Dolls and more
Jan. 16th, 2015 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsLately I've been hearing the call of dollmaking.
Those few on my dwircle/f-list who've known me since my JFW days might remember that in university I made dolls quite a bit. Some of the crafts I did back then I've moved on from and never gone back (eg beading), but dolls are something I've never entirely had out of my head. I still get all inspired every time I flip through Anatomy of a Doll by Susanna Oroyan, and Runo's dollmaking website still makes me crazy after all these years.
(Of course I also had a phase with Super Dollfies and similar, which I now look back on like "What in the world was I thinking??" but where I went wrong there was in buying dolls instead of making my own. Making a BJD is a bit advanced for me at this stage, but it can be done...)
Not having made a doll in so long, I thought I'd start with something fairly simple and am making a version of Runo's Little Red Riding Hood. Basically, it'll be like the last image here, but the hair and face will be different.
And there's the catch. I'm making this blank doll body, but I haven't decided who (or what) to dress it as when it's done.
Suggestions?
(Note: suggestions for future dolls equally welcome; depending on skintone, costume, etc. I might need or prefer to start over.)
I am enjoying making it. I'm already planning tweaks to the pattern for the next one (maybe bigger feet, a more shaped torso, add a cranium to the head and redesign the arms, dang I forgot to buy doll joints when I went out...)
In other news...
I haven't been out of the house much lately, due to a dearth of stuff on my social calendar and an ill-timed bout of bad weather. It's kind of blah, I always feel better when I go out a bit more.
I was finally persuaded to dust off my intentionally-neglected Facebook account. I think I actually have enough friends to understand what it's good for this time around, although I'm still not really into it.
With the Winter anime season starting up, I kind of watched ANN's Preview Guide, but I didn't see anything that grabbed me. Either I'm not in an anime mood or it's not such great pickings this time; I suspect some of both. You guys see anything not-to-be-missed? (I know there's Kuroko's Basketball but I'm totally not caught up on it.)
After the last post, however, I did bolt all of the Cadfael TV episodes. For the most part I enjoyed them, and the books are on my to-read list now --- Open Library appears to have them all. I think "Virgin in the Ice" might still be my favorite; I especially liked "The Leper of St. Giles," too. The last season was a bit off in general, like they said "Oh, it's set in medieval war time it should be darker and dirtier and more unenlightened!" (which included giving Cadfael's Partner-in-Anti-Crime Hugh not only a new actor but a new and more philistine personality), and the very last episode, "The Pilgrim of Hate," is honestly not even worth seeing. Wikipedia summary confirms that it has f*ck-all to do with the book of the same title, and anyone expecting anything like said Wikipedia summary must have felt profoundly cheated when this thing aired; there was supposed to be a kind of reconciliation theme and a really cool character was supposed to make a repeat appearance, and instead it was somehow warped into a laughably cynical tale with nothing to do with anything and scarcely a sympathetic character or dram of narrative satisfaction to be found, turning on the flimsy axis of a freelance religious lunatic).
Going forward, I still need to watch the Call the Midwife DVDs I checked out from the Library. They also had Patema Inverted on the 7-day shelf, so I need to watch that this evening or tomorrow.
Those few on my dwircle/f-list who've known me since my JFW days might remember that in university I made dolls quite a bit. Some of the crafts I did back then I've moved on from and never gone back (eg beading), but dolls are something I've never entirely had out of my head. I still get all inspired every time I flip through Anatomy of a Doll by Susanna Oroyan, and Runo's dollmaking website still makes me crazy after all these years.
(Of course I also had a phase with Super Dollfies and similar, which I now look back on like "What in the world was I thinking??" but where I went wrong there was in buying dolls instead of making my own. Making a BJD is a bit advanced for me at this stage, but it can be done...)
Not having made a doll in so long, I thought I'd start with something fairly simple and am making a version of Runo's Little Red Riding Hood. Basically, it'll be like the last image here, but the hair and face will be different.
And there's the catch. I'm making this blank doll body, but I haven't decided who (or what) to dress it as when it's done.
Suggestions?
(Note: suggestions for future dolls equally welcome; depending on skintone, costume, etc. I might need or prefer to start over.)
I am enjoying making it. I'm already planning tweaks to the pattern for the next one (maybe bigger feet, a more shaped torso, add a cranium to the head and redesign the arms, dang I forgot to buy doll joints when I went out...)
In other news...
I haven't been out of the house much lately, due to a dearth of stuff on my social calendar and an ill-timed bout of bad weather. It's kind of blah, I always feel better when I go out a bit more.
I was finally persuaded to dust off my intentionally-neglected Facebook account. I think I actually have enough friends to understand what it's good for this time around, although I'm still not really into it.
With the Winter anime season starting up, I kind of watched ANN's Preview Guide, but I didn't see anything that grabbed me. Either I'm not in an anime mood or it's not such great pickings this time; I suspect some of both. You guys see anything not-to-be-missed? (I know there's Kuroko's Basketball but I'm totally not caught up on it.)
After the last post, however, I did bolt all of the Cadfael TV episodes. For the most part I enjoyed them, and the books are on my to-read list now --- Open Library appears to have them all. I think "Virgin in the Ice" might still be my favorite; I especially liked "The Leper of St. Giles," too. The last season was a bit off in general, like they said "Oh, it's set in medieval war time it should be darker and dirtier and more unenlightened!" (which included giving Cadfael's Partner-in-Anti-Crime Hugh not only a new actor but a new and more philistine personality), and the very last episode, "The Pilgrim of Hate," is honestly not even worth seeing. Wikipedia summary confirms that it has f*ck-all to do with the book of the same title, and anyone expecting anything like said Wikipedia summary must have felt profoundly cheated when this thing aired; there was supposed to be a kind of reconciliation theme and a really cool character was supposed to make a repeat appearance, and instead it was somehow warped into a laughably cynical tale with nothing to do with anything and scarcely a sympathetic character or dram of narrative satisfaction to be found, turning on the flimsy axis of a freelance religious lunatic).
Going forward, I still need to watch the Call the Midwife DVDs I checked out from the Library. They also had Patema Inverted on the 7-day shelf, so I need to watch that this evening or tomorrow.
