Wrenwood Hall: more thoughts on casting, characters & sets

 photostory stuff, Quinlan Chronicles, Wrenwood Hall  11 Responses »
Mar 222013
 

Ok, so a brief change of gears here–from modern/ contemporary diorama planning back to pseudo-medieval diorama planning & thought!

It seems like I do a lot more thinking these days and not as much “making”! Grr! Frustrating! But the warm weather is coming & that means I’ll be able to make more things (without say, realizing that the house is so cold that the 2 part epoxy won’t come out of the tubes LOL)

The plus side to it being so cold is that I can dedicate the time to think about/ plan/ how to make things.  I have primarily been finalizing the basic *female* character roster for Wrenwood Hall. This is what I’ve come up with thus far: (click on the image–then on the white “X” for larger version). Yes, you’ll notice that at the moment they are all Fashion Royalty dolls from Integrity Toys–I do have a few other characters that I am hoping to use my Takara CG female figures in too…But I’m not ready to commit them to specific roles yet….

female-cast-1

You’ll notice that I haven’t yet cast Lady Merithi. That’s because I haven’t found a doll yet that I like for that character. Still hoping I’ll find one at some point (or  somehow do a massive about face and cast someone who already exists LOL).

Next I have to start thinking about the main male characters…

I’m still working on sourcing them so that will be updated (and decided) later. I know roughly 5 roles that require guys so I am keeping an eye out!  I’ve seen a few male action figure heads on feebay lately that I think could work for them.

Speaking of the guys….On flickr I saw that Hot Toys has put out their True Type Advanced Muscular Body–which appears to be half a head/ or slightly more/ taller than the standard Hot Toys True Type Body.

Here’s a great comparison pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53915760@N04/8560432997/

That would be awesome if it’s really taller since I want to use Hot Toys action figures as the male cast—but they are short-asses compared to the Fashion Royalty female dolls——-and I really don’t want to have to do constant shots where I’m hiding the fact that the guys are standing on boxes to make them the same height or taller than the women in the cast!!!!

Sets: Hmm, where do I start with these?

Before I left the UK I had 3 ideas in mind that I wanted to do for Wrenwood sets.

  • a small chamber–with window seat. –useable as a small bedchamber/ personal space/stillroom
  • Medium size Hall –with alcove at one end and two entry ways (with doors) into them. Stained glass windows, flagstone floors and faced stone walls.

I know it’s all kinds of crazy work to do–on top of doing my 3 main roomsets for the regular chronicles (university based). Which means that these are going to continue to stew in the back of my head. But I think I’m pretty excited about it anyway. For the cloister/garden area  I’ve been looking into plants and ideas on how I can use them for the settings—and if I should try to do the whole cloister set outside—on the ground—or….on raised beds/ tables outside.

I know it sounds a bit bonkers to want to do it and make a set that could withstand the outdoors and the weathering it would get. I really love the idea of being able to shoot in natural lighting with _real_ weather to color the scenes and give it that added realism.

Anyway, I’m thinking that I’ll leave the cloister set until mid-spring, and see about making the small chamber. From a purely financial standpoint that would be best–it’ll take the least amount of supplies (just to make), and I could use it for quite a few scenes depending on how I shoot it. We’ll see I guess? (I’ll need to decide if I want to do rendered “lime washed” walls, or use faux stone appearance.

 

 

Who lives with whom? Roommates decided at last!

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, photostory stuff, QC: character info  Comments Off
Feb 272013
 

Ok, so you know I think about my photostory stuff a lot. And as one of my good friend says about my attempts to assign roommates/ pairs of students  “You over-think it! Just DO it already!”

Guilty as charged. :P

But I was determined that I’d do it this time. I mean since I have the dorm room / student lounge set almost (sort of) done, I need to know this stuff. Really! And I need to be able to refer to it time and again (since I can remember the characters but not always who’ll be living where). So today (after I finished the last 3 re-paints so I had enough students for this) I made up a chart. It’s a quick reference one, so it’s not all pretty and lovely. But it’ll do the trick. So. Here we are: the female roomates. (you’ll notice that Nerissa isn’t on the chart. That’s because she’s got a private/ single room! Lucky girl!)

If you want to see the image @ full size click it and then look for the white X and then click that. :)

roommates

There you have it!

Now I have to get back to sewing!

More thoughts on the 1:6 diorama plans!

 dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, Quinlan Chronicles  4 Responses »
Feb 182013
 

Yep, so I’ve got Mark slaving away inserting windows and making me (YES!!) 2 doors to use in the dioramas. This makes me a very happy chickie :D   Ok, so while he’s slaving away doing that (YAY!) I was trying to think up of different layouts I can use for the walls/room sets.

This is what I’ve come up with for the Dorm room dioramas:

This is the old dorm room set (geared for Karly & Astrid)

dorm-3

astrid-bed

It’s kind of important that I can get as many permutations as possible out of that one since I have a lot of students who obviously have to live in a dorm room. ;)   *and while it’s true I may not have lots of scenes set in all of their rooms, it’s nice to have that option!*  Some of these set-ups would depend on the students getting along/being good friends.

dorm-room-A dorm-room-B dorm-room-C dorm-room-D dorm-room-E dorm-room-F

So  that’s the basic ideas for the dorm room….

Next let’s talk about the base walls for the Student Lounge:

It looks a bit bare for the moment because I have to work out how the things I have will work in it. I also need to make a couch for it. So for right now all I know is that the room has 2 windows and a door! :P And when I get around to it (provided I left enough room) I’ll be making a 1/6 soda machine. You gotta have one of those, right?

student-lounge

This is the old dorm room set:

student-lounge-2

student-lounge-8

This one is different, obviously, but I’m still looking for that kind of flavor to it.

So once that’s figured out it’ll be great! Annnnnd depending on how I do the window treatments (Blinds? Curtains?) I could possibly use this as a student dorm room. Maybe for some special student, or as an upperclassmen room. Maybe?

And of course, the Professors’ Office / Academic Office:

It’s a shared wall with the Student Lounge. I’m thinking the windows for the academic office will need to be blinds or something similar. I have the 4 wooden book cases that Mark made me back in 2010 

And I think that I might have at least 2 versions of the offices so I can swap out which professors are in which, etc.

professor-office

Anywho: after the doors & windows are inserted I get to paint the walls and stuff and begin the  process of making and collecting all the stuff I need to actually “fill” the sets! Woo!

It begins again: 1:6 scale Dioramas redux!

 dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff  5 Responses »
Feb 152013
 

Yes, at last I’m going to get to work making replacements for the dorm room & student lounge roomsets! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! ~Waves arms in a kermit the frog dance~>(You *must* click on the pic of Kermit to see the dance!!)

k-f-gif

Ok, so what do we have to do?

The first thing I did was take stock of the stuff I brought back with me from the US… I was gutted to realize I am missing a few pieces I was sure I had, but  oh well.  :/

I do however have enough windows to make a wall to use for the student dorm room and the student lounge. That’s great, right?  And even better—there’s a pretty good chance of me reusing the wall from the student lounge as a wall in the professor’s office.

Maaaaaaaybe.

It’s possible anyway~! The only thing it would really need different is a door…..and I could probably get away using the dorm room one until that was made down the line… Unless I can talk Mark into doing one (or two! ) The Dorm room needs a closet door! Really!). Don’t you think that a room that 2 people have to live in would be big enough for 2 professors to have to work in together?  Or am I pushing too much? I recall seeing some really tiny academic offices when I was in college (both times) so I’m thinking that it could work. And heck, maybe 2 and an adjunct at the same time

It’s not really the ideal plan (because we’re working to a time constraint etc. Mark is going to visit his people next month so I won’t be allowed to use  stuff while he’s gone. So I have to get them now!) but whatever. I want a real roomset again and this will do the trick!

So here’s a quick pic of what the basic set up (for the dorm room) is probably going to be: (ignore Harley, ok? She’s not to scale!)

dorm-1-potential

Actually, looking at that that is the wrong set up! D’oh. The window should be on the wall opposite the door. So just imagine it is there ok? And pretend that I unwrapped & re-assembled the dorm beds! I was tired last night though so I didn’t bother for the lay out mock up. :P

For the Student Lounge, there will be 2 of those white windows on one wall and no other windows.  I’m not sure what the floor treatment for either will be at this point. For all the sets the walls will be basic white.

 

 

Back to Planning: The Cup & Saucery Cafe

 dioramas, Making Stuff, photostory stuff, What do YOU think?  7 Responses »
Oct 212012
 

I admit it. I’m an incorrigible diorama addict!
I’ve just moved house, am living a little bit rough, and what am I thinking of?

No, it’s not what color should I paint the walls of my studio (white, after we tear off the 1970′s paneling)…it’s Roomsets. Planning & thinking about them!

More specifically, how should I design the layout for the Cup & Saucery Cafe!

I know! Call me crazy! ;)
But I decided that the Cup & Saucery would be the best roomset/diorama to make first…That’s mostly because I have the majority of things I need (furniture wise) and it would allow me to use the widest range of characters in it….And it is very likely the only room-set I’ll make for a while. So it has to really, really has to be multipurpose/functional.

Anyway–back to discussing the cafe: Starting back at the beginning, the Cup & Saucery cafe was named “The Mocha Loca Cafe (MLC)” and was owned by Alison. However, in the time since I 1) created Alison as a character and 2) started mentally designing (and part building a few times) the MLC, things have changed. The biggest change is of course space. I now have space enough to make the roomset the size I wanted to instead of settling for something smaller. That’s not to say I’m going to go batcrap-crazy, but….Yes. I am going to make the most of my space ;) which meant that I needed to get a real idea of how big it needed to be to look right (for me).

I’m a really visual person. Drawing dimensions out on paper doesn’t help me a whole lot when I’m planning on making stuff. So the first thing I decided to do was take out some masking tape and try to mask out the area on the floor.

Yea, I know…Not very awe inspiring, is it? (no, I mean the box, not the floor–which is also a little underwhelming. I’m considering spilling paint on it to make it less…1970-linoleum looking.)

So the next step was for me to get out the misc pieces of furniture I had and lay them out in the space & populate it with some dolls so I could see how it was going to work. (some of the pieces are just placeholders for things I need to make yet).

I tried to include a fair mix of figure types: including volks dollfies, takara cy girls, Hot Toys action figures, Triad alpha, fashion royalty girls (yay Giselle!), and some barbies.

Overall I think the layout that I had in mind willwork out ok.I need to add a few extra inches on to allow for architectural features/fakes.

(Did you notice in the photo above it looks like Viv & Gil are doing a re-enactment of the shootout at the OK Corral? Guess there’s still a bit of bitterness over the divorce!)

I’m going to end up needing 3 windows (instead of the 1 I was hoping to get away with) but since they’ll be simple, single paned windows those should be easy enough & I won’t have to ask Mark to help with them. :)   I still want to do the back-room/kitchen area/ office but that can be a separate set that I’ll but up against it if I need to.

As far as furniture: I think I will probably need to dig out an additional chair & table set and paint it. And I need to replace those chairs with other ones (they are placeholder pieces). And I need to see if I can tweak my ideas about the counters/display units. The spot where Gwen (kenzie on a cg body) is is going to be utilized as a coffee area–like where you get milk and sugar , napkins & crap.

So we’ll see. Our budget is especially tight now so I’m not sure when I’ll actually have the money to buy the supplies for the walls, floors and stuff. But I’d rather put together a plan of action and organize how I want to do it–that way when we can afford to splurge I can get the materials. ;)

Speaking of Roomsets/Dioramas/Displays…
Here’s a quick poll: please let me know what  The poll closed (11-12-2012) and this is what y’all told me call these things!

What do you prefer to call your 1/6 scale sets (or scenes)?

Poll Results:

 

Dioramas 50% 8
Room-sets 18.8% 3
Other *if other please share in comments!!!* 18.8% 3
Displays 12.5% 2
total votes: 16

My thanks to everyone who voted! I love to know what folks think! :D

Starting again in 1:6 scale: dioramas, props, furniture…

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, dioramas, moving, photostory stuff  3 Responses »
Sep 192012
 

Something I haven’t discussed very much is that I’m suffering some anxiety about starting from scratch again.

Having made the move meant losing a lot of my set pieces, props and pieces of furniture that I’d have liked to have kept…but couldn’t. And of course some of the pieces and props have been left behind in the UK but if I’ll ever have possession of them again is another question (they’re in storage at my inlaws — but it’s a complicated situation there and I’ll count myself lucky if my stuff doesn’t end up in the trash)…You know, stuff like the 1:6 quilts I made, my 1:6 bikes, my 1:6 vespa and vino scooters :S (not to mention things like my 1:1 diplomas, and papers)

So where does that leave me?

When we knew we were really leaving the UK I sold off my roomset bases & walls (which ok, would have been crazy to ship/take over with me) and a LOT of my props and furniture pieces.  And supplies. And tools. And …well, you get the idea, right?

I know it sounds like it should be easy.
Go out. Buy supplies. Buy materials. Make stuff.
Do it on an extreme budget.
Take photos.
Get busy.

Yea. Ok. It _should_ be that easy. But it’s not.
Sometimes the idea of rebuilding every roomset from scratch totally makes me cringe.

Ok, yes.

I managed to save the windows and doors from most of the older sets…but they’ll still need work. And there’s always the fact hanging over me that whatever house we end up with — because of our budget is going to be a major fixer-upper. Which means time for making diorama/prop stuff is going to be minimal. *sigh* and of course job hunting will have to take priority over that stuff too.
I know I’m whining a lot.
Please just bear with me–I really need to vent about this.

Room-sets I want to make once we get settled:

  • Student Dorm-room / Lounge (two sets on 1 base)
  • The Cup & Sorcery Cafe
  • Academic Offices
  • Academic/ reception area (Shay/Admissions/August etc.)

Those are the main “university related” ones. The ones not directly related to the university include:

  • Wrenwood Hall outdoor set & Wrenwood Hall indoor set
  • Wrenwood Hall – Wardrobe & costume shop /Actor lounge
  • Bar for adult staff & inhabitants of Quinlan
  • Gallery
  • The Actresses apartment
  • Cass & Tori’s apartment

Ok, and if you’ve read my blog at all you can probably guess that there are about 10 more that I’d like to make….if time, space and finances ever permit! :P

That doesn’t even take on board props I need to replace, furniture I need to make (for the above and others).

The plus side on the furniture re-making is that at least I will design specific pieces with one room/set in mind. I know I need to take it one diorama at a time. And not set unreasonable / unrealistic deadlines.

MUST NOT set unreasonable expectations…….

Yeah. right.

Maybe.

 

Thanks for letting me vent! :D

 

 

Changing a character: thinking about re-casting a role

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, photostory stuff, QC: character info, Quinlan Chronicles  14 Responses »
Sep 102012
 

Yes, it’s me again. I’m still jonesin’ to work on stuff, make stuff etc. But since I can’t I’ve gone through my “favorite” dolls (the ones who are still in my carry-on bag! LOL). While I was at it I was thinking about Claudia.

To refresh your memory this is Claudia:

Claudia was always supposed to come across as sexy, self confident and chic in a way that her best friend Mallory wasn’t.  I had a difficult time creating Claudia to fill that role, and fit (kind of) my mental image of her.

The problem I’m having with her is that she feels too “mature” to me.


Like maybe she’d be a better match in age as a professor, or other inhabitant of Quinlan…Maybe a gallery owner, secretary, or something.  Realistically, I know that you can get a range of students some of whom can easily pass for older adults…..but to me….I’m not so sure about this being the best Claudia. Does it seem right to re-cast her?

If I recast her, then the chances are I’ll end up using this custom for another character *to be developed based on appearance* but if I don’t recast her the odds are that Claudia won’t get much screen time because I won’t/don’t feel comfortable imagining her in that role.

What do you all think?

Would this custom seem to be a better match as an adult of some sort in Quinlan rather than a 19/20 year old?

Does she seem to have more of a “grown up” feel when you look at her?

 

Wrenwood Hall: more considerations!

 1:6 Props & Miscellany, photostory stuff, Wrenwood Hall  5 Responses »
Jan 162012
 

So, you know if you want to make a medieval themed/ fantasy themed diorama  in 1/12 scale you can easily pick up the pieces—from furniture to props to lighting. It’s out there and–if you have the money–you can buy it. Sadly, the same isn’t really true about 1/6 scale.

The closest you can get within 1:6 is to buy the various action figures from the Ignite line of figures, or possibly the ones from that other series (Timeline? I forget what it’s called except there’s a girl in it?And I think time-travel?)

Of course, you’re still left hanging on a lot of things.  Occasionally you’re lucky and can find small bits & pieces that could be worked into it because scale on some things is varied. But I haven’t exactly got much on hand that will make the crossover from modern day use to fantasy/ medieval use.

If you can’t beg, borrow or steal it–that leaves you with Making it! So that’s what I’m left to do! (Darn it!) Ideally I’d like to be able to switch pieces between the two sets *partially so I don’t have to make more than the minimum right now; and because I really want to get these stories off the ground ASAP and not get too held up by making furniture and props!*

What’s on my list of things to make?

  • Benches & Chairs (2-4 of each) also 2 window seat benches
  • Chests (probably 2 will be enough)
  • Scribal desk/table (1)
  • Bed  (1)
  • Soft furnishings: banners/ tapestries, cushions, etc.

Of course I still need to make things like the doors & windows that go into the sets themselves. *sigh* so much work but I really do think it’ll be worthwhile when I’m done.

Anyway this weekend I’ll take some time and photograph how the roomsets (bases & walls have come along so far.) :)

 

Takara CG Electra gets a makeover: part 1

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, photostory stuff, Wrenwood Hall  4 Responses »
Jan 092012
 

It’s been a while since I pulled any of my Cy Girls / CGs out to do some work on (or to take photos of). The good news is that I decided that one of them will be cast as one of the actresses in the Wrenwood Hall photostories/ Quinlan Confidential photostories. It’s going to be a kind of strange mix of dolls & figures but at the end of the day it’s what makes me happy, so why not? Right?

I sorted through my remaining CG heads and bodies to decide who I’d use.  I have a fondness for the Ice headsculpt but I wanted to have some variety.  I narrowed it down to a re-rooted AJ, Catwoman 2.0 (with the prussian blue hair), Midori (in need of a re-root), or Electra who I’d gotten off feebay a few years ago.  It was a toss up between Electra & Midori and I chose Electra because I don’t have any other characters currently using that sculpt.

Well this is how she’s looking now.

Since I got her off feebay, used and out of package with only a smattering of her original accessories  she wasn’t in the best of shape and her hair was pretty awful. D’oh! I didn’t remember to take any photos of her before starting the re-root process!

I’ve started re-rooting her with some saran from Restoredoll.

I’m rooting it in long and planning on giving her wavy or even curly hair when I’m done. At least that’s the plan! It might change as I go along.  If I manage to get her rooted & styled to my satisfaction I’ll repaint her this week.

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??

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?

1:6 Projects Challenge: wk 1 (heads) *photos*

 1:6 Challenges, 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, photostory stuff, Quinlan Chronicles  4 Responses »
Aug 132011
 

To re-cap—>this Last week’s projects were to make 2 replacement beds for the college dorm rooms & to re-root and  paint 3 new female characters for the cast.

The projects have come along with various degrees of success.  I ran into a serious road-block with having to get the house ready to show estate agents — and then have those self same agents come and check it out and give us their valuations on the property.  It took a lot of time to stage the house (and still need to do some further work) so it really ate into free time (it still is as we have more to do *sigh*)

Secondly–I’d like to update about the beds but part of my progress photos are on a memory card that mark borrowed (and I’m still waiting to get it back–so until then, no bed update–hopefully he’ll get it to me soon!)

ANNNNNNNNNNYYWAY…..

I started out with 2 Neo heads (2 pale ) and 1 old C head that I wanted to give high & low lights to in order to make the purple hair look less “flat”. You know what I mean? I wasn’t really expecting a lot out of them other than they’d be some girls and hopefully they’d have some character about them that I liked.

This is how they turned out: (the photos are rather crummy because I didn’t have much patience and didn’t bother to set up proper lighting.)

**I don’t know what their personalites are like (except for Nerissa)  or what their dress sense is.  So if anyone would like to chime in on what kind of vibe they get or impressions please do!**

April

Emily:

Nerissa

And there you have it. Overall I’m pleased with the results.

I need to think a bit about next week’s projects but I’ll post on Sunday about them.

Yay! I got stuff done! :)

Doll Repainting Practice (part 2)

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, photostory stuff  2 Responses »
Jul 212011
 

So here we are again! Not a lot to show for the effort I put in but…overall I’m kind of happy with what the repaints came out like. (Excuse the photos since I didn’t bother to take many & I just wanted to get them out of the way!)

First, we’ve got CM 1 (the head has a few issues but whatever).

Not stunning, but still, there’s something there….

Is she a Student or Teacher?

And  yesterday’s Blonde girl after her repaint: *I’ve decided to call her Bree*

Again not stellar, and not a huge difference but it’s enough that I like her and I’m pretty sure about who she is. So, here’s a semi-close up of her face.

and here’s the before & after pic:

Anyway there ‘s what I accomplished.

I was going to try to shoot the pics for the FM today but that just hasn’t gone according to plan. If I manage to do them in the morning then I’ll probably have it done for tomorrow evening–but if not, then maybe next friday (like anyone reads em anyway!)  :P

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.

 

 

Terry Redux: partial make over for him

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, photostory stuff, QC: character info, Quinlan Chronicles  12 Responses »
Jun 222011
 

Last year sometime I created Terry (aka Terrence Waterstone III).  I’d tried twice to get him to come out right but it wasn’t until the 3rd go round that I was at least partially happy with him.

He’s visible here in the (old) class photo. He’s #4  (and as usual click the photo for a larger image).

Anyway, as I said I wasn’t completely satisfied with him. His face was ok but his hair…well. No. Who ever had had that head before I got it must have done some kind of magic to it because no matter how I boiled it and tried to re-set it, it refused to be tamed and just continued to stick out at his head at angles (and it only got worse at the months went by).

I debated wiping his face and re-rooting him, but I decided instead just to give re-rooting him a go. I don’t like re-rooting that much but why not? Especially if it meant not having to re-paint him too.

I took the mohair I had left and decided to use it. It’s not great and the stuff actually began felting itself while I was rooting it. Talk about a major annoyance and irritation.  This is the worst I’ve experienced in the whole time I’ve worked with mohair and I’m probably not going to use it again.

I decided at that point that if I got it in I didn’t care if he looked like freakin side-show Bob from the simpsons—it would do.  And maybe be better since it would add to the sense of “whatever”ness I wanted Terry to have.

This is how it looks after rooting, and after 3 go rounds with a scalpel knife and hair goop. Still not fantastic, and I might eventually thin down the hair some more. I’m fighting to keep from making it into dreads lol…

 

Working on the Quinlan Chronicles site again

 photostory stuff, QC: character info, Quinlan Chronicles, Something to share  2 Responses »
Jun 212011
 

I figured I should let y’all know what I’m upto (since I haven’t shown you anything new lately, aside from the IQ).  It’s been bugging me that I have new characters to add to the QC website but haven’t been too motivated to do anything with them.  I decided that this week & next week are pretty much set aside for updates.  Why?

How about because I want to start shooting the Quinlan Chronicles? LOL

Now (that hopefully the major dramas of the last few months are over) I can get back on track.  I hope.  I thought one good way of getting more motivated about it would be to update the individual character profiles & information. This is partly for you readers and partly for me, since I use them as “cheat sheets” when I can’t remember all the tiny facts about a given person! :D

The thing that takes the most time is remembering how I did things the last time I updated, and of course–taking photos for new characters.  Yea, I know it’s a simple matter of shooting a pic, but sometimes it’s just more than I can deal with. So here’s hoping I can keep this juggernaut rollin’!

I’ll update on the blog when I’ve got the Student bits done (I’ve gotten 4 updated so far that need uploadingout of….lots!). Then after that I’ll need to do the staff & Faculty section, and then the other people part.  It doesn’t sound like much….but it is. Plus I want to try to do a little repainting this week too. (I need a few more characters!)

 

Giselle gets Mean!

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, fashion royalty, photostory stuff  13 Responses »
May 122011
 

You can probably guess by the photo above that that means I’ve finally begun the task of re-rooting Private Goddess Natalia!

Along with working on Natalia’s head I’m doing a few other things which includes sewing some simple outfits for FR girls to go in my Etsy shop (one for me, one for the shop….2 for me…one for the shop LOL), AND working on the last couple of props I need to get in place for shooting photo stories! YAY! (right, that’s a Yay, isn’t it?)

 

Yes, I bought a Barbie! Seriously! *pics*

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings, photostory stuff  11 Responses »
May 022011
 

I know, y’all are saying:  “Wait…Did You say Barbie?!! I thought  you only buy volks dollfies,  cy girl/ ttl action figures  & over-priced fashion dolls? What gives??”

You’re right! In the general scheme of my collecting & kit bash fodder I do tend to shy away from barbie dolls. But there has been one doll (actually there are a few other barbies I’d like–the heads of–but I refuse to pay 80+ for just a head) and that was Kenzie, from the Mystery Squad batch of Barbies.  I can’t help it–I really do have a weakness for dolls with that uber curly/ tight curl hair!  Of course, getting her was a different story (*I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced one for more than 2 years now*) and at last one came up on feebay!! YAY I thought!

I saw her pic: (She looks bleh, right???!)

and I thought: “Huh. I remember her looking better than that. I guess the seller just didn’t bother to take a clear picture. Heh. That’s to my advantage since folks won’t know how nice she looks in real life! Mwhahah!”

So I watched the auction for a week.  I won her (for under 5.oo  and I can call myself a happy bunny)!

She had (still has) a few issues. They included:

  • her hair was actually matted at the ends and the hairnet that she had on was trapped in it. The only way I could remove it (and do anything at all with her hair was to cut about 1cm off it all around.
  • She has a mystery streak on her cheek where something (??) removed her factory blush.
  • Her body…ugh. So not articulated!

They’re not major issues and all are fix-able.  I decided to re-body her and I had to choose between one of my Volks Dollfie bodies or a Takara CG body.  Initially I was leaning towards putting her on the volks but she just ended up looking too spindly & weird.  So she’s been popped onto a CG body (this is a midori washio body for anyone who’s curious)

Here she is re-bodied: (these were quick snaps)

The blush streak isn’t too important since I’ll more than likely repaint her (I really did just buy her because I love that hair!!) and get a look that’s more in keeping with my 1:6 folks.

Over all I’m pretty pleased, and I think she’s going to be one of the more laid back & mellow professors at the university.  I see her as the sort to hold classes outside, in cafes and wherever else she feels like it.

Anyway, I just wanted to share!

 

 

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
 Older Entries