January crafts

Nothing grande though - my daily job started, and it naturally takes most of my time and energy. And after a long day at work, I still have household chores and other things to care for. Ah, the joy of being an adult...and of course if I have some extra time on weekdays, I'll continue my adventure in Dragon Age ;P

But I've made some things for the dolls:

A spiked hairband for Liduse, inspired by pastel goths. This wasn't very hard, but pulling the rubber string through the beads took their toll on my hands >_> (The string had to be quite thick so that the whole thing is sturdy enough). Well, what do they say, no pain, no gain...

And a commission through Etsy for a mint-coloured kitty hat in Jun Ai / Pocketfairy size. Suits Griselda so well that she might get her own too ^^

To my displeasure it seems that both my Pocketfairy girls need new strings...graah. I really don't like restringing, especially small BJDs, but they are getting quite hopeless. Could they just magically do it themselves? Pretty please?

Edit: I've been trying to improve my blog's labels because right now they are just a mess, but Blogger doesn't make it very easy :<

The moon goddess

Hecate has a new dress for the winter season. This is basically just a rectangle of green and gold fancy jersey fabric, but I did sew decorations and stuff for months when I had some extra time. So everything is hand-sewn...yep, I know. Inspiration came from Alphonse Mucha and Art Nouveau in general <3 Love those long simple flowy dresses. The materials are mostly sequins and a big moon charm which came from a broken (cheap Chinese) necklace.

Just in case someone wonders how she stands so bravely...there is a saddle-shaped doll stand hidden behind her hems xP I couldn't leave her to stand on her own - Epidia's claw hands have the most delicate fingers that need extra protection. Actually I switch to her regular Supergem female hands when she's not in photos, just because I'm very neurotic. I've broken well enough SD-sized hands to know when to be careful!

That mad she-wolf

Happy Ebay shopping brought me some new things: a photography background (damn that thing is impossible to get un-wrinkly!) and a stand, finally. Now I can photograph Hecate standing without having to fear for those precious claw hands. I'm quite sure they would go all over the place if she fell ^^; She also has new clothes that I bought and made - the corset top and the shrug are by yours truly. I love sewing on details ;3

They call Hecate "the butterfly queen" but she's really a mad she-wolf. Old, strong, smart, crazy and has a temper of a volcano. She surely brings chaos wherever she goes, but she's the most dedicated mother ever. One of my favourite characters, and I really should write about her, I know...

Roses for the tiny dragon

I recently finished yet another craft project: a new dress for my little Lami, Apsu.

The pattern was simple, but this still took a while because of all the embroidery. The symbol is called "the dragon's eye" - I picked it because it was easy to create and Apsu's character is a half-dragon. I used this tutorial to decorate the bodice, it's one of my favourites.

Apsu's new Mehiart eyes, pink like her aunt's! (Meital) She has some scale pattern around her eyes too. I should glue some eyelashes on...

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And a shot "behind the scenes" :D We have a small apartment so there simply is no room for a permanent doll studio - so I use a foldable reflector, stool and some boards I looted from a previous job. They go nicely behind our bookshelf when not in use. A good tripod is also very useful! This setup is easy to build where there is most daylight available and to store afterwards. I wouldn't mind having a permanent setup but it's not possible right now. Maybe in the future when we have a bigger home?

Roses, sequins, beads

Here are some shots of new hat designs I've been preparing. Okay, that PF-sized kitty rose hat is mine, but the rest are going to this year's Ldoll festival for sale. I'm really into making those ribbon roses now although mine aren't very tidy. I know the proper way of making 'em, but I'm lazy, so I just usually take some ribbon and whip it around. I think they look better with some, uh, chaos added xD (and usually when I'm around, there's plenty of chaos!)

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Tallinn was great again! We visited all those three big craft stores, Karnalüks, Abakhan fabrics and Kangadzungel. This time we took a taxi from the harbour to the are where the stores are located and shopped to our hearts' content! I got some new lace, yarns (this time no mint green!), embroidery threads, random sewing accessories like buttons and uh...tons of beads and sequins which are so cheap in Tallinn it's not even funny ;3; Afterwards we went to have some coffee and snacks at local Stockmann's cafe which is a nice place, fair prices and tasty stuff, and it was almost empty even they had of course their local Hullut Päivät.

Then we walked to Virukeskus and shopped some random things, I got myself a bright neon yellow Konad nail polish and earrings from Hello Kitty store. After picking up some salad and random refreshments it was time to head to our ship cabinet, eat, relax and admire our purchases. Definitely an awesome trip!

I put some photos of my purchases to my Tumblr as I think they have much better photo interference than Blogger :-3

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And now I have many small projects to finish o/

Mint chocolate's my favourite

I finished a small amigurumi bear for my dolls yesterday:

The pattern is from here, easy to follow and very simple. I wanted a mint chocolate theme. The yarn is from Estonia, I had to stock it up because it's just the perfect shade, and I want to knit more mint stuff for the dolls. I purchased a bunny pattern too from a different seller (I cannot crochet without patterns at all, I don't know why it's so hard :D), so it will be my next project. Please also notice Unni's new great hair from Formydoll. I love their vintage green!

Ehm, nothing new grand here. My Gravity from Aria arrived, but I had to order a new head for him right away. Awesome sculpt, yeah, but the head is t-i-n-y. It's MSD-sized, only the face is longer. I might be able to live with that, but his character is supposed to be Niko's brother, and Niko is CP's Dreaming Shiwoo...yep, those two just don't work together, and there is no way they'll look anyway related xD Actually none of my SD-sized dolls look like they'd be in scale with him :B Luckily I found another head which is larger and should work with his body, so we'll see, we'll see...

Sometimes I wish I didn't care about doll backgrounds, stories and characters so much xD Oh well, live and learn!

On Thursday I visited Estonia's craft stores again and came back with stuff. We'll visit them again in few weeks. I'm planning to purchase tons of lace that time, this time I mostly bought sequins and embroidery threads. And lace, of course, but not as much.

But where to get time and inspiration to actually do something with all the stuff I buy? :D

Oh sweet Estonia

I visited Tallinn yesterday with Xaya and our spouses. Our idea was to check out their local craft stores, and oh boy, oh boy *_* Well, the photo tells it all. The selection was superb, and the prices were great, so I bought a ton of stuff, especially mohair yarn skeins :3 The fabrics were not much cheaper than in Finland, but everything else, especially laces, beads, sequins...my muscles still hurt from dragging all that back home, but so worth of it! Can you maybe spot what's my favourite colour these days? ;)

Yeah, it's mint green. We're already planning the next trip since I ran out of space and couldn't concentrate on their laces very well. And now just need to think what to do with all this stuff!

Jos joku kaipailee neuvoja miten noihin aarreaittoihin pääsee Tallinnassa niin kysellä saa :) Kävelymatkan päässä keskustasta löytyy Tarton maantien varrelta kolme isoa kauppaa, joista etenkin Karnalüks on melkoinen paikka.

All kinds of crafty projects

I made myself a little promise to update my blog every week even if it feels I haven't done anything special and epic. I would love to (well, as "epic" as my dorky doll characters go) but alas, I still haven't got any great ideas how to continue my story projects. So their winter hiatus shall continue until I come up with new ideas and how to turn them into the form of a BJD photo story. That isn't always so simple ^^;

But meanwhile I've played with the smaller ones and done some craft projects:

I was commissioned to create a pair of harem pants for Soom Little Gem boy, ice/winter/cold theme. I wanted something similar that Soom does but with my own style, and I am personally quite happy how these turned out. And so was the buyer <3

And a pair of dresses for the sugar twins, similar materials and the same pattern but yet slightly different. The sets should have small beaded necklaces as well, but I need to find smaller locks to use :3

Needles have sung

I of course forgot to photograph the pile of knitted hats I made for Ldoll, but here's one sample of some of the new designs. I love all things striped and circus-themed as I'm quite sure you've already noticed ;3



And I finished Idris' first outfit, consisting of a corset top and lace skirt. I think I've found her colour scheme, it's creamy and quite natural. Yay!