Adventures of Various Sorts.

Jaken 2020

Look at that, it's Jaken from Inu Yasha! He was so much fun to make. Figuring out his jaw joint felt like an adventure. Back then I didn't have social media and my knowledge of ball joints was limited so I re-invented the wheel for myself there. When it worked and he could yap I was so proud.

His eyes were the first I domed with UV resin. Because they're so big, the effect is quite dramatic. Before and after of that step never gets old to me.

had a wild hair and finally painted and ... hair-ed ... this pony in one evening (highly unusual for me)

price paid is no symmetry whatsoever, but that's not a problem if I only photograph from one side at a time 🤪

not sure about the stylization at all but hell, I went for it

hehe

>~ Keeper of the Eternal Spring ~<

Twinning - pt 2

Or: dolls my Mom insists that are "Mini Mes" and we needed photos together. I will redo these as it still bothers me a lot that I styled the wig wrong this day T_T

Mini past!Lavi - Xagadoll Mini Lucas, past!Lavi Cosplayer - me, both made by me

May 28, 2026

gambled on secondhand bjd roulette again and didn't fare too well

this To.M was sold as a Mano, he's been dyed and has an undisclosed chunk out of his nose tip

might just save this post as a draft and update it after cleaning. see if I can restore him at all.

May 29, 2026

non acetone nail polish remover strips the dye immediately.

it is the exact same brand I've used half a dozen times with zero issues, but this time there is white hazing (similar to my tan Half Elf after I had to use acetone to take off a faceup, but way worse on poor To.M)

and then I boiled him just to see if it might help the gouge on his nose. but no luck at all. it appears to be an actual slice into his nose and not just a dent that would pop out. :((((

June 2, 2026

did some gentle sanding on the gouge. such a terrible prominent place to have to sand tan resin :((( I'm fairly upset over it but still optimistic for the restoration

I got Novus plastic polish to try next 🤞

to be clear, only his nose tip is sanded -- all the other white areas happened when I stripped the dye.

June 5, 2026

I had such huge hopes for the Novus 1 & 2 but it has not cleared up the white hazing sufficiently for me. It did really help the sanded area! But not the hazing from stripping.

I'm really not sure what to try next. Mineral oil I suppose? I have to stop here for now because of busy rl. But I am grumpy about it.

I planned this at the begining of May but it's been a busy month.

Tonight I dug out a Barbie outfit that I had, still in its package representing an ancient Greek chiton. It tried to figure out which doll/character for it and, well...

She's giving Main Character Energy!

This is my Cyclops, whom my partner has named "Poly" because reasons.

I'm digging out all the Grecian gear, and have realized that I now need to make three matching Odysseus costumes in two sizes. I have some incredible faux-alligator pleather with a bit of copper sheen to it, so I'm going to make a sort of leather armor out of it and a little tunic out of some nice batiste. I'm planning sandals, too.

I found my 1/4 scale mermaid tail, I just need to cast the role. I think I'll go with a doll that has an open mouth.

There will be several sizes of sirens.

I've also figured out how to do the mast of the ship; I'm going to use a doll stand, since I'm tying Odysseus to it anyways. I'll set the mast into the bottom of the stand and then find the doll to it.

eyes hit serious diminishing returns wrt resource costs vs vision quality as they get bigger, so the question became: what the FUCK do giant (and colossal) squid need to see so badly that they couldn't see with swordfish-sized eyes that's justifying that massive energy cost? that nothing else in the deep ocean needs to see so fucking badly??

turns out the one strength eyes that big really have over much smaller eyes is: seeing large glowing objects in water deeper than 500 meters from an appreciable distance.

sperm whales are the primary predator of giant squid. sperm whales don't glow. BUT! water that deep is full of bioluminescent creatures-- these creatures light up when bumped into. something a sperm whale's size is continuously bumping into those critters, it's just surrounded by a glowing field all the time when it's swimming at those depths, visible from a distance-- if you have the right eyes-- as a massive glowing shape. so basically the only reason to have eyes the size of soccer balls is if you live in the deep ocean and your life depends on having a heads up when a hungry sperm whale lurking around

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.