Simply Curious

Chicago International Show - Hogwart's

I love Rik Pierce's work. I'd love to take one of his classes, but I just don't have the space for the finished products. (I'd certainly be willing to spend the money!)

Showing off my recent creative streak.

This is my new Obitsu doll I was talking about, with the many many joints and poses. I painted her face, created her wig, and made the shiny red shirt. I haven't gotten any farther with the clothes, which is why I haven't taken any photos demonstrating the incredible range of motion. She's currently wearing Barbie's capris. (They're too big. I used a fashion doll pattern for the shirt, and found I had to shrink it about 15% to get it right. Hooray for scanners!)

I find when I make dolls, they tend to take on their own personalities. I was hoping to create bigger versions of the 1/12th historic costumes I love copying, but discovered that, once I painted her face, it just wouldn't work. She seems to have attitude issues. So the hair became short, wild, and multicolored, and the clothes decisively modern.

It's actually a refreshing change. Modern's so much easier to do! I have a much broader reference base for clothing ideas - pretty much every catalog that comes in the mail. Now I can find a good use for the Victoria's Secret catalogs that seem to arrive every week. (Just how many ways can you organize the same clothes in a catalog, anyway?)

One challenge I want to tackle is her feet. I like the fact that they have magnets in the sole so that she can stand on a magnetic base, but they're so small! They're practically the size of the feet of my one inch scale dolls, and have the look and shape of the feet you'd see on antique Jumeau type dolls. They aren't shaped for high heels and other fun shoes. I have a couple of experiments in mind for making them seem more realistic, I just need to get the FIMO clay to cooperate.

Hey, it's a challenge. Keeps the mind active. If I'm good, I can create and sell patterns or clothes. Probably patterns. I hate sewing on the machine, and prefer to do things by hand. It's time consuming and a little inconsistent.

THE DOLLHOUSE CASTLE

*Drooool*

This site is for all those people who think that dollhouses are toys for children. I'd like to see it in person, and I understand that it's on display - but it's closed! Time for some window peeping . . .

Have I mentioned Puzzle Pirates?

It's got repetitive, addicting games. It's got a pirate theme. It's got a very complex economy and a lot of things to do. You can run a shop, sail the seven seas, work in town, work for the Navy, play card games, participate in brawls and tournaments, etc, etc . . . I've only explored one small portion of it, and am amazed at how BIG this game feels to me. And there's updates. And when you read their message boards it's not full of posts from players complaining about the game and its owners. It's full of useful information!

I fear for Realm. I really do. It got hacked again, and now there's 'major security issues' that have forced the owners to physically remove the server from its normal location (as well as take it offline) so that they can try to address them. Or so they claim. The last update they tried to implement a few weeks ago (the first in many months) proved to be buggy and they took it down. The code is so old that hardly anyone knows how to write it. Not to mention the many, many patches that have been added to it over the years. It was one of the first online role playing games, released when Sierra was in its heyday in the mid 90's.

So, while waiting for it to come back up, I've been indulging my pirate fetish. And working a bit on my miniatures. Soon I'll be posting about my new shrinkray!