Dreams, Glitter and Tears

Kevin finished his digital painting of me!!

Nice boobs, I must say! ;) Thank you Kevin!!!

original picture:



digital painting:

Speaking of artsy goodness!!

Remember I took a pic for Kevin?

He's making me into art!! He's such a fantastic artist and has been doodling me over the years, and I'm just so flattered. I can't wait to see the finished product, Kevin!!

I've been really having a blast helping other moms at Cafemom with their pics, and I am really getting better with photoshop. Check out some of my latest before and afters:




Grandma and datestamp removed



fixed a darling smile



made a cute girl into a fairy

all I have to do is her mouth and eyes. Here she is, all dressed up:



She's wearing a black velvet a-line gown with a cheetah shrug. Her hair is yarn. I have to get her some pretty button eyes and I think I am going to paint her mouth on but I'm not sure yet. I might sew a stitch mouth.

Ok, it's time you met Beth. One night I was talking to Convoitise and he told me that orgasm literally translated to "little death" in French. I got the idea to make a little dead doll from the whole thing so I made Beth. She stands 3 inches tall and has slits wrists and throat. I know, weird. But I had to show that she died and couldn't think of another way. She also has pink ribbonn hair. James says she is disturbingly cute and I often catch him cuddling her.




Well today I got the wise idea to make Amy. Amy will look kinda like Amy Lee from Evanaescence. Or at least she'll be kinda gothy. Here she is so far:



I'll post more pics as I complete her.

An update on the dragon project. I've been adding layers and smoothing his surface. Tomorrow I will work on the wings!

With my doll project still in full swing, I decided this morning that I wanted to make another paper mache critter of some sort. Last night I made a little clay dragon head while cooking dinner and playing with clay with Laura, so I thought "Why not a dragon?"

This is what I have so far. I just balled up and shaped newspaper and held it together with masking tape.







I plan to start the messy part today although I will definately not be done in one day. What should I name him?

Ok, ok... so I know JACK about photoshop. I use it to adjust color, saturation, hue, brightness, contrast and image size. that's pretty much the extent of my ability. I SUCK.

But look what I did!! I found this neat looking house while driving around Memphis last summer and had to take a pic. About a week ago, I decided to play with photoshop and see what I could do to show the HOUSE in the pic, not all of the traffic lights and light poles. Stupid urban garbage!

Before:



After:



Tell me, oh Goddess of photos, did I do good?

I've been applying plaster layer by layer, painting it on with a brush. It's difficult because when I first mix the plaster it's a little runny, but by the time I've gotten to the end of my batch, the plaster is stiffening. I make tiny batches! I have a lot of sanding and shaping to do, and I've started to use Stonex to shape and fill in the body parts. I found out the hard way that clay shrinks when it dries, I had completely encased the parts in clay and they cracked. Oops. Live and learn. I bought myself a ceramic tool and it works well for shaping the plaster after it has dried. I also split the torso so that she will have mobility there as well. The top portion overlaps the bottom. I would suggest making these parts seperate, molding them into overlapping parts after the fact was a real bitch. I also encased some bent wire into the feet and hands, so the elastic will be able to loop onto it later. Here's my progress so far:



I seem to have lost one of the hands. no biggie. I'll make one out of clay.

Last night I started making a wig. It will be a long process because I'm actually sewing the hair in 10 strands at a time. First I placed plastic wrap on the head, thn covered it in masking tape a strip at a time, making a mold of the head.



*edit: teehee, you can see my K-Y in that pic :o

Then I put tulle mesh over it, cutting and sewing to make it smooth. I held it to the mold with double stick tape. I modified a sewing needle to make basically a tiny latchhook tool. Then I started sewing in the hair.





today I plan to plaster the body more and work on the wig until my eyes can't take it anymore, which shouldn't take too long. I think I need glasses. :(

Woohoo! I got the BJD head sculpted! It still needs a little detail work and the plaster finish will look better because I'll be able to work in detail without it crumbling but here it is:




I started with 2 blocks glued together




Shaped it into a rough circle




Carved away until I had a rough template of what the face will look like. I feel that the cheekbones look a little strong in this picture but the rest show them looking just fine. I will fine tune as necessary.








Now for the next step: Plaster!

Today I made the arms for my Doll. This is what I have so far on the Ball-Joint Doll project:



Tomorrow I will start the head. This is how it begins:



I am SO nervous about the head and face for this doll! Thank goodness I have extra foam!

Today I sculpted the thighs, palms and torso. The torso will be cut in half and jointed later.

Today I started the BJD project. First I sketched the shape and size that I wanted for my doll:



then I began sculpting with an exacto knife. I got both lower legs and both feet done tonight:




I also scalped a Barbie doll for a side project of teaching myself how to put hair into dolls heads. The BJD will have a wig, which I will also have to teach myself how to make.

ok, maybe not... but I did skate, buy stuff for a doll project and pet bunnies today.


Kay, London, Laura and I went skating at the rink. We held out about 3.5 hours until we decided we were ready to move onto shopping. Skating was fun and of course, great exercise.

we went shopping at Sallys Beauty Supply first. Got some synthetic hair and fake eyelashes. next we went to Hobby lobby and got styrofoam, wire, elastic, plaster, hooks and a few other goodies to make my latest greatest project. I am going to make a 2 foot tall ball-joint doll. They can be found online for about $300-$600. I got all of my supplies for less than $25. I'm certain I will have some left over for extra parts like hands, etc.

After we got the supplies, we went to the local pet store to see if there were any deals on things that the rats could use. Nothing really ended up being necessary but we enjoyed petting the animals there. A ferrett slept in my arms for a while and I pet some hairless rats. So cute and nekkid. Of course, I had to pet the bunnies. They're so sweet and soft. I ended up purchasing some jumping beans for my own amusement as well as educating the kids about them. They're pretty nifty for being larvae in seeds.

I plan to start my doll project tomorrow. I'm totally excited about it. I plan to make custom clothing for the doll and use her as a photography model. It should be interesting. I'll post pictures as I go!

I'm trying to figure out pics and such on this thing since I'm using it more now... and I thought I'd show off the drawing I made for James a few days ago.



Super-Large version available on my Deviant Art page.

Enjoy! :)