Derenly (modded CP Lishe boy)

 

From Marius to Anders

I'd been thinking about making a doll cosplay of Anders from Dragon Age II for a while; Marius, my Dollshe Hound, was the obvious candidate. This meant making a hardcap wig from mohair and making an addition to his face-up in the form of stubble - and a pair of new amber-brown eyes.

Marius with new eyes and stubble wearing temporary wig

Gold hoop earring added

Further shading and blushing added to face-up; wearing the hardcap mohair wig

The next stage will be to finish making his outfit, including the feathered coat. At this point though, Marius has pretty much ceased to be Marius and is now Anders. :-)

And then there were 17!

For my combined birthday/Christmas present, my partner bought me a 62cm female Mirodoll body in Normal yellow skin, and it arrived yesterday. So Galhaia, my CP Juri 2005 girl, got upgraded to a taller resin body that matched her resin better than the Obitsu 60 body she's been on for nearly ten years - over that time, her resin has yellowed more than the vinyl body had so it was no longer a good match for her. It's a perfect match for Seraphina, my modded CP Sleeping Soony girl however - so Seraphina got a body and Galhaia got an upgrade! Add to that little Autumn, the tiny 14cm tall ABS Hujoo girl I got back in November, and that brings my tally now to 17 complete dolls and no floating heads!

First, Galhaia on her new body, looking quite regal:

Galhaia (CP Juri 05 on Mirodoll 62cm body)

 Seraphina on the Obitsu body:

Seraphina (modded CP Sleeping Soony on Obitsu 60cm body)

Seraphina and Galhaia together, illustrating the difference in height between the Obitsu body and the Mirodoll 62cm body:

Seraphina and Galhaia

Seraphina reunited with her sister Ayame (Volks FCS F-22):

Seraphina and Ayame

And Galhaia with her partner Marius (Dollshe V2 Hound):

Marius and Galhaia

 

And a family shot of Marius, Galhaia and their little daughter Sophie (Bambicrony Kumi):

The family together

And finally introducing tiny little Autumn (Hujoo Suve)!

Autumn (Hujoo Suve)

 

The tribe is getting very large and I'm running out of room on top of the piano for them all! But at least Seraphina and Christine (CP Lishe) are no longer having to share the same body any longer. :-)

And here's a shot of the whole line-up - all 17 dolls as of January 2015:

Experiments in hard cap wig-making

I've been experimenting with making a hard cap wig recently, and these are the results of my first try. I used Cygnet Double Knitting yarn in shade 146 M. O. Pearl for the weft and Mod Podge for the glue.

I made it to fit Christine, my Lishe. The main difference between hard cap wigs and other normal doll wigs is that the hard cap is made to fit the doll precisely.

The method I used is similar to papier mache, only using small strips of cotton with Mod Podge Matt, a water-based PVA and acrylic varnish glue that dries to a clear matt finish. The finished cap fits very snuggly onto Christine's head and cannot be easily dislodged - I can hold her upside down and shake her, and the wig stays put.

I made a centre parting for the wig by cutting out a small slit then inserting wefts into the slit, gluing to the underside of the cap before folding over the top. Once all the glue had dried, I then glued more cotton fabric over the slit to hold it tightly closed so it would keep a good fit.

I finished off by styling the wig into a simple braid.

View from the back. The Cygnet yarn was separated out, carded, brushed and then ironed smooth; it results in a wonderfully soft "hair" with gorgeous pastel colours.















I shall shortly be posting a tutorial on how to make a hard cap wig using jersey fabric and saran hair - watch this space!

I've updated the Doll List with the addition of Seraphina, my modded Sleeping Soony, and updated all the photos.

Seraphina was a new acquisition over a year ago in July 2013. The original Seraphina was an Obitsu 60cm vinyl doll:

I've kept the face-up on the "new" Seraphina as faithful to the original as possible whilst also keeping it with a similar feel to Ayame's face-up in terms of soft lines and pastels:

Expect to see more of the two sisters - Ayame and Seraphina - together very soon!

Back from Hiatus!

I've been away from the doll hobby for almost 2 years due to various RL things going on that took my attention away from dolls. I've had very little time to do anything doll-related, although there's been a couple of changes - Amelie got a new face-up to become the resin incarnation of Ayame, my first-ever BJD (originally a 60cm Obitsu) and there's been one new addition to the line-up; I finally acquired a NS CP Sleeping Soony head that's been modded to open eyes, and she's become the resin form of Ayame's sister Seraphina (who was also a 60cm Obitsu).

I've fixed the photo links to my court shoes tutorial (I lost the hosting for my website arkady.org.uk which broke the photo links) and it's now up as a creation on my Patreon account. You can sponsor me on Patreon from as little as $3 a month, and I'm going to be posting exclusive content there including tutorials for face-ups and period costumes, possibly also patterns for doll clothing that only my sponsors will have access to.

I hope to be a lot more active here from now on, as scaling back on a lot of commitments elsewhere means I can devote more time to hobbies including BJDs. I'm sorry for being away so long, but I'm back now!

Kai in the Snow

It's the 4th anniversary of Kai's arrival. To celebrate, he got to spend some time in the fresh virgin snow in our back garden - the first "doll in snow" pics I've taken since we moved to the new house about 18 months ago. So of course, he had to make a snow angel. :)

4 Corsets/Bustiers for SD on ebay

Dusky Rose Corset


A handsewn overbust corset in dusky rose satin with a pale pink Warwick brocade front panel, adorned with silver thread topstitching along the seams, trimmed with a pink ribbon rose and lined with pale pink satin. Rear-lacing with a thin silk ribbon through five pairs of pale pink eyelets.
Starting price: £12.50 BIN: £20
Auction ends 18 Jun, 2012 20:45:59 BST (UK)
Click for ebay link


Lilac Bustier/Corset


A handsewn 8-panel overbust corset-style bustier in lilac Warwick brocade, adorned with purple silk trim. Rear-lacing with a thin silk ribbon through five pairs of eyelets and lined with white tone-on-tone floral print cotton.
Starting price: £12.50 BIN: £20
Auction ends 18 Jun, 2012 20:55:24 BST (UK)
Click for ebay link


Purple Velvet Corset


A handsewn 7-panel overbust corset in purple velvet with front centre panel of patterned lilac satin, adorned with purple silk trim. Rear-lacing with a thin silk ribbon through six black coated stainless steel hoops and lined with white tone-on-tone floral print cotton.
Starting price: £12.50 BIN: £20
Auction ends 18 Jun, 2012 21:07:04 BST (UK)
Click for ebay link


Snowflake Bustier top (Reduced price due to imperfection)


A 7-panel overbust bustier in alternating royal blue and navy glittered cotton featuring a centre front panel adorned with silver print snowflake motif, adorned with silver machine-embroidered embellishment at top and bottom. Rear-lacing with a thin silk ribbon through alternating pairs of purple and blue eyelets and lined with white cotton. Slight imperfection in top silver machine embroidery hence low starting & BIN prices.
Starting price: £7.50 BIN: £12
Auction ends 18 Jun, 2012 21:24:50 BST (UK)
Click for ebay link