Wednesday 6 November 2013

Shipping Notice GO!



EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Bella's on her way home! :D

I woke up to a shipping notice from Fairyland this morning and promptly turned into a squealing version of this:


To be honest, I'm not quite ready for her arrival. Her wig is with the GO host in Toronto. Her eyes... well... they'll get here when they get here. The weather is really fluctuating, so no face-up for quite a while... and I don't know when her other sleeping head will show up. I DO, however, have some clothes for her so the poor girl won't be naked (though I doubt she would mind :p), and she has a pair of shoes and a temporary wig, so she'll at least look slightly less alien until I can get everything sorted.

Still, I'm so happy to have her on her way home and even if she won't be 'finished' for a while, she'll still be here physically and that's the best part.

Sunday 27 October 2013

Giveaway Winner!



Jonas helped me pick the winner of my recent giveaway:

inEssence Creations - Giveaway Winner
Really need to make her a more winter-y outfit. Poor dear is going to freeze. </3

Congratulations to siruveru! :D Go check out her photos! She's an awesome knitter/crochet...er...? ^^;

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UPDATE: siruveru picked a Dollshe sized bracelet in soothing earthy tones for her prize. :) Here's a photo of the finished product as compared to a MNF sized bracelet in similar colours.

Dollshe's are so big!!! 
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Thank you so much to every one who entered. This was a lot of fun.
I think I'll try to do another one some time in the future. ^^

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Hope everyone has had a good weekend so far!


Sunday 20 October 2013

Major Update - Custom Orders and Giveaway!



OOOOKAY!

So, I've recovered from my sickness, and finished all the major assignments and tests from the last 2 weeks, so I finally got a chance to play!

I have a new bracelet I've had finished for a while updated in the shop, plus some new photos of the inset top in a different fabric and with different closures (I am so in love with this fabric I can't even). AND! Bonus bracelet to match (though available separately :P).

inEssenceCreations - MiniFee Inset Top and Wrap Bracelet

In addition, I have some super awesome news (well, I think it's super awesome anyway...)!

I've added (a few) custom orders for the MNF Inset Tops, MNF Butterfly Cardigans* and Wrap Bracelets! Woo~! I'm going to try this as a way of doing (limited) commissions and see how it works out. :) Hopefully, it will be awesome!

To celebrate, I've decided to do a giveaway on my Flickr for a fully custom Wrap Bracelet + free worldwide shipping (not tracked). :D Yay!

Some of the available colours. :)

So if you've been wanting to get a bracelet but haven't yet, here's your chance to win one for ~free~! If you'd like to use this chance to get an SD or other non-MNF sized version, that's also an option!

Also, if you win and would like to order other things, I will still pay shipping for one regular sized bubble mailer. More bonus! :D

Anyways, if you're interested, head on over to my Flickr Giveaway page and leave me a comment!



*More MNF Butterfly Cardigan photos are on their way, but I don't have a definite answer on when they will be ready - we are currently being plagued by rain and sadness...

Sunday 6 October 2013

Zoo De-Stress



As I hinted at last post, I've been having a lot of trouble keeping up with school work this term, so yesterday, I went to the zoo with a few friends. I haven't been in a number of years, so it was really nice. It was threatening to rain as well (but it didn't - win!), so there weren't very many people there either, which was amazing since I'm not a fan of crowds. :)

It may seem a bit non-sensical to take a day off school work when there's so much to do, but I think it helped more to let me get over the 'HOLYCRAPSOMUCHTODOI'MGOINGTOEXPLODE @w@' feelings I've been having and come back refreshed and ready to work. There's still a tonne to do, but it doesn't seem as insurmountable now as it did on Friday. Odd how that works.

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Here are some of the photos I took. I think I got about 250 this time?

Soft-Shelled Turtles - Toronto Zoo, Ontario, Canada

These are soft-shell turtles. I really like their noses. For some reason, while we were watching them, the big one kept smacking the smaller one every time it swam by. :/ Meanie.

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There are two Giant Pandas visiting right now, Da Mao (male ~5 years old) and Er Shun (female ~6 years old). Er Shun was 'sleeping' when we went - by which I mean rolling around and putting her paws over her eyes, but Da Mao was munching on bamboo. I got a few photos of him, but most have a bunch of bamboo in front of his face. :P

Da Mao, Giant Panda - Toronto Zoo, Ontario, Canada

We didn't get to see two of my favourite animals - the Snow Leopards and the Red Pandas because they're completely redoing that area. Hopefully next time I go there will be some positive changes and I'll get to see my fuzzy buddies again.

Since I couldn't get photos of those animals, here's an Emerald Tree Boa chilling out on a branch. He's pretty cool too.

Emerald Tree Boa - Toronto Zoo, Ontario, Canada

I probably could have stayed and taken snake photos all day, but since they don't move especially much, they weren't very interesting to my companions. Oh well.

Now to get back to readings and papers. Too bad I can't be a Polar Bear instead.

Polar Bear - Toronto Zoo, Ontario, Canada



There are a few more photos on my Flickr, along with these here. I'm still having trouble deciding what I should post where, so for now, there will be some overlap.

Friday 27 September 2013

Time flies when you're...uh... reading a lot?



Today marks the end of my third week of the new school term, and wow it's been tough so far. Either I've forgotten how to be a student, or we have way more readings and research to do this term. (~350 pages a week + research @.@)

I'm not sure how it's gone by so fast. Feels like yesterday I was putting my binder together to head to my first class!

I have a few projects almost finished, so I'm hoping I'll get a chance to do the finishing touches and photograph them properly this weekend. It's been quite nice weather-wise the last week or so, so I think I'll have some good light for it.


I hope everyone has been having a pleasant last few weeks!

Friday 13 September 2013

Organizing Butterflies



I've spent the last few days attempting to organize all of my clothing patterns. They got fairly mushed together during the move. Some of them seem completely lost, which is a tad unfortunate, but I have most of the pieces for my favourite items. (Yay!)

Tobi - Unoa Lusis/MiniFee hybrid
Tobi was 'helping' :p
Some of the pieces are perfectly organized and have my 'tested and works' symbol on them, but a lot of them don't... many aren't even labelled so I just have to assume what they are. Poor decision on my part.

Anyway, I'm still on my make-my-own-dolls-stuff 'rampage', I figured I'd combine my pattern testing with making them stuff. :) Right now I'm concentrating on the butterfly cardigans since I have about 5 different sizes (MNF, long MNF, YoSD, Bisou Ai, PKF) and I'm not entirely sure if they all work right.

Mali - MiniFee Shushu

Mali will be getting a new white one because her old one was a prototype and was never properly finished, and maybe a teal one just because; Jonas will get a pale yellow to match her Liberty Tana dress and maybe one in blue or pink so I can test out the PKF version too and then Bella will be getting a few in browns or greens. Tobi is spoiled.

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Despite this being mostly for my personal collection, I'd love suggestions for what colours/sizes to play with. I think I'll probably list any that I don't end up liking as much as I think I will in my shop, so if there's anything you're interested in seeing, just leave a comment or send me an email and I'll add it to the pile. :)

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Wrap Bracelets V.1(ish)



I listed a few MNF wrap bracelets today. Let me know what you think! There are a few different styles and I'm working on some more.

These are my favourite of the current bunch. :)

inEssenceCreations - MiniFee Wrap Bracelet
Matte Bronze, Matte Translucent Kelly Green and
Matte Translucent Peridot Triplicate Pattern with Chocolate Cord
inEssenceCreations - MiniFee Wrap Bracelet
Matte Translucent Royal Blue and Matte Bronze
Basic Pattern with Chocolate Cord
inEssenceCreations - MiniFee Wrap Bracelet
Aqua and Gold Basic Pattern with Tan Cord
inEssenceCreations - MiniFee Wrap Bracelet
Fire (Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, White) Gradient Pattern
with Grey Cord
I hope to have some custom slots available in the near future, but I have to take all the bead photos first. ^^; Any specific colours people are looking for?

Saturday 17 August 2013

Totally NOT freaking out. O_o



So I've been putting off getting a tan MiniFee since the colour didn't seem quite what I was looking for and I'm a big chicken*. I'd given myself the decision date of August 16th and by the 15th I'd basically decided I wasn't going to get one. All the photos I'd seen of the legit tan were disappointing and all the recasts I kept seeing in the perfect colour made me very disheartened.

But last night I was talking to my boyfriend about it and stumbled on to this photo of a lovely M-Line Mirwen and it made me reconsider. We looked through as many other tan photos as I could find. Most of the time the colour comes out looking grey-ish and unappealing, but there are a number where it looks lively and beautiful.

SO

I took the plunge late last night and ordered a tan MiniFee Rheia plus some extra hands and feet. I also included a set of hands for Tobi, because the #8 hands are her life, and the heel feet for Mali, because heels. I'll need to get some fancy shoes for her. :)

I also got the MNF Juri head. I was considering the LittleFee head because I think it's cuter, but the MNF one seemed easier for me to deal with.

Now just to wait. It doesn't really seem like it happened yet. More like I dreamed it.

My face right now. O_o

I was still a little nervous about it (been flipflopping between excitement and dread since they first announced the tan), but Andreja posted a few photos this morning of her freshly face-uped tan Chloe (here and here) and she looks just perfect. Still darker than I wanted, but workable. The tan looks great against grey and cool tones, it seems to bring out the reds and yellows. Slightly unfortunate because my Rheia was supposed to be dressing in reds and oranges... so we'll see. I already have to tweak her backstory to fit the resin colour, what's a little more tweaking? :P They always have a mind of their own once you get them home anyway.

Hope to see everyone elses' tan dolls as they come home! :)

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*I've never entirely understood the use of the word chicken to mean cowardly. All the chickens I've ever known have been very aggressive, or assertive at the very least. :/

Sunday 11 August 2013

Home again, home again.



Back! ^^

The trip to New Mexico and Colorado was excellent. There are definitely a few places I'd go back to in a heartbeat.

We started off in El Paso, Texas and then moved to Carlsbad for the caverns. They were pretty interesting and surprisingly large, but my favourite part was definitely the bats. It was raining when they came out of the cave so we only got a few of the really daring (or hungry?) ones, but it was still really awesome.

Next it was off to Alamogordo and White Sands National Monument. This was by far my favourite place we stopped, especially after I decided that I didn't need to wear my shoes.

I took a few photos of Tobi and Jonas - which you can find on my Flickr - and then we stayed to watch the sunset. It was pretty much magic.

Sunset - White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA

Next we went to Santa Fe, where I had my first taste of JoAnn's... I must say, I am incredibly jealous of anyone who has one close! I restrained myself and only bought a few things, but believe me, if I hadn't needed to bring it all back to Canada with me, I would have bought so much more. XD

Taos Pueblo, Taos, New Mexico, USA
Taos Pueblo


We spent most of the time in Santa Fe exploring the art galleries on Canyon Road, but did get a chance to go to Taos Pueblo and the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, both of which were really neat. If you find yourself in New Mexico (and Taos in particular) make sure to try a blue corn fry bread. Delicious.

There were a lot of people around selling different art pieces, so we ended up buying two little clay quails. They're still wrapped up for now until we find a safe place for them in the new house, but I assure you they're very cute. :P

TARDIS - Three Rivers Petroglyphs
I don't know what it actually is, but it reminded me of the TARDIS
The petroglyph site was really interesting, but we got there in the heat of the day (I think it was 40ºC [104ºF]) so we didn't end up staying as long as we wanted, but we still saw a lot.

After Santa Fe we drove to Durango, Colorado. It is a really cool little mountain town with tonnes of FABULOUS restaurants. Tonnes and fabulous. On the way there we stopped in a little town called Aztec to visit their ruins. I got a few more photos of Tobi and Jonas, but not many.

I'm glad I got a few though because when we went to Mesa Verde the next day I barely managed to get one. There were far too many people and I really didn't feel comfortable being there myself let alone having my dolls out for pictures. Normally I'm okay with people staring and making comments... but not this time. :(

Garden of the Gods - Colorado Springs, New Mexico, USA
From Durango we went to Colorado Springs so we could go to Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods. Sadly it was too cloudy for Pike's Peak, but we did get to Garden of the Gods and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo instead. :) Both were really great, I would highly recommend them both. The zoo is pretty small, but it's really well designed and maintained. Their giraffes are super friendly. XD

I also enjoyed driving through the suburbs, but the military presence in the city proper really put me on edge. I know it's pretty normal in the US to see uniformed military personnel around, but it was super weird and a bit scary for me, so I don't know if I could go back.

We ended the trip in Denver, mainly so that I could go to Denver Doll Emporium. Sadly, they'd dismantled their showroom a week or two before I got there, so I didn't get to look around. The woman in the front room was also really unwelcoming and basically ignored us the whole time, so we just left instead of bothering to look at the rest of the things I wanted to see. I'm trying to just put it down to stress from the downsizing and multiple events running at the same time, but I will admit it left a very bad taste in my mouth. Kind of glad I don't need layaway. :|

Last day we spent on Mount Evans, driving up and down. It was effectively a replacement for Pike's Peak, but was quite fun nonetheless. There were marmots and ravens all over the place. I even saw a pika, but we were driving too fast to get a picture. I will admit to getting a bit scared due to the cliffs and distinct lack of guardrails, but I survived. :P

Mount Evans Summit - Denver, Colorado, USA
It wasn't actually that cloudy, there just happened to be one behind the sign. :)

Very last thing was the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge where we saw mainly prairie dogs and deer, but also a coyote and some kind of furry black thing I couldn't identify. Then it was off to bed so we could get up early for the uneventful flight home. :)

I hope everyone's last two weeks were as enjoyable as mine!

Friday 26 July 2013

Vacation!



You've probably already seen the banner, but I'll be away from July 27th to August 10th. We're visiting cities in both New Mexico and Colorado. I've never been anywhere similar so I'm very excited. I'm bringing all three dolls so I can do a photoshoot at Mesa Verde. I haven't planned it exceptionally well so here's hoping I get some good shots. :)

I usually try to make a new prop or clothing item when I take my dolls on a trip, but I've been reading inspiring posts on Antique Lilac, and they've made me want to make whole new outfits. Since I only thought of this on Tuesday, there wasn't much chance of that happening for all three, but I did make an outfit for Jonas. :)

I'm quite pleased with her outfit, though I plan to eventually trade the shorts out for something else (and possibly embellish the neckline? Thoughts?). I think she looks ready for a week of exploring caves and ruins. :)



See you all when I get back!

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Moving is exhausting. o.o



So, my original plan was to find somewhere to move when we got back from our trip in a few weeks, but when this place came up, there was no way I could pass it up. With that in mind, the last month has been spent packing and soothing an increasingly confused and agitated kitty and finally moving the weekend of July 1st. Now it's unpacking forever, but that's okay, because I am getting one of the rooms to be a studio for all my art and sewing! :)

Jonas is inspecting the view for me. :P

That said much as it's fantastic and I'm very excited, it has interfered with a lot of my plans regarding doll sewing...

Unfortunately, this seems like a common theme since I started trying to sew professionally and it's made me think (once again) that I'm doing this wrong. I spend way too much time planning and very little time actually DOING... which, as you might imagine, leads to very few things actually getting done.

So I think I'm going to take a leaf out of the books of some much brighter people than I, and just DO some stuff for the next while and see where that gets me. I have a very grand vision for the inEssence of the future, but I'll never get there if I just let my car idle in the driveway because the floor mats are crooked.

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WHAT THIS MEANS: Subtle Memory and Secret Projects #1 and #2 are on hold until further notice. Anything currently for sale in the shop will stay and I'll likely be posting random things in the next little while, but I can't tell you what, because I have no idea! :) They'll possibly get stuffed into a collection at some point, but for now I think everything will just be an uncertain adventure.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Definitely have some thinking to do.



As some of you may know, the last doll in my little cast of characters is supposed to me a MNF Rheia in tan. Now, I was planning to have her eyes modded and dye her to accomplish this, but, Fairyland has released MNF in very lovely tan until August 31.



I would still want to get her eyes modded, which would leave me in the position of finding someone else buying a tan Rheia and not wanting the sleeping head... and also somewhat out of a bit of money XD.

It would be a non-issue if I could fully trust FL to bring the colour back as a basic thing in the future, but past releases are not a good indication - especially when it's something they seem to be testing out initial sales are critical to their later decisions... :/

There are a few months to think about it thankfully, but it kind of destroyed my half-baked plan of getting an SD off the marketplace. :P

Curse you Fairyland. <3

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EDIT: TeaPartyRevolution has graciously allowed me to borrow one of her photos showing both the tans already released by Fairyland.

Fairyland Resin Tones - (c) TeaPartyRevolution
Fairyland: White - Normal - Chicline Tan - Choco Tan

As I thought, the lighter tan would be perfect for what I want. However, I asked Fairyland and the new MNF tan is somewhere in between the light tan and the darker one pictured... So might be alright, might be too dark.

I'm also back to flip-flopping between Rheia and Mirwen so more decisions. ^^; We'll see...

Saturday 1 June 2013

Shop is Open! :D





Woo! The shop is officially open!

You can access it from the button at the top or here. Take a look around and tell me what you think. :)

Some things are currently in stock, some are not. There is a banner in the description telling you if things are going to be made to order.

Other items will become available over the next few months, so keep checking back!

I hope everyone has an excellent weekend.

Thursday 30 May 2013

After AN Wrap-up (2013)



I think I've finally recovered enough from last weekend to sit down and write a coherent post. ^^;

Anime North 2013 turned out to be a lot of fun. This is quite good because I've really been struggling with enjoying myself in past years. (I'm not exceptionally good at socializing with people I don't know...). I've already started planning for next year. XD

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Friday:

Most of Friday was spent wandering Artist's Alley, Crafter's Corner and visiting the Doll North Marketplace. The market at DN actually had 4 time slots this year, so we went back 4 times, but only Friday and Sunday have interesting stories.

In Crafter's Corner there were a lot of interesting items this year and I ended up falling for an Amigurumi Cat from Atomic Ami. I've named him Patton. :)

Patton - Amigurimi Cat from Atomic Ami

During my Doll Market visit, we passed the BlueFairy booth and I found the perfect dress set for Jonas. It was made for the Sugar body which is quite a bit smaller than the Bisou Ai so I didn't know if it would fit. When I asked about it, the man at the booth basically grabbed her from my hands, opened a package and started trying it on. XD It took about 15 minutes (she was still wearing shoes and underclothes XD), but it fits like a dream and suits her new style flawlessly.


He was actually really surprised when I asked how much it was (I don't think he thought I was actually going to buy it?) and then spent another 15 minutes trying to fit the cardigan sleeves over Jonas's obnoxiously large hands. Definitely a super sweet way to start off the weekend.

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Saturday:

Saturday was just a huge ball of stress. I hadn't fully finished my entry for the doll masquerade, so I spent the whole morning working on it. I thought it turned out really well in the end, but sadly I didn't place. I didn't get any good photos at the contest (or all weekend really :/), so I'm hoping to take her outside in a few weeks to get some 'action' shots.

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My good friend Rosey (Tempurashrimp) snagged Fan Favourite for her Fran entry and won an adorable little Blufairy Shirley girl.

After the DN Masquerade we went over to the AN Masquerade where we waited in line for about 2 hours while they discovered they hadn't put enough chairs in the room. :| I was really hungry, tired and disappointed so I didn't really take that too well. Definitely glad my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with that anymore. -.-

There were A LOT of really spectacular entries, but again, no photos (both from laziness and not super-great seats). This was my favourite outfit of the bunch though so I've evilly stolen a photo from DeviantART to show you.

Anime North Cosplay - The Ferocious Beast
Extremely Ferocious Beast

Their little walk across the stage was so perfectly in character I can't even describe how wonderful it was. I wonder if AN releases their Masquerade video so you can all see?

We went out for a late snack with friends afterwards and then went back to the hotel and passed out from exhaustion. XD

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Sunday:

Sunday was the day I had my Doll North Marketplace slot, so we got up relatively early, packed and headed over. We did a quick circuit of the Dealer's Room since we didn't go on Friday, but there wasn't too much of interest.

After setting up my little table (I was super lucky and got one between Sadol and Bluefairy!) I had my first customer come by. She purchased a dress I had made for Mali last week as a stress reliever almost immediately after I set her down for display. ^^ Don't worry! Mali will be getting a replacement.

After that I had a few things go home with new owners, but not too many. I think I've learned for next time that I need a bit more diverse set of items and also need to make sure people know I've made everything myself, since most assumed they were from a company. I think that's flattering? ^^;

Inessence Creations - Subtle Memory - Isabella Dress
PukiFee and Bisou Ai Sizes

The absolute highlight of my weekend however, was when the representative from the Bluefairy table came over as I was packing to go home and bought two of my little dresses for his personal collection and complimented me on my work. ^^ He'd been walking past all day looking at something, but I could never figure out what, so it was a HUGE surprise when he turned around and said "2 please". ^////^

Not going to lie, I almost cried.

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All in all, I look back on the weekend favourably. I've learned a lot and have a tonne to do for next year! XD I'll be starting on stock concurrently with the Subtle Memory release this Saturday, but probably won't talk much about it until I decide what I'm actually bringing. I liked having a table on Sunday, but it's been suggested I get one on Friday next year, so we'll see what happens.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I loved getting to meet new people at Doll North, though I should have been more proactive asking for names. Next time! XD

Sunday 19 May 2013

Anime North Sneak Peek (of sorts)



Okay, here's the deal.

Lots has been going on the last few months:

- Exams
- Finishing commissions
- Doll North Masquerade Entry
- Preparing for AN market
- Vacation
- Apartment-hunting

and a whole bunch of other little things thrown in there just to make it more difficult.

I'm still terrible at keeping up with blogging.

I'm still working on it.

We'll see what happens.

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I'll skip over most of that, but! you will get a sneak-update of what's in the works for Anime North 2013. I have a table during the Sunday slot (10AM-4PM). I will be there for much of it, but not the whole timeslot.

Subtle Memory will be debuting at Doll North 2013.

I will have some pieces for sale (mostly MNF) and some samples of other pieces. Possibly for pre-order. Possibly not.

After AN, anything left over will go up in the shop on June 1st (for sure this time :P). Other pieces will become available over the next 2 months.

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I am also bringing a (very) small set of items from my next collection. It will go up in the shop August 15th, both anything left from AN and new pieces as well. This one will likely be done partially by pre-order since I have to order more of the fabric if I don't have enough.

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Finally, I'm entering the Doll North Masquerade. I'm a bit behind on my entry, but I still think I'll get it done. My friend Rosey (Tempurashrimp) has been encouraging me non-stop and I owe her a lot for giving me confidence when I feel lost and enthusiasm when I feel defeated. <3

Make sure to check out her entry in the Masquerade too. We should be sitting together. ^^

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That's all for now. I'll have all three of my dolls with me, so please come say hi! Even if you're not interested in anything I have for sale I'd love to talk to you. :) <3

Saturday 30 March 2013

Flickr and Update!


So I've finally got myself a Flickr account. There's not too much on it (and I don't think anything you haven't seen if you read my blog? Not sure ^^;) but I'm trying to be good about updating it. :)

You can find it here. Feel free to add me (I would love that!) I'm trying to get around to learning how to do that myself but it might take a while... ^^; XD

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I'm almost finished one commission and working on the other, so I plan to have some photos of the finished bits up in the next couple of days. I'm sort of sad to not be taking commissions anymore, but I'm hoping that not doing so will allow me to progress with other things faster.

After that it's studying for exams and working on my Anime North entry and trying very very hard to get Subtle Memory done along with my other secret project... We'll see if that happens.

I was thinking of bringing Subtle Memory with me to the Anime North marketplace, so it would be nice to have stock all done for that. :)

Sunday 10 March 2013

Commissions Closed: Indefinitely



I've decided to stop taking commissions.

While I do (mostly) enjoy doing them, I've become increasingly dissatisfied with my ability to complete them in what I consider a timely manner at the level of quality I demand from myself.

I have two more to finish up (a wardrobe commission that is 90% finished and a MNF cosplay outfit), but after that I'm done.

The new 'free time' will be used to concentrate on collections - which are, somewhat surprisingly, going very well at the moment - and my own dolls. I'm feeling very dissatisfied with them at the moment, which is colouring my feelings about the hobby and my abilities in general.

Much as I may regret it, I think this decision will be for the best.
I have a few projects that I'd like to finish up first, but then I may open up quasi-commissions of a sort through my shop as a compromise.

My apologies to anyone who was wishing to commission me in the future, but hopefully this will help me get into a place where I am comfortable with all aspects of this hobby.

Saturday 16 February 2013

Fingers do not make good thimbles...



So I've needed to take the last day or so (and probably tomorrow too) off of sewing because I am exceedingly clever and continued sewing ~10 layers of fabric for my current commission with a not-exactly-sharp needle until I'd managed to do some major damage to my fingers. Well done me.

So, instead of sewing I've been both working on school work and spending large amounts of money. My paypal is pretty much cleaned out now. ^^;

Why you ask?

Anime North.

I REALLY wanted to enter the cosplay competition last year, but couldn't due to time constraints. So, this year, I'm starting as early as possible. The theme was just released a few weeks ago, but we were told to wait until they release the updated rules before starting. Unfortunately, a couple of the places I need to order supplies from are notoriously slow shippers, so I ordered things anyway and am hoping I'm not breaking any of the new rules somehow.

The theme this year is:

Square Enix Logo

Definitely one that has been anticipated for a while! I really wanted to do one of the trios (e.g. Yuna/Rikku/Paine or Kairi/Namine/Xion) but I haven't been able to buy Bella yet and you can't make a trio with only two dolls, so I had to settle for just one character.

I don't want to say which character I'm doing because I will feel awful if I don't get it finished in time, but I think I picked one that is actually possible. :) If it does get finished expect photos after AN.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the other entries! There were some really excellent ones last year.

Is anyone else planning to come to Doll North? Are you going to enter any of the contests?

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Renewal


I've been having some bonding issues with Jonas over the last year or so. She's gone through several style transformations and nothing has really stuck. Add that to her less-than-stellar posing ability (I have to turn her lower arms backward to get them to stay straight...) and small size and I was just feeling lost.

So, when I made her a dress from the fabric I bought at Liberty in London as a pattern tester for SM, I wasn't really expecting much... but it has completely changed my feelings for her. I now know exactly what her style is, which makes it so much easier to clothe and photograph her.

Jonas - Bisou Ai Bonbon

Her character has been modified accordingly, and she's now a mix of the Jonas character and another I was initially considering for the Bonbon: Aria. This new style is very much how I envisioned Aria, so I'm hoping it will be easy to continue to come up with new pieces using the old sketches I have of her.

She still poses pretty terribly, so I'm considering buying another Bonbon in the future and having the body modded to be more stable and posable and the head modded to be a sleeping head for Jonas. :)


Tuesday 15 January 2013

Commissions are Open!


I have three commission slots open for January if anyone was wanting to order something. :)

Wednesday 2 January 2013

New Camera!



As you may or may not have known, I've been pining over a DSLR camera for years, but could never justify the expense.

This year, however, my awesome mum bought me one for a combined birthday/Christmas gift. :) It's the Canon Rebel T4i, if anyone is wondering and I'm quite excited about it. I had been looking at some Nikons, but when we went to pick it up today, the Rebels were on sale and the Nikons were not... so it became a very obvious choice.

I'm looking forward to getting back to my photography roots since I grew up with viewfinder cameras and a black and white SLR and have never really adjusted to not having a viewfinder or a hand-adjusted lens on the digital cameras I've had since.

You can hopefully expect new doll photos as I practise with this camera... and probably also cat photos (lots of cat photos... I've missed having her around).

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Looking back



I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's Eve. :)

Looking back on 2012, I'm certainly disappointed with how much I've accomplished, but I think given all the moving and adjusting to different countries I did this year I can cut myself some slack.

I don't make resolutions per-se, but I would like to keep working on the goals I set in September.

More specifically (in a vague order - warning!, long post),
  • Subtle Memory
    I would like to get proper samples for everything done and photographed soon so that I can be ready to fully open my shop in April.
    I have most of the patterning done, but the prototypes I have need to be tweaked, so re-sewing them is necessary.
  • Commissions
    I really like doing most commissions, meeting new people and trying new things. Unfortunately, while I love doing them, I find commissions always take longer than I think they will and, as a result, I get very stressed and can't take very many at a time.
    This year, I would like to spend some time working on ensuring I have commission slots every month. It may end up only being one or two, but I would like to make sure they are available.
    I have plans to restructure how I take commissions, but that ties in with another goal, so I won't list it here.
  • School
    While this isn't specifically doll-related, it does affect everything I will be able to accomplish doll-wise.
    Switching continents was both good and bad for my school career. I got to experience new ways of doing things, some good, some bad, and meet a lot of new people. Unfortunately, it also caused me to be unable to meet many of the deadlines for my school in Ontario, so I will be spending the first week of classes sorting everything out.
    I would like to make a concerted effort to get my work done early this year (I always do it on time, but finishing early would take a lot of stress off) and make a decision on whether I am going to go to grad school or not.
    I think overall this is going to be the biggest challenge I face this year, dealing with university bureaucracy and 18 years of ingrained academic habits, so I'm hoping I can do it.
  • Anime North
    I didn't get a chance to enter the theme competition at Anime North last year, nor did I end up getting enough stock made to sell at the market.
    This year, I have grand plans... so I'm hoping they don't fall through again.
    I'd like to get all my stock made before the theme is announced so I don't have to worry about trying to make them both at the same time.
    It's going to be a TONNE of work, so it's a bit low on the priority scale. I don't think I'll be going to AN in 2014 though, so I'm really hoping I can make this work.
  • Blogging
    I'm still dissatisfied with both the quality and quantity of my blog posts, so I'd really like to work on that again in 2013. I think I got better after all the moving stress died down, so hopefully starting fresh in Ontario will help.
  • Photography
    One of the reasons I first got into BJDs was as photography models. I'm pretty average at photography right now though, so I always get discouraged from practising.
    I've been collecting materials to build some photography sets over the past two years and I think I finally have enough to start and not be fretting about not having this or that. There will be a lot of waiting for things to dry so this project will be worked on in-between sewing and school, but I hope to have at least 2 rooms finished by the end of the year.
    I would also like to start getting into photostories. I have lots planned, but have been waiting for sets to be done. I think I can thank mendokusai for spurring me on in this as she unknowingly does for many things.
    I'm seriously considering joining flickr and getting involved in the community there, but I have enough trouble with this blog, so we'll see. XD
  • Web Design
    Finally, I would still like to work on getting a cohesive design done for my site. I have plans to add a bunch of sections and change a lot of things, but while I think I've managed to get my technical skills up to par, my design and layout skills leave a lot to be desired.
    I think this will be worked on throughout the year, with little tweaks here and there. Ideally I'd like to get a 'new and improved' fully integrated (store, galleries etc.) site up by the end of the year, but looking over the list I just typed, I'm not going to be too disappointed if it doesn't happen.
I'd still like to get better with speed and time management overall, but those are more nebulous goals that really only come with practise.

My plan is to make these goals visible around my house so I always have something to remind me of them. Last year, I found the things that weren't visible got ignored and I don't want that to happen again.



I hope everyone is doing well.

Do you have any specific goals you want to work on this year? :)

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