Howdy, Internet-Land! Wow ~ it’s already the end of June! I can tell I’m getting older, as the days go by much faster. Do you remember being a kid when the summers seemed to stretch out forever, and then the school year would hit like an unexpected ton of bricks? Now I find myself just getting used to the extra summer sunshine, when all of the sudden I’m behind on my Christmas shopping! The days fly away so quickly. That’s why I try to just make the most of each one. Trouble is, I have many more projects than days. Here’s what’s on the list at present:

Face-up & re-string for 1/3 Rain, Outfit for Rain, Face-up for 1/3 Nanuri, Outfit for Nanuri, Face-up & re-string for 1/4 Asa, Sculpt a body for my own BJD head (haven’t named her yet), Finish adding blossoms to the purple gown (made some progress yesterday), Write a new 4 day Willy Wood Duck Story for Vacation Bible School and illustrate all the characters & scenes (due next week, but making progress), Sew 4 more prepped coats for Ellowyne & BJDs, Sew a ton of prepped pants & jackets for Matt, Sew a sporty American Girl outfit for a friend, Sew an outfit for my 50cm Obitsu, Make a pattern & sew a Shania Twain black coat to fit a Teen Trend, Make patterns and sew a coat & pirate Tyler outfit for a friend, Finish the outfit for my custom 27cm Obitsu Hinata, Finish the outfits for 2 custom 28cm Obitsu Naruto fellas, Customize a pair of 27/28cm clear Obitsu dolls ….

That’s what I currently have in progress. Hmmm, I wonder what I forgot …

Of course, I also have the up-coming doll shows that will need preparations. I’m thinking about hosting a vendor table at a 3 day BJD event up in Clackamas, OR,  but not sure if I have time to prepare enough stock to last over that much time. Am still debating that one. All this to say, I’m NEVER BORED! I don’t always get to everything I want to do, but I’m never lacking for things to keep me occupied. The best part is when others enjoy my projects as well. I’ve had so much fun connecting with new friends, vendors, and collectors. My world is much more broad and colorful ~ and YOU are a wonderful part of that! Thank you for coming by today. Here’s sending you smiles and warm wishes for a great week!  (Project update pics following the paper doll outfits!)

I was able to finish the purple hydrangea gown. Here are pics showing the dress on a Wilde Imagination Evangeline body as well as my 50cm Obitsu (for whom it was actually designed). The complimentary pattern can be found on my “Free Stuff” tab. Enjoy!

Happy Saturday, Internet-Land! I am happy to let you know that all three of my new arrivals were delivered safely this week. The Fairyland Nanuri Head, the Mirodoll 62cm small bust body, and the Mirodoll 68cm Rain. I was pleased to see that the Nanuri skin tone was not far off the color of the body, so the mix will work fine for me. Now comes the task of retrofitting the two together. Each company has its own particular design elements, and this means that not all bjd parts automatically fit with parts from every other company. As many of you probably know, the inside of the Nanuri head has a unique fitting design, and the typical “S Ring” hole is shaped differently than most. The hook from the Mirodoll body would just flop right through it. So ~ I had to come up with a way to hold the hook in place. I didn’t want to alter the head itself by adding resin or apoxy, so came up with the following solution. Many will already know this, but of you’re new to the bjd hobby, I hope you will find it helpful.

Let’s start  with a look at the head. As you can see, the hole inside is weirdly shaped.

I started out by cutting the bottoms off three small pill bottles. PLEASE be careful when using an Xacto knife or any type of blade. If you’re a child ~ get an experienced adult to help with this process! Always cut AWAY from yourself. Once the bottoms were off, I made them slightly staggered in size and cut a small retangular slit in the middle of each one. This took a while with both blade and scissors.

I placed the three plastic discs inside the head. Next is the task of drawing the elastic knots up through the head and plastic discs. I like using the plastic, because though the slit is small, the plastic has enough “give” to slightly bend and let the knots through. Then I slipped the hook through the elastic loops to prevent them from going back through again.

Lastly is the job of putting the skull cap back onto the head. The Fairyland cap has weird little knobs and hooks built into the resin that want to push the plastic discs to the side, making the head sit crooked on the body. To allow the knob to slide under the discs, I slid a small plastic crochet hook up through the neck hole from the bottom. I pushed the discs up just a bit, so the cap knob could slide under them as the cap twisted into place.

And there you go! She looks great! I am happy with the size ratio of head to body, and as I said before, the color difference is not too wonky for my own personal taste. If you’re a high-end collector, you would probably never combine parts in this way, but if you’re a newbie (like myself) or just don’t have unlimited funds for dolly purchases, this may be a way for you to enjoy some high-end faces while still keeping on the more economic side of things for bodies. And of course, following the pics of Nanuri, I will have a new Forest Walk outfit for Abigail. Her new facebook outfit will be posted in the Free Stuff tab as usual. Wishing you another awesome weekend! ~ missy

Good morning, Internet-Land! I hope this is a good morning for you! Last week I tried my hand at my own BJD Head sculpt (pics in previous two posts). I was very content with my first “go,” but obviously have lots more to learn and apply. I do, however, want to make a body to go with her. I have an idea to try. I got a small hand cream bottle and cut it apart. I cut it in half at the “waist,” cut holes at the “shoulder” points, and cut out the bottom. I think I will use this as a rough form around which to sculpt my pieces. I will probably add in some wire at the bottom of the lower torso to close in & sculpt around between the leg openings. The bottle was really thick at the bottom, and I couldn’t just cut two leg openings. I’m hoping these pieces will give a little more sturdiness to the clay body parts once they are baked.

I have also made a few exciting purchases. I think I really need to stop for a while. I am getting new additions, and I still need to sew for them. In any case, here are the new items that are here, or will be arriving soon. My first new item is SO EXCITING to me! I was perusing over at Harbor Freight Tools, when I found they carry AIRBRUSH KITS! I was able to get an airbrush kit along with a compressor. I’ve always wanted to learn to use an airbrush, but was never sure where even to look for one. I have no idea of the “quality,” but I’m sure it will be fine for a beginner. So, yes, that’s item #1.

The next three new items are dolly purchases. I was able to purchase a Mirodoll 62cm small bust body, a Feeple60 Nanuri head to go with her, and a Mirodoll 68cm Rain! The girl body has already arrived, so I’m just waiting for Nanuri’s head and Rain to arrive. Neither have face-ups yet, so I will be practicing my airbrushing until they get here.

So, there you have it. That’s my activity over the last couple weeks. I will keep you posted on my progress with the bjd body sculpt and airbrush work. Today, however, I will be taking a break from some dolly ventures to have a friend over to watch the latest Naruto Shippuden movie about his son, BORUTO. Yay! Until next time, here is another new gown for Abigail! Her new dress from my facebook page will also be added to my “Free Stuff” tab. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Good morning, Internet-Land! The eyelash glue has now dried, and the magnets are in place. Time to pop in the eyes and set on a wig! I can definitely say I learned some things and have a better idea for my next head, but overall, I am happy with my first attempt at sculpting! The eye placement needs a little tweaking, and I need more white putty. I just have to think of a name for this gal!

Hello, hello, Internet-Land! Another post in only two days? Yes! I have had some fun today trying my hand at sculpting. I’ve never done it before, so watched a lot of YouTube first. As it is my first attempt, I decided to take photos of my progress. I thought it would be fun to share my adventure with you. So ~ here we go!

To begin, I used Super-Sculpey Original oven-bake polyform clay in Beige with a Semi-Translucent Finish. I like the way this clay feels, you don’t have to continually moisten it (like paper clay), and I really like the semi-translucent look. I also got a 2 inch diameter styrofoam ball and two round wooden beads. First I drew on the styrofoam where I wanted the eyes to go. Then I cut holes into the styrofoam, so I could counter sink the wooden beads. This is to form the eye sockets from the inside of the head. I hadn’t ever seen how to form the sockets, so hoped this would work.

Next, I covered the head all the way around and added a sort of triangle that would later become the nose. I added the nose placement while I still knew where the eye beads were. Since I had the “nose” positioned, I could add on thickness for the brow-forehead area as well as the lips and chin.

With the basic shapes added, it was time to actually start sculpting! I carved out the eyes, and shaped the nose and lips. MUCH of the clay around the nose was cut away while sculpting. Then I added some cheekbones and tried to smooth it out. I also rounded in the base where the neck would fit and cut the slit where the elastic & “S Ring” will enter.

Then it was time to add the ears and decide where to cut for the headcap. I also enjoyed adding my name to the headcap. More smoothing, and into the oven. I baked her according to the directions on the Sculpey box. Since she had more thickness in the area of the nose & chin, I baked her at 275F for 20 minutes.

After she had cooled, I used my knife to cut through the headcap slit into the styrofoam ball. This allowed the headcap to come off easier. Next, I cleaned out the styrofoam by gently cutting it away a little at a time. I had to gently scrape a little clay away from the wooden beads inside, so I could gently push them into her head from the outside of the eye openings. I had to be really careful not to damage the eye openings. I spent quite a while sanding and cutting in the little spots for the headcap magnets.

Then it was time to decorate! I sprayed her with clear acrylic matte sealer, then used chalk pastels, colored pencils, and acrylic paints to do her face-up. Lastly, I glued on her eyelashes and the magnets. (I just bought fake eyelashes from the Dollar Tree in the cosmetic section.) Now I just have to patiently wait for everything to dry & cure, so I can put in her eyes & add a wig. Since she is only made of polyform clay, I also cut a small plastic circle from the bottom of an old medicine bottle and cut a slit in the center. I will place this inside her head to help protect & strengthen the slit where the “S Ring” will rest. Here she is thus far. To be sure, I will post pics when her eyes & wig are in place! Now comes the challenge of a BODY!!! Thanks for dropping by ~ have a great rest of your weekend!

So, it’s Friday. I’ve mentioned before that my days begin very early. Normally, my alarm goes off at 3:45am. Today, however, it did not go off at all. That’s because I had already been AWAKE for one and a half hours! Why? I have NO idea. I woke up and could not go back to sleep. Isn’t it weird when that happens? I am glad I only worked five hours of overtime today. I came home, got some lunch from our favorite little Chinese restaurant here in town, and sunk into my cozy chair-and-a-half to watch “Austen Land.” As it is now 4:02pm, I am a very sleepy blogger! I think I’m going to wrap myself in comfy pajamas and settle in for an early night.

BUT ~ before I do ~ I want to post a couple more of the new Abigail Forest Walk paper doll outfits. The facebook item will be posted with the rest of the collection on my “Free Stuff” tab as usual. I hope you all are good, and I wish for you a wonderful weekend!