Queen of Squids

Back in December I was struggling with a commission. An image came to mind and I thought, "Maybe I, someone who doesn't paint and is slow as molasses, can do a quick speed paint of it as a break! What's the most it can take, Michael? Ten minutes?"

Weeks later I was still chipping away at it and eventually forgot about it. Reopened it this week and realized I have no idea what I'm doing or how to make it "finished" so may as well just post it.

closer upper:

the glowyyy

Kmart Australia "Dark Academy" doll, wearing a dress I made about 20 years ago, which was inspired by something I saw in some vintage Licca dresses

This doll is slimmer than Blythe--I'm pretty sure the torso is a knock off of a modern Skipper or Stacie (I don't have much experience with either.) The back says Sariel in a script typeface, and a quick look found lots of cheap Barbie knock offs with that "brand" name

This doll is very lightweight--the hair probably makes up half the doll's mass. I believe the hair is nylon, not the highest quality, but still glossy and with decent heft, and so smooth that it feels slightly oily (I haven't done a burn test)

The arms and legs are a slightly soft plastic, and the doll's original black socks and underwear did stain the legs. Blue and green tone plastic is notorious for all the color lifting with benzoyl peroxide treatment, and the lower leg stains are light, so I'm not worrying about it. But. That is why she's wearing white hosiery

The feet can wear Barbie high heel shoes, which is nice. I don't normally like when teen/child dolls have high heel feet, but at least this one doesn't have an unusual foot size for those high heels

A few years ago, I took the eyes and hair and paint off of a Rainbow High head, glued unraveled rib knit fabric yarns to her scalp, repainted her using a modern Licca as a guide, put her on a Blythe body, said "Wow this is incredibly cute!" and then gave her away.

I eventually acquired another RH head that matched the last tan Blythe body I had been so generously given, and I stripped everything off the head to make another version. I initially tried copying a vintage Licca friend, but wasn't happy with that, so I stripped the paint and put the doll back in the project box.

Last week, I decided it was time to repaint her, and that's why I dug up that Macoto Takahashi paint tutorial from Dolly*Dolly.

I got this 1 Modern Circle Melody head as a generous gift from @floccentric a few years ago. It arrived with the original paint removed, and a new face up started, which I finished using bright colors and lots of pearl medium. I wasn't really happy with that, though, so I wiped the paint off and put the head back in the project box

I decided I would repaint her this past weekend. First, I attempted to mimic her original paint, and that went OK...but...I realized that I did not like how overpainted Melody's lip design is. And, honestly, I might not even have noticed if I hadn't been doing so much with genuine Mod Era dolls lately.

So I wiped that paint off and thought, "What if I copied the paint from Sears Jamie, another doll that used TNT Barbie's sculpt without actually being Barbie The Character?" I found a really good photo of a mint condition Jamie on Worthpoint, and used that for reference. I followed Jamie's paint shapes, but used Melody's original paint colors. (Roughly. All of the colors are straight out of Citadel paint pots.)

Between making the eyes and lips too big, and the reproduction sculpt used for Melody having noticeable differences from the original TNT Barbie sculpt (the biggest difference is that the nose on the repro isn't as pointy), and not rooting eyelashes, I don't know how much she reads as a Jamie Copy, but I'm willing to give it time to see if I like it more the farther I get from its creation, and, hey--at least she's finally painted again!

For this year's annual Doll Pride Photo I decided to try something a little different, and also was able to include myself with my Masc. Mini Me doll as the photographer! I'm super happy with how this one turned out!!

Also here's the full group shot so everyone can get a good look at the beautiful cast of dolls present in this year's photo

So I think sci fi elements are missing in fashion dolls and while I've tried to do my own customs in the past, having an official Bratz cyborg doll was really amazing to me.

I think @capdollz did an amazing job 3d sculpting this body and I love that while it maintains the Bratz aesthetic, it's so amazingly detailed and I love how it looks.

I really do like how unique @lolliword doll style is that I do feel like my take on their style is pretty intimidating but I love how Gaenna looks.

I think using socks for doll clothes is a pretty universal experience when you're first starting out creating a wardrobe. I personally love pushing the boundaries working within the medium to evoke knit fabrics in a doll scale to create more sophisticated pieces, make items not normally associated with doll sock fashion such as pants, and getting meta with dolls wearing effigies of themselves or creating socks... out of socks.

Too often the sock dress is sometimes relegated to the realm of the beginner, unable to achive a more sophisticated look that most adult collectors are drawn to. I feel socks can be one of the most versatile weapon in a doll sewist's arsenal:

(Ignore how rough this collar is. Doll collars are hard.)

Back at it again...

Abby Cox: Every single bit of this antique is put together like shit