Sunday 28 August 2016

26 Things About Me

Omni, a Hemera-Maru owned
and painted by Rikkistar.
Hello everybody!! I know I'm late to the party of this meme, but I thought I would do it anyways :D However, since I do not like sharing personal stuff, I will do a modification on it: all 26 things are about me on the hobby, my thoughts, anecdotes, and other things. I also included photos attempting to diminish the wall-of-text feeling! Hope you will find it interesting or funny.

I also need to thank Hasel and Tsumo from the Discord BJD chat, for helping me come up with some words for this meme, because my brain was fried xD

Artist's Dolls

I have always admired artists dolls. In fact, Calina is one, although her artist (Morla) wasn't able to make many of them, or sell them abroad. I think that in this moment, my favorite artist dolls are those from MDR (you can read her interview here).

Body Blushing

I must confess, I have seen some amazing and breath-taking body blushing. For example, MisMantis' work on her Cerisedolls, although you should check her blog, it is full of stunning blog. Another one I do love, is RikkiStar's work on her Hemera-maru (see the photo!), because I find it not only cute but also so original!
However, none of my dolls have body blushing, and -for now- I don't think any of them (or the planned ones) will get body blushing. Since I sew so much and change them so much, I think it will be too risky and too expensive to maintain, since I cannot do it by myself.


Customs

Well, why not? For anybody that lives on a country with customs, it becomes an intrinsic part of the hobby. It is no secret that my country has ridiculous limitations, we were even restricted by an amount of packages per year, and an exorbitant fee of 85%, that got reduced to 50%.
However, maybe, we are getting this lifted by near September. I say maybe because politics in my country are being ridiculous lately. The government made changes for the law, but any asshole can go and put a justice to work and get the law delayed. So I won't jump of happiness until it is fully functional.

Dioramas

I have always wanted a diorama for my tinies, but after finding DreamStudioDollHouse on Etsy, and BellachixDollWorld also on Etsy, I've been craving to have furniture for Coco, and the minis I have planned. I don't know, after the flood of commissions I got, getting a new mini (and an expensive one as an Iplehouse) gave me so much hope, so... I don't know. For now it is only planning and wishes, but oh well. I would love to get furniture to be able to share the story of my minis. But I will talk about that on another letter xD

Eyelashes

Okay, here are some anecdotes so you can laugh of me or with me xD
The first one was when Coco arrived. She had one point of one of her eyelashes unglued. I remember hubby raced to a nearby store to get me the glue. Then, I tried to glue it... you have no clue of how much my hands where shaking! I was so scared! I did glue it with no issues, but the story doesn't end there. When I went to sleep that night, I had so many nightmares about the dang eyelash!! I even woke up screaming, hahaha!
The other anecdote happened with Cookie, one month after I got her, I think. I was still so newbie and afraid of her tiny size! This time, the eyelashes fell out completely, so I had to glue them again. This time, I was not only shaking but my heart was pounding so so fast! I got so nervous, that when I was done, I realized I had started to sweat xD. To me, it was like doing an open heart surgery!! Hahaha!!

Faceups

Well, this is a thing on my to-do list. I have always been interested on doing them, but this year the "bug" bite me hard. However, due to the custom restrictions that I mentioned before, getting sealant inside the country is a no-go, and an airbrush or mask are 3x the price on any local store than buying them overseas and paying customs... but I will had the package limits.
So I decided to not learn. At least, not for now. Maybe in a couple years the resources will be easier to get, or I will be able to save more money. However, I have set myself on wanting to learn to do it. But I want to do it properly, taking the respiratory precautions, using correct products, and sealing the required amount of time... I say this because I have read about so many people not using masks, or washing the faceup with water, or using bad/cheap products. But no, I want to do it right. Not now, though.

Grail

Well, I have never thought about a grail like some people do, but I have craved for an Iplehouse JID for years (I did change the sculpt I wanted, though). Does that count?

Heels

Please, allow me to explain:
  • BJD shoes and heels are a wonder in this world.
  • Why does all the pretty shoes come in SD16 size only??
  • Yes, on some wildest dreams I have considered getting an SD only for the shoes. Not happeneing, though.
  • If I were a dragon, I would hoard doll shoes.
  • Because of the previous one, I think I'm more capable to hoard shoes than dolls.
And here are my all time favorite shoes: Coco's cinderella shoes (they are the from Withdoll)... and yes, I want all of their resin shoes, and a bandwagon full of Tonner 22" heels, because they fit Withdoll girls too.



Interviews

Oh, this is interesting! At least, to me xD
When I decided to open this blog, I just knew I wanted to do the interviews, and share them in both languages. I knew it would be some work, but I sincerely did not expect some things that have happened. Sometimes I have thought of doing a "the making of interviews" sort-of post, but I always back away from it.
As unbelievable as it sounds, I have had artists and companies directly ignoring me and not even answering me (I have a list of them, to make sure I do not ask them twice). Other times, I have been requested to add watermarks to the photos, to check the spelling and to change a question after publishing because they "didn't double check" (despise the fact that I send them previews for them to check on everything), just to name a few things xD
But I don't mind, I will keep doing them! I'm not going to do collector's features, though. Too much work.

Jeans

I think I have been craving making some jeans since I got in the hobby, but I wasn't able to find fabric that was thin enough for my dolls. The joy of living in a third world country. However, sometime ago hubby suggested me to try to find that elasticized fabric that looks like jean, and I was able to make some jeggings! This year, the hubby strikes again, and he found me some thin jean fabric!!! I will be doing some jeans after finishing all my commissions, and I cannot wait!

Knitting

My mom is incredible amazing and talented, but I only know the basics of crochet and knit. So she offered to teach me! I have already planned a sweater for Calina, and a sweater and some crochet blouses for Coco. Then I was flooded with commissions and wasn't able to learn, but as soon as I'm done, I will start with it. I even already got some threads I've been dreaming about!

A photo posted by Musume (@musume.desu) on


Layaway

Never did one before! And I actually learned about them when I got in the hobby. I think I prefer to pay upfront and be sure I was able to afford the doll.

Miniatures

I need a bandwagon full of miniatures. Specially food miniatures. And regarding those, specially BadgersBakery (on Etsy) miniatures. They even make earrings and necklaces of food!! Because I'm not done with being building an army of tiny crystal animals for earrings and charms, now I need to add the food too xD
And since I'm such a fangirl of BadgersBakery, I contacted them and asked permission to post some photos of them, so please, witness this amazing tiny food!! Check their website too!

Photos and miniatures by BadgersBakery.
Used with permission.


Naming

My hubby has named all my dolls, and their names go along with a phrase! I did write about that here, so I won't be making this an even huge wall of text. The other day, talking with the hubby of course, he came up with a name for the red-headed girl that would be Coco's girlfriend: Robin. I love it! And I already know how to add it to the statement.
In the meantime, I need to find an Spanish lastname for Venezia. Any ideas?

Okasan

Well, you know about the Etsy store I help my mom with. This year has been weird. She did have some good things happening (like the first batch of bags that sold really fast), many commissions, and even sending a gift to the Swedish BJD con. However, we also had a lot of negativity again in the shape of Tumblr anon confessions. I even got accused (again) of stealing my mother's money. I will be forever grateful of the friends that got my back on that awful moment.

Photography

I'm an amateur, I know it. I bought a second-hand Nikon D5100 with the kit lens in November of 2014. As always, prices in my cuntry were ridiculous, and I couldn't afford a DSLR. But then, this acquitance was selling her camera, and it was in pretty good conditions, so hubby told me "it is a golden opportunity, let's buy it!", and so we did. Last year I got a tripod too!
I'm still practicing, although I always think that my photos lack in creativity. I will frequently find myself thinking that all my photos are "a doll in front of a background" with nothing else... but with me not having a backyard and not daring to take expensive dolls and camera outside the house, my possibilities are very limited =S

Una foto publicada por Musume (@musume.desu) el


Quantity

Quantity over quality? Are those exclusive? I personally do not know. However, I'm sure that too many dolls would overwhelm me. I like to give them equal attention, and do something with each of them. This year I have neglected my tinies so much and I feel so terrible for it. That is why I do not think I could handle a 30+ collection... who knows what the future brings, though.

Recasts

*rant mode on*
They are not part of the hobby, and they are destroying it. Isn't the Doll In Mind dilemma proof enough? (If you don't know, they were having profit issues, and that is why they are discontinuing everything... I don't know what will happen after that). The artist of 5th Motif has been suffering a big deppression after he found out his Venitu was recasted. There were several artists that stopped making dolls because of recasts. Gosh, they even sent the Harucasting Adori, sculpted as an image of Haru's son, to be recasted? It is like, WTF is wrong with this people!? And don't get me started on the intellectual property, on buying stolen products, and so on.
Plus, pro-recaster excuses are whinier and more stupid each day. Yes, I am extremelly pro-artist. This is a hobby based in the art. The artists have made it possible. How could you not support them?

Sewing

Ohhh, I love sewing, who doesn't know that! This year I had several challenging projects (the two steampunk dresses) and some of my commissions challenged me too: I dislike working with tulle but I think I managed to do it pretty good, and it is the first time I will be sewing anything Edwardian-inspired too. A Greek dress may be incoming too.
I mostly learned to sew by reading online, looking for tutorials, and trial and error. Before having dolls, I really enjoyed making stuffed animals (I have a box full of them), but I adore sewing dresses. I want to try making some more casual clothes too, mostly because I want to do photostories with Coco... and hopefully with the Iplehouse I plan to order. Wish me luck!
The only thing I dislike from sewing, is a Murphy's Law: it doesn't matter how many threads one has, the exact color one needs will always be missing =S

A photo posted by Musume (@musume.desu) on


Tinies

Cookie might have been my only impulse buy. She was heavily discounted and I got her because I found her so sweet and wanted to try her size. Her arrival had a little of bad luck, with the former gonverment imposing most of our huge import restrictions, and I didn't dare to order her wigs or shoes. It wasn't until my mom gifted me that white wig and started making crochet boots for her that I completely bonded with Cookie.
Then I got Merry as a gift from Withdoll. I couldn't be happier with my tinies they are so adorable! I love making silly stories, I always laugh alone while taking the photos xD
I must be honest, I have several more "animal fairies" thought, but I currently have no plans on shelling them. Unless Fairyland releases an art sheep-taur like they did with the hypogriff-taur (I was really sad about not getting that one), and then I'm going to throw my wallet to the screen and get the sheep-taur! She/he (gender still undecided) is going to be a sleep fairy, always too bored and falling asleep anywhere! Hahaha!

Urethanes

At my beggining on the hobby I disliked urethanes so much. Then, I came to realize that I disliked the "cone" effect they get when they are badly positioned... or positioned to be in the center of the eyewell, but not to give a centered gaze, if that makes any sense? I still love Eyecos a lot, but mine came yellowed and continued to yellow.
Hubby got me urethanes for Cookie and Merry (they should already be here, dang it!), and I plan to order urethanes for Coco too. I do hope they look good, and light their faces a little more.

Videogames

I'm a nerd regarding games. Specially, I'm a Bioware indoctrinated husk (anyone that played Mass Effect must grasp that pun, right?). I have also played tons of MMORPG, Turn-Based RPGs, shooters, platforms... you name it. I also follow the E3 each year!
On the last Xmas, my hubby got my an N7 hoodie for myself, so I want to make an doll cosplay for Coco, and take some pics to celebrate the N7 Day this year! (that is November 7th). I hope I will be able to do it!

Writing

I think this one is the only story related to Coco that I ever shared, and it was years ago. Although I'm overcoming my shame on sharing Cookie and Merry's photostories, trying to publish anything related to Coco scares the hell out of me. I do not know why, but I feel so childish and ridiculous.
I still don't know how to share my mini girls stories. I know I will be getting the Iplehouse by the end of the year *crosses fingers*, but I don't think I could do photostories like with the tinies. Maybe small texts with some photos? What do you think? Would you be interested?

Xeroxing

This is a rare word, found by Tsumo from the Discord chat. Xeroxing is creating a carbon copy of a paper using a xerox machine... so basically, copying.
I'm not going to rant about recasts now, but about other copying on the hobby. For example, I don't know if you heard about Elfgutz. She had a 5th Motif Venitu, and countless (and I literally mean countless) people shamelessly copied her faceup, the cannula and exact details! Then there is the recent case of a recaster offering a bad copy of another person's faceup as an option for their recast!! (see here). This things leaves me with a WTF on the face. This is too rude!!
Having a default faceup from the company is not copying, but this people send the copying to a whole new level. I have also seen another Venitu were a faceup artist was given "freedom to paint it", and they simply copied another owner's faceup. This is so wrong, in so many levels!

Yellowing

This is something that scares me! Coco has slightly mellowed despise me taking a lot of care with her and always keeping her stored in a dark and dry place. It took me a couple months to overcome the fact that she had mellowed a little, but oh well. It is an intrinsic part of this hobby.

Zodiac

I never told anyone about this, but when I was saving for my first doll I made a lot of sketches of possible dresses. I actually sketched one dress for each of the 12 zodiac signs, and each of them was based on a traditional outfit from a particular country! I did a lot of research for that, but never came to sew it. I even had thought of making special parts like horns or shoes that looked like hooves.
Who knows! Maybe one day I will do them!


And this is all for this meme! Hope I didn't flooded you with words or bored you to death! I tried to put as many photos as I was able! Anyways, my packages have been kept hostages at customs for more than a week already. I do hope they release them soon. Do you have any dolly news? I'm not tagging anyone on this, because I think that almost everyone already did it xDD Anyways, have a great weekend!

16 comments :

  1. Oh my goodness. If you do make those Zodiac dresses they are going to be EPIC. (Which reminds me, I should get off my butt and work on some of my special projects lol)

    This was such a fun read. It's nice to know more about you, even though it's pretty focused on the hobby. :D <3

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    1. Thank you!! Well, I guess I would do them sometime, but not right now xD
      Glad you enjoyed the red!

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  2. Interesting take on the meme :)

    I agree with you on the recast subject. *sigh* It's so wrong.
    The small anecdotes you write are always so interesting :D Never stop doing that!
    I look forward to more of your projects :3

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    1. Yeah, recast are just... argh! I get so mad at them!
      Glad you enjoy my anecdotes :D

      Delete
  3. This was very interesting to read. I, too, enjoy your anecdotes. And don't worry about writing photostories for Coco. Just do it! If there is too much text to print on the photo, place the text above, beside, or below the photo. The reader will know where it goes.

    Recasters are the doll hobby's version of the computer hacker. They do it because they can get away with it. Recasting is theft, pure and simple. It's wrong on every level.

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    1. Thank you, glad you enjoyed the read!
      I think I will mostly try to do a short text with one or two photos, mostly because I like props and proper backgrounds to do full photostories =S

      I agree with you regarding the recasts =S

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  4. Wow O_O 50% custom fee is huge! I do keep my thumbs up that you'll get an ease to that!

    I must say I love the heel shoes too! I wish there would be more of the size we want them as pretty as the SD16 size shoes are too! :D

    Loving the interview series, it gives us valuable information from the artists behind the brands, interesting that some doesn't want to participate. :o

    Jeans and sewing, I'm truly wishing your jeans procject good luck and I'm totally sure you'll nail it! I love your sewing and it's amazing you sew by hand. And I didn't know somebody made such a mean comment on your and your mother's store! How rude! Your mother is such a talented lady in her art as well as you are in yours, how dare they think you steal from you mom! They should check their backgrounds first before making such comments! Oh how angry this makes me!

    I have the excact same Nikon D5100 like you do! ^__^ Yay for us!

    In terms of quantity, I do find that each has their own limit. I don't mind if some of my dolls are untouched for long time, but I also understand that you feel bad if you don't give each enough attention. I love seeing Coco and the tinies so I'm glad you do take time to photograph Merry and Cookie too. ^__^

    It would be interesting to see a photostory from Coco and her friend when you get her! I encourage you. I'd like to see few photos and a bit text, it would be really cool to see!

    I don't have much doll news, just busy with LDoll at the moment and intriqued about Fairyland news about the new limited girl and their Minifee A-line girl mould mishaps! I was hoping to be able to order a body for my storage elf Sarang but need to think about it as the event is too fast. It was pleasure to read your answers in this meme. ^^ Lovely to know more of your doll thoughts!

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    1. Well, fees are high and though I want them reduced, having no package limit was what I wanted the most xD

      I love heels!! There should be more pretty shoes for slim mini. For the jeans, yes, I want to try sew them really bad!

      *highs fives for the Nikon*

      And yes, we did got those comments, twice. It was really bad, so thank you so much for the support.

      Thanks for the support for Coco's photostories! I will try to do them :D

      I do hope LDoll goes really great for you, I'm also curious about FL renewal Minifee!!

      Thank you so much for reading all of it :D

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  5. H Musume,
    I love reading these memes as it gives me greater understanding of why and what other people collect, but I have been very lazy when it comes to doing them myself...still haven't attempted this one. Maybe next year?
    I did enjoy yours very much.
    Hugs,
    X

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    1. You should do this meme! I would love to read your answers!
      Glad you enjoyed it :D

      Delete
  6. Llegué re tarde al post pero llegué!!! Que interesante todo lo que pusiste, muy de acuerdo con lo de los recasts y con varias otras cosas (zapatossss :D).
    Ojalá alg;un día puedas tener la ovejita dormilona, suena tan lindo! Mi ovejita es mas violenta e hiperactiva XD

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    1. Me alegro que resultara interesante!
      Sí, zapatos!!! Yo quiero ovejita también :D

      Delete
  7. Wow those Zodiac ideas sound pretty amazing! I do hope you can get around to doing some of your ideas ~

    I hope your country's laws will ease up a bit, I know how terrible customs fees can be ;_; And don't let the few negative people in the hobby get to you! There's always some bad apples around in every hobby =/

    I enjoyed reading this, I would find it impossible to come up with so many key words! xO

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    1. Thanks!! I do hope about the import laws, so far my packages have been stuck at customs for two weeks!!

      Glad you enjoyed this! I had help with some letters :D

      Delete
  8. Hit there and it was great to read this meme, thanks for sharing! It was a good read! And it really can get tricky with those words and letters!

    Only one of my dolls have body blushing, the results are amazing when a talented artist does it and it really does do the thing for the dolls body. My other dolls do not have any blushing, and the comparison between them is something else. But I can understand, it can be risky and expensive to maintain.

    Dioramas! I would love to try doing one myself. My parents helped me when I was a kid, to make furniture to my dollhouse, that I still own. These were made of popsicle sticks and it worked in the 70’s and 80’s. Those two shops on Easy have beautiful things and at a reasonable price too!

    Haha, that was a bit funny! Eyelashes! I sweat and my heart pounds when I put some clothes on my dolls - do not want any marks or fingers off. Yikes, that would be a nightmare!

    I agree with you on the layaway - I prefer to pay upfront too, even if I have been temped to give layaway a go at some points.

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    1. I agree with you regarding blushing: it is gorgeous, but so difficult to maintain. I have a bench and another things for my 16cm tinies made with popsicle sticks! :D

      And regarding layaways, this hobby is the best example for "never say never", so one never knows xD

      Glad you liked this!

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