Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Pixies and Ghosts, Oh My!!

New assignment.........WILL-O-WISP



Also referred to as 'Orbs' 'Ghost-lights' 'spook-lights'
They are looked at by both paranormal and fairy/folklore enthusiasts
These are the balls of light seen in the forest at night.
They are also said to be see in old photographs and are thought by some as spirits of visiting deceased relatives caught on film ( though scientists and disbelievers say they are merely particles of dust captured close up on the lens) 
I neither disbelieve or believe . Who's to say they don't exist....but who's to say they do..
they actually go on to say there is a scientific explanation for this occurrence.. so A-HA!! it does really happen and people have seen it!






photo credit Missouri ghosts.net



SO thats pretty much the paranormal side of it but what about the fairy side??

nothing says validation like Disney lol!

I found this and it looked really similar to the sketch I had come up with for this project

THis is my take on it... yes , this will become a doll... I will make it Happen!!...ok I hope it happens.... No! I will happen!!
OK SOo..
My client asked for a green doll ,normally she doesn't get specific but she said green
but I'm thinking not too green
SO I picked Frankie Stein
First I had to get rid of all that black hair
Frankie with only white hair

I rooted Mint Green longer strands
I started to make the blue gradient
I do this with several permanent markers.
Finished color

Normally I wash the hair to get most of the ink out ,but not this time
here's my video on how to do this



There will be more tomorrow this blog is getting long
but 
speaking of Pixies and ghost lights
Here is my little Pixie
 THanks for reading
Nighty


Monday, July 22, 2013

Mistakes... I've made a few Part 2

Note:in the lower portion of this page contains doll nudity....if you are easily offended by Doll nudity please don't venture further...

That sounded very silly.
 Now back to this....in my last blog I said I made mistakes...first mistake was
buying a wig that I thought would be perrrfect.....but
once I had it on her it looked so big and puffy
you know too Jersey Shore.
It was not going to work. So I was going to have to make a wig or reroot.
Rerooting is tedious! OMg.. so tedious!
But if you've ever worked on one of the Cam kit Monster highs you know
it could only be a partial reroot because the top of the head is a hard plastic.
SO... it's gonna have to be half reroot 
and half applied/glue.
But this way I could also add a few different shades of color.
 I started with painting the scalp.
(Most dolls have this,makes the hair look fuller)
Then the rooting and applying... it added a whole extra day to this doll
and it was I think 95 degrees that day and I was sitting under a 
Super bright light

but the results were favorable.
There are Great hair rooting tutorials on youtube
This one is from Mylittlecustoms <-----

.. And then I noticed THIS...
the paint on the legs was peeling and scraping off!!!!!!!!
UGH!... NOooooo.. make it stop!.. :(

I had used a layer of Mr. Super Clear for the base
But it wasn't working...
maybe it was the humidity?
I took a deep breath wiped the sweat off my brow
and said Lets do this again!!
this time I put a layer of Liquitex Matte Medium down
it's for non-porous surfaces to make to paint stick!

and BACK to the drawing board!
This also let me try a new technique I saw on Youtube
where you spray a light mist of water and then lay a coat of airbrush paint on top
while it's still wet.It creates the illusion of water droplets!

Meanwhile back in Modor
I had added more shading and Veins to the face and took her outside for another coat of sealer


At this point
I was pretty darn Happy with the results...
SEE, Never give up!


I wanted the legs to look murky,like she had been standing in water
for a  very Long period of time.

So what have we learned ..
  • Firstly have a plan 'B'...things might work fabulously in your head ...but in real life not so much.
  • Know your product . What works on one thing might not work on another...... So Mr. Super clear works great for the base on faces..but maybe not so much on plastics :/
  • Try again.. always try again!.........The second time might even come out better then the first!

I've never known of anyone who got congratulated for throwing 
in the towel.
And Here is the Finished piece ....Sigh of relief :)
And if you've read this far , I Thank You!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Mistakes.. I've made a few. Part 1

In a kingdom of mistakes he who holds an eraser is King!
Of you have made some customizing boo boos this blog might help you out
I've been working on this Rusalka doll. and between the Heat and my new cankles I made crazy mistakes... but I'll get to that later
Lets start from where things were going peachy keen


 This is what I was going for
Well she's undead so I picked a gray skin-tone.
First a coat of Mr. Super Clear matte
Once it's dried ( like 5-10 mins)I lay down the first of the shading
{A little note about Mr.Super Clear.As with all chemicals, PLEASE use CAUTION, Use a Mask,Use Gloves!! We really don't know what's in there. Only in a Highly ventilated area .These are Your Lungs!} 
Back to this Bog....
first shading
The key to a good repaint I believe is Layers. Like everyone else I want to jump in but there's much to be said about the art of restraint.
Pretty much how I normally start a doll
But I knew something had to be different about the eyes this time.
Rusalkas are known to NOT have pupils.. so I said 'Hey lets try something new!'
med,light,dark glitter for the eyes
I wanted the eyes to be vacant... but with a spark of something
So I used some fine milled glitter to paint with rather than .. well Paint!
before adding definition
(At first you won't see a difference , the glitter is from dark to light starting at the top.)
Around this point I did a coat of Mr. Super Clear so that all the touching I was doing was not going to rub off the base of green

Eye brows and Lips start to form
Now besides being.... Um well Dead...she has to be alluring and beautiful..so I gave her a smokey eye and Lashes.... Lonnng lashes
Lashes
I do this by glueing and embedding the lashes into the rubber... after much trial and error I always do it this way now.. and once it's done it's Not budging! No sir!
You can make lashes out of any hair you chose.. they don't actually have to be false lashes ( for humans)
End of part one
Cankles!! on Tumblr
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Just Keep Swimming

I'd like to blog about dolls or art today ,or taking something and making it into something else.
Today I had a very hard time concentrating after hearing the news that Talia died this morning.

I am very saddened by this. Talia fought cancer a good portion of her life . SHe knew what was happening to her and was not confused. SHe wanted to be a makeup guru and she became that, she wanted to be a voice for children with cancer and became that. She met celebrities and gained many fans. THis kid did more in her little life span of 13 yrs then many of us will do in our Long life time.
But that is not the real thing that saddens me .What really saddens me is when I think if she was MY niece or daughter how incredibly painful to watch her go through it. To watch her suffer and then eventually lose her.
I don't know how someone recovers.
I DO know I would BE So proud of that child....
DO what you LOVE. Do it in a Timely Fashion. DO not worry about negative people.
Talia was and example for us and a great teacher, all 70 lbs of her.
I saw her when she was on the Ellen Degeneres show and Ellen asked how do you keep going with all of this and Talia replied  "a little fishy once told me, Just keep swimming"


I saw on FaceBook people were drawing little fishes on their wrists out of respect for her today.
Here is mine
 Thank you for reminding us of our Power and Beauty
and in the face of adversity to just keep swimming 
We will miss you little lady 
<3

Thursday, July 11, 2013

ZOMBIE mermaids

Right now I have so many things floating around in my head ...Whoot SO many!
I normally thrive in chaos as you can see by most of the pics of my desk. That's usually once I have an Idea screaming at me to get done.... but this time.. Ermergurd!!
, But
So my missions are right now Rusalka,cyclops and Will-o-wisp All very different!
but lets just talk about Rusalka
 Here is what it is Rusalka
 this is the Wiki pic
Basically what a Rusalka is, is  a woman (or child) that died wrongfully and now dwells on the bottom of a lake or river and if you happen upon her (mostly at night) she will lore you to a watery death.
Now, I love this!
 There is SO many directions to go......but unfortunately .. there are So many directions to go!
They are all Creepy stories
Some of the stories claim they are spirits. Some claim they are the Undead and others say that are similar to Mermaids. .. and remember this has to become a doll in the end.
Normally I would jump at the fish route,Mermaids are fun and beautiful.
But no,there is something much more creepy about a Rusalka , something  from a dark place.
I think it's also Not knowing exactly WHAT it is that fascinating.
It also looks just like US... how else would it lore you into the water... you trust her.....
Now this sexy Rusalka was the first one I ever saw in the * Quest for Glory* PC game... and even back then with her nakedness she was creepy!
Rusalka in most of the stories also has green hair that's perpetually wet even when standing out of the water for long periods of time
THIS is my version
 I drew this to help me sort it out.
I want her to be almost normal looking ( well as normal as the UNDEAD can look)
and at the same time you know something is not right. and underlying darkness that has been there all along.
Tonight I think we should stay away from any lakes or rivers,wont stop her from haunting our dreams though.....I will try not to dream of water tonight.... but the chances are slim

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Little Friends

I Love to make very Picture-full blogs don't I.. well I hoping shrinking them down a bit might help with the Downloading of the page, I believe you click on the pics for larger view
I been slacking on the Bloggy,but really expect that to happen on occasion .
It happens...
ON to this I have several different types of dolls I do. ONe of the types comes with a pet or doll.
Somehow I feel it relieves the Main dolls loneliness and it's cute,a traveling companion if you will , a buddy <3.
I make these in a few different ways and sometimes come up with a way on the spot.
Basically I'm making a miniature doll in itself.
I try to reflect that the doll or pet come from the same world /style as each other.

HOw this Works--------first I Imagine what I want it to look like. I sculpt the head and arms/hands/legs/feet/paws out of polymer
Wolfy for the Orc girl
Sometimes I create and endoskeleton , a wire armature if I want the Friend to be highly posable
Inside Wolfy


For this one I started with a ball. Then I insert the wire loop
and work the clay around it making the neck

WOrkin it!
Ears
Blushing before baking


This is sort of the pattern I used ,I realized while making this blog that thats not the right pieces I actually used but you get the idea from looking at this.. I'm gonna say it's about 3"x 2" before sewing and stuffing... that reminds me how hungry I am... Mmmm Stuffing !

when I started stuffing. I used the entire 
length of stocking for leg. Sewed it through with a GIGANTIC needle and elastic,super tight
NOw this in-between stage I didn't document in photos .But next after baking I painted the scalp where I wanted the hair to go and layer by layer glued on the hair .Since the hair would be comb forward I started at the forehead and worked my way back adding the 2 little ponytails as I went along.
then painted the eyes but not as detailed as the Main doll.. she is just a character of the main after all...


"Voila!".... or "Here it is! " in english!








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