Aesthetics Doll Body Art Journal

Intro

Welcome! In this journal you can follow my many firsts, then seconds and more, as I learn how to string, blush, tattoo and create faceups for my ever expanding resin angels. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

Taking them Apart

Right, so after much advice gathering I finally took the plunge. I've unstrung both of my Dream of Doll DOT boys. They're the New Body 2.

Here I plan to record the process, so that I can make notes on what did and didn't work.

Note! Please let me know if you can't see any of the Flickr photos. These are the first ones I've had to mark as a "Moderate" or "Restricted" rating, and I've cheated by copying the image code while they were still under a "Safe" rating. I don't know if this makes a difference in being able to view the images.

Step 1: Unstringing

This was so scary for me! I have 3 SDs, all Dream of Doll DOTs, 1 girl and 2 boys, and I haven't attempted to restring them let alone take them to bits! I was so nervous. But I watched a couple of great You Tube videos (by Metacynth) which reassured me and I did it.

Preparation

I got the following
- Clean Towel (one that doesn't shed)
- Takeout bamboo chopsticks
- Ribbon

1. I put them both out on the towel, facing different directions, so I wouldn't get the pieces mixed up.
2. Removed the head using the ribbon to pull and turn the S hook.
3. Removed the hands. (Had to use my boyfriend to pull the hands out so I could still the chopstick in the elastic loop. Those suckers were on tight.) Took off the hand hooks.
4. CAREFULLY slid the chopstick out from the hand socket and the elastic popped into the arm.
Learning - I did this too quickly the first time and actually chipped a piece off the end of his wrist! Panicked for a bit, then told myself it was okay cause I can sand it down. The wrist sockets are quite thin resin compared to some of their other limbs.
5. Rinse and repeat for other arms.

Unstringing Dream of Doll DOT New Body 2 on Flickr

 

The rest of the body...
6. Basically did the same for the legs. Removed the feet and hooks first, using a chopstick to hold elastic. Then carefully removed the chopstick and slid all the leg parts off. Leaving the two part torso left.

Unstringing Dream of Doll DOT New Body 2 on Flickr

Unstringing Dream of Doll DOT New Body 2 on Flickr

Dream of Doll DOT New Body 2 company mark on Flickr

7. Then I took photos of where the elastic was placed in the torso before taking that out too.

Both boys seem OK in terms of tightness to me, their elastic popped back into their bodies and they pose alright. If anything, one of them might be too tight, as his arms don't like to stay bent.

 

Cleaning and Sanding
Really trying to get back to my boys. I took my girl Seraph out for a road trip because I missed my Resins. Boys are still in pieces on my study floor on a towel.

I'm now in the process of cleaning and sanding them.

I'm wet sanding with a mask in my study with the door shut so my cat doesn't get in.

Things I've learned so far:

• Five grades of sandpaper is a lot, but you get a better result smoothing gradually. I'm using from roughest to smoothest P280, P320, P400, P600, P1200.
• If you think you've sanded enough, keep going. You haven't.
• Wet sanding is great for stopping resin dust, but it is really hard to tell when you're done! Wet resin appears a lot smoother than dry resin and you can't see the seams as well.
• Natural light is best. I thought I'd done a good job on a couple of limbs and then I looked at them in daylight... Still had seam lines and a very rough finish.
• Getting a nice smooth fine finish is hard... I still have fine scratches, but I think that's because I'm not spending enough time with the finer grades of sand paper, and the wet sanding doesn't help me tell.
• Wash the finished limbs in clean water that you change often. Again, in the daylight I could tell that I had smudges of resin dust dried on my doll parts from not changing my water frequently enough.

That's all for tonight, hopefully I'll be able to finish them ready for spray coating in the next couple of weeks.

 

Finally finished sanding to the quality that I wanted. I'm too much of a perfectionist... I probably didn't need to be.

Sealing

Figured out how to spray with the easiest setup and best way to get the coverage that I wanted.

• I used large acrylic beads and tied them to string, to stop the parts from moving.
• Hung the parts on a coat hanger, so that I could easily move the pieces.
• Hung the coat hangers up in our garage to spray, made sure the doors were closed for nice still air. (Then my partner opened the garage and drove the car in... ><# )
• Used Tamiya Flat Clear for sealer. 100ml can x2 gave me 3 (or was it 4) coats for x2 upper bodies. It's what's easily available in New Zealand.

Spraying sealant on Flickr

Now I'm actually doing some blushing!!!

Things I've Learned:
- Resin SD torsos are really heavy! (Already knew, but much more obvious on a coat hanger.)
- Get more sealer spray than you need. Running out part way is not a good thing.
- Clear out a dedicated work space that you know you can leave things as they are, covering them to protect them from sun exposure. You don't want to have to keep packing things up.
- Set aside some dedicated time. It's really not something I can pick up and put down for a little bit.

 

Blushing, Body Art and Faceups

Ok so making good headway over my Christmas break. But as of today I have one more day and then it's back to work. *Sigh*

Work done since last post...
Redid black nail poilsh of already blushed hands for boy 1 (Irial)
Blush-201601-04

Redid hand blushing for boy 2 (Cassiel)

Tattoos Jan 2016 by Bethani Rose, on Flickr

Finally blushed my realpuki's feet and did his sleeping faceup. (Since I was doing the other blushing I figured I could get this done too.)

Blush-201512-Pippin-03 by Bethani Rose, on Flickr

Blush-201512-Pippin-01

Base blushing for both boy's torsos and arms. At this stage, just the colouring. Photo is of Irial's blushing. I've done two different colour schemes for my boys. Irial has more pink with blue/purple showing through the skin a lot. Cassiel is peach with a golden/yellow glow.


Blush-201601-00 by Bethani Rose, on Flickr

Pencil illustration for Irial's tattoos.

Blush-201601-01 by Bethani Rose, on Flickr


Blush-201601-02 by Bethani Rose, on Flickr


Blush-201601-03

Still to do...
Colour for Irial's tattoos.
Irial's scars, moles and hair etc.
Cassiel's shadowhunter marks and scars.
Sueding of their joints and restringing.

Things I've learned:

• KEEP BODY PARTS SEPARATE!! OMG this was so my fault, but so annoying. I did Irial's arm tattoos on Cassiel's arms. Then realised what I'd done. Proceeded to cry a bit, then redid them on Irial's arm pieces and cleaned Cassiel's arms. I blame grabbing his arm pieces at night when the difference in skin colouring was not at all obvious.
• I can actually do freehand tiny tattoos with a mechanical pencil! So awesome! I'm super proud of myself. XD
• DO NOT I repeat DO NOT panic and try to flick hair/fluff off a body mid spraying sealant... I managed to scrape all the colour off with my fingernail. I'm not sure how but I managed to fix it by smudging with my finger while the sealand was still wet.

 

Thanks all for your comments thus far.

Quick progress update:

• The tattoos are now coloured and finished. Photos to come.
• I have hot glued the joints for better posing. Will detail how that worked out.
• I'm almost ready for my first restringing attempt ever.
• DISASTER STRUCK one of my upper arm pieces went all bubbly and funny at the bottom and I panicked, thinking maybe exposure to the hot glue gun had damaged the resin. PANIC AVERTED though when on closer examination it seems that it's just the sealant that has gone funny. Scraped it off with an Exacto knife, then removed sealant on the lower arm with my acetone free nail polish remover. This does mean that I have to either partially or fully redo that arm's blushing and tattoo though. I'm going to attempt a fix up first before I go scrap it and start over.

*sigh*

 

Photos of Irial's tattoos coloured.


Tattoos Jan 2016

Tattoos Jan 2016

Tattoos Jan 2016

 

Thanks @SteamWitch, boy this has been a long process. 5 Months and counting...

Things I've Learned:

1. Colouring the tattoos with coloured pencil and watercolour pencil was fine for me. It is obviously pencil, you can see the lines. So I think next time blending in a bit using the watercolour pencils more might be a better "tattoo" result. I did try this, but I just seemed to take the watercolour pencil off, rather than blend it.
2. I can restring my bjds!! I only needed help once I'd done the whole torso and was trying to put the last hand back on the threaded arms. I got my partner to pull, while I stuck the bamboo chopsticks through the elastic loop to hold it in place.
3. Bamboo take out chopsticks are great!
4. You really don't need fancy tools for restringing. I did the whole thing with a strand of ribbon, and a hook I fashioned out of copper wire (for grabbing ribbon or elastic when it was being stubborn).
5. I can't hot glue sued with the finger smudging or paper method. I'm pretty sure my little gun is the hot kind, not the low heat kind. I kept burning my fingers and making a mess. So... I did what I've read not to do... I applied the glue and then smoothed it out by gently going over it with the side of the gun nozzle. The nozzle remelted the glue and I was able to get a nice clean thin application. *However* I'm pretty sure this caused my sealant bubbling issue. So don't do unless you have to.
6. Removing hot glue isn't as easy as just pealing it off. It is stubborn. I ended up having to dig under it with an exato knife, applying some acetone free nail polish remover to soften it first.

Now here are some photos of my fully assembled Cassiel. He's my cosplay of Jace from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instrument series.


Shadowhunter marks


Shadowhunter marks

Clary and Jace (Cassiel)

Summer love

Bonus: Kitty getting in the way


Kitty photobomb

Huh.. I just realised I didn't get a shot of his back. I'll have to remedy that.

 

Aw, thanks. I tried to think about placement of the runes according to power and permanence with ease of application. So stamina is also close to his heart. While deflect/block is on his left arm for reapplying and because he's left handed.

 

OK so, FINALLY I have photos of Irial all finished. Health and life interfered from getting these uploaded sooner.

Also photos of Cassiel's back runes too. Ready, set, go!


Cassiel Back Tattoos


Cassiel Back Tattoos


Cassiel Runes


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016

 

Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016


Irial - First Tattoo Shoot 2016

 

I'm really happy with how they came out, especially considering this was my first time taking them to bits, blushing and tattooing. They are beautiful boys and now they're even more amazing.

Thanks for looking.

 

Thanks @eyesofshinigami
I have wondered if this was a skill I could monetise. Since I'm no good at sewing and don't make props. I love illustration and painting so body blushing and tattoos were a good extension of those.

My main issue is due to health and time it takes me aaages to get things done. Plus cost calculations and shipping intimidate me. Lol One day I might take commissions. But probably only when I run out of my own dolly things to play with. ^_^ thank you for the compliment.

 

Right, it's about time I updated this. I decided after doing my boys that I wanted to do the same for my girl Seraph.

I also want to blush hands and feet of my Withdoll Adriana. And I had 2 mischeif makers incoming, who are now here, that I'd like to blush too.

Not sure if I wrote initially, but my dolls all have their character (which tends to be a meld of several characters, OC and book/comic etc) as well as an "Alice in Wonderland" personae. (It was a way of me limiting my doll list *cough* hasn't worked *cough*).

Eventually my goal is to do a big shoot with all complete characters in costume, but I have to get them first. My new additions bring me closer to the core Alice character set, for the full list, see my profile.

*Cast of Work In Progress*
- Clary (Alice) = Withdoll SD Adriana Real UV Skin
- Seraphine/Seraph (White Queen) = Dream of Doll Teen U-i Normal Skin
- Duchess = Floating cracked event head Withdoll Adriana White Skin
- Cheshire = Pipos Cheshire Pang in Grey Resin
- Dormouse = Pipos Cheese Mouse in Caramel Resin
- Delilah (Tweedledee) = JID Cecile in Peach Gold Resin
- Dominic (Tweedledum) = JID Edwin in Peach Gold Resin

*2016 To Do List*
- Blush Clary's extra hands and feet - DONE
- Blush Seraph's hands and feet - DONE
- Blush and tattoo Seraph's upper torso - DONE
- Blush and tattoo Seraph's arms - DONE
- Seraph's new faceup - DONE
- Duchess faceup for cracked event head (for practice, she doesn't have a body yet) - DONE

*2017 To Do List*
- Tail blush Cheshire - DONE
- Extra paws blush Cheshire - DONE
- Faceup Dormouse - DONE
- Hands, feet, body blush Dormouse - DONE
- Faceup Additions Cheshire - DONE
- Body blush Cheshire - DONE
- Blush Clary's other hands (not doing heel feet) - DONE
- Reblush the boy's feet (because they look awful compared to my new blushing) - DONE
- Faceup Cecile JID - DONE
- Faceup Edwin JID - DONE

I've been taking progress pictures as I've gone, but haven't uploaded them until now. Cont in next post.

- Edited 20 Oct 2017

 

Clary's hands and feet

Blushing 2016 on Flickr

Seraph's hands and feet

Blushing 2016

Things I learned:

1. I ended up with black marks/spots/smudges appearing on the Real UV resin after it was sealed... really not sure what happened there. It was very random. I was able to mostly scrub them off with magic eraser, without taking the sealant off. Wondering if it was some kind of reaction. Hadn't had any problems with my normal skin dolls... (Using Tamiya Matte)
2. Seraph, who is my first doll, has yellowed considerably, but unevenly. Main areas affected were her cheeks, nose, lips, hands, feet, neck and collarbone... I sanded her a bit to try get some consistency. OK for other parts except her face was still uneven. Had to do more severe sanding to get more even colour transition. However, once her face was blushed with a base of colour/shadows/cheek pink etc. you can't even tell! Which is great. Apparently blushing carefully can fix a lot.

 

Seraph's tattoos

Finished back artwork

Blushing 2016 on Flickr

In progress arms

Seraph arm tattoo progress on Flickr


Seraph arm tattoos collage progress on Flickr


Seraph arm tattoo progress


Seraph arm tattoos collage progress

Things I learned:

1. I don't need to draft the tattoo before doing it, as long as I have a good idea of what I want. However, photo references make for a much more polished illustration.
2. I love mechanical pencils. They're awesome.
3. Too much detailed fine controlled work makes for shaky hands. Make sure you take a break, go eat and drink something to get better control back.
4. I don't need to use watercolour pencils, just regular coloured pencils work just as well for me, I'm happy with the result they give.

 

Withdoll Cracked head in progress

Blushing 2016 on Flickr


Blushing 2016 on Flickr

Things I learned:
- Dammit this was hard! I finally changed the look I was going for. Initially I wanted to do an "aged" look, with purple/lavender eyeshadow and yellow/grey blushing. I can't get colour build up with anything except pinks. So if I want blue, green or other fantasy colours I'm going to have to learn how to use an airbrush I think... I decided to work with the cracks instead and had the idea of making them like reflective glass, with colours like when a rainbow comes from light through a crystal.

Edited 2017/01/15


Faceup-2016-Duchess-03 on Flickr


Faceup-2016-Duchess-02 on Flickr


Faceup-2016-Duchess-01 on Flickr

 

Coming soon (this time really, I promise, the photos are taken, I just need to edit and upload them)
- Photos of final cracked head faceup
- Photos of Dormouse bits in progress
- Photos of Cheshire bits in progress
- Final photos of Seraph all reassembled! Yay!

I managed to get some things done over our Christmas break. I'm so happy Seraph is back together. I missed her. I realised she's has/had her anniversary/birthday, the 17th of Jan I think. My first doll and she's been with me 5 years now.

Questions
I have had some irritations through these blushing/faceup endeavours I thought I'd put to anyone reading.

1. Has anyone else had black marks appear on resin after sealing? Particularly Withdoll Real UV
2. Is it possible to get dramatic eyeshadow colouring using just pastels? I've had issues. I wanted to do blue/purple and it really hasn't shown up well for me just using chalk pastels.
3. Techniques/equipment/tips for photographing White resin. When I assembled the cracked head, it was very hard to photograph well, blowing out the details. It looks much more lovely in person than in my photographs... Makes me hesitant to buy a body for the head if White resin is so difficult to photograph.

 

Right, so I decided after finishing Seraphine's second arm tattoo that it wasn't really her. So I wiped it and started again, coming up with something that felt much more appropriate afterwards. Sad, but worth it. My first attempt at a mandala design too. It was a lot of fun and very engrossing.

Old tattoo completed

Blush-201612-03


Blush-201612-04 on Flickr

New tattoo lineart

Blush-201612-05 on Flickr


Blush-201612-06

Finals on her all restrung

Seraph-201701-08 on Flickr


Seraph-201701-07


Seraph-201701-05 on Flickr


Seraph-201701-06 on Flickr


Seraph-201701-09

 

Seraphine's new faceup


Faceup-2017-Seraph-01 on Flickr


Faceup-2017-Seraph-04


Seraph-201701-01


Seraph-201701-04

- Edit 30th Jan

So after some time I've found things I like and dislike about Seraph's new faceup.

Dislike

• The soft grey, lilac and white pencil work that looks lovely on her in person (eyelashes and eyebrows) is just too light in photos. I need more contrast for my photography skills and camera. Especially when she's in a group with my other dolls.
• The light pink of the lips, again, while nice in person, lacks definition of the shape of her lips.
• Think I used too much glue on the interior of the eye well, or set the lashes too far back, as her eyes are being obstructed.

Like

• Lovely cheek blush. And lighter pink inside eye corner, rather than heavy and extending under eye/bridge of eyebrows.
• White paint highlighting corner of the eye and upper lid.
• White lashes.

 

The finished cracked head on my Adriana's Real Skin UV body, as I don't have a white skin body for it yet.


Duchess-201612-09 on Flickr


Duchess-201612-07


Duchess-201612-05 on Flickr


Duchess-201612-02

 

Cheese mouse in progress, with cheese piece that was the same colour resin, blushed yellow.


Blush-201701-03

I didn't end up getting pics of Cheshire's finished tail and clawed hands, but they're done. I'm going to focus on finishing my dormouse first before I go back to Cheshire to do his body work.

Having lots of fun and it really makes me feel more bonded with my crew when they have my artwork as part of them.

Group pic for fun.

Group-201701-03 on Flickr

 

Thanks @Teru and @BabySnow for the advice.

I need to check the brand of my pastels, they're art ones that come in a pack. I have had success with strong pink, yellow and somewhat teal. Using watermelon red/pink, ochre type yellow and bright teal respectively. Not great success with green, lilac or grey... practice will tell.

I need to think of some home basic photography helpers. The reflected light is something I've yet to try properly. I tend to do most doll photos at dusk, because it's the most flattering on my pale DOTs.

Feeling bummed at the moment. Had quite a few setbacks with sealant going funny in the last wee while. Pooling (I spray too much) and bubbling. *sigh* Have to start over which is really frustrating.

 

Thanks @distractedpenguin

So big update time.

Finally got over my sealant hurdles. Had been quite hot/humid/rainy here in NZ. So much for having a Summer! The weather has only just turned out in the last few weeks. It is heartbreaking when you really want to do a good job, but you have 3 layers of sealant that can stuff up before you even get to blushing, then the other layers once you've done stuff you want to "save" that if THEY stuff up, you need to start all over. *sigh* /endrant

I've also ordered and received my Tweedle twins from Iplehouse! In record time, I might add. Fastest order delivered ever! So I've updated the 2017 To Do list posted above.

Here are my completed photos for Cheese Mouse, Cheshire and extras from Pipos. Sorry for the lack of "progress" pics. It was basically all done in one go, except the mouse base layers.


Cheese Mouse Blushed on Flickr


Cheese Mouse Blushed on Flickr


Cheese Mouse Blushed on Flickr


Cheese Mouse 2017


Cheese Mouse 2017 on Flickr

Cheese Mouse 2017 on Flickr

The cheese piece came with him, I've decided to name him Basil. It was the same resin colour as the mouse, so has been blushed yellow.

Continued next post.

 

Cheshire came with a marvellous faceup from Pipos. I loved it, but wanted to add some more striping to make him more like the Disney Alice in Wonderland live action film version. Grey with cyan stripes. This was really tricky, because if I'd stuffed up, I'd have had to wipe the company faceup. I kinda did stuff up, but luckily it was just the sealant that had issues on the back of his head. So I carefully removed that, using his ears as a boundary line, and resealed and blushed.


Cheshire Blushed on Flickr


Cheshire Blushed on Flickr


Cheshire 2017 on Flickr


Cheshire 2017 on Flickr


Cheshire 2017 on Flickr


Cheshire 2017 on Flickr

The black kitty head was a gift from Pipos, it attaches with a magnet. I also got crowns for my Red and White Queens from Pipos. Originally both were flat gold.


Pipos Extras Blushed on Flickr

More photos are available on Flickr.

 

@Teru and @KiyoshiSenshi thank you

@skyealloway Glad it's good reading. I enjoy re-reading so hope other people do too. But it's also nice documenting as I have a bit of a goldfish brain so forget stuff easily.

 

My tweedle twins in progress update. Plus more hands and feet. (Feel like I'm getting better each time I do blushing). Although I'm finding my photography skills aren't doing the blushing justice. >_>;


Boy-feet-manicure on Flickr


Clary-hands-manicure on Flickr


JID-boy-manicure on Flickr


JID-girl-manicure on Flickr


Twins Faceup progress on Flickr

Peach gold is such a lovely resin colour. It's very apricot in person, but it photographs so naturally. It is so warm toned, it was a pleasure to do these faceups. I also must say, it was a lot easier doing these too, which is interesting since they're my first MSD faceups. I put it down to Iplehouse sculpts having more detailed features, which take to blushing so well, without needing additional emphasis to shape the features, like more stylised sculpts have.

Put together pictures with eyelashes and eyes soon.

Finished faceups!


JID Twins on Flickr


JID Cecile - Delilah on Flickr


JID Edwin - Dominic on Flickr

 

Hi all! So I have determined that all dolly activity for me in New Zealand happens between October - April our Spring-Summer-Start of Autumn months. From May-September (our End of Autumn and Winter) months, there will likely be no activity in this thread. Because rain and dark. By the time I get home from work it is dark, so no chance for working on things, and then weekends are likely to be wet. We also have daylight savings from end September to the beginning of April which helps.

So this means, I'm starting to want to do things again, because we finally have light and are starting to get nice weather!

Time for a new task list. These are my goals, depending on health/time I may not get them achieved, but it's always nice to write them down anyway.

To Do End 2017 - Start 2018
- Redo Seraph's faceup, round 3 (still not what I want) DONE
- Document costumes for Tweedles and Dormouse DONE
- Drill JID girl's torso and restring DONE
- Seraph full body tattoo photoshoot (nsfw)
- Seraph White Queen photoshoot
- Group photoshoot
- Begin construction of Dormouse outfit (with help from mum)
- Make couch/sofa?

I have my money already designated for a personal tattoo next year, so I anticipate no new dollies for at least another year. Hopefully this will give me an opportunity to start moving my existing doll Alice in Wonderland personas forward, by buying/making costumes, wigs etc.

- Edited 2019/04/07

 

Well... it turns out I've somewhat been on a hiatus. This was due to a mixture of things.

• Still having health issues, chronic pain, IBS, chest pain from stricture in oesophagus, undiagnosed pelvic pain, the list goes on...
• We decided this year to redo the windows at home, so my partner and I have been spending many weekends stripping, sanding and repainting the exterior frames, in anticipation of the interior frame and windows being replaced which is finally happening next week!
• I started on Seraph's faceup, I was so close to being done... and then my sealant spray pooled in the corner of her eye ruining it. I tried to see if I could salvage it by just removing the problem area, but it was no good. I had to wipe her to start again. And after that... I think I was so upset about it that I just left her sitting on my desk waiting to start again for months...

Figured I could upload something though.

Below are the sketches I made for Alice in Wonderland costumes for my JID twins, and my Pipos cheesemouse.

Work with mum didn't really progress as she ended up preferring to make the items herself, with me just doing the design, and had her own life things taking time. But she sent me a few photos of my cheesemouse pants completed! Which is exciting. Hopefully the rest of the outfit will follow.

AIW designs - tweedles

AIW designs - dormouse 1

AIW designs - dormouse 2

Maybe now I've spent enough time away from them, I can get back to them and Seraph can finally have her head rejoin her body by Christmas... Here's hoping!

 

Hi!

So feeling sad and guilty that it's basically been an entire year for my poor Seraph sitting in my room headless. I think I just couldn't come to try redoing her faceup after the fail of last time. I've been repainting faces/adding to some Funko Rock Candy vinyl figures. Very addicting as they're so cheap compared to BJDs. Won't post here as off topic, but hopefully will be making a public facebook page (since Flickr changed owners and put on upload limit for free accounts).

More health stuff 2018. Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder which has been an amazing journey. So happy to finally have validation of why I have some of the challenges I do. (BJDs are one of my special interests.) On new meds for chronic pain which are helping and has meant I have been able to re-engage with my hobbies.

And... Seraph is finished!!!

I'm glad I took space away, because her faceup this time around is PERFECT for her character. I've been trying to find the look for her personality for a while and I think I've got it.

Progress pic

Faceup-2019-Seraph-progress

Final faceup single shot

Faceup-2019-Seraph-07A

Faceup photoshoot (in her new bra set)

Seraph-201903-01


Seraph-201903-04


Seraph-201903-07


Seraph-201903-10

Things I learned

1. Still can't do eyelashes with brush. Too thick. Like how colour pencil can be built up so looks softer. Maybe one day when I find those super small 20 zero brushes. For now, no go.
2. Do eyeshadow colouring as last blushing. That way if you change your mind about the particular look, you can just clean that and try something else. Just like real life. Finish face first. Then add makeup.
3. Eyeshadow with blush, lots of layers for colour. LOTS of powder. Remember to clean the rest of the face so you don't accidentally get blue spots in places you don't want.
4. Pearl powder on eyeshadow looks loooovely. But again, many layers. Gives it a more authentic shimmer eyeshadow though.
5. Photos throughout help to gauge if enough contrast/colour in faceup. It seems it's like stage makeup. More is more.

Likes

• Definition line of lower lip edge. Gives lips better shape.
• White line above upper lip colouring. Also gives lips better shape.
• Pearl powder eyeshadow is pretty!
• Thin eyeliner on sleeping eyes.

Dislikes

• Still managed to get spots in places. But overall, it's a win! So I'm not fussing over them.

Honestly, it's just so nice to finally have her put back together again. She's my was my first BJD and although tastes change, I still secretly love her the most.

 

Also achieved - Drilling JID girl and restringing.

No photos of that one. Made my partner very nervous as he's the one who did the drilling while I checked for when the drill emerged on the other side. But no mishaps. And now my Iplehouse JID girl stands and positions without liquid legs. Yay!

 

Rediscovered my journal thread. Going to work through fixing all the broken images and then hopefully later this year I can add to it.