Trying for Halloween

Hello again!  If you're just joining us, WELCOME~!  Come!  Read!  Sit down for a spell~!

It's that time of year again!  Halloween!!  Samhain!!  All Hallows Eve!!

Last year's dress, modeled by Chiyo.

Last year, as previous readers may remember, I attempted to have a Halloween dress (or was it dresses?) up for sale in my shop.

If you followed along, it fell through, however, sewing by hand bringing me to a resounding halt as things got busier.  So, this year, I've hoped to try again.

If anyone is interested in last year's dress, however, I am debating on putting it up for sale.  If you agree with this, let me know because up it will go!  It will come as is with little black socks.  It fits perfectly on VOLKS Yo-SD-sized dolls and similar, but it's a bit big on my Fairyland LittleFee.

As I said previously, I do plan on making things OOAK in my shop, so if you would like this one or this year's dress, be sure to jump right on that, as there will only be ONE of each posted!!

This year's dress, in the works earlier this month.

This time round, we have pumpkins!

Adorable, petite pumpkins with a silvery-black ribbon lining the bottom.

Now, this is just a sneak peek, there is more to be seen of this dress as the next few days go by, so please, if you are interested in seeing it's progress or seeing it listed, keep an eye out on the Facebook page or the shop!

It will have sleeves and other embellishments, as well as snap closures in the back.  I'm still debating on putting a collar on it, though, it being an autumn-timed outfit and all.

Well, we have time for one last sneak peek of things coming to the shop in the near future.

16mm green acrylic eyes.

Acrylic eyes, anyone?

As of right now, I have access to 16mm eyes, so that's what will debut at the shop as soon as I finish the testing phase.

I am still debating on the Custom Order or if I will just do certain colors and keep it at that, but they do seem like I can make them digitally quick enough to work on a few at a time.

As you can see, the pupils in both eyes came out a tad big, and the left one ended up off-center, but this is the test pair, so please bear with me.

Hopefully, within the next few days, I will have the 16mm down pat, and find where I can procure some other sizes to add to the shop.

In the meantime, keep your eye out for more updates!

As always, thank you for joining me!

Have a wonderful evening!

♥ The BJDA

Fallen Coming Together

After a long, unhappy, busy week, I finally got to meet Fallen, my DIM Doll Happy Flowne (head).

Her head arrived on Thursday, much to my happiness, safe and sound. I was so afraid that the post man wouldn't leave the box even though she didn't need to be signed for, but he did! Justin's mom hid her on the counter in the kitchen, so I walked in thinking she hadn't arrived. >.>

Her wig arrived yesterday too! A surprise wig from the LeekeWorld wig event. All I did was select her size, select short/med length, and ask for a light blue (Whisper Blue, but they said those were out of stock). I opened the envelope to find a Cadet Blue wedge-cut wig that fits snuggly on her head. :) She looks so adorable! The wig was a pain to get on, but it fits her personality perfectly. :D It hangs just around her ears too! Lol. Those long things. >w< I'm so afraid something is going to happen to them before her body arrives. x_x (Which only has two little payments left! :D)

So, I now have my first floating head. (Who's model is appropriately named "Flowne", lol.) As soon as I get sealant, cleaner, and pastels, she will have the loveliest natural face-up ever. >w< I'm so excited! (And Rolly and Shii-Tsuu will get redone as well... Maybe I should buy TWO cans of sealant... >.>) I even got a nice pair of red 14mm eyes for her for a whole $6!! $6!! (This is cheap for eyes.) I believe they are GLiB, which is fine by me, because I absolutely LOVE GLiB eyes. :3

She's definitely going to look a lot like Suzu-chan afterall. >w< Do you remember Suzu-chan? That elf-girl I posted a picture of SOOOOO long ago? Ahh, well, I guess I shall repost her, so you can all see again! :3 Lol. She happens to be from a Hentai Game... Unfortunately... But that's okay. I just like her for her cuteness. :3 She's just a little sweetheart! ♥ -^_^-

Well, that's it for now... I'm going to swim in my homework once more as my munchkin naps. :) My cute little boy. He's so smart! Last night, he told me he was ready to "S'eep!" and marched off to his room. Once we got there, he grabbed his turtle and a diaper, handed me the diaper, and waited to be changed. He then informed me, all dry, that he wanted to "wear trucks" and pointed to his sleep'n'play jammies. When I asked him about them, he laughed like mad and waited patiently for me to stick his feet in and then put his arms out for the sleeves. I then got cuddles and squeezes, he let me set him in his bed, and then said, "Nigh-nite Mama. Nigh-nite daddy," looking passed me for Justin. Justin came in, the two hugged, and Kole laid down and passed out immediately. Lol. XD My wonderful baby boy. Can you believe he's only a year and a half! His pediatrician asked me (jokingly) if he was 2 1/2 on Monday (his 18 month check up)! Even she is amazed by how quickly he's progressing! XD

Okay, enough bragging. I'm going, I swear! >w< Lol.

Thanks for joining me once again as I try my best to do everything I need to do every day! :)

Hope to see you again soon!
-The BJD Addict

Smoother Sailing

So, now that my first two weeks of school have ended and the hectic beginning rush is over, I'm now settling into a good rhythm. Those stockings from my first sale have been shipped, and my store now has three listings. LOL. A whole three! XD Hopefully, there will be four soon enough. XD

I currently have As in all my classes and I'm getting those needed things (Kole's haircut, temps AGAIN, doctors appointments, Chinese Corner, etc.) out of the way in these passing weeks. It seems to fly by, but at least I'm getting homework and such done as fast as I possibly can. I have limited time with Kole not really napping, always leaving, and needing to take care of things, but I'm glad to be getting it all done. Lol. Yesterday, I had the dishwater running, the tubby running, and dinner cooking all at one time while Kole ran around the house "helping" me. @_@ Needless to say, something had to go wrong, and the dish holder over-filled, but at least the bathtub didn't! XD

The stockings looked perfect! if I do say so myself, I think I'm getting better with each pair; all my stitches were perfectly tiny and the exact same size. Lol. It occurred to me, after reading most measurements, that they would fit SD dolls as well, so that third listing I was talking about happened to be the stockings listed for SDs as well. :) They go over Shii-Tsuu's knees, so they would most likely be crew socks or large school socks on most other dolls, but that's alright, especially for people looking for that "school sock" look. The anime-school sock kind, anyways. Lol.

I'm currently working on invitations for my Mima's Halloween party. She wanted to have a party with mine and my sister's friends, so I'm in charge of getting everything together and making it perfect, as always. Lol. (I'm always in charge of parties with friends. >.>) The invites have Halloween-like font and a cute little anime witch on them. :) I'm actually rather pleased with how they are turning out. I'm really excited for this party. >w< Everyone is supposed to bring a dish and wear a costume, and I am going to go as Saber in her casual clothes from Fate/Stay Night. This way, I'll have one cosplay down for Colossalcon 2013. I'm not sure yet as to what Kole will be, he told me a duckie, but he may want to be a sock monkey too. Lol. So we'll see... That, and Justin isn't sure what he will go as either... Hopefully I can convince him to go as one of his con cosplays too, so we have 2 of 8 down. >w<

I also got an email today from DDE saying Fallen's head shipped! :) So I will be meeting her soon! :D It's actually a good thing today, since the rest of the day was just plain awful. :\ I wont go into detail, but let's hope tomorrow is better. :\ Anywho, I need to order her wig, eyes, and the supplies from VOLKS... as well as buy pastels from Pat Catan's so I can do her face up (an redo Rolly's and Shii-Tsuu's again... >.>), but still, I'm glad she's coming soon. :D I was really beginning to miss her. >w< Lol.

Well, that's all for now. :) Here's hoping for a good night!

Thanks for reading~!

Until next time,
The BJD Addict

Dolly Researching

It's been a while since I did a branch off to help those new to the BJD-hobby with their learning/research... So this entry will be dedicated to that. If you'd rather skip it, feel free, but otherwise, thanks for reading and please read on....

Lately I've been reorganizing my wishlist/doll list from Pinterest... Writing everything down and separating everyone into their size categories. (I'm OCD, so I know this isn't for everyone, but it helps me stay organized...) After I separated them though, I wrote down the 3 most important pieces of information: the height, the wig size, and the eye-size. Now, height and eye-size on a doll-page are obvious, the site lists them both in the measurements area, BUT the wig size might be a little difficult to figure out if you don't know what size wig fits what circumference of head. So here's a helpful tidbit:

Wig line shown here.

Size 3.5 fits heads 8.5-9.5cm round.

Size 4 fits heads 9.5-10.5cm round.

Size 4.5 fits heads 10.5-12cm round.

Size 5 fits heads 12-13cm round.

Size 5.5 fits heads 13-14.5cm round.

Size 6 fits heads 15-16.5cm round.

Size 7 fits heads 16.5-19cm round.

Size 8 fits heads 19-22cm round.

Size 9 fits heads 22-24cm round.

Size 10 fits heads 24.5-28cm round.

Wigs usually only fit those in their size-range, so you have to be careful to make sure you're purchasing the correct size. Sizes that are listed 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, and 9/10 fit from the first range of the first number to the last of the second number, so just make sure your doll falls in those categories before purchasing. Also, not all wigs in the size range given will fit your doll. It's possible to purchase a wig in the doll's size and have it be too tight or too loose. If it's too tight, you can pin it or just purchase a new one, but if it's too big, you can attach velcro to the head to make the wig stay better. Most heads have wig lines in which you can line the wig up to, to make sure the wig is on properly.

Eyes, on the other hand, will fit one size smaller and one size larger than what your doll is meant to have. This means, if they fit 14mm, they will also fit 12mm and 16mm eyes. The pupil size changes with each size though, so it depends on personal preference as to which size you actually put in your doll. If you want them to have big doe eyes, put in a larger size; if you want tiny piercing eyes, put in a smaller size. If you have no preference, try them with their actual size and go from there, maybe your mind will change once you actually see the eyes in your doll.

Picture from BarometzBlue on Flickr

Eyes come in all ranges of sizes, shapes, and colors. The most used sizes tend to be 14mm and 16mm, but some larger dolls take 18mm+ and smaller dolls take 12mm or less.  Eyes can be full round - with/without positioning stems, half-round - with/without stems, double-sided (two eyes on one eyepiece), oval, or petal-shaped (oval with points on two sides). They can be made out of glass, acrylics, silicone, or urethane. Popular eyes are GLiB acrylics and many types of glass eyes. I've heard people say that urethane photographs better, but they are also the most expensive. I, myself, use GLiB acrylics simply because they are inexpensive and look nice once placed in a doll. My only doll with glass eyes is Talia, and that's because I have yet to purchase blue acrylics for her. Lol.  If you're looking for sites that sell wonderful eyes, try Safrin Doll or Ersa Flora. Both sites have amazing eyes and Ersa Flora does commissions. She was the wonderful artist of Shii-Tsuu's Geass Eyes. :) And when I have Lelouch (Island Doll Wallace), I plan on purchasing his eyes from her as well.

Well, that's all I have for now. I hope this helped some of you still learning or new to the hobby. :) If you think I missed anything, feel free to comment and ask, I'm sure I can help you with your questions.

Thanks for reading~! See you again soon!

-The BJD Addict