Long posting lag is looooong.

I would like to say that I have a good excuse for not posting, but it's mostly just due to being too exhausted from work.  I love the new job I'm in, but it completely kicks my ass.  I've barely even done anything with Uri at all since I started it, aside from sewing a few things here and there.  But we're getting closer to the anime convention and it's time for me to get my butt back into gear!

So far I have at least one costume done, another mostly together, and a third in the planning stages.  As for Uri, I have probably one done, and two in planning.  If all goes well I'll be putting together another this evening.  So no pictures of his thus far, but I do have one of mine.  Here's a crappy shot of my Kaylee Frye costume from Firefly.

Yay for nighttime pictures after finishing sewing.  I dyed the jumpsuit myself, made the patches by hand, and found the shirt as a happy coincidence at a thrift store.  Uri should be going as Jayne with me, but I have to get his costume done.

I also recently found some beautiful vintage dresses at a thrift store, and I think I'm going to use one for another costume with Uri.  It's long and flowing and white, so I think I'm going to go as a bride of Dracula, or perhaps his victim.  I'll need bite marks for me, and perhaps fangs.  And Uri will have to be nicely dressed up.  Perhaps without his wig (Nosferatu ftw).  But that is still in the planning stages. So there is more to come!

And since it's almost October, it's just about time for the Haunted Vessel posts.  This year I'd like to open up the floor to anyone who has had a paranormal experience with their dolls, or really any toys (or objects if you like).  Feel free to submit your story to me via comment, or if it's particularly long I can give you an e-mail.  I am also happy to accept stories and post them anonymously, so your name doesn't need to be on it.

Cosplay Preview- Mini Party Poison!

This is just a preview of the jacket, but since that's a huge part of the costume, it's kind of a preview of the cosplay too. :)  Uri and I have cosplayed as killjoys before, but not with his own real outfit.  Technically we both have our own killjoy personas (Baby Berzerker for me, After Burn for him), but since I have the Party Poison jacket, I wanted a PP cosplay for us as well.  

So this is the jacket I've been working on for the last couple of weeks.  It's based off a pattern from Undead Threads for a trench coat/duster, but I shortened it.  The details were hand sewn in felt, and the Dead Pegasus patch was embroidered on.  It technically still needs the lighter blue strips on the sleeves, but I totally forgot about those when I bought the fabric, and therefore I didn't buy the felt.  So when I hit the craft store next that will be remedied.  For now it's looking pretty good though.  As a note, the jacket actually sits right, I just forgot to fix it for the photos.  So it's not really uneven.

More to come as the cosplay progresses! 

New face up!

I repainted Uri last night, after he spent a few days with no face.  I really like this new look, though I may be making a slight modification and resealing part of it.  It's not perfect, but it's all part of the process. His eyes are very similar to a way I've been doing my own eye make up lately, which is sort of ganguro inspired, somewhat panda, and all random. :)

30 Day BJD Challenge- Day 16

16). What is your favorite item of dolly clothing?

I think I have too many to pick one favorite, but here are a few I really like.

This outfit shows two favorite items, the new sweatshirt I referenced in the last post (which I've been wanting forever), and my favorite pair of dolly jeans.  They fit Uri perfectly, and are really nicely detailed.

This shirt is actually Uri's as well, but I don't have a good shot of him wearing it.  It's a copy of a shirt I have, so when we wear them we match.

This was a dress I got off a doll at Goodwill.  Unfortunately the doll was damaged, but she was beautiful.  She was actually made by a local doll maker, and her entire outfit is handmade.  There is an underskirt/petticoat and little bloomers under there as well.  Extremely detailed, and really beautiful.

30 Day BJD Challenge- Day 12

12). Dollie shoes!  Show us how many you have!

For someone who loves her own shoes very much, I have surprisingly few doll shoes.  In fact, Uri really only has two pairs he wears somewhat regularly.

He has this pair of pseudo converse in black.

And my very favorite boots of his, the super goth platforms.

Arashi is the only other one with nice shoes, but they are pretty awesome.  They are sort of like New Rock boots, and this pair has red metallic flames.  Some of my favorite shoes, dolly or otherwise.

30 Day BJD Challenge- Day 10

10). Post a picture of a doll and an animal.

I didn't even have to post this one.  I just plopped Uri down and asked Bear to come over, and he rolled right onto Uri's lap.

It's a good thing this blog isn't a living thing, or I'd be charged for neglect. :/

Thankfully my reasons for being away are mostly good.  Two very good friends of mine got married, and I was sort of overtaken by wedding prep and parties.  There were dress fitting parties, pre-wedding party parties, a day of pampering with the bride, the wedding, pre-honeymoon party, and finally a post wedding party.  All of which were very fun, but I kind of pushed everything else to the side for those weeks (month?!).

But I'm back now, though without much to offer up.  No new photos of the boys yet, or even any projects.  I've been fairly lazy.

The one thing I have been doing is playing and singing a lot of music, both original and cover songs.  I actually have a lot written about Uri's storyline, and a little bit about Ghost.  But I don't have much of that recorded.  Instead have a video of me playing one of the song's on Uri's mix: Sympathy for the Devil!

Still alive, just stolen away by work and illness.

Doll, doll, doll!

I didn't want to post anything about this until I figured out if it was actually going to happen or not, but it looks like I may be getting my "grail" doll.  I use quotation marks there because I never thought I would actually get one.  Not because of cost or limited availability, but more because I just didn't see myself getting any more dolls.  But...

If I had one "regret" about Uri, if you can even call it that, it's that he's not a Volks doll.  Now for clarification...I'm not saying Volks are better than anyone else.  I simply prefer Volks dolls over others.  Again, my preference, not a statement about the quality of any other dolls.  They have just been my goal since I got in the hobby, and the more I've experienced them, the more I realize they have the perfect feel for me.  My current collection is almost all Volks dolls, and I like the continuity of that.  Plus, if/when I go to Japan or the Volks store, I could only take Volks dolls with me.

So I decided to look for a substitute head for Uri that was a Volks model.  Ideally I wanted one of the four sisters molds, specifically Megu.  Technically they are all the same face sculpt with different aesthetics, but I always think of them as Megu.  She has been my Volks love forever.  I almost ordered one a few years ago from Volks directly, but ended up not doing so because of the cost.  And yeah, even the heads on the after market are quite expensive.

I had almost give up hope when I saw a thread for on old four sister's head on a boy body.  Old, yellowed, bit of damage, but still lovely and reasonably priced.  So I PMed the seller and waited.  She just got back to me a little bit ago, and it looks like he's still available, so I'm waiting on a shipping quote!

Now, for dolly plans...Ideally I want this to be another version of Uri.  I've done a small version of him once which I liked, but I've always wanted other big versions of him.  He's the only doll who is so interchangeable with looks that I think it can be pulled off.  Just get him the right eyes, do a matching face up, and I think we'll be in business.  I am not planning on replicating Uri's mods on the Volks head, but I think that with the face up that should be enough.  I would like to purchase a second pair of matching eyes, but for now I might use the originals or a spare pair depending on how things go.

I am not however completely against the notion that the doll might have a different character instead.  I figure it's best to leave things open just in case, that way I'm not surprised or disappointed if they go one way or another.

The Haunted Vessel: Symbols

Symbols, like names, can be very important in magic workings.  They can be used for any number of purposes, from stating a name to protection.  The symbol may be painted, carved, tattooed, or otherwise marked, but it's meaning remains the same.

I have a protective symbol tattooed on my chest, a picture of which I posted here before.  In my practice it's associated with the goddess Hecate (Greek goddess of the crossroads, magic, and spirits among other things).  I used it as protection from all that goes bump in the night, and for the occasional magical working here and there.

On one of the supernatural doll stories threads on DoA, a conversation began about marking dolls.  One girl said that each of her dolls had two marks, one general protection symbol and one more specific to them.  Others discussed the notion that because dolls are empty* it's a good idea to mark them to protect from possession.

Up unto this point I had occasionally marked dolls with tattoos or sometimes with jewelry, for example Uri has a scale pentacle.  But I like permanent marks, especially when it comes to the paranormal (less room for error), so I decided to mark my boys.  Uri and Nowell now both have matching marks to the tattoo I have on my chest.  I modified theirs slightly to add another piece, so it basically looks like an equal arms cross
(another Hecate symbol) descending into the Grecian key I have.  I did it with a small exacto knife, so the marks are thin but definitely there.  If I wanted to I could blush them, but I think I like them as is.

*Dolls are considered "soulless" vessels in many cultures/religions. Some suggest that a doll could over time gain a soul, by magic or by intense love/involvement of their owner.  Others use dolls as protection against wandering spirits. If a spirit comes calling, it would be more likely to possess the empty vessel than a child.

Nothing very productive going on in my world of dolls.  I did give Uri a new face up the other day, and it's probably my most favorite one for him so far.  It's not exactly realistic, it's very pale and soft, but I love it.  It kind of makes me laugh because he's the doll that's always had such crazy face ups, and suddenly I want him in neutral colors.

What I really need to do is re-suede the poor boy, which might happen tonight.  I haven't sueded him again since I first got him, which will be two years next month.  The last of the sueding came off his head with his last face up removal, so it's time. He's also insanely kicky because I like my dolls strung very tightly, so some sueding would help calm that down a bit.

Fall has finally begun to show it's face where I live, and I can't help but be a little bit giddy.  The weather is beautiful; chilly and sunny with a little sweet smelling breeze.  I can layer to my heart's content, and I finally dragged my favorite over-sized brown sweater out from its hiding place.  I am a very happy lady.

In other news, since I always update here when I get a tattoo...I got a new tattoo! It had been a little over six months since my last one, and with bills paid off for the month I was ready.  The image has a lot of very personal meanings to me, but aside from that it is based on a song written by a friend of mine.  His song is called "Widow's Gun," and is an interesting, somewhat dark tale of a woman.  I always got a very specific image in mind of the gun when he sang, although the song itself is a bit ambiguous about whether the gun is real or metaphorical.  However I really wanted to do a little more work on my music sleeve, so this came to be.*

I'm not a gun buff by far, though that's mostly because I have never really been around them.  I have a big soft spot for the older guns, specifically engraved revolvers.  There is something poetic about a thing of beauty being so dangerous.  Plus all the time and energy that went into these works of art just blows me away.  My particular design is based on my own mental image, and an antique gun wielded by Betty Grable in a movie called "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend."  Talk about a beautiful gun:

*Note: It's very hard to take a picture of your own arm, especially while trying to keep it straight. Hence why some of the tattoo looks funky or the lines look warped.  I can assure you that in person they're not. :)

Mori Uri

Spent last night working on a new mori outfit for Uri.  The bloomers are the same from the previous outfit, the top I made from an old linen shirt I had bought years ago at Goodwill.  I *love* Uri in this style even more than I thought I would.  I can't wait to get some pictures of the two of us together.

A couple of detail shots taken with this cool old trunk my roommate has:

And my little "helper." :)  Bear assumes that any time I'm sitting on the floor I'm free game, so he kept crawling into my lap and knocking my camera out of focus.  So I had to take some pictures of him too.

 

Sewing!

Sometimes I get this sudden urge to sew.  Right now.  I always joke that it's a good thing I don't drink, because my addictive personality would probably be the death of me.  Given how much I've been sewing over the last couple of days...I would be dead from alcohol poisoning comparatively. ;)

I don't have any pictures just yet, but the dress is slowly winding its way to completion.  I decided I wanted to make something big and beautiful for Uri, as his second birthday (with me) is coming up.  Seeing as he is an October baby too, I decided on a Halloween-themed dress.  So far it's actually going even better than I thought it would.  I'm hand sewing it partially because I don't have my sewing machine set up at my new place, and partially because I like hand sewing.  That is until I started hemming the voluminous skirt...

My plan is to hopefully have it done this week, and take Uri out for some photo shoots.  I'd love to take some pictures in my favorite nearby cemetery weather-permitting.  I may also be heading out to Salem, Ma in the next couple of days, so if I'm quick about it I could even take some shots of him there.

Steampunk Weekend Roundup

This past weekend was the big steampunk convention, and while it didn't end up being big, it was fun.  I didn't got a lot of pictures, but here are a few I did take.

 

Outfit for day 1, a sort of gothic steampunk  pirate ensemble.  I love my boots. :)

  

Outfit for day 2.  It's basically a steampunk belly dancer inspired look, give or take.

  

This sign was awesome.  I squeed, and then ran to take a picture.  

  

And finally a picture of Uri from day 1.  He had two different costumes too, but I only got a picture of this one.  This is my new phone's camera believe it or not.  Awesome!