30 Days of BJDs - Day 1

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Why do you like BJDs?

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In a short phrase, because they make me happy.

Longer explanation is because they bring together so many of my different interests - sewing, photography, writing, character design, painting, miniatures, etc. - and give me a tangible item that can display all of the progress I've made in these areas. Not to mention, they are wholly mine. I may not have sculpted them from scratch, but I have put in time and effort to make them my characters, with personalities that are unique to them and me and clothing and posing and face-ups that suit them and (hopefully) bring out the aspects of the sculpt that aren't just 'Shushu' or 'Lusis', but Mali and Tobi.

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[Full list of questions]

Onward to bandwagons! - 30 Days of BJDs Meme

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I've seen this meme floating around on a few of the blogs I follow (officially stolen from: mendokusai) and it seemed like an interesting idea, but I'm insane and didn't want to start it halfway through a month. That would just be crazy! So I decided to wait until December and will post one question a day with other updates thrown in.

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ALL THE QUESTIONS!

1) Why do you like BJDs?
2) Do you own any? If so how many?
3) Post a picture of all your dolls!
4) What/who was the first BJD you ever owned? Do you still own them?
5) What/who was the very first BJD you saw?
6) Biggest size you own? (Have held/seen/like)
7) Smallest size you own? (Have held/seen/like)
8) What is your favourite size?
9) What is your least favourite size?
10) Post a picture of a doll and an animal!
11) Do you prefer girl dolls or boys?
12) What do your friends think of your dolls/dolls in general?
13) Dollie shoes! Show us how many you have!
14) Have you ever had a floating head? What about a headless body? What do you think you would do if you had either?
15) What does your family think of your dolls?
16) Can any of your crew stand on their heads?
17) What is your favourite item of dollie clothing?
18) Do you have a favourite company?
19) A least favourite company?
20) What is your dream doll?
21) One doll you love, but will never (probably) buy?
22) What’s your favourite doll scale prop?
23) Is there a part of the BJD hobby that you dislike?
24) What about your favourite part of the hobby?
25) Have you ever modded a doll?
26) Done your own face-ups?
27) Do you have a favourite out of your own dolls? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell the others ;D)
28) Post a crazy/silly pose!
29) Post a picture of your dolls exploring the outside world!
30) Have you ever been to a doll meetup? Did you enjoy it/do you plan to go to one in the future?

Sewing Update

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I've been spending the last little while working on finalizing all of the fabrics and designs for Subtle Memory. I have to order some of them online (if the designers will put up with my requests that is) so I'd like to get that done as soon as I can so that they're here when I need them, and I can deal with any issues that might arise before it's too late.

I also need to get some buttons and a few more zippers, but I think they can wait for a bit.

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The first 'official fabric' prototype is well on its way to being finished (some MNF shorts :) ), but realizing how difficult it's been to find time to work on them what with work and Christmas, applying for exchanges and rushing off to visit my Grandmother, coupled with the sheer size of this insane undertaking... I've decided that I'm going to need a little bit of help.

And I think it's going to have to be in the form of my arch-nemesis:

Image stolen from the internets. 
I'm pretty sure it's not the one I have... but I don't actually know what mine looks like so I can't be sure.

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Yes... I'd wanted to keep this sewing-machine-free... but I think I'm going to have to enlist its help if I'm hoping to get everything finished by April. Especially if next term turns out to be as busy as the last couple of weeks have been!

There's going to be a steep learning curve - even though I've (sort-of) used sewing machines before - since everything is so tiny... not to mention I have an intense disliking for sewing machines. Luckily, this one is brand new, and I don't harbour too much distaste for it specifically... well... not yet anyway.
Most things will likely still be done by hand, like anything Bisou Ai size or smaller and basically anything else I can get away with... but the more repetitive seams I'm going to attempt on the machine. If it doesn't try to kill me... I think I'll consider it a success, and if I get some usable items, hey, all the better.

Fun with knots v2.0

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Alrighty. Now that I've satisfactorily ruined the wig with some stray scissor snips, I thought it was time to post up the second part of the wig tutorial. Though I'm still not too sure that's what it is.

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Materials:

• curly fibre wig *this won't work with heat-resistant wigs
• water
• kettle
• sink or something you can pour boiling water into without issue
• plastic cutting board (the flat one that are easy to roll up) *you only need this if you're using a sink, it's just to block the hair from falling down the drain
• little plastic doll brush (à la Barbie or MLP)
• towel
• wooden ball the same size as your dolls head *important
• wig stand or something that can hold the wig while it's drying

Optional:

• rubber gloves

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This is actually a lot easier than it might seem.

First, gather your supplies. Here's my wig from the last post after I had brushed out all the curls:

Fill up your kettle and set it to boil. While it's bubbling away, put the wooden ball into the wig. I forgot this while I was working on mine that's why it's not in the photos, but it's very important. Do not skip this step!

You can see where the kink was starting to form.

Now, for the first bit, I put the wig on top of a metal bottle. This worked until it was pointed out to me that the bottle was really big and would leave a kink in the hair, so I switched to a glass one with a more tapered top - as you'll see later. You just need something that you can rest your little wooden head on and is long enough for the wig. You could be fancy and use an actual wig stand... but a bottle will work for now.

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If you're using a sink, put the cutting board on the bottom of the sink covering up the drain (don't put anything else in the drain though, you still want the water to go down it).

When the kettle is boiled, wait a minute or two before you start pouring. This will cool it down enough to not fuse the fibres, but it will still be hot enough to do what we need.

If you want to wear gloves, now's the time to put them on. Personally, I didn't, but that's just because I love burning my fingertips with scalding hot water... and couldn't be bothered to go find them.

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The water should be cool enough now, so grab your trusty little brush and the kettle and head on over to your sink. Work slowly, one section at a time. I tried to work in about 2cm patches for the first while. Put one finger on the crown/part of the wig to hold it down and keep it from flying off your bottle. Pour some water over the top of the head, not right by the crown, but a centimetre or so below it. If your wig has bangs, avoid these for now.
Just pour enough the get it wet and then brush through. You can skip the brushing step if you want wavy hair... that seems to be what happens otherwise, but if you want pin straight hair, you'll need to brush it.

Continue doing this until you reach the other side of the wig and then start again.

Once you're mostly satisfied, take the wig off the bottle and put it (with the bangs facing up) in the sink. We're going to try and get the wavy bits at the base of the wig now. Do the same thing as you were when the wig was on the bottle, pour and brush, pour and brush, just try to avoid pouring too much water on the elastic. They don't enjoy that much.

Voilà! Nice and straight. :)

Finally, once you're satisfied, put it back on the bottle and pour some water right over the crown (including bangs) and brush out everything one last time. This is only for wigs with a circular crown. For ones with parts, you'll have to do this twice instead. Once on one side, and again on the other. I'm not going to get into side bangs for now. Sorry.

Leave it on the bottle to dry over night and tomorrow you can get on to styling! Yay!
(Just be careful and think before you cut or you'll end up with a lovely mess just like me)

...and The Teeny Tiny TARDIS

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Now that it's reached its new home, I can post photos of the secret present I made to accompany the puki!Dr. Who commission from a while back.

I wanted to send her a gift for being such a fantastic person, but I didn't know what to make until I was watching an episode of the show and realized... you can't have a tiny-time-travelling Doctor without his tiny-time-travelling Police Box!

And so the Teeny Tiny TARDIS was created. It was a lot easier than the little clothes since the stitches could be a little bigger and a little messier, so I could work on it when it was too dark for the clothing.

This was only my second time ever doing embroidered letters (that I can remember anyway), so they're a little wonky, but I think they came out alright overall.
While making this, I realized that I truly adore making plushies, lettering not so much, but I love making plushies.... I think I'll have to make a few up in between working on presents and collection pieces. Not sure what I'll do with them after, but at least I'll have made them.

Also... I kind of want a little TARDIS for myself now....