Update: To Catch A Fire

Okay, so I had the baby boy, August 4th, 6lbs 13ozs!  Totally cute, keeping me up, spoiled rotten, brothers and sister love him, got my body back, slightly sleep deprived, but unpregnant, yey me!  I'll put up pictures at another time, because I'm here to talk about the progress that I've made on my bjd sculpt.

So I was totally bummed out because I'm seeing all these wonderful artists who are sculpting dolls and making progress and I haven't made any.  I keep researching and seeing all their beautiful dolls, getting so jealous I could hardly stand myself.  So two things in particular lit a fire under my butt and I have finally gotten back to work and decided that I'm not stopping until I have a doll.  I don't care how long it takes me, but every free moment I get, I am going to see this through!  I want this too bad not to bust my butt to get it.  So yes, I now have a high schooler, a middle schooler, an elementary schooler, a preschooler, and a newborn, but I'm going to somehow find the time to fulfill my dream of making this doll dag gone it!  I'm determined!

So I mentioned that there were two things that inspired me to just do it.  First, I stumbled across this doll artist who has made the cutest little brown girl!  Her name is Lidia Snul and her sweet little Kroby made me want to finish my own brown girl so badly!  She is so unique and amazing.  Then, my girl LB put up a foot sculpting tutorial on her blog which is also totally awesome.  Lauren does an amazing job describing her methods and makes feet that look so yummy you just wanna lick the computer screen!

So after watching that "fifty leven" times, it was on and poppin!  I sculpted my feet, which kind of look like chunky troll feet to me prior to sanding, but I'm hoping once I sand them down, they'll look more humanly.  I was totally avoiding feet until Lauren made this tutorial so I'm just proud that I attempted to make the little suckers!  They are cute in their own little troll like chunky way.

Before baking

After baking

Oh yeah, and you've never seen the working sketch that I'm basing the sculpt off of, here she goes:

I also decided once matching up what I had with the sketch, that the face needed more work.  Well, everything needs more work.  So I added to the top of her head, gave her more of an eyelid and added some of that fatty meat above the eyelid.  I also added more meat to her nose and her lips.

Before baking

After baking

So there you have it.  She's coming along.  I am so happy.  Sleepy, but happy.  Now I'm working on the legs, which I've cut in half and added the hip joint.  I need to refine that and make a peanut joint, which will take some time because I have no idea what I'm doing.  I bought some really fine sandpaper and I'm ready to smooth her out so she looks prettier and so she can "show me what's she's workin wit"!  So stay tuned and wish me luck, because as you can see, I've got a lot on my plate . . .

 

I get tired just looking at the picture, lol!

To all my fellow artists, thanks for the inspiration, keep on keeping on so I can stay motivated to do the same!  Peeeeeeaaaaaacccccceeee!

BJD in progress: Part 1-Very Rough Draft

So I mentioned that I love ball jointed dolls and that it's my lifelong dream to create my own dolls based off the characters in the graphic novel that I'm in the process of writing.  Well, shout out to Lauren Brevner, my new "brainstorming buddy", who has inspired me to have at it again.  You should totally check out her blog, she's amazingly talented and in the process of creating an epic ball jointed doll as we speak.  Her progress has inspired me to "Just Do It!"

I started this laborious, time consuming, and at times downright daunting journey back in October when I decided to create a ball jointed doll based on the main character in my book.  I sculpted five heads out of Living Doll Sculpey and only one came close to looking similar to my main character "Israel".  I used this clay because I heard it was good for making dolls, but mainly because it comes in my complexion, Terracotta Brown.  Let's face it, when you're looking for ball jointed dolls, ethnic ones especially, are hard to come by.  In fact, there are few beautiful dolls period that represent girls of color.  Since my main character is loosely based on me, I wanted her features to be loosely based on me at her age, and I'm a proud terracotta brown!  I always grew up wishing there were more dolls that looked like me, with hair and features like mine.  Maybe I would have thought I was more beautiful back then, instead of comparing myself to the dolls that I played with who looked nothing like me.  So now, it is really important for me to expose my daughter and other little girls to more variety and diversity in the story book characters and the dolls that they grow up with.

Back to the heads, which ended up turning into eight heads, then I threw one away because she was just that ugly . . . and then there were seven.  But this one head still remained the best out of seven.  here's Israel, the chosen one, or should I say, the chosen head, in her rough stage.

Now I don't have any idea what I'm doing, I'm just feeling my way through all of this.  I'm reading books here and there and looking at tutorials but I'm clueless when it comes to bjd sculpting.  It's not really something you can learn by reading or watching, you can only learn it by doing it, experimenting, failing miserably, and pressing forward.  I'm all for experimentation, but I'd rather take a master class!  Hence the reason why I neglected her little head for months.  But that hasn't kept me from adoring all of the wonderful artists I have come across in my research, who are attempting and pushing through the pain of figuring it out.  I'm constantly looking at their photos, saying "I wish I could do that someday!"  Then came Lauren.  When I saw what she was working on, I finally buckled down and said, "I have to do this, NOW!"  All it took was a little motivation and a lot of inspiration.

I am now pleased to report that I have more than a little rough head.  I now have a rough torso, two rough arms, and two rough legs!  Holla at your boy!!!!!!!  Here are the pics of my progress.  She needs sanding, and I still need to sculpt feet, hands, and the (dun dun dun: scary music) dreaded ball joints that I have no idea whatsoever how to make.  But I'm determined to figure it out!  Enjoy the flicks and let me know what you think.  Then say a few prayers, cross your fingers and toes, send me good cyberspace vibes,

and just maybe . . .  maybe I might end up with a real working ball jointed doll . . . eventually.  

Keep hope alive!

"See ya next time, maybe then I'll have hands!"

Destiny's Designs: Persistence Pays Off

Destiny:  AHEM!

Me:  Just where do you think you're going all dressed up?

Destiny:  Shopping.

Me:  And how are you gonna get there?

Destiny:  You could give me the keys . . .

Me:  Yeah right!

Destiny:  Or I could just wait until you get dressed.

Me:  That sounds like a better plan!

Destiny:  I can shop online while I wait.

(It takes me an hour to get dressed)

Me:  You ready?

Destiny! What did you do to your hair?

Destiny:  I wanted Rihanna ringlets . . .

Destiny:  So I googled it.

Me:  Rihanna ringlets?!  What did you do?!

Destiny:  What?  We have the same red hair!

Me:  Let me see that laptop!

Me: Hmmm. She is kind of fly.

Destiny: I know!  Can you help me take my curlers out?

Me: You mean straws . . .

(several minutes later)

Me: Wow!

Destiny: Let me see!

Destiny: Oh yeah! Rihanna ain't got nothing on this!

Destiny: Let me jazz it up a little.

Me: (shaking my head) I'll be waiting in the car.

Destiny: I'm ready for my close up! 

Me:  Finally.

Me: Who are you calling?

Destiny: Gotta call Savi . . . (her best friend Savannah)

Destiny: Hey girl! Yes! It came out perfect!

Destiny: Okay Savi, gotta call you back.  Let's go Mom!

Me: You look fabulous! Where to?

Destiny: Thanks! Let's go to the fabric store!

(To Be Continued)

Nadia the Navigator: The Little Bored Beauty

Nadia: SIGH!

Me: What's wrong Nadia?

Nadia: I'm bored.

Me: Well, you look beautiful bored!

Nadia: Thanks Mom.(with a hint of sarcasm)

Me: It's beautiful outside.

Nadia: Can we go out? Please!

Me: You changed your clothes!

Nadia: These are my play clothes, can we go outside, please? Please!

Me: That was fast! Okay, let's go.

Nadia: I think we should move these in the sun.

Nadia:  Look at that!  I love the color purple.

Nadia:  They smell good too!

Nadia:  That breeze feels good.

Nadia:  Look!  A wild strawberry!

Nadia:  The view is great from up here.

Nadia:  Will you build me a tree house?

Me: LOL! Not today!

(To Be Continued)

Ball Jointed Dolls: The Dollhouse

The best hobby in the world is collecting ball jointed dolls. At least in my world. I love them. I've been drawn to dolls since childhood, but these dolls are the coolest form of artistic expression that I've experienced thus far. My favorite doll artists are:
Marina Bychkova
Kaye Wiggs
and I've recently stumbled across Dorote

That rounds out my top three favorite doll artists. These women have inspired me to dive into this art form with both feet.

I currently own two of Kaye Wiggs' YOSD dolls. Meet Nadia Tillie and Destiny Millie:

You'll see more of these little dream girls soon!

I salivate over Marina's enchanted dolls frequently. And I admit that I'm tirelessly stalking Dorote's blog to see what she's gonna come up with next! I long for the day when I will be able to afford all the dolls that have stolen my heart! Until then, I'm taking a stab at designing my own. These precious little beings have real personality and are a joy to photograph. I believe that just like fairies . . . they live! Shhhhhh, it's a secret.