It’s always something, isn’t it?

 Eh, what?, moving  9 Responses »
Jan 302012
 

Wow, why does it always seem that things get in the way when I’m all jazzed up about a project?  Usually I can find a way to work around whatever the roadblock is…but in this case I can’t. It’s just too all-consuming (and freakin’ important as well).
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about moving again!
Things are starting to roll along and after looking at the estimated dates it looks like the move is likely to happen much sooner than we’d planned on (read: April or early May as opposed to October!!).

Of course this is GREAT news!
But it means a whole crap load of work and really throwing ourselves into high gear to get all the thousands of little things (and big) done in time.  So unfortunately most of what I am working on has pretty much got to grind to a halt.

I’m so torn at the moment since I’d actually started to make good headway with the Wrenwood stuff I’m not going to ditch it just yet, since it’s the simplest of sets reallllllly….and maybe I can sneak in working and using it if all the other roomsets are gone? I mean, after all, it’s only one roomset, right? And it would be a complete shame to take it apart now that it’s started to take shape, right? Plus once the room’s emptied out there will be room enough for it, right? *I’ll manage to justify it somehow!*

I’ll UPDATE with a Wrenwood post at the end of this week so you  can see how it’s going so far. :D

I’m not looking forward to deconstructing my sets and ditching 2/3 of my remaining 1:6 stuff but at the same time it’s a good exercise in really seeing what I have and what I’m going to use.

My personal challenge in all of this (aside from trying to keep my head from exploding) is to try to fit all the stuff I want to take with me in my suitcases. I know, insane right? But the good thing is that with the carrier we’re using I can buy space for upto 10 additional bags (not that I will because that would be nuts!) but I think I can manage all my clothes(I have way more 1:6 clothes than 1:1) & 1:6 stuff in 4 . Maybe 5 at a maximum. I know there are risks doing it that way, but at the same time I think it’ll work out better.

So today is the day I start the final sort-out. I’ll be updating the show & sell site I guess with pics of stuff soon.  I’ll update the etsy shop sometime soon with the last bits and things I had made to sell, and that’ll be it.

I am so freaking stressed and excited that if this move doesn’t kill me I’ll be completely shocked!

 Posted by corset_kitten at 10:31 am

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.) :)

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 11:48 am

Takara CG Electra gets a makeover: part 2 *photos*

 1:6 scale Dolls & Action Figures, Customs & Re-stylings  20 Responses »
Jan 122012
 

You remember that I was working on the CG Electra?  She looked like this after I re-rooted her and wiped her face:

It took a few tries–I was feeling very fussy about the kind of look I wanted her to have. I was getting more and more frustrated since my painting brushes are pretty much shot (and they do really affect how my painting turns out). I also did a repaint of an old re-rooted AJ jead, and touched up the face paint on the FR Giselle and Ayumi heads….photos to follow at some point!

I need to find a name for her and to decide about how old she is.  How old does she look to you folks?

So what kind of impression does she make?

Okies I gotta go but I’d really love to hear your ideas on how old she might be! :)

 Posted by corset_kitten at 8:40 pm  Tagged with: , , , ,

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.

 Posted by corset_kitten at 7:13 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

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

I’m thinking 1:6 scale dioramas and what I’m going to do!

 dioramas, Eh, what?, Something to share  6 Responses »
Jan 022012
 

I suppose in the time between now and the (eventual) move it makes sense to try to barrel through and make some serious progress on my planned / in progress dioramas.

I’ve been giving them a lot of thought but it hasn’t translated into a whole lot of action. There are a few reasons for this… The main one being that space is still limited and I really have some pretty grand ideas in mind—which while commendable (hey, I do have high standards, what can I say?) aren’t practical when it comes to making a transatlantic move.

So It’s left me thinking about 1) what to do, 2) how to do it and 3) why am I bothering?

1) What I’m going to do: Along with giving things some more thought (and working out the details for the photostories themselves) I’m going to push on-ward and try to get the living room and kitchen done. I’m also going to throw together a basic diorama to use for generic scenes on “the set” of the tv series the actresses work on.

2) I know I’m going to be pretty harsh when it comes to breaking down the dioramas to move.  It doesn’t mean I’m not going to do them, only that I’m going to avoid investing too much effort in this batch.  I’m simplifying them.

I’ll be putting most of my effort into the details –like furniture and props– etc rather than worrying sooo much about the set ups. Because I do (worry about the logistics of how an apartment is set up! No one will ever see the whole thing but I get very nit-picky about details like fire escapes, landings and front door locations). Plus that makes it less expensive and right now less expensive is a very, very good thing. Once we’ve relocated and are settled then I can really dig into making them as good as I want.

3) I’m doing this because I have to.  If I just fritter away my time and don’t have something worthwhile to show for it I’d be pretty bummed. And it’s criminal to waste your time when you never know how much you really have left.  Not to be morbid, but I might be dead next week. Or tomorrow. You just never know.

It might not make sense and I’m probably babbling but this is what’s on my mind.

 

 Posted by corset_kitten at 6:21 am
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