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.

Fall Fun

I ended up having to take a day of this week for a doctor's visit, and I manage to make it outside to snap a few photos since the day was nice. I have a lovely graveyard right near my apartment, and I took St. Christopher there for some fall photos.

She's not yet painted, but I still wanted to dress her up. Since all of the clothes I made were modeled on this body, they fit perfectly.

I found that MSD shoes fit the Obitsu body very well, which is nice since I have a few pairs of nice ones in that size. I've also looked into getting a few more through Mimiwoo, along with some additional body parts (alternate hands, additional chest pieces, etc).

Omake! A few shots of the graveyard, as it looked really lovely.

The new (much improved) St. Christopher!

Doll Stuff and Nanowrimo

Still working on a catch as catch can type of posting schedule as I deal with the continued health issues, but I do have some updates for today!

As we head into the end of October I've been starting to prepare for National Writers Month, or Nanowrimo. I've written about this here before, but for anyone new it's essentially a challenge to write a novel (50,000 words) in the month of November. This will be my sixth year participating, and I'm actually looking to do something completely different this time.  Normally I work on Emmanuel's story as it needs editing, re-writing, and of course continuing. However, this time I've decided to write about St. Christopher instead. So I've been doing my basic prep which includes getting my storyline and character notes together. As I've been doing that I've been looking to the doll for inspiration, and I've come to realize that the RS Mi just isn't jiving with my concept for St. Christopher.

It's not that she's not a beautiful doll because she is, but I think she might be too beautiful? The more I've been working with her, the more I've realized that she is a little too perfect for this character. St. Christopher is supposed to be a little odd in a few different ways, and the stunning beauty of the RS Mi sculpt just doesn't quite express that. I'm certainly going to keep her, but I think I will be shifting things a bit.

One consideration is modding her, which I may look into if the other plans don't work out. I've seen quite a few modded Mis (almost all of them really), and they look lovely. That though is a pretty big undertaking, so I will have to see if I really want to do that and how my health is overall.

I did do some browsing for a possible head sculpt, but initially I didn't find anything through the normal channels. I would almost prefer having a male head sculpt for her on the female body, but I didn't even see any male sculpts that spoke to me. Then I decided to explore another alternative that I've looked at before, but never had a particular character for.

I ended up on Junky Spot's page looking through their Obitsu heads, as I do have an Obitsu body, and RS NS is a good match for WS Obitsu. So I could keep Mi whole, or I could put the vinyl head on the resin body. I purchased a Gretel head and a pair of pixie ears as St. Christopher is supposed to have some distant elf lineage, and they were pretty cute. Overall the head and ears weren't horribly expensive either, so if I find that it doesn't work for St. Christopher, it's not as if it would be a great deal of money. I've also been toying with the idea of an elf character, and/or a character named October or something Halloween related. So she could do that as well. I'm still not sure if I'm going to use the Obitsu body or the Mi one, though I'm leaning towards the former because it's spectacularly poseable. Although if so, I will need to get some new hands as hers are a bit stained. The package should be arriving tomorrow, so I will have in-person pictures soon. For now though, these are the stock pictures of the head and the ears.

Happy Easter!

Easter of 2009 was the first time I ever made anything for my dolls.  I had just gotten my big boy (BBB Apollo) and he had nothing to wear. We were having friends over, and I didn't want him to be indecent for company, so I made him a simple shirt and pair of pants.  This Easter I didn't do any sewing, but I did want to snap a few pictures of some of my crew.  

Emmanuel grew up in a large family, a middle child among nine children.  They were extremely religious (his father was a religious leader), which caused a lot of problems for him. However, Easter was one holiday he enjoyed, with its focus on new life and light out of darkness.  He fled his family as a teenager, and while he doesn't really miss them, he does always get a little wistful around Easter.  Luna doesn't like to see people sad, so she keeps him company.  The two have a brother-sister relationship which Emmanuel really appreciates.

Sewing time!

I'm working on some new clothes for Luna this weekend, and here are some of the results. The shirt isn't done, I think I'm going to crop it a little more and I still need to do some hemming.  I have another dress in the works as well as a pair of pants/shorts.  More to come!

More Luna!

Doing some test posing just to see what kind of poses I can get her into.  She's really able to pose so naturally with this body!

New Beginnings

I've been hemming and hawing about Fumi lately, specifically her name. As I mentioned in the meme post, it just doesn't seem to fit with any of the world building I've done with her.  Nor does it really fit who she is now.  I chose Fumiko at the time because I wanted a Japanese name for her, and I liked one of the meanings I've found.  But as happens with some of my dolls, she's really outgrown it.

So, I've decided to give her a new name, one that will fit her much better.  It has some personal significance to me in connection with her arrival, and seems to make the most sense.  Out with the old, and in with the new.  Her new name is Luna. :)

Obitsu 60 Part II

Fumi on her new body!  Getting her head on there was a pain, but so worth it.  I will take some better shots in the light tomorrow, but here's a few as a preview. :)  This body is wonderful, and can really pose well, I can't wait to try it out.  I also realized that I have pretty much nothing that fits her. I have a lot of boy clothes, but they are all too big for this new body. She's got a pin-up dress coming in sometime, but I really need to make her something before then I think.  And now I can buy all the adorable girl shoes I want!

Obitsu 60 Box Opening!

It's here!  First a box picture, both of the doll box and the box from Junkyspot.

The metal plate for the body to stand on (the feet are magnetic).

A cute little gift! It glows when you flip a switch. 0.0

Eyes and a few more little gifts!

 Eyes for Fumi!

And the main attraction, the body!

I need to learn how to pose her, but this body is fantastic. And so light! I should get everyone an Obitsu...

The Junkyspot package

The new neck piece, which I will be installing her head on this afternoon.

Stay tuned for part two, where I put her head on the body!

The countdown begins now...

Fumi's body shipped on Saturday, and it should be here sometime this morning.  I also ordered a new neck piece from Junkyspot so that I won't have to mod Fumi's head at all (and so she can use both bodies).  That will also arrive this morning, so I will be able to put her together this afternoon once I get out of work! :)

**Edited to add**  Everything has now arrived! I wish I'd thought to bring Fumi's head with me so I could do some work with her, but I didn't think I'd have much time.  Oh well, she'll be whole by the end of the day.

Out with the old, in with the new!

I mentioned Fumiko's new body in the last post, but haven't talked about it much.  Obviously once it comes in I can take photos and such, but here's a little info about it now.

The Parabox line of bodies, including
the 60cm ball-jointed model.

It's the Obitsu 60cm ball-jointed female body in WS I believe, which is said to be a good match for Dollfie Dream NS.  I've had experience with smaller Obitsu bodies for my Pullips and Dals, but never for anything larger.  I did hold an Obitsue 60 once, way back when I first got into the hobby.  I went to my very first meet up, and a girl there had a stunning Obitsu in this fantastic dress, and I'm pretty sure I had stars in my eyes.  She let me hold her doll and even let me "squish" her tummy a bit as I'd never encountered one of the soft-bodied Obitsus.

Obitsu internal skeleton, the 60cm
ball-jointed model is on the right.

Obitsus are amazingly posable dolls, due in large part to their internal skeleton (pictured on the right) and their magnetic feet.  I think their most posable and aesthetically pleasing model is the 50cm, though I have no personal experience with it. Those I know who have them love them to death, and can't say enough good things about them (aside from the difficulty finding clothes/shoes).  I may eventually get Fumi a 50cm body too as it's far more "travel size" than the larger 60cm body.

Volks Dollfie Dream internal skeleton.

Dollfie Dreams also have an internal skeleton, but it is not as advanced as the Obitsu one.  Fumi is on the Dollfie Dream Dynamite body (the first, not the second edition), which has quite a few posing issues.  The aesthetics are great, but she doesn't sit very well, and her large hips/bust can cause some problems for natural poses.  I chose that body in particular because I loved the hips, but overall it's not great for posing.  I'd love if they would come out with a small bust option for the DDdy body so I could have those lovely hips but a smaller bust.  But the Obitsu 60 will at least give me more posing options and more clothing options.

I am slowly chipping away at Fumiko's new body, bit by bit...  Hopefully I will either be able to pay it off today or next Friday, and she will be able to pose like a master!

The Obitsu Problem

I love Arte's Obitsu (2-part soft body), but I hate Maggie's (21cm hard body). The latter falls apart constantly, and I had to resort to super gluing some parts so that they worked. Basically it was a nightmare. So this evening when I went to install her new eyes, I put Maggie back on her stock body.

Problems solved! It's obviously not as poseable as her Obitsu, but it lacks the annoying problems which is great. Now I won't feel so risky taking her out places again. Before I would have to constantly watch that her top didn't fall off her bottom! Well no more. :)

I also installed some new "animal eyes" i.e. safety eyes usually used for stuffed toys. They have a larger bulge than regular eyes so it prevents blinking, but Dals can't blink so it's perfect for them. Her new eyes are a very pretty golden amber color with foil backing that really makes them pop.