Story: Journeys end

I’m (really slowly) working on a new outfit for Iria. I never even had a proper shoot in her original one, but oh well. I’ve had the design and some of the patterns done for months already and I even made one piece of it some time ago, but I have a hard time deciding which fabrics to use for the rest of it. That and I keep getting distracted: like yesterday, I was going to start cutting the fabrics. I took them all out and everything. And then I found nice leggins fabrics from by pile and instead, cut like 15 pairs of leggins (SD16/DDdy, SD & MSD size). Lol. =__=;; The sales coats are still in the works too. Oh, and last night I dug out an old silk dress I made 4 years ago, pretty much cut off the back and started making a new back hem to make it nicer and useable for Prisca.
And let’s not even speak of the SG corset I started last year, the shirts I cut for Null at the same time and another SD silk dress I cut a year ago. I have too much unfinished stuff. Though, right now I really wanna do something nice for my own dolls. ♥

Anyway, finally managed to finish this story.

The summer was coming to an end. The trees were dropping their leaves in the wind and amidst them, a lonely figure limped in the forest.

At times the woman had thought she felt something in the woods but calling out to it had brought her no answers. Must’ve been an animal.

Continue reading “Story: Journeys end”

White before winter

I took a long, uphill trip to this place I found a few years ago while geocaching. I’ve been wanting to take photos there ever since I first saw the place, but it’s so far that I haven’t gotten around to, yet. Well, actually the spot is only 900m from my house but since I can’t fly, I have to go by the roads and that extends the distance to about 2.2km -most of which I cycled today. And I have to say that really took everything I had. I felt horrible once I was locking up my bike and almost turned right back to go home. My head wasn’t really working so I took the wrong path, which dissappeared about half-way there and I had to treck some 200-300m in the forest without a path with only a GPS to guide me. I would’ve turned back to look for the right path if I wasn’t so damn tired. Luckily I made it there eventually but it was not fun.

On a more random note, there’s a doll meet in my city this weekend. It’s in the evening, though and I generally don’t like leaving the house much after Noon (but I might go photographing with Mizya before it), so I still haven’t decided if I’m gonna go. It also gets dark really early this time of the year and doll meets in the dark are a bit… ehh. I also have absolutely no idea who to take with me. I could comfortably fit a big and a small doll with me, and the big doll will be one of my DDs (but who?) because my camera is heavy, so I don’t need a heavy doll as well.. but no idea which small one to take. Besides Lilya, nobody really has anything new and it has to be one I want to photograph before the meet itself too. Oh, the dilemma.

But the photos from today:

Continue reading “White before winter”

Azone: The candy mystery

Okaaay, I promise I’ll post that Iria story soon. I’ve managed to write it down but I still need to proof read it and I’ve been so scatterbrained lately that it’s hard for me to sit down and concentrate on one thing. x_x
I also have a lot of sewing to do but I’m having a hard time finishing those too (instead, I make more patterns and cut MORE fabrics to sew and now I have a HUGE pile of unsewn stuff).

The other day, I took Rise and Aoto out for a few photos because I wanted to do something relaxing for a change.

The mystery begins with Rise babysitting Aoto while his parents are away. They’re taking a walk outside and notice a pile of candy on the ground.


“So, what’s that?”
Σ(●ꉺ▱ꉺ●)

Continue reading “Azone: The candy mystery”

Almost like a new arrival (Warning: NSFW!)

This post relates to my original Zenith comparison again. And this entry is going to be looong.

Remember how I said I’d love to have the new body’s legs and the rest from the old body? Well, with Iria that’s not an option because she needs the new arms for the armour parts, but changing the torso would also be a HUGE step-up because the new body torso joint is just insufferable. I get so frustrated with its lack of posing and snapping back that I’ve been ready to throw the doll at a wall several times. 。゜(`Д´)゜。

So, I went and asked Souldoll if they would sell me the old body torso alone. To which they replied that it’s impossible. They have issues with casting the old bodies (which is why any orders with the old female body are delayed by a lot apparently). I replied and posted them photos of my body comparisons and said that I was very displeased with the new body and that it’s not worth what I paid for it. I also pointed out that they’re still selling the old body, so why can’t they make the torso for me. But they replied that they’ll be discontinuing it shortly. Clearly, they’re not willing to fix the master molds despite a lot of people liking the look of the old body. (。ŏ﹏ŏ)
They said they’d offer to sell me parts from the new body, but what the hell would I do with those? The new body is the problem in it’s entirety. And also that they’ll be looking into fixing the problems with the new body… sometime. Mainly the resin dust and gapping issues, probably not the shape of the joint, I don’t know. But for now there was no solution for me, so I gave up.

Then, later that same day I got an email from Souldoll that said they found an old body from their warehouse that had resin dust issues in the arms, but the torso was okay, so they could sell that to me. (ノ^ヮ^)ノ*:・゚✧ I nearly jumped out of my seat. But the message didn’t mention a resin colour, so I was a little wary and asked them if it was white skin. But nope, I got an instant reply saying that they’re sorry, they got confused and that the body they had was normal skin. (╯°Д°)╯︵ ┻━┻

At that point I was even more disappointed. When I messaged them, I was thinking that the worst they could do was say no. After their email I got my hopes up and then got shot down even lower than I was before. I wanted to forget the whole thing at that point. =____=;;

But then, the next morning I had another email from Souldoll waiting in my inbox, saying that they found one more body from their warehouse and that was white skin. (ノ。≧◇≦)ノ Whoop~! I was instantly like yes, yes I’ll buy it, yes! Let me buy it (even if it’s yellowed, I’ll take it )! I was afraid of mentioning this purchase anywhere because I was still kind of sceptical that I’d get it. They could send me the ns one, or a new torso… or it could get lost in the mail and I’d never get it ever… endless possibilities for a pessimist. :P

But now it’s here!
ヽ(´∇´)ノ (∇´ノ) ヽ(   )ノ (ヽ´∇) ヽ(´∇`)ノ
Even more miraculous that it managed to slip past customs. Nowadays they grab even damn tiniest letters, so how they let this one slide by, I have no idea. But saved me some 30€ there.

tl:dr Bought a new (old body) torso for Iria from Souldoll

Had to make a box opening because this almost feels like getting a new doll (mostly because Iria has just been sitting on my doll shelf since her arrival as I hate the body):

Continue reading “Almost like a new arrival (Warning: NSFW!)”

Cardigans & lingerie

I’ve been sewing a lot lately and I still have more to sew. But I’m taking a break for a little while before getting back to some stuff I have lying around half-finished.

Today, I photographed what I finished yesterday: Cardigans for Etsy.

I’ve also made each of my DD girls a lingerie set with bra patterns from Dollybird magazine. A few of the patterns need some alterations to work better (mainly the L size), but they’re a good base to work on. Also, I’d be way too lazy to make each bust size their own pattern, so… yeah. I’m getting Yuyu an S bust so her bra is a little small on her and Saya’s bra is also a bit small though I followed the pattern. Saya’s panties are also old ones from a few months ago, but I made the new bra to match them (they’re just not very flattering anyhow).

Sooo, the girls ended up posing in their lingerie + cardigans. :P
Oh right, and Saya also got a new L bust (had the shapely previously). However, I think I want to switch it to the flat one they’re releasing soon, so I won’t mod this one ike I did her other one (=nipples gone).

Continue reading “Cardigans & lingerie”

Run through the Night Sky

More Kiyori because I’m really excited about her. (But I’ll try to do a bjd story next.) I took some photos of her the day before with a backdrop but then I visited Mizya yesterday and now the previous photos just look plain and dull. Mizya let me borrow her blue Lizanna stardust eyes (that I photoshopped to look more like aquamarine) and she just came alive. The Volks eyes are just so blank there’s no comparison whatsoever. She also has this gorgeous fabric I’d also kill for. I’d wear it out using it as a backdrop and then I’d make a dress out of it for Kiyo. I’d also like a sunset coloured one and I’d make a dress out of it for Seere. =u= But no can do.

I was also planning on passing up on Volks’ September releases but when I woke up in the morning there was still one chocolate carry case left and I just could not resist. I bought another bust and hands for Saya along with it. But I wasn’t able to get Kiyo or Yuyu any extra hands (the lack of them is driving me nuts) because NONE of the ns normal size hands are in stock. While I could’ve gotten everything for Saya who uses large sw hands. ;____; I also couldn’t get a new bust for Yuyu because I want to change hers to a prettier one. That was also out of stock. >_>* I reeeaally hope they restock the ns stuff by the time I’m ordering next time because Kiyo especially needs more hands. Yuyu can make do with the mismatch pair she has and the normal ones, but for Kiyo it’s not enough. :/

Anyway, I photographed Kiyori at mizya’s place yesterday, and boy, am I loving these photos. The first two are from the day before, though, so you can see the difference. I used the dull staircase bg I have and had Snake visit, because I haven’t been able to sell it. (Soon he’ll become Kiyo’s pet.)

And now to the night sky shoot: Continue reading “Run through the Night Sky”

Kirika arrives

Yaaayy, my Volks Kirika arrived today. I’ve named her Kiyori (at least for now) written with 清凛 so that it can basically be read as “pure cold” it just suits the default outfit and I definitely want to take photos of her in it during winter. =u=

I didn’t take a box opening because my house is seriously dark in the morning and I just couldn’t wait until later. :’D She’s my very first fullset doll ever. I’ve never gotten a doll that came with an outfit, actually, so it was an interesting box opening. For once the first thing I did wasn’t to start sewing. I did, however fight her eyes out (literally) and wipe her face up. I also chucked the wig as soon as I’d taken a few photos of it because it’s easily the crappiest wig I’ve ever had. Even the crappy Leeke ones I’ve had don’t compare, it’s just that bad. Luckily, I don’t like the butter-yellow-blond colour, so I wasn’t gonna use it anyway.

The obligatory fullset photo + the pretty box:

Continue reading “Kirika arrives”

Senior Withdoll Girl (SWD) Shoe review

I finally received the renewed legs and feet from Withdoll today, so I dug up my SD shoes and did some quick tests.

I didn’t review the shoes in the original SWD post because the feet were so tiny they didn’t fit any shoes I had. I suggested that Withdoll make them bigger by certain measurements and they did. Now the feet are okay to balance on and they fit into lots of shoes.


(Tata’s paradise SD16 shoes)

Continue reading “Senior Withdoll Girl (SWD) Shoe review”

Zenith comparison continues with clothes on

So, remember this comparison I did?

Well, I keep hearing about how the chest joint is “more aesthetically pleasing” in little clothing, such as lingerie. Something which has always puzzled me personally. Maybe I just don’t find regular joints ugly, because I find that even though the torso does get cut with waist joints, the doll is still pretty in lingerie and swimwear. These dolls are supposed to have joints, it’s normal, so not everything has to be hidden. Personally, the dolls with legs strung together so that there’s no visible gap for the string at the top of the thighs kind of freak me out because they look so weird. I also have dolls that do not go around in their undies, so “ugly” joints wouldn’t bother me under the clothes. What DOES bother me is when the whole silhouette gets distorted by weirdly placed joints. I do not like broken-looking dolls. And my dolls will get distorted because I use the joints the dolls have.

So, I took a few photos of the Zenith bodies in ‘revealing’ clothes to compare the look of a chest joint with a lower one. Unfortunately I don’t have a lingerie set for this size, but a corset-like top and a cropped top should do the trick all the same. Also, the old Zenith body doesn’t have a waist joint either, but it’s lower than a chest joint and the same size so I can use the exact same clothes for it for a more accurate comparison. With a waist joint, it would obviously be visible with a cropped top, but I’ve never seen a hard-edged waist joint and it never creates the same kind of a bump in a weird place – it’s just basic human anatomy.

Continue reading “Zenith comparison continues with clothes on”

Synergy

(I’ll reply comments tomorrow, I’m too tired today. x_x)

Oh yay, today, I was able to try out a shoot I’ve been thinking about for a while now. The weather just hasn’t been really cooperating: whenever I start thinking about building a set on my bed, the sun goes away. And when I consider doing it on our balcony, it’s too sunny. Well, today I built it on the balcony after the sun had turned away, so HA! Beat it. The downside was that the sun was also going down so there wasn’t as much light as I would’ve liked. I had a really interesting reflector set up and then I brought in my fan and… it was interesting. :P

Anyway, Prisca and Delmia got matching dresses (finally, I’ve been thinking of making another one of this style for years) and I wanted to try some dynamic poses with them. Slightly repetitive with the poses but I wasn’t trying to get a full shoot out of this. I was, however, supposed to take some close ups but I forgot. Oh well, I really like the last two ones ♥


The test poses I started out with. I promise the rest are nicer.

Continue reading “Synergy”

Copyright, commissions and the like

Something came to my attention today that I thought I should talk a little bit about. Sorry in advance for the slightly negative and serious entry this time. This is kind of a hard entry to write, but I’ll try my best to do it properly.
___

This morning, I was browsing the internet and ended up at the FB page of someone who takes custom orders for doll clothing and spotted something very familiar. Even from the tumbnail it was clear to me whose design it was because, well, I have made several of such outfits myself. I wondered why it was there and opened it up for a closer look, which actually made me more upset.

My outfit design had been used to create an outfit for another doll. It’s sligthly altered but it’s still clearly the same style, shape and colour (kind of combined from three of my outfits). This is one of the designs that is quite personal to me, because it was specifically made for mine and mizya‘s characters. I designed it with inspiration from Noblesse (manhwa) but worked very hard to make it uniform-like and yet not base it on existing outfits that I know of.

I contacted the seamstress, and the matter is resolved on that part. She’s apologized and the images have been removed from her portfolio online. She should’ve never accepted the commission but mistakes happen. It’s done, it’s happened, it can’t be changed anymore. Please, no blame on anyone anymore.

I’m sure this not super uncommon so I’d like to say this, and this is speaking generally to everyone, not to one person:
To avoid upsets like these, the original creator should always be contacted first. If it’s not clear who it is, the design shouldn’t be used. If the original creator refuses to relinquish the design, they should be respected and not sent to some other seamstress to make. That seamstress also should not make it, if it seems from the reference images that it’s someone else’s design (or at the very least contact the original creator and ask if it’s okay to duplicate it).

This is important.

It does not feel good to see something you’ve designed, made by someone else and profited upon. In this case, if I had been contacted first about the design, while I don’t make these particular uniforms for others, I would’ve offered to design and create a similarly themed outfit that would be different enough to be called a design of it’s own. I’ve done it once before.

I’ve included some photos here, just to clarify that this isn’t a case of something ‘generally like it’ or ‘kind of similar’. I’m not overeacting. Continue reading “Copyright, commissions and the like”

After the party

Just a random idea I had. Nothing special, but at least it gave me a few hours of some productivity. It took me a while to build the set, although it was kind of crappy, but it was mostly wasted anyway because it’s not visible in the photos.

You can imagine the lines yourself, haha. :’D

Continue reading “After the party”

Fae of flowers

Some Maylis photos.

The cherry ones are from a while ago, but the rest are from just a few days ago. I made her a really quick new dress for those because the brown one was quite depressing. Not that this is much better but I _really_ don’t like sewing in such a tiny size. I don’t know what it is, lol, because I really like making stuff in sd and msd size and even yosd is fine, but anything smaller or bigger is just blehh. I just made myself two pairs of pants and it was such a chore too. x_x

Continue reading “Fae of flowers”

Etsy update

Been neglecting my blog for a while. Sorry for not replying to comments either. I’ve been painting and sewing and there’s still tons and tons to do.

Currently I’m trying to work on matching dresses for Delmia and Prisca, a chiffon dress for sale and a new outfit for Iria. After that I should make a few SD shirt patterns, sew some msd shorts and unisex hoodies for sale. As well as a few “Dany dresses” for sale but I’m still missing some fabrics. :/

Yesterday, I updated my Etsy shop with some casual collection items (skirts and simple shirts). Some modeling photos:


Avis is cuuute in this get up. :D

Continue reading “Etsy update”

Sunset

I’ve had a mini-hiatus from dolls. I actually sold the Big Dipper I received a while ago, because I just couldn’t get around to painting it and I felt bad about buying it in the first place. It wasn’t a planned purchase, and since I bought Ivy at the same time, it ended up as a pretty costly order, while I wasn’t very well off financially. I’d still need to get more stuff sold to feel better, too. I need to sew a lot. For sale and for my own dolls. =__=;;

A few days ago, I found an old music love again. A band I loved as a kid and when I was growing up, but that I hadn’t really listened to in a few years. I just put all the albums I have on my playlist and have been listening them about non-stop today and a few days ago too (Mizya visited here inbetween). It’s really nostalgic and lifting my spirits. Also the fact that I have some peace and quiet for like a week really invigorates me and hopefully gives me new energy to work.

Anyway, like I mentioned, Mizya visited. We had plans for a good amount of photos, but the postal service kind of ruined that by not getting a package to the PO fast enough. Mizy picked that up first and then came here and it was evening already then. Grr. But we went out later anyway and visited this old quarry again. However, we were a little late and the sun set behind the treeline before we were completely done. There were lots more photos I still wanted to take but alas, we ran out of time.

Before the quarry we visited the lake, and although be basically had the beach to ourselves (it’s been quite cool so no swimmers) we didn’t feel like taking photos because sun was so low and it was gloomy. Instead we wathed a crow family play around. :’D

This is all the photos I managed (I kind of wished that I’d taken Saya, but maybe I’ll go there again once she has better eyes?):


Continue reading “Sunset”