Welcome to Friday Monologue #6 !!

It’s on time!!! XD I hope someone enjoys it!

I’m still having issues with the text sizes changing & appearing blurry after exporting them (this time I tried them at 300dpi and high quality but I’m not seeing any difference) Ugh.  (Also some of the spacing between shots is a bit off–but lump it, ok?     It’s past 10:30 and I’ve been at this all day!)

And as always—your feedback and thoughts are welcome (provided they’re constructive)

Welcome to Friday Monologue #4 !!

Here’s FM#4 featuring Viv.

Please if you do actually read it — comment in this post. I’m specifically interested in how the images appear in your browsers (are they too big, not big enough, hard to read, etc.)

I’d appreciate it.

Welcome to Friday Monologue #3 !!

Thanks for being patient with me re: the delay!

Here’s FM#3 featuring Balthazar…he had more to say but I ran out of time!
Please take a moment to answer the poll question in the side column, will you? It’s anonymous!! (there is more information below about the potential interviewees) 

Please if you do actually read it — comment in this post. I’d appreciate it.

*As promised above–here’s a bit more info about the potential interviewees*

Seth Melbourne

Vivienne Marcelle

Jillian Carmichael

Morgan Renfield

Tara Lynhurst

Thanks for taking the time to check them out and vote!! ;)

Welcome to Friday Monologue #2 !!
(I owe everyone lots of emails & return comments–I promise I’ll catch up with y’all tomorrow am!–I’m only 15 minutes from missing my Friday deadline!) Please take a moment to answer the poll question in the side column, will you? It’ll decide who get’s interviewed next Friday!!

Here’s FM#2 featuring Shayna.

Please if you do actually read it — comment in this post. I’d appreciate it.

*PS: the ending is abrupt again. I need to work on endings….*

Friday Monologues  (I know that these aren’t true monologues–but just bear with me for now, ok?)

Here’s FM#1 featuring Thom.

Please if you do actually read it — comment in this post. I’d appreciate it.

*PS: the ending is rather abrupt but seeing as it’s less than an hour before midnight I chose abrupt rather than deciding to put off ending it for another day—or 2…or…3….you get the idea?*

*PPS: I just realized there are some typos in it–I’m aware they’re there. If I can find time tomorrow I’ll fix them then *

About my expectations for my photostories in 2010:

My long talked about, long planned, long scripted photostories…

My point: Making changes in my plans for my photostories.

I’m in a kind of tough situation at the moment.

We’re trying to get the house ready & up for sale (which means getting rid of as much stuff as we can, and packing up much of my belongings & so on).  It also means that I’m really really limited in what I can do  work on with regard to my photostories.

This bothers me because I’m still scripting & planning. I have such a lot I want to do. And I’m frustrated that I can’t do much of anything because of my current (perceived) limitations.

So what do I do??

• Do I put all the dolls & roomsets away (the ones that won’t get taken apart & discarded) and just stick to writing the scripts? And hope that in a year from now when we’re settled *fingers crossed for luck* and I’ll want to make the sets & shoot the stories then?

• Do I try to do them now and end up doing what I’ll feel is a half-assed job?

I say that because I have a really definite idea & vision in my mind of how I want the Chronicles to be.

I don’t want them to suck (The stories don’t. However,  I feel like I’m letting myself down by not making the settings the best I can.) I’m caught between a rock & a hard place because I can’t work on any sets.  I want to make them. To share them with people.  But I want to share something I can be proud of–or at least semi-satisfied with

I do know I don’t want to shoot them & then  re-shoot them again in the future (I’ve tried that once and it was like all the magic of it left with the first shoot & the second was just “oh I gotta do this again!”).

So where does that leave me and  The Chronicles?

They’ve been stuck in a holding pattern for so long now.  It’s unspeakably frustrating…and I get tired of thinking about the “someday” aspect of it.

So what can I do?

I’ve been giving it a good deal of thought.  I want to feel productive about the Chronicles on some level, even if I can’t produce whole episodes.  I want to continue to explore characters & see if I can develop them more.  So I’ve come up with the following (probably very lame) idea:

Do a weekly photostory/ interview with a character from The Chronicles.

I know it’s not the same as doing an episode, and that whatever it is will likely be a monologue delivered by said character.  It’ll all be done in 1 room. The plan is to do them once a week and post them up on Fridays. Hopefully folks might feel like suggesting characters they want to learn more about (from the main profile site).

This Friday’s will focus on Thom Tazzo.

So there it is.

That’s the plan.

Please don’t laugh me out the door……

I spent some time working on the Quinlan Chronicles website again.   I’m happy with the background images, and have now added the updated student profiles *and made them active*  :)

Feel free to take a look at them here:

The Quinlan Chronicles: profiles

If anyone wants to check it out and let me know how it looks/loads/ I’d appreciate it. ^_^  It’s best viewed with Firefox and I’m not making any promises how it looks in crappy IE.

Here’s hoping that I’ll soon get to work on the grown-up profiles for the chronicles!

Good question!

Well, aside from sporadically facing the overwhelming amount of email in my inbox I decided that I’d take a little bit of time to work on one of my customs.

Who?

Damara.

Bet you’re wondering who the hell is Damara!??!

Damara is part of my attempt to add some more faculty members to the Quinlan University staff.  She’s also a fabrications instructor (meaning she helps pound through the students’ heads how to make something that will stay enchanted etc).

I realized that I needed her to balance out August’s place on the faculty. He’s basically on the rag all the time & a moody bastard. Damara…I don’t think she’s as moody.  She’s certainly more pleasant.

Deciding what figure to use for Damara was a little bit harder.

I’ve got a couple of CG 2.o bodies left (and a miscellany of heads) as well as a few Volks bodies. But I really didn’t want to use the volks since they’d essentially be the same as the current professors w/ volks bodies. I do like to have some kind of physical diversity in the cast if at all possible (without sacrificing posability though).

Damara is starting life as a BBI AA PB.

I was very lucky to get her from a fellow collector and I have been waiting to work on her for a while and now seems like a good time.  As I got her 2nd hand she didn’t come with 2 breast-plates.  She’s come with the default size 1 boob-plate.  I don’t mind small breasts on my dolls–but I do mind it when the breast-plate makes the torso look ungainly and weirdly bulky. (I should probably also say here that I actively dislike the PB bodies and the main reason for that is the way they designed the torso).

So.

What can I do to make her more aesthetically acceptable to me?

• Re-root her with dark hair. That weird peroxide blonde gone bad look does absolutely nothing for her.
• resculpt her a new chestplate (s).

Since I’m not that hot at sculpting human anatomy we’ll have to see how that goes.  I’ll update as I make progress.

This is what I managed to come up with so far. It’s pretty much a rough draft. I figure that when I really am ready (and have everyone firmly in mind I’ll revamp it) I felt very limited with only a few icons to try to describe some of the dynamics & reactions between characters.

Oh well. I’ll fix it next time.

For those of you curious about it…

here it is: http://corsetkitten.com/QC-R-chart.pdf

I should probably also take a minute to apologize to everyone who’s taken the time to write me an email lately.  I’ve been a bit buried (I’m about 2 weeks behind in correspondence) Please be patient with me a little bit longer and you’ll have an email from me!! ;)  Really!

Yay!  Here’s your chance to see the  heads I painted! And even better–it’s a chance to do me a good turn by giving me your opinion! Now, please remember that as I stated in the last post I’m not really pleased with how they came out. So please don’t expect much.

I hope to update with a new post later this week with the final heads re-painted for choice. I’ll do a poll-feature then for final votes! :)

Below is a gallery of photos of the characters’ names & below that is a brief  “interview”blurb from each of them.

• Please take a few minutes to read them over and pick which figure goes with which quote (there are no right or wrong answers!!)  use the number in the photo to ID the head.   :)
• Feel free to suggest possible hair styles or clothing choices–or hobbies! LOL!

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  
  
  

• Olivia Aston-Lang (Livi)

“No, I sketched those myself.  I’m ok at it–I’d have gone into fashion design except that it’s such a cutthroat field.  I’d have liked it but that’s just –well I’m not good enough to always be shoving my work at people and saying “Like it! Damn you, Like it!”   What? Oh.  My major is enchantments.  Mostly because they come easy to me.  I don’t even have to study and I can do them right off the cuff.  My adviser’s suggested that there might be a future for me in R&D. Yea, making new spells–isn’t that cool!?!

• Ivy Elizabeth McMullen

“Yes, I’m Ivy. Ivy McMullen. Um, yea, I’m in professor Kohle’s class too. Er…yea. I have the homework done…it was problems 1-16 and 20, and 22. Uh…no. You can’t copy it. I’m–I’m not a really good student, so, uh, I know most of the problems are wrong… (thought: not really but who are you kidding? you don’t do your work and you think you’re gonna use mine? Not!)
Say, did you see the notice about the lectures we’re supposed to attend next week? Yea, that’s a bummer they’re at the same time as the fall fashion show.”

• Claire Marie Chase

“Is that silk?  Very nice.  I prefer it to linen. Oh look at him–he’s simply delicious! I spent the summer in Oxford and I didn’t see anyone who’d compare to him. Mmm!  Pardon? Oh?  So what if he has a girlfriend?  I’m sure I’m better looking than her and better dressed.  I’ll have to ask my brother for any information he has on him.  MMmmmm… What about Theo? Do I think he’d be into you….Darling, do you really want me to answer that?”

• Jillian Carmichael (Jilly)

“No. The answer is Strontium sulfate. How did you manage to get accepted without knowing that?” Rolls eyes. “You’re not going to be able to skate by without studying–I don’t care how short your skirts are. Or how perky your boobs are. They’ll fail you. And you’re my roomate–so you’d better knuckle down and study. How you do reflects on me and I don’t want anything ruining my average or my chances at getting into a good grad school.” Shaking head. “You’re not an idiot. Just try harder. And read the book instead of watching American Idol!”

• Claudia Karsten-Kane

“Oh, please. Tell it to someone else, would you Mallory? I know you’re completely smitten with that man–but you’ll never get anywhere with him if you don’t _do_ something! I say you should try to investigate–you know he’s got his girlfriend–and a woman on the side…why not see what else you can find out? Then maybe you’ll have an in! Don’t look at me like that– you know that’s what you want to do anyway. Really.”

• Portia Amelie Guichard

“What would you like to know about me? Yes, I’m from the Avondale Guichards. No, I am not seeing anyone at the moment. I broke up with my fiance over the summer. Oh, he was being a prat. I can do better than that. Not to mention my goals are set higher–I am not content to live off my family’s effort. I have goals that I aspire to. No one, man or woman is going to stop me.
Excuse me?
Of course I expect people to listen to what I say. Why shouldn’t they? I’m a very knowledgeable woman and I come from a good bloodline. Not to mention they usually regret it if they don’t. (small smile) Me? My flaws? …Well, maybe I can be a little bit vindictive. But who’s perfect? (laugh) I’m probably as close as you can find in human form.

• Tara Mills-Bowman

“I’ll tell you, being an Resident Advisor this year is great! It’s giving me-and Stella-the chance to be recognized for how much work we did the last two years…Last year was really rough what with the demon that those stupid girls summoned in the bathroom. Talk about a mess…Exploded pipes, water all over–and Shasta–the RA for the hall was unconscious. Stella stepped in and I-well, of course. I helped. That’s what best friends do. She also inspires me to try harder at whatever I do…My future? It’s bright. I’ll either take a post in the family or I’ll go on to do research. Maybe both. I’m not sure…and that’s the lovely thing about being so wealthy–I don’t have to worry. I’ll decide when I’m ready.”

And out of the 9 heads I did start off knowing which of them were going to be Stella & Lori Vanderhoff:

• Stella Alexandria Vanderhoff

“It’s only right that they appointed me as RA for the hall this year. And of course Tara too. She’s so dependable. I believe that friends can be invaluable–as long as you choose the right ones. Am I popular? Oh, I don’t like to boast…but yes. I’m never lacking for dates, study partners, or people who just want to bask in the glow that is me. (small smile). I’ve made Dean’s List every semester since I was admitted. Right now I’m in the top 2% of the 3rd years. I plan to be in the top 1% before the year end. Did I mention that I’m studying with the intention of going into the legal field? I’m starting an internship this year. I’m rather excited about it.
Lori? She’s my little sister. Am I going to treat her differently? (chuckle) Hardly. As long as she follows the rules of the university, and the ones of the hall, she’ll be fine. Otherwise – she’ll learn the hard way. She’s bright though, so I’m certain if she wants to break the rules she won’t get caught. After all It’s all about being caught. Just like life.”

• Lori Apollonia Vanderhoff

“I’m so glad to be done with high school! Coming to Quinlan University is a nice change–although having Stella looking over my shoulder all the time isn’t what I was hoping for. She spent the summer boring me with how much studying I’ll need to do. How I need to behave. What classes I should take. Which girls I should be friends with. What kind of clothes I should wear…Blah, blah, blah! As if. She’s always been jealous that I took after mother and she–well…she’s almost as flat chested as a pancake! (giggle)
My studies? I don’t need to study that much–I’m brilliant–did you know that? What? It’s true that my grades aren’t that good…but it’s because I find classrooms bor-ring! Four boring walls, some teacher droning on endlessly about some obscure fact…I can make C’s without reading or practicing so wh

y should I waste the time? Yes, I could make B’s or A’s of I studied. But why bother? Anyway, everyone says that your first year is the time you’re supposed to have the most fun at university–and I intend to!”

I tried but I really couldn’t stand some of the faces…

I thought the painting quality was way below even average for me. After doing a 2nd round of repaints I am coming to realize that a big part of my problem is the brushes that I am using (they need replacing).  I’m still not entirely thrilled with #’s 1 & 7 but I think they are vastly improved. As for blue hair…I know she could be better but I think she has a certain something about her…

Sewing & photostories:

On a photostory related note:

I have been struggling the last week or more to figure out exactly how many students I needed for the photostories. I’ve settled on a total of 10 male characters (broken down into groups of 2 for room assignments) & 18 female characters in total.

Both the Male & Female numbers reflect having RAs (resident advisers–2 each). so that the number of freshmen & sophomore students is actually 8 & 16 respectively.  I know the girls are outnumbering the guys at the moment–but for a few reasons that I’ve skewed the gender ratio.

1. I don’t have enough male figure bodies handy to make more.
2. It seems to me that there will be more girl groups/girl related plotting going on.
3. I need to have some generic girls to use as “filler”/ background/bit part players.

For the dorms I figure that they are smaller older buildings. Each floor has 10 rooms (2 of those are singles) and a large multi-person bathroom/shower/bath room. I think that the student lounge may be located at ground level (insted of my original thought that there is one per floor).

So back to the characters:

18 girls sounds rather overwhelming, doesn’t it?

Well it could be except that a lot of them (at least initially) only pop in and aren’t main steam characters. So they aren’t really that important to start with. They may become important later but only time will tell.

Regardless of their importance, I felt the need to figure out who they are, and of course, who they are rooming with! (that actually is important for continuity.) Which meant that before I could do up the room-chart I’d have to know who I have, who I need etc.

Talk about a pain in the ass!

the first issue is that I am running seriously low on supplies. So that means I’ve got to make people with what I have on hand–no matter how crap it is.  That doens’t make me happy, but I guess all I can really say is que sera sera.  and suck it up. :?

So who do I actually have made already? (18 doesn’t sound as bad when I look at what I have handy)

1. Mallory
2. Eff
3. Karly
4. Alex
5. Abbey
6. Felicity (she’s gone back for an update, but hopefully she’ll be back soonish!)
7. Raven

If I hadn’t sent Meg & Frid off to Texas, they’d have rounded the number up to nine. Instead, I’m left at 7…which means I have 11 figs to make.

I’ll update more about them as I go along (and figure it out)

Sewing related:

I know–I know!

I promised almost a week ago that I’d share some photos of the clothing I was making & had made…

Well… you need to wait another day!! ;)

sorry about the delay, but I keep wanting to finish one more piece… Hopefully, tomorrow, since I’ve had the blind replaced in my workroom, will be a good time for photos.

This one was put together for Milk of Milkshake Melody! She’s going to be taking custody of Meg soon, and I thought a little “slice of life” would make it easier to write the character! :)

Hope y’all enjoy!

(not much on plot, but it’s what it is…)

I have finished (mostly. I have to sew hooks & eye /snaps on Cass’s dress) the 3 outfits that I started for the Seasonal greeting card.  On the whole I’m pleased with them, but not with the amount of headache I caused myself in the process of sewing (and making them).  I think perhaps it’s possible to figure out which figures I like best by how much effort I put into clothing them and making props for them.  (Merrit springs to mind). From this sewing exercise it’s obviously all about Cass & Viv — Paloma gets shoddy seconds. Ah well. :P Maybe Paloma will get something nice next time?

PS these are quick photos, so no one looks good in them and the hems etc are at all sorts of angles. *I’m tired and I don’t have the patience to muss with them right now. Cass’s gown can lie more nicely than shown. I’m just knackered right now…*

Cass: is in royal blue silk.

One of the great things about making props & clothing for your figures is that sometimes in the process you learn something about them you didn’t know previously. For example, I already knew that Cass is a pretty practical woman. But what I didn’t know is that she has a weakness for girl-y frou-frou dresses…but that the practical side of her nature wins out when it comes to clothes shopping. (this is witnessed by a look in her closet which would reveal a mostly jeans & t-shirts) So how does that practicality & desire mesh?

She buys a dress that can serve two purposes.

It can be the semi-cute bubble dress shown above. Or if she really wants to give into her inner-princess, she can wear it with the skirt lowered.  (and yes I know she needs some accessories/jewelry)

Cass likes a bargain as much as the next person–so 2 dresses in one fits her personality perfectly.

Actually sewing the dress was a pain in the ass. Part of it was due to the fabric. Part due to my failure to have appropriate sewing accessories to hand. (I did have some lovely black, very lightweight interfacing that I did use for her dress.)

I was leery of using the silk for 3 reasons:

• I had a very limited amount of it. If I screwed up, I’d have to either find a way to work around it or scrap it and go with another idea. the dress I had planned was going to be pushing things…even if I didn’t screw up.
• I didn’t have matching thread.  :|   I’d have to use black.
• I don’t generally buy silk so my sewing experience with it is limited. This silk was of a lower quality than the last remnant I’d gotten. I was leaning toward using a different (black) fabric but two members of the peanut gallery vetoed that and voted for blue.

I did manage to screw up 3 times on the bodice of the dress (2 of them went in the trash).  :-? The third worked ok, but there are errors on it that irritate me…but not enough for me to have tried cutting and piecing the remaining fabric to replace it.

Viv : is in turquoise silk.

Viv was harder to come up with something for.  I revisited her halter top style and thought I’d try it in the turquoise silk. It’s nice, and I think the color suits her. The silk is slightly better woven than the blue silk.  I top-stitched some of the seams with decorative gold thread (only the 2nd time I’ve tried that! Yay me!!! :D )

My biggest difficulty with it was sewing the trim on–and deciding which trim to use. I also debated giving her a belt in addition to the trim but decided against it.

While dressing her in the new clothes I realized that she needed some sort of jewelry to go along with it. I made her the necklace w/ swarovski crystal pendant & a pair of matching earrings. (I realized at that time that her ears seem to be lop-sided on her head!) :(   I figured that if she wears a matching piece of fabric as a head scarf, this could easily be a summer outfit too.

Paloma: is in a red woven fabric.

A blue-based red fabric I think I originally bought with the intention of using for a 1:6 couch? Instead its been transformed into a mediocre holiday dress with black trim (she needs a stole). :-?

This fabric frayed like crazy and I almost tossed the dress in the trash a couple of times.   :x I’m lazy when it comes to sewing and I don’t like to struggle to complete what I feel is an elementary design in fabric.

I love sewing because it gives me a way to create things that I want or need.  It allows a certain amount  of creative freedom–not being a fashion hostage.  This is especially true in 1:6 where most things are either barbie oriented or militarily oriented.

I hate sewing because I am certain that there are better ways to do it, or to get an effect. I wish I knew how to sew. I don’t mean the basic mechanics…but all the little things that you learn when someone else shows you how to do it. The tricks. The tips. I read a lot, and I watch whatever online tutorials I can find (*the ones that don’t crash my computer –or aren’t using super-computer sewing machines*). I usually putter and tinker until I can get something resembling what I wanted. Over the years I’ve learned how to draft my own patterns, sew basic outfits and so on…in the next year I’d like to do better. Maybe try making some lined suits or something….

So there you have it. Some whine. I’d like some cheese now! ;)

It’s Time to Name That Guy!

Thom Tazzo (Thomas Tazzo)
Gil Young  (Gilbert Young)

Which does he look more like?

If he’s Thom, he works at the University as part of the admissions
team. And also as part of their security team.

If he’s Gil, he’d either work as an editor at Bishop Publications (the
same company that Vanessa Lennox & Cass Okuda work at) or as a lawyer.

There’s also the chance that he is Viv’s ex-husband.

Since she’s divorced, and I dunno who her ex is. Except I want him to
pop-up periodically…They split amicably, but she’s somewhat bitter
about the whole institution of marriage.

Any ideas? (and if you don’t think he looks like he fits either of the
above, what do you suggest?)

He’s a lucky guy no matter what his name is: He’s the Hot Toys True
Type Asian figure from their most recent release. The skin tone is
slightly grey so I think once I have a little spare time I’ll sand him
and give him a bit of tweaking. I’m really liking HT bodies, since Ken
clothes fit them well, and Saturday Toys and ACE make some really nice
clothes for them as well. (and yesssss…I’d rather save my money and
spend 24 bucks on a 1:6 suit that if I tried to sew would take me
months! *and still not look as good!*)

While I have not been doing much of anything physically for the hobby I have been working on the profiles for characters showing up in the Quinlan Chronicles.

Over the last week, aside from having 2 migraines (oh joy), I have managed to get the majority of Cass’s profile completed and have a start on Paloma & Viv’s. I’m still sitting on the fence somewhat about what Vivienne’s (Viv) profession should be…

Take a look at her: (realize she’s in her evening out clothing ;) ) and tell me (if anyone reads this blog, that is…) which of the following professions might seem to fit her best?

Should Viv be a:

• Chemist (as in working in the lab)
• Forensics specialist–possibly in Forensic Toxicology?  (probably not criminalistics)
• something else? (suggestions)

Anyway, here’s to hoping that over the weekend I can get the completed profiles up on the web, and maybe do a spot of work on the website for the Chronicles!

Been doing a bit of thinking about how I want to do them and jiggling around character motivations & histories. I’m playing around with the idea of starting all of the students over as first year students and freshmen, and using them as a vehicle to explore the school.

Doing that would allow me to introduce them all gradually and as the stories moved along and I would have to feel so constrained that half of them are sophomores or juniors which realisitcally gives me little time to play with them before they shove off to the next stage of their lives.

I painted her earlier this week while trying to repaint midori. *midori got her face wiped multiple times, and is still not ready*

I’m not sure of too much about her at this point.

I do know… She’s Paloma’s younger older ?? *can’t decide* sister. (only a year or so either way)

And one thats a kind of close up of her face….

Comments? Suggestions?

So far Tori was suggested as a kind of punchy name for her. I like the way it feels, plus its short. So I think it might be the short form / nickname for her whole given name… Victoria. I think she’s a bit of a wild child/trouble maker. I’m not entirely sure what she’s doing in Quinlan. She could be an intern working at the local publishing house. She could be a staff writer. She could be a grad student attending teh University… I don’t know! (what do YOU think??)

Well, despite my plans not to do anything with 1:6 (and only work on the website and oil painting….) I couldn’t help myself!

So Meet Paloma.
She’s part of a psychiatric practice in Quinlan. (oh btw: The shot is a candid “after hours” shot. She doesn’t look that casual when she’s seeing patients!

*just so I can actually find these pics when I need them….*