The Headstrong Princess (RS Bei)

Now that I'm finally getting started with working on one of my dolly projects, I thought I'd start a journal as a way to hold myself accountable for finishing her in a reasonable time!

Cetewind here is a ResinSoul Bei, acquired in early 2009 and basically untouched since then. Here's how she's been sitting on my shelf since I got her, and a bit of concept art on how she should be looking when finished:



In her storyline, Cete is the young daughter of her kind's ruler; while not technically a princess, it's a pretty fair terminology for her class position. She's a bit of a rebel, constantly running off to the common markets, sometimes dragging her brother along, and usually giving her mother panic attacks. As such, the wardrobe I build for her will be a combination of "common/peasant" and "noble" outfits. I'll also be adding additional wefts to her wig, as shown in the design sketch, as one of the physical characteristics of her race is a tri-color hair pattern.

So the list of tasks is as follows for her (in no particular order):

1. Construct a sloper model to use in creating clothing patterns
2. Restring with thicker elastic or shock cord
3. Full cleaning, faceup and body blushing
4. Joint sueding
5. Design and construct clothing
6. Add new wefts to her wig and style it
7. Construct some shoes to fit her odd-sized feet

This actually shouldn't be too terrible of a project! The worst part might be figuring out the best way to spray things outside, honestly, as I don't really have good outdoor access from my apartment anymore, but that'll be good for the upcoming, more challenging projects I have ahead of me. So here we go!

 

I settled on building the sloper as the first stage, since it'd be a quick starting point, and if I got any smudges on her now, I'd still be able to take care of them during the cleaning stage before her blushing.

Dolly mummy!
Sloper by vicemage, on Flickr

The lines added on helped me design multiple layouts for the sloper I assembled off this; I'll be able to do both corset-type tops and simpler ones thanks to that (and later on, design clothes for this size in general). The designs I've generally used in the past for her culture tend to be a more medieval/Asian style, with minimal fasteners, and lots of wrapping or tying of pieces, so the corset design might not come into use in her storyline outfits, but they're cute enough she might get one anyway.

I did also accidentally scratch her arms a bit cutting this off, which was a valuable learning opportunity for me on doing the masking tape slopers... oops. It's very light, though, and something I can easily sand off while cleaning her, thankfully!

 

kiwinewt, Bei really is a lovely little girl!

So I took her apart today to get her sealant on and sand down the scratches on her arms... luckily they were minor enough that it just took a couple of swipes of sanding sponge under water to get them smooth and lovely again!

Sealing by vicemage, on Flickr

She got two good, solid coats of MSC this evening; I'll be letting her dry off on the sticks overnight at least, and with luck this week I'll be able to get her blushing underway and get the cord I need to restring her! I've also got the fabric for two starting outfits for her, and may get going on those before getting her back in one piece (using her brother as the model).

 

Since I had a rather upsetting day today, I decided to work on Cetewind a bit more this afternoon to calm me down a bit. So after getting good and dry (things just kept stopping me from continuing the work after last time), I went ahead and blushed her. No final pictures until she's strung up, but here's a mid-blush one:

Mid-blush by vicemage, on Flickr

Sadly, it's a bit too subtle to show up in this picture, I'll try to capture the final result though. I also fixed the very slight mismatch between her head and the rest of her body; her head was a touch more peachy-yellow, while her body was a touch more pink, so her head overall got a light coat of pink under the rest of the blushing. She's currently been finished off, coated with a couple of layers of ZM UV cut, and had her lips, nails, and eyes glossed. Unfortunately, an attempt at making S-hooks for her hands failed, so she'll probably have her hands and feet tied on instead, at least for now. The next stage for her will be her hot-glue sueding and restringing, unless I decide to have a go at her wig next instead.

 

She's now back in one piece!

I'm still trying to decide if I went a little dark on her faceup... I also still clearly need practice on painting eyelashes. Normally I just place eyelashes instead, but her head is just too small to manage. Her eyes are already on the dark side, and will likely get replaced with something a bit more reflective in the future (these are still her defaults, special-requested from RS to be the correct color for her).

Faceup by vicemage, on Flickr

And all in one piece and standing again, with brand new stringing (and some hot glue sueding):

Blushed and Sueded by vicemage, on Flickr

Which isn't so bad, but she could stand like that before (with some fussing). Let's put her through some tests to see how the better elastics (stronger elastic in her arms, and narrow shock cord in her legs) is actually holding up. Note that she is not being supported by anything in any of the following photos, and while a few took some fussing, she's still up on her own here.

Posing Test by vicemage, on Flickr

Laying Down by vicemage, on Flickr

Her arms still snap a little bit, and might need wiring, but with care, they do hold more than the only two poses she had in them before (full bend and full extension). So, barring me deciding to wipe and redo her faceup, this part is done!

Seated by vicemage, on Flickr

 

OH GOSH IT HAS BEEN I didn't even remember you were a member here! I was just thinking about you the other day, I found that crazy watercolor envelope you sent years ago!

I'm hoping to get to her wig soon, I've had to pause for a bit for RL stuff, but it's... well, close to resolving, so I might be able to fuss a bit with the dolls soon. Meanwhile she's hanging out in her un-modified wig sitting with her mom and dad on the shelf until I start playing again.

 

Managed a little work on her wig today... this is going to be a very, very long process. Which I already knew, but still.

Wig In Progress 1 by vicemage, on Flickr

So I started out with the little bit of silver and gold on one side of her bangs. I pulled everything either back or off to the side to keep from getting it all tangled up while I worked... and then hacked out that little chunk of hair.

Forgot to take pictures this time of the wig in progress, but here's the new locks:
Locks by vicemage, on Flickr

I'm fairly certain this is Volks rooting hair (I got it a really long time ago), it's very soft and long. These are half-length chunks; the string tied at the middle is keeping them together and giving me a way to tie them into the wig. It also tangles very easily:
Tangles by vicemage, on Flickr
(Yes, all of that did eventually get separated back into nice strands, but it was very slow going. Next time I'll just cut off the main hank like I originally thought I should do.)

I pulled each small lock through a large needle, using the string to draw the center through and then running the needle to the end so I could run it back through that little loop. And after spending a very long time doing this...

Hair in Progress by vicemage, on Flickr
She now has the first silver streak in her hair! (And I had very tired, shaky hands and fading light, so apologies for the photo quality.) I've still got another silver chunk to add, as well as three gold ones, but she's on the way. After that, I'll probably pour over some boiling water to get it all laying flat again, since the new section isn't attached quite the same way (and therefore isn't laying the same way yet). But at least she's another small step closer to finished!