Am I a 1:6 Elitist?

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, dioramas, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, What do YOU think?  7 Responses »
Apr 112012
 

A friend of mine and I were having a conversation the other day about levels of effort, and attention to detail in 1:6 scale. Discussing our experiences and views about various forums, boards and gathering places of 1:6 goodness on the web.

Said friend told me that I (we, since friend is too!) an Elitist. When it comes to the hobby anyway. That we want to see better quality work being done, that we want to see people putting more effort into things than propping your doll up against a cereal box.

But I made the argument that we’re not elitists.

What we are is perfectionists! :)

I say this because while I know I don’t do anywhere near the best that can be done, I do keep trying to improve myself and my skill levels. I’m embarrassed by some of the photos or things that I put out there but I continually keep trying to do a better job. I guess that’s where the perfectionist comes in though–since I expect other people to keep striving to improve their skills and I guess…well, they just don’t want to.

The important thing for them (and me too!) is just that we’re all enjoying the hobby–whichever part of it we’re into, and however we go around it. Yes, it does frustrate me to some extent (ok, a LOT) but life is full of things like that and although I do my best I can’t really see myself as being the sort to inspire other people to think about or change the way they do their hobbycraft.

Things I know I need to work on include my construction skills, my photography (which pretty much sucks) and developing more patience to allow me to do more of the first two items! ;)

Of course, you could actually argue the fact that I am a 1:6 elitist since I am only interested in dolls and action figures that are in 1:6 scale. Anything else is “nice” or “interesting” but not enough to make me bother switching or juggling scales.

Anyway, just food for thought.

 Posted by corset_kitten at 10:29 am

Wrenwood Hall: 1:6 diorama planning & creation part 1

 dioramas, Making Stuff, Wrenwood Hall  11 Responses »
Jan 082012
 

It’s been an unaccountably busy couple of days (some real life things cropped up and ate into craft time) but it’s ok. I’m still making some progress!

Wrenwood Hall is the name of the fictional Costume Drama that the actresses work on. It’s also the reason I’m making the pseudo-medieval / fantasy dioramas. I’m hoping to have a lot of fun with it and weirdly enough I’m looking forward to the amount of work I’ll need to put into making costumes, props and furniture for the sets. Just call me weird, ok? :P   I mentioned in my last post that I’d made a paper model (very rough) so that I could get a better idea of how I wanted the set to be laid out. It is not done to scale just off the cuff for my brain to play with. Here are a couple of pics. It’s nothing fantastic but you get the idea. (This is only the one set, I haven’t done the 2nd, smaller one yet.)

No, those aren’t really round colums–I just didn’t want to be bothered to make 1/4 columns) for the mock-up. The walls won’t be bare either. I had thought of doing them ala rendered plaster (like you see in some tudor homes) but I think it might be better to do them as stone.

It’s not as large as I’d like but you have to make do with what you can manage. And for now it’ll be using the large roomset base (which means it’s 22inches Wide x 30 inches Long).

You can see there’s a large alcove and of course that there’s a wall missing. I may, or may not add a second door into there. Not too sure at this point. Maybe I should add a window or two on that wall instead?

Main consideration of the alcove is that one of the side-walls comes off (the rest will likely be  permanently attached) to allow for better camera angles & ease of access for arranging figures. I’m thinking the alcove area will be approximately 12x12ish.

On my To DO list for the diorama this weekend (and into Monday/Tuesday):

  • Make additional base for the alcove area (modular).
  • Scrounge mark’s wood scraps for pieces I can use for the flooring. (I was going to do flagstone look, but since I decided that I am going to do the walls as semi-dressed stone I thought that with the stone floor it might be overkill.)
  • Cut the remaining MDF for the walls. Cut out the apertures for the door & alcove.
  • Cut the MDF pieces for the alcove walls & cut out window apertures in them.

I’d like to get a lot more than that done but I need to be realistic–after all I have to do cleaning, laundry, try to take care of the garden which at the moment is in a state because we’ve been hit with some awfully harsh winds. (Yesterday Mark & I were picking the garden fence off of the ground and trying our best to reinforce it–it’s not the best stuff for dealing with gale force winds.)

Now here’s a question for the rest of you—do you want me to take any pictures as I’m going through the process of making the diorama set? Or do you all just want to see it when it’s constructed (but empty)?

 Posted by corset_kitten at 12:44 pm

More talk about Dioramas and Dolls

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, dioramas, Making Stuff, Something to share, Wrenwood Hall  2 Responses »
Jan 052012
 

It’s taken me a few days to really think through what I want to do. I have a couple of different projects on the burners (yes all concurrently!) and my brain is certainly working overtime even if my fingers aren’t!

So, as I mentioned in the last post I am starting work on the dioramas for The Actresses. I Really need another tag to call them by since it doesn’t truly define all they do or what all of their stories will be about. Anyway, I should also mention that I am also working on the diorama  for the pseudo-medieval costume drama (Wrenwood Hall).

So far I’ve managed to:

  • Realize that I should indeed still use the old living room base for the Actresses’ living room. I’m still debating about actually finishing the fireplace or just pulling together a 2nd plainer one to do what I want. I just don’t see the fancier one working since I’m de-glamorizing the place considerably.
  • Scrounged around and found some old wood that I can use to modify the remaining roomset base into something I can use for the apartment (the kitchen–which will be a medium size between the base I use for the LR and the small base I use for the University Dorm rooms, offices and student lounges).
  •  Bought a box of spackling compound , a large container of white PVA glue and a bit of doweling.
  • Made a rough paper model for me to visualize how I want the 1st Wrenwood Hall roomset to look. (yes, I said 1st. If I manage to have enough supplies left over I may try to make a 2nd smaller room (on the new kitchen base). Maybe. ;)

I’ve also been thinking about the actresses themselves. I forget how nice it is to sometimes step back from your main projects (like the University themed photostories).  I have a rough cast of Actresses and support staff pretty much ready to go — unless I decide to customize some of them a bit more….(which, yes, we know I’m going to, Don’t we?)

I’ll check back and try to update with some photos in the next day or so!

 

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 11:29 pm

Gearing up for “The most wonderful time of the year” *uh huh?*

 Eh, what?, Making Stuff, quilting, Sewing in 1:6  15 Responses »
Nov 162011
 

Obviously you folks will have noticed that there’s been abit of quiet on the blog again. that’s because I’m busting my hump to get some 1:6 x-mas (or winter solstice) presents ready to go out in the mail for this weekend (or Monday at the latest).  So with all the hard graft (that’s a phrase I’ve picked up living here) I’m making progress on other things as well. No, I’m not talking about the mazes of bureaucratic incompetents who are dealing with our bank accounts (oh, HSBC UK you totally suck!)

So, I’m sewing away–doing my best to make a few goodies for those special people (you guys know who you are!) and get other things done as well. I’d love to share photos on here of what I’ve made (because some of it’s turned out really well) but if I do they’ll see their presents and …well..that just wouldn’t be good right? So hopefully come xmas time they’ll post on their blogs & flickr accounts the goodies I’m making now! :) *I hope anyway*

While I’m at it I figured I’d post a pic of how things are starting to come together with the insanity quilt. It’s just a quick shot (I threw them on top of a tile) so you can see where I’m going with them so far.

Would you believe that there are 231 hexagons in that shot?

I know they’re not much to look at at the moment but I’m making some progress. I am glad that I only decided to do a dorm size (twin) quilt with them though and not the original 1:6 queen size I’d planned.

I’m also working on getting those photos done for new etsy listings. I’ve just about sorted out the light bulb situation here (oh don’t even ask) so that’ll be back on track soon. The broken printer–not-so-much-so but I’m still trying to source a replacement that we can afford at the moment. We’ll see what happens.

Ok back to the worktable! See you all later!

 Posted by corset_kitten at 9:48 am

Experimental Patchwork in 1:6 *so very bright!*

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, quilting, Sewing in 1:6, Something to share, What do YOU think?  13 Responses »
Nov 022011
 

I started this quilt in the middle of the great internet blackout of 2011 :P mostly as a way to try to keep sane and not constantly be thinking bout talking to my friends online. I’ll say here and now that the photos for this post suck. I switched over all our bulbs to the energy efficient ones and I haven’t been able to get them quite right yet. Even with the custom wb & post processing.  :(

It is pretty bright. Nothing wrong with vibrant colors — but wow, huh?

The patches all started out as individual squares. And no, before you start thinking I’m an absolute masochist–there was a reason for this: I had already had a number of them cut (to the wrong size for my Insanity quilt) and this seemed like the perfect way to use them and not end up wasting the fabric. I didn’t know if it was going to work but I gave it a try and I’m pretty pleased with  the overall look. Next time I’ll try to do it as a Nine Patch rather than just random placements.

This quilt marks a lot of firsts for me.

  • It was the first patchwork I completed. The other one I’d started got tossed in the bin as a needless exercise in frustration),
  • The first time I made my own bias binding (not as hard as I thought it was)
  • The first whole doll blanket that I bothered to quilt by hand. Although I have to admit that it was a pain, and it is part of the reason why Nerissa’s Quilt is only lightly quilted.
  • I used a combination of tying & hand stitching to quilt the quilt.

So I sewed all the patches together, quilted it, washed it and now comes the really hard part–deciding which character gets it!  After sticking them on it I came to 3 conclusions. Shayna could have it (but since I’m working on the insanity quilt for her it doesn’t seem right she should have two. Does it??Nope.) So….either  Mallory or Parker will get it.

Maybe you folks can help me decide? Who do you think owns this quilt? I’ve snapped a few pics of each with the patchwork quilt so you can help me decide! :D There’s a poll at the end of this post–please vote! :D

 

Sooo..what do you think??

 Posted by corset_kitten at 1:40 pm

What else am I working on? *ramblings enclosed*

 dioramas, Eh, what?, fashion royalty, Making Stuff, moving  2 Responses »
Oct 312011
 

You know, the thing with working on things, and having all these projects boiling away in my head is that I don’t always remember to tell you guys–you know–what exactly I’m doing! Or how things are or have changed in the process (well of cooking in my brain anyway) :P   So, aside from updating the blog with pics of the things I made this last month, I ought to tell you that I am once more working on the dioramas for the FR girls. I know it’s been a while since I posted much about them, and y’all probably through I’ve tossed them in a box somewhere!

If you recall, my original plan for their sets was to make them a complete apartment.

What with putting the house on the market, packing things up, moving into the rental & stuff it all got shoved onto the back burner with me realizing I can’t do any of it until I move home (and then probably some months after that). But…..I really didn’t like that idea much. So I figured a bit of a compromise would be good. I’d make their living-room & kitchen and the rest would wait. After all, the important stuff in both those rooms are the furniture and props. Not the walls etc.

PLUS—— What’s to say that the Actresses couldn’t move? I mean, the show could become more popular and they get to move to a bigger, nicer apartment. Right? ;) or maybe move up to the penthouse instead of the basement??

I figured I’ll commit to making their living-room & kitchen. I was originally going to use my retro-kitchen for them but I decided that that belongs to the Daniels (Merrit & Jane) and I wouldn’t feel right using it for people in the same universe. I probably sound like a nut for saying that, but you know, like, whatever! :P

So that’s something that I want to work on for hte month of November. I want to really crunch and try to get at least the living-room complete. I already know what I’m doing for funiture in there so that’s fairly easy–hardest part is figuring out if I can get away using my standard room-base or do I need to make a new one (It’s kind of looking that way for the kitchen).

Ok, I’ll update later (tonight, maybe.) with sewing related stuff!

 Posted by corset_kitten at 11:48 am

Nerissa’s 1:6 Quilt

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, dioramas, Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6  16 Responses »
Oct 282011
 

Do you remember Nerissa at all? She’s one of the heads I painted back in August. She’s surprised me by becoming one of my favorite dolls. So when it came time to think about what kind of blanket she’d get for her dorm room I wanted to give her something that was a little bit special and somehow reflected a bit of her personality too.
This is what I came out with.

Yes, it IS considered a quilt (albeit not a patchwork).  It’s a wholecloth quilt which means that the top consists of one whole piece of fabric. I did hand quilt it with some nice variegated thread in pinks.

She got a fitted sheet, a pillow & a pillowcase. (needs a flat sheet still)

There you have it. :) I’m gonna ask you all to forgive my pics. I’m still working out the new set up here and the lighting.

 Posted by corset_kitten at 7:49 pm

So…What was I doing the last 26 days sans Internet?

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, Something to share  11 Responses »
Oct 272011
 

First, I want to admit that being without the internet made me be more productive with my time. Although I tried I didn’t come away with something for every day. ;) I’ve been struggling with the new space/work area and the new place in general. It’s ok, but it’s taking a lot of adjustment from me, the cats & mark. For me, my workroom/living-room is what is giving me the most agita.  Living out of boxes, boxes piled on boxes and well, trying to get any one particular box = exercise in frustration.

The room’s temporarily set up. I set it up initially based on where the sun was going to be most of the day  (I didn’t want it getting in my re-ment boxes, or on my dolls). But now, I’m finding that if I want to do anything in the room I really need to re-think where my table is going (I had to give mark one of my work tables so he’d have something to put his computer on, so I’m sort of at a loss). In spite of all that I DID GET STUFF DONE!!! :)   :D I’ll give you the basics here but soon I’ll do individual posts about some of these things.

  • Continued working on the Insanity Quilt. I’ve begun sewing the hexagons into “flower” shapes. Finally decided that I want to do them in sets of 3 (so 3 red, 3 purple, 3 blue etc) for when I finally construct the thing.
  • Painted 6 paintings (on 1:6 scale canvases that I stretched and primed)  for etsy.
  • Made 4 new bonsai trees (also for etsy).
  • Began the great sort out of doll clothes in an attempt to assign them to specific characters. (I thought that by doing that it might be easier to dress them quickly & make it easier to shoot spur of the moment stories).
  • Made a 1:6 random patchwork quilt for one of the girls’ dorm rooms (not sure who it belongs to yet). It might belong to Parker. Maybe.
  • Made the comforter for Nerissa’s dorm room.
  • Made the comforter for Nik’s dorm room.
  • Wrote a bit of Giselle’s backstory & worked on Kendall’s too.
  • Worked on developing my ideas and concepts for Marissa (FP Kyori) & Kendall (Perk Collette).
  • Had a birthday (it sucked. what more can I say?)
  • Modified Kendall & Eugenia so they can sit upright.
  • Moved boxes around into some kind of organized chaos–so that I can try to start shooting some photos of the stuff I did do! LOL :P
  • Sourced a replacement worktable for me (since mark needed my other one).
  • Baked an apple cobbler *mmmmm cobbler….*
  • Worked on the Quinlan-Chronicles Website–still have to upload the updates & changes though.

So it wasn’t a total loss being without the internet. :P But I’m happy to be online again!

 Posted by corset_kitten at 12:11 pm

Clothes, clothes, clothes! Who gets what?

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, fashion royalty, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, Sewing in 1:6, What do YOU think?  6 Responses »
Sep 262011
 

What with all the sewing of the last few weeks I realized that I need to assign pieces of clothing to specific characters.

That’s not reaaaaaaally a problem for the volks/obitsu dolls since they can wear the mattel/ barbie clothing with no trouble.  But the trouble makers are of course– my fashion royalty dolls.  Yes, those lovely, fashionable dolls! Although  the fashion royalty girls can wear a lot of the barbie stuff (and their default clothing) but in general I always find myself struggling when it comes to finding them  pants/ slacks since they can’t wear many of the babs bottoms due to their incredibly loooooong legs.  So I made them a few skirts, pants and now I need to start the great clothing assignment of 2011!

The tough thing for me about doing this sort-out is…. who should get what pieces? Which outfits look better on…. well you get the idea, right?

So what I’m hoping to do later this week (probably this weekend) is to start shooting some photos of  the clothing on some of the dolls—basically asking you to be the tie-breaker and help me decide who gets the clothing! :D

Are you guys up for that?

 Posted by corset_kitten at 2:45 pm

Just to prove I’m doing something! *photos*

 Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6  18 Responses »
Sep 182011
 

Yes, I’m still alive! The stress of our situation is really getting to me.  It’s a complicated situation (ugh) which I can do nothing about (which makes it worse for me). Buuuuuuuuuut I have been sewing.  And I snapped some pics this morning to show you what I’ve done in the last 2 weeks.

Sorry that they aren’t pretty pics — I’ll try to shoot some of the clothes on the dolls soon!  You can probably tell these are primarily meant for the students since it’s all casual wear.

Ok I fibbed! There’s one pair of slacks for Shay (and a camisole top for her too). I wanted to make more jeans but I didn’t have any more fabric — so maybe some other time? There is a definite shortage of jeans…

Yes, duplicate skirts. I’m thinking that some of the girls might do the occasional dress-alike thing.

Dresses… The blue ones were test-pieces. I’d never tried making a pseudo-babydoll type dress before. Not overly thrilled with them except for the black one. (the orange-y sheath goes under that).

And of course I managed to leave out a few items, but all in all (not including the things I made for Etsy) I made 90+ pieces of _usable_ clothing! That’s quite an addition to my characters’ wardrobes and I’m pleased—-although I do feel like it all looks sort of the same.

 

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 4:13 pm

I’m not MIA …really!

 Eh, what?, Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6  2 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

Ok, I know, you’re all thinking “Well, there haven’t been any posts lately. What’s going on over there? Is she doing ANYTHING?”

The last 2 weeks have been big, long exercises in stress & anxiety and I decided that the best way to deal with that was to do some sewing.  For myself.

I don’t usually bother to sew anything for my dolls–the majority of stuff I make tend to go on to other people’s dolls.  I get the rejects & QC fails–But the great thing about sewing (sometimes) is that it requires me to focus & concentrate.  Which makes it harder for me to be all stressed about what’s been going on.

So, this weekend I’m going to sew on the hooks, eyes & snaps, and then I’ll photograph the stuff I’ve made. Which will be kind of cool since I plan on doing a few “Who wears it Better” shots since I can’t decide who really looks better in some of the pieces.

And of course, Happy Birthday Bob. I still love  you and miss you.

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 10:04 am

1:6 Projects Challenge: wk 1 Beds * photos*

 1:6 Challenges, 1:6 Props & Miscellany, Making Stuff, QC: character info, Sewing in 1:6  4 Responses »
Aug 172011
 

The beds! The beeeeeeeeeeeds!

Making the beds was (for me) the more difficult of the two projects from the challenge.  (I should stop and say here, that my simple plan was critiqued and overseen by Mark.  Mostly because this was the only way I was allowed in the shed and to use his power-tools–the things you gotta do, you know?)  :) When we move though–I will have tools! :P

I don’t know if I’d mentioned it in the previous post, but I only had 2 real requirements for my beds:

1) that they be flat-packable. I didn’t want to go through the bother and hassle of making them (and bedding for them) only to have to ditch them when we finally move.

2)That they be slightly shorter & narrower than the original (make shift) dorm beds so I have a few mm extra space to jiggle things around for room set-ups.

I tend to be pretty flexible insofar as what I want my finished pieces to look like. This is because I have a habit of wanting to change it as I go along, to make it more …better. This, however did not go down well with Mark, who again was vetting everything I was doing.  Ever take a shop class with that teacher who would stare at you when you said something incredibly retarded?

Yep. Mark is that teacher and I’m that student (when it comes to drawn plans).  We had a disagreement about why I had to draw scale drawings (I knew the sizes of the pieces of wood, I knew where the wood went & how it connected—-so why bother with plans?)

The answer to that is that you can use it to make sure everything is “right”.  Ok, maybe if I were planning on making a crap load of beds I’d bother.  Otherwise—nah.  Stuff for me  (it’s totally different if I’m making it for someone else though) just isn’t that finicky.  I kept my sheet of paper with the rough drawing I’d done and the min & max dimensions I wanted the bed to be, along with what pieces I needed to cut etc.

Anyway, in the process I did learn some stuff I hadn’t known.

Like: if you are trying to drill into pine (or spruce) and you have the sap rings/banding (See Pic)  then you will have to force the drill to go through it otherwise the sap bands cause the drill to veer off to either side.

I actually got all the wood sourced, cut and ready to go in one day.  As you can see Bree had to help with the wood cutting! ;)

As you can see it takes quite a bit more wood than is apparent at first glance.

Here’s one tip–if you’re going to cut a bunch of pieces that need to be the same size (on the band saw) tape them together (provided they’re small/thin enough). It helps to make certain they all end up the same.

The next day I started gluing & drilling. I had to clamp the side rails.

Glue always ends up stuck on my clothes and stuff and this time was no different.

Merrit & Verity helping with the headboards:

This is the place where I should say that when I finally move home (and want to make a new set of beds (and bunk beds, where you’ll see the underside) I’ll buy some good wire & make the faux springs & metal bottoms like the should have had. Buuuuut—they work (and will work if I choose to re-make the bottoms at a later date!) Or hell, they do work as bunk beds as long as I don’t focus on the undersides of them. LOL

Anyway  I don’t want to bore you all with the way I put it together.  Suffice that I did (at that point I just couldn’t be bothered to take any more pics. It was just easier to do than to document!), and then I had to stain it.   I wanted them to match the existing dorm furniture which is stained a dark color. It’s boring (you have to do a coat, let it dry, do another, let it dry etc…repeat. repeat.) I used some water-based varnish from B&Q. Only problem I had was that I would keep forgetting how many layers I’d already applied….oh well. Live and learn.

While the various coats of stain were drying I had to work on the mattresses. After all, I can’t use the old ones (wrong sizes) and I wanted to do them better anyway.  Besides, I don’t remember any dorm bed having super cushy & thick mattresses!

Karly & Eff are showing off the new beds. One is partly stained and the other needed to get stained.

You can see my attempts at mattresses. I wanted them to look a bit more like the industrial /old ones we had when I was at Caz, but I didn’t quite succeed. Part of this was because I only had a little bit of the fabric to make them out of and I tried to scrape by to get it to work. (thus one is actually a bit smaller than the other, and wouldn’t you know that they both shrank in size after I “quilted” them? D’oh!

And one of the other projects I started was trying to get the bedding done (the blankets, sheets & pillows for Nik & Merrit’s room.  So far all I’ve gotten done was Merrit’s comforter. He get’s plaid.  I still need to wash it to get it that crinkled/used look.  I did give it a few rows of wavy “quilting” like you sometimes see on older comforters/sleeping bags.  I took this pic to see how well that size blanket would work if in the future I want to use them as bunk beds:

Anyway, that’s last week’s projects done & dusted.

I’d like to say I’m going to take on 2 more projects but the situation with the house (trying to sell it), trying to research some options for us (just suffice to say some plans fell through) & some of the other joys of life means that nothing is stable enough for me to plan “hobby” time.  Heck — at this point I’m just fighting migraines and trying not to let acid gnaw a hole in my stomach. Ugh

Wish us good luck with the house stuff and I’ll try to keep updating the blog with something  doll or hobby related (since I’m pretty sure no one wants to hear about the house! LOL)

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 2:36 am

Being properly motivated: MORE 1:6 projects!

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, Customs & Re-stylings, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, Something to share  8 Responses »
Jul 272011
 

There are a lot of things going on here these days.  In an attempt to better harness my anxiety & stress I’ve decided that I am setting some fixed goals for me for the month of August (and probably on into September).  Fact of the matter is that I believe if I push myself with the small projects I won’t stress quite so much for the big ones (home/move related).

So this is going to be similar to the sewing challenge I set myself for last year. I want a MINIMUM of  TWO new projects completed each week. Ideally I would like to push to have Three projects each week.  I’m not at a loss for projects to take on and do, so I think this will be a great way to work through the backlog.  For weeks that I get more than two projects done I’ll figure out some kind of reward for myself (maybe-depends on $).

So. There you have it.

Projects will be due on Fridays since that’s easiest for me. :) And yes, it IS all about me! :P

First pair of projects is August 5th

  • The first project will be to re-make the dorm beds.  I’ve got issues with the ones I have now so that seems like a great place to start (that came up because I’ve been trying to gather the things together that I need for Merrit & Nik’s bedroom as well as Shayna & PK’s).  I have to draw up some plans, and see what wood I have hidden behind my door. (Yes, I have to hide my “special” wood or else it ends up in someone else’s “collection”!) LOL  :P
  • The 2nd project is: Originally it was going to be the class photo. However during my efforts to assign student roommates/etc. I have come to realize I am short a few more girls. So the 2nd project is to paint 3 heads (and re-root them if needed).  a new class photo. Much less demanding.  I need this so that I can have an upto date reference of them. It helps a bunch when I’m sitting in the cafe trying to write about them since some spring to mind more readily than others. Then after that I can take the class photo. It just seems counter productive to take it and then to have to re-take it so soon.

Ok, so! I’d better get started!

 

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 1:29 pm

More Volks Customs & your chance to vote!

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, Making Stuff, Quinlan Chronicles, What do YOU think?  6 Responses »
Jul 252011
 

Okay, if you know me at all you know that I dread painting guys. I can never get the volks or obitsu heads to turn out sufficiently manly enough for my tastes. So I decided I’d sit down and do my best to get one or two guys done…Mostly because I had a Volks Goh guy head sitting on a stick on my desk (next to his “sister” head) which I’d re-rooted earlier this month. I also figured that since I had another guy head here on hand, that I’d try to paint him and one of the N heads I have.

Anyway, I need YOUR HELP! Yes, I need your feedback on what year these students are in at Quinlan University. So vote, yea?? Please?

First, Meet Kennedy.
I’m not overly thrilled with him, but on the same hand I don’t know that I could do any better if I wiped his face and tried again. I didn’t have the heart to cut all of his (very) long hair off.



Verity:  Old style C-head.  She’s supposed to be Tristan’s sister.  I don’t know if she’s older/younger or if they are fraternal twins….(suggestions? anyone?)

Meet Tristan:

Tristan is Verity’s brother (again, any ideas folks if he’s an older/ younger brother or a twin?) All I really know is that Parker thinks he’s yummy!


Meet Floyd:

(yes he stole Raven’s glasses)

Tan N head &body. Floyd is actually the repaint I am happiest with. I like how he looks sort of like he might be squinting or narrowing his eyes a bit.

So there you have it folks—I’d appreciate you taking the time to click the buttons and let me know what you think! :D and I promise I’ll try not to wipe anyone’s faces!

 Posted by corset_kitten at 7:01 pm

Medieval Madness:must resist…maybe a mini roomset?

 dioramas, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, photostory stuff  1 Response »
Jul 082011
 

I can hear what you’re saying. You’re saying:  “Erica, the last thing you need right now is another roomset!”

But …I’m not talking about a full-blown roomset…Not really. No, really! I mean it!

I’m thinking:

  • 1 window
  • 1 door
  • rough wood floor
  • I was thinking “stonework” walls (mark asked me if I was going to do paneled walls  but I said no, since this is just a “quickie” and not something that I’m going to put a lot of work into at this point.

It’s more for some dream sequences and for some stuff like that. I’m considering making it part of the photostories (like a clubhouse) but we’ll see.

 

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 5:28 pm

Sewing, pattern-making & schluffing!

 Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6  9 Responses »
Jul 042011
 

So, here we are at Monday, July 4th.  Eh. No fireworks here in Coventry, no Yummy BBQ, or home made potato salad, hot wings, Nathan’s Hot Dogs with mustard & relish, and *sigh* no fireflies.  No broken bones (I think!).

Bearing that in mind, I decided to update the blog. Seems like a good thing to do. Besides, y’all might want to know what I’ve been up to the last day or two, and want a heads up about what I’ll be posting about later.

Last week I started working on some pattern making. I decided there were some things that I needed to make simply because I didn’t have enough of them.  This irritated me for a couple of reasons:

  1. I had already drafted the patterns, tested them and made clothing from them.
  2. I lost the patterns. No clue where, and I’m beginning to suspect the envelopes I kept them in fell into the trash bin.
  3. IMO pattern drafting is evil, time consuming and no where near as fulfilling and satisfying as say, watching Holby City, or Come Dine with Me  (the pure hilarity of that show slays me!)

So, instead I hunkered down, drafted some patterns (and instructions since I can draft a pattern, make a piece and then come back to it months later and go WTF? How does that work??)  And I started sewing. And sewing. And the reject pile grew (hey, I have high standards, what can I say?).  My least favorite part of sewing is cutting out the pieces. How tedious. Yuck.

Did I mention that Sunday I fell down the stairs? Very unpleasant spill. Don’t think I’ve broken anything but I’m seriously bruised and standing and sitting in certain postures (like my unergonomic cutting space) cause me some sharp & unpleasant pains. So for now I’m taking Aleve, stretching gently and not cutting anything that I can’t do sitting down (also not ideal ergonomically but it doesn’t hurt so it’s ok in my book)

But I was starting to get a bit bored (and when you consider that sewing 1:6 doll clothes really isn’t one of my passions) that’s a baaaaad thing.  I have been itching the last few weeks to sew some “fantasy” clothing for a few of my dolls.  Specifically Raven, but a couple other girls & guys need some since I’m planning on them being part of a RPG & LARP group on the Quinlan campus.

So I decided to think about what I should make her and try to draw up some patterns for it. (I also figure that the dress/top patterns I make for her should be fairly applicable (with some tweaks) for Astrid since they have similarly sized chests.

You know, I think this post is getting a bit long.  I’ll continue it tomorrow evening (and I’ll try to make sure I have some illustrations to show you all the points that I’m talking about.  ;)

 Posted by corset_kitten at 8:27 pm

Insanity Quilt: update #2

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, Eh, what?, Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6  5 Responses »
Jun 182011
 

Yes, I’m still working on the Insanity quilt. Not everyday (although I should) but at least I’m still doing it! :D anyway, I thought I’d share a few photos of how it’s going so far. I couldn’t decide how to arrange them so I ended up taking them out of their containers and trying a couple of different things.

I thought briefly about making them randomized–whatever color I pulled out etc.  But I decided I didn’t want my quilt to look like a bag of jellybeans!  SO things got re-arranged. For those that are curious, the hex-paper beneath is the rough size & shape I need to over-all quilt to be when done (including binding etc). It’s just there to keep me on-track.

Anyway, here are my first attempts at sewing some of the hexes together:

They’re not perfect by any means but considering it’s my first time doing them (and am actually surprised I got this far) I’m pleased.  I’ll update about them again soon!

Onto other news: I’m also back to updating my Quinlan Chronicles website. This weekend I want to get a few more profiles up, and re-arrange the way the profiles are listed on the site :)

 Posted by corset_kitten at 10:31 am

The Insanity Quilt: Part 1

 Making Stuff, Sewing in 1:6, Something to share  6 Responses »
Jun 082011
 

I’ve mentioned it a few times in passing. The insanity quilt is my name for the hexagon quilt I’d decided to make for one of my characters (Shayna).

It’s supposed to be a quilt for a twin sized bed and I’ve probably over estimated exactly how many hexes I need for it. I’ve decided I needed about 1000 of them although I probably only need about 800-900….or so (I kind of got that number by eyeballing the size of a hex vs. the size of the bed I want to cover.) I could be wrong (wouldn’t it be nice if I needed much less?) . I’m trying to wrap up making the hexes (they aren’t fiddly so much as they just seem to suck up time.)

So here’s what I’ve gotten made so far:

Can you guess how many hexagons are in those containers?

Last time I took a photo there were considerably less…….

It’s a lot of effort and you know, I have no clue how it’ll turn out or what mistakes I’ve made in the process of doing it. I’ll probably find out once I finish it. One thing I have to say is that in the process of making the hexagons I really do think that once I move I want to make a 1:1 hex quilt. I’ve found it to be good “busy work” for when I’m watching something or listening and don’t really feel like doing anything “constructive”. The nice thing about making them is I don’t really have to think about ANYTHING when I do them. It’s a nice way to sort of space out and relax.

For those of you who guessed–there are (currently) 904 hexagons in the containers. Ouch my fingers! I’ve got 96 more to go before I reach 1000, but I think at this point i’m going to hold off on doing those and see if I actually need them.

Anyway I’ll try to post more on the quilt as I make some progress with it.

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 8:47 am
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