Dolly Updates!

^u^ Hello everyone, sorry for still being pretty quiet these days. I've still been very busy with commissions and IRL things as well as have been making considerable changes to my doll family/plans so I wanted to wait until I had things sorted and were more definite before I went head and updated everyone so I could hopefully gather my thoughts better and articulate things properly. Despite being quite busy I have also done a few things for my dolls here and there so figure i'll share those with you guys too ans hopefully get to show them off sometime soon. Anyways, as like with last time I made one of these I'll separate each topic into its own category for neatness.

 

1. Shift In Focus

So I don't want to linger on this point too much but I have noticed that over the years my biggest frustration in the hobby is having characters that I want to shell going unshelled for years out of lack of focus/funds. I mentioned before when I decided to say goodbye to dolls of characters not part of my two main story-lines that the main reason for doing so was because having so many of them was causing me to spread myself too thin and I hated the fact that I couldn't realistically shell all the characters from one story when I feel the need to bonce back and forth between so many different ones. I've since cut down the separate story-lines I have from 5 to 3 (one of which just being a spontaneous "for fun" side project) and that has helped me tremendously. In doing so its helped me to further realize that I want my main priority in the doll world to be focusing on shelling the most important remaining characters in my two main story-lines that I was largely incapable of doing before. Again, don't want to linger on this too much here as i'll likely go over these plans specifically later on, but these most important characters left to shell/reshell are 7 in total which is quite a bit to work towards but that is all the more reason why I want to commit to shelling them as my main priority so it doesn't take me another 4 years to get them all. Of course, this does mean that substantial progress on each one individually will be quite slow, but again, at this point i'm more than okay with that as because i'm so picky with how my dolls look together, I really want to just find all the most canonically accurate and and compatible sculpts for all of their characters first and then work on really perfecting and "completing" all of them since i'll know for certain they aesthetically/proportionately all work together how I want them to. xD So yes, I do plan to become "that person" who buys a bunch of dolls despite having many mostly unfinished and that will be hard for me since i'm a very creative person and love working on my dolls, but believe me that is for the greater good and will ultimately result in much less frustration and hopefully no more selling of dolls embodying beloved characters in the future.

 

2. Saying Some Goodbyes

So in direct continuation of my that last sentence, those of you who have been keeping up with me and read my previous update post like this one you'll know that I was having deeply conflicted feeling about my Soom Serin, Shu, and my Flower & Junior Yabi, Calliope. That despite me wholeheartedly adoring these sculpts and them being perfect representations of their characters I had come to the conclusion that as they are meant to be "younger" characters compared to the other MSDs in their story it was canonically inaccurate and very limiting for them to remain in the traditional MSD scale as they currently are. I mentioned before that because I adore them so much I wasn't planning on letting go of their current forms until I was able to reshell them into smaller MSD/Larger Yosd (35cm) to be sure that I was satisfied with their new forms before letting their current ones go. However, quite some time has passed since I initially came to these conclusions, actually well before I ever mentioned it to anyone else, and since then i've had a change of heart. It does pain me deeply to have to let go some of my absolute favorite dolls, but i've had them packed away for a few months now and in doing that I've come to accept the idea of parting with them sooner than I initially had planned. Its hard to explain, but its like even though consciously its hard for me to want to let them go, but deep down i've already fully accepted and committed to the fact that size-wise their current forms will never work the way they did for me before and hanging onto them just because I love their sculpts is very counterproductive to my goal of reshelling them into more canonically accurate forms. Like, there is no real reason as to why I've been hanging onto them other than I adore their sculpts and as I have no other plans for these sculpts outside of being Shu and Calliope I can't in good consciousness hang onto them anymore, not when I know parting with their current forms will only help me reshell them that much stronger that much sooner, you know? Ah, hopefully i'm explaining this alright OTL

Anyway, I have completely committed to parting with my Yabi and Serin and thankfully they will be going to a wonderfully new owner who has adopted another doll from me and that I talk to often so that has made the process a lot easier and i'm super grateful for that. As much as its hard to let them go and i'll miss them dearly, it feels like the right thing to do and with their old forms being out of the picture I can stop waffling in agony over what I should do and what others might think and instead just fully commit and focus on their new forms. Again, its hard to explain, but hopefully you can understand kind of where i'm coming from and aren't too terribly upset that they'll be leaving. c: Of course, they will be returning in new, even better, forms as soon as I am able, so that is definitely something to look forward to. xD And in case you are curious, yes, I already know which sculpts I want for Shu, Calliope and Etzel though i'm still waffling over what bodies I want for them. I'm not making any promised yet, but methinks that Etzel might be the first to return as there is a limited sculpt I'm heavily considering grabbing for him if it works out. (Also if it wasn't obvious by now, three of the 7 priority dolls I said i'll be working towards shelling are Shu, Calliope and Etzel, so yeah xD)

 

3. Patina Morrow

So this is probably the hardest to explain and I honestly completely understand if you just don't understand my reasoning. I've also decided to part with my Realfee May, Patina Morrow, and honestly this decision was even harder and more painful for me than Serin and Yabi. I had so many plans for her, I adore her concept/design, the May sculpt and the wonderful engineering of the bunny body and it seems like such terrible timing to let her go what with Petra, my Fairyline Momo, who is critically important to her on the way but even so letting her go has felt like the right decision for me. Partially because again, I want to focus on shelling the most important main characters out of my two main stories and while Patina Morrow is very important to Petra, she isn't what i'd call a "main" character. Technically she isn't really a character at all, but rather is a statue; a piece of art that Petra pours her body and soul into creating. The journey of creating her, what Petra learns and experiences through that process, is a huge part of what makes Patina Morrow so important and I think its important for ME as Petra's creator to do her character justice and have the experience of sculpting Patina Morrow myself. Its very hard to explain, but as I am an artist and Petra is an artist, it feels like in a roundabout way i'm doing the integrity of her character a great disservice if I just buy a pre-made doll to embody something Petra pours her entire being into when i'm perfectly capable of having that same experience myself, you know? Ah, its hard to explain, but hopefully you can kind of understand where i'm coming from. Additionally, since Patina Morrow is meant to be a statue anyways, having her as an articulate BJD I no longer think is the best thing to represent her and she should really be a sculpted figurine. So yes, sometime in the future I myself will be setting off in Petra's footsteps on the road to sculpting the perfect Patina Morrow statue, making many intentional or unintentional "failures" to properly capture Petra's journey and to fill her sculpting studio diorama in the future. Its going to be a very interesting project for me and i'm actually really excited about it since I want to do more sculpting anyways and It'll just be such a great way for me to really articulate her character for others as well. c: Don't worry though, she'll have more or less the same design as the Realfee version, (and her color scheme etc. will still be like my concepts) the same just with my own aesthetic spin on it of course.

May has also already found a new home as well, so i'm very happy about that and hopes she is very well loved with her new owner. xD I do have possible plans to perhaps get another May in the far off future though, only as a boy and in violet skin, so that will be very exciting if/when that happens hehe~

 

4. New arrivals!

So yes, just like the last big update post I'll end this one with positives, the main ones being new dollies, woo! As sad as it is to part with dolls, I like to think of it largely as a good thing as that surely means the dolls that come next from that loss will be that much stronger if a reshelled or a wonderful new experience if a completely new character to doll form. The later definitely being true in this case as there are two new additions to the family that wiggled their way into my plans recently and both of them will be new characters of mine that I haven't shelled into a doll before. xD Actually, they are both rather new characters all together as one is completely new and was created specifically for this sculpt and the other is likely going to be an existing character of mine but one I've never 100% worked out the design of yet so lots of possibilities there!

xD The first one I actually already have here with me as he is a floating head I found rather cheaply and was completely overcome with inspiration for a character for it the moment I saw it. Its a Minifee MFA head in NS, yes, the kind of derpy potato-looking one that was released with FL60 Scarlett a little while back. TBH, it does look hella derpy in Fairland's initial pictures of it but gosh, it really is just the cutest thing irl! Seriously, I've only seen like, 2 across numerous different sites that had faceups and that is such a shame because it really has a lot of potential imo. xD I mean, I got quite a lot of people to change their minds about disliking FLAM a while back with what I did with Rift, so here's hoping what I have in mind for this little one will maybe make others appreciate MFA too. *U* Anyway, he is going to be a boy and his name is Hawthorne and he is going to be part of Rift's story and is going to be somewhat similar in design as she is namely with the fox and patchwork elements. I haven't made her ears yet but if you didn't know Rift is a sort of Fennec Fox kemonomini style character, and Hawthrone is the same only is based on the Bat-eared fox. xD Seriously go look up a Bat-Eared fox and MFA and tell me they don't both have squished little faces haha I think its just perfect for him. Anyway, i'll talk more about his character and such later on but he is going to have a really intense black and yellow color scheme and an awesome unique faceup so I think you guys are really going to adore him. xD He's going to be a baby-faced little badass haha //shot

Annnnd the other new addition is one that I actually just ordered the other day and really didn't plan to at all...but it just sort of happened xD. The company Doll In Mind is currently taking their very last orders for their current selection of dolls for the next few days before they will be discontinuing all of them. I was actually pretty bummed that I wasn't able to order one at the previous sale a few months ago and I didn't know that they would be taking orders again until I randomly happened upon the news the other day. I've always rather liked DIM's aesthetics despite them being quite exaggerated and awkward, I think they are quite endearing, though I had never paid too much attention to them in the past. Initially I was thinking that maybe i'd just grab a Flowne head as its really cute despite having zero idea of what i'd do with it, but, in looking at their sculpts more, Annabeth really caught my attention for some reason. It wasn't a sculpt I ever really noticed before, but looked up owners pictures of it and it really is a beautifully androgynous and captivating sculpt. Its hard to explain, but similar to my experience with MFA I was just deeply drawn to it and I felt super inspired and zero hesitation in taking the plunge to order one as usually always happens when I consider ordering dolls I don't have strict plans for. DIM's sale also applies to bodies (as well as just heads) and they are even cheaper with an unstrung option so in looking for owners pictures for them I came across one of Annabeth of the taller ver1 boy body and I just loved it! xD So yeah, I jumped on it and ordered him knowing that hey, if it doesn't work out that's fine but i'd hate to miss out and regret not ordering him later. I'm actually not certain as to who he is going to be yet but I have two possibilities in mind for pre-existing characters of mine. The one i'm really leaning toward is Raamis who is the childhood best friend turned enemy turned best friend again of River xD (he also has a massive crush on River too so there is that //shot). He's actually a very important character in River's story and I always wanted to someday shell him as a doll but was never really certain on a sculpt for him as he has a distinct and strange expression. He's based off of a Cheetah and they have a very distinct yet complex expression that is like a mix of contempt and fear if you know what I mean xD. Anyways, the Annabeth sculpt gives me that sort of Cheetah-looking face and has that contempt yet fearful expression and also the body that he'll be on will be quite tall and lanky which is perfect for a Cheetah! xD Despite him being a character that's existed in River's story for ages now I've never really 100% worked out his design though so that gives Annabeth more room to really flesh out his character for me if it works out. *//W//* I'm super excited though because i'm thinking he'll have probably my absolute favorite color scheme on a doll; tan skin and golden hair/eyes! I'd be dyeing him myself of course but i'm eager to dye another doll anyways so no worries haha. He'd be a slightly lighter and sandier shade than River ideally. xD Assuming I end up liking him for this character anyways, I have a good feeling about it but we'll see when he gets here~

*U* Anyway, super excited and inspired by both of them! Really can't wait to show you guys my plans for them. Maybe if I have time i'll make concept boards and/or doodles of them so you can see what I have planned hehe~

 

5. Wigs And Eyes

xD Sooo last thing i'll update on as i've certainly rambled on long enough is that got like, 5 ounces of Suri alpaca locks a few weeks ago and have slowly been grooming, dyeing and wefting it to use for new wigs I have planned for my dolls; both the incoming and current residents. xD Mainly I wanted to finally upgrade Faustus to an Alpaca wig but...err... I kind of failed hard on his wig both in color and in construction soooo yeah, that will probably be a do-over eventually. I did manage to do alright making Rift her own wig (finally!) so i'll show that off sometime soon hopefully. I also have plans to make River's proper black/purple split color wig as he's that's what he's supposed to have and also planning something quite special for Euclid so definitely wish me luck and look forward to those too. Oh! And going to order a bit more locks soon to make Hawthorne a wig too!

xD Also I should be buying a bunch of eyes sometime soon (...yay) as well because I need eyes for my three incoming dolls and maybe some new ones for River, Rift and Hawthorne if I can, we'll see.

*W* No but the best thing as far as eye news goes is that I finally FINALLY found the perfect pair of yellow Oscardoll eyes for Faustus asdfghjkl

Seriously, idk why Oscardoll makes eyes in literally every color of the rainbow aside from yellow and orange but it took me literally years to find a yellow pair that were the right size (and $50 too OTL) but gosh, i'm soooo glad I did because they are PERFECT!! Ahhh I want to wait to show you guys until i've made Faustus' new wig but asdfghjkl they are exactly what I always wanted for him and considering I HATE basically everything to do with doll eyes I can't be happier that I have one less doll to constantly struggle with eyes for.

 

OKAY WOW TEXTWALL SORRY ASDFGHJKL

xD Anyway, yeah, enough rambling for today but lots of updates despite me being very busy and having little time to devote to my dolls still. T//u//T And of course, as always, thanks so much to everyone who takes the time out to listen to me ramble about dollies and enjoys coming along for the ride of my creative journey wherever it may take us.

 

 

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Also, side note; my SIO2 Ragdoll still hasn't shipped yet. Its been 3,000 years er- I mean 5 months. xD

 

 

 

Done