^ I do! My LTFs hang out on actual Ikea furniture! One of their two sets of doll furniture is a pretty good fit for them, so they have a couple of chairs and a couple of "loveseat" sized couches for their section of my shelves. (The other set is too small for them, but might fit around PKF-size. I have no idea what dolls Ikea designed those for, but the ones I have seem designed for Barbies.) > The minis and "tinies bigger than LTFs" largely hang out on miniature garden benches that I scavenge stores for every late winter/early spring season. I do have enough to fill the current cabinets, but I also need to build more cabinets... v Where's your favorite non-toy-and-doll place to find things for your dolls?
^ Antiques shops and the home furnishings area of the department store. Sure, most of the stuff I find are usually for the smaller dolls, but sometimes, a little bit of creativity is all you need to salvage everyday items for hobby use. I've found plant stands that could work as small display tables for my SD++ crew, and have even used pallet-like tea stands and laser-cut placemats as pseudo-background furniture/hangings. Oh, and the metal lamps I use for them are actually holders for tea lights. > Ahhhhh I miss going to an actual physical store to rummage for knickknacks for the dolls. v What was the most ambitious pose you've put your doll into? Bonus for pic!
^ pole dancing by my boy Dray. I did a whole series of photos, definitely had to move the camera in the right direction to keep from showing the knot of fabric keeping him from sliding down the pole. > Chilly walk this morning on the seawall but worth the effort. v Same question: What was the most ambitious pose you've put your doll into? Bonus for pic!
^ This picture of Klaus where he's holding the Queen Anne's Lace- I know, it's nothing too crazy, but all my BJDs are old and need restringing... > I got new BJD shoes today and am absolutely loving them! They're reminding me why I got into the hobby in the first place. v If you could magically change one thing about any of your BJDs, what would it be?
^ Having my F65 Chloe's insides modified to improve her posing and to make stringing her a doodle. Dreams...Dreams... < Wow, a family member wants to knit for my Littlefee! Talk about my next Xmas coming early! V Between jumping into puddles of water and throwing snowballs at a friend, which pastime does your BJD prefer?
^ I think Tia likes to sew! She also likes to get dressed up in sweet lolita fashion! > I really want to play more dnd! v How do you come up with characters or give your dolls a personality?
^ Mine are mostly all existing characters, a mix of OCs I've had for aaaaaages and fan characters; the ones that remain are largely based around them, and so their characters are informed by the existing ones ("Oh, this doll would be great to be a kid for this character!" "Oh, this character could use an imaginary friend... or two...") < I need to box up my dolls... but I also kind of want to keep one aside for test sewing stuff because I feel like I'm going to finish off stuff before I need to, and either way will want to push forward on this costume I'm working on. And dolls are awesome for doing the mockups, because 1/4 scale uses a LOT less fabric and time! v How do you decide your doll's clothing style?
^ All of my dolls dress the way I'd want to dress if I had unlimited money and safe gender expression. Meaning most of them are terrible Victorian goths with massive boots. The way they dress depends on my budget and what clothes I can get out of the thrift store, though. < In trying to get back into the hobby, I'm jealous of everyone's skill and talent. I want to get better so that my crew can be as pretty as yours! v Do you prefer to make characters based on your dolls or shell characters that already exist? Why?
^ I tend to shell characters that already exist! I have a lot more success with it. I'm just not as attached to my dolls that didn't have characters planned, and I tend to waffle on whether or not to sell them. < waiting for my new body to get to my proxy! v Do you have any characters/dolls that have been through multiple "shells"?
^ Almost, I haven't made any official decisions yet to reshell, but Herah's current body is too small. >I wish I didn't have so many notes to take. v Do you have any dolls whose style has changed drastically over time?
^ I cannot say they have. I usually make the clothes and my skills are basic so I make basic modern clothes. Occasionally, I have sewn something different like a bodice for my F65, a coat/pullover for my Dollzone or old-fashioned running shorts for my F60. Sometimes, a mistake send me back to my original clothing idea for a doll. I have transformed a badly made t-shirt into a straight dress for my Venitu for instance, and complemented it with a visor for protection against viruses and illnesses, a serpent-skin bag (printed cotton), bracelets and I am still planning to make him a pair of matching sandals. He was meant to be a space dweller, you see, so living in the 22nd/23rd Century, with different fashions depending on the worlds he visits. In this case, he is visiting a local market on a alien world and hoping to sell some products he made himself. I still have to make the products he wants to sell as well . < Brrrrr, it looks cold and windy out there. V If your BJD had the opportunity to choose where he/she could travel to, where would he/she go?
^ Lorina would love to travel literally anywhere and everywhere as she's been locked in her house her whole life. If she had to pick just one place, then definitely the seashore. Seeing that much water in one place would be amazing. Ilari is not really keen on travel but he will go with her. Emie travels plenty and has no real desire to go/be anywhere in particular. Pup is not capable of conscious thought, being a zombie, so has no opinion. < State of California cut everyone's pay 10% and gave us 2 furlough days a month. I'd rather have my pay, but if they're gonna be like that about it I am just gonna have to give myself a bunch of three day weekends. F 'em. No Mondays for the rest of the month. v Which of your doll characters has a job they hate??
^ My Eloy had to take an office job on a space station and he really doesn't like it. He doesn't earn enough to enjoy the soft side of life. It doesn't look like it is going to improve soon. < I need eggs to make that cake. I can't find the almond powder anyway. I can see a chocolate cake in my future. V Which fantasy skin colours do your dolls have?
^My Afra (DFA Susu) has been dyed to be green to match his character from the Anne Mccaffrey novels. One of my favorite. I don't know if grey counts but I have a grey Soom Rick. Afra by SteamWitch, on Flickr < Shivery in the cold even way down here in South Texas. v Do any of your dolls have bad habits?
^ Not really? A couple of their characters are fairly reckless, or have bad taste in men, haha! < I just picked up my second SDGr girl body and I really do love it. Their arms are just so well engineered! v Do you prefer poseability or aesthetics in your doll bodies?
^ it’s cheating to say both, but usually I go for aesthetics if I think I can mod the poseability (like my 2010 iple guy, or my incoming nobility muscle body), or go for poseability when I can mod aesthetic (like my loongsoul 73cm Lady). The best of both worlds is the Twigling body, which is not a cost-effective body. <I’m so tired. I’m gonna need a chai to get through today. v Have your doll preferences changed since you started in the hobby?
^ Considering I started out with a very solid preference of "Only mini elves," and now I have a bunch of humans, creatures, anthros, etc, in every size from Puki to 60 cm, I'd say yes. When I started I was a little flexible in the "or fantasy creatures" realm, but humans were right out, and now they're a significant portion of my collection and I love having them! < Poor Jace... I'm doing a scaled-down muslin for a costume I want to make for me, and with it including a hood, he (and his smaller head) has to be the one modeling it, but really, so far, he just looks like he's wearing a peasant dress. v Do you have any less-typical crossover between your dolls and another hobby of yours?
^ The dolls' seashell collection. I love collecting seashells, and my gang are mostly mature tinies so tiny seashells look like normal size ones for them. I don't have a good way to display them yet though. < Haven't worked on sewing doll clothes for ages... V Any doll projects you've been meaning to finish?
^ Dolls shoes. I already did a lot of pattern for it but making the outer sole in rubber material still kicks me me out on finishing my project so more research for me I guess. < I should probably get off for work V Which doll of yours resemble you most? A mini me perhaps?
^ my Minifee Luka. We don't look alike as such. She has the old A-line body with wide shoulders that looks like mine when I was slim, young and sporty. Her eyebrows are thick and dark and her eyes have shades of green. Of all the dolls I have, she is the one that shares the most features with my younger self. < Rain, rain, rain. At least, the weather is warmer, though a bit of sunshine wouldn't come amiss. V Which furniture would your doll love to have?
^ Might be ostentatious, but I'm not saying no to a Dragon Throne if the opportunity for an affordable one was given. Where I'm going to store the entire setup when not in use tho, I don't know! ^_^ < Another doll-related package during the COVID times arriving damaged. Geez, what a time! v What was the most challenging repair you'd have to do in the hobby?
^ Thankfully, in all of my time in the hobby, I have never had to do any repairs. < Excited to send a doll that has been boxed away for 6+ years out for a face-up and will hopefully, finally bond with. V what was the longest amount of time you spent "away" from a doll?
^ I spent more than a year "away" from my entire collection a few years ago. I boxed them up for an interstate move, and before I could unpack a single doll (or really much of anything), my cat passed away from cancer. I adopted two kittens after that, and realized I had no way to display my dolls safely with two rowdy kittens running over every surface and knocking everything over. They ended up staying in boxes for over a year before I found some enclosed shelving I liked (and since I've adopted a third since then, who is still kitten-wild at almost 3, that probably are in those cases for good). < Looks like another busy weekend, let's see what i can squeeze in of fun stuff v What's your doll's ideal weekend?
^ Going somewhere she's never been and making a kick@$$ photostory out of it! < Been making her jeans, just finished the fourth pair this week. v One of your dolls will come to life for 24 hours starting at dawn tomorrow. How will you spend the day with them?
^ Not as I would like to spend it with her due to lockdown. My only option would be to find the least crowded park in the area, wander around pointing out the birds and hopefully see a muntjac deer or other mammals. What I really would like to do would be to go to the seaside or to an Open Air museum and enjoy the wide open space. The alternative would be to stay indoors and this is not great for a young child. < Weird. I miss making and eating breakfast in front of my tent, when the world is young and just waking up. Wasn't always brilliant what with the cool temperatures, but when the weather was just right, it was such a privilege and pleasure. V If your doll could choose her swimming spot, where would she/he go?
^ A crystal clear lake in the middle of a forest. < I'm waiting on a second hand doll... my first official yosd and first doll from luts. I forgot how much I hate shipping times v If your doll turned into an animal what would they be?
^ For Tahmos, I'd imagine he'd want to either be some sort of sleek large cat with wings, or a fierce Direwolf. < When is Fantasia Doll going to ship my Jin out? v Do you have any creatives amongst your resin crew? Who, and what type of creative thing do they specialize in?
^ Oh boy ^^ The Browns are a creative family. Katie is a violin student, middle sister Jo is into ballet, and little brother Timmy loves to draw (mostly comics). The rest of the main crew are all musicians: Chris, Lauren, Heather, Mike, Sven, Carlos, and Jean-Marc are opera singers. Mara is a flutist, Lee is a violist, Eric's a pianist and Dave is a conductor. Then there's the band consisting of Jamie (lead vocals), Jaz (key / backing vocals), Matteo (lead guitar) and Scott (drums). < With this lineup of OCs, who could ever have predicted little me who dreamed them up would become a musician herself? v Is there anything your dolls' characters and yourself have in common?
^ I've got a few who's character won't eat red meat. Mainly Kaimana, Taika, and Morrigan. Its been more than 10 years since I stopped eating beef. Kaimana and Taika also love being at the beach, the less people the better. < I've been meaning to personalize Kaimana's wheelchair since I got it... V Any of your dolls have character-specific props?
^ Luc has a ton of toys that are specific only to him. He's my only "little kid" doll (the rest are older kids, chibi adults, or fae creatures), so any time I come across a toy that's in scale to him, he gets it by default. < I should get back to pattern drafting... poor Jace is still stuck in his "dress" and a cloak might at least give him some dignity. Or let him cover up the dress. v How does your doll feel about dressing against their normal style?
^ Ilari covers up as much as possible and would definitely not be ok wearing less cause he's got issues with how his body looks (severely emaciated) plus in this universe vampires do burn in sunlight (not like they go explody when the sun rises but like slow and cumulative damage) so wearing less would also hurt. Emie's only style is the constant conflict between how uncomfortable and restrictive clothing feels and how freaking cold her body feels without her fur (werewolf). She would be like a cat that falls over and stops working when put in a harness if she had to wear a fancy dress or shoes. < Month 5 of keto. I really want a grilled cheese sandwich. v Do any of your doll characters have weird nutritional requirements or diet?
^ Mmm, no, none. Not that has come to light yet at least. < Sleeeepy. V Your doll(s)-Night Owls or Morning Birds?
^ Both. My Venitu and my Newkiru are night-owls. The rest are Morning Birds, especially the elves. < Wow, I am given a scroll saw, a sanding machine and a scroll saw workbook all at the same time... Somebody really wants me out of the house! V What skills do your doll(s) have that keep them/her/him out of the house?
^ Probably Dr. Firenze Evergreen, since he's a trauma surgeon. He pretty long hours and is skilled, so he sometimes gets called in when he's off duty. He also happens to be an elf. The combination amuses me. <Most of the writing I've about my dolls' characters is from his perspective. V Do any of your dolls have stories written about their characters?
^ Yes Aveese and Mylas have a whole novel about them, though the last chapter is unfinished anywhere except my head. Nox and Drake along with other Pointless Lore characters have several short stories written about them. < Going walking along the seawall again today. Yesterday was wonderful. Maybe take a doll with me and get some photos on the sand. v Do you have a favorite outdoor spot for taking doll photos?
^ In winter, I like to stand them on the window sill. The light is just right and it is perfect to take pictures of them in their new home-made gears. < Well, the sanding machine hasn't arrived and there isn't a good scroll saw to be bought in sight. There are sellers out there asking their customers to sign ''commit to buy'' contracts. The mind boggles. Brexit and coronavirus have created one of the biggest priciest mess in the supply chains ever, this side of the Channel. V Your doll is stuck on an island without possibility of getting off it for 2 months. What does he/she do?
^ She's an ice dragon so she'd go full Elsa and make an ice castle to live in. < I just got new clothing for my dolls that I ordered months ago. They look super cute but one of the jean shorts' button is broken and I'm trying to glue the button but concerned it won't hold. v Do any of your dolls have a favorite food/drink to be photographed with?
^ I love photographing my dolls with coffee cups or wineglasses! < I'm waiting on my first Volks girl at the moment and I'm so excited. She ships tomorrow! Eeeeeee! v If you create stories/characters for your dolls, when do you start? Before you've even figured out what doll you'll get to go with the character, when you've decided on the doll but it hasn't arrived yet, or when you already have the doll in-hand?
^all the above—Shrike, for instance, has been I. My life for 14 years, and 3(?) BJDs as shells. She’s pretty much the best example I have of a character vastly predating a doll. Then I’ve got zariel, whose body I was building, as weird as that probably sounds, long before I got her head, and whose head I just got in a trade, but in the 3 days it took for her to ship, I realized she was perfect for Zariel. Finally, for characters that spawn when I’ve already got the doll, I have Liriel, who is a doll I scored second-hand with an amazing aesthetic, and so when I needed a queen of hell, I built liriel around her, so she’d have a character. I also do a thing where I throw a head onto a body, and then realize they work for a character I had but hadn’t planned. Johanna, Aveden and Ki are some of those characters. <I’m so tired. Why do I work? v if you could only own one doll sculpt, which would it be?
^ the kind of question I can't give an answer to. I can say which sculpts I could do without...probably. Truth be told, each of my dolls has a well-earned place in my collection. < I can't wait till the weather gets better. V If your doll was a butterfly or a moth, which one would he/she be?
^ I will only talk about Adhara and Guórén here, but they will most likely be Chinese windmill (Byasa alcinous), with the corresponding variation according to female and male. It's a bonus that I've already drawn an artwork of them wearing robes inspired by that species. < Oh my lowrd, washing that piece of dark fabric in cold water and powdered detergent was NOT a good idea. Now it needs to be washed again to get rid of the white streaks. D: v What is the most memorable learning experience you've had in the hobby?
^ Dyeing my tiny. First time dyeing, first time restringing, was done in the backyard of the hostel I was staying at the time... I actually documented the whole thing. And I am glad to have my tiny the right color. > Oh my gosh, what job do I choose, aaah! v What is one time you have had a hard time choosing in this hobby?
^ When I had to choose my Venitu' skin colour. I ended choosing the wrong one. Exactly the one that slotted itself right between 2 skin colours I liked far better . It taught me to follow my heart rather than my head colour-wise, be wary of colours shown on computer screen, and to take heavy yellowing into account. < A second coffee wouldn't come amiss. V If you were offered to have a piece of furniture made for your doll, which piece of designer furniture would you ask for?
^ One of those hanging chairs or an extravagant victorian piece. < I said no more dolls but my housemates are getting dolls and convinced me to order with them. XD v Have you ever said no to buying new dolls?
^ I often find where there's a will, there's a way. I've turned down a last dale or too and regretted it, but I found what I wanted in the end. Fortunately , I have yet to have that one that got away forever. *Knocks on wood* > Ah, it is so nice to not be in financial distress. v Have any ones that got away, seemingly forever?
^ Not really! I've been maybe too successful in acquiring my grails lately. ^^; Oh well! It's nice to get lucky. < More dolls means more eyes! v Have you ever bought furniture for your dolls?
^ All kinds of it! My dolls need places to sit on their shelves, so they have an assortment of miniature garden benches and tiny Ikea furniture to sit on. I also have a couple of beds for (hopefully) photoshoot props in the future, if I can ever get a roombox built out... < This garlic butter chicken recipe is sooo good but the sauce doesn't keep well overnight, lesson learned v Where's the most surprising place you've found something for your dolls?
^ A feed store. They had really small buckles in their horse tack area and a little garden chair perfect for my tiny girl in their garden area. < I am starting my no refined sugar diet and I'm already feeling the urge to eat ice cream, lots and lots of it. v Same question: Where's the most surprising place you've found something for your dolls?
^ Thrift store turned up a pretty wooden chair for me one time. Usually I don’t find such a good 1/4 scale of Bjd things while thrifting. < super excited, we signed on a new (old) house very recently and they accepted our first offer too! No haggling - so pretty much a stress free house transaction so far. V what’s your ideal way to display dolls. Does that differ from how you currently do it?
^ Mine are on my dresser and on a pile of plushies near the bed. I really want to eventually have shelving in place to keep all of them, as I don't want any to accidentally go MIA, and the cats keep stealing wigs < ugh v What style of dolls do you tend to go for?
^ Very much the stylized and fantasy ones. I'm not big into the hyper-realistic for myself (love love love seeing photos of them! they just aren't for me), or the anime (see previous parenthetical, though I did actually order one of these recently...). For me it's all about that old-school BJD look that's somewhere in between. I'm finally getting into making fantasy clothes for some of them, too, which is a lot of fun! < I really need to prep for this online panel I'm doing... augh. How am I going to do this? v What did you feel least prepared for when you jumped into this hobby? What were you most prepared for?
^ I was literally prepared for nothing. N O T H I N G. I didn't know anything at all about BJDs, I read one Wikipedia article, and shopped around in the three or so companies I could find by googling, found Dollmore, bought my doll and couldn't even figure out how to change his eyes. I bought clothes I ended up selling eventually (when I finally got around to selling things) and he came with a wig and eyes that were the closest they had to what I wanted. It wasn't until I joined DOA that I finally started learning how to do things....it helps that the locals found me here right away, so then I had people who did know what they were doing whose brains I could pick. And I bought my second doll like a month after my first and I was even less prepared for him than i was my first! The only thing I had going for me was that, being an artist, I already had everything I needed to do a faceup other than MSC, which I bought pretty easily. My pastels weren't great, but they worked for beginner me. So really the only thing I was prepared to do was a faceup, which I didn't try until maybe 6-8 months after getting my first doll. > Some of my incomings have arrived, adding more blanks to the huge pile of heads I already have to do. How did this happen?? V What do you like doing best with your dolls? What do you wish you did more of?
^ I really enjoy coordinating outfits and dressing them up! I've gotten better about taking photos, but I'd like to do it more frequently. I've really improved my photography skills, though! I enjoy maintenance, but I rarely work on customization. I want to try to change that soon. < Sadly didn't win a chance to buy one of the Mori9 heads. :') v What do you think of lottery ordering periods? Have you missed out on dolls you loved or have you gotten lucky?
^ I hate lotteries and I haven't entered one (and hopefully never will). I have to keep the amount of money aside without knowing if I'm actually gonna receive anything or not. What if I miss out on another doll during that time because I'm holding out for the lottery results? < Faceup season is almost upon us! I have at least 3 dolls to paint that's so much ;__; v If you had the option, would you prefer to buy your doll clothes in a physical store or would you stick to online?
^ I would love to buy in a store. Buy at cons has allowed me to actually try stuff on. The only issue is options, but I also have that problem now, so... > This song is sooo good! v What songs make you think of your dolls?
^ Oh boy, Amano Tsukiko's Ningyou, hands' down. Ever since I heard it, it has since become my crew's theme song of sorts. The title alone means "doll," and the lyrics, if interpreted by a BJD owner, could refer to a doll singing about their wishes to make their special person smile. (The singer was also holding what looked like either a porcelain doll or an early modern BJD in the album art -- seen near the end of the video.) > Now I have a case of the earworms. v Passing the question down, what songs make you think of your dolls?
^ A lot of them are characters with playlists--I don't think I have a playlist or a song that captures all their characters, but Acyra's big Jam is song 3 by stone sour (I found it all in you...did I save you, cause I know you saved me too), and Vidania's would be the Flyleaf cover of something I can ever have (grey would be the colour if I had a heart (...) I just want something I can never have). Shrike's anthem would probably be Saving Us by Serj Tankian (It just has the right vibe, you know?), Aura's vibe is more the Joke's on You from BoP--which suits Zilvriia well too (God knows I've tried to be kind, but I won't just lay down and die). Dacrya's whole arc with all her siblings--Ness included reminds me of Blood in the water (Now I am the violence, I am the sickness, won't accept your silence, beg me for forgiveness). <I'm totally not doing this to procrastinate working on a paper... nope... V Your doll is now the protagonist in the last thing you watched/read/played--what happens?
^ The last fictional thing I watched was Great Pretender. That honestly sounds like it would be amazing fun. Elliot would be the hapless protagonist while my other dolls are all in on the con and love watching him squirm. > Word count done for the day. Now what? v Same question. Your doll is now the protagonist in the last thing you watched/read/played--what happens?
^ The last thing I read was a really obscure Jacobean play called The Humorous Magistrate ... Probably not something loads of people are excited to see my girl Shrike in, as it's just really obscure--I only heard about it through class, because my campus has one of 2 original manuscripts. But basically it becomes A local authority (Auratus?) is totally unwilling to let Shrike marry his daughter, Aura, so they run away and mayhem ensues. For a more conventional piece of media (and the second-most-recent), we have Aura the Vampire Slayer. Aura would have great Buffy vibes, even though Shrike is the character who does fighting. Aura becomes the slayer, and meets a mysterious vampire named Shrike, who starts off as her enemy--she and her partner Coris, until they team up once for a bigger threat. Shrike-as-Spike totally has the romance with her, the every night I save you and the I might be a monster but you treat me like a man and just all of those amazing Spike lines. Rather than getting a soul, she gives up her goddess-given powers from her original canon, and the line they put the spark in me and now all it does is burn becomes they took the spark out, so why am I still burning? Ness is Aura's watcher--come on, I can totally see them in Giles' costume, and they have the right kind of dynamic with Aura in their canon--Dacrya is Willow--especially when she gets out of control with her death magic and resurrects Aura, because she's a morally dubious necromancer already in her canon, so it's perfect! Auratus is the First, and he underpins the evil in the other seasons, until they have to fight him outright, When Shrike has the amulet and is going to burn out to save them, Aura refuses to leave her, and so there's the "I love you" "no you don't, but thanks for saying it." But Aura goes, "no. I see what you're doing. You want to push me away. You lost me a couple years ago, and you remember what it was like--I can't save you every night, Shrike. I need to save you now." Which really strikes Shrike--she didn't expect that, so Aura stays until the end, when Shrike admits that she loves her. Aura climbs out of the wreckage, and Ness and Dacrya are waiting on the edge of the crater, and it's a whole thing. <Warning for almost 2 decade old buffy finale spoilers, just in case! People watch it for the first time all the time V passing this along--it's been so fun to answer and read answers for: your doll is now the protagonist in the last thing you watched/read/played--what happens?
^ Well. That would either be Buffy the Vampire Slayer which I literally just got done watching - I think Alex would fit right in on account of he was more or less born from that fandom - or Sex in the City (which I'm binging in the bg as I work right now)... Poor John. I mean, he lives in NYC so he'd at least be in the right setting. But he's ace... But on the other hand he has no shame or inhibitions and is stupid-outgoing so he'd be a perfect fit with...anyone really. So I could probably shoe-horn him into that cast easily. He'd get fired from the show fast though. He's loud and obnoxious and doesn't shut up, so he'd overshadow everyone. Physically too, he'd be way taller than the whole cast. Like, by a lot. > Lol I've been back to the 90's - early 2000's for two weeks! I need to watch a new show for a while. V I'm going to pass it along too since I didn't detail my answer much - your doll is now the protagonist in the last thing you watched/read/played--what happens?