keep a package together anymore? I haven't seen it used a long long Long time!

The surprised that's inside, hidden beneath the random shopping bag and bubble wrap?

"Quack!"

 DUCKIE!!
I was wailing about this for days. Darn Volks and their Limited Items...Grr. And Curses to the person who was selling it on eBay at an obscene price!! GRR! My sister was nice enough to get it for me on eBay. THANK YOU <3 <3 <3
BUT, it's so darn cute, I don't care!

While I was typing this blog, my doorbell rang and my latest purchase had already arrived at my door! I'm very impressed with the seller, she shipped it Xpresspost! Since I've had Marketplace place access on DoA, I've been checking regularly just to see what dolls have been listed up. Since Alice has been 'subtly' hinting at me to get a Tiny BJD and I've succumbed to the cuteness of them, I found one on the site for a good price. I really liked the sculpt and the face, and when I looked her up on the official website, I was sold!...This hobby is gonna break the bank. (This will be my last BJD in a long time though..where's my job when I need it?!)

So here is her box opening! My first one! (Since my other two dolls were kits that I had to put together...I've never had a doll that I bought that was all put together before)

~Delilah~

DollnDoll Heart MO

The box.

My other dolls come to greet my new girl <3

Her box is so tiny! It's so cute!

 The certificate and I see Delilah! Her head is twisted funny..LOL

Her certificate. She was put together on Dec 29, 2010.

 Enyka was kind enough to even send me an extra! Mmm donut...:)

 I see her!

It's kind of like the mummy...she's got lots of bubble wrap protection.

Standing. LOL, Kam Kam knows something..

Her default face up is beautiful.

She came with default blue eyes!

I went away to get my other BJD boxes, cause I had the Tiny wig and outfit in them..

The picture is cute though.

Her other hands, I haven't opened them, but the shape/pose is similar to the ones my other two have.

With the princess wig. LOL Sis bought it for me intending it for Zephyria...

But Mandarake fails on packaging, cause the outside package said S/M.

Inside tag said S. So it didn't fit on my Minis. Fits on Delilah now though!

I love her hands! They're so small and dainty! <3

 The only YoSD size outfit I have. LOL The duckie!

I had to put Zephy's other wig on Delilah's head cause I don't have a short hairstyle in her size...

So it's only staying on because of the hood...^__^'

She's so adorable. Love her!

The things in life

Time to blog about the random new things I've acquired lately. My sister came back from one of her flights and gave me this!

Well, just the mushrooms, not the crown of the weird plush hat/top thing...they're salt and pepper shakers :) Probably the only mushrooms in my life that are reasonable since I have this large hatred towards mushrooms. I avoid them like the plague. LOL
They're highly amusing and cute though...they sit on my desk and just keep smiling.

Another thing my sister gave me were these green tea flavored Kit Kat bars. She got them from Japan...and I don't like eating chocolate...so this was a weird venture for me. She said it didn't taste like chocolate...so I gave it a try. It wasn't bad. It just tasted like...green tea ice cream, just not cold...and a bit harder.

I recently went to Winners with my mom for to look for cups. She's pretty picky about the type of cup she wants for her coffee and I don't bother making a fuss about it. Anyways...after standing there for an hour, I found some really cute cups, one with sheep on it and the other with dogs. Mom picked up a bunch of cups cause she wasn't sure how much coffee it would hold...so she was going to buy them, test how much water it held, if it didn't work, return them.
As we walked by...I saw this cute sugar container....

It was next to the creamer, and I was thinking, "Ooooh that's cute! It's short and fat." Somehow...ended up getting the whole set with the tea pot cause I didn't want to buy just the sugar container and abandon the creamer :( I noticed that the set was made for the Victoria and Albert Museum. I was impressed. It wasn't that expensive and it's not made of bone china, but I think it's pretty cute. Only drawback is that the tea pot doesn't have a strainer in the spout, so I won't be able to use loose tea leaves...unless I buy some gizmo for it.

 Zephyria says "Hi!", Ventus is day dreaming again...

Still continuing with "The list", and the clothes I'll be making for my BJDs. :) I still haven't thought about what kind of cosplays I want to do this year. Oh well..I still need to get together with my friend to have some photoshoots.
 I went to Michael's a couple days ago and found these super cute chairs for my dolls! They weren't too expensive and think they look really nice. I have 3 chairs now...and only 2 dolls...Oh well, I guess stock up the extra chair for a rainy day for whenever I get my next BJD. Finding a chair to the right scale is so difficult.

Finally have access to the marketplace on DoA. This might be my doom..

What's with the Kumas?

Been sewing too many kuma bears...I can't say I don't mind though. I like staring at my BJDs in their funny bear suits. :)
I realized while I was sewing them why I hate velvet...cause the stuff is so annoying to cut! The stuff is so messy and I swear I inhaled a bunch of it into my lungs. Not. Cool.
Sewing it isn't too bad though, especially since I've hijacked my friend's serger and have it set up right next to me while I sew in the basement. I figured out her serger doesn't actually baby-serge, but offers a function that creates a smaller serge. Better than nothing, that's what I think! Cause my heavy duty one upstairs is one setting, I don't even get an option!

"Hello there!"

I've learned that adding KIPS to my BJDs does actually help. The pack I ordered from Volks has pretty much been used up. I put a bunch into Zephyria's limbs so that she could actually pose a bit better. She's become quite loose lately...I suppose her stringing had become looser throughout the years. So I re-strung her a couple days ago and she poses better now. :) I figure, at least they can actually keep their arms up and what not, considering Zephy was just a floppy mess. Ventus is a curious case though, perhaps because he's newer that he poses much easier. Maybe I'll look into hot glue sueding someday...

Enough of the BJD talk!

So I finished a funny looking plush for my friend today. She called me up specifically and asked if I could make her a teddybear for her nephew. I thought the request was rather strange, but hey, it's not like I'm busy. The only things she wanted me to do was to use natural materials, preferably cotton and also to stuff the insides with cotton. Now...I haven't seen cotton stuffing in a long time, unless I use cotton balls. LOL She told me to use the left over fabric to stuff it...

I had the great challenge of hoping that it didn't look lumpy bumpy.

So after finding some nice 100% cotton Terrycloth fabric, I went sewing away. Mom thought I was going to make a 'pancake' bear. Basically cut out the 2 pieces in the shape of a bear, and sew them together. So when I showed her it had limbs, her reaction was, "EHH? That's the bear?! Why is is so cute?!"

Mom obviously has no faith in my abilities <_<; I didn't really think too complicatedly for this little project anyways...I figured, baby plushes shouldn't be too crazy looking.

 

I think it's very amusing to look at. Plus, since it's made out of terrycloth...it will absorb drool very well? LOL

Testing out the waters

So, I'm still trying to get the hang of this system, but it seems much easier than LiveJournal. I completely brain freezed when it came to LJ...*Fail*

What to post about...my friend Alice, has managed to convince me to start blogging again. Considering I barely log much on DevArt anymore...we'll see how this goes. I'm still wondering how I should adjust my settings considering, I've had my fair share or too many random people leaving comments or messages for me that I do not appreciate. Bleh.

Latest BJD fun would be my Kuma outfits, based on the Rilakkuma series. I'm hoping that Alice and I will have a super cute PJ party once I get my Tiny. Whenever that will be...funds are lacking!

They are super cute! My dolls are just sitting on their chair on my desk right now in their bear suits...it's so amusing!

Now, it's time to eat lunch and continue sewing a teddybear for my old colleague. Hopefully it turns out well :)