Der-bear Comes Out

I decided to take Derek or "Der-Bear" (yes, named after that werewolf) out with me. He's one of my favorites, but I don't tend to photograph him as much.

Desk friend: Zeus!

I named my Jolteon Zeus because how could I not? Just look at that face!

Doll News

This week I'm waiting for some new parts for St. Christopher to come in, specifically a chest/abdomen piece for the Obitsu body. The character of St. Christopher in the original form is meant to have a specific physique, and is meant to be agender. I often use "she/her" as it's applicable to the character's story, but "they/them" is also correct. In particular I wanted their body to look a certain way, but that's not always easy to find. I considered modifying the RS body, but I don't really have the space or the materials needed to do that, so I'm going a slightly different route. The pieces should arrive Thursday of this week, so hopefully I'll be able to put them together and find a workable solution.

Obitsu 55cm "boy" chest piece.

Obitsu 55cm "boy" body.

I'm curious to see if I like the Obitsu Gretel head still, or if I'll want to switch back to the RS Mi head on the Obitsu body (RS and Obitsu match). I'm going to try the Obitsu first as I already have it screwed on to the mechanisms and it's a pain to put back on. Pictures will follow once the package arrives.

Project Bears

 Over the past week I decided I wanted to work on some new projects, one of which required a teddy bear. I happened to find these two fellows at thrift stores, and I set about cleaning them up and working on them.

Project Bear #1. 

I didn't end up using him for my initial plans, but I think I will work him into something else. Here he is after having his stuffing removed and being washed/air dried.

Project Bear #2

I ended up using this guy for my original plans as he fit the look I was going for much better. He is an older BaB, initially released in 2007. He began life as a Lil' Honey Cub, but I had bigger plans for him. I removed his stuffing and washed him, though he took much longer to dry because of his thick fur.

The hearts of Project Bear #1 (left) and Project Bear #2 (right). 

 Once dried he became...

 Bowie Bear!

My inspirations for Bowie Bear.

Eeveelution Outfits

For those of you familiar with my other accounts (Instagram or Tumblr), you'll know that I also do a lot of fashion and outfit of the day posts. My Tumblr is a full time fashion blog with a wide variety of styles being featured. I do like to craft outfits around themes or certain aesthetics, and when I picked up my eeveelutions it gave me an idea: Eeeveelution outfits! So far I've done a few, with more planned in the future. I want to try and focus on colors as well as the themes of each.

Sylveon for example has pink, white, and blue for its colors, and has a theme of love. So I put together this outfit with some Sailor Moon jewelry and a heart spotted shirt.

Next is Vaporeon who is my favorite (shhh, don't tell the others!). Vaporeon is blues and white, with an obvious water/sea theme. 

I also have some Gengar themed outfits coming as I hinted at in a prior post, so stay tuned for more pokefashion!

The dark rites of Eevee...

I started working on some new shelving for my apartment this weekend, in part because I wanted a place to tuck my plush when they're not being carried off somewhere. The Eeveelutions are one such group that seems like they need to be displayed, so I created them a little cubby on one of the shelves. And added a (fake) candle as I had them on all shelves. Turned off the lights and....oh...that's a little creepy.

Come play with us...

Haku arrived!

My plush Haku arrived earlier this week and I was able to pick him up yesterday. For those unfamiliar with Spirited Away, you should go watch it now. I'll wait.

He is a chibi plush version of Haku the dragon who is one of the supporting characters of the story. His real form looks like this:

His chibi form looks like this:

He is super soft and squishy, and randomly he smells really nice. He s meant to be a cross between a plush and a pillow, though I don't think I would use him as a pillow very much. He needs to "breathe" a little more as he was packaged very tightly, but otherwise he looks great!

Pardon the wet hair, but look how cute he is!

Ooky Spooky

Incoming Friend: Haku

I decided on a whim to search for Spirited Away plush, mostly out of curiosity if anything existed. I've seen some spectacular handmade plush (including some giant Haku!), but not much in the way of merchandise. I did find some very neat plush of some of the supporting characters, and then this plush of Haku.

It sort of does double duty as a plush and a neck pillow as it's made to sit around your neck. I think it would be fun for cosplay purposes, but also just because it's an adorable chibi version of Haku. He should be arriving tomorrow, though I may not be able to pick him up until later this week.

Gengar's Conundrum

Gotta catch em all!

Well may not them all, my apartment isn't that big.

I liked Pokemon a lot as a kid (a lot, a lot), though I mostly collected the cards. I loved the idea of plush, but tended to want plush of characters that weren't being made at the time. I did have a giant Meowth I got from a white elephant sale, and a very tiny Eevee plush. Aside from that I had some homemade plush that unfortunately didn't live to see today. Now though they make plush of everyone, and they're fairly prevalent online and in store. My dream is to go to a Pokemon Center someday and explore the even wider range of cut plush offered there.

This weekend I have added two new friends to my collection, with the potential of a third depending upon if I fall into the trap of Amazon (Prime is wonderful, terrible thing). The first is a small Eevee who could be the younger sister of Howl.

She's so tiny! Her name is Eevette 

She sort of fit into the inner pocket of my coat,

so I carried her around like that for the rest of the night.

Eeevee on the move!

Then while I was out doing some pre-work pre-snow storm shopping, I stumbled upon this fellow. One of the Pokemon plush accounts I follow on Instagram has a very charismatic Gengar for a mascot, so I couldn't help but stop and look at him.

If I was a Pokemon trainer I think I'd probably have some ghost type on my team given that our preferred hang out locations coincide. Gengar also seems like cuddly trouble, at least in this form. I'm still deciding between a few names for him. I'm actually also working on a ghost themed coord for a party next month, and I think he'd be a good companion to take along!

Nashuat and Creativity

I've felt a little disconnected from my dolls this past year, which I think has been evident in this blog and some of the art I've been making. It's not to say I don't like the hobby any longer, I just haven't been feeling the spark I've had in the past. I did really enjoy getting items together for my Resinsoul Mi, but as often happens with female dolls, I realized she wasn't a good fit for my personal collection. She's beautiful and I may try and re-work her again at some point, but for now she's on hiatus.

That being said, I really do want to do more with my dolls. One of my resolutions this new year is to make more art, and dolls fall into a few different categories. I do have a new camera which I think will be especially good for the small details of bjds. I've contemplated changing my collection too through trades or sales, though I haven't come to any absolute decisions regarding that yet. For now I want to try and work with what I have to rediscover some of the spark.

Hello there you creepy little creature.

Case in point, I pulled out Nashuat (Dollzone Carter) from dolly limbo this week. I find him to be really physically lovely, and he's a pretty darn good poser. So I thought he'd be a good place to start. The new Dollzone msd body is one of my absolute favorites ever. It has gorgeous lines aesthetically speaking, but also in a practical sense. He poses very naturally, and has a great system of double joints that allow him to stand, slouch, and do everything in between. (Check out his box opening here for more detail pictures of the body.)

I brought him to work today, so he's nestled between my computer screens.

I also like him because he's sort of a blank slate when it comes to styling. His character is somewhat loosely formed, but has surprisingly never changed since I got him. I always pictured him as an imaginary friend of sorts, with the ability to change his appearance as it suits him. So he doesn't have set hair or eye color. This can be fun as it means I have a lot more leeway to play around and put him in things that I might not ever use for other dolls. Right now he's wearing the eyes he came with and a wig from Unstrung Hero BJD. I would like to get him different eyes, or at least try some others on if I could just find my eye bag. The things you say as a bjd collector...

Of course I chose to do this during finals and deadline week at work, but hopefully I can take him out this weekend to get some shots. Even unpainted he's rather creepy cute, though a new face up will come soon.