Aesthetics Lucija: An Exploration

Around 2015 I bought an Elfdoll Bambu head on the marketplace with the plans to shell my character Thyri-Satu, who is the daughter of my other dolls. Life had other plans and I fell out of the doll hobby....

This March I moved states and I decided to pick up the hobby again because a) I had always wanted to pick it up again, and b) maybe I could make new doll friends in my new area! I decided to finally buy a body for the Elfdoll Bambu, but when I unpacked her I found that she wasn't Thyri-Satu to me anymore. The body I bought is an IMPL DOLL Star body in real skin.

A new story developed, and now she is Lucija, an archaeology student who finds an ancient (cursed?) mask in a Bronze Age dig site. (This let me combine my love of history as well as my love of Lovecraftian stories!) So I hopped on Pinterest to make a board for inspiration! This is the board for the kind of vibes I'm going for. There's a lot of Slavic, Baltic and otherwise European influences but I'm happy to say I've also got some SWANA and Central Asian influences as well. I don't think I'm going to go with a full on Kukeri mask for her, but we'll see!

Here's my To-Do List:
-Faceup- Here's my Pinterest for inspiration for the faceup! The first 4 pics are for complexion while the last 4 are for the eyebrows.

1. Wiping faceup/De-yellowing Treatment (DONE)

Ominous.... but it definitely helped! Unfortunately I didn't take a "before"

2. Color match head (DONE)

On the far left is the foot from her new body, an IMPL DOLL Star body in real skin. On the far right, her headcap in its original Elfdoll NS color, yellowed since 2009. And in the middle, the head I blushed to match!


UPDATE: RIP FACEUP PROGRESS, I have to start over D:
1. Seal head, color match, seal again
2. Actual Faceup- waiting for the weather to clear up so I can seal things!
3. Sealing the body which I guess is not technically "faceup" but it's going here
​

-Clothing: I bought some jeans and boots when I got the body because I knew I wouldn't want to tackle them straight away.

1. Crochet the shawl (In Progress!)
2. Sew a shirt
3. Sew a coat and/or cloak
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-Wig: I got the alpaca locks for this in like 2016 and have been holding onto them since lol I'm hoping to make a french braid pigtail wig but that might be getting ambitious.

Here's my lovely locks, and Lucija as she looked as Thyri-Satu

1. Wig cap
2. Process locks (in progress)
3. Make wefts
4. Assemble wig
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Here she is in all her mismatched glory! I bought the wig when I bought the body because I wasn't sure how fast I was going to be able to put the wig together and I'm pretty happy with it. She stole the sweater from my guy Felix but the jeans I bought for her. Lucija's eyes are a pale gold because I have the idea that after she put on the ancient (cursed?) mask she was changed in some way, and I wanted her eyes to be unsettling. I feel like they'll pop a lot more once we get a proper faceup going!



I hope you will come along on this journey with me! I've been out of the hobby for about 8 years so I'm really excited to get going. I am also very excited for the many historical and fantasy outfits I can make for Lucija! Let me know if you know of any cool folk traditions/clothing, maybe from your part of the world! (I love learning)

Thanks for reading :3
Flea

 

I started Lucija's shawl yesterday and it's working up pretty nicely! I'm using this pattern I found on Ravelry-- it's a human size pattern but I'm working with a really old I think sport weight yarn from my stash and a 2.75/C hook. It's a simple pattern so I've been watching my YouTube videos while working on it, it's very relaxing!



I also have gotten several layers into the faceup over the past week! Unfortunately, once I had gotten the eyes as I wanted them today on layer 3 I thought, "I can do the freckles, they won't be a big deal!" Spoiler alert: It didn't go well. I did freckles on Roskva's faceup but that was literally 10 years ago! I'm having to take deep breaths and let go of perfectionism lol



This is how she looked today. It wasn't the worst but also kinda looked like she had a bad skin condition so I decided to wipe that layer. My Magic Eraser decided I wanted to wipe the whole thing, including the color correcting layer!!! That's never happened to me before! It could be the sealant I'm using. In the past I used Citadel Purity Seal and was a big fan, but then I found out they discontinued it and introduced Citadel Munitorum, okay, I'll use that-- the game store I went to seemed to carry every Citadel product BUT Munitorum! They also carried Army Painter, so I grabbed that sealant, and I was really enjoying the amount of tooth it had and the nice matte look. But now I've got to start over and I'm not sure if it's because I used the Army Painter sealant or the Magic Eraser! I've NEVER had a Magic Eraser just obliterate a faceup like that before!! So, uh, back to square one on the faceup, I guess. I'll count this one towards experience lol

UPDATE: I had a chat with my friend @CloakedSchemer and she not only confirmed that it was the magic eraser, but also gave me some good advice on when and how to best use a magic eraser! Thank you Upon reflection, maybe taking a half remembered piece of information from 2014 and incorporating uncritically into my faceup technique was probably just a bad idea lol I'm not super mad about it, thinking about it as just more practice

 

So I know it's literally been a year... after I accidentally wiped Lucija's face-up I wanted to do the fun part of the face-up (the face-up) but not the not fun part (the color matching) so I set it aside to work on a sewing project for my sister and just never got back to Lucija. But this past week I've been watching a lot of Moonlight Jewel videos on YouTube and was reminded that dolls are a hobby of mine that I enjoy! lol I would really love to work on the face-up but it's ~the most humid time of the year~ so I've decided to work on her clothes and wig while I wait for things to cool down.

And hey! I finished that shawl I started a year ago!



I am really pleased with it! I have also started drafting a pattern for a denim vest top, inspired by this pic on pinterest.



I've included some drafting notes in case anyone is interested in my process. Bear in mind that this is the pattern for the mock-up of the actual piece, so there will almost definitely be changes made to the pattern before it's finalized. The back piece of the pattern will look very much like this one but with a higher neckline and no button placket.

Anyway, that's what I've got right now! I'm excited to be back in the saddle! also anybody going to gencon? I'm still trying to figure out the best way to clean the alpaca fiber I've got for Lucija's wig so if anybody has some helpful hints I would love to hear them!

Thanks for reading!

 

So in the past couple of days I've washed and combed some alpaca locks for Lucija's wig (thank you 10 year old Nicolle's Dreams video on YouTube). I've never made a wig with loose fiber before so I really have no idea how much I'm going to need. Lucija's got like a 5inch head, it's not huge, but I'm unsure.



This is what I've got so far. I love the variety of lengths and colors! These locks are actually much more red-gold than this pic shows. The long darker ones are really more of a red-brown. Ideally I'll be able to coax some of that natural waviness back to the locks before I make the wig, though, again, I'm not super sure how to do that lol Also, I can't decide if the locks are truly clean or not. Are they just really silky, or are they still oily? I do not know lol Once wig making time arrives I plan on making a French braid wig like so.
I just realized my pinterest board was on secret so I turned that off and you should be able to see those pics now. I think I'm going to do a hot glue cap because a) that's what I've got and I'm short on funds at the moment, and b) the wig caps I made with wood glue or fabric glue always turned out distressingly flexible, so I'm hoping a hot glue cap will be a little more solid.

Anyway that's all I've got for now. I haven't worked on the vest because I've got to wash my fabric and do a bunch of other little things that I'm not keen on yet. But my wig cap fabric should arrive tomorrow hopefully!

 

So, hot glue makes the whole wig process go way faster-- I've almost completed Lucjia's wig today! I ran out of clean alpaca locks and I only need like 4 to 6 more so it's kind of frustrating. Anyway, here are some wig process pics!




You can see in that fourth pic where the extra wefts need to go. I was hoping because I was doing the hair-under-the-wig-cap technique that I wouldn't need as much hair on top but it seems that not the case. Honestly I'm very happy with it, especially as it's my first hot glue wig with self-made wefts. I think it's kind of giving Aloy right now but my partner said she's giving David Bowie lol
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Making those extra wefts is a tomorrow problem as I have been very productive today, including washing the fabric for Lucija's top!

If you have any tips for styling alpaca locks please let me know!

 

I took a little break because I had a friend come to visit but now I am back on my doll stuff!



I made the toile for Lucija's denim vest today and it's looking pretty good! As I expected, the vest needs bust darts, and I think I want to make the shoulder seams shorter. I'm very pleased

Also I washed the alpaca locks I need to finish the wig, just waiting on them to dry so I can brush them and make them into wefts.

I'm really hoping I'll be able to start the face-up soon. Even though it's been really hot, the humidity is only around 60%. I can't remember what the maximum humidity is, I'm about to go look that up, but I'm hopeful. I got some watercolor tubes at the craft store today to use for freckles, I think that will work better for me than whatever I did last year which might have been mixing pastels with water and making tiny dots?? I can't really remember but that seems like something unhinged I would try. For the record that clearly did NOT work.

Onwards into the deep!

 

I believe I finished the wig today but I will probably be taking a break for a bit— I had to say goodbye to my beloved cat today, unexpectedly.

 

Hello friends, I am back. I have ~officially~ finished the wig and I'm pretty pleased with it. It's not perfect, there's hot glue in the hairline and bald spots on the crown but I definitely learned a lot.



That last pic shows the bald spots, which I've tried to blend in by coloring them with marker. From a distance it's not bad.

I was planning on doing a French braid but the fishtail braid was easier for me to handle and I think it looks really good! The braid lists sideways a little because I pulled too hard on the hair and the wig cap slipped while I was braiding lol I got the tiny 1mm leather cord from Michael's and I just did a lot of lark's head knots over the clear hair elastic I used. I secured the final knot with a little bit of glue.

I would really like to the face-up next but that depends on the weather and the amount of free time I have, so we'll see.

Thanks for joining me!

 

It’s absolutely such a learning experience every time and the perfectionist in me just squirms lol

The one regret (and I don’t really know if it’s truly a regret) is that I got these alpaca locks almost 10 years ago and they were the perfect length and color. I do still have some locks left but I’m not sure if it’s enough for an entire wig.

And I’m not sure if I’d do the all hot glue method again. It certainly made things faster but you need to be so careful not to get the hot glue everywhere. also I burned the heck out of my finger in a careless moment And the hot glue making the wig waterproof is a big perk in my opinion. Is my need for perfection greater than my need for instant gratification? Only time will tell.

 

Hey friends! Last week we had really low humidity in my area so I was able to pound out Lucija’s face-up! I have…. Mixed feelings about it.



So I did my best to match the resins with pastels before I did the face-up, but then the actual face-up ended up skewing too warm and too dark. There was a point in the color matching process where the head and body had the same pinkish tone but the body had more “life”(?) to its color and I considered stopping the color match there, but I did not. I think, perhaps, it would have helped if I had not pressed on.

Also, I got a set of Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and Derwent chalk pastels for this project and while the products are very good, the selection of neutral tones is lacking. For instance the pastel set had 3 shades of blue but only one brown which was very warm toned. Same with the pencils— all the neutral/earthy colors are warm tones. I wanted her eyeshadow/eyeliner to be cooler and more moody but because everything was so warm I used more black than I would have. With her eyes in, her eyeliner/eyeshadow looks very severe.

Freckles were again a challenge but I feel I did better this time. I actually got some watercolors in varying shades of brown and I think it helped. I struggle with getting the freckles to be (what I consider) “small enough”— I have hand tremors so when I try to make a dot with a super fine brush it almost always gets smushed down more than intended. I used to have a nail dotter but I could not find it for this project though I did manage to get a new set at the dollar store today!

By the way, the dollar store is great for getting supplies! Items for face-ups I’ve gotten at the dollar store:
Toothpicks
Q-tips
Nail brushes for cleaning heads
Nail files and those feet grater things for pedicure that I use to grate my pastels
Little paint palettes
A make up brush cleaner I can use to get pastels of my brushes
PVA glue
I even got the lashes for this face-up from the dollar store. I love my dollar store, highly recommend it!

From certain angles the color match does not look bad, and by itself, separate from the body, I am very pleased with this face-up! But I think I will probably end up redoing it. Because, you know, ~perfectionism~.

 

I did end up wiping Lucija's face because I just wasn't happy with it and I know I could do better, but instead of immediately painting her face again, I worked on her denim vest!


I'm using this old denim shirt of my dad's-- I can remember him wearing this when I was really young... like in the 1990's lol I want to make a bag for Lucija using the little tiny fishing lures over the pocket but that's a project for another day I altered the pattern a little bit from when I last posted about it, mostly adding the bust darts. And here's how it turned out!


So clearly the main problem is that the armholes are too small, but that is an easy enough fix! I also see that the bust darts come in to the center just a little too much, and they sit a little higher on the bust than they should. I think fixing the armholes will help the darts sit in the right place but I don't think there's much to be done about the darts' lengths besides starting over. I might also take up the bottom hem like another quarter inch, but I'm not sure.

This project had a lot of topstitching, which is not exactly my strong suit, but I wanted to lean into the "denim" look. And you know what? I think I did pretty good! I am definitely feeling good about this top.

As for closures I'm going to do snaps or velcro on the inside and fake "buttons" on the placket.

Oh also, that dark spot on the shoulder? I totally spilled water everywhere when getting ready to take pictures lol

 

Back at it again with the inconsistent updates



I did a better overall job with the color matching this time, and I liked her freckles better this time, too! Lower eyelashes continue to elude me, though. I tried to remove just the lower lashes but I ended up wiping the whole face-up again because it would have been very difficult to re-blush and re-freckle the spots that had been removed.

I found a set of watercolor pencils with a more cool-toned brown and some nice blushy pink shades that I used on this version of the face-up, but the paint color I mixed for the eyeliner was too dark regardless so it just looked black.



Hey, pro-tip, don't put your green can of sealant next to your green can of hairspray for wig styling because something awful might happen. It thankfully did NOT happen, but it was close.