Busy month, and missed anniversary.

November turned out to be a busier month than I expected.  There was some personal, family-related issues going on, and then my best friend in the world (the one I have tattooed on me) came home for a week.  So I was on friend standard time, which mean lots of fun and very little sleep.  But she has departed for her side of the country with the promise to return for Christmas, and we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Something I did miss in this whirlwind of a month was Nowell's second anniversary with me.  He arrived about a month after Uriel on November 15th 2010, so he is officially two years old (with me at least) now!  So here are some fun facts about Nowell:

• He got his name from a Tori Amos song, "What Child, Nowell"
• He was my first real Volks doll. I did have a YoSD Suzuna before, but was really too afraid to do anything with her.
• He is the most well-traveled of all my dolls, even coming to Georgia with me once.
• He is my only white skinned doll, and probably will always be.  
• He was featured on the Volks blog once.
• He was part of a psychology presentation a classmate did for one of my school courses.

Right now he's sort of stealing a wig from Gabe, though I really like this combined with the eyes he stole from Uri.  Not sure if he'll keep both, but we'll see.  I really need to dig all his clothes out of storage so he can be as well-dressed as he should be. He and Uri have more outfits than I do, I swear.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

First attempt...

I like to make whatever I can for my dolls, but not all of my attempts are worth mentioning.  This is my first try at a fur wig, and I'm actually pleased with the results.  It's not perfect as the pattern is large for Uri's head, but it is better than I imagined it would be. :)  

Also feature are Uri's new eyes which are actually different than the website pictured them, but I still like them.

Monastery Shoot

I did end up taking Uriel to the monastery this week, though the grounds were a lot different than expected.  I did explore a small path that wound its way around the lake, and got some shots of Uri on the little bridges and the path itself.

Two Tiny Tattoos!

The crazier my life gets, the more I want tattoos.  So I crossed two small ones off my list yesterday.  

This one is a Grecian key symbol I’ve worn on a necklace for years.  I wear it to symbolize Hecate, and use it in a lot of my workings with Her.  I’ve used it as a protection charm, and it has helped keep me safe from all sorts of supernatural things.  I decided I might as well just get it tattooed on since I wear it all the time.  This way I’ll never forget the necklace and be without it.

The second is the signature of my best friend.  She and I have been friends for 20 years, and she is someone I love dearly.  I always promised I would get a tattoo for her, and joked it would be her name.  When we were little she would practice her signature, hoping to someday be famous and wanting to practice her autographing skills.  She developed a really unique style of handwriting that she’s barely changed, and I love it.  I couldn’t think of anything else that would be more representative of her.  They say I wear my heart on my sleeve…now it’s true. :)

Illness, outfits, and eyeballs oh my!

Alas Uriel and I were unable to attend the Voltaire concert over the weekend because my dog had some sort of odd, seizure-like episode the morning of the concert.  I wasn't about to leave him alone in case he had another bout of it, and unfortunately I had no one to cover.  So the three of us spent the day on the couch watching the Firefly marathon.  Not exactly a bad day, though it's no Voltaire concert.

That being said, Uri and I *might* go on a trip tomorrow if I can take some time off work.  My mother is headed to a Buddhist retreat center for the morning to take a tour of the grounds, and I may tag along with Uri and my camera.  They apparently have several beautiful acres with lots of statues and meditation areas.  Barring any weather issues, I might actually be able to get some shots of Uri with said statues.  I'm not sure why I so desperately want to take pictures of Uri with Buddha, but for some reason as soon as my mother mentioned the trip, I got very excited.

In other Uri news, he now has two new pairs of eyes on the way...eventually.  I custom ordered the first pair from Ersa Flora, but I realized seeing her "to do" list that it may be quite some time before they arrive.  No problem there, but I really need to have some different eyes for him in the mean time.  Somehow I've ended up with a lot of 14mm and 16mm eyes, but nothing in 18mm.  So Uri is making do with some eyes that are just a tad bit too small, and leave strange gaps in person.

As such I ordered him a pair of the eyes pictured above.  Some Mint on Card Inc glass ones in a pretty red-orange mix.  I *love* MoC's glass eyes.  They are relatively inexpensive, ship quickly (and from the US!), and are of great quality.  I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a cheaper glass eye cost wise.  They are even starting to branch out into some interesting ones with lines of color swirled into the pupil, and in my opinion they look just as good as some of the Volks ones.

Aside from that, not much has gone on in doll land.  Still waiting on some long-term commissions for Uriel, as well as looking for more time to complete the outfit I posted a teaser of yesterday.  I need more fabric among other things, but it's been hard to find just what I'm looking for.  To the thrift store!

Bjd Rant

Now I remember why Uriel has pretty much never had eyebrows.  THEY. RUB. OFF.  I spend more time painting the eyebrows than anything, and one or two clothing changes and there they go.  :/  Everything else remains fine, so it's not the sealant this time.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but still.  Now I have to go buy more rubbing alcohol to remove the eyebrows.

Preview

When I'm stressed, I make things.  Something about using my hands to craft helps calm me down.   had a pretty stressful weekend, so I decided to take yesterday afternoon to sew.  Here is a preview of a new outfit for Uri.

Nothing too new here in doll land.  My time has mostly been taken up by NaNoWriMo lately, which was going to be about Uri but as usual I changed my mind.  I did however give Uri a new face up because his prior one chipped.  Again. :/  I'm beginning to think that Testors changed more than their packaging as this is the second face up with this bottle of sealant that's bitten the dust.  But, he got his eye of Ra design back, so I suppose it's not entirely a bad thing.

I think I might be taking Uri out this weekend to go see Voltaire in concert.  He's a big fan of toys himself (he makes all sorts of neat custom and fs toys), and I think he'd like Uri.  I'd really like to get a picture with Voltaire and Uri if possible, so we'll see if that happens.

Haunted Vessel: Uriel Part III

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!  I spent most of the day working, and then went to my tattoo studio for a festive tattoo. Pictures to follow this post. :)  I thought I would do one last Haunted Vessel post for this October, even though the month is over.  who says the creepiness needs to be?

So a couple evenings ago I got ready for bed, and tucked Uri in across from me.  I have a very large bed and I only sleep on one side, so I will tend to keep dolls or books on the other.  The bed is big enough that I won't disturb whatever is on the other side, and it makes for easy grabbing if I'm reading a book before bed or doing something will my dolls.  So I wrapped Uri up in a blanket and tucked him under my big comforter on the other side of the bed.

I fell asleep, and ended up having a strange succession of weird dreams and nightmares.  The last one of the night was a nightmare, though I don't remember all the details of it.  Unfortunately I am not a lucid dreamer, and it takes a lot for me to wake myself up, if I even can.  So I am more often stuck in dreams until something else wakes me or they run their course.  That night I tried to wake up on my own but couldn't.

Suddenly I feel this tap on my forehead, both in the dream in in reality, and I woke up.  Immediately in my field of vision is Uriel's hand.  He was still on his side of the bed wrapped up, but one of his arms had been freed, and he was pointing it directly at my face.  The tap I had felt was that of his hand hitting my forehead.

There was no way I could have partially freed him in my sleep, let alone left him otherwise perfectly tucked in.  Uriel has showed up in my dreams on occasion, what's to say he didn't poke me to wake me up from my nightmare? :)