The Talent Show WINNER POSTED!

Username: Junkets

Skills on display: Stubbornness. Research and planning. Metal work. Epoxy/ magnet installation. Tattooing with acrylic. Airbrushing. Wig styling. Photography. Poetry (no...not really a doll skill, I guess...)


Description of work: For this photoshoot, I needed to put together the mask and horns, as they didn’t actually come together. After this, I airbrushed and sanded them to give an aged bone look. The facial tattoos were the result of researching Pictish symbols and then painting over the existing faceup. I also made the spearhead from copper and formed it, then put together the spear. Costuming was simple, a length of in scale cloth with a ring and pin brooch to hold the cloak at his shoulder. His wig was styled with acrylic molding paste to give the whitened, crusted look of hair held up with lime. Then the actual photoshoot itself. Most of these were completely new skills for me, actually, that were necessitated by the photoshoot. The poem was written in fits and starts throughout, with a final last minute edit after I'd completed processing the images.

Concept: The horned god is the representation of wildness, forest, masculinity…and cycles. The circles of the torc around his neck, the circle of the day to night, the circle of the harvest, the circle of the hunt. He is constantly moving in this circle, and the most powerful moment is the time one cycle ends and the next begins. The leaves are giving up their green, the fruit ripens on the trees, the wheat is golden and waiting to be taken from the field. At that moment, the god, his horns full and heavy, finds himself a moment from becoming the hunted, his weapon falling to the ground as he scents the air, ready to fly at the first sound of another hunter’s feet cracking newly dried branches on the ground. He cannot begin the cycle until this one ends, and it can only end with his blood on dried grass, his horns no longer proudly aloft but crashed to the ground. They will grow again, the leaves will green again, but first must come the winter, the death, the night. His heart quickens as though this is the first time. This downward, ending moment.


Entry:





Slow sensation imagined, a hand
Falling, the moment I am become
The hunted. Iron
Red lurking below the surface
Of a hand married to an edge.
We’re both of us waiting.
Sharp with promise,
dull in our eventualities.



Momentarily lapse of sanity,
I consider the land as it pales, considers me.
I feel so deeply for myself, I lose
The voice of all around me.
My face hollow, ears full of wind
Filling my head and above us
Sun wheels out of proportion.
You are behind me and before.
False finality, knowing we dance the circle,
Makes mockery of the fear
Ground between my teeth.





There is eternity in waiting for pain,
Eternity of knowledge.
For time will have its end
And therefore it is time.
Does blood from a wound color a blade,
Or when the metal touches skin,
Does the color erupt from within?





Slowness melts away and
All is sensation.
Meeting, the wet greeting of elements.
Consummation.
In pain is the fulfillment,
For pain is the master of base.
The little gap in the ring.
The true black before the sun
Brings new strength, new days.
New paint for my face, new wine
For my throat. I am tired.
I sleep with the leaves
On the dry golden ground.

 

Username: timid
Skills on display: Building up collections of props, weapons and LE outfits unrelated to the needs of actual resin personalities present; painting.
Description of work: I glossed the sword and painted and glossed the helmet. The backpacks come from Japanese crane catcher machines, the soccer ball is from a dollar store, the garden tools from a windchime, and the gun is a lighter from a hardware store; the helmet I acquired on the marketplace and the sword came with my LUTS LE Abadon.
Concept: The shadow selves living out dramas in the stories within our heads. There are multiple layers to those shadows, as they are cobbled together from what we see and experience around us. Also it's fun to put Han in drag.

Entry:

Worlds Half-Seen
​

Cast:
Kinney - Volks SD13 Eden
Han - Volks SD Mark
Skeena - Volks YoSD Colin
Knight - LUTS SSDF Abadon
Rifleman - Volks SD17 Williams on Crobidoll M-line
Princess - Volks SD Mark on Volks SD13G

















The End

 

Username: St. James & idrisfynn

Skills on display: jewelry-making (St. James) & photography (idrisfynn)

Description of work: Cut, filed, hammered (and hammered and hammered and hammered) and torch textured heavy gauge sterling rectangle wire; hammered strip into bracelet form (muttered a few expletives); hammered, filed and polished sterling petal shapes; soldered the stacked petals and bezel cup to the bracelet; ground out the bezel to fit 6mm moonstone cabochon (muttered more expletives) and set stone; polished until I could polish no more! Put the bracelet on Nina and let idrisfynn work her magic. ^___^

Concept: Bloom and Branch Bracelet for Nina, my resident flower lover. I decided to go with all silver and a moonstone to complement her shadowy grey flowered ensemble.

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Entry:

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~ FIN ~


Credits



The Moth
Ochiyo
Obitsu Haruka head/Lumedoll body




The Candle
Aedan
Angelheim Ryan


Special thanks

Rigger and Puppeteer, Zachary
Beachgirl for the Body Suit
Fairyality for the Wings
​

 

Username: FairEmma

Skills on display: Storytelling, Photography, Commissioning and Purchasing, Tea/Coffee Staining Fabric, Making Deadlines with Nano-Seconds to Spare, Designing ABJD Flight Rigging

Description of work: It's a story with no words.

Concept: Moths usually irritate me. I don't give them much credit for good sense, and when they start battering away at a lampshade or a light bulb, or dive-bombing candles, I figure they live in the land of bleak futility. So, as I have a rather special moth youkai, I decided it might be charitable of me to consider this behaviour from the moth's point of view. Perhaps the act of turning one's self to cinders is a form of ecstasy. I'd like to think it's a magnificently overwhelming way to go.

☼

Moth to Flame































~ continues in next post ~​

 

Username: Zagzagael
Skills on display: photography
Description of work: The Angel throws a shadow.
Concept: Playing with light and shadows.

 

Username: armeleia
Skills on display: sculpting, moldmaking, casting
Description of work: I sculpted a head a few months ago, then abandoned it somewhat. For this project, I made a silicone junk mold of the head, then cast a copy in resin. Throughout, I documented my progress and filmed some parts so that I could compile a video.
Concept: I am a big believer in the idea that basic art techniques should be open-source. For that reason, I'd like to eventually make basic tutorials for many aspects of doll making, collecting, and customizing. I hate the thought of anyone feeling that they're unable to do something because they have no one to show them the basics. I completely understand and support artists keeping their trade secrets, but when it's general information like "how to make a mold" or "what materials should I use for a faceup," there's no reason not to share.

I also think that people have a really nebulous view of how dolls come into existence. They know the general idea of what a mold is, what resin is, etc... but imagine a lot of mystical handwaving involved and suddenly there's a doll, ready to buy. It's just not the way it is! Production-grade molding and casting shares the same concepts as garage casting (or basement casting, in my case), but uses better equipment. All the same, this gives a basic overview for people who are interesting in how dolls are made or are thinking of doing some casting themselves.

Entry:
[video=youtube_share;4Us6x72Q450]http://youtu.be/4Us6x72Q450[/video]

 

Username: AreeElf
Skills on display:Faceup enhancement, Wig restyling, Fantasy style costuming, Shopping, Photography,Quick Accessory creation, planning bigger things and settling, Scrounging pachyderms
Description of work: Faceup enhancement on Mii-chan (Jaeninha painted her lashes and eyebrows so can't say I did the whole faceup), Restyled a Leeke wig to suit the Pure drop Outfit, Lost the Puredrop belt so created a replacement, Created Glati outfit afte some unsuccessful concepts finally came-up with this.
Concept: Decided I wanted to photograph Princess Peacock(Mii-Chan) and her loyal retainer Aristheus in a fantasty style setting. Since there were much more gifted seamstresses in th land we opted to buy her dress and put together an outfit for Aristheus from some odds and and trim. Princess Peacock's hairdresser had developed a cold so I tried my best to style her hair. With the royal jeweler having hurt his hand I had to sting up some jewels to put around her neck.

Entry:

 

Username: Bird of Hermes

Skills on display:
making a spider body (wire work, carving, modeling, sewing/stuffing, flocking, tedious glueing)
modification (eye opening, eye adding)
blushing and face up
photography, set dressing, story telling, and image editing and manipulation

Description of work: After planning out the spider body, the frame was made of wood and wire which was then covered with faux fur or self flocked fur and the abdomen stuffed. The human portion was cleaned and then blushed and strung into the spider body. The face plate was modded from sleeping to open with 6 extra eyes added. 'Eyes' were found for the spider sockets and a face up was given to the plate to match the blushing. Photos were then taken and were arranged and manipulated along with other stock textures/brushes to create a fake field log of the fictional Dr. Clifford St. Stultenfuss.

Concept: The elusive spidertar as discovered by the famed Dr. Clifford St. Stultenfuss and documented in his logbook both at the camp site in Indonesia and also back at his laboratory and home in England. Select pages from a time frame of 3 months are shown along with an appearance from the little spidertar Panop himself.

Entry:

 

Username: Lolly

Skills on display: Costume design. Wig making. Sewing. Photography.

Description of work:
I had some leather scraps and wanted to use them in an outfit. Flight hats were researched and a pattern drafted. I envisioned a matching vest. Her blouse is very fine silk with antique lace. The knickers are wool. Lining the tiny vest was challenging. I enlarged a pattern I had drafted and used for the Latis to make a mohair wig and styled it into pigtails.



Concept: The idea was to plan, sew and photograph an outfit. I had saved a birds nest and wanted to incorporate it into a photoshoot. The idea of Ginger (Enyo) being a junior birdman was born. What I did not realize is that wee bugs live in birds nests, so the entire outfit and wig is currently in the freezer. No retakes possible.

Entry:

 

You are all amazing! Thank you for working so hard and still taking the time to create so many beautiful things!

 

WOW. Every Voting Challenge is harder and harder!! Magnificent work, all!

Edit: And that's a very funny comment after the voting slip is submitted! LOL!

 

Voting for this contest was EXTREMELY difficult! Loved reading the journal entries as well.

 

(Oh, fuss. It won't let me vote. Says I don't have permission to access the form. =( )

 

Sadly I am not permitted to vote either, but well done everyone!

 

Voting closed already.

 

Sadly, also unqualified to vote ><
But these artworks are really brilliant!!! If I can vote, it will absolutely hard to make a decision.

 

So many beautiful entries! The moth story made me cry. I have bookmarked Armeleia's wonderful tutorial.

 

Very closely fought out between our top entries!

With 85 votes, our modly winner is Junkets!
With 82 votes, our second place is Bird of Hermes!

Both will receive 7 ounces of delicious BREAKFAST MARSHMALLOWS!!!

 

BREAKFAST MARSHMALLOWS! Congrats to Junkets and Bird of Hermes!

 

Yeah! Bring on the marshmallows!

I'm very surprised and very pleased to have gotten the most votes. Everyone did such phenomenal work; it's a rather big pool of talent! Thanks to everyone who voted for me; I'm proud that you chose my darling John Barleycorn.

 

It really was a great showing by all of the staff who entered! And thank you to everyone who voted- I will be hyped up on sugar for many mornings now I'm sure. My students will learn to fear me on the days I enjoy marshmallows!

 

Congrats for both of Junkets and Bird of Hermes
Very well done everyone~~~
I really enjoy seeing each entry~

 

Congrats BOH and Junkets!!!
You all did great, I loved everything!!

Like the little video of puppy Truffle!!
She was so fluffy and cute!! Your story was
awesome Junkets, and I loved your video Armeleia!
I remember watching it with my mouth gaping open
after looking at all it takes to make a doll!

 

Congrats to you both!

 

Congratulations to both Junkets and Bird of Hermes!

All of the entries were wonderful in their own way, but my personal favorite was the moth. It was so beautiful.

And the bird's nest was darling.

 

cograts to the winners these 2 where also my favorites

 

Congratulations to the winners, and overall phenomenal job by all the mods! Thanks for putting your talents on display for us!

 

Congratulations!!! And great job to all of the mods, your work was truly stunning!!!

 

Oh - how excitement, well done guys!!! ..... Can we please arrange a consolation prize of a jumbo box of Kleenex for Dezarii?? *sniffles* perhaps some Sake scented ones?

 

Yay, marshmallows! It was so hard to vote- all of these entries were quite amazing. Kudos to all the moderators!

 

Congratulations Junkets and Bird of Hermes!!! Enjoy your marshmallows!!!!!

 

I'm so pleased Junkets's and Bird of Hermes got such well-deserved recognition! And I'm so proud to be a member of a board full of such talent and creativity (one of whom has four paws).

*sniffle* Uh, Dez, are you taking your elephant to Fiji? So, like, could I come, too ... and bring my moth? I'll share my tissues.

 

lol...congrats to all the mods...all of your journals and work on your projects were astounding! Actually, this was my favorite contest.I loved the journals, would be neat to do something like this next year.

 

hahah~ congrats guys!

also funny, Armeleia and I use the exact same mixing bowl for our silicone. that little black ring on the underside fell off yesterday when i was mixing!