Hat Plays Dolls

So, one of my oldest dearest friends (who goes by Cryptid on Den of Angels) went and got herself a 1:4 scale resin ball-jointed doll.

Now, I know the general sense of 'ball-jointed doll' is 'pretty, possibly vaguely-anime-influenced, young woman with a waiflike body and dewy face,' and they're not everyone's cup of tea-- they were never my cup of tea and I did give it a whirl back in the day, but what Cryptid got was a red deer skull head, with full antlers, on a lean-but-ripped vibrant purple male body with deer/goat/satyr legs.

He is Skelfthyrnir, the Lord of the Forest, and I thought he was so darned much fun that even though he wasn't due to arrive until January, I sent Cryptid a chest of tribute for Christmas-- stuff I thought she'd get more use out of than I would, for a doll like that, given that one of the things I've learned about myself as a doll collector is that, although I love historical and fantasy costuming for dolls, I rarely display the historical, fantasy, and historical-fantasy stuff I have.

... Or what I had. I've sold off a lot of stuff. Something about my collection of 1:4 dolls (currently all Tonner or Kish) just keeps saying 'these are modern, contemporary people' to me.

It was a lot easier when my 1:12 dollhouse doll supplier was still around-- she just disappeared, I couldn't even find an obituary-- and I could make whatever I wanted because I could just turn right around and sell it at a miniatures show. When it only takes a few hours to run up a whole outfit, it's a lot easier to turn a profit than it is on something that takes a whole day for one garment, even if being able to use full-scale sewing techniques and miniature sewing hacks makes 1:4 sewing a lot of fun.

So I haven't done a lot of historical or fantastical sewing for dolls in a while, despite watching a lot of historical costumers on YouTube on the regular.

Then Cryptid went and got Skelfthyrnir, and because once you pop you can't stop, she ordered another fantastical BJD, this one a dragon-girl who might not be as comfortable running around naked (or in a loincloth made of kid leather that was in Skelfthyrnir's tribute trunk), and I had this really weird moment where I went:

"... I primarily identify myself as a miniaturist. I named my business not only for my tendency to fall in and out of projects and hobbies, but because I was at the time the only person I knew of who sewed removable clothes for 1:12 scale dolls. And this person, who is near and dear to my heart, who I have known for 19 or 20 years at this point, does not have a single example of my sewing."

This could not be allowed to stand.

So even though I got started on her stuff first, I don't want to jump into what I did for the dragon girl, who won't even be in the US until the end of April, and I don't want to post her stuff until she's here to model it, but Skelf!

Skelf I can talk about.



Skelfthyrnir, the Lord of the Forest, has a shirt.

And yeah, all my nice photo-backdrop pics turned out a little... bleachy. There are in-progress shots that are better, don't worry, they're just also full of whatever weird crap was behind me while I was sending updates to my friend. Also Cryptid took some pics and they're just fabulous, but I'm saving Skelf himself for last.

( Follow the cut for 15 more of my pics, and 7 of Cryptid's! )

Okay, so, I got the G3 Coffee Break two-pack and as I was messing with it, I kept staring at Deuce:



I kept saying to myself, "He looks like somebody."

I knew I wanted him for a custom-- nonhuman-colored boy dolls that work with Monster High are thin on the ground-- but I wasn't sure who. I was debating between Spelldron Cauldronello and a couple of backgrounders when I had the sudden terrible realization that...

He looked a little like my boy Raythe, from the infamous Reboot/G2.

( Follow me for 55 more pics of turning a green boy into a blue boy! )

Okay, so my Scaris Heath clothes haven't been selling on eBay for a price that's worth the time I put into them. Fair enough. Sort of. So I says to myself "Well, what if I included some shoes?" Except I didn't want to give up my repainted Gloom Beach Jackson shoes, or go hunting for another pair. Well, I've made leather dollhouse doll shoes before (basic shoes for men and slippers for little girls and occasional boots for pirates and nonsense shoes for witches), which... honestly wouldn't work well for Monster High, the dye on the leather would stain the heck out of them, but once upon a time I bought a few sheets of craft foam thinking I could use them instead of thick leather for dollhouse doll shoe soles. Didn't work out the way I wanted, but what crafter throws something out? Clean it up and put it away, it'll work for another project someday.

So guess what craft foam works for?



Shoes! So that's Manny, Barker, Deuce, Pawla, and InvisiBilly.

Let's go take a closer look.

( 17 more pics behind the cut! )

Actually you know what else I got done?



Scaris Flashion Mob Deuce! More Spoonflower fabrics, plus custom sandals because that's what he was wearing at Clawdeen's fashion pack Flashion Mob. (So, really, you could call this Basic Fashion Pack Deuce, since that's what everybody was wearing to the Flashion Mob.)

( Still not done with pics! )

If you read my last dolls-at-Disneyland post, then this image should look familiar:



And since I went to all the trouble of making that map, now you can too! Lots of pics behind the cut, but I'm uploading the biggest two as links at the end.

( Come on, let's make props! )

Okay, so virtually every Monster High doll I get, I get Because Reasons. Sometimes those reasons are things like "Hot damn, so-and-so's getting a doll!" or "At this point it's just weird not to have a Main Character," or "Curvy doll curvy doll curvy doll! Okay so she's a squid I don't care look at her HIPS!" or, sadly, "Oh, hey, what's-her-face is on super-clearance." Occasionally, though, the Reason for getting a doll is something like...

"Welp, Prom 2014 and CreamoDreamo's art made me ship Jackson/Toralei, I guess I need a Toralei doll now."

Or

"... How did Mattel find out about Aerocorn because this Zombie Unicorn looks like her alternate-universe son, I never posted any of that fic because I never finished any of it..."

Or

"Wow, this Puff Pink gal sure makes cute art and whoops now I need Bonita and Wydowna."

And since I've re-written my thoughts about eight times, let's just skip straight to the inspiration and what I did Wednesday night, which was this:



( A few more pics and a lot more rambling behind the cut. )

Okay, this is the last of the accessories I've painted up for now-- I need my Paintin' Desk for other things until at least mid-September.

( Skelita! )

( Ghouls Getaway Jinafire )

( Cleo and/or Deuce )

( Signature Werecat Twins! )

( Assorted accessories! )

I'm not actually a huge fan of Amanita Nightshade, but I saw her at Marshall's on clearance for $10 and went, "... Yeah, no, I'm not going to get a better deal than that on her in the box, with all her stuff," and caved.

Her character may not thrill me and her doll may not connect with me, but golly her accessories were fun to paint. ( Thirteen pics. )

In this edition, Boo York and Cleo!

( Twenty-two pics. )

Gooliope is a great toy, I love her to bits. Sure, I wish the other MH dolls were as poseable as she is (as much as I wish they all had hands like River's), but it also kind of makes sense that she NEEDS the extra flexibility to fit through doors and hallways that are too small for her because they were scaled for Deluxe Class and she's Ultra Class.

But even more so than most MH dolls, Gooliope's accessories needed paint-- they're SO BIG, comparatively, that they just looked kind of flat.

( 26 pics behind the cut )