New doll!

I haven't posted in ages! Sorry about that life got really crazy at the end of the semester. I had finally projects to finish, a (crazy) final paper to write, an apartment to move out of, and my mom's house to move me and all my stuff into. And in the middle of it all, literally the day I finished the paper and send it in my Doll Chateau Bella arrived!!! I kept meaning to post about her, but what with packing and unpacking and rearranging (my mom's house is for sale, so putting all my stuff in neatly has been quite the challenge!) I just kept putting it off.

Anyhow SHE HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!! After almost 5 months waiting she is finally home! And then I sent her away... well, just her head, which I sent to the amazingly talented Xhanthi of Jointed Love to get her face up. BEST DECISION EVER!!! Xhanthi sent me some photos, and my girl looks AMAZING! I am so in love <3 I can't wait for her to get home! 

Here she is all blank and wearing one of Rue's wig's on the day she got home:

Group shot! L to R: Ivy, Juniper, Rue, and new unnamed Bella in the back!

Standing right out of the box, and holding Ivy too! Super doll!

And here is a photo of my beautiful girl with her lovely makeup courtesy of Xhanthi (who also supplied the eyes and wig in the photo) - all photo rights to her of course! Here is the link to her Flickr where this photo lives: http://flic.kr/p/cc7nE1 And please check out her blog! My girl might even be appearing on it some day soon!

<3

I am going to be doing some sewing for her tomorrow, and I have already crocheted her some leg warmers.

Crappy cellphone photo for the win!

Rings and raising things

So I did finally manage to make a few wax rings which I was happy with (although they are VERY loosely related to my inspiration object). I forgot to take pictures of the waxes before casting, and then proceeded to forget to take a photo of them cast and sprued. Oops... Anyway here are my three silver rings: two of which I really like, and one of which kind of looks like batman! You can see where the sprues were attached these pre-cleanup photos.

I need to finish the batman ring, I may try to set a stone between his ears. I also think I will re-polish and sand the first one. Here are the two that are finished (or nearly so):

As to my raising, IT IS NEARLY DONE YO! I am in the process of giving it it's final planish (making it nice and shiny!) and I really love it! It is so smooth and egg-shaped <3 The blue stuff in it is a type of wax which I am using to support the shape while I planish it (planishing involves hitting it with a very shiny smooth hammer).

Crochet and other crafts

Time for another catch-up post, gotta try and get back to my post-almost-everyday schedule! Anyway in the past few weeks I have done a few crafty things, mostly inspired by my dolls.

 I thought I was going to a doll meet at Anime Boston so I wanted the girls to each have something new to wear. Sadly I wasn't able to make it (I went to Vermont instead!) so only Rue and Juniper got anything made for them. For Juniper I crocheted at teeny-tiny Jayne hat!! For those of you who don't know, Jayne Cobb was my favorite character on the show Firefly which was canceled before it even finished one season. And in one episode he got a hat in the mail, knitted by his mom. This hat:

The man they call Jayne

The doll they call Juniper

I sewed Rue a dress which I am very proud of, since it is the most professional looking piece of sewing I have ever done! She also got a crocheted hat which it was supposed to be for Ivy but it came out too big. Once she got the hat and dress I felt like she needed some jewelry to complete it so I made her some tiny friendship bracelets and a beaded daisy-chain necklace!
 
I want her to be really crafty, and I have been making her some tiny tools. I don't have any good photos yet, but so far I've made her a set of tiny crochet hooks out of toothpicks and a skewer and a tiny pair of scissors out of some aluminum scrap I found and a tiny brass rivet. I have since stolen the scissors and put them on a necklace because they are so cute!

The Circle must be broken!

I also crocheted a tiny Ood - an alien from the show Doctor Who using this great pattern! I just used size 10 thread and my teeny crochet hook instead of those called for.

Raising daze

So it has literally been a month since my last post. Oops. I have had tons of stuff going on, and lots of things I meant to post, put off posting, and then added up to too much to post! Anyway, I am going to try and get this thing back on track! 

 

How it looks now

Up first? My raising. I know I mentioned this thing a bit before. Raising is a metalworking process which takes a flat (usually circular) sheet of metal and through the use of epic amounts of hammering turns it into a 3D bowl or vessel. In my class we first worked on a small 6" diameter 20 gauge sample (which I have yet to finish) and then moved on to a 12" diameter 18 gauge monstrosity! My goal is to make a tear-drop shape with a 2" opening. Easier say than done! The amount of hammering I have done recently is staggering, and my left thumb hurts when I move it or lean on my hand. Luckily I have built up some strength and my back and arms no longer ache the day after raising. Anyway, my piece is nearly done, it is roughly the shape I want, although the opening needs to go in a bit more, it is a little under 3" now. Bringing it in is the hardest part by far. My edge got so thick I couldn't move it and it cracked badly so I had to spend a few hours sawing it off. Twice. Right now raising is on hold because I need to have three rings carved from wax and invested by Thursday! More on that in a sec, first here are some photos of my raising process:

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In other news, we are also doing a casting project in this class. The assignment is to make three rings out of wax which are based off of our found object (mine is that key thingy). The three waxes will then be invested and then melted away and molten metal will be poured into the spaced they left in the investment. For a more detailed account of the process click this link (although what is shown is on a bigger scale). We will use a small centrifugal caster to make our rings. I am, however, totally stumped at this point as to what to make, which is NOT COOL because I need to be invested by Thursday for burn-out and we are casting this Friday. I am freaking out a wee bit. I have made two things to use if I don't come up with anything else. I will post some photos when I get a chance and if I make anything cool.

As done as it's gonna get!

My chasing and repoussé piece is finally done, and just in time too! I cleaned it, put a patina on it, and then waxed it this evening, so that it will be ready to show in class tomorrow and then be put in the Jewelry and Small Metals section of the All School Show along with all of my classmates chasing and repoussé pieces. I am so glad this silly thing is finished, even if there are at least a million tiny details I wish I had had the time to fix... oh well. It is done and that is all that matters!

DONE AT LAST!!!!

Hello again

Sorry it has been so long. Not totally my fault, blogger wouldn't let me upload or save posts and I got really frusterated and gave it the silent treatment. After that, a mix of laziness and no discernible progress kept me from posting. BUT NOW I'M BACK PEOPLE, AND EVEN BETTER, DECKING IS DONE <3 <3 <3

Here is the outside, just needs plating and patina: (should be done tomorrow!!!!!)

And here is the inside/bottom so you can see the decking and my messy, messy soldiering:

Also, I want to share this awesome tutorial I found on YouTube: My Froggy Stuff's Easy No-Sew Dress! I love how easy and cute this dress is - I made one for each of my girls yesterday, and it took no time at all. I used an old purple t-shirt and I still have plenty left to make another matching dress for my Doll Chateau Bella when she gets here! Anyhow here is Ivy in her new dress. She got to go to my mom's house with me today, where the lighting is a zillion times better than in my basement apartment!

Decking begins at last!

I am so sick of working on this thing. It is making me crazy! I finally had to force myself to stop fine-tuning it (since I could pretty much work on it for a year and still not be satisfied). Today I finished cropping, fileing and sanding the edges, cut out the first piece of decking and started soldering. The soldering didn't go great, but it should (hopefully) be easy to touch it up. Now I just need to cut out three more sides to match, solder the corners together, file and sand everything flush and put on a patina and wax and I will be done. GONNA GET IT DONE FOR REALS THIS TIME!

Anyway here is my chasing and repoussé piece with one side sort-of decked. I is all discolored because the pickle (the acid we use to clean metal after soldering or annealing) was really dirty and stopped working.  Since you can't solder dirty metal, I had to stop for the day, which was totally cool with me since it was 7pm, and I got to school just after 8am.

I also need to finish my practice raising (not worth photographing yet), and make sketches and maybe a model for my final raising.

BONUS:  Juni got a new outfit in the mail this weekend! Doesn't she look so snugly?

Totoro!

Dollie meet on Sunday!

So I haven't posted in a few days, mostly becasue I left my camera cord and laptop at my apartment when I went home on Sunday. Sunday was EPIC DOLLIE FUN DAY!!! I had a great time at Snowgray's apartment hanging out, eating snacks, and trying to keep her cat from mauling the dollies. At six we all trooped down to Panera at Coolidge Corner for dinner. Then we went back to her place and some of us sewed while two of the others took turns reading out horrifically bad fan-fictions, which scared me for life. We also ate contraband Kinder-Eggs from Canada. I finally left after ten, I was lucky enough that my mom was willing to come get me so I didn't have to take the T.

Anyway, it was really fun and I snapped a few pictures of the giant pile of dollies that accumulated on the dining room table:

 

More of the same.

I promise that tomorrow's update will be about something else but for now, who wants to see ANOTHER photo of my chasing and repoussé project?!?!? Sadly, I really haven't done anything to speak of besides eat, sleep, and work in the studio, so here you go: another lovely shot of my piece, in red pitch just to mix things up. With any luck I will be able to post the finished product before Friday, and begin showing off my raising practice piece.

It's almost done. Sort-of.

HOWEVER. Tomorrow is a BJD Boston mini-meet! It's at another member's apartment where we will hang out and obsess about dollies for a few hours and then we are all heading to Panera for dinner! I am bringing chips.  I'm really excited, it will be a ton of fun to see everyone. Some people will bring doll clothes and things to sell, so I need to remember to bring a little cash, and maybe a few things of my own to sell. There will be many photos taken, and I will post my favorites here!

Still in progress...

Here is another update on my chasing and repoussé progress. As you can see, it is still not done, despite all the many, many hours I have put into it so far. Sigh. I feel like all I did this week was work on this and try to sleep. And this week doesn't look to be much better. I HAVE to have this thing decked and done a week from today, PLUS planish a 4" circle of 14 gauge copper into a 5-6" 18-20 gauge circle, and then raise it into a bowl at least 2" high with a top edge that goes inwards at least 1/4th smaller than the widest point. Oh and find time to get out to Woburn and buy a 12x12" sheet of 18 gauge copper.

Well, tonight I am taking the night off, I'm going to watch Burn Notice and paint my nails, since I have finally managed to let them grow! I bought my self some new polish as a treat, and I have pistachios to snack on, so it should be a nice relaxing evening.

Slowly getting there... So very slowly!

So sick of hammering

Last night I could not fall asleep. Until afer 6am. Which was technically this morning. Anyway, with barely 3 hours of sleep, I managed to get to the studio by about 11:15 and stayed until 8:45. I got a good bit of work done, including having to repair three tiny holes. Luckily my prof was there all day, and he helped me out on how to fix it. I think I can get just the chasing and repoussé work done in time for class, but the chances of it being decked are slim to none. Maybe I can at least trim it. So here is another cellphone photo of my progress. It is looking pretty cool if I do say so myself!

The top gear is my favorite <3

and to top it all off I seem to have lost my scarf. I love that scarf... :(

More chasing and repoussé

It might not look like it, but I spent another four or so hours on my chasing and repoussé piece today.

Such progress!

I got to the studio around 5 or so, and stayed until almost 10, when I left and took the free shuttle back to my apartment. I took a break to chat with my friend Nicole and then to go and see the art show that Tory organized. It had some really cool stuff, I wish I had had something to put in it! They gave me Portal Cake too! I didn't really do anything else today, since I got back so late last night and then couldn't fall asleep because I was so achy from working and walking and the apartment was so cold. I dunno what is up with the heater, some days it is really warm at 55, but not last night - it was set to 80 and still really cold. I had to wear two pairs of socks and a sweatshirt to bed :(

Anyhow, the studio is open all day tomorrow. If I am lucky, I will be able to get myself up early and get enough chasing and repoussé work done to be able to deck my piece on Thursday after class. It could happen, right?

Yup. And maybe pigs will fly.

A chasing and repoussé day

I spent something like five and a half hours in the studio today. My hands hurt... and they smell like metal, even though I have washed them like 6 times! I was at the studio until after 11pm, and I am so tired. I got a lot done though, and some help from my prof, so it was worth it. There are classes in the studio until 6:30 tomorrow, so I get to sleep in and then go do some more chasing and repoussé in the evening. Hopefuly I will time it better and get the (free!) 11pm school shuttle instead of having wait around till 11:30 and take the bus since I missed the shuttle by 15 minutes.

Anyway, I forgot to bring my camera to school with me, so here is a crappy cellphone photo of my progress:

In the pitch-pot!

In other news, I had a ton of fun having lunch at Panera Bread with my friend Tory! It was really nice to catch up with her, and she finally got to meet my cat, Chloe!

New shoes and homework blues

Juniper's new shoes finally arrived!!! They are soooo tiny and cute! Also, I put her green eyes back in. I really like them better than the pink, although the pink did start to grow on me after a while... I will definitely keep them for her to wear in photo shoots.

itsy-bitsy-shoesies!

Anyway, tomorrow I have to go to the studio bright and early. My prof should be there and I need to get some help with my chasing and repoussé project. It is not going as well as I had hoped, I think I may have overestimated my ability to do this... although it is not totally my fault, I didn't know I would only have one week to finish this project when I designed it! Hopefully I can get it done and make it look as cool in metal as it does in clay!

Ivy's new shirt

I finally got a chance to finish Ivy's new shirt last night. I  re-sized and altered this pattern for the top. It is hand sewn from t-shirt fabric, and I used fabric glue to attach some thin ribbon for the straps and a little plastic cameo button as a brooch. Cute, right? I'm really happy with it, and so is Ivy! She says she needs some sophisticated shoes to go with this new top...

Classy-cute couture!

Sculpted Gears!

Look what I made!! I altered the image a bit, just zoomed in on one area and simplified a few of the details, I may add them back in the metal, not sure yet. I am really happy with it, I can't wait to get started on it tomorrow, I hope the prof likes it!

Gear-tastic!

Steam Punk Gears

So I've finally finished the design for my chasing and repoussé assignment. Last week the prof was out sick, so I met with him yesterday to discus my project. He preferred the gear idea to the literal representation of the clock key, so I have been working on updating my design and making it more decorative in order to reflect the style of my object. Tomorrow morning I am going to print out the design and transfer it to the clay block I have prepared, and then hopefully get all of the carving done after my science class. I hope I have enough time to do a nice job, since I need to start working with the metal soon.

Here is my design, it is going to be 3"x3". The differently colored areas will be repousséd to different heights, white being the lowest:

Rather Steampunk, don't ya think?

Just another day

Not the most successful day. The idea I had for the chasing and repoussé project - gears - was great as a drawing, but sculpting it was another matter. Nothing was working, and I decided that I would just tell the prof about my idea and see if he might let me do it without a model since I think it will be much more doable in metal than in clay, at least for me!

I also started a new shirt for Ivy today, it is based off of an enlarged version of the puchi collective pattern I used for Juniper's dress. It is hopefully going to be a boat-necked tee, I just have a few more seams to sew, but it is looking good so far! It is a great feeling to see my dolls wear something I made them. I will upload a photo as soon as it is done <3

Just for fun, here is one of the first pictures I ever took of Juniper. She is wearing her full-set outfit and wig, and her default brown eyes. I took this at my dad's house in Holland last summer after he bought her for me from Think Pink  :D

I'm on a boat!

February meet-up

So today was the Boston BJD monthly meet-up! It was really fun, I got to see some of my doll-owning friends and their cool dolls, including the Pipos Tin Woodman, who is really cool! There were even brownies and pink rice-krisppies! All three of my girls came to the meet (as always!) and I took a few photos, although none of poor Rue! Maybe someone else got a good one, I will have to check to see if anyone uploads any!

Ivy and her friend Vera. Vera is wearing a dress I made <3

Juniper and her two metal-men!

Anyway, it was nice to see everyone and chat about dolls to people who understand! I can't wait till my Doll Chateau girl gets here and I can show her off!

Bonus photo:

OBEY

Crafty day!

Today started with showing up to a canceled class because the prof spelled my name wrong so I didn't get the email. Luckily someone else showed up who got the email, just hadn't read it. When I got back to my apartment I decided to do some of the sewing I had been planing on for ages. First up was this lovely pukipuki shirt pattern from Puchi Collective. I have been meaning to try it for ages! I printed out the pattern last week, and on Wednesday I cut up some old t shirts for fabric. I LOVE JERSEY KNIT FABRIC!!! It doesn't fray, just curls a bit, so it is MUCH easier to work with such small pieces! I modified the pattern a bit to add a skirt (I used a sleeve hem!) and made Juniper the cutest little dress <3 Now I am working on a long-sleeved shirt pattern for Rue by Melancholy Wings. Hopefully I will have it done for tomorrows BJD Boston meet!

Without further ado, here is Juni in her new duds!

Cute as a button!

Finally got some work done

So I finally managed to get this gross oil-based clay to soften up enough to work with. I have been avoiding using it because it is so hard and crumbly and smelly. But the model is do tomorrow so yesterday I put some work into softening the clay. I heated some water in the microwave and then put the clay in a ziplock in the water. Once it softened a bit I broke it up into smaller pieces and then re-heated the water as needed, since the stuff hardens up pretty fast.

My assignment is to make a model for a chased and repousséd piece that is abstractly based on an item we had to pick the first week of class. I picked this little metal doohickey which turned out to be a clock winding key. I am a bit too literal to be good at abstraction, so I just sculpted a larger version of the key with the clay tonight. I wish I had started sooner because only now do I have a more abstract idea: making a pattern of gears at different levels. But that would be pretty geometric, which is not one of my strong suites - I tend to get too obsessive about it. I tried to make a model, but I really need actual gear images printed to size to trace so that I can get all of the teeth to match. I wish I had my own printer! I am going to make a quick sketch and ask my professor about it tomorrow, and then work on whichever idea he thinks is better.

Here is the key and my rough clay model:

They're like twins! :P

New eyes for Juniper

So I ordered some pink glass eyes for Juniper from someone on DOA, and I got them today. They were a bit of an impulse buy, since they were cheep and cool looking, since they have no pupils! They are bigger than her normal eyes, and are actually a wee bit bigger than her eye bevels, but not noticeably so. They were a bit difficult to get in right because of this. Anyway, I like them but they will not be her new default eyes. These are just a bit too creepy for my taste! They go very well with her hair though, so I will keep them in for the BJD Boston meet-up this weekend. I also ordered some similar ones in blue for Ivy off of eBay, but they haven't come in yet.

Not too bad in this photo, pretty cute!

Extra creepy with flash.

Unproductive day

Today kind of sucked. I over slept, so I had to rush to school for a meeting, only to find that the person I was meeting with was out sick. I printed out some patterns while at school, so when I got back to my apartment I really wanted to work on them, but guess what? No fabric, I brought it all home! I was finally feeling creative after who knows how long, and I didn't have any supplies except some yarn and a bit of paper-clay. I wish I could say that I got wicked creative and made something awesome, but instead I just got annoyed and didn't make a thing. None of my supplies appealed to me, and I don't even have any watercolors here! I don't know when all my stuff migrated back home...

Then I tried to do some homework, but I need to make some abstract drawings and come up with a clay model (also abstract) by Friday, and I am WAY too literal to deal with it. I just have no idea or inspiration, and the clay we need to use is gross, so I don't even feel like messing around with it in hopes I come up with something. I just kept letting myself be distracted and have gotten nothing done, as usual. I'd almost prefer to go back to not wanting to make things rather than be stuck wanting to make something and being uninspired. I've felt this way before, and let me tell you, it is really crappy. I have no idea what I am going to do for any of the assignments this semester.

Oh well, at least I had the girls to keep me company. Here are Rue and Ivy showing off the necklaces I made them yesterday (Rue is also wearing her cute new sneakers, and her first wig, which I still dislike, so you probably won't see her in it again!)

Please ignore my messy desk.